5 BEST ALBUMS OF THE MONTH – SEPTEMBER 2026
29 September 2026
– 1 –
Photo Turn Up The Volume – Antwerp, Belgium
Band: ECHO & THE BUNNYMEN
Who: The indestructible Liverpool post-punk-pop rockers who have
no expiration date, fronted by big mouth/songwriter Ian McCulloch.
Album: APPLES FOR ISAAC.
Their 13th, and first in 12 years.
UNCUT (British music monthly magazine) says: “The album draws deep on Mac’s rich and strange memories of the 1970s, outside of the holy trinity of Bowie, Cohen and Reed. On an album keen not to outstay its welcome, you feel, quite reasonably, that this one should have
run maybe three times as long.
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TUTV: Almost 50 years into their career, The Bunnymen come up with their first masterwork of the 21st Century after 4 average albums, but in the meantime, still delivering electrifying goods on their never-ending touring. It matches their 1999 LP
What Are You Gonna Do With Your Life?
Like that grand opus, this new one is a near-solo Ian McCulloch effort, musically
and lyrically. Longtime brother in arms, Will Sergeant‘s role is relatively minimal.
As the line “Is this the blues I’m singing?” goes in their 1980’s classic cracker Rescue
that sentiment is all over the place right here. At 67, McCulloch also gets gripped by melancholia, by memories of a lifetime. He translates them into his often cryptic, poetic,
and shadowy language and embeds them in a stunning series of astounding tunes enflamed by his eternally awesome voice.
The outcome is strikingly vital. Not one weak moment, and with Can’t Be Sold, Brussels Is Haunted, I’ll Be Your Sunshine, The Light That Surrounds You, Lab Rats Ran, and We Prayed In The Dark as the 24-karat gold nuggets.
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Artist: SEASICK STEVE
Who: The seasoned blues rocker, born Steven Gene Leach
75 years ago in Oakland, California
Album: THE LAST SEASON OF AMERICA
His 14th.
TUTV: The downfall of Trump’s Divided States Of Hate (“We got a criminal running this
place. He got lies written all over his face”) makes Seasick Steve angry, confused, mournful and combative. Except for MAGA, almost the whole wide world despises today’s America
for its current failure on many levels and its global, disastrous impact.
That’s the record’s main theme. Dark clouds hang all over Steve‘s doomful grooves
and his brooding ballads. He also goes after all “useless motherfuckers and parasites
in the music industry“.
Steve doesn’t rock out much. He spits and sneers on many occasions. He boils inside.
No, this is not a happy album. It reflects the ill-omened signs of this historic, damaging,
and dangerously tumultuous American era.
Yet, in the end, Steve still believes in a healing metamorphosis if we all get together and make it happen, as he sings on the funky footstomper Bad Things: “There’s bad things, but we still can change. If you believe in hope, we can rearrange. I still believe in the power of love.”
It’s not over yet is Steve‘s underlying belief in a redeeming turnaround.
KEY SINGLE
It’s the last season of America
And we’ll never watch again
The show that we loved
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– 3 –
Photo by Luke Bovill
Artists: ARAB STRAP
Who: Trippy Scottish electro-pop vets, Aidan Moffat and
Malcolm Middleton (1995–2006, 2011, 2016–present).
Album: HALF-TOLD TALES
Their 9th.
UNCUT Magazine (UK): “Over Middleton’s fertile arrangements, Moffat’s
poetry offers the reassurance that good people still exist in the world.”
TUTV: It’s the Scots’ 3rd rad LP in 5 years, following 2021’s As Days Get Dark and 2024’s bizzarly titled I’m Totally Fine With It 👍 Don’t Give A Fuck Anymore 👍. Yep, they
have their musical hat trick in the pocket.
On Half-Told Stories, half of the tracks are designed to rock out and freak out while trying
to pogo your way around the dancefloor in your head. More and more, the long-serving duo’s mix of trippy electronics and bouncy rock undercurrents comes with pumped-up, pounding decibels, like you can experience, among other stompers, to the full extent on the 3 dumbfounding singles (hear below)
Then again, half the record contains laid-back breathers, letting poetic storyteller Moffat look out the window and reflect on all things weird whirling in his mind, with his trademark wit and dark humour.
Put everything – low and slow, fast and fervent – together and you know for a certified
fact that the Scots delivered another buzzworthy showpiece for end-of-the-year lists.
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– 4 –
Pukkelpop Fest, Belgium – 21 August 2026 – Photo by Turn Up The Volume
BAND: GURRIERS
Who: Fast-rising, voltaic
indies from Dublin, Ireland.
Album: NOBODY’S COMING TO SAVE YOU
Their 2nd.
DIY Magazine (UK) wrote: “A tense, exhilarating follow-up that digs even deeper into
the dark, searching for signs of light. The 10 tracks creak, judder and detonate, riding fuse-like guitar scratches and claustrophobic drums. There’s doom and gloom, but Gurriers aren’t cheap nihilists – they understand the human spirit and the vitality of kinship.
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TUTV: Without a shadow of a doubt, one of the hottest records of the year. They rock,
they punk, and they punch with blood-and-guts fervour. They’re on a quest to find the
light at the end of the tunnel to replace today’s dark times. Watch your back, Fontaines, your fellow committed countrymen are coming fast.
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– 5 –
Band: GILLA BAND
Who: Razor-blade-cutting,
idiosyncratic Irish post-punks.
Album: PUGNELLO.
Their 4th and first in 4 years.
Pitchfork says: “Exploding its signature blend of noise-punk and dance music to masterful extremes, the Irish band gets louder, rawer, funnier, and more methodical on its exhilarating fourth album.”
TUTV: I follow/love these Irishmen since I saw them live in Belgium in 2014
as nervous snotnoses hadn’t a record out yet, as support act for Fat White
Family. Their chainsaw hullabaloo went through bone and marrow.
And it still does. Mind you, their songs had and still have bloodcurdling body and returning, capriocious structure that’s bone-chilling and mind-blowing at times, while frontman Dara Kiely fights upfront to vomit his eccentric lyrics. If your eardrums survive
this electric-chair experience, you’re ready for some more sonic Gilla Band blitzkrieg.
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