Music update, September 2018.

September wasn’t a great month overall for new singles, perhaps because it was so loaded with albums that had already spent their best tracks in teaser releases, so I have a first for these playlists – three of the tracks are covers, which I believe is the most I’ve ever included. You can access the playlist here if you can’t see the Spotify widget below.

Black Honey – Crowded City. I’ve featured Black Honey tracks on playlists here for two years now, and their self-titled debut album finally came out last week, debuting at #33 on the UK albums chart. The record includes five songs I’ve included in past posts, but omits “Somebody Better” (#32 on my 2017 top 100) and “All My Pride” (#81 on my 2016 top 100) while including my favorite track from them so far, “Hello Today” (#21 in 2016) as well as this new uptempo banger. UPDATE: The whole damn album is good.

San Cisco – When I Dream. This Australian quartet has a knack for incredibly catchy melodies, hitting my year-end top 20 twice with “Awkward” and “Too Much Time Together,” but their 2017 album The Water fell short of previous efforts because it didn’t have the same hooks. This new single has one.

Jungle – Smile. Jungle’s second album, For Ever, dropped in September, and this track’s pseudo-African percussion line opens up the record, which has a better balance of dance tracks and slow jams than their debut did.

Gunship – When You Grow up, Your Heart Dies. I get a sort of White Lies vibe out of this track, which clearly descends from the same new wave evolutionary branch.

Metric – Now or Never Now. I’ve liked the occasional Metric song but wouldn’t call myself a fan of their catalog as a whole; this has the right sound and a decent hook, although I fear it doesn’t have the staying power of some of their previous hits.

Alain Johannes Trio – Luna a Sol (featuring Mike Patton). Yep, that’s Faith No More & Mr. Bungle frontman Mike Patton singing in Johannes’ native Spanish. Johannes’ name isn’t familiar, but he’s worked with a slew of bands you know in the hard/alternative rock space, including QotSA & affiliated acts, Arctic Monkeys, Mark Lanegan, Jimmy Eat World, and recently PJ Harvey, as a musician, engineer, and producer. This hypnotic, psychedelic hard rock track might be held back from airplay because it’s in Spanish but the sound is very post-grunge.

Speedy Ortiz – Blood Keeper. Speedy Ortiz is touring with Liz Phair, so the talented Sadie Dupuis and company covered this track, an outtake from Phair’s Whitechocolatespaceegg record that was never officially released.

Radkey – St. Elwood. It looks like this trio of brothers are gearing up to finally release their sophomore album, four years after their debut Dark Black Makeup appeared, with this single out now and another, “Rock and Roll Homeschool,” out this Friday.

Van William – Pictures Of Me. Friend of the dish Van Pierszalowski released this one-off single, a cover of an Elliott Smith track from the late singer/songwriter’s 1997 album Either/Or.

Sarah Chernoff – Crime. The B-side to the single “You’re Free” that Chernoff, ex-Superhumanoids chanteuse, released at the end of August is just as strong as the lead single. Her voice is among my favorites in music today and I think it marries especially well with this kind of ethereal electronic backing.

Death Cab for Cutie – Summer Years. DCFC’s Thank You for Today came out in late August and reminds me quite a bit of their preceding album in tone, theme, and production style, with “Gold Rush” still my favorite single from the album (and one of my favorite songs of the year so far) and this one somewhere in the mix for #2.

BROCKHAMPTON – HONEY. This Texas music collective calls itself a “boy band,” although I think that’s a too-cute way of avoiding trying to categorize their music, which incorporates many different styles including hip-hop, alternative rock, and electronica. What they really aren’t is pop, which is what marks boy bands (and makes them rather disposable), but they appear to be popular, as their new album Iridescence debuted at #1 this week and sold over 100,000 units.

Purple Heart Parade – Lonestar. Shoegaze dream-pop from Manchester, as if it’s still 1995 and we’re all still tripping balls.

The Magic Gang – Getting Along. “The Magic Gang” sounds like the name of a fictional kid’s show from the late 1970s that would get worked into an SNL sketch, much like the fake sitcom “Switcheroo.” This very real band, from southern England, has that classic indie blend of hooks, harmonies, and something that’s just a little too rough around the edges for the mainstream. Their self-titled debut album is out now, with this my favorite song.

YONAKA – Wish You Were Somebody. YONAKA’s songs all have an early Joan Jett sort of sneer that contrasts nicely with the hooks that show up on all of their tracks. “You can kiss my ass goodbye/I’m with some other guy” seems like it should the angry breakup anthem of the season.

FIDLAR – Too Real. This song, FIDLAR’s first in over two years, starts out as a weird trance-like “is this really a FIDLAR song” thing that eventually transforms into a profanity-filled rage track with a lot of screaming. I like it but you’ve been warned.

Drug Church – Strong References. Punk that might stop just short of hardcore to stay just accessible enough for a broader audience – including me. It’s heavy and a little grating at times, but Patrick Kindlon (of Self Defense Family) and company mix in some alternative elements and hints of a melody to keep this from becoming just another forgettable hardcore track.

Pallbearer – Run Like Hell. Yep, that’s a cover of the Pink Floyd classic. I’ll be honest – I go back and forth on whether I like this reimagining of a fairly iconic song from The Wall.

Riverside – Acid Rain. Progressive metal from Poland, with Wasteland, their latest album, dropping a week or so ago, featuring clean vocals and a mixture of metal sounds that wouldn’t be out of place in Gothenburg with latter-day Opeth-style prog passages. If you like this kind of sophisticated metal, I also recommend “Wasteland” and the nine-minute instrumental “Struggle for Survival,” which avoids some of the tweet vocals that pop up elsewhere on the album.

Horrendous – Devotion (Blood for Ink). Horrendous is the best extreme metal band going right now, producing highly technical, progressive, challenging metal, with growled vocals (meh) and occasional blast beats (bleh) but brilliant, intricate fretwork. Their fourth album, Idol, just came out a week ago, and continues the trend that started with 2014’s Ecdysis and continued with 2015’s Anareta, as they moved from straight-up melodic death metal to this frankly exciting blend of OSDM, classic thrash, and thoroughly modern, progressive metal.