Pitchfork's “back-to-school” fall preview, published this week, lists 34 albums it is looking forward to, and the calendar is unusually stacked. Between Oct. 2 and Nov. 13 there's a Cameron Winter live record with a Paul Thomas Anderson film, a Fontaines D.C. album with a Rosalía guest spot, an Animal Collective member making music with the moon, and, as of Thursday (Sept. 24), a new U2 album. Here are 12 releases from that run, in order, with Pitchfork's reasons to care.
Meshell Ndegeocello, Synonym (Oct. 2, Blue Note)
Pitchfork describes an album built on the principle that “there’s always a new way to say it”: era-spanning classics reimagined as duets with Cat Power, Chaka Khan, Robert Glasper, Cynthia Erivo, ANOHNI and Bill Callahan. The Human League's “Don’t You Want Me” becomes a smoky reggae groove, and Sonny & Cher's “I Got You Babe” turns into a jazz standard.
SynonymMeshell NdegeocelloListen on Apple Music
Remi Wolf, Mud (Oct. 9, Island)
Her third album trades the funk and disco of Big Ideas and Juno for full-fledged folk rock, tracked live with a “family band” she gathered across Big Bear Lake, Joshua Tree and New York's Electric Lady Studios. Pitchfork says she has never sounded more grounded. (Her 2027 North American tour follows.)
Cameron Winter, Live at Carnegie Hall (Oct. 9, Partisan/Pias)
A live album from last December's Carnegie Hall show, released alongside a concert film directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Winter told Rolling Stone, of the few people he's shown his new solo music to, “I don’t think anyone’s really liked it,” a line Pitchfork finds hard to believe given the crowd that heard it. (More in our story on the film.)
Fontaines D.C., Dopamine Chamber (Oct. 16, XL)
The Irish band's follow-up to Romance is led by “Marianne,” which Pitchfork says sets sleazy synth-pop to a haunted lullaby, and includes a pairing with Rosalía on “Where Is Gone?” Grian Chatten says the title describes the album's environment: “You step inside and we test these different mind- or mood-altering pieces of music on you.”
The Avalanches, No Bad Memories (Oct. 16, Modular)
A 31-song project inspired by lost jingles and defunct technology like the floppy disk and iPod, with features that run from Yellow Magic Orchestra cofounder Haruomi Hosono to Portraits of Tracy. It's the duo's first proper LP since the pandemic.
Geologist and Kyle Simon, The Sirens (Oct. 16, Outside Time)
Animal Collective's Geologist recorded this album at visual artist Kyle Simon's Joshua Tree observatory, per Pitchfork: Simon aimed a telescope at the night sky while photodiodes turned starlight into an electrical signal, which Geologist ran through a modular synth as control voltage. Pitchfork's verdict on the premise: “Eat your heart out, Muse.”
Anderson .Paak and Cordae, Heavy Is the Crown (Oct. 23, Apeshit/Mass Appeal/Empire)
A joint album that Pitchfork calls “a smart pairing”: over familiar soul and funk samples, it pairs Cordae's braggadocious bars with Anderson's soulful rasp. It's the next move after his work with Bruno Mars as Silk Sonic and a 2024 NxWorries record.
Heavy Is the CrownAnderson .Paak and CordaeListen on Apple Music
DIIV, ZIRP! (Oct. 30, Fantasy)
Written in a period of chaos, while welcoming his second child and dealing with the fallout from the destruction of Zachary Cole Smith's home in the Altadena wildfires, ZIRP! is produced by A. G. Cook. Pitchfork says it compacts the band's shoegaze into “nuggets of electro-pop joy.”
ZIRP!DIIVListen on Apple Music
Queens of the Stone Age, Perfecth (Oct. 30, Matador)
Three decades in, the band loosens its shoulders after the dark, messy In Times New Roman…. Pitchfork hears some of their most relaxed and spacious music in years, musing on heartbreak, sex and “purifying catharsis.”
Daine, In Endless Awe & Agony (Nov. 6, PACK.)
The 23-year-old Australian singer-songwriter's debut studio release is their first project without AutoTune and puts their feathery mezzo-soprano up front. Pitchfork places the bigger hooks in the lineage of mid-2010s acts like Passion Pit and the Naked and the Famous.
In Endless Awe & AgonydaineListen on Apple Music
Shygirl, Swallow! (Nov. 6, Because Music)
Inspired by a blossoming relationship, the London club veteran's album sits between dancefloor deliverance and dream-pop catharsis, reuniting with Club Shy co-producer Karma Kid and adding Casey MQ, Oklou's right-hand man. (See our earlier report on the album.)
U2, Carnaval de Luz (Nov. 13, Island)
The newest addition: U2's first album of new songs in nine years closes with Dolly Parton's last vocal performance, on “Torn.” All the details are here.
Also on the calendar
Pitchfork's full preview also covers Dawn Richard's Creole Culture (Oct. 9), Marina Herlop's Dja Dja (Oct. 9), Teenage Fanclub's Do Not Dare to Dream (Oct. 9), Rachel Chinouriri's I Think I Spoke Too Soon (Oct. 16), Shabazz Palaces' It's a Style Sport (Oct. 23) and Oso Oso's An Exchange of Information (Nov. 6).
Added to the High Grailed archive on October 12, 2026.
