Full disclosure: I have never understood adults who celebrate Halloween. In fact, if I’m being honest, I think there’s something weird (and not in a good way) about grownups who are excited to wear costumes to a party. Having said that, I definitely enjoy treats. Which is why I dug up 18 of them for you — with not a single trick in the bunch. Grab a handful and please don’t TP my house:
Jeremie Albino
Our Time In The Sun
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When Jeremie Albino was a teenager, he started busking around Toronto, setting up along the boardwalk or on a street corner downtown, wherever he thought he might find some passersby. “Usually nobody was listening,” he says, “but occasionally one or two people would tell me it sounded great. They had places to be and things to do, but they would stop and listen for a little while. That kind of interaction felt very special to me, and that’s when I realized I really do love performing. That’s when I realized I could hold a listener’s interest and give something back to them.” That experience set Albino on his path, and it showed him how much joy can be found in the simple act of connecting with a listener, whether it’s an entire crowd or just one person in that crowd. Since then, he has refined a vital and idiosyncratic mix of styles and sounds that are rooted in tradition but grasping toward the future: His songs are grounded in the gritty storytelling of classic country music, propelled by the rhythms of old-school R&B, played with the wild abandon of early rock ’n’ roll, and sung with the deep feeling of southern soul. Thanks to his sweaty, livewire concerts, he has been steadily growing his audience from a few passersby to packed houses around Canada and the U.S. Our Time In The Sun, his soulful fourth solo album, sounds like the culmination of what he started out on the street corners of Toronto.”
Thee Alcoholics
Bear Bites Horse Sessions
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Crankers of amp, torturers of fuzzbox and denizens of small-hours salvation, Thee Alcoholics dished out a rancorous and righteous debut in their decent Feedback — one that filtered gnarled riffage and motorik malevolence through a uniquely debauched prism in pursuit of some extremely ill-advised audial dystopia. Thee Alcoholics may have started life as the home-birthed brainchild of Rhys Llewellyn, yet an evolution since has proven the ultimate form of this beastly creation to be the live arena. In assembling cohorts to turn these visceral jams into something to shake rafters and rattle pint-glasses, new frontiers of ornery intensity have made themselves manifest, and such is the form of the monstrous Bear Bites Horse Sessions, a live-in-the-studio document recorded with Wayne Adams at Bear Bites Horse studio in Haggerston, London, chronicling a band breathing life into a Stoogian paradigm, and doing so apparently whilst barely breaking a sweat.”
Arbes
Counterways
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Arbes‘ long-awaited debut album Counterways exists on the cusp between ethereal and the more attention-seeking concerns of pop. The record invites listeners into an unusual sonic world of atmospheric depth. Comparisons can be drawn to New York post-punk of a more colourful bent, running from Blondie all the way through to Gang Gang Dance. The dream pop of Scotland’s Cocteau Twins has always been apparent, while the album’s gritty art rock juxtaposed by ambience brings to mind Deerhunter. Glimmering flashes of psychedelia lend from the likes of Melody’s Echo Chamber. The 10-track album explores romantic dreaming and the struggle to (not) understand and to be understood. It memorialises glimmers of connection, discontentment and longing. Frontwoman Jess Zanoni explains: “Counterways reflects the multiplicity of emotional memory. It’s both confession, and a fear of this confession. Desire is the throughline across the record, manifesting in many conflicting selves.”
Common Saints
Cinema 3000
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Common Saints’ debut Cinema 3000. A record as vast and ambitious as its title might suggest, it takes the hallmarks that have come to define the project — warm, luscious musicality; filmic sensibilities; positivity and a grounded sense of spirituality and hope. It’s an album with a considered point of view, both musically and lyrically; one designed, from opening track Sweet Release’s ’70s psych-folk nods and multipart harmonies to closer Sweet Surrender’s acceptance of the passing of time, to really make you feel. Recorded over a number of years in his home studio, with Charlie J Perry playing piano, drums, guitar, bass, vocals, dulcimer and percussion (with a little help from Alfie Templeman on drums and guitar for Sweet Surrender), Cinema 3000 is audibly the work of someone in love with their craft, creating the music that they want to hear.”
Elvis Costello
King Of America & Other Realms
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Elvis Costello’s King Of America & Other Realms celebrates and explores the songwriter’s lifelong love, fascination, and influence of American music, spanning his many albums and inspired collaborations with some of the most celebrated musicians, songwriters and producers in this music, including his longtime creative partnership with T Bone Burnett. Compiled by Costello, the six-disc Super Deluxe Edition box set traces Costello’s musical travels from Hollywood — where the King Of America album was recorded — to a brand-new take on that album’s opener, Brilliant Mistake, recorded in Cape Fear, N.C. in early 2024, via Costello’s recording adventures in New Orleans, Oxford and Clarksdale, Miss., Nashville and Memphis. This one-of-a-kind 97-track musical journey is guided by Costello in a newly self-penned 35-page essay beautifully illustrated with numerous rare and never-before-seen photos in a 57-page booklet. The discs are housed in a handsome 12” x 11.5” package. A cover shot by Terence Donovan reveals the majesty and absurdity of a king in his velvet and bejeweled crown and embroidered denim jacket.”
The Cure
Songs Of A Lost World
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The Cure’s long-awaited new album Songs Of A Lost World is their 14th studio release and first in 16 years. Songs from the record were previewed during The Cure‘s 90-date, 33-country Shows Of A Lost World tour, for more than 1.3 million people to overwhelming fan and critical acclaim. Speaking about the first single Alone, Robert Smith says, “It’s the track that unlocked the record; as soon as we had that piece of music recorded I knew it was the opening song, and I felt the whole album come into focus. I had been struggling to find the right opening line for the right opening song for a while, working with the simple idea of ‘being alone’, always in the back of my mind this nagging feeling that I already knew what the opening line should be… as soon as we finished recording I remembered the poem Dregs by the English poet Ernest Dowson… and that was the moment when I knew the song — and the album — were real.”
The Fleshtones
It’s Getting Late (…and More Songs About Werewolves)
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In a world where there are no more heroes, The Fleshtones walk the earth like Roman gods. It’s Getting Late (…and More Songs About Werewolves) is a smash that could have dropped at any point in the band’s epic career — it is an outburst, and a celebration of the super rock sound. Unlike their contemporaries, they have not dialed down the tempos to compensate for osteoporosis, they have not lost anything on their fastball, and continue to throw it for strikes. The hardest-working band in garage rock has never sounded better, and now you see why they’ve been your favorite band’s favorite band for decades.”
Warren Haynes
Million Voices Whisper
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Warren Haynes’ musical journey began even before he ever picked up a guitar. “I was singing in my bedroom, trying to emulate all my favorite soul singers,” he recalls. “Those early impressions and influences are very deep and tend to stay with you.” That streak of soul runs strong through his new album, Million Voices Whisper. It’s the first solo album in almost a decade from the revered Allman Brothers guitarist and founder of Gov’t Mule, and it’s a change from his last, more acoustic-oriented solo effort. Sounding as energetic and focused as ever, Haynes this time powers through a set of soulful blues-rock accompanied by members of his current all-star band. They include John Medeski on keyboards, longtime drummer Terence Higgins (of Dirty Dozen Brass Band), and Gov’t Mule’s new bassist Kevin Scott. The album also features guest appearances from his Allman Brothers Band compatriot Derek Trucks, and from his Last Waltz Tour co-stars Lukas Nelson and Jamey Johnson.”
Mayflower Madame
Insight
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Norwegian post-punk duo Mayflower Madame return with their third studio album. The lead singles, A Foretold Ecstasy and Paint It All in Blue, have garnered widespread acclaim and extensive radio support. These tracks offer just a glimpse of what the album delivers — an expansive canvas of pulsating post-punk, shimmering shoegaze, and atmospheric psych-noir, masterfully blended with delicate sonic nuances. Mixed and mastered by Maurizio Baggio (known for his work with The Soft Moon, Boy Harsher, and The Vacant Lots), Insight showcases the band refining their sound into a sharper and more expansive sonic landscape than ever before. This album sees them exploring greater depths and heights, delivering a hypnotic journey through the shadows, filled with haunting melodies and dreamy melancholia. At the same time, it remains catchy and dynamic, with moments of vibrant brightness.”
