eleven of the best albums of 2025 (so far)
inside me there are two wolves. one loves postpunk and the other loves hyperpop.
Need some fresh albums to listen to? You’ve come to the right place!
Heavy Lungs - Caviar (track tip: Self Portrait)
My favourite band at the moment. The Bristol four-piece and pals of IDLES set the room on fire every time they play live. Sophomore album Caviar comes hot on the heels of their excellent debut All Gas No Brakes, and for the second time they’ve managed to encase Danny Nedelko and co’s deliciously explosive energy into audio format. On stage is where Heavy Lungs truly shine; they’re theatrical, silly with the audience, and interject with songs that feel like hand grenades to the crowd itching to get the pit started again. They’re about to tour the UK so go and catch them before they actually combust.
Touring soon in: Serbia, Spain, France, Netherlands, and Norway (festivals), plus a UK headline tour.
Rebecca Black - SALVATION (track tip: Sugar Water Cyanide)
I am and will forever be a Rebecca Black apologist. Never has a popstar moved past an embarrassing teenage blip so gracefully and come out the other side as legitimate hyperpop royalty. Following her excellent debut Let Her Burn, Salvation looks inwards: Black examines her own femininity and sexuality, her place in pop music and the public eye, and comes out the other side with a confidence gained on her own terms. She’s charming, she’s fierce, she’s vulnerable, she’s hot, I love her. Why don’t you?
Touring soon in: North America and Australia.
Momma - Welcome to My Blue Sky (track tip: I Want you (Fever))
Momma’s latest sound is like a blend of all the rock bands I loved as a teenager (are the lyrics to my favourite track actually “Pick up and leave her, I want you, Feeder”? Grant wants to talk). This album’s sound goes heavier than on their previous releases, but the sweet yet defiant vocals from singers Etta Friedman and Allegra Weingarten balance out the sound, what emerges makes me feel so euphoric. It takes me back to a time where rock music shaped my life, and it’s so magical to feel that again in my geriatric millenialism. I discovered this charming bunch while they were supporting Alex G, and they’ll be back in Amsterdam for London Calling in October.
Touring soon in: UK, Netherlands, Spain, France, Portugal (festivals) and headline North American tour.
Viagra Boys - Viagr Aboys (track tip: Waterboy)
There’s a reason that my Viagra Boys-branded sunglasses are my most prized piece of merch ever. The Swedish six-piece are well-established purveyors of loud noises and absurd lyrics, and their latest offering doesn’t disappoint. This album is a move away from political messaging and satire, focusing instead on what matters: being a silly billy. I missed the simple pleasures of hearing the mad stuff that comes out of Sebastian Murphy’s head set to corrosive guitar riffs and accompanied by tubey synths and the squawking saxophone - and they really do find new and creative ways of insulting someone’s mother with every album. Simply and ridiculously shrimptastic.
Touring soon: literally everywhere. Italy, Lithuania, Netherlands, France, Belgium, Poland, Norway, Ireland, Czechia, Ireland, Denmark, Sweden, Australia, Japan, New Zealand, and a massive North American tour.
Prima Queen - The Prize (track tip: Oats (Ain’t Gonna Beg))
Not just a band, but a pair of divinely-connected best friends Louise and Kristin who love each other and every minute on stage together. You can hear it in the music - they’re happy and they want you to enjoy the ride with them. Their guitars are dreamy, the vocals hushed and vulnerable, tied together with effervescent joy and hopeful lyricism. I actually discovered Prima Queen when I ran into the pair on a train in Birmingham and said hello and I hastily wrote down their name on my hand (no woman with a flight case in safe from my attempts to make friends). After spending some time on the road with Wet Leg, it’s time for these two to spread their wings and give their music to the world as god intended.
Touring soon: one date each in Spain and the UK, but they’ll be back for sure.
Lady Gaga - Mayhem (track tip: Disease)
Gaga’s been around for so long - I’ve seen her live twice, several lifetimes ago - that I guess I take her for granted because it’s like she’s always been around. Plus, I share a desk with the world’s biggest Little Monster at work.
I don’t need to keep up with her releases because I know they’re just going to keep coming. But this time, I made the time to listen to the whole album on full blast and remembered: this woman is a fucking genius, created in God’s image to perform for each and every one of us.
I’m convinced. No notes.
Touring soon in: multi-night stadium tour across Europe, North America, and Australia.
Sleigh Bells - Bunky Becky Birthday Boy (track tip: This Summer)
For reasons I still don’t fully understand, Birmingham nightclub Gatecrasher had Infinity Guitars in their rotation in *checks watch* 2011, when I was sneaking into nightclubs as a dorky 17-year-old. I’ve been hooked ever since. This latest release has turned every individual characteristic - girly pop vocals, blisteringly happy lyrical content, heavy metal drums, thrash guitars, synth bleeps and bloops, glitchcore - to the absolute maximum. This is the most Sleigh Bells that Sleigh Bells have ever been, and I’m happy.
Touring soon in: US and Canada.
Marathon - Fading Image (track tip: Shot Away)
Local Amsterdam noisesmiths Marathon have released their first album after being crowned the winners of the Amsterdam Pop Prize back in 2022. Fading Image is dark, raw, and raucous; a sprinkle of Alkaline Trio here and some Editors melancholy there, with a heft that we simply don’t see enough of any more. It’s sad and dark and mournful, but still manages to energise and refresh; I was left with a strange pang of happiness after listening. If Idles, Squid, or Shame get your foot tapping, then Marathon are sure to be your new favourite band.
Touring soon in: Netherlands, Belgium, and Germany.
PinkPantheress - Fancy That (track tip: Stars)
As an elder millennial, this new trend of writing some of the greatest pop songs known to the human ear that don’t even hit the 3 minute mark (I’m obviously referring to Good Ones by Charli xcx) is a bit lost on me. But with this many bite-sized bangers squeezed onto one record, who am I to complain? The tastiest morsels of RnB, garage, and drum and bass have been cherry-picked and blended into this divine smoothie that we can slurp on all summer long.
Touring soon in: London. Fingers crossed there’s more on the horizon!
Duckwrth - All American Fuckboy (track tip: Toxic Romantic)
Guys. I’m so happy Duckwrth is back.
I genuinely can’t remember how this guy made his way onto my radar - probably via the era where Steve Lacy and Brockhampton featured heavily in my rotation. Duckwrth is sassy but emotional, tender but boisterous, as cool as N.E.R.D, as creative as Childish Gambino, as passionate as Frank Ocean. All-American Fuckboy continues his well-established pattern of smooth beats that you can’t help but tap your foot to. I love every album Duckwrth releases and I don’t get why he isn’t as big as the artists who led me to him. Maybe this summer will change everything?
Touring soon in: US, Canada, UK, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Austria, Germany, and the Netherlands.
illuminati hotties - Nickel on the Fountain Floor
Sneaky EP entry in the album reviews! Scandalous!!! Unfortunately this release is too good to pass on so you’re gonna hear about it.
If, like me, you miss the simplicity of catchy pop-punk riffs that defined the 2000s, then we owe a little something to the brains and the engine behind Illuminati Hotties, Sarah Tudzin. Bookended by the raucous 777 at the front and the exhilirating Skateboard Tattoo at the back, we’re also treated to a fun collaboration with PUP in Wreck My Life and some softness with Hollow. Sarah and co smoothly showcase their range and their growth in these five songs and I hope it’s a sign of things to come with further releases. Fingers crossed that a European tour bobs over the horizon soon.
Touring soon in: the US.