Stepa J. Groggs of Phoenix experimental rap group Injury Reserve tragically passed away at age 32 last year, but now the group have announced a new album that was largely completed before his passing and features his contributions, By the Time I Get to Phoenix, due September 15 via self-release (pre-order). It's the followup to their 2019 self-titled debut album on Loma Vista. Surviving members Ritchie With a T and Parker Corey said:

While touring europe in 2019, we had a show in Stockholm that had been booked in the back of an Italian restaurant instead of a typical venue. To match a certain lack of production we pivoted the show into our own improvisatory take on a DJ set and ended up performing a song none of us had heard before, the board recording of which became the grounding for a new album. Over the next few months, we locked in and put together the 11 songs that that album would eventually become. Those early months of 2020 had about as much turmoil for us as one could expect last year, and between the general social upheaval, loss of livelihoods and family tragedy, the record we made carried these weights. Once the tracklist came together and we started to make sense of it, one of the last phone conversations we had with Groggs was over his love for the repurposing of Isaac Hayes' "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" to title the album. Shortly thereafter we were struck with his loss and of course everything was put on hold, but eventually, we regathered and felt most comfortable finishing this album we had made as it still resonated fully (in some respects even taking on what felt like haunting pre-echoes) and above all else stayed true to his constant insistence while recording to simply 'make some weird shit.' All this said obviously this album is dedicated to Jordan Alexander Groggs, aka Stepa J. Groggs with one p better get it right. Typing here feels small in the space of your real physical absence but you, your voice and your words continue to echo around us all thru these recordings and so many others and everything else. thank you for your time, we love and miss you, of course of course.

The first single is "Knees," which finds Injury Reserve branching out from rap into psychedelic soul territory. It's very cool stuff and you can hear it below.

Tracklist
1. Outside
2. Superman That
3. SS San Francisco (feat. Zeeloperz)
4. Footwork in a Forest Fire
5. Ground Zero
6. Smoke Don't Clear
7. Top Picks For You
8. Wild Wild West
9. Postpostpartum
10. Knees
11. Bye Storm