September 27th
album anniversaries

Leonard Cohen returned to a more open acoustic setting on Recent Songs after the crowded production of Death of a Ladies' Man. Co-produced with Henry Lewy, the record places his voice among strings, oud and other instruments that broaden the arrangements without hiding the words.

“The Guests” introduces that combination of formal grace and unease. “The Gypsy's Wife” carries a different kind of tension, while “Ballad of the Absent Mare” takes a longer narrative path. The varied settings give Cohen's measured delivery new colours to work against.

King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard pushed beyond their early garage-rock sound on Float Along – Fill Your Lungs. The long opening track, “Head On/Pill,” stretches repetition into a psychedelic journey, with guitar and sitar textures building a hazy sense of movement.

The shorter songs make useful interruptions before the title track closes the album. Its warm, grainy sound connects the different pieces, even as their scale changes. This is an early record in which the band's interest in extended playing becomes an organising idea rather than an occasional detour.

Lady Gaga made Harlequin as a companion to her role in Joker: Folie à Deux, drawing on familiar standards while giving them a restless theatrical setting. Her voice moves easily from carefully held phrases to rougher, more forceful singing, so the performances rarely feel like straightforward recreations.

“That's Life” and “Get Happy” bring the songbook connection into focus. The arrangements can swing, swell or become deliberately unruly around her. Hearing those changes together makes the album feel like a sustained performance of character rather than a conventional soundtrack collection.

Alphaville's debut turns bright synthesizer lines and clear pop choruses towards subjects that are often less comfortable than the music first suggests. Marian Gold's voice gives the arrangements a dramatic centre, moving from controlled verses into large, sustained hooks without losing its slightly distant character.

“Big in Japan” and “Sounds Like a Melody” provide the rhythmic lift. The title track slows the record's pulse and lets its anxiety about time and survival come forward. That mixture of pleasure and unease helps the songs hold together.

Temples' Hot Motion keeps psychedelic rock close to pop song structures, with the title track giving the album an immediate point of entry. James Bagshaw's voice sits within arrangements built from guitar, bass, drums and keyboards, letting the band change the texture around a recognizable melody.

“You're Either on Something” and “Context” continue that balance between detail and directness. The record makes room for instrumental color without stretching every song outward, keeping its attention on the way a compact arrangement can hold several layers at once.

Sturgill Simpson paired Sound & Fury with an anime film, making the album part of a larger visual project. Its music pushes beyond the country arrangements associated with his earlier records, bringing distorted guitars, synthesizers and tightly wound rhythms to the foreground.

“Sing Along” and “A Good Look” make that shift particularly clear. Simpson's voice remains the connecting thread, but the band surrounds it with a dense, sometimes abrasive sound that changes the setting for his songs without erasing his delivery.