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 25th, 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 21st. 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 18th; 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 9th.
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.