We all have scores to settle. Don’t get me started on mine. But do get me started on this score of great new albums heading your way over the next seven days — including keepers from Craig Finn, Mekons, Sleigh Bells, Waterboys and plenty more. Why settle for anything less? Why ask why? Settle in and peruse the possibilities:
L.A. Witch
Doggod
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “L.A. Witch have always exuded an aura of effortless cool, whether it manifested as the Americana noir and laconic back-to-basics rock ’n’ roll of their self-titled debut or the blistering austere adventurism of their sophomore album Play With Fire. The band — Sade Sanchez (guitar/vocals), Irita Pai (bass) and Ellie English (drums) — began as an informal affair, but the sultry and beguiling reverb-draped songs they created caught on with the public, moving the project beyond the insular space of the band’s friends and peers in Southern California into the broader world. On their latest album Doggod, the trio push their craft beyond their previous creative and geographical confines, opting to craft the material in Paris, recording the tracks at Motorbass Studio on the Rue de Martyrs. Doggod explores broader swaths of sonic terrain, employs a greater arsenal of tones, and probes larger existential and cosmic themes, all while retaining the band’s signature sense of the forbidden, the forsaken and the foreboding. Doggod is a way of tackling the universal riddle tangled in the spiritual nature of love and devotion. “I feel like I’m some sort of servant or slave to love,” says Sanchez. “There’s a willingness to die for love in the process of serving it or suffering for it or in search of it… just in the way a loyal, devoted servant dog would.”
Riki Lindhome
No Worries If Not
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The songs on No Worries If Not flowed quickly, with Emmy-nominated comedian, actress and musician Riki Lindhome initially envisioning them as a one-woman musical. As that idea evolved, the former member of comedy-folk duo Garfunkel & Oates used some of the tracks for this solo debut album, updated with a full band of talented musicians such as Fred Armisen, Incubus bassist Nicole Row, Wolves of Glendale drummer Eric Jackowitz, and production trio Polyglam. Across the album’s 11 tracks, Lindhome explores themes of love, loss, parenthood, and growing older through a carefully crafted comedic lens, deftly tackling topics with her sharp wit and unfiltered honesty. Middle Age Love is a tongue-in-cheek track about the difficulties of intimacies as you age, while Don’t Google Mommy details the “perils of parenting in the internet age,” explains Lindhome. Meanwhile, So Long, Farewell finds Lindhome singing from the perspective of a side character from The Sound of Music — the video showcasing her readiness for the role for any potential remake. Like a stage-ready diss track, Lindhome tears apart Captain Von Trapp and his “nanny nun.”
Mekons
Horror
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Legendary postmodern, post-punk, post-human, past-caring collective Mekons return with a brand-new album for 2025. Horror provides a horribly prescient reflection of the world in its current miasma and how we got here. Horror looks at history and the legacies of British imperialism, with mashed-up lyrics set against a typically eclectic sound that amalgamates everything from dub, country, noise, rock ’n’ roll, electronica, punk, music hall, polka and you can even take your partner for a nice waltz on Sad And Sad And Sad. The roots of their global sound reflect their nomadic journey through time and space from Leeds to California in the West and Siberia in the East and is woven into the fabric and intricacies of their song creation. Almost 50 years in the making, these Mekons continue to astound, their sound, sentiment and method of delivery blended to perfection. The Mekons are Jon Langford, Sally Timms, Tom Greenhalgh, Dave Trumfio, Susie Honeyman, Rico Bell, Steve Goulding and Lu Edmonds.”
Momma
Welcome To My Blue Sky
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Like so many coming-of-age stories that leave a long-lasting impact, Momma’s new album Welcome To My Blue Sky takes place during a charmed and turbulent summer — a transformative moment in time that co-founders Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten sum up as a period of “parallel chaos.” The Brooklyn band’s fourth LP, over the course of 12 immaculately composed yet immediately potent songs, documents all the life-altering upheaval the two singer/songwriter/guitarists experienced during a whirlwind mid-2022 tour. Equal parts shared memoir, communal outpouring, and riveting emotional travelogue, each track is infused with both unsparing self-awareness and immense sensitivity, and the result is a bold leap forward for one of the most creatively uncompromising and singular voices in indie-rock.”
The Ophelias
Spring Grove
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Four years ago, Spencer Peppet — lead singer and songwriter of Cincinnati quartet The Ophelias — found herself living in a personal hall of mirrors. Old ghosts were popping up from her past, or else being actively summoned: She heard from people she hadn’t heard from in years, reached out to people she didn’t talk to anymore, and found herself dreaming of ex-lovers, ex-friends, co-workers and acquaintances. “My dreams tend to be casual to the point of the uncanny — they feel like having real conversations, except the person on the other side didn’t experience it,” she says. “It’s just me, left with this sense that I have more to say.” At times, those conversations were ones she literally had with herself, pointing to an internal dissonance that gave her pause. The collection of songs that emerged from this time — the band’s fourth album Spring Grove, named for a cemetery in Cincinnati — is in part Peppet’s response to these ghosts, a chance to say what was not said. “There’s so much more beyond heartbreak to write about,” she says, emphasizing that there are “zero songs about breakups” on the album. Rather, across 13 tracks that alternately rage and soothe, Spring Grove picks at the nuanced textures of relationships and the multifaceted nature of personhood, smashing through the infinite refractions of the self to find clarity and new perspectives. The result is a marked evolution in The Ophelias’ sound and storytelling, a luminous document of facing the visages that haunt us — whether those of others or our own.”
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs
Death Hilarious
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The fifth album from Newcastle’s riff wizards is defined by calculated aggression and self-lacerating lyrics. Its startling bonuses include playful synth work and the appearance of a giant from hip-hop. With its title juxtaposing absurdity and seriousness, this is Death Hilarious. Whereas 2023’s Land Of Sleeper was conceived as an immersive headphones experience, this time Pigsx7 strove for something more directly hostile. “We wanted it to be a slap in the face,” grins producer and guitarist Sam Grant. That objective came, in part, from playing so many gigs over the last couple of years. The band felt well-oiled and ripe to give listeners at home the kind of pummelling their audiences receive. As for the words, they emerged from a bout of anxiety which derailed Matt Baty’s self-confidence to the extent that he wondered whether he’d be able to write any lyrics again. With his mind telling him he’d lost it and no longer had anything to say, the solution was to embrace the disquiet. “After a while I realised this is my muse,” remembers Baty. “I decided to give all these thoughts an avenue to release themselves, in the hope of exorcising them.” If you can’t beat them, join them.”
Scowl
Are We All Angels
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Scowl is a band that sound exactly like their name implies. Venomous, fierce, antagonistic. A sneer not to be crossed. Over the last five years, the Santa Cruz band have firmly planted their flag in the hardcore scene with their vicious sound and ripping live show, sharing stages around the world with Circle Jerks, Touché Amoré and Limp Bizkit, and filling slots at prominent festivals. But with their new album Are We All Angels, Scowl are aiming to funnel all that aggression through a more expansive version of themselves. Much of Are We All Angels grapples with Scowl’s newfound place in the hardcore scene, a community which has both embraced the band and made them something of a lightning rod over the past few years. Are We All Angels is an album marked by alienation, grief, and the loss of control. “Control is unfortunately part of the feminine experience in rock music and in a fairly male-dominated scene,” says vocalist Kat Moss. “You have to be hot and sexy, but not too sexy because that’s slutty. You want to be strong and talented, but don’t show yourself off too much because that’s embarrassing and cringe. That side of control really balls you up and tosses you across the room constantly, and it pisses me off.”
Sleigh Bells
Bunky Becky Birthday Boy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Sleigh Bells are so many things: Era-defining, a sonic boom of energy, your favorite hyperpop musician’s favorite reference. But what are singer Alexis Krauss and prpducer-guitarist Derek Miller to each other? Take away everything else — the critical acclaim, the inexplicable clash of sweet and aggressive, birthed in the late 2000s on Treats and expanded across the next decade on five more albums — Alexis and Derek are simply best friends forever. Now, the duo prepare to launch their seventh album, Bunky Becky Birthday Boy. It blasts into the room with razor-sharp guitars, ultra-sticky pop choruses, floor-shaking rhythms, and indelible chants which kick off on the album’s instant-classic opening track. The pair are in constant communication with each other; even when they’re not actively recording music, they’re sending tracks back and forth. That’s how Bunky Becky Birthday Boy came to be.”
The Waterboys
Life, Death And Dennis Hopper
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The most audacious Waterboys album yet, Life, Death And Dennis Hopper is the epic story of the trailblazing American actor and rebel told through a song cycle depicting not only Hopper’s story but the saga of the last 75 years of western pop culture. “The arc of his life was the story of our times,” says bandleader Mike Scott, “He was at the big bang of youth culture in Rebel Without A Cause with James Dean; and the beginnings of pop art with the young Andy Warhol. He was part of the counter-culture, hippie, civil rights and psychedelic scenes of the ’60s. In the ’70s and ’80s he went on a wild 10-year rip, almost died, came back, got straight and became a five-movies-a-year character actor without losing the sparkle in his eye or the sense of danger or unpredictability that always gathered around him.” Scott worked for four years on the album, which spans 25 tracks and traces the extraordinary arc of Hopper’s life, from his youth in Kansas to his long rise, five wives, tumultuous fall, and ultimate redemption. Says Scott: “It begins in his childhood, ends the morning after his death, and I get to say a whole lot along the way, not just about Dennis, but about the whole strange adventure of being a human soul on planet Earth.”
Young Friend
Motorcycle Sound Effects
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “On his debut album Motorcycle Sound Effects, Vancouver indie-rocker and Juno-nominated artist-producer Young Friend (Drew Tarves) sings about the nuances of growing up, capturing the people and experiences along the way. Tarves describes the sound as a “genre-bending fever dream,” taking inspiration from a variety of sources — Wilco, Adrienne Lenker, The Strokes and Porches. Tarves’ music as young friend feels classic and immediate all at once, capturing the nostalgia of post-adolescence while diving deep into a pool of self-reflection. His next project is bursting with big feelings and perfect golden light. It feels messy and raw, like long summer nights piling into the back of a pickup truck with all your friends, sprinting to catch the last summer sunset, taking off your shoes and dancing in the grass, falling, getting back up.”
