September 2024 Release Radar
Time to *fall* into a pile of music! Eh? Eeehhh???
Last week hit hard on a personal level, so this monthly Radar is officially coming to you four days late. But, on the bright side, it kinda worked out because there is some major music news to discuss.
Before we get to that, though, September and October are typically the biggest months for new releases all year long. I’ve got an updated list of what you can expect throughout this month, plus the list of albums currently sitting in my queue.
Let’s get started!
Albums On Deck
In possibly the biggest victory I’ve had all year, every album in my queue at the moment was not on my last Albums On Deck list. The next up have been out for only three weeks!
However, you’ll notice that there are a couple of albums listed here that were not included in August’s Radar. This is because I love music and hate myself in equal proportions. I will be accepting no criticisms at this time.
The Script - Satellites
Charly Bliss - Forever
Mothica - Kissing Death
Simone Simons - Vermillion
Sabrina Carpenter - Short n’Sweet
Be/Hold - Godspeed
Leprous - Melodies of Atonement
Awolnation - The Phantom Five
Paris Paloma - Cacaphony
Wintersun - Time II
You’ll also likely notice, so I’ll go ahead and acknowledge, that the albums which released this past Friday are not included above. That’s purely to keep you in suspense for five more seconds and artificially shorten this list.
The first five albums above have already had their first listens, and (spoiler alert!) the trio of Mothica, Simone Simons, and Sabrina Carpenter are looking to start a run of good scores. I’m really looking forward to breaking those down and discussing them.
For my metalheads out there, Leprous is a highly anticipated release for me, personally. Not everybody loves Solberg’s tendency to leap head-first into falsetto, but you gotta admit the dude has range. I’ve also added Wintersun’s long-awaited Time II to the list. I have to confess that I’ve completely slept on Time — haven’t heard it yet — but I understand it’s a bit of a cult classic or something. I’ll be giving it a listen before I jump into the new album, though.
Then! Two artists discovered through TikTok:
Be/Hold has been posting some killer Synth Fusion tracks; just serious fire. So when the dude said he had an album out, I added it.
Indie Pop singer/songwriter Paris Paloma has had several songs light up on TikTok and elsewhere, but none so much as “Labour” — I guarantee you’ve heard this feminist anthem somewhere by now. At least a snippet of it. And for good reason: it’s everything that a fiery, political pop anthem should be.
Oh, and Awolnation should hopefully provide some good Alt Rock. I doubt we’ll get anything as classic as “Sail”, but their last album was actually very good.
September Release Radar
Here we go! Biggest release month of the year with….ten? albums?
Only ten?
Surprisingly slim pickings this year. The last two years had 18 and 20, respectively. There were a couple more I possibly could have added, but I am being a little conservative, given how this year has gone thus far.
Still, good shit here!
9/6
Missy Higgins
George Strait
9/13
Nada Surf
Oceans of Slumber
Miranda Lambert
9/20
Nightwish
Charlotte Wessels
Seether
The Waeve
9/27
Nina Nesbitt
We’re kicking the month off with releases from Missy Higgins, an acoustic Indie Pop artist best known for her song “Where I Stood”; and George Strait, one of the most acclaimed and beloved Country artists of the 80s and 90s. While a lot of modern Country artists pander to Blue-Collar workers and farmers, Strait is the real deal.
Those two albums have, as of this writing, already released! Which is a first for my monthly Radar posts.
It was bound to happen, eventually.
This coming Friday, we have another Country/Western artist, Miranda Lambert, whose primary trait has always been attitude. Her music has always represented strong-willed and strong-minded women; sometimes, as with “Kerosene”, it’s downright fiery.
Joining her is Nada Surf, an Indie Rock and Power Pop act from NYC. Their last album came out in 2020, so they’re a bit overdue for a release at this point. Here’s hoping they’ve used the extra time to cook something great.
But most importantly — Oceans of Slumber are back with a new album. And, frankly, I have no idea what to expect beyond Cammie Gilbert’s gorgeous vocals. The band has only been releasing albums for just over a decade, but they’ve migrated through a lot of genric territory, starting out as MeloDeath and migrating more into Prog territory, though, through all of it, they’ve always been Gothic and Doom, as well. Their last album, though, saw them leap over into lighter territory, verging on Rock, as the content-based Southern Gothic genre really defined that album.
I do know that it’s supposed to be a concept album of some sort. And I do know that it will be dark and haunting. That’s all I’ve got, but that’s all I need to know.
The third Friday of the month includes two strong Symphonic releases. Nightwish is one of the biggest names in Metal outside of the classic Heavy and Thrash acts. This will be their third release with Floor Jansen, and officially reduces Tarja Turunen’s tenure to exactly half of the band’s discography.
The other is Charlotte Wessels, who was once the frontwoman of Delain, but has now launched a fairly strong solo career. Her first album was mid, at best, but her second featured stronger compositions and really just worked. I’m curious to see what she has in store for her third outing.
Seether should be well-known enough by now. Their gritty Alt-Rock/Metal sound is an old favorite, at this point. The Waeve, however, are a new Folk/Prog Rock act who sound very interesting. They released their debut album last year, but I’m saving my first impression for the sophomore effort, which releases this month.
Finally, Nina Nesbitt is a Scottish singer/songwriter in the Indie Folk/Rock/Pop space. The reviews cited on her Wikipedia page also mention R&B and Electropop, so I’m very curious about how her sound blends.
Linkin Park is back!….maybe….
This has been the news of the month so far. There’s been a lot of building hype, including memes about the suspense and failed guesses as to who the new vocalist was going to be.
And then the announcement hit, and the instant reaction was mixed — I’ll address this first:
It makes sense. The easiest way to move on as a new Linkin Park and minimize the “but it’s not Chester” whining is to make the change a bit more drastic. How better to do that than by bringing in a female vocalist?
There is no going back, unfortunately. And the band can either stick with the name in order to keep themselves at the top (by default) and try to honor Chester’s legacy; or they could have changed the band’s name and basically started over. The choice there is obvious. And if you’re going to keep the name, you have to change some key element of the sound in order to move forward. Emily Armstrong makes sense for that.
And, let’s be real, she killed it on this lead single. If you haven’t heard “The Emptiness Machine”, you should give it a listen. The weakness in this song isn’t Armstrong — it’s Mike Shinoda. His vocals sound like a landlord’s all-white paintjob here.
But Armstrong leaned in and stole the show. Her screams sounded like Linkin Park — all of the emotion and rage that Chester was always great at bringing to the fore, she demonstrated it here.
Anybody who railed against her immediately was likely just being sexist.
Then, we get to the second wave of controversy.
Cedric Bixler-Zavala, lead singer of The Mars Volta, and his wife, Chrissie Carnell-Bixler, an actress (note how her career had barely begun, with only two credits to her name, and she did nothing after her appearance on That 70s Show), have dropped some hefty accusations on Armstrong:
The Bixlers were avid Scientologists, themselves, for a while. Bixler is on record in 2015 crediting them with his changed perception of drugs. In 2017, though, he flipped hard. Likely because they were protecting Danny Masterson, a fellow Scientologist, after Bixler learned that Masterson had assaulted his wife. The claims included in the screenshot, above, indicate that during the initial trial in 2022, a group of Scientologists, including Armstrong, organized to intimidate the plaintiffs — and, I’ll remind you, the plaintiffs are Jane Doe rape victims whose identities have been protected by the Court.
These allegations are serious (though, given the long string of allegations hurled at the Church of Scientology by those who have left it, they aren’t surprising). Already, rapists typically get off with light sentences if they get sentenced at all.1
So, on Friday, September 6th, Armstrong replied:
At first, this seems all well and good and passable. But it also reads like a million other bland apology statements. Most importantly, it mentions neither Masterson’s name nor the Church of Scientology. Now, this could be because, as the Bixlers and their dead dog can tell you, the Church of Scientology actively retaliates against those who badmouth the Church or its members.
Or — OR — it’s because she’s still an active member.
While it may be gauche, or downright bigoted, to make decisions about somebody based entirely on their religious affiliation, I do believe that participating in a for-profit cult with as many controversies and legal challenges (click here for extensive list) as the Church of Scientology does merit an exception to the rule.
The Bixlers agree.
The Bixlers (rightfully) feel very strongly about anybody associated with Masterson during that trial. Clearly. They’re enraged and emotional.
But are they wrong?
Armstrong has not denied any of the accusations. I appreciate that she took a little responsibility for her actions, but failing to call out the perpetrators by name blunts the apology. Failing to clearly state that she is no longer associated with the organization who “asked” her to participate makes it entirely worthless.
As the situation is evolving, I am still very much on the fence about whether I’ll be enjoying the new LP LP. If there is no concrete evidence that she has cut ties with Scientology by the time it releases on November 15th.
However, given that Chester Bennington’s son, Jaime, is right at the front of the angry mob, that seems unlikely.
Beyond August
The full radar is always available, and lists offerings which are still months away. Here are five things to expect in the coming months:
I should start by noting that I already have an equal number of released (10) flagged for October, and I expect that to grow by at least a handful.
Radiohead spin-off group The Smile will be releasing their third album in as many years on October 4th. This will be the second release from the group in 2024.
Coldplay is releasing the same day, if that interests you.
The next Opeth album is finally arriving on October 11th. This is now one of my most anticipated albums for the remainder of 2024
I’ve also added a release by Willie Nelson to the schedule on November 1st, alongside prog rockers Vola. Nelson is so far removed that I don’t really expect to love the album; but I do love the man, and I want to take the opportunity to pay him some goddam respect.
Fuck you, Brock Turner, and especially (former) Judge Aaron Persky.