It’s the September review! In some parts of the world that’s 75% through the year, and therefore 3/4 of the way through our search for the best 21 albums of 2021. Well done, us!

For those just tuning in, I’m listening to new releases each month, sorting them into yes/maybe/no, and then I’ll do a final shakedown to get the best 21 after the year ends. If you missed the earlier installments, you can find them here:

( January February March April May June July August )

This is one of three music-related blog series I’m doing this year. We’re at the eighth of ten installments of my ongoing review of critic’s choices for the best albums of the 2010s, and the wrap-up of my review of the critic’s consensus on the 20 best albums of 2020 is here.

Before we proceed, a quick note about the three categories:

Yes– These are the albums that, based on my initial listen, are in definite contention to be considered for the 21 best albums of the year. This list is now up to 196 albums, so competition for the final 21 is going to be fierce!

Maybe– These are albums that had definite strengths, but about which I have some reservation. I’ve noticed over the years that sometimes “maybes” linger, so I’m giving them a category just in case.

No– These albums are not in contention. Some of them deserve discussion, though, which I note.

Now, on to the 94 new releases I listened to for September!

Ada Lea, one hand on the steering wheel the other sewing a garden– Well that’s a title all right! It has spare music informed by folk, electronic, and indie rock, dense and appealing lyrics, and a pleasing lilt and feeling-laden quality to her vocals. This Montreal-based musician is a distinctive voice in both senses of the word, and definitely worth another listen or two.

Alessia Cara, In the Meantime– She’s got a rich voice and makes inventive use of it, the songs have sure beats, and the music makes billowing, expansive use of various strands of dance, soul, R&B, and jazz. And the lyrics also have some bite, verve, and complexity to them. All in all, I’m in!

Amyl and the Sniffers, Comfort to Me– Australian punk group that knows how to work their chords to keep a rock song moving without being a punk cliché, and a lead singer that is 100% pure moxie. This could have dropped into first generation 70s English punk and sounded at home, by which I mean fresh and real.

Andrew W.K., God is Partying– Deliberately over the top melodrama metal. Operatic, stirring, maybe hilarious. Is it serious? Is it ridiculous? Is it a skillful and heartfelt homage to metals and stadium rocks past? Friends, we don’t need to choose- It’s all of those things, and I kind of freaking love it!

Andy Shauf, Wilds– This Saskatchewan-based singer-songwriter delivers a slightly distorted off-kilter acoustic and bare electric sound, with lyrics that are painfully earnest but catchy, and vocals that are naïve in a way that works with them. It is, in total, pretty darn charming.

Angelo De Augustine/Sufjan Stevens, A Beginner’s Mind– Sufjan Stevens, is, of course, Sufjan Stevens, and like many of us, I still haven’t recovered from being bowled over by Illinoise. His collaborator here is an indie rocker given to a similar vein of music. It’s full of the kind of thing I’ve come to expect from Stevens- deeply personal introspection, strong mood, and nuanced soundscapes. At first blush, all a little muted, but the depths pull you under…

AZ, Doe or Die II– AZ is an East Coast rapper, an associate of Nas since the 90s, and has a reputation for being comparatively underappreciated. I’d back that up based on what I’m hearing here. The musical sampling is top notch, production multilayered and complex, and his delivery is full of intelligence, personality, and confidence. Sophisticated East Coast hip-hop at its best.

Blunt Bangs, Proper Smoker– Now that is a proper rocking guitars and drums start. They’ve got the chords! They’ve got the melody! They’ve got the rock that reminds one of multiple eras, and still works like a charm! Blunt Bangs is a supergroup of sorts, with members who are veterans of multiple indie rock bands, and they have produced an excellent outing here.

Boyracer, Assuaged– So bouncy and cheery! English indie rock group that’s been around since 1990, but they sound naïve, even almost amateurish, in the best way. Rock and roll can still be fun!

Elvis Costello, Spanish Model– I do like an unusual album conceit, and this surely is one- the original masters of Elvis Costello’s This Year’s Model, only with the lead vocals removed, and various Latin American musicians doing lead vocals in Spanish. Costello himself is backing this project, and the results are pretty inspired- it reminds you how strong the original tracks were musically, and the variety of vocal approaches to the material takes it off in whole new directions. Call me crazy, but this works!

Heartless Bastards, A Beautiful Life– I’ve got to say, for heartless bastards, they look like a very pleasant group of people. They also make some very nice music- it’s warm and richly textured as it rambles between acoustic, neo-psychedelia, and 70s rock, with an almost Dylanesque density of lyrics (albeit sometimes a little too on the nose in terms of topicality). It also, musically, vocally, and lyrically, has a sense of 70s naiveté to it.

 

Julia Bardo, Bauhaus, L’Appartamento– She’s got a rich voice, and richly played pop music backs it up. I’ve read the comparisons to Natalie Merchant, and I can certainly hear it. But her lyrics are more straightforward and the music less idiosyncratic than 10,000 Maniacs. Which is not to slight it- what really strikes me about these songs is how solidly pleasingly they work. They have individual identities, but a consistent quality. I can tell you after 672 albums just how hard that is to pull off!

Lil Nas X, Montero– Given the hubbub that’s been generated around him, I was certainly curious about his first full-length album. This heightened expectation game can go two ways- but in this case, BELIEVE the hype. In its playing with higher callings and lower pulls, playful musical experimentation, and lyrical wit, it reminds me of Prince. The transparent and prominent discussion of gay identity, relationships, and eroticism, rare not just in hip-hop but in mass-market pop music in general, is great. It even employs autotune to good effect- as a production tool rather than crutch. In general, this album is thoroughly conversant with, and yet rises above, 2000s hip-hop idioms. Pretty great all around.

Little Simz, Sometimes I Might Be Introvert– Sometimes (often) I might be too, so I like the title! And boy does this album by a UK hip-hop artist/actress get off to a booming operatic start. She’s vocally powerful enough to keep up with the music too, and subsequent tracks are full of great production, intelligence, wit, positive energy, and strong presence.

Manic Street Preachers, The Ultra Vivid Lament– Strong, literate, imagistic story-telling, sparkling production, and a good knack from surging anthemic moments. They sound here like what they are- a 90s band strongly influenced by new wave and the arty side of pre-punk, and they’re really good at it. It’s good to hear them still manic, and street preaching after all of these years.

 

Meatbodies, 333– Oh guitars. Wall of guitars. Every time I hear you anew I’m reminded of how much I love you. From this LA area band, I hear hints of grunge, Zeppelin, Jesus & Mary Chain, psychedelia. This gives you some idea of what you’re in for here. And I really like being in for this kind of thing!

Moor Mother, Black Encyclopedia of the Air– With a trippy poetic spoken word start, weirdly syncopated instrumentation and electronic sound effects, it doesn’t sound like everything else. Which one really appreciates after listening to 700 albums in a year! Left field hip hop and experimental electronic music with dense powerful poetic lyrics. Moor Mother is the stage name of Camae Ayewa, an American poet, musician, and activist from Philadelphia.

p4rkr, drive-by lullabies– Heavily electronicized, it almost goes beyond auto-tune to machine voice for the sake of machine voice, with a kind of industrial music mix and frequently quirky and charming, often even tender, lyrics and vocals. I kind of like that! p4rkr a.k.a. osquinn is a 15 year old transgender rapper, singer, and producer known for hyperpop and electronic inspired hip hop. I’d been wanting to meet hyperpop for a while, and I’m glad I did- it’s thoroughly interesting!

Park Hye Jin, Before I Die– I knew I would eventually run across a k-pop album that I liked! To be fair, this comes more from the house/club DJ side of the fence than the teen idol side, which probably has something to do with it. It’s great electronic dance music, infused with a wit and rawness that brings another layer to the proceedings.

Pearl & The Oysters, Flowerland– This sounds like electronic music doing a hybrid of the loungier side of 60s pop and smooth Brazilian jazz while being attacked by a psychedelic rainbow omnichord (in a good way). Vocally and musically, it’s so damn sunny! Every song is full of weird, quirky riches. They are apparently a Los Angeles duo who, perhaps, met while vacationing in space. It’s a little hard to tell.

Rufus Wainwright, Unfollow the Rules: The Paramour Session– Unable to tour in support of his 2020 release Unfollow The Rules, Rufus Wainwright decided to record a live version in the ballroom of the Paramour Mansion in Los Angeles backed only by a guitarist, a pianist, and a string quartet. Added to the songs from the album are a mix of older numbers and previously unreleased songs. If that sounds a little weird, you should watch the videos of him performing the whole thing barefoot in a silky robe in the cavernous room. However, as always, he is both an amazing songwriter and performer. And the intimate setting really brings out something further, and fuck if the acoustics in that room aren’t great. It’s conceptually a little odd, but it’s also one of the better things I’ve listened to this year.

Sleigh Bells, Texis– Is this a kind of throwback to the synth/dance side of new wave? A guitar crunchy noise rock thing? Experimental electronic dance music? Yes to all! This Brooklynn-based duo has produced something idiosyncratic that sounds interesting and fun the whole way through.

The Beths, Auckland, New Zealand, 2020– You know that female-lead band that’s a little poppy, a little punky, and totally high energy and fun? This is them! New Zealand version. This live concert album captures the first time they were able to play live again following the lifting of New Zealand’s quarantine, which probably gives it even more of an edge in energy and enthusiasm. I love this kind of band whenever I find them, and in this case they’re a great live band too!

The Felice Brothers, From Dreams to Dust– So good! Super-intelligent lyrics at turns mythic, surrealist, and rambling, a way with melody, and big anthemic moments. Sometimes folk, sometimes rock, sometimes narrative set to country music, the songs often have a feeling of looming import.

The Shivas, Feels So Good // Feels So Bad– Nice big boom of a garage rock start, and this turns out not to be a fluke- the whole thing is an invocation of garage rock, wall of sound, and that weird haunted echoey mid-60s stuff. It doesn’t quite sound frozen in time though, there are flourishes that remind you that the alt 80s and 90s happened as well. This Portland-based band knows their craft, and are plying it very well here.

The Vaccines, Back in Love City– This UK band bring high energy rock with a dance/disco edge and lyrics & vocals with just the right kind of glitzy and slightly tawdry undertone. I don’t know where they’ve been hiding themselves, but this is a thoroughly solid band!

Wesley Stace, Late Style– This is groovy! It’s got smooth vocals and lyrics that work with the jazz-influenced music, a somewhat schmaltzy yet mysteriously still cool delivery, and songs that are clever, topical, and have a dark undertone under a cheerful delivery. It reminds me, in turns, of Randy Newman and Elvis Costello. What I subsequently discovered is that Wesley Stace is the English singer/songwriter who goes by the name John Wesley Harding, which makes even more sense of why I like this so much, having admired JWH’s work from semi-afar since the 80s.

Maybe

• Alexa Rose, Head Waters– This album from a North Carolina country-inflected singer-songwriter is high on melody, with a clear shinning voice. I wondered the whole way through if this was too one tone and tempo, but I was also constantly won over by her golden vocals, intelligent bittersweet lyrics, and utter sincerity.

• Anthony Hamilton, Love is The New Black– Classic 70s soul influence and great use of 2000s beats and production, as one would expect from a man who’s been one of soul/r&b’s greatest impresarios of the 2000s. I’m putting it in maybe because, for most of the run length, it’s a collection of really nice songs without any particular connection or structure. It really finds some themes song to song the last few tracks, and if it had been doing that the whole way through, it would have been a yes.

• Cold Beat, WAR GARDEN– With the smooth bright mechanical beats and video game-like melodies, we begin in very 80s synth territory. I almost feel like we’ve wandered in to a Vince Clarke production. I wonder about the dated feel, but it’s such a skillful rendering of an era/vein of new wave that it’s also utterly charming.

• Colleen Green, Cool– LA indie pop musician whose work here reminds me of a certain Liz Phair, Juliana Hatfield etc. school of lead female with sharp lyrics, rock guitar, attention to melody, and damn catchy song structure. It sounds a little 90s/early 00s dated, which, along with a mysteriously low-key all instrumental ending song, is about my only reservation.

• DJ Seinfeld, Mirrors– Well this is fun! DJ Seinfeld is the (delightful) moniker of Swedish DJ Armand Jakobsson. Can I necessarily tell one track from another? No, but they’re so bright and dynamic that I can’t help bouncing to them the whole way through. Call me crazy, but this is a definite maybe!

• E*vax, E. Vax– E*vax is the stage name of American electronic music artist Evan Peter Mastor. Though this tends more to the abstract side of electronic music, it’s also got an interesting use of vocal samples and musical effects that do a good job of keeping one engaged. This is the kind of album that reminds you there’s something to this electronic music business.

• Eric Bibb, Dear America– Bibb is a 70 year-old American blues artist living in Sweden. You might think from this that he has considerable skill to his craft, and an interesting point of view, and you’d be right. The music is somewhere between blues and folk, and full of sweetness and a spontaneous, genuine feeling. The lyrics are sometimes a little too on-the-nose, which is the reason it gets to “maybe” from me.

• Iron Maiden, Senjutsu– Put them in the iron maiden. Excellent! Execute them. Bogus! The thing about Iron Maiden is, they produce a consistent and high quality experience, and I always have liked their school of metal. I’m not sure why this album needs to be an hour and 22 minutes, but it is solidly enjoyable. (If they did want to trim it up a bit, I note the last three tracks are 34 minutes total.) 

• Jazzmeia Horn, Dear Love– With fat horns, a quirky shuffling beat, and poetic spoken word, the opening has me charmed immediately. Subsequent tracks get more into a jazz side of things, in an eclectic and even-bordering on chaotic way, and her vocals never fail to hold one’s attention. It’s on the edge of tuning me out with its jazz ramblings, but her voice and phrasing and the empowerment-centric lyrics kept bringing me back.

• Kacey Musgraves, Star-Crossed– Kacey Musgraves is really something. Is she country? Yes, sort of, but with psychedelic, electronic, and 2000s teen pop all thrown in. There’s even a Spanish ballad at the end. The best moments here are searingly heartfelt, soaring and surging as she wrestles with the fall-out of the end of her three-year marriage. The “worst” are merely really damn catchy pop. Either way, this is never a bad ride.

• Kero Kero Bonito, Civilisation– Take some disco-overdrive, some J-Pop influence, and the experimental/electronic side of indie rock, and you have an approximation of what this UK band sounds like. It’s a little light, which tends it toward “maybe” for me, but very cheery and energetic, which keeps it in contention.

• Low, Hey What– Low was one of the more interesting and idiosyncratic bands to emerge in the 90s- they had a common spirit with grunge certainly, but more in common musically with industrial and post-punk. It remains an interesting and challenging sound today (there are moments that grate long enough they last until just one second before I might take song-ending action- that’s not easy to time!). It’s not a new sound, it’s sometimes grating, but I also kept listening, so…

• Matthew E. White, K Bay– Now that is a groovy beat! Catchy, slinky songs with some disco, some 70s rock, some new wave, and a strong drive, accompanied by smartly worded and often humorous lyrics. He’s a songwriter and producer who has worked with a bevy of acts, and it’s easy to see what he brings to them from this masterful and pleasing outing. The only reason it’s not automatic yes is an extended song (though an important and well done one) that’s totally out of musical and emotional tone with the rest of the album.

• Motorists, Surrounded – This Canadian band delivers fun rock, with the feeling of 80s alt on the jangle/power-pop side of things. It sounds a little dated and perhaps even formulaic in a way, but darn if it isn’t a good formula!

• Poppy, Flux– This is the fourth album from YouTube sensation Poppy. There never were YouTube sensations when I was growing up, put putting out four albums is legit. This album is legit too- it would sound at home in the 90s, bringing to mind grunge, shoegaze and electronic, with quite a flair for verve and motion. I might say it’s a little light and a pinch era-bound in its sound, but it’s a sound I love, and done very well!

• Ronnie Wood, Mr. Luck: A Tribute to Jimmy Reed – Live at the Royal Albert Hall– This was recorded a few years back, British blues-group (and, uh, Rolling Stone) alum-Ronnie Wood’s tribute to a blues great. So it definitely has skilled musician, excellent original material, and heartfelt connection to that material going for it. I think it may be a little too tribute/genre specialty for “year’s best” status, but it is very solid.

• Slothrust, Parallel Timeline– The music tends toward the ethereal and poppy (except when the guitars really kick in, which they do often enough), the vocals are hushed and understated, and the lyrics are astonishingly emotionally literate and bare. I was 75% totally “yes”, but the other 25% felt a little deflated. I’d definitely keep an eye on this Boston-based band, though.

No

• Alexis Taylor, Silence– This alumni of English synth-pop band Hot Chip has released an album with hints of 70s syrup, 80s synth, 90s twee, and more contemporary indie rock in a slow piano vein. Sometimes romantic, sometimes aching with loss, sometimes fascinatingly given to spiritual yearning, but full of feeling either way. Ultimately, though, the album, despite all this, is very heavy in emotional tone, and muted musical range. Worthy, but hard to sustain at album length.

• Angels & Airwaves, Lifeforms– At first this sounds somewhat like the Miami Vice soundtrack (80s TV version). 80s kid here, so that’s not a slam. Then it gets kind of surgy and arena-like from there, which I don’t like as well. No question it’s well done, high-energy, and I like the 80s synth flourishes. But ultimately, it all feels a little too plastic.

• Anthony Naples, Chameleon– New York City-based DJ and electronic artist. It’s occasionally very lively, but generally too easily fades to background.

• Arturo O’Farrill, …dreaming in lions…– Second generation jazz musician and well-regarded composer. I don’t have any reason to think this isn’t very good, but upon hearing he leads the Afro-Latin Jazz Ensemble, I was expecting something a little more African and Latin, perhaps? It gets there at times, but not often enough.

• Ashley Shadow, Only the End– The opener has a nice “minor chords” 60s kind of feeling to it, and it continues in that vein with more than a hint of country. This Vancouver-based musician has a great voice, and really evokes a mood. But, vocally, musically, and structurally, the songs are in too narrow and low key a vein for the album to really gain traction.

• Bela Fleck, My Bluegrass Heart– Banjo maestro Bela Fleck returns to his Bluegrass roots. The material here is, without doubt, excellent. An hour and 46 minutes of it, though… Just because streaming technology makes it easier for one to do this, does not mean one should do it! At half the length, it could have been a contender.

• Bomba Estéreo, Deja– This Colombian band’s music has been described as a cross of Latin American musical forms and psychedelia. It is interesting from that point of view, but the mellow vibe and being completely in Spanish prevent it from gelling as an album for me.

• Caleb Landry Jones, Gadzooks, Vol. 1– Curiously for an American musician, this strongly has the feeling of being lost Rolling Stones songs from their psychedelic era. Curiously for an actor, it’s really good. (To be fair, he was a musician first, before becoming an actor.) It’s so well done, and so much fun! It was headed toward automatic yes by a mile until it ended with a TWENTY MINUTE meandering nonsense track.

• Carly Pearce, 29: Written in Stone– Kentucky-born Nashville-based Pearce is here wrestling with the end of her marriage to fellow country artist Michael Ray, always promising subject matter for an album. And it does give the material some power and depth. It has more substance to it in that sense, but is ultimately too musically in a plastic pop country vein to really stand out.

• Chris Carter/CTI, Electronic Ambient Remixes, Vol. 3– The name gives one pause. Also, his history with Throbbing Gristle makes me expect something a little abstract and ambient for my tastes. It turns out I am right. The fact that he’s not the Chris Carter from the X-Files is not his fault, though.

• Cold War Kids, New Age Norms, Vol. 3– I loved their 2006 major label debut. They were so earnest, weird, slightly goony even. Since then, they’ve become more and more a “conventional” indie rock band, and that’s what’s on display here. It’s technically very good, radio-ready, and I didn’t care for it at all.

• Cynthia Erivo, Ch. 1 Vs. 1– This British actress/singer is a vocal force, and is backed up by some well-rendered sophisticated eurodance/soul flavored music. But it’s all too much in one tempo/vein to really stand out or catch fire.

• David Grubbs & Ryley Walker, A Tap on the Shoulder– Grubbs and Walker are both rich and varied musicians individually, but here together they’ve produced something a little too abstract, sometimes even abrasive, to come together as a listenable album.

• Dntel, Away– This is the second Dntel album we’re reviewing this year. Well done Dntel! Though I think Cabaret Voltaire is still the record-holder with three separate releases. It’s cheery and pleasant, often funny, and definitely more engaging than the over-abstract The Seas Trees See. Ultimately not a lot of substance that would really vault it into “yes” territory, but one could do a lot worse!

• Drake, Certified Lover Boy– I’m a little leery going in, because there is rarely good cause for an album to run an hour and a half. On the other hand, lyrically and vocally he’s top-notch, it’s brimming over with positive energy, and the sampling and production here is very smart. After a few tracks it veers way too much into autotuned, though. Between the length and the autotune, it just doesn’t add up to a succinct and sustainable album for me.

• Esperanza Spalding, SONGWRITERS APOTHECARY LAB– A little too ethereal and jazzy for me.

• Fucked Up, Year of the Horse– Canadian hardcore band? I’m automatically rooting for you. A four part album composed of four twenty-something minute suites? I’m cautious but curious. There is a kind of interesting orchestral drive to the whole thing, but much of it is too in the same vein musically, and the vocals are mostly in the “scream” category (although there are many fascinating asides to both). Ultimately, while I really admire its ambition, 93 minutes of it is a little too much to be easily digestible.

• Henry Threadgill, Poof– This album from someone prominent in jazz since the 70s is a kind of discordant and abstract I appreciate, but it doesn’t add up to a coherent listenable album.

• Herb Alpert, Catch the Wind– I didn’t think this was going to work for me, but I had to try, right? Don’t get me wrong. It’s pleasant. Relentlessly pleasant in the way that only slightly jazzy muzak can be.

• Homeshake, Under the Weather– Solo musical project of Montreal-based singer-songwriter and musician Peter Saga. (This is the only notation I seem to have made while listening to it live, but I trust my reasons for tagging it “no”. Whatever they were!)

• Imagine Dragons, Mercury: Act 1– I like imagining. I like dragons. Look, they’re fine. They’re very radio friendly. In fact, I liked several of the singles from their 2017 album. There’s nothing wrong with the songs musically, vocally, structurally. But I never catch the sense of anything vital or real from this album.

• Injury Reserve, By the Time I Get to Phoenix– I instinctively like “Arizona-based multiracial hip-hop group” as a description. It does have some unusual, almost industrial, musical background. But it ends up sounding a little too dissonant, although it is very interesting along the way.

• J Balvin, JOSE– Heavily autotuned, over an hour long, and in a language I don’t understand well is a tough combination. Some combination of one or more might have worked, but all three together are deadly.

• Jose Gonzalez, Local Valley– As Swedish folk singers of Argentinian heritage who record in English go, he’s probably my favorite. It really is well played, with deeply felt lyrics, but is all a little too one tone ultimately.

• Kanye West, Donda– I do love my cousin Kanye- The College Dropout remains one of my favorite albums of the 00s, and the two albums after it did the even more difficult job of holding up to a landmark debut. I don’t think it’s a secret that he’s gotten considerably more uneven since then. There are some obvious issues here- nearly two hours is a difficult length to sustain. The opening track is extremely annoying, which is never a great way to start. I’m baffled by how much autotune there is here, since he should know better. Then there’s some obvious strengths- as always, his sampling and production is smart and challenging, when he is not auto-tune singing, the vocal delivery is as strong as ever, the lyrics often display his prodigious boldness and humor, and the preoccupations of the material (spirituality, processing his mother’s death, the end of his marriage) are interesting and well-delivered. And it does get more coherent for a long middle section. On balance, I just don’t think it works as an album in whole. I think there’s a, say, 40-50 minute version that absolutely could have been a “yes”. It would have been darker, heavier, and not as witty as his first three albums, but it would have worked.

• Kiefer, When There’s Love Around– This Los Angeles-based pianist and producer has made something positive, bubbly, and jazzy that I don’t care for much. Extra points for the kid holding a bunny on the cover, though!

• Lauren Alaina, Sitting Pretty on Top of the World– This American Idol runner-up from Georgia delivers a very solid serving of pop country. She does it really pretty well, but, alas, pop country is atrocious.

• Lawrence English, Observation of Breath– A forty minute album with only four songs sounds like it might be a tough slog. When the first track starts with something that sounds like sand falling and tinnitus and stays with that for minutes on end, well…

• Lindsey Buckingham, Lindsey Buckingham– Some time ago, I came to realize that most everything I liked from Fleetwood Mac’s classic period was actually by Buckingham, so I was probably a Lindsey Buckingham fan instead of a sometime Fleetwood Mac fan. This does have a bit of his characteristic sound, but is often curiously muted overall. It’s also loaded with 80s production sound. I think there could be a solo album from him I’d be a fan of, but this isn’t it.

• L’Orange , The World Is Still Chaos, But I Feel Better– Some electronic, some club DJ, some jazzy soul (or souly jazz?), some experimental. L’Orange is the stage name of Austin Hart, an American hip hop record producer from North Carolina. It’s fun and interesting, but I don’t think the songs have enough substantively, or in relation to each other, to add up to a great album.

• Mac McCaughan, The Sound of Yourself– Superchunk co-founder and record-label owner, here on a very slow and mellow vibe. It’s too mellow, and start and stop, to really catch on.

• Macie Stewart, Mouth Full of Glass– Smart lyrics and a sharp clear voice, acoustic with interesting flourishes. There’s something compelling about her, but it’s a little low-key and same track to track to break through.

• Magic Roundabout, Up– Veterans of the noisepop scene in the UK, but underrecorded themselves. This has all the feedback and fuzz one might wish for, just the right mix of melody and noise, and is great at establishing a mood. It was on track to being a “yes” or at least a strong “maybe” until it ended with a rambling nearly twenty minute track. Poof!

• Mas Aya, Máscaras – It’s all a little too abstract, new agey, and swirly.

• Mickey Guyton, Remember Her Name– When I hear something is a country record coming from an R&B direction (or vice versa?), I’m immediately intrigued. Its heart is definitely in the right place in terms of bridging those two worlds, and bringing up the social issues in crossing-over between them. Unfortunately, it’s an overly produced slick pop version of both music forms.

• Mild High Club, Going Going Gone– This is supposed to be an American psychedelic group. I guess that’s true, but coming at it from a jazz easy listening direction. Please no.

• Mini Trees, Always In Motion– This project of an LA-based musician is very nice in its mellow, fuzzy, emotionally literate-lyric kind of way. I don’t know that rises enough above “very nice” to be in “best of the year” contention, though.

• MONO, Pilgrimage of the Soul– Brooding synth giving way to driving guitar and drum start, which is promising. This Japanese instrumental band definitely has a knack for building a slowly surging song. There’s a kind of sameness track to track, though, and ultimately, as an all-instrumental piece, there isn’t quite enough to hang “great album” status on.

• Nala Sinephro, Space 1.8– Caribbean-Belgian composer, producer and musician. The musicianship here, as you might expect from that, is excellent, if ultimately too in a jazz/orchestra vein for me.

• Nao, And Then Life Was Beautiful– I like the unusual waifish quality to her voice, and the music is an interestingly spare version of soul as well. Unfortunately it eventually wears thin, especially on tracks with guests, where the focus drops off of her.

• Natalie Imbruglia, Firebird– All right, look, I loved “Torn” and I’m not afraid to say it! So Natalie Imbruglia will always have a special place in my heart. On this album, she’s produced some very good, lively 90s pop. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it’s all a little too slick and dated. Sorry Nat!

• Public Service Broadcasting, Bright Magic– As often abstract art rock by UK groups goes, this is some. It occasionally catches fire into something interesting, but not often enough.

• Rumer, Live from Lafayette– Rumer is very pleasant and all, and these are good performances. Solid all the way around, but nothing here that lifts it up into “year’s best” territory.

• Saint Etienne, I’ve Been Trying To Tell You– This UK alternative dance group has produced some fine dreamy, mellow dance vibes. Can’t say I care for it.

• Sarah Davachi, Antiphonals– As Wikipedia will inform you: Sarah Davachi is a Canadian experimental musician, composer of acoustic and electroacoustic minimalist music, pianist, and organist. This is too much on the experimental/ambient front for me.

• Smoke Bellow, Open for Business– If this was coming out in the 80s, it might have been a post-punk classic. At this point, though, it doesn’t sound new and different enough from a lot of other things out there in the same vein to really stand out.

• Theo Croker, BLK2LIFE || A FUTURE PAST– Theodore Lee Croker is an American jazz trumpeter, composer, producer and vocalist, known for infusing some hip-hop influence into jazz. You can certainly hear that here, and it kept me listening for a while, but ultimately it didn’t gel for me.

• Tony Seltzer, Hey Tony– I like the kind of lo-fi approach to hip-hop it takes, and there’s a lot of charm to his presentation. It doesn’t quite get enough beyond autotune tricks and sounding the same track to track, though.

• Various Artists, I’ll Be Your Mirror: A Tribute to the Velvet Underground & Nico– The original 1967 album is one of THE epochal albums, due in no small part to how different and distinctive its sound was, and how influential it has been since. These factors present a sharper version of the general covers problem- how do you produce something that’s faithful to the original in some way, but not too influenced by/a carbon copy of the original. And that is where most of these fall down, despite having great original material, talented artists covering them, and solid versions. Certainly worth a listen for fans of the Velvet Underground or the coverers, but it doesn’t clear the hurdle.

• X Ambassadors, The Beautiful Liar– This is a great example of a certain kind of 2010s/2020s music- a little electronic, a little rocky, definitely informed by hip-hop and electronic dance. There are some fine singles here, it should do very well on radio, and it’s not badly done or un-fun. But it kind of sounds like everything else, and it isn’t ambitious enough in any direction to make a successful album as a whole.

And there we are with the September review. Since I’m about to hit “publish” just before 8 PM on Halloween, we squeak in with getting it out before the end of October. Boldly onward we go!