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 25th. 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 21st, 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 21st. 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 31st, 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 9th. 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 21st, 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.