We are entering the home stretch of the year, so I am nudging this monthly roundup a bit early to make sure I have enough time for a November post next month before year-ends start.
11 Songs I Heard in October (unranked)
10 Albums I Heard in October (lightly ranked)
Ashe: The Girl of Your Dreams
Comparing something favorably to Marit Larsen’s Under the Surface, which turns twenty this year, is very high praise from me, and this is probably the album that most reminds me of Under the Surface since it was released: disillusioned Disney princess w/ poison passion (and poison pen) marries the sensibilities of pre-rock adult pop and post-ABBA generalist disco. That’s a compliment but it’s also a bit backhanded—for one thing, these days I’m in the market for things that are not Under the Surface. For another, there is a hint of formalist distance remaining. Larsen inhabits (and broods in) ornate trappings with the plain open-heartedness of the teen confessional era, which she pioneered in M2M in 1999, while Ashe uses today’s more guarded register of knowing romantic cynicism, which wants big feelings without ever suggesting you might get caught as a mark. But the album’s still a pretty major achievement—that is to say, a major achievement in pretty.1
Fyore: FYORE
It’s “Fyore” by Fyore from the album Fyore at last! She doesn’t keep the “Fyore” fires raging throughout, but still does something interesting: a kind of casual guide to Francophone sounds, from Caribbean bouyon and shatta to the euphoric snyth signature of Haitian konpa to an R&B gloss on chanteuse, with global detours to grab some Brazilian funk and Jersey club when appropriate. Sounds like everywhere and…somewhere, which I guess means Montreal.
Trooper Salute: 友達がいました [Tomodachi Ga Imashita]
Jel Bugle album of the year hits an impressive breadth of what online pals call Jelcore—a gestalt that includes symphonic metal and indie schlub-rock (chops preferred) and J-pop and many other strands, here all braided into “symphonic indie” that is sumptuous without being twee, expansive without self-conscious genre-jamming, and artful without velvet rope pretensions.
THÉA: Popstar Speedrun
Trans French pop star who reminded me a few years ago of the teenagers imagined by My Chemical Romance on The Black Parade (another 20 year anniversary! Under the Surface was my #1; Black Parade was my #7). Now ventures into a hyper (and hyper-) pop take on MCR operatic bombast.
Lizzy McAlpine: Angel
Every so often Lizzy McAlpine writes a song that dredges up buried years of music theory that I half-absorbed, like the way she plays with Lydian and relative Dorian modes in “Broken Glass” on her last album. This year the chord chart scribbler was “I Have a Friend,” which expertly massages a few potentially jarring modulations in a way that took me a few listens to parse. There are lots of moves like that, many of them Joni Mitchell-esque, though the interest I have in the album wears a bit thin by the end of 14 deceptively complex but un-deceptively soft songs that occasionally threaten mush. For what it’s worth, the words are good.
Karen y Los Remedios: Bestiaria
A rec from Dan Bright Amaya, a reliable guide to Spanish-language and especially Spanish and Catalan pop, though this one is from Mexico. I guess you could call it downtempo cumbia—they bill themselves as “trip-hop” (why not), and I like how the Latin rhythmic styles interact with much icier surroundings, everyone dancing slowly on the verge of hypothermia.
Ella Thompson: Triumph and Sadness
Pastiche is only as good as its details, and you can usually trust a Bongo label (Mr. B. or Les Disques B. Joe) to be studiously detail-oriented (this one’s Mr. Bongo). Thompson’s singing, by avoiding show-off virtuosity and not getting in the way of the arrangements, makes the thing feel truer to its nostalgia tripping. Too often soul singers are sort of plopped on top of the retro styling rather than getting right into the grooves.
Ayra Starr: Starrgirl
I have dutifully listened to Sheldon Pearce’s great non-Tyla hope for African pop music crossing over in the US, and agree that this album is better than Tyla’s. But having more personality doesn’t necessarily mean the album has enough personality.
Midwest, Post Death: Post Recovery
My periodic request for albums to Bluesky fellow travelers yielded this raucous emo-leaning indie (I think it’s not vice versa?) from E.A., who says: “a blend of experimental emo hyper-pop garage rock and it’s one of my favorite albums this year. Also, the band has pledged to donate profits to The Trevor Project, so lots of good reasons to check it out!”
Twerp: 1000 Ways to Hotwire Your Life EP
A charmer from Post-Trash—Twerp have an oddly chipper take on wiry post-punk—I guess this is late stage “egg punk”?—with room for noodling and little guitar gags (like the solos and snippet of the US national anthem that concludes the EP). It gives me a sense that their punk forbears are at least two generations removed, inherited from grandparents, or from a bunch of albums found in a box at an estate sale.
1. Ella Thompson: Beloved
Australia
The Mr. Bongo soul pastiche referenced above in the albums round-up sets the tone for a very Golden Beatology-coded intro suite before things get any weirder.
2. Gabriels f. Say She She: Break It
UK/US
Easy vibes continue with Say She She adding some color to a UK duo doing competent but somewhat nondescript neo-soul. But the drums sound good and it hangs together.
3. Dummy: Full Spectrum Dominance
US
Baggy spotted!! I have not really gone into the elaborate online music nerd inside joke of using the maracas emoji to indicate the baggy level, but I would give this one four out of five maracas.
4. Peki Momés: Ahşap Kutu
Turkey-Germany
Perfect transition to the last of the warm-up suite, what I’d call vaguely cosmo-pop is described in the Bandcamp bio as “outernational,” which is a bit Pooh tuxedo meme to me.
5. Marissa Mur: Amor Bonito
Mexico
Pretty Mexican folk-pop. It’s nice to start one of these mixes as a warm bath rather than a bracing splash of cold water to the face.
6. Joki, Zinoleesky: Bullion Van
Norway/Nigeria
Zinoleesky remains my favorite source of Naija pop vocal grain, and he sustains most of the interest against ultrasleek Afropiano from a Norwegian producer.
7. Ricky Bishop: Big Pöppa
France
French melodic rapper carelessly speeds through Biggie and has a lot of fun with it. Includes the runner-up title lyric for the week: “and when I’m bored, I make bangers on the computer.” Relatable!
8. DJ Suzy f. Nourished by Time: so sw33t
Sweden/US
Flimsier than it is sweet, given a bit of ballast from the Nourished by Time counterpoint, even if he doesn’t exactly threaten to tear the tissue paper.
9. Digdin, MC AM, Mc Dedé SP, FDD Marcone: Mete o Aço
Brazil
Another week, another inexplicable brain jolt from a specific drum timbre in a Brazilian funk track. This provides me an opportunity to share that I got my first MRI this week and so I was able to test whether you can mentally lay clave over the horrifying squelches the machine emits to reduce anxiety. (You can, but it’s a bit too slow for funk.)
10. Dj Aza, Dani Flow: Cachetes
Mexico
The synths here are closer to the literal sounds of the MRI but lack the oomph.
11. Proyecto Gomez Casa, Tomás Quintin Palma: Bienvenido al Caos
Argentina
Argentine dance-pop goofballs are practically at Eurovision levels of cheese, which stops just shy of being a dealbreaker.
12. Anna McClellan: Drank Earlier
US
Alt-country-indie trifle about drinking too much that stops just shy of needing an intervention.
13. Twerp: The Nuclear Option
US
The punk charmers from the intro with what I did not realize was the epic psych-rock closer (in comparison to the rest) about the hardest button not to button.
14. Narciso: Cuando Yo Me Vaya
Argentina
One of those bands whose sound and album art send you to Discogs to see if it’s archival only to find that they formed in 2023.
15. Darque, Zee Nxumalo: Ke Mang
South Africa
Zee Nxumalo on a lovely three-stepper (or close enough) from an Afrohouse producer.
16. Ahmed Saad: Kooty
Egypt
17. Elif Buse Doğan: Çok Kez
Turkey
18. Aneesh, Gamak Sinha, Kunnu: Ghoomariya
India
Three songs about which I have little to say and little email space to say it in. MENA pop continues to catch my ear with the silliest repetitive vocal hooks—this one does it with “kooty.” Add the “T” in MENAT and you get better representation, as I usually find at least one good Turkish pop song each week. Indian pop continues to be elusive in my methods and maybe to my taste, but something hits once in a while.
19. Ino Casablanca: Buena Onda
Morocco-Catalonia-France
Ino Casablanca, a rising French pop star born to Moroccan parents and raised in Catalonia, has a “deluxe” version of his late 2025 album that appears to have an additional disc that’s just a new album, and a good one, though heard it too late for the round up. I’d already picked this song out, though, which is very Morocco forward for something gaining traction in the current Francophone pop boom.
20. AMINAT: Bide My Time
UK
UK bedroom indie reminds me a bit of Shamir, who according to a recent post is has retired from releasing solo music.
21. Anna Shoemaker: Already Low
US
The Americana-fication of windowpane continues apace, but it’s bringing better chorus melodies along with it.
22. Максим Тощо [Maksim Toscho], Renie Cares: Немає Дурних [Nemae Durnix]
Ukraine
Ukrainian indie wafts and wanders pretty far past my interest in its near-seven-minutes, which is why it goes last. But this is the second mix appearance for Renie Cares, one to watch in December for the dubious distinction of most appearances on my mixes by a someone I don’t recognize! (Well, I guess I recognize her now.)
That’s it! Until next time, last call for album recommendations!
—Dave Moore (the other one)
Title from DJ Suzy f. Nourished by Time: So Sw33t
It was so good that it made me want to revisit RAYE’s overstuffed This Music May Contain Hope, which I ordered on CD and listened in speakers. I’m neither an audiophile nor a “listening context determines impact” purist, but that format opened it up enough to launch the album back into my top ten…just below Ashe.
I'm sorry you had to go through an MRI. If you need another one, can you bring your phone to make field recordings for later use?