The first half of the 30 best albums of September. This edition features brass-infused post-punk, an instrumental jazz odyssey, a scattering of indie rock and indie pop albums, a bit of grunge, progressive, baroque pop, and experimental music — from Europe and the US, with brief stops in South Africa, Japan, and Australia.
Spotify Playlist
Emoji showcases popularity, from total unknowns to superstars: [🌌🌑🌙☄️✨🌟]
30. London Grammar - The Greatest Love
🇬🇧 UK, England / September 13 / 0,822 / 🌟
Spotify / Apple Music
alternative pop / dream pop / trip hop
London Grammar opens the selection with their fourth album, The Greatest Love. Before the release, the band gave a few interviews where, as expected, they described the album as a new chapter in their career, claiming they had learned something crucial during the recording process. This time, they worked in a rented studio, which, according to them, eased the pressure, allowed for more creative freedom, and gave them time to experiment. But these words feel more like a ritual at this point. The Greatest Love sounds like the least essential album of their career. Honestly, I’m more inclined to believe it was released as a contractual obligation rather than the result of the trio amassing enough top-notch material to match the grandeur of their 2021 record. And you can sense the lack of enthusiasm even in the promo campaign—one solitary, rather uninspired music video. I still remember the gorgeous ideas for official music videos they crafted for Californian Soil, and it’s a shame this album didn’t get the same love. That said, despite the criticisms, London Grammar remains a band with immense resilience. Their songwriting process is finely tuned, their production pipeline well-oiled. So while this record is far from being an Album of the Year - or even of the season - it’s still an enjoyable and intriguing listen.
29. DEADLETTER - Hysterical Strength
🇬🇧 UK, England / September 13 / 0,823 / 🌙
Spotify / Apple Music / Yandex Music
post-punk / art punk
The extraordinary strength that emerges from people in situations teetering on the edge of life and death – this is the title DEADLETTER has chosen for their debut album. It’s unmistakably a continuation of the Joy Division legacy, capturing the bleakness of the Manchester working class (now transplanted to London), the depressive atmosphere, and the relentless, pulsing monotony... but through DEADLETTER's lens, emotional detachment and isolation transform into an aggressive, confrontational response to the challenges of the outside world. What stands out here isn’t just the deep, textured bass riffs but also saxophonist Poppy Richler, who regularly introduces a burst of chaos into the post-punk fabric, evoking the brass-driven energy of the relatively obscure band Melt Yourself Down.
28. Seether - The Surface Seems So Far
🇿🇦 South Africa / September 20 / 0,824 / 🌟
Spotify / Apple Music / Yandex Music
post-grunge / alternative metal
Seether tells the story of how to become an outcast for both professional critics and amateur reviewers, simply because you arrived too late. Blending post-grunge and nu-metal, inspired by bands like Alice in Chains, Staind, and Stone Sour, they’ve long been criticized online for being outdated and repetitive. Yet, despite this, they’ve never had a truly disastrous album: more than 20 years after their breakthrough with "Disclaimer", they’ve remained true to their original, classic formula. "The Surface Seems So Far" was promoted as the band’s heaviest album, and the stylish singles "Judas Mind" and "Illusion" gave a preview of this, with vibes reminiscent of early Deftones. However, the rest of the album returns to the familiar Seether sound, which made the singles unrepresentative, though the overall impression of the album is positive.
27. Suki Waterhouse - Memoir of a Sparklemuffin
🇺🇸 US, California / September 13 / 0,825 / 🌟
Spotify / Apple Music
pop rock / indie / dream pop / chamber pop
Suki Waterhouse diligently plays the role of a Renaissance woman, pursuing all careers at once: she started with modeling, then added acting, and in 2022 she also entered the music world with her debut album "I Can’t Let Go". It was unexpectedly good, though not groundbreaking. However, the value of her debut has grown significantly now, because in contrast to the massive 18-track "Memoir of a Sparklemuffin", the neat and tidy debut with 10 tracks evokes a sense of pleasant orderliness. Suki also hasn’t forgotten her romantic career, dating Luke Pritchard from The Kooks, briefly swept Miles Kane away from Alex Turner, and most recently settled for Robert Pattinson. Memoir of a Sparklemuffin is a blend of ordinariness and uniqueness, with half of the tracks indistinguishable from the general standards of the industry, though still done well. But now and then, Suki Waterhouse manages to deliver something more interesting and stylish, like on the tracks "Think Twice", "Big Love", or "To Love", which feel much closer to non-commercial indie than to an artist with ten million listeners on Spotify. By the way, the name Suki has nothing to do with Japan (daisuki desu, my little Japanophiles). Most likely, it’s a reference to Victorian literature, as a colloquial, rural, and derogatory version of the name Susan, as well as a general name for addressing female servants, proof can be found in the works of William Thackeray, Charles Dickens, and Thomas Hughes. A bold little reclaiming of an old name.
26. Anubis - The Unforgivable
🇦🇺 Australia / September 6 / 0,826 / 🌌
Spotify / Apple Music
progressive rock / art rock
For over 15 years, Anubis has been an underdog. Take 2011, for example - one of their best albums was released that year, and yet after all this time, it still hasn’t even reached a thousand scrobbles on Last.fm. I can’t begin to imagine where they find the willpower and dedication to keep making music, but here they are, releasing their seventh studio album, The Unforgivable. That kind of perseverance deserves nothing but respect. And it seems their persistence is finally paying off - this new album might just be the pinnacle of their career. On progarchives.com, it holds the highest rating of any album in their discography, and on Spotify, the Popular section is now entirely dominated by all ten tracks from the new record. The album is wildly inventive, with even the vocal delivery shifting from song to song. Personally, I was especially drawn to "The Mark of Cain", it’s got a vocal delivery that gives off serious Cedric Bixler-Zavala vibes.
25. Pixie Lott - Encino
🇬🇧 UK, England / September 27 / 0,828 / ✨
Spotify / Apple Music
pop
Fifteen years ago, Pixie Lott was a frequent chart-topper - not with albums, but with singles, and only within the UK, never beyond. Her songs from that era sounded like the perfect soundtrack for American rom-coms. But in 2014, she took a long hiatus - one that stretched for a full decade - focusing on acting, dancing, and eventually starting a family. Now, she’s back with her fourth album, Encino, marking the first time she truly sounds like a mature artist. This shift is immediately evident in the dramatic intensity of tracks like "Somebody’s Daughter" and "Anybody Else", where Pixie delivers some of her most powerful vocal performances to date. It’s genuinely refreshing to witness such a striking artistic evolution, and here’s hoping her next album doesn’t take another ten years.
24. Orie - The Relational Love of Marigold
🇮🇱 Israel / August 30 / 0,829 / 🌌
Spotify / Apple Music
indie pop / alternative pop
A few years ago, before the pandemic, Ori Shemer was in a terrible car accident. Her recovery took years, during which she immersed herself in music and composition, using them as a way to process her psychological trauma. This journey led to the creation of "Dark Purple", a 30-minute recording released in 2021 - an utterly non-commercial, sincere, and intimate piano-vocal narrative. Instruments occasionally join in as companions before fading away again, leaving Ori alone with her keys. Even then, her unique sense of rhythm stood out - percussion that swayed and breathed, untethered from strict metronomic timing, yet pulsing with swing and dynamic elasticity. Now, three years later, Ori returns with an even more expansive full-length album, crafted to fill an entire vinyl side. This time, she has refined her delicate aesthetic, making it more cohesive, while pushing her compositions into mesmerizing, shape-shifting musical landscapes.
23. Nussy Andrews - Venus, Baby
🇺🇸 US, New York / September 19 / 0,830 / 🌌
Spotify / Apple Music
art pop / chamber pop
Some artists have styles that are easily imitated and reproduced, while others are so unique that you give up even trying to find someone similar. Fiona Apple belongs to the latter category - blending the avant-garde spirit of Kate Bush, the raw chaos of Tom Waits, the lyrical classicism of Tori Amos, and the badass energy of PJ Harvey, all while drifting between nervous intensity, music-box-like fragility, experimental vocals, and stochastic tempo shifts within a single song. It’s a fusion that’s virtually impossible to replicate. So imagine my surprise when, while sorting through new releases, I stumbled upon Nussy Andrews, who carries on Fiona Apple’s stylistic legacy in a remarkably holistic way. So, if waiting 7–8 years for Fiona’s next album feels unbearable, here’s an intriguing, talented, and inventive alternative.
22. Nubya Garcia - ODYSSEY
🇬🇧 UK, England / September 20 / 0,831 / 🌙
Spotify / Apple Music / Yandex Music
jazz fusion / post-bop
A rare guest in the digest - a predominantly instrumental album. Nubya invited vocalists Esperanza Spalding, Richie Seivwright, and Georgia Anne Muldrow on just three tracks. But even without these high-profile guests, the album's lineup alone is enough to impress. At first glance, this is a solo album by Nubya Garcia, where she’s expected to take center stage with her saxophone skills. Yet, instead of a pure showcase of her virtuosity, the album highlights the compositional cohesion of the entire ensemble. Pianist Joe Armon-Jones from Ezra Collective was brought in, alongside two musicians unfamiliar to me: Daniel Casimir on bass and Sam Jones on drums - who delivered such intricate and engaging performances that the album remains endlessly re-listenable, even when focusing solely on individual instrumental parts. On certain tracks, like "Water’s Path", Nubya Garcia steps back entirely as a performer, appearing only in her role as a composer, while the musical storytelling is carried entirely by the Chineke! Orchestra.
21. Melt - If There’s A Heaven
🇺🇸 US, New York / September 13 / 0,833 / 🌙
Spotify / Apple Music
indie rock
One of September’s most overlooked albums - almost no reviews, no media buzz, yet fans are listening. The band is steadily gaining traction, already surpassing 240,000 monthly listeners on Spotify. They’ve been around since 2017, when they released their debut single, Sour Candy - still their most popular track, earning them local recognition. For years, they stuck to singles, seemingly content with that format, with no apparent plans for a full-length album. But everything changed with "Plant The Garden", a song they recorded in 2023 in a tiny studio nestled deep in the Catskill Mountains, surrounded by breathtaking landscapes, rolling ridges, and waterfalls. When they returned home and released the track, something clicked. The quartet realized they needed to go back - to the place where inspiration had never felt stronger - and record an entire album there. And so, this beautiful record was born, its cover art featuring a photograph of guitarist Marlowe Schankweiler’s mother, taken at a summer camp in 1977.
20. Carol Ades - Late Start
🇺🇸 US, New Jersey/California / September 27 / 0,834 / 🌙
Spotify / Apple Music / Yandex Music
indie pop / folk pop
Despite "Late Start" being Carol Ades’ debut album, her music career actually began back in 2013 when she competed on The Voice. After failing to make it far in the show, she turned to songwriting, occasionally penning tracks for Gracie Abrams, Astrid S, Maggie Lindemann, Zara Larsson ...and, let’s be honest, a full third of Demi Lovato’s disastrous "Dancing with the Devil". In stark contrast to the uninspired, forgettable songs she wrote for others, her own music is something else entirely: raw, personal, and emotionally rich. Late Start plays out like the pages of a teenage diary, where Carol gives voice to the worries and heartaches of her younger self through beautifully crafted melodies.
19. Cö Shu Nie - 7 Deadly Guilt
🇯🇵 Japan / September 4 / 0,837 / ✨
Spotify / Apple Music
j-rock / alternative rock / mathcore / experimental rock / indie pop
Once a trio, now a duo, Cö Shu Nie has a story that bears some resemblance to Placebo, who also temporarily brought in a second drummer just in time to record their most successful album. For Cö Shu Nie, that milestone was Pure (2019)—a record that still stands as their defining work, packed with virtuoso performances and a thrilling, post-hardcore level of unpredictability. At times, it felt like a J-rock take on The Mars Volta, especially in tracks like "character". Since then, they’ve released two more albums (in 2022 and 2024), still preserving some of their signature chaos but also leaning more frequently into classic Japanese ballads - an area already oversaturated in the music scene, unlike their once-unique, erratic sound. Their third album, 7 Deadly Guilt, loses a bit of momentum in the middle, but for the most part, it’s an engaging and rewarding listen.
18. Future Palace - Distortion
🇩🇪 Germany / September 6 / 0,838 / ☄️
Spotify / Apple Music / Yandex Music
metalcore / alternative rock / post-hardcore / alternative metal
Future Palace are still a relatively new name - their 2020 debut barely made a ripple. But by 2022, they had their first breakthrough with "Run", an album that caught the attention of critics and earned them comparisons to Bad Omens, Annisokay, and BMTH. Now, two years later, they’ve leveled up again. Their signature love for massive hooks remains, but they’ve switched to seven-string guitars, and Maria Lessing has pushed her vocal into harsher extremes - at times, the band sounds closer to Spiritbox than their earlier influences. Lyrically, the album explores themes of mental illness and resilience - pretty much par for the course in this genre, where it’s actually rare to hear metalcore tackling anything else. But the performance is airtight: relentless, heavy, and gripping all the way through to the final note.
17. Bones UK - Soft
🇬🇧 UK, England / September 13 / 0,840 / ✨
Spotify / Apple Music / Yandex Music
alternative rock
Bones UK made their mark in 2019 with a self-titled debut that fused the raw energy of Royal Blood, the gritty intensity of The Smashing Pumpkins, and pounding industrial beats - going so far as to embrace aggressive clipping without hesitation. It took the duo a full five years to release their follow-up, this time enlisting Billy Corgan from The Smashing Pumpkins and a guitarist from QOTSA to help shape the record. Strangely enough, though, their 2019 album - produced entirely on their own - sounded rougher, rawer, and more visceral. Back then, Carmen Vandenberg’s guitar wove bluesy noise riffs with a jagged edge, whereas now, they’ve opted for a smoother sound. The guitars feel more conventional, and at times, they even slip into unapologetically pop moments, like on "Won’t Settle”.
16. Little Quirks - Little Quirks
🇦🇺 Australia / September 20 / 0,841 / 🌑
Spotify / Apple Music
indie rock
Side B wraps up with the delightful debut album from Little Quirks, a band from a quiet town north of Sydney. They fit right into the great tradition of family bands—two sisters, couple of their opposite-sex cousins with the same last name... plus some random guy on electric guitar (because every band needs an air of mystery, right?). Their journey started almost by accident. Their grandparents were part of local Aussie bands in the ’70s, their parents toured in the ’90s (most likely playing covers), so the three girls grew up surrounded by forgotten instruments collecting dust. One day, they decided to shake things up and record a few covers of The Cranberries and Of Monsters and Men - just for fun. But then, something sparked. They started writing their own songs and put out their first EP in 2016. A few years later, two guys joined the band, and before they knew it, they were overqualified to make an outstanding full-length album.
