Seven albums to look out for in 2025
The early months of 2025 have outlined a promising season for new music. Here is a hand-picked selection from these fresh releases to help you welcome the new year.
LAMBRINI GIRLS – “WHO LET THE DOGS OUT”
Brighton’s most explosive duo, Lambrini Girls, released their highly anticipated debut album “Who Let The Dogs Out” on Jan. 10.
Leading singles “Company Culture,” “Big Dick Energy” and “Love” gave fans a taste of their poison-tongued lyricism and classic punchy U.K. punk instrumentals.
Like the band’s discography, these new tracks detail what it feels like to exist and perform in a feminine presenting body. From the creeps at your work to infantile men and the societal norm of heterosexuality, Lambrini Girls shreds them all to bits.
The band, comprised of Phoebe Lunny and Lilly Macieira, released their first single in 2022 and have since proven themselves as fixtures of the U.K. scene. With fiery festival sets at Glastonbury and Reading & Leeds as well as 2024 tour support for Aussie pub-punk legends Amyl and the Sniffers, Lambrini Girls possessed the unique ability to garner an audience before releasing a debut LP, only ensuring a rise in support following the release of “Who Let The Dogs Out.”
LOTS OF HANDS – “INTO A PRETTY ROOM”
On Jan. 17, Newcastle two-piece Lots of Hands will release its third album, “into a pretty room,” its first signed to Fire Talk Records.
In an article with FLOOD Magazine, the band’s Elliot Dryden explained that this record was the first he and bandmate Billy Woodhouse had equally collaborated. “It feels like a token of our friendship, which is what makes this album and our future releases so special to us,” he said.
Beginning as an ambient project with various live permutations, lots of hands in its current state melds an unmistakable twang with electronic instrumentals and its signature mix of natural and pitched-up childlike vocals.
Singles “rosie,” “game of zeros,” “masquerade” and “backseat 30” are already available on streaming platforms.
ETERNA – “DEBUNKER”
Under his solo alias, Eterna, South-London artist Guillem Peeters will release his second full-length album “Debunker” on Jan. 31.
Known best as the former live drummer of fuzzy European post-punk outfit Bar Italia, Peeters takes the ambiguous label of post-punk and spins his own dark interpretation.
Eterna’s sparse, metallic production, monotone spoken lyrics and use of ambient noise create an intriguing soundscape that might initially catch listeners off guard.
Think of a dingy teenage movie with an obligatory party scene and a lonely protagonist escaping for a smoke break when you listen to singles “Highbury Grunge” and “Whatever Reason.” Single “Perfect Comms” is also already available on streaming platforms.
DROP NINETEENS – “1991”
On Feb. 7, the seminal Boston shoegaze band Drop Nineteens will release what would have been their original debut album, aptly titled “1991.”
After nearly three decades of hiatus, the group released their album “Hard Light” in 2023, the newest release since their 1993 sophomore album “National Coma.”
This February drop will be a window back in time to these early days of Drop Nineteens.
According to an article by Brooklyn Vegan, guitarist and vocalist Greg Acknell explained that the songs were recorded in the members’ dorm rooms in ‘91 on a reel-to-reel 8-track recorder.
“We called them demos at the time, but now they’re just unreleased Drop Nineteens songs that never benefited from the fidelity of a recording studio. We remastered them, some 33 years later for this release, but they still evoke our infancy as a band,” he said.
The album was released in April 2024 strictly on vinyl, so unless you snagged a physical copy, this digital release will be an unforgettable first listen. Noisy, swirling singles “Daymom” and “Shannon Waves” are available on streaming platforms.
PAINS OF BEING PURE AT HEART – “PERFECT RIGHT NOW”
The Pains of Being Pure at Heart are back from a six-year hiatus with the Feb. 7 release of a compilation album titled, “Perfect Right Now,” along with an announcement of tour dates in February/March 2025.
This will be the eighth release for the fuzzy, New York indie pop act that encompasses the early 2000s jangly twee sound. The album, which includes “rarities, lost tracks, B-sides and forgotten favorites,” focuses on songs from the band’s early years between 2008 and 2010.
The band will likely play many of these deep cuts on their tour through Spain and Portugal as they celebrate the 15th anniversary of their self-titled debut album. U.S. dates have yet to be announced, but we can still cross our fingers!
SQUID- “COWARDS”
Brighton art-rock outfit Squid will share their third full-length release “Cowards” on Feb. 7, a concept album steeped in evil.
Each track on this nine-song album paints “distinct tales of human evil punched by Vantablack comedy,” according to their press release.
Every protagonist reckons with a unique form of viciousness and corruption as the band paints a sonic backdrop blending their rock sounds with the likes of psychedelia, jazz and other unexpected notes.
The opening single “Crispy Skin” follows a fiending cannibal based on the dystopian novel “Tender Is The Flesh.” The book studies human passiveness and the concept of a moral compass in a world where cannibalism has become the norm.
A video for the single directed by filmmaker Takashi Ito was released Nov. 12, 2024.
HORSEGIRL – “PHONETICS ON AND ON”
Chicago trio, Horsegirl, will release their sophomore album “Phonetics On and On” in a new era of musical experimentation on the day of St. Valentine, Feb. 14.
Previously filling songs with distorted guitars, singles “2468,” a sing-songy, hopscotch, and “Julie,” a sparse ballad, introduce new musical depth with violin and synth.
These two tracks act as a sign of maturation for the band while retaining the essence of what makes Horsegirl stand out.
These singles foreshadow what may be a mellow approach for the band, but still, an album that sees them delve into a more complex sound.
The album was produced at The Loft in the depths of a Chicago winter by Cate Le Bon, who recently produced an album for the band’s previous tourmates and owners of the studio, Wilco.
