Albums Quarterly #19

This time of year has always been the quietest in the new music sphere, and considering there’s so much crammed into nine months (January can be lumped in with July and August), it’s something that’s quite difficult to wrap your head around.

Labels, PRs and artists will often wonder why they never get responses during the year’s busiest periods, but from this side of the fence, there’s a question that continues to remain hanging in the ether: why aren’t more artists releasing music in the above-noted quieter months? It’s like we’re all trained to follow a system that, in 2025, is no longer fit for purpose.

As people have been enjoying what has been a brighter summer than most, it’s given us a chance to dig back through the first part of the year for releases that, you guessed it, fell by the wayside due to the volumes that are becoming more incomprehensible as the years go by.

Tracking back is one of the best facets of this feature. At the best of times, some things can take time to land in your orbit, whether it be through head space or, in the case of music (again, you guessed it), trudging through the endless amount of releases. When things eventually align, however, no matter whether it’s weeks or months ahead, this feature is there to at least try and shine the light.

As summer draws to a close, these are the sounds that have been providing some kind of soundtrack to it.

Second Summer: In Conversation with Cory Hanson

Editrix: The Big E
Joyful Noise Recordings

While Wendy Eisenberg has spent the last 12 months bending minds on the back of their solo works and playing alongside the likes of Bill Orcutt and David Grubbs, the initial baseline was arguably their equally excellent band, Editrix, who return with The Big E.

Alongside Steve Cameron (bass) and Josh Daniel (drums) the band release their first record with each member dotted throughout North American’s East Coast (Eisenberg and Cameron now based in New York, while Daniel remains in Massachusetts). The big-jam-in-a room vibe doesn’t abate here, though, as Editrix continue to dispense mind-twisting noise-prog that’s part King Crimson part Deerhoof.

Editrix never miss and on The Big E, the more you lend your ears to it, the harder it hits.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Half Man Half Biscuit: All Asmiov and no Fresh Air
RM Qualtrough

Just when you need a bit of comic relief, Wirral’s finest, Half Man Half Biscuit, answer the SOS in the only way they know how.

The quintessential piss takers are their most razor-sharp on All Asmiov and no Fresh Air. The title itself, perhaps a nod to the sci-fi nerd holed up in their mum’s spare room. But fear not; they aren’t the only ones to endure the wrath of Nigel Blackwell.

Horror clowns (Horror Clowns are Dickheads), 10,000 steppers (The Bliss of the Hereafter) and, of course, the once a year record collecting aficionados feeding the machine of the record industry at large (Record Store Day), all in the ire of Blackwell who’s hilarious yarns never lose their edge. Yes, once again, Half Man Half Biscuit provide some light amusement as the apocalypse edges closer.

Purchase

DJ Haram: Beside Myself
Hyperdub

Scraping the remnants off the dance floor and throwing them into a blender where hip-hop and Middle Eastern echoes prevail, DJ Haram’s debut album, Beside Myself, feels more like a hypnotic fever dream than a wild collision of ideas.

Featuring 700 Bliss cohort Moor Mother, Armand Hammer and many others, Beside Myself teleports you into a world where generations melt into one another. A timeless sound collage that’s best consumed in solitude.

On Beside Myself, DJ Haram finds the space between BPM panic attacks and warm sound baths, exploring the contrast of anxiety and calm, which echoes the everyday realities of life. Ultimately, it’s unmoored, civic vitality etched to tape.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Pile: Sunshine and Balance Beams

Hyacinth.: In Heaven
Cruel Nature Records

Perhaps better known in the world of shoegaze and dream-pop, Oregon’s hyacinth. flips the script on his latest LP, In Heaven.

With 19 instrumental tracks that blur the lines between sound worlds, hyacinth.’s hip-hop-infused portal of sound is all about the blissed-out vibe. The open fields of summer, the perfect environment to absorb these glittery passages where one track seamlessly flows into the next.

In Heaven sees hyacinth. straying outside the bounds and by doing so, he creates something that will resonate with everyone from the shoegazes and folksters to even the metal heads. This record has that kind of elusive coalition-like power to reach unexpected places.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

K L P S: K L P S
These Hands Melt

Metal has seemed somewhat fallow so far in 2025, however Helsingborg, Sweden’s K L P S give it the jolt it needs with their latest self-titled LP.

Also known as KOLLAPS\E, the four-piece return with their follow-up from the excellent 2023 release, Undertow with something that rivals its brute force. This release, six searing breeze blocks that are like the comets of hardcore and punk colliding.

And the light show is fierce, with something that even those not really attuned to metal or hardcore may find enticing. While their fellow countrymen Cult of Luna have been a hit and miss affair for the most part, so far K L P S have hit every target they’ve aimed for.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Last Light: Celestial Mechanics
Bunkland

While perhaps more attuned to our bi-monthly Weirdo Rippers dispatch, it’s good to keep you all on your toes, and Last Light do just that.

The UK-based Aotearoa / New Zealand duo consisting of Dean Brown and Ben Spiers follow-up on last year’s gruelling one-two, A Serrated Sky and A Bridge Over the Lagoon, with Celestial Mechanics. The pair, continuing to drag us across the killing floor with blackened noise that causes cranial overload.

Through a mélange of instruments including (but not limited to) tape loops, flute, violin, stylophone and theremin, Last Light conjure up the kind of racket that feels like The Dead C trading verses in the rehearsal room with Sunn O))). With swells and echoes that damage the internal organs, Celestial Mechanics feels like an indelible mark on the 2025 experimental release calendar.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Oren Ambarchi / Johan Berthling / Andreas Werliin: Ghosted III

Lifeguard: Ripped and Torn
Matador Records

Chicago’s Lifeguard continue to make every post a winner with their Matador debut, Ripped and Torn.

With the help of No Age’s Randy Randall from behind the soundboards, Asher Case, Isaac Lowenstein, and Kai Slater tighten up their sound from the loose post-hardcore excursions inspired by the likes of At the Drive In, Unwound and …Trail of Dead. The proto-punk assaults of Mission of Burma and the precociousness of Wire, shining through in these songs for something that sees Lifeguard straddling the orbits of ’90s indie-rock with the sharpest of focus.

Alongside Horsegirl and Uniflora, Lifeguard are the bright lights of a new generation of indie-rock, and on the back of Ripped and Torn, it’ll be interesting to see where the three-piece take us next.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Xol Meissner: Excess of Loss
Self-released

Under the Xol Meissner moniker, New York composer Mauro Hertig has delivered one of the year’s sleeper records with Excess of Loss.

Adopting a double hammer lap steel technique, these sonic inflections bubble underneath the mix for Hertig’s haunting baritone croons to take flight. Think Scott Walker serenading characters into the Black Lodge, but while there is a very Lynchian vibe to these songs, Hertig manages to excavate to deeper emotional levels.

While Excess of Loss can be a confronting listen, if you submit to it, it can also be something of an emotional crutch. Something to let wash over, and help with one’s own losses, resulting in something that can be quite comforting in its own way.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Milkweed: Remscéla
Broadside Hacks Recordings

The U.K. experimental scene remains in good hands when acts like Milkweed continue to write the music they do, adding their own inflections to the current, flourishing folk revival.

Following last year’s Folklore 1979, Remscéla sees the duo look west, with an album inspired by the Táin Bó Cuailnge – an epic tale involving stolen cattle, and through the lens of folk and some hip-hop-inspired beats (Exile of the Sons of Uisliu), Milkweed’s inventiveness has them heroically standing on their own.

At 10 songs under 24 minutes, like Folklore 1979, Milkweed never outstay their welcome, creating the kind of lo-fi snapshots behind these inherited stories that evolve like a sepia-toned dream.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

U.S. Girls: Scratch It

Bob Mould: Here We Go Crazy
Granary Music

One of two albums that may have slipped at the back of couch, in the first quarter of the year, Bob Mould returned with Here We Go Crazy. And like he always has, Mould delivers the the kind of alt-rock that just hits in all the right places, making it all the more criminal to originally overlook it.

Here We Go Crazy falls somewhere between the immediacy of Sunshine Rock (2019) and harder edges of Silver Age (2012). Songcraft with big-hearted chorus and the kind of power-chord glory that seems simple yet ridiculously original.

As always, Mould finds a way to remain relevant. Here We Go Crazy, getting it done in big ways throughout the summer.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Marissa Nadler: New Radiations
Bella Union

“I would fly halfway around the world just to forget you,” laments Marissa Nadler on It Hits Harder – the opening song from her latest release, New Radiations.

On the face of it, the Boston songstress has spent a career making the same record. Each, though, possessing their own nuances and idiosyncrasies, and those long-standing listeners of Nadler’s gothic-tinged allegories will agree. New Radiations is no different, habouring an energy that is up there with Nadler’s finest works.

And speaking of, while the droning electric folk of July (2014) remains at the apex of Nadler’s creative arc, New Radiations isn’t too far behind, with some of the best songs she’s written in years, led by the excellent closing song, Sad Satellite.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

No Joy: Bugland
Sonic Cathedral

Since their excellent 2013 album, Wait to Pleasure – to these ears at least – No Joy has been a bit hit and miss. No such trouble with Bugland, however, which possesses all the inventiveness to become Jasamine White-Gluz’s most defining works.

In collaboration with Fire-Toolz, White-Gluz orchestrates the kind of galloping dream-pop that opens new tabs in your brain. It’s like listening to peak School of Seven Bells, as No Joy smashes shoegaze into pop music – the ensuing collision providing an array of colours that light up everything around you.

It’s the production of Bugland that proves to be the winner. So dynamic, layered and confident, every time to you listen to these songs, they reveal something deeper, offering so many new possibilities.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Lonely Planet: In Conversation with Michael Grigoni & Pan-American’s Mark Nelson

Pan-American & Kramer: Interior of an Edifice Under the Sea
Shimmy Disc

Following the release New World, Lonely Ride, Pan-American’s stunning collaboration alongside Michael Grigoni, Mark Nelson returns with another, this time alongside veteran producer, Kramer.

Interior of an Edifice Under the Sea follows their 2024 album, Reverberations of Non-Stop Traffic on Redding Road, and again, it underlines a synergy the pair have struck within each other’s approaches to experimentalism. While …Redding Road is perhaps the more immediate-sounding of the two releases, …Under the Sea is more anchored to the world of deep-listening. These compositions, taking time but are beautifully crafted and essential for headphones.

With each listen, Interior of an Edifice Under the Sea reveals new parts of a sound world that continues to expand beyond the norm. It’s yet another release that adds to what is turning out to be a flagship year for Nelson.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Hayden Pedigo: I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away
Mexican Summer

Following last week’s news of his collaboration with Oklahoma noise-rock faves, Chat Pile, there is also the small matter of Hayden Pedigo’s lovely new solo LP, I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away.

The Amarillo, Texas-based guitarist is the creator of countrified instrumental compositions designed for the back porch and gazing out into the kind of vast space that evaporates all one’s troubles. Pedigo’s songs, all about locality, and for those of us that have grown up in more secluded parts of the world, offer a beautiful nostalgia.

Fans of William Tyler’s earliest works will fall in love with I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away – an album that is rich in musicianship, brimming with emotional power.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Pharaoh Overlord: Louhi
Rocket Recordings

Spearheaded by Circle’s Jussi Lehtisalo and SUMAC’s Aaron Turner, the odyssey of Pharoah Overlord returns with the long-awaited Louhi.

A two-part epic named after the shape-shifting evil witch queen in Finnish loreand, Pharoah Overlord are at the top of their game here, as fragments of Italian disco and sharp-edged synth rock are embedded into a wall of psychedelia. And the reflections emit the kind of colours unseen elsewhere.

Like being pulled back into medieval times, Louhi sees Pharoah Overlord at their most hypnotic and biting best, and on the strength of their latest release, it’s as if they’ve never been away.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Ready For Death Interview: “If it’s not fun there’s no point”

Mike Polizze: Around the Sun
Paradise of Bachelors  

Purling Hiss’ Mike Polizze dials down the fuzz and riff-a-rolla in favour of acoustic splendour for his latest solo release, Around the Sun.

And what a journey it is, as Polizze essentially delivers his Nebraska. (Even opening cut, After the Deluge, is all Springsteen homage, with some Atlantic City esque yelps.) Make no mistake, though, this is very Polizze, the kind of songwriter who seems to have one or two albums in the can at all times.

Around the Sun is one of his best, too, travelling beyond the singer-songwriting trope with songs that absolutely pop. Honest songcraft written for the right reasons, the lifers always rise to the top and Polizze confirms his position as just that. Alongside Cass McCombs, he’s only gone and delivered one the year’s best folk records.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Pound Land: Can’t Stop
Cruel Natural Records

I mean, this is so late that it should read more as an apology than any ramblings about the skewed clatter that Pound Land make.

Can’t Stop sees band founders Adam Stone and Nick Harris returning to the stripped back ways of their early days, with recordings that are borderless both in sound and theme. Nothing is off the table, from the Modern Love-inspired tech-house smatterings of Stuff to the buzzsaw sonics of Watching TV and the punk fury of I Spy, here Pound Land travel as far as they ever had.

The underground will always mystify and maintain a certain sense of the lost hero, and since this website’s inception, one of the most mystifying things is that Pound Land’s fleapit racket hasn’t landed in more homes. Can’t Stop feels like an apt title; this band, so vital that they simply can’t, indeed, stop.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Sudden Voices: Scruples
Self-released

London’s Sudden Voices has been on a fair run on form during this decade, and on their third LP, Scruples, they move the needle like never before.

While the Ben Morris-led project saw the previous two releases splicing together ’90s British post-rock with art-rock, Scruples is a shift to instrumental-based endeavours. There are lovely inflections of komische, dub and krautrock at play here, as the textures wash over you like a hot bath.

It’s not a world away from the kind of sound collages Empty House has been orchestrating over the last five years, but in his own way, Morris manages to create something seamless from his previous two records. It’ll be interesting to hear what his next move is.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Fortunato Durutti Marinetti Interview: “There’s humility and absurdity involved”

Swans: Birthing
Young God Records

You’d think the long-form slow crush of modern-era Swans would lose its shine at some point, and despite 2022’s The Beggar seeing Michael Gira subtly pivot to more secluded corners (and to great effect, I might add), Birthing sees the band charging back into the maelstrom.

Birthing captures the energy of the band’s epic trilogy of The Seer, To Be Kind and The Glowing Man, and, in fact, one could argue that it eclipses all three. Gira, grizzled and frayed all the way to the nerve endings, giving one of his finest performances on tape.

Swans has always been a commitment, but Birthing is worth all the time one affords it, as the band continues to scrape across the fault lines in what is one of the year’s epic releases.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

These New Puritans: Crooked Wing
Domino Recording Co.

It’s little surprise that the brothers Barnett continue to provoke thought on the latest These New Puritans full-length, Crooked Wing.

Here, Jack and George remain strident in their quest to merge Bark Psychosis-inspired post-rock with droning neo-classical majesty, as Crooked Wing sees the pair reaching the same frontiers as their the landmark 2013 album, Field of Reeds. Always considered with time largely ignored (the standard four to six years gap between releases remaining), here These New Puritans unveil the quintessential slow burn.

Meandering in its grandeur, Crooked Wing is a worthy follow-up to 2019’s Inside the Rose, continuing These New Puritans’ pursuit as one of the U.K.’s most forward-thinking purveyors.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Turnstile: Never Enough
Roadrunner Records

Following the excellent 2021 release, Glow, shining beacons of modern day hardcore, Turnstile, attempt to take the genre to even greater heights on Never Enough.

If one band was ever going to reach the lofty heights, then few would argue against Turnstile, who on Never Enough part with choruses that feverishly pulsate with new energy. There’s a street-level vitality here, akin to a bunch of punks storming the gates that lead to pop. Has hardcore ever had saxophone or pianos? Probably, but it’s never sounded as decisive as Turnstile do here.

Never Enough see the Baltimore band reaching for the stars in a quest for their endorphin-rush-like sounds to land into a wider sphere of consciousness. And, of course, they succeed.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

The Armed: THE FUTURE IS HERE AND EVERYTHING NEEDS TO BE DESTROYED

Claire Welles: Pleasure Tourist
Self-released

Right on cue, Liverpool outlier Claire Welles, returns with her latest series of gooey, psychedelia synth-pop with Pleasure Tourist.

Listening to a Claire Welles album circa 2025 is almost like a modern history lesson. With a focus that is butcher’s knife-sharp, Welles takes no prisons; the thousand yard stare of Decade of Cruelty, leading the charge in this series of songs that sees Welles in a fit of rage in this ceaselessly burning world where politics and tech continue to apply the blowtorch to us all.

Sonically, Pleasure Tourist melds playfulness with the kind of soundscapes that flirt with the dance floor, and with a canon that contains many, once again Claire Welles remains in the winner’s circle here.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

The Whimbrels: The Whimbrels
Dromedary Records

On their self-titled debut LP, The Whimbrels take the fragments of your youth and piece them together into something that lines up flush.

Consisting of bassist / vocalist Matt Hunter (Savak, Dusty Fates), who is backed by the three-guitar line-up of Arad Evans (Glenn Branca Ensemble), Norman Westberg (Swans, Flowers Destroy) and Luke Schwartz (Glenn Branca, Wharton Tiers), and drummer Steve DiBenedetto, The Whimbrels make the kind of swirling art-rock that seeps into the pores.

Hunter’s Savak leanings shine through here, but there’s even more of a New York street-level vibe at play, and backed by post-hardcore echoes that have you reaching for your Girls Against Boys collection, here’s hoping this is just the start of the The Whimbrels story.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Why Patterns: SCREAMERS
Human Worth

Following their brutal 2022 release, Regurgitorium, London’s Why Patterns return with SCREAMERS.

Consisting of Dan McClennan, Doug Norton and Seb Tull, the trio orchestrate a brutal collision of grindcore and noise-rock conceived from flea-riddled basements. It’s a racket that even scares off the rats, led by fierce rhythm sections and Norton’s unhinged, piercing howls.

With 10 tracks at just over 17 minutes, Why Patterns get straight down to business with very little fat to trim. The song titles alone will probably go unmatched this year, and with the unvarnished bunker sonics to match, SCREAMERS is noise-rock’s ugly step-child, as Why Patterns take it to very unruly corners indeed.

Listen / Purchase from Bandcamp

Previous AQs:

AQ #18
AQ #17
AQ #16
AQ #15
AQ #14
AQ #13
AQ #12
AQ #11
AQ #10
AQ #9
AQ #8
AQ #7
AQ #6
AQ #5
AQ #4
AQ #3
AQ #2
AQ #1