Editors' Choice for August 2025

Album cover for Flux

Flux

A.G. Stage Ltd.

The veteran electro-pop artist's second solo album delivers hooky songs with her usual effortless elegance.

— Heather Phares

Album cover for Essex Honey

Essex Honey

RCA

Devonté Hynes breaks from film scores and classical compositions to deliver a soul-stirring fifth album under his main alias.

— Andy Kellman

Album cover for Wishbone

Wishbone

Republic

True love and heartbreak are forever intertwined on the singer's deeply affecting fourth album.

— Matt Collar

Album cover for Private Music

Private Music

Reprise / WEA

With returning producer Nick Raskulinecz, the alt-metal vets craft a flawless stunner of a tenth album.

— Neil Z. Yeung

Album cover for Surrender Instead

Surrender Instead

Alternate Side Records / Many Hats

A decade into his craft, this multi-genre songwriter brings a newfound self-assuredness to some of his best written and most carefully arranged songs to date.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for CBGB 12.13.88

CBGB 12.13.88

Silver Current

Ripping live set from 1988 that shows a more energetic side of the legendary indie rock band as they tear through songs from Today.

— Tim Sendra

Album cover for Blue Reminder

Blue Reminder

Fat Possum Records

Stark honesty, wide-ranging timbres and textures, and artfulness define Meg Duffy's fourth LP, recorded largely in live sessions.

— Marcy Donelson

Album cover for Hotel Pupik

Hotel Pupik

Cuneiform Records

After a six-year recording hiatus, the British ensemble returns to work their mysterious musical magic as a slimmed-down quartet.

— Thom Jurek

Album cover for New Radiations

New Radiations

Sacred Bones

Stripping things back after 2021's epic The Path of the Clouds, the goth-folk artist arrives at something no less haunted and haunting.

— Marcy Donelson

Album cover for Bugland

Bugland

Sonic Cathedral

The genre-defiant polymath collaborates with co-producer Fire-Toolz on an album of maximalist pop that never stops changing gears but somehow never overwhelms.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for ABOMINATION REVEALED AT LAST

ABOMINATION REVEALED AT LAST

Deathgod

A blistering excursion into the group's punk side, tempered by the occasional prog side trip; it's a prime example of why the band is so vital.

— Tim Sendra

Album cover for West of Broadway

West of Broadway

Concord / Concord Jazz

On their Concord debut, the East Coast vocal duo offer a fresh take on melding traditional pop, musicals, and West Coast jazz.

— Thom Jurek

Album cover for Straight Line Was a Lie

Straight Line Was a Lie

Anti-

With Elizabeth Stokes turning to self-help writing practice to conquer creative blocks, the hooky indie rockers' fourth LP is their most personal yet.

— Marcy Donelson

Album cover for The Drugboy Tapes

The Drugboy Tapes

Omnivore

A look back at the formation of one of the great unloved and underrated neo-glam-meets-power-pop bands of the alternative era.

— Tim Sendra

Album cover for Maybe I'm Dreaming
Various Artists

Maybe I'm Dreaming

Anthology Recordings

The fourth volume in this compilation series of unknown soft rock artists from the '70s and '80s focuses on even deeper obscurities from private press recordings.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for Adult Romantix

Adult Romantix

Winspear

Top-notch shoegaze spiked with dream pop as expected, but this time amped up, dialed down, and better all-around.

— Tim Sendra

Album cover for If Not Winter

If Not Winter

Interscope / Music Soup

Ranging from crushing riffs to ambient collages, Natalie Lu's debut album secures her place as one of the definitive shoegaze artists of the 2020s.

— Heather Phares

Album cover for The Clearing

The Clearing

Columbia / RCA

A heartfelt tour de force, the band's fourth album taps into rock & roll's undying power to reflect inner truths and bring fantasies to life.

— Heather Phares