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We’ve taken an extended break from all things music this month, so you may have noticed forums have been a bit quieter than usual. But with Summer very much in the rear view mirror, we are back and raring to go for another Autumnal gig season. We’re kicking things off with some of our favourite albums we listened to in the month of September.

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One of their most personal records in their career, Ezra Collective’s Here Because of Hope marks a defining chapter. Hailed as their first No.1 album (a first for any jazz outfit in the UK), Here Because of Hope portrays a visionary journey of Black people across continents stretching across the world. From music of Africa, the rhythms of the Caribbean right to the streets of the capital, its 17-track entourage weaves from pain, faith and realising, joy will always reign supreme. A far more layered deliverance of a jazz record than their last “party-till-your feet-give-in” trope, it actually resembles just how these five have grown up. From the humble beginnings of a youth club to Mercury and Brit-winners whilst scaling the worlds’ mightiest stages as a vital voice, Ezra Collective are just undeniable.

Out of pain, comes the joy. Which, arrives on our shores every day ready to be swept up by anyone who comes along. It’s a pertinent message during trying times within a country that’s never been more divided. This belief, which is carried across oceans, stays true to this day. Maybe, just maybe, something better is possible.

And at the end of it all, this is what Femi Koleoso, TJ Koleoso, Joe Armon-Jones, James Mollison and Ife Ogunjobi strive to get across. Be it in a dimly lit community hall for the next generation or among one of the biggest stages like Glastonbury. Here Because of Hope has its three movements. The first demonstrates talk of resilience, the second a thematic geographical marker, the third – the transformation of pain into the act of joy.

All parts deliver on space, sound and above all else, warmth. Effortless Sweet Echo sets the tone, uplifting Someday lets the light in while Well Organised references cultural significance with afrobeats and Carribean steel pans. The third part of the record leaves departing gifts at every mover, every shaker. Featuring the soulful tones of Leona Lewis low soothe of All I Need, before triumphant horns of Jubilee Feeling marches in as Black Flag is brought up from the rear, a jazz fusion number of the likes we’ve not heard before. The departing closure is Most High, a beautiful quality of rhythm and celebrated, spearheaded by the amazing vocals of Libianca.

Ezra Collective have been playing together for over a decade now. And they still continue to redefine modern jazz as we know it. Their fourth here is just another feather in their cap.

One of the most captivating records to release this year, Detroit-based post-punk quartet Protomartyr bring about a seventh tale from a band that requires all the disassociation you can muster. An intelligent bustle of free-form musings, Hotel Usona is an exciting enlisting from a band that has not seemingly traversed into familiarity amongst post-punk fans, despite their formation six years ago. It’s an album I can’t quite put any set direction to. Because it sounds equally well put together and equally falling apart. Suppose that’s the point once you drill down into the makings of this record.

Protomartyr have never sounded so powerful. Made up of nine rooms haunted by their own lodgers, Joe Casey, Alex Leonard, Scott Davidson and Greg Ahee imagines America as an ageing hotel as they confront The Land of the Free and its guests. Held in contempt, deportation and warped patriotism drive a new American Horror Story that’s a little hard to hear.

Hotel Usona is wholly exciting and verbally striking making it one of the most defined records of the year so far.

A beguiling find coming from the streets of LA is Jawdropped. A freshly squeezed juice of good old fashioned rock n roll, Secret to Spare is the quartets’ debut and first taste onto the scene. Arguably a scene that’s fill to the rafters as it is, it seems that the guys here are really cutting their teeth – molars and all.

Fast inflections of jagged chorus, blaring drums and double-tracking vocals is an easy cheat sheet into Jawdropped and their sound. But it’s a far more spirited addiction they’ve got concocted here, albeit perfect for the cozy season we’re dozily headed towards.

It can be said that a love for ’90s acid house has never been stronger – Leeds six-piece Adult DVD are a how-to in making noise and having a blast with it. A visceral experience for the senses, hook-laden indie “synth-sayers” Adult DVD leave grooves pulsing through your bloodstream. After becoming the talk of a town they find themselves in, this month saw their highly-anticipated debut self-titled finally being released. With it, comes a blitz of dark-wave dystopian dance bogus that’s just impossible to ignore – and impossible to stand still.

It’s insanely fun and erroneously catchy. In format, it’s quite simplistic; but works so effective. Led by the visceral hook line and sinker of Cowboy On Aisle Three and steamrolled by caustic Real Tree Lee, they’ve slowly become one of the most exciting acts to emerge from UK’s alternative scene. On super form throughout festival season (not forgetting a sold-out Rock City for D2D this year!), the band return with a tour of their own starting in October.

One of our most favourite inventive splurges to find its way out of Amsterdam, Personal Trainer finally bring out a new caricature of colour and delight from 2024’s Still Willing. Yet again, these character traits are just as recognisable. Human Assholes is just as quick witted and sharp from an instrumental perspective as it from a lyrical perspective from the bands’ own head honcho and funnyman Willem Smit.

An outlet bursting with ideas, Smit’s Personal Trainer is a whimsical indie-rock delight to satisfy any one’s insatiable appetite for a fine and proper music meal.