Legends were once told of the tales of New Music, today it returns at long last

Julien Baker & Torres- Send a Prayer My Way

Label: Matador
Genre: Indie Alt Country/Folk
Reviewed by: Kayra Ersoy
Julien Baker & Torres is the coolest and most unexpected country/folk collaboration. This album is an ode to both artists' upbringings in such an expressive manner. The instrumentals will make you tap your foot while the lyrics scratch your noggin. Torres's lower and fuller singing tangoes with Baker's higher and raw voice, creating the most beautiful harmonies.

Weatherday- Horror Disaster

Label: Top Shelf
Genre: Indie Rock
Reviewed by: Griffin Paddock
Weatherday's second solo album further refines their noise-pop emo style from Come In into something even better. The instrumentals are distorted and full, crackling constantly, with a crash ringing throughout most of the album. It treads the line of never sounding to much like shit really well, and the blown-out drums and distorted guitar are very quintessentially 2000's Midwest emo style. Weatherday's vocals are also very much in that style, charged with emotion. There's more vocal range here, alternating between hushed whispers, nasally crooning, and hoarse yells. It's very dynamic and is a huge part of the raw lo-fi sound. The biggest problem with this album is that it has a little bit of same-song syndrome, but for such a long album every song is honestly great. Play any, they're all fun

Sunbathe- Myself to You

Label: Time Release
Genre: Indie Pop
Reviewed by: Mak Kanekkeberg
Myself to You by Sunbathe is the perfect feel-good album for a summer road trip. It’s catchy, emotional, and warm. The band, based in Portland, Oregon really embodies the place as it’s got a great Pacific Northwest vibe. The bright guitars and poetic sounds are perfect sing-alongs. The first track “Myself to You” sweeps listeners into a world of shimmering sounds and serene vocals. Track 8 “Anything Anymore” has a bouncy beat that flows beautifully with the album as a whole.

Adrian Younge Presents- Something About April III

Label: Jazz is Dead
Genre: Soul
Reviewed by: Len Comaratta
Inspired by the great Brazilian records of the ‘60s and ‘70s, this is long anticipated conclusion of his SAA trilogy; the epitome of analog transcendence, a sonic world fueled by a 30-piece orchestra, analog synthesizers, breakbeats and Brazilian vocalists that carol psychedelic melodies in Portuguese.

Car Seat Headrest- The Scholars

Label: Matador
Genre: Indie Alt Rock
Reviewed by: Len Comaratta
The Scholars finds Toledo trying to go big the old-fashioned way -- putting together a great band and making a rock opera. Compared to Car Seat Headrest's early work, the clarity, punch, and confidence of The Scholars is revelatory, almost like they've leapt from lo-fi to prog rock, though Toledo's melodies still bear a certain resemblance to his previous work. They're also willing to stretch out to prog-like length for this music without sounding padded or self-indulgent. Unquestionably his finest work to date and one of the best albums of 2025.

Yuno- Blest

Label: Sub Pop
Genre: Alternative R&B / Indie Electronic / Pop
Reviewed by: Len Comaratta
The enigmatic indie-pop visionary transformed the emo-tinged suburban malaise of his 2018 Moodie ep into more expansive, widescreen pop drama

Sister Ray- Believer

Label: Royal Mountain
Genre: Acoustic Indie
Reviewed by: Marcus Mason
Sister Ray returns with Believer, a soft yet soul-bearing folk album that puts the feeling of summer nights perfectly into audio form. Sister Ray's vocals are by far the shining star, almost Sabrina Carpenter-like, yet soar across every word. However, the instrumentals are not to be underestimated, going from swells of horns and twinkles to soft and smooth guitar riffs. If you've been enjoying the blossoming folk scene or even want to enjoy a solid project, don't sleep on Sister Ray's ability to set the tone for your summer nights to come.

Tunde Adebimpe- Thee Black Bolts

Label: Sub Pop
Genre: Alt Rock
Reviewed by: Len Comaratta
Longtime frontman to TV on the Radio solo debut is steeped in grief; there is a lot of similarity to his other gig. Everything about Adebimpe’s magnetic presence fronting of one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the 00s is present and correct here: his warm fluency, wistful anger and genre versatility, but his pop instincts have come to the fore

Nephew Lagoon- Seemspeak

Label: self-published
Genre: NCP Electronic / Minimal MIDI
Reviewed by: Len Comaratta
Michigan-based producer Michael Loren (aka Nephew Lagoon) returns three years after Naked Fuse (2021) with a collection of material from 2024 combining frenetic percussion and flanged-out MIDI beats and jams into a heartfelt, delicately tangled adventure through minimal electronic beatscapes. A lot of these tend to be more song ideas than fleshed out full pieces.

Lael Neale- Altogether Stranger

Label: Sub Pop
Genre: Ethereal Indie Pop
Reviewed by: Len Comaratta
Conceived after three years of oscillating b/w rural solitude and urban chaos, the album’s centerpiece “Tell Me How to Be Here”, paints a stark and haunting portrait of her return to L.A., transmuting a dissociative unease into a woozy, dreamlike reverie, echoing Velvet Underground with the distant chime of “Sunday Morning” bells. Neale’s crystalline voice floats above Blakeslee’s ambient tape loops and ghostly, disintegrating Mellotron, evoking the disorientation of waking up in a world that feels so ordinary it becomes strange.