Chris’s Picks: September Releases

The two records I’m most excited about this year are both being released on September 12: Liquid Mike and Algernon Cadwallader.

Liquid Mike returns with Hell Is An Airport, the follow up to their previous excellent album Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot which landed near the top of Chris’s Picks for 2024’s best albums. Liquid Mike play fuzzed-out power pop, but the early tracks from the new album show glimpses of sonic growth with flourishes of horns on top of the feedback. The songs are short, the jokes punch hard, and the melodies are all ear worms. This record is sure to be one of the best of the year. Liquid Mike just wrapped a tour with Descendents and will spend the rest of the year opening up for Militarie Gun.

The other record? Yep, that’s an emo band from Pennsylvania. Algernon Cadwallader are back, and I couldn’t be more excited. As someone with Make Emo Great Again in their Instagram bio, Trying Not To Have A Thought is certain to be an instant classic around here. Algernon Cadwallader’s follow up to their 2011 full-length Parrot Files is an album that’s sure to attract a lot of attention as it’s the first release from the group in 14 years. The band is also touring, so I hope to add to my T shirt collection this fall. Although there is only one single, “Hawk”, the promise of new music from the band is enough to make them my second most-anticipated release of 2025.

Want to buy these records? Try Bandcamp! https://www.bandcamp.com