9 New Releases You Should Listen To Now [June 2025]
Your latest batch of excellent recent releases is hot out the oven!
Welcome to another installment of my monthly new release rundown column.
This post showcases some recent releases (i.e., albums that have dropped in the past few months) that I’ve enjoyed immensely thus far. Several of these records will be vying for a spot on my year-end “Best of 2025” list.
A heads up: This installment is also my last before I take an extended break from posting this summer.
If new tunes (or just great music in general) is your thing, hit that subscribe button to get future editions of this column delivered right to your inbox.
In alphabetical order, let’s dive in:
1. “5ive” by Davido
Genre: Afrobeats, Amapiano, R&B
Label: Anti
Release Date: March 22, 2024
Vibe: 💃💃💃
Let’s begin with the most mainstream name on this month’s list: Davido. The Nigerian-American multi-hyphenate set records and earned Grammy nods for Timeless, his 2023 LP that saw the Afrobeats veteran expand his global reach. Though it’s both celebratory and spiritual, 5ive avoids the trappings of being a full-on victory lap album. Instead, it builds on Davido’s success while deepening the mythos behind his music. The more reflective songwriting shows that he’s focused on personal growth and using those revelations to connect to a much larger audience.
2. “Dance Music 4 Bad People” by Hieroglyphic Being
Genre: Electronic, House, Acid House
Label: Smalltown Supersound
Release Date: April 18, 2025
Vibe: 😎
At a time when so much electronic music sounds safe and focus-grouped to death, Chicago house vet Jamal Moss has come through with an album that’s legitimately distinctive. Dance Music 4 Bad People delivers groove after groove that feels fresh and exciting without being totally beholden to its 80s and 90s regional forefathers. It isn’t some tired nostalgia play for nostalgia’s sake—it charts what feels like a new course, or at least a new interpretation. I was floored by how much this record grabbed me and didn’t let go.
3. “If You Asked For A Picture” by Blondshell
Genre: Alternative, Rock, Shoegaze
Label: Partisan
Release Date: May 2, 2025
Vibe: 😮
I was a huge fan of Sabrina Teitelbaum’s first record as Blondshell, a raw, searing look at her stumblings as a twentysomething woman who’s just trying to figure it all out. Her follow-up, If You Asked For A Picture, is both messier and more mature, broadening those self-examinations into a continuing narrative that turns far more existential, especially in the album’s second half. Her sound is even more fearless than it was on that first record, with layer upon layer of shoegaze murkiness that amplifies the emotional impact of her words considerably.
If her self-titled debut announced a talent with a ton of promise, Picture is the first inkling that she’ll more than make good on that artistic potential.
4. “Luminescent Creatures” by Ichiko Aoba
Genre: Ambient, Experiemental, Folk
Label: Hermine
Release Date: February 28, 2025
Vibe: 🦎
Inspired by the natural wonders of the land and sea, Ichiko Aoba’s Luminescent Creatures is a remarkable, understated work that adds newfound depth to her brand of ambient folk. Found sound collages and drone interludes create a lush, dense sonic ecosystem, mirroring the landscapes she’s trying to decode through her music. These compositions get at one’s relationship with nature and, in so doing, ask big questions about our place as part of a much greater whole. Simply stunning.
5. “Tanya” by Juana Rozas
Genre: Pop, Electronic, Latin
Label: Sony Music Argentina
Release Date: April 17, 2025
Vibe: 😈
More and more often, I find myself disarmed by records that kick down the door with full-on maximalist intent. They leave nuance at the door and, like Charli XCX’s Brat, would rather be the loudest voice in the room than the most polished. Tanya, from Argentinian singer Juana Rozas, is a deliciously entertaining LP that populates her hot mess fever dream with memorable characterizations and laugh-out-loud punchlines.
It’s not the most sophisticated album you’ll hear in 2025, but it may end up being one of the most memorable.
6. “Thee Black Boltz” by Tunde Adebimpe
Genre: Alternative, New Wave, Funk
Label: Anti
Release Date: April 18, 2025
Vibe: 🎸
Best known for his work with the beloved art-rock group TV On The Radio, Tunde Adebimpe finally added a dazzling solo debut, Thee Black Boltz, to his growing oeuvre as a singular artist. Like a couple of other albums in this new release rundown, it tries to come to terms with a world in total socioeconomic freefall, making it as much a narrative about survival as it is about evolving and changing with the times.
He implies several times throughout this collection of songs that you may not want to roll with the punches, but the reality is you may not have much of a choice, and that’s ultimately a net positive.
7. “Whatever the Weather II” by Whatever the Weather
Genre: Ambient, Electronic,
Label: Ghostly International
Release Date: March 14, 2025
Vibe: 🌌
Loraine James has released plenty of impressive music under her own name, but, according to this record’s Bandcamp listing, she reserves her Whatever the Weather moniker for “a more impressionistic, inward gaze.” The gritty, granular tones and scattered sample usage accentuate James’ talent for refined, thoughtful composition and storytelling through mood. As unpredictable as this record can be, it presents you with a kind of beauty you won’t find elsewhere.
8. “Weirdo” by Emma-Jean Thackery
Genre: Jazz Fusion, Funk, Pop
Label: Parlophone
Release Date: April 25, 2025
Vibe: 🤩
This, my friends, is an astonishing record. Like the P-funk giants of the 1970s, UK native Thackery uses buoyant grooves couched in a vintage soul aesthetic to grapple with serious, frequently unsettling subject matter. Where Funkadelic set their sights on race discrimination, Thackery turns her attention to grief and loss, processing that pain with jazz fusion that ping-pongs around the soundstage with boundless energy. It’s as breathtaking as it is paradoxical.
Fun fact: Thackery recorded the vast majority of this album on her own, save for a couple of cameos from Kassa Overall and former late-night bandleader Reggie Watts. Her name is credited 123 different times in the liner notes.
9. “Why Not More?” by Coco Jones
Genre: R&B, Hip-Hop
Label: Def Jam
Release Date: April 25, 2025
Vibe: 🥵
Though some of these tracks are over a year old, Coco Jones’ proper full-length debut, Why Not More?, showcases the budding star’s knack for selling a catchy hook. Whether it’s gliding over a fun Britney Spears sample on “Taste” or wrapping heartfelt lyrics in a polished flow on “Hit You Where It Hurts,” the former Disney teen actor is proving she belongs in the conversation with the genre’s other heavy-hitters.
Also, shout out to Def Jam, who’ve reliably brought important alternative voices to the forefront of hip-hop and R&B instead of resting on their laurels completely.
Thanks
I enjoyed Davido's album. Will be checking out Emma-Jean Thackray and Juana Rozas!