That was one of the worst months for new music I can recall – I had to stretch a little just to get this playlist to a sufficient length to post it. I figured waiting until the end of April would produce something too long to deal with, though. As always, you can access the playlist here if you can’t see the widget below.

Courting – Namcy. The new album is called Lust for Life, Or: ‘How to Thread the Needle and Come Out the Other Side to Tell the Story’. It’s really good, though. Maybe not quite up to 2024’s New Last Name, but still very strong, likely to be one of my favorite albums of 2025 when we get there, with this, “Pause at You,” and “After You” all strong (they were the three singles, too). The whole album is only 25:40, though. At what point is it just an EP?

Sunflower Bean – Nothing Romantic. Sunflower Bean started out as a post-punk/new wave band, shifted into more college-radio rock on their last two albums, had a hit with “Moment in the Sun,” and their newest album appears to be almost hard rock, with distorted guitars and lots of minor chords. I’ve liked all of the singles from their new album, Mortal Primetime, due out April 25^th, and this might have the best hook of them all.

Anxious – Audrey Go Again. Anxious’ latest album, Bambi, holds serve rather than pushing forward, with the Connecticut emo rockers – I mean, at this point, is it post-emo? Second-wave emo? – trying some different modes, like on this largely acoustic ballad, although they haven’t abandoned their typical sound with tracks like “Never Said” and “Counting Sheep.”

Swervedriver – The World’s Fair. Swervedriver released an EP, also called The World’s Fair, last month, their first new music since 2019’s Future Ruins LP. It’s a softer side of the band, whose 1990s heyday saw a heavier sounds full of swirling guitars, although the psychedelic elements are still evident here.

Greentea Peng – Nowhere Man. Peng had been AWOL since the summer of 2022, but put out two singles at the end of last year and dropped her second full-length album, Tell Dem It’s Sunny, on March 21^st. It’s a more mature sound, with stronger lyrics, along with vocals that lean more into the neo-soul part of her sound; on her first album, she often sounded like she was posturing, and I don’t get that sense from this record. Some other standout tracks include “One Foot” and “Stones Throw.”

clipping. – Dominator. Dead Channel Sky, clipping.’s second album, is a whole project, twenty songs including various interludes, shifting sounds and styles, and it’s one of the most interesting and challenging records I’ve heard in the last few years. I think that’s a good thing; Daveed Diggs’ verbal gymnastics carry them through on several tracks where the industrial backing music doesn’t land.

Freddie Gibbs – Nobody. This is unusually accessible for Gibbs, but remains a superb showcase for his skill as a lyricist and rapper; he’s one of the best on the mic right now for flow and style, and he can work over a piano track like this one and still sound hard.

Tunde Adebimpe – God Knows. Adebimpe’s solo debut, Thee Black Boltz, comes out on April 18^th; the TV on the Radio singer has put out three singles so far, and this is the weakest one, unfortunately.

Preoccupations – Bastards. These post-punk Canucks have been at it since 2012, and they’ve always hewed pretty closely to the standard sound of that genre – some of their tracks could easily have been recorded in 1983, given their adherence to the production style and sound of that era. This track seems like a departure for them, as the production is more modern, and much softer, which gives a whole new aspect to their songwriting. Their fifth album Ill At Ease comes out on May 9^th.

Black Honey – Psycho. A little chill for Black Honey, who’ve churned out scads of pop bangers over the last decade or so (“Hello Today,” “Midnight,” “Somebody Better,” “All My Pride,” “I Like the Way You Die,” “Run for Cover,” “Back of the Bar,” “Out of My Mind”), still catchy but not up to their usual standard. It looks like this is a one-off single ahead of a spring tour.

OVERSIZE – Are You With Me? This English quintet delivers straight-up classic shoegaze circa 1993 on their debut album, Vital Signs, an album that I think works better as a full listen because, consistent with that subgenre, they’re creating a whole wall of sound. This was the best track I could pull out to include on the playlist.

Hotwax – Strange to Be Here. This trio from Hastings, England, just released their debut album Hot Shock; I’ve seen them labelled as “grunge” in multiple reviews, but they’re grunge like Hole was grunge, which is to say they might have shown up adjacent to grunge but that’s not really their sound. It’s messy, often loud, guitar-driven rock, reminiscent of Hole and Babes in Toyland.

YHWH Nailgun – Castrato Raw (Fullback). And you thought Courting’s album was short: YHWH Nailgun’s debut album, 45 Pounds, runs just 21:04. I get that in the streaming era, album length doesn’t carry the same weight as it did when we were talking physical media and labels were asking $15 for anything called a full-length album. This isn’t an album, though. It’s a chapbook. For Christ’s sake, this is a mixtape, not the stuff marketed as such. But despite all of that, 45 Pounds is a weird, compelling listen. It’s driven by the percussion, including the use of rototoms, which allow drummer Sam Pickard to change the pitch of each drum by rotating it. It’s music, but it’s not very musical – the drums take over the record, which isn’t a bad thing by any means, meaning that there are just snippets of other instruments and singer Zack Borzone’s quiet, guttural vocals. Whether you like it or not, 45 Pounds will be one of the most unusual records you hear this year.

feeble little horse – This Is Real. This Pittsburgh noise-rock band is new to me, although they’ve been recording since 2021 and have released two albums. This song, which jams four distinct movements into a barely three-minute run time, is their first new track since their last album and a brief hiatus that saw them cancel their 2023 tour.

Greenleaf – Vat 69. I’d never heard of Greenleaf until this week, as the band reissued their 2001 album Revolution Rock with six bonus tracks. I’m annoyed that I wasn’t familiar with them before, as this album hits my particular nostalgia for this sort of hard-rock vibe.

Witchcraft – Drömmar av is. Witchcraft is a Swedish hard-rock band with doom elements to their music, although I wouldn’t call them straight doom-metal; they’ve been around since 2000 and their upcoming album Idag will be just their fifth. Their 2012 album Legend is their best to date, especially the first track, “Deconstruction,” which starts out a bit Sabbath-y before going full Iron Maiden after about a minute. This is the second track they’ve released from the upcoming album, and it’s better than the first, “Burning Cross.”

Planning for Burial – A Flowing Field of Green. Planning for Burial is one guy, Thom Wasluck, who not only plays all of the instruments on his records, he plays everything in live shows too. I don’t know how that works and, you know, it’s okay to work with other people. I thought Kevin Parker’s schtick was bad enough. Anyway, I happen to love the way this post-metal track builds up a sense of impending doom, and then delivers it in the back half.

Hesse Kassel – Postparto. Hesse Kassel is a progressive shoegaze band from Chile that just self-released their first album, La Brea, with tracks running from 6 to 13 minutes. The whole affair is 78 minutes long, or more than three times the length of Courting’s new album. Anyway, La Brea is fascinating, even if I can’t tell you if I like it yet.

I always think February is going to be a lighter month for music, but that makes no sense since it will always have four Fridays, same as most months, and it’s not like December when labels do try to avoid releasing new albums. This month was pretty packed, and I’m sure I missed stuff – I’m behind on some of the full-lengths released in the last four weeks for sure – but here’s what I’ve got. As always you can see the playlist here if you can’t access the widget below.

Blondshell – Two Times. I was lighter on Blondshell’s highly acclaimed self-titled debut album when it came out in 2023, but this song, from her upcoming LP If You Asked for a Picture, is by far the best thing she’s ever done, with revealing storytelling with off-kilter harmonies over a mesmerizing guitar line.

Waxahatchee – Mud. I actually drove right by the actual town of Waxahachie on my last scouting trip to Texas, while I was listening to this song (and playlist), an extra track from the Tigers Blood sessions.

Sharon van Etten – I Can’t Imagine (Why You Feel This Way). I’ve never quite gotten the critical acclaim for van Etten, who often sings like she’s stoned, but she does have a great voice when she lets it rip, and I’ve sense a stylistic shift over her last two or three albums to include more rock and other genres and away from the minimalist arrangements of her earlier work.

Heartworms – Just to Ask a Dance. Heartworms, aka Jojo Orme, released her debut album Glutton for Punishment last month to some pretty glowing reviews. It’s a frenetic, energetic mix of gothic new wave, dance, and industrial elements, with plenty of guitars, calling back to the several points of the 1980s (there’s some early NIN in here) while managing to also sound modern and inventive.

Matt Berry w/Eric D. Johnson – Why on Fire? I didn’t know the British actor Matt Berry, who appeared on The IT Crowd and What We Do in the Shadows and voiced a character in The Wild Robot, was actually a musician first, with his first album coming out in 1995. His newest LP, Heard Noises, has gotten a ton of praise, but I actually just like this one song; the rest of it is very nostalgic, almost a throwback to the ‘60s, and not the part I particularly enjoy.

Sports Team – Bang Bang Bang. This is the best of the three singles Sports Team have released so far from their upcoming third album, Boys These Days, due out May 25^th. I loved this art-rock/post-punk band’s last record, Gulp!, which had great guitar-driven hooks and witty lyrics throughout, but the previous two singles they put out didn’t have the same energy this one does.

Sam Fender – Little Bit Closer. I confess I have to listen to Fender’s whole album People Watching, but this and the title track are both outstanding roots-rock tracks from a freaking British guy who just turned 30.

Fontaines D.C. – It’s Amazing to Be Young. A one-off single from the lads to commemorate one of the members becoming a father for the first time. Between this and “Favourite,” I might almost say they’d gone pop.

The Murder Capital – Death of a Giant. This Irish rock band just released their third album, Blindness, on February 21^st, featuring this track and “Can’t Pretend to Know.” I wrote in October that they’re somewhere between punk and post-punk, but this song is almost math-rock (I don’t love the term, but it fits), and definitely goes beyond their punk-ish roots.

Adwaith – Gofyn. I’ve included a few more Welsh acts in the last five years because my wife is of Welsh descent, but this band actually popped up on an American-based playlist I follow on Spotify. They sing in Welsh, and use a sort of spare, post-punk style that sounds very DIY. They just released their third album, Solas.

swim school – Heaven. I’ve seen this Scottish band described as indie-pop, grunge, and shoegaze, all of which sort of fits. I’m into their sound, whatever it is, and I bet they kick ass live. This track is very shoegazey; it’s their first new music since their “mixtape” Seeing It Now came out last April.

Preoccupations – Focus. Preoccupations does one of the best revivals of mid-80s post-punk, right down to the guitar tones, so I’m pretty much going to include any track they release on here … but come on, that guitar riff at the start is “Uncertain Smile,” right?

The Horrors – Ariel. The Horrors’ follow-up to their magnum opus, 2017’s V, comes out on the 21^st. Night Life seems like it’s going to turn hard into the psychedelic and shoegaze parts of their sound, based on the three singles so far.

Friendship – Free Association. These guys are from Philly and have put out four albums already, so I’m a little abashed that this is the first song of theirs I’ve ever heard. I love the music, the pulsing percussion lines and the haunting piano and string lines, but I do wish the singer would just … sing. He’s kind of warble-talking, and it detracts from the song.

The Tubs – Chain Reaction. Probably my least favorite single of the three released so far from this offshoot of the defunct band Joanna Gruesome. Their jangle-pop sound is right up my alley, although the earlier two singles had better hooks. They released their second album, Cotton Crown, today.

Tropical Fuck Storm – Goon Show. I suppose with a name like that, you kind of have to not give a fuck about anything, right? This song is weird and witty and at some points barely seems like a song. “It’s raining cats and dogma” is a great line, though. They’re promising a new album but have offered no details, so this is just a one-off single from the Melbourne supergroup.

Brooke Combe – Butterfly. Combe’s full-length debut, Dancing at the Edge of the World, came out on January 31^st, featuring this smooth ‘70s-infused R&B/pop number along with the superb “This Town.”

Self Esteem – Focus is Power. I hadn’t heard of Self Esteem, the nom de chanson of Rebecca Taylor, who was half of Slow Club, before this song, but it seems like the kind of pop banger that could easily take off with its gospel-backed chorus and its trite, vague lyrics about self-worth and being powerful. I still like the melody, though.

Little Simz feat. Obongjayar & Moonchild Sanelly – Flood. Simbi’s back, with her next album Lotus coming out on May 9^th. That’ll be her first full-length since 2022’s No Thank You, although she’s put out music in the interim via EPs and mixtapes. This track features more of her frequent collaborator Obongjayar (“Point and Kill”) than it does of Simz herself, which might be a negative if it weren’t for the tremendous beat behind all of their vocals. How is she only 31? I feel like she’s been recording for fifteen years now.

WOOZE – 4 Lovely Children. WOOZE’s self-titled debut album came seven years after their first release, and it hits the mark – the songs are ridiculous, bouncy, snarky, and just all-around fun.

Bartees Strange – 17. Strange just dropped his third album, Horror, and based on the four songs I’ve heard so far he’s expanding his sonic palate substantially, although I also understand the criticism of Jack Antonoff’s production style, which tends to mute Strange’s guitar work.

Anxious – Never Said. I don’t think these guys are an emo band, but that’s how I see them labeled in the music press; they’re somewhere between hard rock and hardcore, and even with some screamed vocals it’s pretty damn good. Their second album, Bambi, came out on February 21^st, and it’s in my queue.

Doves – A Drop in the Ocean. I didn’t love the new album, Constellations for the Lonely, anywhere near as much as I’d hoped after hearing the killer first single “Renegade.” It’s just uneven, in both songwriting and production, and the third single “Saint Teresa” was just a mess. Singer Jimi Goodwin doesn’t always sound fully invested in the songs, which is disappointing as his voice is my favorite of the various band members’.

Momma – Bottle Blonde. This is more like it after their last single was heavily derivative of Veruca Salt’s “Seether,” more in that lo-fi indie-pop vein that characterized their best track to date, “Speeding 72.”

Andy Bell – apple green ufo. That’s the Andy Bell of Ride, not the one of Erasure; Bell just released a solo album Pinball Wanderer that is a spaced-out psychedelic trip, nothing like his music with Ride or Hurricane #1 or Oasis, and even includes a mellow cover of “I’m in Love with a German Film Star.”

Verbian – Fruta caída do mar. I get emails from a lot of music publicists, too many to even open most of them – it’s not like this is my job – but something got me to open this one, and even though it’s not the sort of experimental metal that email led me to expect, it is novel, with the percussion especially standing out here for the way it gives the song different textures throughout.

Mekons – War Economy. I didn’t realize the Mekons were still going, but they’ve been quite prolific, at least up until the pandemic, after which they didn’t put out any new music for five years, until last month’s Horror. I also don’t know their music very well, or even their history, given how often I confuse them with the Melvins, two bands with nothing at all in common.

Raven – Can’t Take Away the Fire. I can’t believe these guys are still going; Raven started in 1974, became one of the leaders of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, never breaking through commercially beyond that core audience, and they’ve never had more than a brief hiatus in their fifty years. More notable is that the band still has its two original members, the Gallagher brothers – no, not them – with John Gallagher still handling vocals and hitting the high notes at age 66.