11 New Releases You Need to Hear Today [May 2025]
Another month, another list of recent music you must listen to immediately.
Alrighty, kids: It’s time for another installment of the new(ish) release rundown, a recurring column here at the Best Music of All Time newsletter.
Lots of recent albums to discuss this month, so I won’t bore you with a long, drawn-out intro. Just a quick reminder that, if you subscribe, you get a fresh new release radar post sent to your inbox every month, on top of all the album reviews and other long-form content that I publish weekly.
If you’re digging this post or others like it, please consider joining this growing community. I promise we’re a good hang.
In alphabetical order, let’s begin:
1. “45 Pounds” by YHWH Nailgun
Genre: Electronic, Alternative, Industrial
Label: American Dreams
Release Date: April 5, 2024
Vibe: 💀
45 Pounds is a gut-punch in every sense—lyrically, sonically, emotionally, you name it. After two listens in two days, I tried hard to categorize YHWH Nailgun’s sonic barrage with high-level genre labels, and I struggled to come to a defined conclusion. It’s equal parts doom metal, noise rock, industrial electronica, and underground hip-hop, brought together by an anxiety-riddled, unrelenting aesthetic.
Nailgun’s voice, consistently pitched at a half-growl, cuts right through multiple waves of distortion to deliver sermons that inject some beauty (or, at the very least, clear-eyed honesty) into the brutality. I particularly loved the percussion work throughout, incorporating some jungle and Afrofuturist vibes, like on tracks “Iron Feet” and “Tear Pusher.”
2. “F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3” by Skrillex
Genre: Experimental, Rap-Rave, Electronic
Label: OWSLA
Release Date: March 8, 2024
Vibe: 🤯
Like, damn. I wasn’t ready for this one.
I’ve been guilty of underrating Sonny Moore’s skill as a curator in recent years. His albums and singles can be hit-and-miss, but he’s never been lacking in his zeal as a live performer. Now, with FCK U SKRILLEX*, he distills that essence into an album that’s best digested from start to finish, without skips or interruptions. Trust me, it’s well worth it.
In a way, it’s also a meta commentary on his legacy and reputation. The over-the-top voiceover drops and sample sources careen from one style to another, not unlike if he were at the controls of a manic set at a sweaty rave or house party. From rage-rap to hyperactive meme-punk, Skrillex refuses to be pigeonholed by his audience and demonstrates his willingness to obliterate our perceptions of who we thought he was if need be.
3. “Hexed!” by Aya
Genre: Experimental, Hyperpop
Label: Hyperdub
Release Date: March 29, 2024
Vibe: 🧙♀️
Building on her boundary-smashing debut, Aya’s Hexed! delivers a sharper, glitchier update on what worked so well that first time out. This is club music for a rave that rattles around inside your subconscious, threatening to melt whatever brain matter you have left if you linger on it too long. Long stretches see the production fold in on itself like a warped, Inception-style memory, with Aya’s voice bubbling to the surface in fragmented melodies.
As a listening experience, there’s no compromise here. You have to meet this LP where it is. The bursts of energy are so maximalist and elastic that you almost have no alternative. However, I admire that greatly. There’s a defiance to conform to any notion of genre, form, and even textural coherence that I respect the heck out of. It’s provocative, gutsy work.
4. “I Was Put on This Earth” by DJ Python
Genre: Ambient, Electronic
Label: Incienso
Release Date: March 22, 2024
Vibe: 🛸
Few artists do soft-focus dance music quite like DJ Python. His ability to fuse cloudy textures and dub-inspired drum loops is as distinctive as they are soothing, a quality he reinforces on his latest EP, I Was Put on This Earth. It’s music perfect for those existential retreats into your headphones when you’re looking for sounds that comfort and reassure.
The instrumentals here pulse with a lighter touch than a lot of electronic fare that’s reached my ears so far in 2025. Like on “Marry Me Maia,” the beats are gentle, unassuming, and hint at a humbler, more romantic purpose. They reaffirm that simply being here, being present, is enough. It is and always will be.
5. “Is” by My Morning Jacket
Genre: Rock, Southern Psychedelia
Label: ATO Records
Release Date: April 12, 2024
Vibe: 🌾
On Is, My Morning Jacket have (finally) returned to the cosmic roots rock that initially put them on the map. With warm, confident melodies and riffs, these songs are some of the best the group has released in years. Jim James’ voice also plays a key role, reminding listeners why he’s one of rock’s most distinctive frontmen.
By going smaller in scale and ambition, MMJ evoke aesthetics from the lauded past of folk and rock. From the Laurel Canyon textures of Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to Muscle Shoals-style grooves, Is may be their most emotionally grounded record yet. Not because it’s tame, but because these songs trust stillness more than they chase spectacle.
6. “List of Demands” by Damon Locks
Genre: Afrofuturist Jazz, Funk
Label: International Anthem
Release Date: March 15, 2024
Vibe: ✊
Damon Locks’ List of Demands is another gripping chapter in his Black Monument Ensemble’s revolutionary catalog. The production here is less in-your-face but no less effective. Stripped-down jazz-fusion melds with archival samples from speeches and protest marches, adding powerful spoken-word fire to the proceedings.
The urgent call for societal change is impossible to ignore. “High Priestess” is a stunning, gospel-tinged act of defiance, while others roar out of your speakers or headphones with an energy that sounds like Nina Simone fed through MPC circuitry. Locks channels past and future resistance movements into his demands, ones that must be taken seriously.
7. “Natural” by Terraplana
Genre: Shoegaze, Post-Rock
Label: Shore Dive Records
Release Date: March 15, 2024
Vibe: 🌿
I’ve discussed the rise of nu-shoegaze (that’s what I’ve started calling it, anyway) before in this newsletter, and Terraplana’s Natural is the latest in a string of excellent revival efforts. All shimmer and swell, the Brazilian outfit expands on their usual dreamscapes by incorporating spacier post-rock elements into their sound. Think Slowdive with a splash of Sigur Rós.
This album encourages an active listening experience—one that allows you to drift off. One that you can get lost in. Tracks like “Salto No Escuro” don’t chase catharsis, but hold your hand while you reach that place on your own accord. Natural is an excellent balm that’s clearly positioned to head off the end of the world, or maybe just the end of a long work week.
8. “Nothing” by Darkside
Genre: Psychedelic Electronica, Art Rock
Label: Matador
Release Date: April 5, 2024
Vibe: 🌌
I’m rarely swayed by other critical appraisals of music anymore (I try not to read anything about a record before I hear it for the first time), but I confess that sort of happened with Nothing. The advance buzz on Darkside’s latest was sky-high, which always makes me a bit nervous. I’m afraid of being let down or, at the very least, being led somewhat astray by hyperbole. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.
This third record from Nicolás Jaar, Dave Harrington, and Tlacael Esparza cruises through funky, psychedelic tracks with an eerie but hauntingly beautiful patience. It’s sleek without sounding hollow. My favorite cuts, “S.N.C.” and “Graucha Max,” exemplify how they balance funk with frosty, expansive soundscapes. It’s quietly becoming one of my favorite releases of 2025.
9. “Sinister Grift” by Panda Bear
Genre: Psychedelic Pop, Freak Folk
Label: Domino
Release Date: March 1, 2024
Vibe: 🌀
Speaking of the best of the year, you also have Sinister Grift, the outstanding LP from Panda Bear, one of the co-founding members of Animal Collective. He (real name Noah Lennox) and the group have always couched their harmonies and instrumentals in a warped pop sensibility, and this record is no different. Imagine if Pet Sounds soundtracked a horror movie.
Sinister Grift is also the first Panda Bear album to welcome all three of Lennox’s Animal Collective bandmates—David “Avey Tare” Portner, Brian “Geologist” Weitz, and Josh “Deakin” Dibb—as well as Patrick Flegel (aka Cindy Lee), who was responsible for my favorite album of 2024. All this much talent and flair of the dramatic make for a delightfully off-kilter record about love and longing.
10. “Sometimes I Forget To Breathe” by Eev Frances
Genre: Electronic, Experimental
Label: IDM
Release Date: March 29, 2024
Vibe: 🫧
Rarely are experimental electronic albums this focused and, from a nuts-and-bolts point of view, precise, but Philadelphia producer Eev Frances’ full-length debut is just that. Sometimes I Forget to Breathe is a work of boundless energy, by one who’s also controlled and methodical. It’s a manic, very online electronic coming-out party.
One of the aspects of this LP I admired the most is how well it interpolated different genres throughout. It opens with “Pistol Whip (Demo),” which is a drum-and-bass track filtered through a video game aesthetic, but also features tracks like “Play Pretend” and “Space Heater,” which lean more towards the downtempo side. A literal smoresboard of textures awaits.
11. “Tír na nÓg” by Maruja
Genre: Post-Punk, Free Jazz
Label: Music for Nations
Release Date: April 19, 2024
Vibe: 🥁🧃
Maruja’s Tír na nÓg delivers more of what the Manchester underground has become known for in recent years: sharp, burning, and bitterly exhilarating music. Across four new movements that can be listened to as one track, they further refine their unique post-punk and jazz hybrid, though there are more sonic detours here than in their previous outings.
The net result is a more nuanced, almost mythological atmosphere. The latter comes through in the Irish land referenced in the title, letting you know there’s going to be a decent amount of Celtic influence here. “It’s here where we allow ourselves to become vessels to new ideas that present themselves without thought,” saxophonist Joe Carroll explained. It’s not long or overwhelming, but an essential listen of 2024 so far.
What recent release(s) have you been rockin’ lately? Shout them out in the comments!
I absolutely loved DJ Python’s Marry Me Maia—you nailed it it really is 'gentle, unassuming, and romantic.' It really does feel like a quiet reminder that being present is enough. This whole list is like a kind sonic gift....boom.
THANK YOUUU for YHWH Nailgun. Where have they been all my life?