Some of the best new music of the fall comes in the form of throwback sounds, revived careers and coversIllustration by Sarah Farquhar
There’s always something nostalgic about the back-to-school time of year, but in 2023, music is bringing nostalgia to the fore in a multitude of ways. Some of the best new music of the fall comes in the form of throwback sounds, revived careers, covers, tributes, sequels, reimagined soundtracks and even full-album rerecordings. The future is a remix of the past.
Nation of Language, Strange Disciple (Play It Again Sam, Sept. 15): This Brooklyn synth-pop trio (no, it’s really not 2011 any more) is one of the most pleasant new bands of the pandemic era, offering up two albums of jaunty hooks in a time of great gloom. Somehow they’re already giving us a third. Early singles Stumbling Still and Too Much, Enough continue to refine their post-punk influenced update on the sounds of New Order and Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark.
Doja Cat, Scarlet (Kemosabe/RCA, Sept. 22): The multi-hyphenate artist Doja Cat has swung from novelty songs to rap to pop to R&B, and now appears set to realign her Grammy-winning accolades more closely with hip hop again. She’s constantly seeking new ways to subvert expectations about her creativity, having dressed as an actual cat at the Met Gala, while more recently leaning into the aesthetics of horror films (or at least death itself) in videos for singles Paint the Town Red and Demons.
Pkew Pkew Pkew, Siiick Days (Stomp, Sept. 22)Supplied
Pkew Pkew Pkew, Siiick Days (Stomp, Sept. 22): Few bands write with such plain language about modern life and its absurdities as Pkew Pkew Pkew, a group that introduced itself to many fans with a song about skateboarding in your mid-20s called, well, Mid 20′s Skateboarder. The Toronto punk band continues its journey with Siiick Days, tackling regret (selling one’s PlayStation), anxiously dealing with text messages (Read Receipts) and the struggle of going out in one’s 30s (Trooper Cover Band; it’s been a few years since Mid 20′s Skateboarder). A standout exception with demonstrable maturity: the song Johan, which recounts, verbatim, a real-life message from a friend who was stuck in the U.S. Capitol during the 2021 insurrection.
Fefe Dobson, Emotion Sickness (Warner, Sept. 29): Twenty years after going platinum as one of Canada’s most understated pop-rock exports, Fefe Dobson is primed to take advantage of the genres’ punkish dovetailing being embraced by the likes of Willow Smith and Olivia Rodrigo (who was born the year of Dobson’s debut, and whose own sophomore album Guts dropped Sept. 8). Dobson is still a master of the sound, with a bit of indie sleaze thrown in: Recharge My Heart sounds like a Killers anthem, while songs such as Fckn In Love and Shut Up & Kiss Me embrace and occasionally subvert the radio-hit energy of Icona Pop.
Joseph Shabason, Welcome to Hell (Western Vinyl/Telephone Explosion, Oct. 20): The resurging style of that nineties skate culture keeps taking new forms, some more surprising than others. Enter Shabason, the prolific Toronto composer and musician, whose solo music might be (reluctantly) categorized as “experimental” – a bit jazzy, veering on ambient, alternatingly chill and slightly unsettling. Welcome to Hell is his personal rescoring to the 1996 skating video of the same name by the Toy Machine skateboard company. Its lead single replaces Iron Maiden’s Hallowed by Thy Name in Jamie Thomas’s skate session with uneasy jazz-rock fusion that syncs up satisfyingly enough that you’ll want to watch it again and again.
Various Artists, Sonny Don’t Go Away: A Tribute to Ron Hynes (Sonic, Oct. 20): It’s about time we got a proper tribute to Ron Hynes, the St. John’s troubadour who died in 2015. Co-produced by Great Big Sea alumni Alan Doyle – who contributes a cover of St. John’s Waltz with The Dardanelles, the band featuring CBC’s Tom Power – it features 20 Hynes songs performed by Newfoundland and Labrador artists.
Taylor Swift, 1989 (Taylor’s Version) (Republic, Oct. 27): The original 1989 arrived in the nascent days of streaming music, when artists including Taylor Swift could withhold their work from services such as Apple Music or Spotify, setting off full-on streaming wars. Now most services carry most major releases, but Swift is undergoing a different battle. She’s spent the past few years rerecording her back catalogue after mega-manager Scooter Braun took ownership of her original master recordings. Like she did in the streaming wars, Swift is releasing music on her own terms. 1989 is expected to be a high water mark. This October, let’s get nostalgic about one of the best nostalgic albums ever made.
Dolly Parton, Rockstar (Butterfly/Big Machine, Nov. 17): Sometimes good comes out of confusion. After initially rejecting her nomination to join the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, the country legend decided to make a rock album after all – bringing some of the biggest names in the genre with her and stuffing it with classic covers. Stevie Nicks, Joan Jett, John Fogerty, Sting, Judas Priest’s Rob Halford and Blondie’s Debbie Harry all show up – as do Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr, making a rare joint appearance on a cover of The Beatles’s own Let it Be.
A$AP Rocky, Don’t Be Dumb (A$AP Worldwide/RCA, TBA): It seemed at the start of last decade that A$AP Rocky was destined to be a hitmaking king of the decade: a rapper from New York popularizing DJ Screw’s chopped-and-screwed sound of the south, throwing hip hop’s regionalism into a blender. Instead, the foremost member of the A$AP Mob was scrutinizing in his release schedule, putting out far less music than many of his peers in the class of the early 2010s. Much like his partner Rihanna, he’s been allowing his relative musical absence to let the heart grow fonder. His first proper album since 2018′s Testing is almost out. Let’s hope it’s worth the wait.
Honourable mentions we didn’t have space to write up: Mitski, The Land Is Inhospitable and So Are We (Dead Oceans, Sept. 15); Kevin Drew, Aging (Arts & Crafts, Sept. 22); Kylie Minogue, Tension (Darenote/BMG, Sept. 22); Armand Hammer, We Buy Diabetic Test Strips (Fat Possum, Sept. 29); Metric, Formentera II (Metric Music International/Thirty Tigers, Oct. 13); Troye Sivan, Something to Give Each Other (Capitol, Oct. 13); Nicki Minaj, Pink Friday 2 (Young Money/Republic, Nov. 17).