{"id":10603,"date":"2025-02-11T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-02-11T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/?p=10603"},"modified":"2025-02-10T20:57:50","modified_gmt":"2025-02-11T01:57:50","slug":"music-update-january-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2025\/02\/11\/music-update-january-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Music update, January 2025."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>This playlist is a bit late as I was finishing up the last of the team rankings, but it includes songs released between when I published <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2025\/01\/03\/top-100-songs-of-2024\/\">my top 100 songs of 2024<\/a> and January 31<sup>st<\/sup>, so anything that\u2019s come out in the last eleven days will go on the next playlist. As always, if you can\u2019t see the widget below you can <a href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/playlist\/3VpcJe1ZtiuzjfBkPMNR2N?si=60e29cf28b024932\">access the playlist here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-spotify wp-block-embed-spotify wp-embed-aspect-21-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"Spotify Embed: Klaw&amp;apos;s January 2025 music update\" style=\"border-radius: 12px\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/3VpcJe1ZtiuzjfBkPMNR2N?si=d97e30057fce4240&#038;utm_source=oembed\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>SAULT \u2013 The Lesson.<\/strong> SAULT dropped an album with no warning, as they typically do, right before Christmas, the religious-themed <em>Acts of Faith<\/em>. It\u2019s a more subdued effort and has less of the over social activism of their previous albums, still with several really compelling tracks even though much of the lyrical content is foreign to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Little Simz \u2013 Hello, Hi.<\/strong> A surprise drop from the Mercury Prize-winning British rapper, her first new music since the too-brief <em>Drop 7<\/em> EP came out this time last year, although there\u2019s no word on a new album.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Goat feat. MC Yallah \u2013 Nimerudi.<\/strong> I knew Goat, but not MC Yallah, a Kenyan-born rapper now based in Uganda who rhymes in four languages. She\u2019s great, combining technical skill and a really easy flow, so I was into it even when I didn\u2019t get the language she was using. I feel like she must have grown up listening to a lot of Queen Latifah and Native Tongues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Skunk Anansie \u2013 An Artist is an Artist.<\/strong> Definitely didn\u2019t know Skunk Anansie was a going concern, or that Skin was 1) the chancellor of a British university and 2) awarded an OBE, but I don\u2019t know a lot of things, so there\u2019s that. Anyway, this is the first new music from Skunk Anansie since 2022 and they\u2019ve hinted that there might be an album coming in 2025, which would be their first in nearly a decade. I know their \u201890s output more than anything from the last 20 years, but this song is one of their most accessible \u2013 without losing any of the rage and fire that made them icons in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Doves \u2013 Cold Dreaming.<\/strong> Musically, this is one of their best tracks post-<em>Last Broadcast<\/em>. I wish Jimi had handled the vocals, and the opening line of \u201cGod knows, it ain\u2019t easy\u201d is hackneyed, taking the song down a peg, but it\u2019s still a great sign for <em>Constellations For The Lonely<\/em>, which comes out on Valentine\u2019s Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Courting \u2013 After You.<\/strong> Courting\u2019s last album, <em>New Last Name<\/em>, made my list of the top albums of 2024, and they\u2019re already back with another LP, <em>Lust for Life, Or; \u2018How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story\u2019<\/em>, dropping March 14<sup>th<\/sup> with this track and last fall\u2019s \u201cPause at You.\u201d I\u2019m just a fan of their angular art-rock sound, and they seem to have an endless supply of melodies to throw on top. Plus they just always sound like they\u2019re having fun.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Swervedriver \u2013 Volume Control.<\/strong> Swervedriver often get lumped in with the Britpop and\/or shoegaze movements because they were contemporaries of those bands and sometimes had some similarities in the production style, but they had a harder rock edge and more blues influence. I believe this is their first new song in six years, since their last album, <em>Spiked Flower<\/em>, came out in January of 2019, and once again it has that heavier rhythm guitar and bass presence that I think brings almost a metal influence to their alternative rock vibe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>WOOZE \u2013 Running Outside with Heather.<\/strong> Every time this song comes on, I think it\u2019s from one of my playlists of 1970s rock, but then it shifts gears into a sort of dance riot \u2013 which is WOOZE\u2019s specialty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Darkness \u2013 Rock and Roll Party Cowboy.<\/strong> Not their strongest, I admit, but \u201cI\u2019m a rock and roll party cowboy\/and I ain\u2019t gonna read no Tolstoy\u201d is a hell of a couplet. The guitar solo\u2019s appropriately ridiculous as well. <em>Dreams on Toast<\/em> comes out March 28<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Sunflower Bean \u2013 Champagne Taste.<\/strong> I find it fascinating that Sunflower Bean had a hit with \u201cMoment in the Sun\u201d and immediately changed their sound to a harder-edged, almost glam rock circa 1978 vibe, rather than leaning into the song that made them somewhat popular. Good for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lambrini Girls \u2013 Nothing Tastes as Good as It Feels.<\/strong> This punk duo\u2019s debut album <em>Who Let the Dogs Out?<\/em> has 11 tracks and runs just 29\u00bd minutes, but it\u2019s packed with witty, incisive lyrics about misogyny and gender politics. \u201cCompany Culture\u201d is still my favorite from the record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Heartworms \u2013 Extraordinary Wings.<\/strong> Jojo Orme released her debut album <em>Glutton for Punishment<\/em> in January, and it\u2019s packed with tracks like this one that blend industrial, new wave, and goth elements but that still end up with memorable hooks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mourn \u2013 Verdura y Sentimientos.<\/strong> Mourn\u2019s garage-rock sound hasn\u2019t changed much over the last decade, since the early single \u201cGertrudis (Get Through This)\u201d hit my radar, and I\u2019m good with that \u2013 it\u2019s raw, emotional, tinged with post-punk, and never overproduced. This was one of two songs they released together, with the other titled \u201cAlegre y Jovial.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Momma \u2013 I Want You (Fever).<\/strong> I like Momma, and I like this song a lot, but my God is this derivative of \u2026 well, listen to the track and sing it with me: \u201cI want you\/Fever\/Can\u2019t fight\/the seether.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Tunde Adembimpe \u2013 Drop. <\/strong>The singer of TV on the Radio gave his debut solo album a name, <em>Thee Black Boltz<\/em>, and a release date, April 18<sup>th<\/sup>, along with this second single, not quite as strong as \u201cMagnetic\u201d but still pretty good if, like me, you like some of TVotR\u2019s more rockin\u2019 stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Bartees Strange \u2013 Wants Needs. <\/strong>Strange had my #1 song of 2022 with \u201cHeavy Heart\u201d off his sophomore album <em>Farm to Table<\/em>, but since then he\u2019s just had a few scattered singles, nothing with the same energy \u2013 until this one, the first single ahead of the release of his third album, <em>Horror<\/em>, this Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lord Huron feat. Kristen Stewart \u2013 Who Laughs Last?<\/strong> I mean, is it a gimmick? It kind of feels like one to have Stewart read some pretentious lines over what is otherwise a strong backing track with a pounding electronic beat and a solid hook in the chorus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Mogwai \u2013 Fanzine Made of Flesh.<\/strong> This Scottish experimental rock band released their eleventh album, <em>The Bad Fire<\/em>, in January. I\u2019ve never been a huge fan because I don\u2019t find a lot to grab onto in their songs, but I do appreciate that they\u2019re generally pushing boundaries \u2013 their songs are interesting even if they\u2019re not catchy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Population II \u2013 Le th\u00e9 est pr\u00eat.<\/strong> Population II does really old-school psychedelic\/prog rock, right down to mimicking the production style; it\u2019s an anachronism and I kind of dig their willingness to lean into the quaintness of the sound. They\u2019ve released three albums, the first of which comprised just two songs but ran about 35 minutes; their fourth LP, <em>Maintenant jamais<\/em>, comes out on March 28<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>clipping. \u2013 Change the Channel.<\/strong> Not quite as strong as \u201cRun It\u201d but still compelling work from Daveed Diggs &amp; company ahead of their more industrial-leaning album <em>Dead Channel Sky<\/em>, due out March 14.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>bdrmm \u2013 Infinity Peaking. <\/strong>bdrmm&#8217;s third album <em>Microtonic<\/em> comes out on the 28<sup>th<\/sup>; I keep seeing them described as \u201cshoegaze,\u201d a label that gets slapped on everyone now, but they are way more avant garde than typical shoegaze. It\u2019s just that they have some of that wall of distortion going on around all of the experimentation. This is where I thought black midi was headed before they broke up or went on hiatus. (I\u2019d say that twice over for Squid, whose newest album is once again ambitious and experimental, but the lyrics are often disturbing and the music heads too far afield.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Horrors \u2013 More than Life.<\/strong> Another single ahead of the release of their sixth album, <em>Night Life<\/em>, which will be their first full-length record since 2017\u2019s <em>V.<\/em>, their best to date and one of the best albums of that decade. This is a little more downtempo than \u201cThe Silence that Remains,\u201d the first single this psychedelic\/shoegazey rock band put out from the record late last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Pastel \u2013 Heroes\u2019 Blood.<\/strong> This British band that blends shoegaze and Britpop elements put out their debut album, <em>Souls in Motion<\/em>, last month; the best songs are mostly ones we\u2019ve heard already and that I\u2019ve put on previous playlists, including \u201cYour Day\u201d and \u201cLeave a Light On.\u201d This was my favorite of the songs they hadn\u2019t released before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Weather Station \u2013 Neon Signs.<\/strong> The Tamara Lindeman-led alternative folk project released their seventh album, <em>Humanhood<\/em>, in January; I found it a mixed bag but there are a couple of standouts, including this and \u201cWindow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Miki Berenyi Trio \u2013 8<sup>th<\/sup> Deadly Sin.<\/strong> This track from the former lead singer\/guitarist of Lush has a similar vibe but lacks the acerbic wit of Lush\u2019s best tracks like \u201cSingle Girl\u201d and \u201cLadykiller.\u201d Her new group will release its first album <em>Tripla<\/em> on April 4<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Japanese Breakfast \u2013 Orlando in Love.<\/strong> I really need to read <em>Crying in H Mart<\/em>, Michelle Zauner\u2019s acclaimed and best-selling memoir, since I like at least some of her music \u2013 although this track leans towards the lighter end of her music. Her stuff is so poppy that she\u2019s often on that line between stuff I find very catchy and stuff that feels a bit twee.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Freckle \u2013 Paranoid.<\/strong> Freckle is Ty Segall plus Color Green\u2019s Corey Madden; they put out their self-titled debut album on the last day of January, and a lot of it is mopey and boring, but this song is fantastic \u2013 you can hear both artists\u2019 influence here, with the swirling chord changes I associate with Color Green and Segall\u2019s brand of off-kilter melody in the vocals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Tubs \u2013 Narcissist. <\/strong>A little janglier tune this time from this Welsh band that rose from the ashes of Joanna Gruesome.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Wombats \u2013 Can\u2019t Say No.<\/strong> I\u2019m a little concerned about the upcoming Wombats album <em>Oh! The Ocean<\/em>, due out on the 21<sup>st<\/sup>, as the singles they\u2019ve released so far have a definite album-tracks feel to them, with neither the big hooks or the clever lyrics of even their last album, 2022\u2019s <em>Fix Yourself, Not the World<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brooke Combe \u2013 This Town.<\/strong> I had Combe\u2019s \u201cBlack is the New Gold\u201d on <a href=\"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/2023\/12\/22\/top-100-songs-of-2023\/\">my top 100 tracks of 2023<\/a>, then lost track of her (no pun intended) until this ebullient song, from her new album <em>Dancing at the Edge of the World<\/em>, popped up on a playlist I subscribe to on Spotify. It\u2019s quite different from the earlier song beyond her vocals, still in the intersection of pop and R&amp;B but with more of the former in some of the vocals and the string arrangements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>NIJI \u2013 Mo ti d\u00e9l\u00e9.<\/strong> I\u2019ve had a few of NIJI\u2019s tracks on playlists over the last year-plus, but just learned that <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2025\/01\/16\/niji-mo-ti-dele\/\">he was the organist for Knicks games<\/a> at some point. The jazz pianist\u2019s next album, <em>Or\u00edk\u00ec<\/em>, comes out on the 28<sup>th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Samba Tour\u00e9 \u2013 Assouma Kagne.<\/strong> Tour\u00e9 is a Malian desert blues guitarist, no relation (as far as I can tell) to his late mentor, the legendary Ali Farka Tour\u00e9, or Ali Farka\u2019s son Vieux, sometimes known as \u201cSamba.\u201d This Samba\u2019s style is more acoustic than that of either of those two artists or of the Nigerian superstar Mdou Moctar, which to my ears makes it seem less rooted in the American blues tradition. Samba just released his tenth album, featuring this midtempo track.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Cymande \u2013 Chasing an Empty Dream.<\/strong> I had never heard of Cymande before this track, even though the band is older than I am, releasing their self-titled debut album in 1972. They put out four albums in ten years, broke up in 1981, then reunited to play some shows in the early 2000s after their music found a renaissance through sampling and via Spike Lee\u2019s use of one of their tracks in two of his films. They put out an album in 2015, their first in over 40 years, and then just released their next one, <em>Renascence<\/em>, in January. It\u2019s very old-school 1970s funk with a Caribbean tilt; I hear a lot of Commodores, Ohio Players, even some R&amp;B like Curtis Mayfield in this particular song. Also, bassist\/singer Steve Scipio was once Attorney General of Anguilla. How many bands can claim that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This playlist is a bit late as I was finishing up the last of the team rankings, but it includes songs released between when I published my top 100 songs of 2024 and January 31st, so anything that\u2019s come out in the last eleven days will go on the next playlist. As always, if you [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1433,359,609,167,1127,852],"class_list":["post-10603","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-2025-in-music","tag-alternative","tag-hip-hop","tag-indie","tag-jazz","tag-music","entry"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10603","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10603"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10603\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10604,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10603\/revisions\/10604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10603"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10603"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/meadowparty.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10603"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}