I did not expect October to be so crammed full of amazing albums that I almost didn’t have time to listen to them all! Here’s a cross-section of some of the great stuff!

WILLOW, <COPINGMECHANISM>, released 7 October. She’s definitely come a long way from “Whip My Hair”, that’s for sure. This is a badass emo album that’s right up there with the best of Paramore and it’s surprisingly tight and blistery.

ALVVAYS, Blue Rev, released 7 October. Each album from this band has been a step in a different direction, and this one leans towards the bright, loud and dreamlike. This one’s also landed on many people’s end of year lists.

Broken Bells, Into the Blue, released 7 October. I’ve loved each of this band’s albums, and I’ve loved that each one lends itself to some kind of retro mood, but I did not expect their new one to go the same way Air did and get all 70s synth space rock! It’s a great sound for them, though, and well worth a listen.

Stray Kids, MAXIDENT, released 7 October. I’m…still not sure what to make of this band. Are they riffing on Disney pop? Are they the K-Pop answer to NSYNC? And the videos are just as mind-bogglingly weird but playful that you can’t not look away.

Bush, The Art of Survival, released 7 October. Another 90s band I’ve always really liked. This one kind of reminds me of the great but underrated The Science of Things, full of hard rocking but without the attempts at commercial poppiness. Really enjoying this one.

The Cult, Under the Midnight Sun, released 7 October. Another classic band returns! I always felt their best work has been when they utilized their dark post-punk-meets-goth sound and this one doesn’t disappoint.

PVA, Blush, released 14 October. Someone’s been listening to their Front 242 albums, because this one’s just full of that chilly, clinical European EBM that I love so much. It’s a wild album and a hell of a lot of fun. This one’s high up on my favorites of the year!

Wild Pink, ILYSM, released 14 October. A curious band with a curious sound…they’ve got that pondering indie rock style that kind of reminds me of Destroyer, but then it suddenly veers into a shoegazey wall-of-sound riff that just knocks me flat. Really love this one.

Knifeplay, Animal Drowning, released 19 October. Dreampop with a darker edge, this is totally something I’d have been listening to back in my teen years. I think KEXP played one of their songs exactly once and I immediately went and put it on my shopping list!

Too Much Joy, All These Fucking Feelings, released 21 October. The gang of goofballs returns once more with a new record recorded over the last year or so and premiered by a year’s worth of singles to promote it! Still dorky and still a lot of fun.

Tegan and Sara, Crybaby, released 21 October. Another album written and recorded during the pandemic, the two sisters came through with an album that sounds surprisingly bright and energetic.

Taylor Swift, Midnights, released 21 October. I’ll admit it right now, I totally love “Anti-Hero” because it’s such a beautifully crafted song despite it being so gloomy. I’ve really come around to her music these last couple of years, especially since her recent re-recording project.

Robyn Hitchcock, Shufflemania!, released 21 October. Ever the oddball, Robyn continues his long and illustrious career with tasty alt-pop goodness combined with his unique brand of strange lyricism with yet another great record.

Sloan, Steady, released 21 October. One of my favorite Canadian bands and another “I will download anything they release” group, this quartet deliver yet another wonderful pop confection.

Arctic Monkeys, The Car, released 21 October. This band has achieved the status of ‘we will record and release anything we damn well please’ and provide us with…lounge jazz? Sure, why not? They can certainly pull it off, that’s for sure. It’s definitely not the album a lot of people expected, but if you give it a shot, you won’t be let down.

a-ha, True North, released 21 October. It’s almost criminal how Morten Harket’s voice still sounds so angelic decades on, isn’t it? Their newest is a wonderful gem, and I’m glad they’re still going strong so many years later.

Sigur Rós, ( ) 2022 Remaster, released 28 October. I had this album on heavy repeat while writing A Division of Souls down in the Belfry back in 2002. The new mix sounds absolutely stunning and it’s still an amazing album.

The Beatles, Revolver Super Deluxe Edition, released 28 October. I mean, of course this one is on my top five best releases of the year! I was extremely curious as to how it was going to sound, considering the limitations of the original. Giles Martin outdid himself here, however, managing to take the song completely apart (with help from Peter Jackson’s magical sound team, doing the same thing they did with the Get Back miniseries) and put it back together in a new way. The album might sound pretty much the same, but the new remix has given each instrument a lot of breathing room, giving each song more life than it already had. As I’d said a while back on Twitter, the original sounds like a black-and-white movie from 1966 while the remix sounds like a movie made today about 1966. Absolutely stunning.

*

Coming up next Tuesday: November tunage! December will follow on Wednesday, followed by a year-end review on Thursday.