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.
Ty Segall | Possession
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “2025: YOLO. With the quickness, time’s still slipping into the future — so fast at times, you may think the end’s in sight up ahead, or that you’ve outrun the long trail of history behind. All that’s absurd, man. Take it from Ty Segall. He’s been on a few trips around the sun himself, making records in orbit as he charts his path forward. Modern life is here to stay, but also (to quote an old civil war scribe), everything rocks and nothing dies — so for Possession, Ty’s 16th album, he strikes up the orchestra in his head with an abiding view of some quintessentially American stories, a quest channeled into 10 non-stop bangers.
Possession features some of Ty’s most inspired songs to date. It’s a post — Paradise City map of the American way, moving and grooving, but not pointing fingers even as childish fantasies splatter across the windshield. Taking back alleys through complicated cityscapes, ripping riffs jaggedly out of past hits for a new purpose, Ty scans the wreckage scattered all around, singing about the end of the rope while resisting defeat — suggesting an ecstatic new empire to build as he cruises the countryside in his glittering craft. Don’t miss the trip — the country inspires awe from up on Ty’s high-octane ride.”
Alan Sparhawk | With Trampled By Turtles
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “No one can help you build something beautiful quite like those who know you best. Alan Sparhawk knows this well. In his years in Low, he built decades of stirring music with his wife and lifelong creative partner Mimi Parker. In recent years, he has performed around Minnesota with his son Cyrus in Derecho Rhythm Section, a funk band that also frequently features his daughter Hollis on vocals. There’s an irreplaceable naturalism that comes with this kind of dynamic. Those who know you understand you. They love you. They want to help you bring your greatest passions to fruition.
And so, it only made sense that Sparhawk would turn to fellow Duluth musicians Trampled By Turtles to realize his latest record. As friends and mentees of Low, taken under Sparhawk and Parker’s wing from their earliest days as a bar band, Trampled By Turtles have performed with Sparhawk countless times over the years. The Duluth ties run deep: “There’s a certain vibe that has to do with underdog syndrome, coming from a small town,” Sparhawk muses. “Some of it is the weird grind and slackness that being at the mercy of Mother Nature puts in you. It humbles you.”
With Trampled By Turtles is a record exactly as its name implies: Collective. Communal. Fraternal. Empathetic. There is never a moment of complete solitude. With Trampled By Turtles is a vessel for comfort, a reminder of the harmony that can be brought when surrounded by those closest to you. In complete trust, both artists let the overflow of human emotion drive their collaboration. “Nothing is real until everybody is in the room,” as Trampled By Turtles vocalist and guitarist Dave Simonett puts it. “I can practise the songs myself as much as I want, but it’s almost like starting over when everybody’s there.” There were no group practices prior to recording; all the players let whatever surfaced at the moment guide the way.”
Sparks | Mad
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “If the world is a cafe, its ridiculous patrons babbling ridiculously all day long, then Ron Mael is the guy on his own in the corner that you don’t notice, quietly sipping his coffee. But he’s watching, listening, making notes. Those notes become songs for his band, the legendary Sparks, to be sung by his brother Russell in his unmistakeable falsetto.
Mad! finds Ron and Russell examining cultural phenomena such as branded backpacks, tattoos, performative devotion (whether to a God, a lover, a celebrity or a sports team) and the hegemony of banter. (Running Up A Tab At The Hotel For The Fab seems to be inspired by the modern-day parable of fake German heiress Anna Delvey, or at least someone very similar: “Will you visit me in Rykers?”) The satire is never on-the-nose, always retaining enough ambiguity for the listener to fill in the blanks. And the exquisitely unusual lexicon (you won’t hear the word ‘epistemology’ on many other albums this year) and cultural references (“Howard Hughes in Jordan 2s” on lead single Do Things My Own Way), leap out on every listen.”
Bruce Springsteen | Tracks II: The Lost Albums
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Seven previously unheard Bruce Springsteen records have been released for the first time on the long-anticipated Tracks II: The Lost Albums. With 83 songs, The Lost Albums fill in rich chapters of Springsteen’s expansive career — while offering invaluable insight into his life and work as an artist. “The Lost Albums were full records, some of them even to the point of being mixed,” said Springsteen. “I’ve played this music to myself and often close friends for years now. I’m glad you’ll get a chance to finally hear them.”
From the lo-fi exploration of LA Garage Sessions ’83 — serving as a crucial link between Nebraska and Born in the U.S.A. — to the drum loop and synthesizer sounds of Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, The Lost Albums offer unprecedented context into 35 prolific years (1983-2018) of Springsteen’s songwriting and home recording. “The ability to record at home whenever I wanted allowed me to go into a wide variety of different musical directions,” Springsteen explained. Throughout the set, that sonic experimentation takes the form of film soundtrack work (for a movie that was never made) on Faithless, country combos with pedal steel on Somewhere North of Nashville, richly woven border tales on Inyo and orchestra-driven, mid-century noir on Twilight Hours.”
Squid | Cowards
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Squid’s new album Cowards is about evil. Nine stories whose protagonists reckon with cults, charisma and apathy. Real and imagined characters wading into the dark ocean between right and wrong.
Cowards is Squid’s most courageous album: Simultaneously growing in scope and returning to basics. The band recorded Cowards at Church Studios in Crouch End with Mercury Prize-winning producers Marta Salogni and Grace Banks. On additional production is longtime shifu and collaborator Dan Carey, who recorded the band’s first two albums. The record was mixed in Seattle by John McEntire before being compressed by the rich analogue chain of Heba Kadry’s mastering in Brooklyn.
Squid have come a long way since forming in 2016 as an instrumental jazz band for a monthly night in Brighton. Their debut album Bright Green Field (2021) arrived as the world was starting to open up after the pandemic and they broke into the Top 5 in the U.K. chart. In 2023 they released their sophomore album, the brooding O Monolith, which took the band all over the world and broke new ground that hardly seemed possible years prior.”
Stereolab | Instant Holograms On Metal Film
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Are you having aerial troubles with your colour TV? We can’t help with the technical issues, but we are able to take your minds off the problem with news of a brand-new Stereolab album.
Their first new record in 15 years, it features 13 songs written by Laetitia Sadier and Tim Gane, and performed by Laetitia, Tim, Andy Ramsay, Joe Watson and Xavi Muñoz, who comprise the current touring lineup of the band. The album also features guest contributions by Cooper Crain and Rob Frye (Bitchin Bajas), Ben LaMar Gay (International Anthem), Ric Elsworth, Holger Zapf (Cavern Of Anti-Matter), Marie Merlet and Molly Hansen Read.”
Bartees Strange | Horror
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Bartees Strange was raised on fear. His family told him scary stories to teach life lessons, and at an early age, he started watching scary movies to practice being strong. The world can be a terrifying place, and for a young, queer, Black person in rural America, that terror can be visceral. Horror is an album about facing those fears and growing to become someone to be feared.
Horror began at Strange’s home studio with an eye toward production. A session with Yves and Lawrence Rothman (Yves Tumor, Lady Gaga) provided a rhythmic and sonic backbone for chunks of the record. After Strange met Jack Antonoff and the pair became fast friends, Antonoff began work on Horror. The twosome finished the record together, working the songs raw, editing, arranging, and dressing them up in clothing bound to inspire fear. Throughout the record, Strange lays down one difficult truth after another, all over a sonic pastiche of music that soundtracked his childhood. Across the album’s 12 new tracks are genre-bending threads of the music his dad introduced him to — Parliament-Funkadelic, Fleetwood Mac and Teddy Pendergrass — merged with Strange’s interest in hip-hop, country, indie rock and house.”
Swans | Birthing
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “The material contained in this album was largely developed over the course a year-long Swans tour, during 2023 / 2024,” says founder and frontman Michael Gira, explaining the genesis of their 17th album Birthing. “Then (it was) recorded and further orchestrated and rearranged in the studio. Two pieces were created and performed in the studio.
“In all cases the material began with me sitting in my office with an acoustic guitar, singing and dreaming about what would become of these skeletal songs. I’m blessed to have such a stellar group of musicians to work with live, and through improvisation, endless revisions and an intensity of focus in performance (not to mention endurance), over the course of time the music morphed into what you generally hear on this collection.
“This album, coupled with the recent live release, Live Rope, constitutes my final foray (as producer / impresario) into the all-consuming sound worlds that have been my obsession for years. We’ll do a final tour in this mode towards the end of 2025, then that’s it. After that, Swans will continue, so long as I’m able, but in a significantly pared down form. Hints of that direction can be found in a few moments on the current album. In the meantime, my hope is that the music provides a positive and fertile atmosphere in which to dream.”
Emma-Jean Thackray | Weirdo
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Emma-Jean Thackray, the visionary producer, composer and multi-instrumentalist, is known for defying musical boundaries — and her latest work Weirdo is a deeply personal and utterly original exploration of selfhood, grief and gratitude.
Drawing on an eclectic mix of influences — grunge, pop, soul, p-funk and jazz— Weirdo is a triumphant celebration of survival and individuality. Written, performed, recorded, mixed, produced and arranged entirely by Thackray in her South London flat, the album stands as a testament to her extraordinary musicianship and fearless self-expression.
Originally conceived as a meditation on neurodivergence and mental health, Weirdo evolved after the unexpected loss of her long-term partner from natural causes in January 2023, resulting in an album that feels deeply personal and universal. With intricate compositions, raw emotion, and an unflinching authenticity, Weirdo is more than an album; it’s a masterpiece of resilience, a celebration of individuality, and a bold leap forward for an artist at the forefront of British music.”
Turnstile | Never Enough
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Baltimore punk iconoclasts Turnstile have returned with their shapeshifting fourth album Never Enough, their first full-length release in four years.
Recorded between Los Angeles and their homes in Baltimore, Never Enough was produced by singer and keyboardist Brendan Yates. The expansive collection is a restless and exhilarating evolution of the band’s genre-defying sound. A transformative journey, both fearless and alive, by one of the most forward-thinking and influential bands of their generation. Never Enough follows Turnstile’s widely celebrated album Glow On, which earned the band four Grammy nominations.
In additon to Yates, Turnstile includes Franz Lyons (bass), Pat McCrory (guitar), Daniel Fang (drums) and Meg Mills (Guitar). Since forming in 2010, Turnstile have never stopped moving forward.”
U.S. Girls | Scratch It
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “When Meg Remy, the visionary behind U.S. Girls, got an offer to play at a festival in Hot Springs, Arkansas in early 2024 — over 1,000 miles away from her home in Toronto — she enlisted Nashville friend Dillon Watson (D. Watusi, Savoy Motel, Jack Name) to assemble a one-time band for the gig. The show went so well that she decided to ride that energy right back to where the impromptu band had initially rehearsed, in Music City itself, kickstarting the journey toward Scratch It.
In just 10 days, Remy and her band — Watson on guitar, Jack Lawrence (Dead Weather, The Raconteurs) on bass, Domo Donoho on drums, and both Jo Schornikow and Tina Norwood on keys, as well as harmonica legend Charlie McCoy (Elvis Presley, Bob Dylan, Roy Orbison) — recorded Scratch It live off the floor with minimal overdubs, mixed to tape. Closeness and ease emanate from this core band, with Remy’s singular voice sparkling on top of every tune, the most relaxed it has ever been.
Scratch It weaves together country, gospel, garage rock, soul, disco, folk balladry, and more, with Remy’s masterful songwriting threaded throughout. Her choice to discard the computer-based production of previous albums in favor of two-inch tape serves the songs well, introducing an element of sonic shapeshifting expected from an artist nearly 20 years into making records. If instinct was an instrument, Remy would be a virtuoso. Scratch It and see.”
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory | Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “From the off, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory is sonically different from Van Etten’s previous work. Writing and recording in total collaboration with her band for the first time, Van Etten finds the freedom that comes by letting go — letting go of her normal modus operandi or the need for control or attachment to the outcome. No safety net. It’s somewhat terrifying, but also liberating. The result of that liberation is an exhilarating new dimension of sound and songwriting. The themes are timeless, classic Sharon — life and living, love and being loved — but the sounds are new, wholly realized and sharp as glass.
This new approach — releasing music under this new moniker — began with inviting her bandmates into the creative process. Rehearsing in the desert for an upcoming tour, Van Etten describes an epiphany: “For the first time in my life I asked the band if we could just jam. Words that have never come out of my mouth — ever! But I loved all the sounds we were getting. I was curious — what would happen?” Magic, apparently. “In an hour,” she says, “we wrote two songs that ended up becoming I Can’t Imagine and Southern Life.” A stark and dark doom synth sequence opens the album and lead song Live Forever.
Various Artists | Brown Acid: The Twentieth Trip
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Here you are in 2025, about to take the 20th trip! The 10 vintage hard rock eruptions here will swarm around you like fearful loathing bats, zapping you from unexpected angles and offering beyond-a-reasonable-doubt proof of the inevitable collapse of the psychedelic ’60s utopian dream into lowball, self-absorbed human nature.
These killer tracks may be a half-century in the rear-view mirror now. But since we can’t work it out, we gotta mess it up — with a vibe that resonates timelessly, real life ripped out of the haze by real people, fresh and unfiltered right out of the gate. Getting it while they can. These are no mere historic sound recordings; they are life itself! If you’re looking for trouble, you just found it!
Viagra Boys | Viagr Aboys
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “At the end of the world, Sebastian Murphy knows his place: “I’m just a bag of meat,” the Viagra Boys frontman declares, flashing a brief smile before a raspy cough shakes it away.
On viagr aboys, Murphy shifts his focus inward, trading the political satire of 2022’s Cave World for a self-deprecating exploration of his own absurdity. Lead single Man Made of Meat”captures the band’s chaotic essence, with Murphy taunting your mom’s OnlyFans, dreaming of free sweaters from LL Bean, and letting out a full-fledged burp, all before summing up his ethos: “I hate almost everything that I see, and I just wanna disappear.” Embracing the nonsense of existence, Murphy finds solace in navigating life’s messy, stupid continuum with humor, self-awareness, and a touch of nihilism.”
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 Life, Death And Dennis Hopper. Produced with Waterboys bandmates Famous James and Brother Paul, the album 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. Every track has its own special place and fascinating, deep-rooted story. “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.”
Wavves | Spun
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “Like Nathan Williams’ earliest music, Wavves’ new album Spun took shape in a small shed behind his parents’ house. It’s known as the hideaway. It’s the place where Williams made music before he became known for his uncanny ability to write songs that sneered at the world while evoking pathos, sympathy, and a deep understanding of how sometimes we’re our own worst enemies, and that can be OK.
Over a decade prior to Spun, Williams released King Of The Beach, an album that delivered on all of the promise of his first two homespun records, Wavves and Wavvves. King Of The Beach catapulted the band to worldwide acclaim as one of the new darlings of indie rock. It was a cocky collection of pop-punk gems that brought fame so rapidly it also, in part, lead to a widely publicized on stage meltdown at Primavera Fest.
Fast forward to 2024, when an older, wiser, and slightly less stoned Williams reunited with longtime bandmates Stephen Pope, Ross Traver and Alex Gates for a new full-length. Wavves heralded Spun with Goner, a Travis Barker-produced song that arrived alongside a Brandon Dermer-directed video filmed at Wavves’ recent Zebulon charity show. Dermer previously directed Wavves’ 2013 video for That’s On Me and has directed videos for Barker’s Blink-182, among others.
“I had this song I had been sitting on, always revisited it and tried to record it a bunch of times but it was never just right,” Williams says. “Eventually it was giving me PTSD. I was talking to Travis about doing some songs together and when I opened up the vault to him, this one jumped out so we laid it down and finally we got it right.”
The Wildhearts | Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “For Ginger and The Wildhearts, everything new is old again.
Satanic Rites Of The Wildhearts is the 11th album from British rock veterans The Wildhearts, and the followup to their 2021 release 21st Century Love Songs. It was produced by Jim Pinder (Bring Me The Horizon, Bullet For My Valentine) and mixed byPinder and Carl Bown (Trivium, Machine Head). The record is conceived as a belated follow-up to their classic debut Earth vs The Wildhearts (1993).
“The songs were written during a period of transition, from extremely negative to positive,” Ginger says. “I realized how much control I have over my mental health, and the songs came from that understanding. There’s everything here — catchy choruses, proper fuck-off riffs, anger, frustration, acceptance and revelation, with plenty of insane detours. The album starts pessimistic and ends up like ‘Ah, so I CAN turn my life around?’ “Sometimes you have to start from the very bottom, your darkest point,” he continues. “We have more control over our emotions than we think. We control the outcome by how we respond. Once I started learning that, the songs came pissing out. It’s a hard rock album for people who actually love hard rock!”
YHWH Nailgun | 45 Pounds
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “YHWH Nailgun are a luminary four-person experimental rock project in N.Y.C., made up of artists Zack Borzone (vocals), Saguiv Rosenstock (guitar), Jack Tobias (synth + electronics), and Sam Pickard (drums). Their music is a visceral blend of styles that reaches toward an absolute essence.
45 Pounds is a record of thrilling cacophony: Whirring drums meet the sound of instruments which have been twisted and bent into new shapes, all of which are paired with the arresting growls of Zack Borzone. Across the record the four-piece re-imagine what is possible within the confines of a band setup, creating music that perfectly encapsulates the information overload of our times.”
Frank Zappa & The Mothers Of Invention | Cheaper Than Cheep
THE EDITED PRESS RELEASE: “In the early 1970s, music performance shows like The Midnight Special, Soul Train and In Concert were all the rage, beaming rock, pop and R&B artists directly into people’s homes, offering an unprecedented at-home concert experience. Inspired by these shows, or perhaps because of potentially not receiving offers to perform on them, or even more likely, wanting to control all aspects of the production, Frank Zappa took matters into his own hands, as he often did.
On the first day of summer, June 21, 1974, Zappa and his band, The Mothers of Invention, invited a small audience to the their humble rehearsal hall on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, for what would be an intoxicating, sweat-drenched two-hour-plus performance. A small film crew equipped with multiple cameras captured every riveting musical moment while the audio was recorded by a mobile recording truck. Unfortunately, when Zappa watched the footage he was devastated to learn, that similar to his Roxy project before it, the audio and video weren’t synchronized. Two months later, Zappa would team up with L.A. PBS station KCET and get the sought-after TV special he wanted, later released as The Dub Room Special. As a result, the June concert that he planned to shop to major TV networks was shelved, never to be revisited by Zappa. It languished in The Vault for more than five decades.
Now, more than 50 years after that magical, sweltering night, thanks to advancements in post-production editing tools, fans can experience the concert as if they were there in the front row. Dubbed Cheaper Than Cheep, this never-before-heard-or-seen two-hour concert program reveals the most intimate performance ever captured from the 1974 Mothers lineup, direct from the lovingly resurrected and restored original audio and video masters.”
