2025 Quarter 3 Notable Albums
Calibro 35 - Exploration (June)
Cinematic instrumental funk that’s as groovy as it is catchy. I wrote more about them here.
Recommended Song: “Reptile Strut”
Leafblower - Burn Cruise (June)
Gnarly, grimy hard rock that gets the blood pumping. Some good prog and acoustic touches here and there too. As unpretentious as they come. I wrote more here.
Recommended Song: “Night Sweat”
CLUB COMA - Sunshine (June)
Self-described as sitting somewhere between rock and roll and experimental pop but, to my ear, taking just as much inspiration from the sweaty dancefloors of the early 2000’s, Club Coma’s sophomore album is a delightful blast of riotously hard-hitting yet groovy tunes.
Recommended Song: “Make Me Feel”
unitrΔ_Δudio - summer somewhere (June)
Extremely approachable “active ambient” that’s at turns soothing, stimulating, calming and nourishing. It also is maybe my favorite album cover of the year so far. I wrote more about it here.
Recommended Track “gemini 11 fm”
Lammping & Bloodshot Bill - Never Never (June)
A wildly fun listen, Lammping lays down trippy, head-bopping sample-based psych rock loops while rockabilly icon Bloodshot Bill drops rambling mind-bending bars. It’s so much fun and zips by in just 15 minutes, so why not give it a spin right now?
Recommended Song: “Never Never”
DÄÄCHT - Crying Horses (July)
Thundering garage/punk rock from Germany. It’s a scorching set of 10 tracks that zip by in less than 30 minutes but is time well spent to get the blood pumping.
Recommended Song: “Maybe Later”
Mold! - III (July)
Day-glo tinged psych rock that’s pleasantly lo-fi and just the right amount of gonzo.
Recommended Song: “A Difference!
Fever Ray - The Year of The Radical Romantics (July)
Fever Ray’s 2023 Radical Romantics was one of my favorites of that year and now we’re blessed to receive selections from their subsequent tour. With one incredible live album already under their belt (2019’s incredible Live at the Troxy), what else could they bring to the table. The short answer, of course, is new material (and, indeed, “Kandy,” in particular, sounds so sinewy and present in its live rendition), but beyond that, it’s another chance for those us of not fortunate enough to see one of the best working musicians ply their trade in front of a live audience to vicariously have that experience.
Recommended Track: “Kandy”
Pharaoh Overlord - Louhi (July)
Long-running psych rock/black metal/glam/prog/drone/experimental outfit Pharaoh Overlord return somewhat to their roots after a foray into bright synth sounds with their phenomenal 2020 record 6, with a record of heavily looping guitars, pummeling rhythms, guttural howling and even occasional beeps and boops in the back half. A harrowing listen but one that’s very much worth your locked-in time.
Recommended Track: Really you should listen to the whole thing as intended but if pressed for time go with “Louhi, Pt. 1.3”
Gosh Diggity - Good Luck, Have Fun! (July)
I love this little chiptune/midwest emo pastiche soooo much. I’ve put it on near constant repeat since its release back in July and really can’t recommend it enough. Read even more of my gushing enthusiasm here.
Recommended Song: “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter”
Poor Creature - All Smiles Tonight (July)
A heady swirl of traditional Irish folk mixed with modern (and even experimental) songwriting, Poor Creature’s debut record is a fascinating listen that’s as compelling as it is accomplished.
Recommended Song: “Bury Me Not”
Liquid Pennies - Fore (July)
It’s a little hard to believe that Liquid Pennies are a humble three piece when they have a sound so absolutely massive. An energetic mix of psych, prog and indie rock, Fore is an inventive piece of music that had me coming back again and again through a very difficult summer.
Recommend Song: “Echolalia”
WITCHSNAKE - Satanas (July)
I just love a book you can judge by its cover. And with a band with an all caps name of WITCHSNAKE releasing a record called Satanas which features a skull, a naked sexy vampire, a snake and pot leaves, it sounds pretty much exactly as you’d expect. Which, of course, fucking rules.
Recommened Song: “Ashes to Ashes, Fuck to Fuck”
Score - Original Copy (July)
Groovy, instrumental, danceable rockers that set a sizzling nighttime mood.
Recommended Song: “Tiny Spark”
The Wind Ups - Confection (July)
Delightfully fuzzy and incredibly hooky garage rock that gets in, parties hard and gets out before it overstays its welcome. I wrote more about it here.
Recommended Song: “I Can’t Sleep At Night”
Kiln - Lemon Borealis (July)
Dub-forward, instrumental electronic music with such deep grooves that you could fall down them for hours. A great late-night spin that’s equal parts joy and melancholy.
Recommended Track: “Solarsystem Breathing”
Jessica Winter - My First Album (July)
Newcomer Jessica Winter swings hard on this incredible album filled to the brim with big pop hooks, groovy breakdowns, alternating diva/self-depricating lyrics and just wildly inventive production chops that effortlessly blend gonzo experimentalism with radio-friendly jams. I wrote more here.
Recommended Song: “Aftersun”
Two Shell - IIcons (July)
The best overall project from goofball trickster DJs Two Shell yet, IIcons features the hard-hitting beats, loopy spiraling production tricks and unexpected emotional oomph from their best singles and spread them across this great full length. I wrote more about them here.
Recommended Song: “Clutch”
Claire Morales - Lost in the Desert (August)
Mixing bits and pieces from surf rock, woozy psychedelia, stoner rock and shoegaze, Claire Morales’ record from August is a great listen front-to-back. I shared more here.
Recommended Song: “Lost in the Desert”
Fortitude Valley - Part of the Problem, Baby (August)
Big, open-hearted indie rock that’ll make you wanna roll down your windows and sing along. I wrote more here.
Recommended Song: “Don’t You Wanna Be Near Me?”
TTSSFU - Blown (August)
Sometimes whisper-soft and sometimes overwhelming and woozy, TTSSFU’s EP from August is a great listen from a very promising band.
Recommended Song: “Call U Back”
Haru Nemuri - ekkolaptómenos (August)
This album just absolutely rocked my fucking world. A blistering, hard-hitting fusion of hyperpop, top-tier experimental dance music, arena friendly-hard rock, Japanese indie rock and, hell, even some krautrock touches here and there. Each track builds upon the last, spiraling out in all sonic directions. Haru Nemuri is a formidable talent and this record is one of the best listens of the year.
Recommended Song: “indulgentia”
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith - Gush (August)
Kaithlyn Aurelia Smith has incorporated “8-bit” sounds into her work before, but here, on her latest full length, it seems she’s taken it to another level in how skillfully she weaves those archaic sounds into the sultry, bass-heavy, kaleidoscopic sonic world she creates. A truly technicolor listen.
Recommended Song: “What’s Between Us”
WILD WILD WETS - Time Mutations (August)
A rollicking good set of proggy jams.
Recommended Song: “High Rider”
Shaki Tavi - Minor Slip (August)
It really is something to be living in the golden age of shoegaze isn’t it? Oh, you don’t think that’s what’s going on right now? Well, if we make it out of this, I think that music historians are going to write reams about the post-pandemic shoegaze surge. Regardless, here we have Shaki Tavi, deploying some excellent examples of the form. Just enough edge to keep it from meandering into dreampop territory, Minor Slip is a great little late-night listen.
Recommended Song: Trees
Latchwork - contrakilter (August)
Carrying the torch of early 2000’s IDM, Latchwork’s collection of dense, knotty and darkly atmospheric sonic exercises is a staggeringly good listen.
Recommended Song: “Atmos Con”
NEW YORK - Push (September)
Beats that almost feel subterranean, disaffected filtered vocals and buzzsaw synths, NEW YORK’s short Push project came out of nowhere and hit me like a cold ton of bricks.
Recommended Song: “think of you”
Weval - CHOROPHOBIA (September)
Weval are back with another set of tightly sculpted, emotionally resonant, electro-bangers that are all top-tier. Weval craft tunes that are glacial in nature, not in the speed but in the structure: massive, inevitable, cold, but filled with crags of breathtaking beauty and, more than anything, inevitable.
Recommended Song: “Just Friends”
Die Spitz - Something to Consume (September)
Hell yeah! Die Spitz throws down the gauntlet with a blistering record filled with a sludgy cocktail of grunge, shoegaze and punk with just enough lighter touches here and there to keep it all from burning down completely.
Recommended Song: “Voir Dire”
james k - Friend (September)
Spacey beat-forward soft indie rock? While genre tags are only somewhat useful (and I know, in these style of capsule reviews I tend to lean on them more than usual), they seem to particularly come up short in describing the ethereal record from james k. Like always, probably best to just listen and try to describe it yourself.
Recommended Song: “Doom Bikini”
Liquid Mike - Hell Is An Airport (September)
With most tracks under two minutes and not a single one over three, power pop rockers Liquid Mike deliver an album that’s a quick listen, to be sure, but one that’s just packed with banger after banger of catchy melodies, big anthemic guitars and blisteringly upbeat rhythms that all put me in mind (in the best way) of mid 90’s Rivers Cuomo and Co. Add in a little heartland rock here and there and here you have one of the most fun albums of the year.
Recommended Song: “Crop Circles”
Ani Glass - Phantasmagoria (September)
This is a stunning collection of sparkling electronic tunes that are by turns ethereal and pummeling. Ani Glass’s breathy vocals ground the album in the “here” but every other synth line, bass hit or tingling sound effect takes pains to launch into the stratosphere.
Recommended Song: “Phantasmagoria”
Gwenifer Raymond - Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark (September)
A truly dazzling collection of moody finger-picked guitar instrumentals that borrows as much from the past as an imagined sci-fi future, Gwenifer Raymond’s record is a remarkable example of how much one person with one instrument and a little recording knowledge can spin entire worlds.
Recommended Song: “Bonfire of the Billionaires”
Geese - Getting Killed (September)
It’s as good as everyone is saying it is and I wouldn’t be surprised to see this end up on quite a few publications’ year-end best of lists and with good reason. Indie rock at its absolute finest, Geese build on so much of what has come before (sonic touchpoints range from the Rolling Stones to Clap Your Hands Say Yeah! to Black MIDI) yet bring a level of craftsmanship, lyrical maturity and just good old sincerity to stand out. So instead of reading about it, go take a listen, it’s electrifying as it is listenable.
Recommended Song: “100 Horses”
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