Wait, it’s July already? Damn. That was fast. I’d say time flies when you’re having fun, but I don’t know anybody who’s really having any. But even if the world is a dumpster fire being towed straight to hell by a clown car, at least we’ve got some decent music to hear while we plunge into the abyss. Here are some of my favourite albums from 2025’s first half, listed in alphabetical order. Will any of them make the cut six months from now? Who knows? Hell, who knows if any of us will be here six months from now? So carpe those diems, bitches. Enjoy.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Phantom Island
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The companion album to 2024’s Flight B741 — with songs recorded during the same sessions — Phantom Island sees King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard expanding their sonic palette to include a full blown orchestra. Blending their signature psych-rock energy with sweeping orchestral arrangements, King Gizzard take you on a psychological journey into the mind as it creates its own “phantom island” of illusions, fears and chaos.
The Australian sextet’s prolific nature has led them to release music at a frenetic pace, and their intense desire to seek out new sounds and follow new creative paths means that every one of their multitude of releases sounds different from the last. Phantom Island, their 27th album (not including scores of live releases) and second release on the band’s own (p)doom records, is no exception. It contains some of their most sophisticated work yet, bolstering their shape-shifting psych-garage-prog-rock with a full orchestra of strings, horns and woodwinds.
See Also:
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Live At The Caverns ’23
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Live In Athens ’25
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Live In Barcelona ’25
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Live In Bulgaria ’25
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Live In Lisbon ’25
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard | Live In Lithuania ’25
Lambrini Girls | Who Let The Dogs Out
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Who Let The Dogs Out is the debut album from Brighton noise-punk duo Lambrini Girls.
Recorded with Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox and mixed by Seth Manchester (Mdou Moctar / Battles), Who Let The Dogs Out bottles everything wrong with the modern world and shakes it up. If peppering political songs with humour is like sticking a sparkler in some bread, then Who Let The Dogs Out is like a fireworks display in the factory itself: strange, dangerous, exciting.
The album rips through a laundry list of social ills. Sirens blare over a heavy distorted bass and a live-drum breakbeat. The band dance between upbeat pop punk, dirty grunge tones and discordant post-punk. There’s even some noise-pop cheer for putting yourself first, whether it’s having an autistic meltdown or doing a poo at your mate’s house. With instrumentals that inhale you like a Level 5 tornado and sentiments that make you want to kick the nearest door through, it’s a take-no-prisoners debut from one of the U.K.’s most fun and fearless bands.”
Larkin Poe | Bloom
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Larkin Poe, the dynamic sister duo known for their electrifying blend of Southern rock, blues, and Americana, emerge once again onto the musical landscape with their latest and greatest album Bloom. Following their Grammy-winning success with Blood Harmony, the duo venture deeper into their musical journey, crafting a collection of songs that resonate with introspection, authenticity, and a profound connection to their roots in American music.
Bloom marks a significant evolution in Larkin Poe‘s creative journey. All the songs were born from collaborations between singer-guitarist Rebecca Lovell, lap steel wizard and vocalist Megan Lovell and co-producer Tyler Bryant, reflecting a synergy that extends beyond mere musical partnership. As Rebecca observes, “Bloom is about finding oneself amidst the noise of the world, about wholeheartedly embracing the flaws and idiosyncrasies that make us real.” This theme of self-acceptance is central to the album’s narrative: celebrating individuality against a backdrop of contemporary blues and rock.”
mclusky | the world is still here and so are we
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “mclusky are a band with a new album — the world is still here and so are we, their first new album in 20 years.
“it’s important to state that the world is still here and so are we is the fourth mclusky album (no qualification being needed). they had an asterisk next to the name for a bit — out of respect for past band members and the precious memorial glue of teenage musical crushes — but fuck that, in for a penny, in for a pound. lyrically it touches on subjects as rich and as varied as work-it-out-yourself and impenetrable-inside-joke-for-the-band, but one thing is clear, all of the songs have different words. all hilarious joking aside, the best songs are about things without being precisely about them. mclusky endorse this sentiment. they positively insist on it.”
Melvins 1983 | Thunderball
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Melvins 1983 — the raw and unfiltered incarnation of the legendary band led by Buzz Osborne and original Melvins drummer Mike Dillard — return with Thunderball, their first album in four years.
The album was recorded by Toshi Kasai at Sound of Sirens Studios, and features special guests Void Manes and Ni Maitres. Formed over 40 years ago in Seattle, Melvins were one of the pioneers of the grunge and sludge-metal scenes. Here’s a little history — and some opinions — from King Buzzo:
“Mike Dillard is the original drummer for the Melvins — we’ve been friends since high school,” he says. “We learned to play music together. We grew up together and have remained friends all these years. Thunderball is the third Melvins 1983 record we have made together. I’ve also wanted to do something with electronic artists Void Manes and Ni Maîtres for a long time. Both are extraordinary talents. Their unconventional use of electronics pushed Thunderball beyond my expectations. I wanted this one to be bombastic. I think it is. I’m already planning a fourth one that will be even more uncompromising — a real shit show.”
Model/Actriz | Pirouette
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The followup to their critically acclaimed debut Dogsbody, Brooklyn quartet Model/Actriz’s sophomore album Pirouette is sexually commanding and righteously diva-esque.
Taking inspiration from far and wide — everything and everyone from Lady Gaga and Grace Jones to classical ballet and dissonant dance music — and incorporating it with the smooth skill of a well-oiled machine, Model/Actriz surrender their punk aggression in favour of queer pop here, arriving at stunning new ways to be free.
Pirouette is an album that swerves out of the maze and into the spotlight. It is both a natural progression and a calculated reset, a move toward reasserting their command as artists by peeling away the smoke and mirrors to become brighter, heavier, and more direct. The pop thread running throughout the album allows the crowd to witness thumping club music in the spirit of cabaret and manifest the catharsis that comes with hitting the dance floor.”
Van Morrison | Remembering Now
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Van Morrison’s latest LP Remembering Now is his 47th studio album — but his first collection of new songs since 2022, following the acclaimed covers albums Moving On Skiffle and Accentuate The Positive.
With Remembering Now, Morrison returns to the transcendent, uncategorisable rhapsodies that make him unique. Soul, jazz, blues, folk, country — this is music in conversation with all of them but limited by none. It’s rich with hallmarks of classic Morrison, with songs about love in spirit (the escapist romance of Once In A Lifetime Feelings, the self-deprecating candour of The Only Love I Ever Need Is Yours) and specific references to locations from his youth in the title track and Stomping Ground. The title of another song, When The Rains Came, echoes a lyric from his classic Brown Eyed Girl. The single Down To Joy feels like he has gone back to his soul and gospel roots, its strong emphasis on an uplifting big-band arrangement with evocative strings providing fans with a taste of timeless sounds which represents the rest of the album.
Bob Mould | Here We Go Crazy
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bob Mould’s 15th solo album and first new full-length in more than four years, Here We Go Crazy follows 2020’s critically acclaimed Blue Hearts. It was produced by Mould at Chicago’s famed Electrical Audio in early 2024 and then finished and mixed at Oakland’s Tiny Telephone with longtime engineer Beau Sorenson. Here We Go Crazy once again features the crack rhythm section of drummer Jon Wurster and bassist Jason Narducy, and together the trio bring a bracing attack to 11 new songs.
The album was heralded by the lead single and title track, accompanied by a video directed by Gus Black. “I’ve been spending time in the Southern California desert over the past few years, and the video was shot there,” Mould says. “Chilly wilderness atop a mountain, expansive vistas below the hills, distant places to escape life’s routines. ‘Going crazy’ can be many different things. The joy of reckless abandon, the uncertainty of the world’s future, the silence of solitude.
“On the surface, this is a group of straightforward guitar-pop songs. I’m refining my primary sound and style through simplicity, brevity, and clarity. Under the hood, there’s a number of contrasting themes. Control and chaos, hypervigilance and helplessness, uncertainly and unconditional love.”
My Morning Jacket | Is
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For more than 25 years, My Morning Jacket have achieved an incredibly rare feat in the world of rock ’n’ roll, upholding a long-established cultural legacy while sustaining all the curiosity and creative hunger of their very earliest days.
In a monumental step for the Louisville-bred five-piece — vocalist/guitarist Jim James, bassist Tom Blankenship, guitarist Carl Broemel, drummer Patrick Hallahan, keyboardist Bo Koster — their 10th studio album finds the band deviating from their typically self-produced approach and teaming up with Grammy winner Brendan O’Brien (one of the most esteemed producers in rock music, known for his extensive work with Bruce Springsteen and Pearl Jam). Arriving as My Morning Jacket celebrate the 20th anniversary of their landmark album Z (a lavishly acclaimed LP), Is once again expands the limits of their sound and elevates their artistry to unprecedented heights. The result: The most masterfully realized work yet from a band fully committed to their belief in music as a conduit for revelation of all kinds.”
Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes | Live At The Greek Expanded
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Celebrating the 25th anniversary of one of rock music’s most legendary live collaborations, newly announced Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees The Black Crowes and global rock icon Jimmy Page have re-released their iconic live album, Jimmy Page & The Black Crowes: Live at the Greek.
Recorded during unforgettable nights of rock ’n’ roll in October 1999 at Los Angeles’ Greek Theatre and Jones Beach in August 1999, this album features powerful renditions of Led Zeppelin classics and The Black Crowes’ staple blues-rock jams. The 36-track anniversary album was produced, mixed, and remastered by Kevin Shirley and includes 16 previously unreleased tracks, exclusive behind-the-scenes photos, video, and much more.
Says Page: “The new mixes capture the collaboration of those historic encounters and provide the full explosive passion and exciting energy of those alchemical moments.” Chris Robinson says: “The new Live at the Greek box set brings the whole experience of our work with Jimmy into a vibrant, electric, mystical and powerful perspective. Hail, hail rock ’n’ roll!”
Pavement | Pavements Soundtrack
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Director Alex Ross Perry’s documentary film Pavements is currently screening in select theaters — with more to come — and has been met with confusion, confoundment and ultimately high praise. This soundtrack album, compiled by film producer and editor Robert Greene and Pavement, ropes together disparate elements of the film — dialogue snippets, scenes from the fake Oscar-bait biopic Range Life, cast recordings from the Slanted! Enchanted! jukebox musical, plus live and rehearsal tapes from the band’s 2021 reunion tour.”
Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs | Death Hilarious
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The fifth album from Newcastle riff wizards Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs 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.”
Propagandhi | At Peace
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Speaking for myself, this record might be a snapshot of me deciding whether I’m going to live out the rest of my life as Eckhart Tolle or live out the rest of my life as Ted Kaczynski,” laughs Propagandhi guitarist and vocalist Chris Hannah.
In true Propagandhi fashion, the Manitoba outfit’s eighth album At Peace is smart music for dangerous times. “Everything I’m singing about is still coming from being the same person that wrote and sang our first record How To Clean Everything in 1993,” Hannah states, recalling the band’s snarky skate-thrash origins. “But what we’re putting into the songs now, probably reflects more despair than 30 years ago when we had similar perspectives, but with strands of hope and naivete. Now it’s the existential dread of eking out a life worth living in this completely failed society.”
At Peace was written and recorded as political storm clouds were beginning to darken in the months before the new American emperor’s ascent to power. It’s an album of poetic and polemic songs written shortly before the oligarch’s suggestion that Propagandhi’s home country become the U.S.’s 51st state. Songs like the album’s apocryphal Fire Season presages the climate-change-driven wildfires that wiped out portions of Southern California. At its core, At Peace is an album of inconvenient and unavoidable truths that hit with all the subtlety of an Orwellian boot stamping on a human face forever.”
PUP | Who Will Look After The Dogs?
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Who Will Look After The Dogs?, PUP’s pummeling and cathartic fifth LP, is their most immediate, no-frills, and hard-hitting full-length yet. It was made in Los Angeles with producer John Congleton over the course of three weeks, and it’s the culmination of PUP’s past decade of constant touring and their palpable, livewire chemistry.
The album evokes the lightning-in-a-bottle intensity of their self-titled debut (except they are much better at their instruments now), and finds our self-deprecating frontman Stefan Babcock at his most reflective, vulnerable and prolific. Over 12 tracks, Babcock excavates his life’s relationships — romantic, with his bandmates, and most ruthlessly, his relationship to himself. There’s plenty of growth, but also plenty of unpredictable mayhem in the arrangements and an acerbic bite in the writing. And while PUP historically are at one another’s throats during the album process, this time they scrapped their tedious perfectionism and rediscovered the joy of making loud music together. They had fun this time, we swear!”
Rose City Band | Sol Y Sombra
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Rose City Band’s music is sun-kissed, timeless country rock whose seemingly effortless momentum carries the joy of its creation without ignoring the darkness pervading our consciousness.
Led by guitarist/vocalist Ripley Johnson, the sound of Rose City Band is rooted in his love of private press records of the mid-to-late ’70s. The band, in addition to Johnson, features pedal steel guitarist Barry Walker, keyboardist Paul Hasenberg and drummer John Jeffrey who enmesh a keen sense of rhythmic drive and melody with gentler, sumptuous atmospheres. Sol Y Sombra digs its heels into insatiable grooves, its parade of catchy songs conjuring a sunset drive through an open desert, both a celebration of a sojourn and a reach for the warmth of home.
The contrasts of Sol Y Sombra, the musical equivalent of bright stars in a night sky, are to Johnson an inevitability. “With Rose City Band, I’m generally trying to make uplifting music, good time music,” says Johnson. “This time I couldn’t avoid the shadow being more of a presence. There’s no getting away from it. The shadow is always there. So, I left it in.”
Luther Russell | Happiness For Beginners
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Happiness For Beginners is the seventh solo record by L.A. singer, songwriter, guitarist and producer Luther Russell.
Russell’s first solo album since 2019’s Medium Cool, Happiness For Beginners features 10 jangled-out, 12-string Rickenbacker-driven love songs. This time, the writing is more literate, darker, and romantically inclined. Luther has crafted a stunning slice of rock that shimmers as it reflects an era that sidled alongside what became punk, the melodic charisma of Ork Records, and the proto-power pop of Bomp! and Stiff Records, into the prime of post-punk-from the jangly college rock landscape of America to the U.K. raincoat guitar-group vanguard of the ’80s. Along with Russell on guitar and vocals, the album features bassist Jason Hiller, drummer Ben LeCourt, longtime collaborator SBT (Sarabeth Tucek) and old friend Jason Falkner of Jellyfish / Three O’Clock / The Grays.”
