Album: Constellations for the Lonely
Quick Thoughts: Doves are back with a new album that feels like what we expect from the veteran act. "Renegade" is up there with some of the best work they've put out, and it's a superlative, comfortable listen overall. Not a ton to say except that it's a highlight of the week.
Songs of Note: "Renegade," "Cold Dreaming," "A Drop In the Ocean"
Album: Blood on the Silver Screen
Quick Thoughts: Since going solo from Cherry Glazerr, SASAMI has carved out a pretty cool niche for herself over the course of a few albums and EPs. Each one has built upon the previous, and this latest effort, positioned in part as her "pop record," is really so much more than that. There are a lot of unforgettable, excellent songs here that straddle the line between indie pop, retrowave, and singer-songwriter stuff ("Slugger" in particular is one of the better songs of 2025 thus far), and really deserves a lot of attention. Don't miss it.
Songs of Note: "Slugger," "I'll Be Gone," "Figure It Out," "For the Weekend," "Honeycrash"
Album: City of Clowns
Quick Thoughts: Marie Davidson does some very specific-sounding electronic music that has an industrial feel to it, and I've been into it for a while. Every song feels like a statement, and it's rare for a record to feel that way from top to bottom. It very much feels like a record for the nowtimes; an album that we need whether we realize it or not.
Songs of Note: "Demolition," "Sexy Clown," "Contrarian," "Unknowing," "Y.A.A.M."
Album: We Could Be Brave
Quick Thoughts: So we're old enough in these parts to have largely missed the post-Pinkerton emo revival, and we're more likely to list Fugazi than Fall Out Boy when it's all said and done. Michael Cera Palin, at least in my mind, does a really good job of bridging those two waves with a more modern indie approach. This latest record is definitely their best yet, and has so much going for it - I wish I came up with the title "Murder Hornet Fursona," and "Crypto" is the perfect song for the now. If you've avoided them up to now, this is as good a time as any to jump on the bandwagon.
Songs of Note: "Feast or Famine," "Murder Hornet Fursona," "Gracious," "Crypto," "A Broken Face," "We Could Be Brave"
Album: Middle Spoon
Quick Thoughts: One of the more prolific bands in the indieverse is back with another album that's as great as anything they've put out. What's great about this fourth album is that they are definitely trying to do a few new and different things to keep it fresh while still being themselves. More often than not, it works, and there's something to that. Make time for it.
Songs of Note: "Living Lo-Fi," "Flies," "Growth Sux," "Don't Dream," "Content Baby"
Album: dust suspended on a sunbeam
Quick Thoughts: JuliaWhy? fashions herself a "stargaze" artist, which is probably best described as shoegaze in a major key, but labels don't matter here: she's put out a really great fuzzy little album here that resonates from start to finish. Songs like "Pale Blue Dot" does a great job of setting the right tone early in the record before throwing an angry curveball in "Waterfall," and "Smoke Machine" is like the mature little sister of "Cannonball" by The Breeders. Loved loved loved this record. More please!
Songs of Note: "Pale Blue Dot," "Waterfall," "Deep Fake," "Smoke Machine," "Crucify," "Transported"
Album: To Cross or To Burn
Quick Thoughts: Venamoris is a project of former Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and his wife Paula, and it has the sort of goth-wave feel that never should have fallen out of favor. It's so good - it's just heavy enough to echo the sort of dark folk of Chelsea Wolfe without losing some of the metal-tinged edge - there are many great tracks here, but "Spiderweb" in particular is a highlight of the approach. A great listen.
Songs of Note: "In the Shadows," "Spiderweb," "Numb," "To Cross or To Burn"
Album: Spirits
Quick Thoughts: It's difficult to enjoy roots-focused folk without enjoying what The Devil Makes Three have done over the last few decades. Far from a rote victory lap, Spirits honestly feels more like a thematic concept album given the amount of drugs and alcohol it's soaked in. It's a fun listen despite the somewhat dark undercurrent, and it's worth the time in a busy new release period.
Songs of Note: "Spirits," "Half as High," "Divide and Conquer," "I Love Doing Drugs," "Poison Well," "Holding On"
Album: No. 1 in Heaven Starring Travels With Brindle
Quick Thoughts: First, a disclosure: I have known Chelsea Spear for the better part of 20 years, and I assisted in writing some copy for her Kickstarter campaign to fund this particular record. Not only because she's a friend, but because she's made a little niche for herself in the regional music scene with her trusty ukulele and it's truly unique and fun. We loved her last album, Notes from Undergrad, and this record, a reimagination of the 1979 Sparks album of the same name, is a stellar little labor of love. Fully licensed and recorded in the Boston Public Library's public audio lab, it has a story and approach that's as good as the musical choices across the board here. The effort to take a fairly angular-yet-influential synthwave record and turn it into a uke-folk listen is audacious on its own, but what's scary is that it works. Serves as both an appreciation of the Sparks brothers as it does an appreciation of Spear's musical chops. Give this a listen.
Songs of Note: "Tryouts for the Human Race," "Beat the Clock," "The Number One Song in Heaven"
Album: The Joys of Being Pure at Heart
Quick Thoughts: We've enjoyed a lot of what Hachiku has done over the last few years, but the super-bright tone of this latest record feels a little different than her previous efforts thus far. Reminscent in some ways of the Gentle Waves in its twee-adjacent aesthetic - if you're into light and bright, give it a shot.
Songs of Note: "Tell Your Friends You Love Them," "Keep on Swimming," "Victims of Our Own Demise," "Fun for Everyone," "Room for Everybody (Never Let Go of the Joy)"
Album: They Will Leave Us With Nothing
Quick Thoughts: If JuliaWhy? is nailing down the "stargaze" side of the fuzzy, Soft Blue Shimmer is giving us the sort of dreampop you've been waiting for. A lovely, addictive listen with so many memorable tracks. "supermetal dream" in particular is another favorite of the week. An underrated band with a ton to love, check them out.
Songs of Note: "supermetal dream," "Soonby," "Sapphire Door," "Bodyknot"
Of note:
* Albertine Sarges - Girl Missing
* Ichiko Aoba - Luminescent Creatures
* Rattle - Encircle
* Edith Frost - In Space
* corook - committed to a bit
* See Night - Just Another Life
* Nona Invie - Self-soothing
* Other Brother Darryl - Roll Shine Roll
* you, infinite - you, infinite
* Everything is Recorded - Richard Russell is Temporary
* Mae Martin - I'm a TV
* Marcel camargo - Quebra-Cabeca
* Andy Bell - pinball wanderer
* Panda Bear -Sinister Grift
* Yo La Tengo - Old Joy
* Anthony Szmierek - Service Station at the End of the Universe
* Roller Derby - When the Night Come
* Foley - That's Life, Baby!
* The Tubs - Cotton Crown
* Vundabar - Surgery and Pleasure
* MC Paul Barman - Tectonic Texts
* shinetac - Infiltrating Roku City
* Sierra Hull - A Tip Toe High Wire
* Darci Phenix - Sable
* Benmont Tench - The Melancholy Season
* Tobacco City - Horses
* Frog Eyes - The Open Up
* Bob Mould - Here We Go Crazy
* Grimm Grimm - Untitled II
* Lady Gaga - Mayhem
* Reb Fountain - How Love Bends
* Kris Delmhorst - Ghosts in the Garden
* Arny Margret - I Miss You, I Do
* Chad Crouch - Grove of the Titans Soundwalk
* Lust for Youth and Croatian Amor - All Worlds
* flypaper - big nada / another orbit
* Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow
* Miya Folick - Erotica Veronica
* MAN LEE - Hefty Wimpy
* HotWax - Hot Shock
* Lord Finesse - The SP 1200 Project: Sounds and Frequencies in Technicolor
* Clara Mann - Rift
* Annie DiRusso - Super Pedestrian
* Taxidermists - 20247
* Apollo Brown - Elevator Music
* Big Zuu and Capo Lee - Signed and Delivered
* Divorce - Drive to Goldenhammer
* Kedr Livanskiy - Myrtus Myth
* LAKE - Bucolic Gone
* The Burning Hell - Ghost Palace
* Flutter Ridder - Flutter Ridder
* Raisa K - Affectionately
* Pale Blue Eyes - New Place
* 6ix - Homebody
* Rex Macadangdang - That's the Magic
* Star 99 - Gaman
* Freestyle Man and Jimi Tenor - Sinus Amoris (Songs from the Bay of Love)
* Adrien Soleiman - BelleJazzClub (Vol. 1)
* Fust - Big Ugly
* The Residents - Doctor Dark
* The Lasso - Mutation Phaser
* Oh My Sun - Apocalypse Baby
* Lagartijeando - 7 Caminos
* GFOTY - Influenzer
* Confidence Man - 4AM (LA LA LA)
* Svart Rida - Aponia
* Daniel Bachman - Moving Through Light
* saiorse dream - saoirse dream
* Pink Must - Pink Must
* The Vapors - Wasp in a Jar
* Deep Sea Diver - Billboard Heart
* Christian Mistress - Children of the Earth
* Cornelia Murr - Run to the Center
* Matilda Mann - Roxwell
* Joshua Burnside - Teeth of Time
* Cloakroom - Last Leg of the Human Table
EPs:
* Rebecca Black - Salvation (She's so good at this.)
* Hereboy - Sitting Duck
* Housewife - Girl of the Hour
* BASIC - Dream City
* Shygirl - Club Shy Room 2
* Lola Kirke - 241s and 2 Damn Sexy
* Trash Rabbit - Headaches
* talker - Truth 2
* Steel Banglez - One Day It Will All Make Sense
* Swervedriver - The World's Fair EP
* SoFTT - HaRDD
* Esme Emerson - Applesauce
* Icewear Vezzo - UNDEFEATED
* upsammy - Open Catalyst
* Marshy - Light Business
* Bayete - Rumo Immaginari 01
Live albums/Compilations/Reissues:
* Q Lazzarus - Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus (A great historical look back at an overlooked artist.)
* 1,000 UK Artists - Is This What We Want (Anti-AI protest record.)
Also out:
* Tori Amos - The Music of Tori and the Muses
* XWORLDX - 18
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