The Best of September 2021

A little bit of hip-hop, a little bit of folk, and the sounds of a bygone social media platform make up the best releases of September. 

Injury Reserve - By the Time I Get to Phoenix

Self-released

Looking at the discussion surrounding the new Injury Reserve album results in a fascinating combination of words; intense, terrifying, unique, tremendous, visceral, and raw. Overall, the most consistent sentiment about the album is “this is unlike anything I’ve ever heard in my life,” and that’s a fair assessment. After losing their friend and bandmate Stepa J. Groggs in 2020, By the Time I Get to Phoenix sees what’s left of Injury Reserve grappling with their grief in a public, album-length forum. The record is stuttery, disorienting, and heavy; all valid encapsulations of sorrow from a group who has lost someone close enough to be considered family. 

Eichlers - OHMYGOD

Self-released

I usually don’t write about singles in these roundups, but “OHMYGOD” is simply that good. Additionally, this article is the September new music roundup, but this song was technically released on the last day of August, so basically I’m breaking rules left and right just so I can write about how rad Eichlers is. Here’s the one-word pitch: Hyperska. That term is precisely what it sounds like; a bubbly mixture of hyperpop and ska music, both genres which have been surging in popularity over the last few years. Eichlers combines these two disparate sounds to great effect over the course of this two-minute banger. The vocals convey a sort of “what the fuck” relatability over a blink-182 guitar tone and electronic drums. Thirty seconds in and a series of upstrokes lead to a hyperpop build that sounds like Dylan Brady’s long-lost brother made it. It’s pretty much everything I love in one place.

Dormer. - Dormer.

Lossleader Records

Since I’m already breaking self-imposed rules, I’m also going to use this space to write about the excellent self-titled record from Dormer, which was released at the tail end of August. Dormer is the solo project of Charlie Berger, who is also a member of the shoegaze band Slowly and the dark dreampop band With Hidden Noise. Berger self-describes the project as “slowcore-inspired… sounds maybe like if Duster, Shipping News, early Death Cab, and slower Pedro The Lion songs had a baby… then that baby went on to make low-key music that very people listened to.” If that self-effacing pastiche of cuffed-up 90s indie rock doesn’t sell you, then I don’t know what will. Dormer. is a winding and listless album in the best way possible. The songs transfix and unfurl over three- and four-minute stretches that never wear out their welcome but all work towards constructing a singular, mystifying world. 

Sincere Engineer - Bless My Psyche

Hopeless Records

Deanna Belos initially rose to prominence within the Chicago music scene as a solo acoustic act. After years of house shows and bar gigs, she released Rhombithian in 2017, and Sincere Engineer unveiled itself to the broader music world as a fully formed band worthy of nothing less than absolute adoration. Buoyed by Belos’ unmistakable one-of-a-kind voice, the project weaved relatable tales of alcohol dependency, corndog dinners, and general fuck-upery. Each song dripped with hooks and catchy guitar. The lyrics were an unabashed portrayal of snow-covered life in Chicago that felt like a direct accompaniment to Retirement Party’s Somewhat Literate. Four years later, Sincere Engineer has solidified into a consistent lineup, and the group’s sophomore album takes all of those winning elements from their debut and re-formulates them into something totally standalone. Marginally less punky than their last LP, Bless My Psyche uses a fresh range of sounds as the backdrop for these ultra-relatable tales. Even if seven of the album’s eleven songs were released as singles in the lead-up to its release, it’s just a joy to have another 30 minutes to spend in Belos’ presence, wallowing in your screw-ups together. 

5ever - Forever

Many Hats Distribution

Do you remember MySpace? Remember getting random friend requests from bands spamming your account trying to convert you into a fan? What about the garish neon-covered HTML pages? Can you picture the endless sea of identical swoopy haircuts and Devil Wears Prada wannabes? Well, 5ever remembers. Not only do the Boston-based rockers remember, but they’re here to salvage the best parts of that era and revive them into something new. With a name based on a decade-old copypasta and song titles like “H.A.G.S,” it’s clear that the band knows their audience here. Lead single “Champagne” is a perfect introductory crash course to the shimmering bubblegum-flavored pop-punk sounds of the EP. These pop sensibilities eventually fold in on themselves, mounting in post-hardcore sentiments on “KACHING!” Forever manages to salvage some of the most admirable bits of artistry from an (arguably) dark era in music, making for an 18-minute time capsule that’s as potent as a scented gel pen. 

Common Sage - It Lives and It Breathes

No Sleep Records

Last year Common Sage released the abstrusely-titled Might as Well Eat the Chicken, We Won't Be Here in the Morning. If I’m being honest, it felt like pretty standard emo fare, but the EP must have done something right because in the time since it’s release, the group has signed to No Sleep Records and is now hitting back with the phenomenal It Live and It Breathes. Easing up on the emo roughage, the group’s sophomore effort melds the dynamic scale of TWIABP with the ultra-distressed 90s-tinged approach of bands like Sunny Day Real Estate. Songs grow and contract into sprawling epics of overwrought feelings and whiplash from lazy Sunday country to fist-balling punk at a moment’s notice. The instrumentals fit together nicely, coming across as rounded off and more approachable than the group’s previous work. Basically, everything fits together wonderfully, resulting in what is sure to be one of the most slept-on emo-adjacent releases of the year. 

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine - A Beginner’s Mind

Asthmatic Kitty Records

There are no two ways about it; I’m a Sufjan Boy. I literally run an entire separate blog dedicated solely to the man’s Christmas Music. While it sometimes feels as if I am legally obligated to consume everything he creates, that doesn’t mean I love it all. Occasionally, Sufjan gets too electronic or too meandering for my taste, but I’m always eager to see what he does next. A Beginner’s Mind sees my folk daddy teaming up with labelmate Angelo De Augustine for a collaborative concept album where each song is based on a different movie. Sometimes our singers place themselves in the shoes of a character; other times, they analyze the filmic events from an omnipotent distance. This leads to a Planetarium-level of commitment to conceptuality where the tales are allowed to be a little more personal and way less cosmic. This narrative thrust combined with the throwback to a more somber Seven Swans era of “Sadboy Indie Folk” results in what is easily my favorite Sufjan release since 2015’s Carrie & Lowell. 

Shortly - Dancer

Triple Crown Records

When I first saw Shortly in 2018, the band was just Alexandria Maniak standing alone on a stage with a guitar and a mic. She was first-up opening for Aaron West & The Roaring Twenties, and the crowd was rapt. I emerged from that set a die-hard Shortly fan but was disappointed to find she only had two publicly-released songs at the time. In the years since, Maniak has rounded out the project with a talented band, released an EP titled Richmond, and played probably more gigs than any rational person could keep track of. Dancer, Shortly’s debut full-length on Triple Crown Records, is a synthesis of everything learned along the way. It’s an album-length journey into the hard feelings, unique relationships, and unforgettable people that make life worth pushing through. 

Quick Hits

If you’re looking for even more thoughts on the past month of music, we also published full reviews for the new albums from Jail Socks, Big Vic, and Colleen Green. We also wrote about the incredible new single from Greet Death. Finally, here’s a playlist of my favorite song off of every new release (and single) I listened to during the month of September.