The Best of October 2021: Part 1

October brought us so much good music that I had to split our usual monthly roundup into two parts. Read on for shoegaze riffs, muscle-pumping hardcore, and one of the most stunning emo albums of all time. Click here to read The Best of October 2021: Part 2.

Hovvdy - True Love

At this point, you probably know exactly what to expect from a Hovvdy album; pleasant back-porch guitar licks, laid-back drumming, and just the slightest hint of twang. Last year I wrote about how much Heavy Lifter grew on me over the course of 2020, culminating in the album becoming a near-daily habit that coincided with the peak of fall. It feels like a cosmic coincidence that Hovvdy would drop their follow-up right as the leaves start to change and the wind regains its crisp bite. While it has yet to grow on me quite the same way that Heavy Lifter did, True Love is possibly the most accessible, catchy, and pleasant batch of Hovvdy songs to date. Whether it’s the soaring adoration of its title track, the familial connection of “Hope,” or the childlike innocence depicted on “Junior Day League,” the duo explore a wide range of folksy fall-flavored tunes throughout the album’s 40-minute runtime. 

Roseville - something about a fig tree

The Flower Bed

Much like their fellow Coloradans in Gleemer, Roseville are creating fuzzy, blissed-out dream pop songs that tackle less-than-blissful feelings. From the blurry album art to the mostly one- and two-syllable song titles, everything about fig tree screams shoegaze classic. The EP opens with a bright sway on “Safer” and winds its way from seasonally appropriate tales on “Halloween Song” to hypnotic riffage on “Out.” It may only be a bite-sized collection of five songs, but the sound on this EP is nothing short of colossal. Like all the greatest albums of the shoegaze genre, something about a fig tree is a release you can throw on and sink into like a bed of leaves or a slightly-too-big bean bag chair. 

The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Illusory Walls

Epitaph Records

An 80-minute post-emo, post-hardcore, post-rock album about the social, moral, and ideological rot of late-stage capitalism? AND it’s all passed through a conceptual Dark Souls filter? I am in. There’s simply no amount of hyperbole I could pack into this introduction that would do Illusory Walls justice, so I’ll just say that this was one of the most impactful first listens I’ve had with an album in years. The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die are perhaps best known for being forebears of the 2010s Emo Revival. Famous for their long name and even longer list of band members, everything about Illusory Walls seems counter to their previous work. It’s a darker, fiercer, and more focused album that was conceived amongst the group’s (now core) five members. 

While the singles range from a mixture of The Anniversary and Broken Social Scene on “Queen Sophie For President” and heavy metal riffage on “Invading the World of the Guilty as a Spirit of Vengeance,” the group rounds out distant corners of their world on songs like “We Saw Birds Through the Hole in the Ceiling” and “Your Brain is a Rubbermaid.” The cherry on top of this album comes with the one-two punch of its closing tracks. Both the 16-minute “Infinite Josh” and the 20-minute “Fewer Afraid” are absolutely jaw-dropping tracks that are guaranteed to inflict goosebumps upon any listeners who might take them in with an open heart. While “Infinite Josh” is built around a post-rock build and steadfast bassline, “Fewer Afraid” is a career highlight manifesto complete with a spoken-word passage and philosophical sentiments. The latter of these two songs evoked an actual joy-filled scream from me upon first listen when the band broke out into an interpolation of my favorite song of theirs from nearly a decade earlier. 

Over the course of this album’s final 36 minutes, the group touches on topics like death, the passage of time, religion, and the desire to make the world a better place. It’s inspiring, cosmically-affirming, and downright staggering. In one of the record’s most profound lines, friend of the band Sarah Cowell sings,

You cry at the news, I just turn it off
They say there's nothing we can do and it never stops
You believe in a god watching over
I think the world's fucked up and brutal
Senseless violence with no guiding light
I can't live like this, but I'm not ready to die

Even if you aren’t a fan of this band or emo as a whole, Illusory Walls is a boundless work that shatters nearly every preconceived notion one might have about the possibilities of this genre—an extraordinary feat of the medium.

Gollylagging - Aint That Just The Way!

Self-released

On the flip side of the emo behemoth that is Illusory Walls, we have Aint That Just The Way!, a scrappy 14-minute debut from the Boston-based quartet Gollylagging. Opening track “Capsizing” begins with a modest indie rock jangle but expertly piles up its own emotions until the entire piece erupts into post-hardcore riffage. The rest of the EP follows a similar format, combining hyper-proficient emo-inspired instrumentation with hardcore bellows and emotionally forthright lyrics. “Kangaroo” is expectedly bouncy, fun, and moshpit-inspiring while “Your Party” charges forward with a battering Dogleg-like momentum. Overall, a very energetic and promising release from a band that everyone should be watching. 

Knocked Loose - A Tear on the Fabric of Life

Pure Noise Records

There’s a reason Knocked Loose has become one of the most popular bands in hardcore, and with A Tear in the Fabric of Life, they offer a brief six-song reminder of why. In what may well be their heaviest release yet, the band distills and perfects their dynamics, alternating between atonal metallic passages and pummeling chuggy riffs. Similarly, lead singer Bryan Garris’ tormented piercing howl is punctuated by guitarist Isaac Hale’s punishing low growls at just the right times, resulting in a violent and raging excursion that jostles the listener from one spiteful sentiment to the next. 

Ship & Sail - True North

Self-released

I have been a fan and friend of Ship & Sail for as long as I’ve known Colin Haggerty. Even a cursory glance back through this blog reveals reviews, collaborations, and more stretching all the way back to his debut album in 2018. This is all to say I’ve thought a lot about it, and True North is far and away the best thing Ship & Sail has ever released. In keeping with tradition, Haggerty penned a long and heartfelt breakdown of the album we published on release day, which I strongly encourage you to go read. The record itself touches on familiar folky sentiments of past work but also stretches into exciting new territories. Album opener “The Plan” feels like a synthesis of all the best Ship & Sail songs released to date. Haggerty flexes his songwriting prowess with a stellar chorus on “Junkie Love” and grapples with mortality on “I Know A Way Around Heaven’s Gates.” Midway through the record, the title track centers around a beautiful duet between Colin and his late father that acts as a moving tribute and a beautiful song in its own right. The record culminates in “Lovely,” which shakes with a sort of Julien Baker confessionalism and is flat-out one of the most powerful songs I’ve heard all year. We should all be so lucky to have our lives memorialized in a collection of songs such as this. 

Mo Troper - Dilettante

Self-released

On Mo Troper’s Bandcamp page, the description for Dilettante begins with a definition. “Dilettante (n.): a person with an amateur interest in the arts; an album of postcard-length power pop songs. See also: Mo Troper IV.” This self-effacing introduction is actually the perfect pitch for Mo Troper’s vibrant and ever-shifting 28-song-long LP. Citing inspiration that ranges from Elliot Smith to At The Drive, this is truly an album without boundaries. Whether singing about coffee pairings, social media-induced capitalism, or decrepit action movie stars, every track is fueled by pure creativity. Most songs don’t even clear the two-minute mark, allowing for a massive collection of instantly-catchy hooks that Troper then throws over a vast swath of genres. As an album-length experience, Dilettante fits somewhere between the trifecta of Ween, Daniel Johnston, and Guided By Voices for a creative, catchy, and invigorating collection of power pop tunes. 

Superdestroyer - Such Joy

Lonely Ghost Records

Hmm, another album about the malaise of late-stage capitalism? Strikes happening across dozens of different industries? The most popular show in the world is a parable about the failures of capitalism? It’s almost like something over the last year or so has laid bare the indifference of the system in which we are forced to live… ah well, nevertheless. Such Joy, the fourth album from Superdestroyer, is a blistering 17-minute take-down of our world that openly grapples with the flaws of our endlessly greedy and increasingly imbalanced society. The release begins by wading the listener in with catchy emo chants and guitar tapping but eventually breaks out into hardcore shouts and spacy riffs. It almost feels as if the entire release is unwinding as you listen to it. Plus, each track is punctual, with most songs hovering around the 90-second mark and none stretching beyond three minutes. This makes each piece feel essential, even the instrumental trip-hop “Void” serves as a necessary pause to catch your breath before the final push. A genuinely creative and comforting collection of songs.

Quick Hits

If you’re looking for even more tunes from the past month (or so), we’ve published reviews of the new releases from Couplet, Church Girls, Sufjan Stevens, and Pictoria Vark. Alternatively, you can see my favorite songs from every album I listened to this month through this playlist.