September ends with a kind of ladies’ week on the new-music releases front with albums from a slew of divas perhaps seeking to get out of the way of next week’s Taylor takeover. The testosterone gender is represented, too, with titles from Hardy, Led Zeppelin’s Robert Plant, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and the King Crimson-saluting Beat, among others (all subject to change)…
Albums of the Week
If pop divas are your thing, there will be no shortage of them to hear new music from this week from recent and “experienced” favorites. Leading the rush is Mariah Carey with “Here For It All” (Maria/gamma.), who gets away from the annual “All I Want For Christmas…” ritual with her first new album in seven years, featuring guests such as Anderson.Paak, Kehlani, Shenseea and the Clark Sisters … Los Angeles rapper Doja Cat’s fifth studio set, “Vie” (Kemosabe/RCA), sports 15 tracks and production by Swift hitmakers Jack Antonoff … Colombian singer Karol G’s “Tropicoquetta” (Bichota/Interscope), also her fifth, sports a whopping 20 tracks and guests including another Mariah (Ageliq), Eddy Lover, Greeicy, Manu Chao and more … Sweden’s Zara Larsson seems poised for a major breakout with “Midnight Sun” (Summer House/Epic), also another fifth album, which has already make impact with the singles “Pretty Ugly,” “Crush” and the title track… And Britain’s Olivia Dean, whose 2023 debut “Messy” was nominated for a prestigious Mercury Prize, returns with “The Art of Loving” (Capitol), a 12-track set she co-produced.
If all that’s not enough: Rachel Platten reimagines her previous work on “Fight Song (Rachel’s Version)” (Violet); Kali Uchis expands her latest album, released in May, with “Sincerely: PS” (Capitol); Kylie Minogue does a quick turnaround with the concert souvenir “Tension Tour/Live 2025” (Liberator/BMG); and grand dame Cher makes her 2003 “The Farewell Tour” (Warner) (yes, there have been more tours since) available on vinyl and streaming for the first time.
Rauw Alejandro, “Cosa Nuestra: Capitulo O” (Sony Music Latin): The Puerto Rican singer sequels last year’s “Cosa Nuestra” with another 13 tracks, assisted by the likes of Saso, “Jey One,” “De La Rose,” Mon Laferte and others.
Beat, “Beat Live” (InsideOutMusic): Rock fans, especially of the progressive variety, have been blown away by the performances of early ’80s King Crimson material by this all-star quartet of alumni and friends — thankfully captured for posterity on this set.
Hardy, “Country! Country!” (Big Loud): Hitmaking Nashville singer and songwriter Michael Hardy co-wrote all 20 songs on his fourth studio album, which features guest appearances by contemporaries Ernest and Stephen Wilson Jr.
Marcus King Band, “Darling Blue” (American/Republic): The South Carolina-born guitar hero reassembles his band for the first time since 2018, adding to the corps on its fifth album with Billy Strings, Jamey Johnson, Norah Cyrus and others.
Robert Plant, “Saving Grace” (Nonesuch): The Led Zeppelin singer’s first solo album in eight years — after his reunion with Allison Krauss — presents a new band, a quintet that also goes by the Saving Grace moniker.
Jeff Tweedy, “Twilight Override” (dBpm): The Wilco leader goes solo for a fifth time and doesn’t scrimp, spreading 30 songs across three discs.
Album Title of the Week
Worlds Scariest Police Chases, “Tell My Mom and Dad I Love My Mom” (Say-10)
More new releases for Sept. 26
abandcalledlove., “Thriving Season” (Valiant Sound Co.)
Abraham, “idsungwussa” (Pelagic)
Absolute Losers, “In the Crowd” (Having Fun/We Are Busy Bodies)
Acres, “The Host (Deluxe)” (Solid State)
Amorphis, “Borderland” (Reigning Phoenix Music)
Animal, Surrender!, “A Boot For Every Bane” (Earnest Jenning Record Co.)
Fred Armisen, “100 Sound Effects” (Drag City)
Ben Arnold, “XI” (ALP Recordings)
Mulatu Astake, “Mulatu Plays Mulatu” (Strut)
Automatic, “Is It Now?” (Stones Throw)
Babon, “Tropical Desert” (Wonderwheel Recordings)
Bad Self Portraits, “I Think I’m Going to Hell” (Buy Before You Stream)
Jake Banfield, “Open Bars” (Empire)
Tyron Benoit, “Mid-City” (Edgewater Music Group)
Biffy Clyro, “Futique” (Warner)
Bike Ride, “Running With Scissors” (self-released)
Sir Richard Bishop, “Hillbilly Ragas” (Drag City)
Bitchin Bajas, “Bajascillators” (Drag City)
The Black Heart Procession, “Hearts & Tanks” (Solid Brass)
Blizaro, “Light and Desolation” (Nameless Grave)
bloom effect, “oscilon” (Kingfisher Bluez)
Bright Eyes, “Kids Table” (Dead Oceans)
The Broadway Ensemble, “The Billy Joel Project” (Yellow Sound)
Gideon Broshy, “Nest” (New Amsterdam)
Charlie Bruber, “Prized Burden” (Fun One)
Dallas Burrow, “The Way the West Was Won” (Forty Below)
Candy Whips, “Moonlight” (Kitten Robot)
chatterton, “Tiny Empire” (7th Heaven Recordings)
Colbie Caillat, “This Time Around” (Blue Jean Baby)
Carolina Mama, “Amina” (Altafonte)
Neko Case, “Neon Grey Midnight Green” (Anti-/Epitaph)
Meghan Clarisse, “Shadows of a Ghost Town” (Howlin’ Dog)
Clover County, “Finer Things” (Undercover Lover Records/Thirty Tigers)
Coach Party, “Caramel” (Chess Club)
Cochemea, “Vol. 3: Ancestros Futuros” (Daptone)
Karley Scott Collins, “Flight Risk” (Sony Music Nashville)
The Cords, “The Cords” (Slumberland/Skep Wax)
Cosmic Reaper, “Bleed the Wicked, Drown the Damned” (Heavy Pysch Sounds)
crushed, “no scope” (Ghostly International)
Brian Culbertson, “Day Trip” (self-released)
Curse Of Cain, “Achtung” (ROAR)
Daffo, “Where the Earth Bends” (Concord)
DAIISTAR, “Fuzz Club” (self-released)
Cole Davis, “Consider It!” (self-released)
Olivia Dean, “The Art of Loving” (Capitol)
Death Harvest, “Pale Rider” (self-released)
Miranda Del Sol, “When You Were Asleep (Vol. 1” (Cosmica Artists)
Destroy Lonely, “(Broken Hearts 3)” (Opium/Interscope)
Janet Devlin, “Not My First Emotional Rodeo (Deluxe)” (OK!Good)
Dimples, “Obscure Residue” (Ba Da Bing)
Meghan Dowlen, “Dizzy Spell” (DKA)
Dying Wish, “Flesh Stays Together” (SharpTone)
Perrie, “Perrie” (Columbia)
Elisapie, “Inuktitut (Remixes)” (Bonsound)
Face Yourself, “Fury” (Sumerian)
The Far West, “Everything We Thought We Wanted” (Blackbird Record Label)
Fauna, “Ochre & Ash” (Lupus Lounge)
Nick Faye, “(Good) Love” (self-released)
Ferguson, “Never In My Life” (Orchard)
Early Fern, “Wetland Interiors” (self-released)
Wells Ferrari, “Wasted Time” (Atlantic)
Flight To London, “Instructions for Losing Control” (self-released)
Rosie Flores & the Talismen, “Impossible Frontiers” (Mule Kick)
From Fall To Spring, “Entry Wounds” (Arising Empire)
Ben Gallaher, “Time” (Stone Country/Quartz Hill Music Group)
Geckos, “Geckos” (Piaptk)
Geese, “Getting Killed” (Partisan)
Glaive, “Y’all” (self-released)
Charles Wesley Godwin, “Live From Steel City” (Big Loud/Mercury)
Good Neighbours, “Blue Sky Mentality” (Capitol/Polydor)
Remi Goode, “Things I’ve Said Before” (self-released)
Molly Grace, “Blush” (Nettwerk)
Grandbrothers, “Elsewhere” (_and others_)
GRDN, “particles, coarse” (Wandering Astray)
Jared Dustin Griffin, “The Perseverance of Sisyphis” (First City Artists)
Grumpy, “Piebald” (Bayonet)
Dave Hause, “…And the Mermaid” (Blood Harmony)
Hei’An, “Kiss Our Ghosts Goodbye” (self-released)
Hunny, “Spirit!” (Epitaph)
Immersion, “WTF?” (swim)
Indecent Behavior, “Sick” (Long Branch)
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram, “Hard Road” (Red Zero)
IRK, “The Seeing House” (Nefarious Industries)
joan, “this won’t last forever” (self-released)
Rochelle Jordan, “Through the Wall” (Empire)
Diane King, “Sky” (self-released)
Caroline Kingsbury, “Shock Treatment” (music is fun)
Marcus King Band, “Darling Blue” (American Recordings/Republic)
Korypheus, “Gilgamesh” (M Theory)
Labrinth, “Prelude” (Columbia)
Lady Wray, “Cover Girl” (Big Crown)
Last Hyena, “Suspect Your Elders” (self-released)
Andre LaFosse, “Then Again” (7d Media)
Cate Le Bon, “Michelangelo Dying” (Mexican Summer)
Savanna Leigh, “For Your Entertainment” (self-released)
Les Imprimes, “Next Summer” (Big Crown)
Mason Lindahl, “Joshua”/“Same Day Walking” (Mt. Brings Death)
The Living End, “I Only Trust Rock N Roll” (BMG)
Lucky Horse Red, “Lucky Horse Red” (Shuga)
The Macks, “Bonanza” (Devilduck/Monotone, Inc.
Carolina Mama, “Amina” (Altafonte)
Masma Dream World, “A Grave in a Lucky Site” (Valley of Search)
John Maus, “Later Than You Think” (You)
Peter McPoland, “Big Lucky” (self-released)
Meklit, “A Piece of Infinity” (Smithsonian Folkways)
Kylie Minogue, “Tension Tour/Live 2025” (Liberator/BMG)
Moon Panda, “Dumb Luck” (Moon Panda/Virgin Music Group)
Kolton Moore & the Clever Few, “A Place That I Call Home” (self-released)
Mud Morganfield, “Deep Mud” (Nola Blue)
Mouseatouille, “DJ Set” (Dot Dash Recordings/Remote Control)
Wolfgang Muthspiel, Scott Colley and Brian Blade, “Tokyo” (ECM)
Myah, “I Don’t Know What I’m Feeling” (self-released)
Nape Neck, “The Shallowest End” (Dot Dash Sounds/Red Wig/OCCII)
Number_i, “No. II” (TOBE)
Oliver Hazard, “Raindrop River” (Nettwerk)
Hunter Oliveri, “Teen Slug” (Spinefarm)
Paradox, “Mysterium” (High Roller)
Percussor, “Remnants of Horror: The Final Cut” (Horror Pain Gore Death Productions)
Perrie, “Perrie” (Columbia)
Pool Kids, “Easier Said than Done” (Epitaph)
Sam Prekop, “Open Close” (Thrill Jockey)
President, “King of Terrors” (King of Terrors)
Purity Ring, “Purity Ring” (the fellowship/Secretly Distribution)
Rage, “A New World Rising” (Steamhammer)
Rainbow Kitten Surprise, “bones” (Atlantic)
Rainsford, “Before Blue” (Sparta)
Ramona and the Holy Smokes, “Ramona and the Holy Smokes” (self-released)
Record Thieves, “Tragic Company” (Thousand Island)
Revocation, “New Gods, New Masters” (Metal Blade)
Thomas Rhett, “About a Woman (Deluxe)” (Valory Music)
Risen Atlantis, “Power to the Past” (Frontiers Music srl)
Lily Rose, “I Know What I Want” (self-released)
Charlie Rouse Band, “Cinnamon Flower” (Resonance)
Royal Sorrow, “Innerdeeps” (InsideOutMusic)
Sofia Rubina, “I’m On My Way” (LRK)
Soulkeeper, “Join Us In Creating Excellence” (Pure Noise)
Sainthood Reps, “Dull Bliss” (Smartpunk)
Scaler, “Endlessly” (Black Acre)
Trapper Schoepp, “Osborne” (self-released)
Zac Schulze Gang, “Straight To It” (Ruf)
Karley Scott, “Flight Risk” (Sony Music Nashville)
Shiner, “Believeyoume” (Spartan)
Amanda Shires, “Nobody’s Girl” (ATO)
Lisa Marie Simmons, “Notespeak (In A Word)” (Ropeadope)
Tom Skinner, “Kaleidoscopic Visions” (Brownswood Recordings/International Anthem)
Skull Revenge, “State of Oblivion” (Skull Revenge Productions/Sound Pollution)
Sloan, “Based on the Best Seller” (Yep Roc)
Lauren Spencer Smith, “The Art of Being” (self-released)
Smokey Brights, “Dashboard Heat” (Share It Music)
Tom Speight, “Perfect Strangers” (Nettwerk)
Sprints, “All That Is Over” (City Slang/Sub Pop)
The Starting Line, “Eternal Youth” (Lineage Recordings)
Swoll, “Avoid Attach” (self-released)
Satoko Fujii Natsuki Tamura Duo, “Ki” (Libra)
Jr. Thomas and Eraserhood Sound, “Jr. Thomas in the Eraserhood” (DeepMatter)
Chris Tomlin, “The King is Still the King” (Sparrow/Capitol CMG)
Trestles, “Salt” (self-released)
Kristina Train, “County Line” (Blue Elan)
Trio of Bloom, “Trio of Bloom” (Pyroclastic)
Duke Tumatoe, “Have You Seen My Keys?” (self-released)
Verstand, “Bridge” (self-released)
Vijunns, “Collapse” (self-released)
Villain of the Story, “The Love You Took Away” (Out of Line Music)
The Vintage Caravan, “Portals” (Napalm)
Vlure, “Escalate” (Music For Nations)
Patrick Watson, “Uh Oh” (Secret City)
Whiskey Myers, “Whomp Whack Thunder” (Wiggy Thump)
Cameron Whitcomb, “The Hard Way” (Atlantic)
White Reaper, “Only Slightly Empty” (Blue Grape Music)
The Whole Peace, “Thank Goodness For the Translators” (Open Creative Mind Productions)
Lady Wray, “Cover Girl” (Big Crown)
Adam Wright, “Nature of Necessity” (self-released)
Noah Young, “Noah” (self-released)
Zac Schulze Gang, “Straight To It” (Ruf)
From the vaults
AIR, “The Virgin Suicide Redux” (Rhino/Parlophone)
Bangles, “Watching the Sky — The Bangles Box Set” (Cherry Pop)
Black Eyed Peas, “Bridging The Gap (25th Anniversary Edition)” (UMe)
Bloc Party, “Silent Alarm (20th Anniversary Edition)” (self-released)
Kate Bush, “The Best of Other Sides” (Fish People)
Nick Drake, “The Making of Five Leaves Left” (Island/UMe)
Art Farmer, “In the 1960s” (Enlightenment)
Faust, “Faust” (Bureau B)
Genesis, “The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway (50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition)” (Hino/Atlantic)
Lena Hall, “Best of Obsessed” (Ghostlight)
Peter Hammill, “The Charisma & Virgin Recordings 1971-1986” (Virgin)
The House of Love, “The House of Love” (Music on CD)
Spike Jones, “Spike Jones in Stereo: A Spooktacular in Screaming Sound!” (Omnivore)
Maude Latour, “Sugar Water (Deluxe)” (Warner)
Mareux, “The Perfect Girl (10th Anniversary Edition)” (Revolution/Warner)
Ronnie McNeir, “Ronnie McNeir Makes a Move” (Kent/Ace)
Mother Love Bone, “Shine” and “Apple” (UMe)
Myrath, “Reflections” (earMUSIC)
Willie Nile, “The Arista Columbia Recordings 1980-1991” (Retroworld)
Scorpions, “From the First Sting” (BMG)
Labi Siffre, “The Best of Labi Siffre” (Edsel/Demon)
Frank Sinatra, Count Basie and Duke Ellington, “The Giants of Jazz” (Frank Sinatra Enterprises/UMe)
Various Artists, “Extended Stimulation: 12” Pop Adventures on the Dancefloor 1983-1988″ (Cherry Pop)
Various Artists, “NOW that’s What I Call An Era: Such a Good Feeling 1988-1995” (Sony Music/EMI)
Various Artists, “Jon Savage’s 1986-1990 Rollin’ Under the Melody” (ACE)
Various Artists, “You’re No Big Deal: Grunge, the U.S. Underground and Beyond 1984-1994” (Cherry Red)
ZZ Ward, “Liberation: Deluxe Edition” (Sun)
Alan White, “Ramshackle” (Spirit of Unicorn Music)
White Lion, “Anthology ’83-’89” (Deadline Music/Cleopatra)
Jimmy Witherspoon and Robben Ford, “Jump Blues Live 1972” (Liberation Hall)
Ronnie Wood, “Fearless: The Anthology 1965-2025” (BMG)
The Yahoos, “Fear Not the Obvious” (Bloodshot)
Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, “One Size Fits All: 50th Anniversary Edition” (Zappa/UMe)
The Zombies, “Odessey and Oracle Mono Remastered” (Beechwood Park)
New holiday albums
Lady A, “On This Winer’s Night (Volume Two)” (Big Machine)