Each month, tons of new music from many taste-spanning genres is released into a fast-consuming, unforgiving market; it can be tough to get a handle on what’s new before it’s on to the next. In an attempt to highlight the standout releases, at the end of each month, AUX staff re-cap the month in Punk, Metal, Indie/Pop/Rock, Hip Hop, Electronic, and Pop with the top five releases in each. Consider it your cheat sheet for year-end lists.

Top 5 Indie/Rock/Pop Releases:
September

 

David Byrne and St. Vincent – Love This Giant

Since learning about the David Byrne and St. Vincent collaboration record, thoughts of what exactly it would sound like were vivid, and, with the release of Love This Giant, there were few surprises. The two eccentric leaders share much in their intellectual and theatrical approach to art-pop, and here they sound like that—less like they’re each trying to get out all of their ideas and more like they share the same ones. The overall product is perhaps most memorable in theory than execution (Annie Clark is admittedly responsible for the album’s best and most memorable moments), but this is still a dream pair and should be embraced even if only in idea. (4AD)

Stars – The North

2010’s The Five Ghosts was a confusing Stars album; likeable a bit but not without a lot of digging to and hefty lifting on the listener’s part to figure out where the band was coming from. In the end, it didn’t seem as though they might have known either (trust exercises), but on The North, the band’s sense of purpose sounds reinvigorated. Opener “The Theory of Relativity” oozes with the band’s cool electro charm, and throughout the remainder they weave in and out of soft balladry (“Lights Changing Colour”) and overblown bombast (“Do You Want to Die Together”; THAT TITLE), which, essentially, is the Stars nutshell, one they’ve updated with small renos overtime and they now occupy so comfortably. (Soft Revolution Records)

The xx – Coexist

The xx have done a lot in such a little amount of time (both in years of career and life, the wee babies). Coexist will remain one of the year’s best and most memorable releases because of its vision and skill not only in songwriting but in production. At first its all atmosphere, managing to be icy cold and so close and warm; strained beats and guitars and vocal intimacy. Soon, hooks are revealed, and with it intention, and with it your undying love. (Young Turks)

Dinosaur Jr. – I Bet On Sky
	Who’d have thought we’d still care? Better and more surprisingly yet, that they would? (Jagjaguwar)

Cat Power – Sun

It’s been a six year wait for this new record from Chan Marshall, and not only is it the record we thought we might never actually see, it ended up being one we didn’t expect to hear. Marshall found herself some synths and wades into the world of electronic, not as an attempt at a modern sound but as a result of artistic experimentation and growth. It works best on lead single “Ruin,” which maintains fractured guitar work and teeters at points close to being a club banger. Marhsall also toes that fine line between sounding completely in control and so vulnerable, asserting herself for us but obviously, always, deeply questioning and examining herself. Sun sounds like the dawn of a new Cat Power era. (Matador)