Every month, our writers and editors spotlight a few of their favourite new music from the previous 4 weeks for ipromiseyoumedia‘s Employees Picks column. Take a look at the choices for the perfect albums of September 2025 under.
Anyone higher get up Inexperienced Day, as a result of September is over! This month was a whirlwind of nice new albums and spectacular statements. It hasn’t even been every week, however Geese’s phenomenal new report Getting Killed seems like a timeless gem; in the meantime, Cardi B resurfaced along with her fiery, long-awaited sophomore album, Am I the Drama?. Plus, rewarding returns from the likes of Wednesday, Algernon Cadwaller, Liquid Mike, Nation of Language, Parcels, and extra.
Listed in alphabetical order, listed below are our favourite albums of September 2025.
Algernon Cadwaller — Making an attempt To not Have a Thought
Associated Video
There was one thing in regards to the emo revival scene. Although the acts by no means appeared to final all that lengthy, their uncooked performances and melodic songwriting have left a legacy that’s nonetheless revered in indie circles to at the present time. Happily, Algernon Cadwallader, probably the greatest bands to return out of the scene, have risen from the lifeless and graced followers with a model new album, Making an attempt To not Have a Thought.
The brand new set boasts mathy riffs, twinkly guitars, yelpy vocals, and off-kilter tune constructions — in different phrases, it’s Algernon Cadwallader via and thru. If something has discernibly modified within the chemical response of their music, it’s an added sense of lived expertise within the lyricism. Frontman Peter Helmis’ shouts really feel simply as impassioned as they did on previous releases, however now come accompanied by an extra sense of perspective, trying each outward and inward. In consequence, their regular angst stays warranted, well timed, and pressing. — Jonah Krueger
Learn Algernon Cadwaller break down Making an attempt To not Have a Thought track-by-track right here.
Stream Making an attempt To not Have a Thought on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
anaiis — Devotion & the Black Divine
On her new album, anaiis faces the hearth. The French-Senegalese artist traces her evolution in direction of a better self via soulful compositions. “We needed to die to seek out some peace,” she sings on the album’s opening monitor “One thing Is Damaged,” alluding to the continued wrestle of liberation whereas honoring her predecessors, who function a guiding power on this mission. She touches on the newfound pleasure of motherhood on “Deus Deus” and “My World (Past),” and the energy of collectivity on “In Actual Time.” Devotion & The Black Divine is an introspective meditation on therapeutic, love, and freedom. — Solar Noor
Stream Devotion & the Black Divine on Apple Music or Amazon Music
Cardi B — Am I the Drama?
After seven years of pump fakes, Cardi B lastly launched her sophomore album, Am I the Drama? Her anxieties round releasing it had been all for naught, because the album turned out to be a singularly entertaining manifestation of the experiences she’s been amassing for years. At 23 tracks, Am I the Drama? is overstuffed and messy, however it maintains its defiant vitality. As famous in our assessment: “A maybe unknowing participant within the convoluted recreation of drama, Cardi B remains to be determining when to play her hand or give up the sport fully. She’s one of many pre-eminent MCs of contemporary rap, and she or he has to appreciate that the principles that she performed by in 2018 don’t apply anymore. In comparison with its predecessor, Am I the Drama? isn’t any Invasion of Privateness, and the passage of time is usually at fault. Whereas lightning could not have struck twice, Cardi B is nearer to preventing kind than she’s been in years, false begins included. She’s gotten up each time she’s been knocked down, however the tally — and the expectations — are rising.” — Kiana Fitzgerald
Stream Am I the Drama? on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
Cate Le Bon — Michaelangelo Dying
Solely Cate Le Bon could make unhappiness really feel profoundly lovely. On her seventh album, the Welsh musician lets her guard down, discovering solace in vulnerability. Her surrealist musings emerge via a veil of heartache, embodying the sweetness and emotional depth of a renaissance portray. Cate Le Bon redirects her ache in direction of acceptance and understanding with this lovely, pensive, and infrequently humorous assortment of songs. — S. Noor
Stream Michaelangelo Dying on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
crushed — no scope
Shaun Durkan and Bre Morell have arrived with their long-awaited debut album as crushed, and it’s a downright beautiful assortment. no scope is the sensation of being cloaked in a delicate blanket, consuming tea, and watching the blizzard; it’s the dopamine rush of rediscovering one in every of your favourite songs from childhood, the fond recollections of yore assembly your present self in actual time. It’s dreamy and serene, however the duo typically undercut this softness with a contact of distorted guitar and a touch of doubt, all the time prepared to fulfill their purest sounds with the space of age and reminiscence. Nonetheless, as these songs gracefully land and transition into the following, there’s a satisfying kernel of interior peace that pervades all through. It’s like drugs. — Paolo Ragusa
Stream no scope on Apple Music or Amazon Music
Doja Cat — Vie
Doja Cat’s new album Vie is the artist’s concerted effort to redefine her function throughout the world of pop music. As much as the current, Doja has been pop’s most important antagonizer, typically ruffling feathers for the sake of claiming she did it. On her newest, she appears to be transferring away from that stance of leisure agitation, and towards taking her artwork critically — or so it appears. As shared in our assessment: “Doja Cat’s expertise has by no means been a query, however slightly how she chooses to have interaction with it. She has traditionally been deeply unserious in her assessments of her personal work — however with Vie, it’s clear that she’s in search of to know herself a bit extra broadly this time round. ‘Jealous Kind,’ the album’s New Jack Swing-inflected lead single, not directly illustrates the battle of Doja as an keen artist who feels each overexposed and misunderstood: ‘Boy, let me know if that is careless, I/ Could possibly be torn between two roads that I simply can’t determine/ Which one is main me to hell or paradise?’” — Ok. Fitzgerald
Stream Vie on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
Geese — Getting Killed
Don’t let the title of their new album idiot you — Geese are very a lot alive. After launching their profession as scrappy youngsters, debuting with the post-punky Projector (and nabbing a CoSign for it), the band has solely continued to develop, culminating of their new album, Getting Killed. Not solely is the mission Geese’s greatest providing but, it’d simply be one of the inventive indie rock information of the 2020s.
There’s loads for followers to like in relation to Getting Killed. The tracks boast fascinating manufacturing and orchestration selections, in addition to sticky stanzas that die-hards will undoubtedly reference all through the remainder of the 12 months. But, one easy, necessary reality brings all of it collectively: It’s actually rattling enjoyable to hearken to. Whether or not you’re combing via “Au Pays du Cocaine” to know why it feels so emotionally devastating regardless of its beautiful tone or shaking ass to “Bow Down,” Geese have you ever lined with a trumpet in a single hand and a pistol within the different. — J. Krueger
Learn our full assessment of Geese’s Getting Killed right here.
Stream Getting Killed on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
H09909 — Tomorrow We Escape
The punk-rap duo’s newest providing is as chaotic as it’s heartfelt. Tomorrow We Escape captures the uncooked and unfiltered vitality of their earlier works with a private contact. theOGM and Yeti Bones assert their energy on “Goal Follow,” and “OK, I’m Reloaded,” two dynamic, high-octane cuts from the report. On the identical time, tracks similar to “Immortal” that includes Chelsea Wolfe and “Psychic Jumper,” tackle a extra light tone, demonstrating their vary. With their distinctive mix of hardcore, hip-hop, and rock, H09909 faucet into the uncooked vitality that drew them to the plenty. — S. Noor
Stream Tomorrow We Escape on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
Liquid Mike — Hell Is an Airport
For those who’re in any respect excited by power-pop, Guided by Voices-esque indie rock, or melodic bangers with massive guitars and even greater choruses, you’ve possible already helped your self to a pleasant, tall glass of Liquid Mike. Their again catalog and final 12 months’s breakthrough album, Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot, communicate for themselves. And when you haven’t but quenched your thirst for rock ‘n’ roll with Liquid Mike, now’s nearly as good a time as ever to take that first sip, because the Michigan band is again with one more wholesome serving to of their signature mix, Hell Is an Airport.
Boasting 14 songs starting from 77 seconds to a whopping 169 seconds in size, Hell Is an Airport finds Liquid Mike as environment friendly as ever. Small-town tales of struggling to determine all of it out and globetrotting tales of touring alike discover their approach into these nuggets of pure, guitar-driven goodness. Tracks like “AT&T” even appear to level to the band’s future, fusing their sticky songwriting with new timbres like tasteful record-scratching and Moog synthesizers. Hell could be an airport, however an excellent time is listening to a brand new Liquid Mike album. — J. Krueger
Learn Liquid Mike break down Hell Is an Airport track-by-track right here.
Stream Hell Is an Airport on Apple Music or Amazon Music
Lord Spikeheart — REIGN EP
Martin Kanja has been a pillar in Kenya’s metallic scene. The worldwide rise of his former grindcore group Duma has additionally cemented his standing as a pioneering power along with his modern strategy to heavy music. His newest solo EP serves as a continuation of his 2024 debut, The Adept, a collaborative effort that unified a variety of world artists that aimed to shatter the conventions of structural music. With the assistance of Sepultura’s former drummer Igor Cavalera, Togolese metallic act Arka’n Asrafoko, and French producers Brodinski and Vina Konda, Lord Spikeheart continues to push the needle ahead on this new report, contrasting harsh, industrial tones with melodic manufacturing. At its core, REIGN is a strong ode to resistance and reclamation. — S. Noor
Stream REIGN on Apple Music or Amazon Music
Maruja — Ache to Energy
We tagged Maruja as a band to look at in 2025, and the jazz-punk/artwork rock act has lastly arrived with their debut full-length LP, Ache to Energy. The report presents a extra full imaginative and prescient of what Maruja has been teasing throughout their numerous EPs, like Connla’s Effectively or Tír na nÓg, a very improvised launch from earlier this 12 months. On tunes like “Bloodsport” and “Trenches,” the quartet dip into noisy post-punk with a hip-hop chew, whereas on prolonged cuts like “Look Down On Us” or “Born to Die,” they information the listener alongside linear, post-rock voyages. No matter sonic form the band takes, although, their message of affection, hope, and togetherness is obvious. They actually exude a righteous anger on the state of issues, however, as they depart us with on the closing quantity “Reconcile,” they haven’t any concern and pray for love. — J. Krueger
Stream Ache to Energy on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
Nation of Language — Dance Known as Reminiscence
Now 4 albums in, Nation of Language have continued their unimaginable run. Dance Known as Reminiscence, the trio’s newest, is kind of probably their greatest providing but. In some way, they’ve managed to distill all of the elements of an incredible Nation of Language tune — buzzing, evocative synths, buoyant basslines, and climactic, cards-on-the-table refrains from vocalist Ian Devaney — and scatter them throughout each monitor. It’s the band at their purest, at the same time as anguish and grief surrounds them. The chord modifications, like on stunners “In Your Head,” “Below the Water,” and “Silhouette,” are sometimes fraught with feeling, the place Devaney sounds one comment away from both weeping or wailing in ecstasy.
Now signed to Sub Pop, it’s lovely to see the trio so invigorated. If there have been a Nation of Language album that lifts the band onto the following rung of the popular culture ladder, past indie notoriety, it deserves to be this one. Take a look at our Crate Digging with the group, the place they talk about 10 albums for dwelling within the metropolis that everybody ought to personal. — P. Ragusa
Stream Dance Known as Reminiscence on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
NewDad — Altar
From the hazy crawl of their early singles “Blue” and “Slowly,” NewDad have been specialists at capturing darkness. An excessive amount of that’s owed to Julie Dawson and Sean O’Dowd’s guitar tones, which borrow hues from goth, shoegaze, grunge, dream pop, and every little thing in between. Altar is NewDad’s sophomore album and their second in two years, and it picks up precisely the place their highly effective debut MADRA left off. Their caustic alt-rock is at its greatest when it’s matched by Dawson’s livid reflections and cathartic outbursts; all through Altar, she expresses dozens of various sentiments depicting anguish, but additionally paints photos of double requirements and toxicity in relationships with searing, vivid honesty. Followers of early Wolf Alice, Momma, Rocket, and Hotline TNT shall be enthused. — P. Ragusa
Stream Altar on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
Parcels — LOVED
I’ve seen a variety of dwell music, and Parcels are the perfect of the perfect in relation to dwell bands. They’re a singular organism and execute beaming five-part harmonies like an expert choir; they’re every virtuosos on their respective devices, and collectively, they’re an indestructible musical unit. LOVED, Parcels’ great new album, is totally indebted to the expertise of seeing the band in live performance, with a large emphasis on dwell vocals and dwell instrumentation. As its title recommend, the album finds Parcels drilling into the “love” theme tougher than ever; some songs are passionate messages of devotion, whereas others are grief-stricken breakup tunes. In consequence, and with a newfound honesty of their lyrical strategy, LOVED is the deepest and most spectacular assertion the band has ever provided.
Learn the band’s Monitor By Monitor breakdown of LOVED. — P. Ragusa
Stream LOVED on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
Rochelle Jordan — By the Wall
Rochelle Jordan strikes via music with the understanding of somebody who has lengthy understood her personal brilliance. In her eyes, the Los Angeles-based British-Canadian singer-songwriter is a soulful, experimental bridge connecting the evocative echoes of the previous with the boundless prospects of the longer term. Her new album, By the Wall, emerges because the shimmering thread stitching collectively a fractured musical panorama. Since assembly her inventive associate KLSH in 2009, Jordan has nurtured a daring fusion of alt-R&B and pulsating home/digital, cultivating a lush soundscape the place innovation blooms. With By the Wall, Rochelle Jordan crowns herself a radiant, reigning diva, slyly affirming her lineage on the bubbling “Ladida”: “Not only one, I birthed an excellent quantity/ All these sons, I watch ‘em run round.” — Ok. Fitzgerald
Stream By the Wall on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD
SG Lewis — Anemoia
SG Lewis makes dance music as crisp as crystal, appropriately utopian and brimming with ardour. Anemoia, the singer, songwriter, and producer’s newest, reprises the sharpest parts of his discography and provides one more assortment of euphoric bangers. “Sugar,” with fellow social gathering starter Shygirl, is of the album’s extra nostalgic modes, racing ahead with a euro-trance rush; “Reminiscence,” then again, exhibits that SG Lewis has his eye on the longer term, letting a spoken phrase meditation on transcendence give technique to a strong launch. Followers of Stuart Worth’s manufacturing work, nu-disco, and SG Lewis’ personal collaboration with Tove Lo, Membership Warmth, will possible love the thumping, elegant Anemoia. — P. Ragusa
Stream Anemonia on Apple Music or Amazon Music
Shallowater — God’s Gonna Give You a Million {Dollars}
Nice information for followers of Shallowater’s great debut album, There Is a Effectively: it wasn’t a fluke. Removed from it, in truth.
The Houston-based slowcore act unassumingly self-released that mission in late December of final 12 months and rapidly — and even perhaps just a little unexpectedly — discovered an viewers hungry for extra. Now, they’re putting whereas the iron is sizzling, following it up with one more spectacular full-length effort, God’s Gonna Give You a Million {Dollars}. Fortunately, not solely do the songs on the brand new set have simply as a lot melancholic appeal as these discovered on There Is a Effectively, additionally they showcase a deep understanding of their strengths: pressure, temper, and affected person however rewarding compositions. The tunes are lengthy, slow-moving, and liable to blow up in distorted guitars and sheer catharsis, making every seven-plus-minute-long minimize a guitar-based emotional odyssey. — J. Krueger
Stream God’s Gonna Give You a Million {Dollars} on Apple Music or Amazon Music
Wednesday — Bleeds
On Bleeds, Wednesday’s observe as much as their nice breakout effort Rat Noticed God, songwriter Karly Hartzman perfects her craft. Her and the band’s stylistic pursuits stay — ’90s indie rock, alt-country, noisy shoegaze — however the writing and performances really feel as constantly wonderful as ever. The delicate and candy tunes are sweeter than Pepsi-cola (“Elderberry Wine,” “The Method Love Goes”), the barn-burners are amped-up and minimize like a knife (“Actuality TV Argument Bleeds,” “Wasp”), and the intersection of the 2, Wednesday’s actual bread ‘n’ butter, could make a cowboy out of a slacker and an alt-rocker out of a redneck. Throw in a few of Hartzman’s stickiest, most affecting lyricism but, and also you’ve acquired an album that justifies each ounce of reward that’s been thrown Wednesday’s approach. — J. Krueger
Stream Bleeds on Apple Music or Amazon Music | Purchase on Vinyl/CD