Welcome, officially, to fall, where here on the East Coast it seemed like Mother Nature flipped a switch and it went instantly from 85 to 65 overnight. Also welcome to fall release season and this week I dig into nine new albums, here listed in alphabetical order:
The Klittens - Have a Heart
Penelope Isles - 3
Protomartyr - Hotel Usona
Railcard -Two Steps at a Time
The Sick Man of Europe - The Intermittent Signal
Soft Cell - Danceteria
Starcleaner Reunion - Umbrella
The Wolfgang Press - Asylum Variations
The Yummy Fur - Everybody Talks About the Weather
Three of those are given Album of the Week status but you’ll have to subscribe to see which those are and read the reviews. I really appreciate all of you who have subscribed already, and please consider if you haven’t, every little bit helps in this wintery economic media climate.
As I said this is a big release week and other records out today that I didn’t review but are worth checking out include new ones from Gilla Band (which got Best New Music in Pitchfork today), Gurriers, M83, Tinashe, Julia Jacklin, and Godflesh. You can read reviews of some of those over at my friend and former colleague Andrew Sacher’s Unhappy Place Substack.
Also out today: that massive Joy Division live box set and a 30th anniversary edition of Suede’s Coming Up.
Other news of interest from this week: no surprise but Angine de Poitrine won the 2026 Polaris Music Prize; a posthumous Morphine album is on the way some 27 years after Mark Sandman’s death; and RIP Magic have announced their debut album (I’m excited).
Pour one out for Naked Eyes frontman Pete Byrne. They had hits with “Always Something There to Remind Me” and “Promises Promises” but I was always partial to “When the Lights Go Out.”
I think that’s it for today. Have a great weekend, thanks for reading. This week’s reviews are below…
