Gold Soundz: The Best of September 2024

Highlighting the best music releases from September 2024

Oct 01, 2024

As we officially close out the best season of the year and embark on the final quarter of 2024, it’s hard to not gasp as the abundance of great music that still filling up our collective audio libraries. Narrowing down this list each month always proves to be a difficult task, but having to omit great releases like the latest from Floating Points, Regional Justice Center, and Alan Sparhawk, or the new live album from The War on Drugs or EPs from Tanukichan and Fcukers just goes to show how exemplary this month was for new music. Whether it’s sprawling ambient jazz, scuzzy rock and roll, or music made to get you moving and grooving on the dance floor, there’s no doubt that this month had something you’re bound to have on repeat.

Album of the Month:

MJ LENDERMAN | Manning Fireworks

Between the last two albums from his main band Wednesday, MJ Lenderman released his great solo record Boat Songs. Now, he’s dropped another fantastic album and it’s fair to question whether or not his popularity has surpassed his own band. The fact of the matter, however, is that regardless of how or when you first discovered the artist, MJ has now proven his role as one of indie rock’s most rewarding guitar players and Manning Fireworks might just be his best output yet. Building on the fuzzed-out noise of Neil Young and Crazy Horse or the intensity of Dinosaur Jr, what he’s accomplished here is one of the year’s best guitar albums and it closes out in a monolith of blown apart feedback that lingers on longer than you’d expect. It’s a wonder that at such a young age he’s already accomplished so much and just makes you think at what promises could lay ahead in an already prosperous career.

EP of the Month:

AXEL BOMAN | Space Drag EP

Flirting with a chilled-out sound and one that enables the rhythms of the dance floor, Axel Boman is no stranger to club music and his latest EP expands his quest with a dialed-in approach. There are wobbly beats and euphoric rhythms and he isn’t afraid to really stretch things out to build moods and atmospheres as sounds shift into new shapes with the subtle textures. Twitchy hi-hats, soft kick drums, and twinkling pianos all come into play on this one and even though it was mostly recorded during time spent isolating on an avocado farm, there’s still the euphoric feeling of togetherness and sparkling disco pleasures that Axel creates oh so well.

Reissue of the Month:

GALAXIE 500 | Uncollected Noise New York ’88-’90

Galaxie 500 didn’t exist for very long, but in their brief time together they managed to create a sound that has rippled across indie rock in the decades since their disbandment. As pioneers in slowcore and dream-pop they built a world that has been imitated by many, but few have reached the level of brilliance and impact as this trio and now they’ve pulled back the curtain to give us a rare glimpse into how their sonic landscape came to be. Culling from the scraps on the recording room floor, this is a look into the band’s iconic sound that many never thought we’d have the privilege to hear and it only goes to prove that even at their rawest moments, their creative force was the driving momentum into a whole new world of sound.

Don’t miss:

Concerts (in review)

PEARL JAM at Madison Square Garden // 9.4.2024
JACK WHITE at White Eagle Hall // 9.9.24
JANE’S ADDICTION / LOVE AND ROCKETS at Pier 17 // 9.10.24
WEEZER / FLAMING LIPS / DINOSAUR JR. at Madison Square Garden // 9.11.24
MILITARIE GUN at Baby’s All Right // 9.12.24
THE NATIONAL / THE WAR ON DRUGS at Forest Hills Stadium // 9.13.24
PAN AMERICAN + KRAMER at (le) poisson rouge // 9.14.24
ASTRID SONNE at Public Records // 9.23.24
NEIL YOUNG AND THE CHROME HEARTS at The Capitol Theatre // 9.24.24
IDLES / THE WALKMEN at Forest Hills Stadium // 9.27.24
ALL THINGS GO MUSIC FESTIVAL at Forest Hills Stadium // 9.28-29.24

The Shape of Music to Come

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