September was one of those months where there was no shortage of good new music. Every month, we share the albums we genuinely love so you can discover new music and maybe a few new artists you’ve never heard before. With so many records dropping every week, great ones get buried fast, especially when they’re not major label. So think of this as our filter for the best new indie and alternative albums of 2026.
This month runs the gamut from cathartically abrasive to heartbreakingly tender. Sylvan Esso return after four years with the dystopian dance party of Ow ∞, Cain Culto turns personal rupture into sacred ritual on his debut, CULTO, and Susannah Joffe makes peace with her Texas roots. Pretty Sick, Slow Pulp and Gilla Band, Boy Harsher, Pool Girl, Wasia Project, and Blood Red Shoes round out our top picks. We always try to champion independent and underground artists, but a few bigger names always make the rounds because their albums are just that good.
Several of these artists are coming through LA soon, so we’ve included tour dates where you can catch them live. Here are 15 of our favorite indie and alternative albums released in September 2026.
In case you missed our August selections: No Skips: The Best New Albums You Need to Hear in August (Part 1) and Part 2.
Jump to an album:
- Sylvan Esso – Ow ∞
- Gilla Band – Pugnello
- Boy Harsher – GET MEAN
- Cain Culto – CULTO
- Susannah Joffe – Dust Settles and So Will I
- Pretty Sick – Anarchy
- Slow Pulp – Melodie
- Wasia Project – Nocturne
- Pool Girl – Melancholic Beach Town
- Blood Red Shoes – Stay Lonely
- Honorable Mentions
Sylvan Esso – Ow ∞
It took Sylvan Esso four years to follow up No Rules Sandy, and Ow ∞ (pronounced “Ow Infinity”) sounds like every one of those years went into it. It’s their first album on their own label, Psychic Hotline, and it’s a dystopian record that still wants you shaking your groove thang. With Ow ∞, the duo will embark on a full-band tour that brings them to LA on Feb. 26 at The Wiltern, and we still remember how they outshone the stars above the Greek Theatre in 2018.
Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn built the album at Betty’s, their studio in the woods of Chapel Hill, NC. They brought in the largest group of collaborators they’ve ever had on one record, including six drummers, Wilco’s Glenn Kotche and Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner. Most of the songs still keep Meath’s first vocal takes, which gives the whole thing a raw, in-the-moment feel.
“Hot Slob” is a loud, gloriously messy celebration of not having anything figured out. “Concrete Glen” turns a dizzy night out into something hypnotic with a sample of Sigur Rós’ “Svefn-g-englar.” “On & On” shifts between gentle plucking and churning breakbeats as Meath sings about slowly finding her way back to okay.
Then there’s “Sledge,” which we called a sonic sledgehammer to your expectations. It takes on Hurricane Helene and the LA fires with jittery, distorted pulses before the chorus reins in the chaos and leaves that “Destroy, destroy, destroy” melody stuck in your head.
Even when the world feels like it’s ending, Sylvan Esso find a reason to dance on Ow ∞.
Release Date: Sept. 11, 2026
Label: Psychic Hotline
Gilla Band – Pugnello
Fair warning: Pugnello is not for the faint of heart. Basic listeners may find Gilla Band’s fourth album excruciating. For those who love noise and art rock, it’s straight-up therapy, the kind you sink deeper into the more the sounds and lyrics collide. Out now via Rough Trade, Pugnello takes the Dublin quartet on a North American tour kicking off Oct. 14 in Philadelphia. The run brings their beautifully abrasive racket to LA on Nov. 4 at Lodge Room with Annie-Claude Deschênes, a show we’ve been counting down to since it was announced.
It’s been four years since Most Normal, and the band spent them branching out in all directions. Vocalist Dara Kiely took up painting, and drummer Adam Faulkner hit the road with Lankum. Bassist Daniel Fox became a go-to producer for Sprints, Lambrini Girls and Mandy, Indiana, and guitarist Alan Duggan Borges launched his solo project, the Null Club. Recorded across three Dublin studios between 2022 and 2026, then self-produced and mixed by Fox, Pugnello brings all of that outside experience back into the fold.
“Placeholder” is pure dance punk, and it swings between extremes as wildly as its lyrics. Kiely digs into his own mental quirks through the comfort distractions he can’t shake. He pulls from childhood nostalgia and dusty pop culture, from the tense silence of a Big Brother eviction to silent-film star Harold Lloyd dangling from a clock, and even the Power Rangers he was once told, at age 6, he could never grow up to be. The song builds slow and manic, then explodes into grinding, harsh electronics that are as abrasive as they come, all before slowing down again. It’s a journey into the unknown. “The Megazord,” one of our favorite songs of September, is as hypnotic as it is chaotic. It’s a weird combo, but sometimes there’s a mesmerizing bliss in chaos. “Giraffe” also landed on our list of May’s best new songs.
On Pugnello, Gilla Band prove once again that the noisiest path can also be the most cathartic.
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Label: Rough Trade
Boy Harsher – GET MEAN
With a name like Boy Harsher, you’d wonder how exactly the electronic duo could GET MEAN, which happens to be the title of their newest album out now via Atlantic Records. But boy, oh boy (harsher), do they live up to the album’s namesake. With GET MEAN, the duo will embark on a tour that brings them to LA on Oct. 16 at the Hollywood Palladium, a big leap from their afternoon set at Privera Sound LA in 2022. Boy Harsher will also perform at The Observatory Festival Grounds on October 18 opening for Turnstile.
Until 2024, members Jae Matthews and Augustus Muller had been together for as long as we’ve known Boy Harsher. However, when the two broke up, the band’s existence hung in the balance before their new reality eventually inspired GET MEAN.
Contrary to Boy Harsher’s usual sound, the production on tracks such as “Ronny” and “Tough Luck (When You Don’t Call)” is noticeably lighter, bringing out the lush quality of synthesizers and digital instrumentation. Still, the lyrics are even more heart-wrenching than usual, the shadow of the real-life events contextualizing how Matthews and Muller are coping with everything.
For those hoping to hear Boy Harsher innovate, “Pray 4 Me” is a breezy pop detour through ‘80s synthpop and slick funk. For fans hoping to hear more of the trademark dark electronica that’s as gloomy as it is bumping, “Break Me” satisfies that craving while sliding neatly into their preexisting catalog.
In a period of conclusion and renewal, Boy Harsher balances fan expectations with experimentation expertly on GET MEAN.
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2026
Label: Atlantic Records
Cain Culto – CULTO
For an artist whose name already sounds like a summons, it makes sense that Cain Culto’s long-awaited debut would simply be called CULTO. Across 13 tracks and armed with a fiddle, he pulls every corner of the world he’s been building into one place, and the result is as devotional as it is defiant. The album arrived as his tour kicked off in LA, where he turned The Roxy into a sweaty, theatrical release party. The night had costume changes and a surprise appearance from Xiuhtezcatl to close with their anti-colonial anthem “¡BASTA YA!”. Most of the remaining dates are already sold out, and the run wraps at Atlanta Pride on Oct. 10.
Cain was raised in a Colombian-Nicaraguan household and grew up between Florida and Kentucky, soaking up salsa, bluegrass, hip-hop and church along the way. CULTO is where all of that collides. He reckons with his evangelical upbringing, with coming out, and with cutting ties with family to build a life on his own terms.
Opener “2 Wolves” sets up the album’s push and pull right away, pitting bluegrass against gorgeously haunting production. That tension carries into “a plague, a pestilence,” where a banjo slowly tightens the screws around biblical end-times imagery until the whole thing boils over. “Duelen”, the album’s lone feature, recruits Lido Pimienta for a mournful protest song about cobalt mines, ICE raids and Gaza, with her voice climbing to meet his rage.
Then closer “Born Again” strips everything back. It’s the most vulnerable Cain has ever sounded, a ballad about shedding the pain of going no contact with his family and starting over.
On CULTO, Cain Culto turns personal struggles into something sacred and beautiful. Through his voice and music, he creates a space where people can feel a sense of community, whether on the dance floor or in solitude.
Release Date: Sept. 24, 2026
Label: Hive Music
Susannah Joffe – Dust Settles and So Will I
Leave it to a Texas-raised songwriter to name her debut album after the moment the dust finally settles. Dust Settles and So Will I is a homecoming record in more ways than one, with Susannah Joffe returning to Austin’s landscapes and dive bars to make peace with the person she was there.
The album follows last year’s Cult Leader, the EP that showed off her chops as a lyricist on “Antler Queen” after “Die Your Daughter” blew up in 2024. Where that EP fixated on obsession, Dust Settles lives in contradiction: Texas twang against indie punk, euphoria against heartbreak, and the urge to leave home against the pull to go back.
Her heaviest ideas often come in the brightest packaging. “Happiness Is Just a Myth” sets a never-ending hunger for success against shimmering synth. “All I See Is the Sky,” one of our September picks, is where she lets it all rip. It plays like a ’90s grunge confessional, with Joffe searching for faith and coming up empty. Right around the one-minute mark, the fury kicks in, and the pounding drums and razor-sharp guitar licks make it one of the album’s most cathartic rock moments. Centerpiece “End of the World” piles timpani, trumpet and walls of guitar around Joffe as she takes aim at the rich old men who cash in while everyone else rots.
“Madeline” offers a breather, a simple, swooning love song with nothing to untangle. “You Ruined Paris,” a highlight of our May playlist, is another rock-forward moment and one of the album’s most anthemic. The lyrics may be about heartbreak, but it’s a jangly jam that makes you want to jump on your bed and wild out. “Texas Baby” closes the loop, putting her on a wood-paneled dive bar stage back home as she grieves the state she loves and finally sees it without the rose-colored glasses.
On Dust Settles and So Will I, Susannah Joffe holds two truths at once and makes the tension sound like home. Catch her on tour through October.
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Label: Broke Records
Pretty Sick – Anarchy
For an album called Anarchy, Pretty Sick’s sophomore record is impressively in control. Out now via Dirty Hit, it finds NYC’s Sabrina Fuentes folding shoegaze, witch house, grunge and club-ready electronics into 10 snapshots of the jadedness she sees in herself and everyone around her. With Anarchy, Fuentes will embark on a 22-date US headlining tour that brings her to LA on Nov. 20 at the El Rey Theatre.
Fuentes made most of the record in Los Angeles with producer Oscar Scheller (Lily Allen, PinkPantheress). It’s her longest run with a single producer since Paul Kolderie helmed 2022’s Makes Me Sick Makes Me Smile. The pair wrote the title track first, and it set the blueprint for everything after: a slowed, syrupy beat under a vocal that swings from sardonic to melancholy within the same breath, warning of chaos one moment and finding something heavenly the next.
That push and pull runs throughout. “City Kid” is the album’s love-hate letter to growing up too fast in New York. Fuentes looks back at the kids she came up with and how they all got here, over buzzing synths and a bassline that drags the nostalgia into the abyss. “Hyper Independence” landed on our list of August’s best new music, and “Sunset” earned a spot among our favorite songs of September.
On Anarchy, Pretty Sick turns disillusionment into something you can vibe to.
Release Date: Sept. 11, 2026
Label: Dirty Hit
Slow Pulp – Melodie
The title of Slow Pulp’s third album sounds like a gentle hum, but Melodie covers a lot more ground than that. Out now via ANTI-, it finds the Madison-bred, Chicago-based band swinging between power-pop euphoria and acoustic heartbreak, and swimming in the sea of fuzzy sound in between. With Melodie, the band heads out on a North American tour that brings them to LA on Oct. 29 at The Wiltern. That’s quite the jump from when we caught them opening for Alvvays at The Glass House in Pomona in 2022, piling on walls of grungy guitars and droning dreaminess.
This time around, singer Emily Massey and guitarist Henry Stoehr split songwriting duties, with five of Stoehr’s songs making the cut. They also co-produced the album with Elliot Kozel (Rosalía, Yves Tumor, Björk, SZA), a Wisconsin cult hero three of the members grew up idolizing through his old group, Sleeping in the Aviary. The result is a reflective record about the past few years of their lives and relationships, with songs that keep circling back on themselves and changing along the way.
“Better Man” goes big and gauzy. “Not for Nothing,” one of our favorite indie songs of July, slows things down into a heartbreakingly beautiful ’70s-tinged electric piano ballad. Slow Pulp can hand you an indie rock banger one minute and have you welling up on a vulnerable singalong like this the next. Final single “Spill” was actually the first song written during the Yard sessions, but it didn’t click until Kozel got his hands on it. Now it’s a hazy dream-pop standout about the push and pull of casual relationships, where neither person wants to be the first to say “I love you” too soon or too late. Then there’s the title track, “Melodie,” one of our favorite songs of September and a straight-up bop. With buzzing guitar riffs and that sing-along “Melodie” hook, it channels late-’90s power pop and keeps you dancing and pogoing all the way through.
On Melodie, Slow Pulp come full circle and find new ways to say what they’ve been feeling all along.
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2026
Label: ANTI-
Wasia Project – Nocturne
For what’s supposed to be the indie-pop duo’s debut album, Nocturne, out via AWAL Recordings, Wasia Project formally introduces itself fully formed. Fronted by siblings Will Gao and Olivia Hardy, we caught the duo live at the Fonda in 2024 while celebrating the release of their EP Isotope. Two years later, Wasia Project’s new album fully launches their shifting genre project–anchored by electronica–while exploring universal themes.
“Nocturne is a collection of songs that take us on a journey through the night,” the two said. “A space and time where feelings and emotions play in a world of extremes. From the electric connection of a nightclub, to the isolation of a sleepless night.”
While they initially kicked off their career by putting their classical background at the forefront of their bedroom pop, Gao and Hardy still show off an ear for melodies that draw you in, not waiting for radio play to reach that level of easy listening. Album opener “2515” captures the energy of Nocturne, defined by nighttime atmosphere, a pulsating club beat, and cathartic vocals.
Similarly, “Bleeding Gold” follows a similar formula but repurposes it for fluttering melodies and upbeat instrumentation that recalls the early days of groups like Phantogram. On the other hand, “Even If I Tried” is a slower but effective crooner that smartly utilizes strategic electronic placements and moments of ripping passion from guitars, drums, and the like. And that’s without mentioning the album’s opus, “Strike Me Down From Heaven.”
It goes without saying that Gao and Hardy are aided by longtime collaborator St. Francis Hotel (Little Simz, Arcade Fire) on the production front. But the fusion they’ve accomplished on Nocturne ironically sets up a bright future for the siblings. Catch them on tour with an LA date at the Wiltern on March 3, 2027.
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2026
Label: AWAL
Pool Girl – Melancholic Beach Town
It’s easy to call any album a coming-of-age story. But in the case of Melancholic Beach Town, the debut album from California singer-producer Pool Girl, there’s no better way to describe its cinematic indie-rock sound, which conjures images of sunny days, growing pains, and introspective staredowns at reflecting waters.
Allie Nixon, the mind behind Pool Girl, started the project just a few years ago, establishing her sound around nostalgic bedroom-pop not unheard of in the indie scene. But what set Pool Girl apart was the unabashed loyalty to that nostalgic descriptor, using songs to describe summers long gone and flashes of childhood with a bittersweet edge from the passage of time.
From the get-go, tracks like “Anecdote” and “Someone” treat every instrument, including Nixon’s voice, like another sonic texture for an imaginary movie as vivid as any other, thanks to the atmospheres they create. It’s cinematic, yes. But the lyrics sound more like rips from a personal journal than a grand, sprawling plot, reminding you of Nixon’s vulnerability as she seems to make her realizations in real time through the songs.
Immersing listeners in a movie-like narrative would be enough of an accomplishment for Nixon. Then “Call It What You Want” and other songs from Melancholic Beach Town hit you with sun-drenched indie-pop melodies, while also fitting the overarching watery reverb that complements the Pool Girl name.
For Nixon to pull it off on a debut album means there’s a lot to look forward to from an artist who fast-tracked the success of early singles and turned it into momentum for a self-assured full-length.
Release Date: September 18, 2026
Self-Released
Blood Red Shoes – Stay Lonely
Almost 20 years after the release of their debut album, English rock band Blood Red Shoes arrive at what might be their most existential record yet–as well as the most creative control they’ve had–with Stay Lonely, out via their label Jazz Life.
Since they’ve dropped onto the rock and post-punk scenes like a bomb, members Laura-Mary Carter and Steven Ansell are at their best when they play with the intensity you’d find in a crime of passion. That remains true on Stay Lonely, which comes in at a lean 10 songs and a precise 30-minute runtime.
However, the difference is how much freedom they had. Carter and Ansell wrote, recorded, produced, and mixed every song on Stay Lonely. Without a manager, A&R, or external producer, they created an uninhibited, cathartic shout in the form of sonic waves.
Between the still-present crunchy drums and sharp guitar combos–with those synthesizers boosting each song like a power-up–“Start To End” is what happens when the sound Blood Red Shoes established on Box of Secrets is given a sniper-like precision in its unrelenting chaos-making.
From there, Blood Red Shoes keeps things interesting for longtime fans and new listeners. “Two Weeks” almost sounds like it belongs to that era of pop-rock from 15 years ago. At the same time, the band’s vulnerability and abrasive instrumentation ground the track in the present day. And then there’s “Useless Sentiment,” which is all about feeling aimless and losing your head while synths fire off like ray guns.
Stay Lonely, while it does find Carter and Ansell looking inward, also shows off their talents to tear things up, their energy as explosive as ever.
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2026
Label: Jazz Life
Honorable Mentions
Beabadoobee – Pylon (Dirty Hit/Interscope) Beabadoobee trades dreamy indie pop for crackling distortion on her fourth album, pulling from classic grunge, Midwest emo and ’90s radio rock. Guests include Hayley Williams, Turnstile’s Brendan Yates and Deftones’ Chino Moreno, and the songs started as diary entries about the loneliness of life on tour.
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2026
Joy Oladokun – Hope Is A Heavy Thing (Concord) Written to find her light again after burning out, Oladokun’s latest blends soul, folk, Afrobeats and ’60s and ’70s protest rock while reckoning with identity and how to hold onto hope in dark times. Nigerian star Adekunle Gold joins her on “Sage.”
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Hermanos Gutiérrez – Los Ojos Del Cóndor (Easy Eye Sound) The Swiss-Ecuadorian guitar brothers reunite with producer Dan Auerbach and trade the deserts of the American West for the Andes of their family roots. The instrumental album weaves in charango, milonga and cumbia rhythms, and it sounds like soaring high above the mountains.
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Tom Morello – Everyone Gets Everything They Want (Mom + Pop) The Rage Against the Machine guitarist’s first solo rock album takes aim at fascism and fights for immigrant rights with signature riffs and a guest list that includes Serj Tankian, Kneecap and Beartooth. His 15-year-old son Roman co-wrote five songs, including the riff on “Date Night.”
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Leon Bridges – Happiness Anytime (Columbia) Produced by Jungle’s J Lloyd and Lydia Kitto, Bridges’ fifth album swaps the country-folk of 2024’s Leon for sun-soaked grooves inspired by Fela Kuti’s Afrobeat, Brazilian legend Jorge Ben and disco. It’s a warm, feel-good record built to make you move.
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Julia Jacklin – The Gem (4AD) Named after the Melbourne pub below the studio where she recorded it, Jacklin’s fourth album and 4AD debut wrestles with wanting to love and be loved while still staying free. Jangly ’80s guitar rock shines through on lead single “Get Away From Me (I Think I’ll Love You Soon).”
Release Date: Sept. 25, 2026
Orville Peck – Mule (Warner) The masked cowboy’s most personal album yet traces a year of addiction, sobriety and rebuilding in chronological order, moving between classic country storytelling, bluegrass and Americana. Emmylou Harris, Noah Cyrus and Allison Russell sing his eulogy on the haunting opener.
Release Date: Sept. 18, 2026
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