Musings On Music: April 2025
Busy, busy times in my music sphere.
It’s been a busy month. Rising stars released great records, legends returned in spectacular (and disappointing) manner, and I got to see LCD Soundsystem live. More on that in a few days; for now, check out everything I listened to in April 2025 below.
As always, every song & album mentioned here is linked in each writeup, and a Spotify playlist from the month is located at the end of the article. Happy listening!
April 2025 Album Reviews
Album of the Month: Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong: 9.1/10
A new high for a band with plenty of them already. Full review:
Djo - The Crux: 8.4/10
An early contender for 2025’s album of the summer. Full review:
Sleigh Bells - Bunky Birthday Becky Boy: 6.4/10
The noise pop duo aims to recapture the magic from their earlier work, and the latter half of the record does produce some real fun bangers like “Badly” and “Real Special Cool Thing”. But you only get to them after slogging through songs are either too slick for their own good like “Roxette Ric” or a jumbled mess of obnoxious noise and poorly mixed vocals like “This Summer”. It’s a hit or miss effort on the whole, surprising given how well the band has made their music like this before.
Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE: 8.5/10
A warm ray of sunlight, empowered by love. Full review:
Skrillex - F*CK U SKRILLEX YOU THINK UR ANDY WARHOL BUT UR NOT!! <3: 7.9/10
Skrillex may as well be the Andy Warhol of dubstep. He took something super underground and, for a brief period of time, turned it into the biggest sound in the world. After spending a long time away from the genre that made him a star, this new album that functions as a 46-minute continuous DJ mix shows he’s back on his bullshit. Not only do we get some of his nastiest drops since his heyday on the likes of “SPITFIRE”, “MORJA KAIJU VIP”, “ULTRA INTRO” and “DNB TING”, but plenty of festival-ready EDM (SEE YOU AGAIN VIP, SAY GOODBYE, G2G). There’s a little something for everyone as Skrill rapid-fire speeds through seemingly every idea he’s had over the last few years. He even uses crickets as the basis for a drop on “BIGGY BAP”. Who else does that and makes it work? DJ Smokey’s one liners about Skrillex’s death and demise are funny as well, and the whole thing is a big FU to Atlantic Records, Skrill’s longtime labels he’s finally done with. The songs are short and don’t work as well when listened to separately, but as a whole it’s a very, very fun time.
Tunde Adebimpe - Thee Black Boltz: 7.8/10
The TV on the Radio frontman finds new ways to stay fresh. Full review:
Ghost - Skeletá: 5.7/10
A look within that reveals little of substance. Full review:
Reviews Of 2025 Releases From Past Months
Destroyer - Dan’s Boogie (from March): 8.2/10
A boogie only Bejar could bring. Full review:
Sharp Pins - Radio DDR (from March): 7.6/10
Immensely listenable if you’re a fan of any power pop from the 1970’s. The album’s fuzzy sounds makes its memories of youthful love all the more universal, allowing you to fill in the blanks with favorite memories of your own. Kai Slater’s voice even emulates what a wannabe 70’s star might sound like. It’s not as musically diverse as other bands that mine power pop’s golden era like a Lemon Twigs album, but it’s a promising beginning for Slater, a musician who has his hands in plenty of projects these days.
Spellling - Portrait Of My Heart (from March): 7.4/10
This broomstick now comes with rocket launchers. Full review:
Lucy Dacus - Forever is a Feeling (from March): 6.8/10
Lucy is a bona fide indie rock star now, signed to a major label and appearing on every popular playlist on Spotify these days. That success was built on emotional lyricism with instrumentals to match, and that’s mostly the case for Forever is a Feeling. It’s just that these songs are more watered down than Dacus’s other albums are. Lucy is still a very poignant songwriter when it comes to love, but there’s not that many songs that grab you with their sound like a “Hot & Heavy” does. The closest the album comes to a wow moment is the title track, or maybe the Hozier duet “Bullseye”. Otherwise, it’s perfectly functional indie rock, which is a tad disappointing given Dacus’s track record.
Rachel Chinouriri - Little House EP: 7.2/10
A quaint little pop EP centered around a childhood dream about owning a house with your future partner. The first two songs are more conventional pop and catchier, especially “23:42”. The latter two songs (one being a demo) are sparser, allowing their emotions to fully be shown. It’s a nice little project, perhaps a vision into whatever the sound will be of Chinouriri’s 2nd LP.
April 2025 Songs
Song of the Month: Turnstile - “NEVER ENOUGH”
The return of hardcore’s most melodic act is definitely enough. Full review:
10 Other Great Songs From April 2025
Addison Rae - “Headphones On”
Addison’s rehabilitation hits a high note on this Moby-ass single. Full review:
Black Country, New Road - “Two Horses”
Storytelling is a big focus on Forever Howlong, and its best tale is Georgia Ellery’s self-fulfilling prophecy of loveless victimhood. The song’s second half is as riveting as the band has ever sounded.
Bon Iver - “Day One”
With heavy gospel influences abound, Justin Vernon conducts a wonderful symphony with friends A Flock Of Dimes and Dijon. The elements of “Day One” would sound disjoined in the hands of a lesser artist, but Vernon masterfully turns them into a joyous sonic collage that’s among his best ever.
Djo - “Potion”
Most of The Crux sounds like it could’ve come from the 1970’s; “Potion” itself might could pass for a Fleetwood Mac b-side. Instead it passes as one of Djo’s sweetest, most earnest songs yet. Fluttery, sunny and lovelorn, the chorus has been stuck in my head for weeks on end. Simple but effective.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - “Deadstick”
If anything, “Deadstick” proves we need a Gizzverse TV show. Full review:
Pulp - “Spike Island”
It’s been 24 years since the last Pulp album, but there’s never a time like the present if you’re Jarvis Cocker. The band’s lead single for More, out in June, wrestles with the desire to come back and whether it’s worth it or not. Given how sublime the instrumental is and how irreverent of a songwriter Cocker still is, I think it’s worth it.
Skrillex - “VOLTAGE”
The best dubstep song of 2012 sounds right at home in 2025. Full review:
Tunde Adebimpe - “Somebody New”
The TV on the Radio frontman expands his musical horizons in plenty of exciting ways on his first solo LP, and my favorite is perhaps its poppiest. “Somebody New” revels in New Order and Depeche Mode, striking up a catchy synth beat for Tunde to sing over. His signature croon sounds right at home here, even if he doesn’t appear so in the music video below.
Wet Leg - “catch these fists”
Wet Leg’s first single in a while shows their formula is still fun. Full review:
yeule - “Evangelic Girl is a Gun”
yeule’s latest single for an album of the same name finds them diving further into emo and alternative than ever for. It chugs along in a robotic fashion that’s purposeful, with synths and drums acting like separate entities on the same body.
Classics Corner
The The - “This Is The Day”
Another song from the Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 soundtrack that’s been stuck with me for weeks. I’ve tried to add it to an Instagram post or two, but you never guess that a band named The The would be hard to find on there.
Queen - “Great King Rat”
How does one not like a song called “Great King Rat”? It’s a fun early look at Queen when they were still a heavy metal band with operatic aspirations and not the other way around.
Moby - “Porcelain”
After hearing Addison Rae’s recent single, I felt the need to return to the 90’s and listen to some of that sweet, sweet downtempo electronica.
Superorganism - Superorganism
An album I should do a retro review for; there’s so many sticky indie pop songs on Superorganism it’s almost unfair.
LCD Soundsystem - “Dance Yrself Clean”
A song that made me into the music fan I am today, and the song that hit the hardest when I saw LCD Soundsystem live this month. More on that soon!
Until next month! Read more from my blog below.
