Each month, our Employees Picks column sees ipromiseyoumedia writers and editors spotlight a few of our favourite new music from the previous 4 weeks. Try the alternatives for the most effective albums of February 2025 beneath.
Along with wonderful new jazz from the likes of Marshall Allen and Kalela, February felt like an particularly massive month for indie rock. Chicago trio Horsegirl returned with Phonetics On and On, whereas Sharon Van Etten unveiled an official mission along with her longtime backing dangerous. Rising expertise Michigander confirmed that the string of stellar singles that preceded the self-titled debut was just the start.
Elsewhere, Mdou Moctar continued to share their distinct model of righteous fury, whereas the totally distinctive Maruja embraced experimentation at each flip. Throughout the board, one factor’s sure — we’re ending February on a excessive word.
Learn on for our favourite albums of February 2025 beneath, listed in alphabetical order.
Anxious — Bambi
Anxious have spent the previous few years sharpening their emo-adjacent indie rock hooks — hooks, thoughts you, that have been already razor sharp. With Bambi, the followup to their nice debut Little Inexperienced Home, the act sounds as invigorated and emotional as ever, with sticky, hard-hitting choruses and an total propulsive power. Sarcastically sufficient, it’s via wavering religion and a lingering sense of remorse that the band achieves such rock-solid outcomes, because the report’s title comes from what they virtually named the band and the lyrics provide tales of once-reliable private establishments turning into sources of ache. Try Anxious’ Observe-by-Observe breakdown of Bambi for extra perception into the killer new set of tunes. — Jonah Krueger
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
Bartees Unusual — Horror
When you wished to argue that the best possible tracks on Bartees Unusual’s third album, Horror, truly got here out in 2024, I wouldn’t put up a lot of a battle. However that’s the character of album cycles, and simply because “Too A lot,” “Sober,” and “Lie 95” are bangers doesn’t imply “Baltimore,” “17,” or “Backseat Banton” aren’t nonetheless nice tracks. As a group, it’s extremely diverse, knocking round folks, hip-hop, funk, indie, dance, and different radio rock like they’re totally different coloured orbs in an enormous sonic ball pit. The album’s about concern (therefore, Horror), however listening to Unusual taking part in together with his songwriting presents as he explores his phobias is much extra inviting than terrifying. — Ben Kaye
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
FACS — Want Protection
FACS new album, Want Protection, was the final report Steve Albini engineered earlier than his loss of life. The legendary producer handed mid-way via the mission’s creation, with Sanford Parker stepping in to assist end the periods and John Congleton ultimately dealing with mixing duties. Despite the fact that Albini tragically wasn’t in a position to full his work on Want Protection, his trademark model and foundational concepts underpin each recording on the factor. Evidently, it sounds fucking nice.
However Want Protection isn’t merely value listening to due to its unlucky timing. The Chicago post-punk/noise rock outfit got here via with seven genuinely participating, intensely dynamic compositions that rank amongst the most effective of their complete catalog. Followers of tense, eerie, unsettling rock music who haven’t but given the album a spin are doing themselves an immense disservice. — J. Krueger
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
Horsegirl — Phonetics On and On
The three members of Horsegirl went via some massive modifications since their wonderful 2022 debut, Variations of Trendy Efficiency. They performed Coachella, opened for a few of their indie rock heroes, and two of them went off to school at NYU. Now, with their Cate Le Bon-produced new album, the band have fastidiously reinvented themselves; gone are the fuzzed-out partitions of sound, as an alternative centering on a minimalist aesthetic. It’s an applicable slate-wiping from an unpredictable trio. — Paolo Ragusa
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Kelela — Within the Blue Mild
Final 12 months, Kelela celebrated a profession milestone with a two-night residency at New York Metropolis’s prestigious Blue Observe Jazz Membership. The multi-faceted artist has compiled songs from her intimate, stripped-back performances in a brand new dwell album. Regeneration has remained a relentless all through Kelela’s discography. A few of the album highlights embody her soulful tackle Joni Mitchell’s “Furry Sings the Blues,” and a stirring rendition of late jazz innovator Betty Carter’s “30 Years.” Kelela steps into the blue mild, embracing her jazz roots whereas following within the footsteps of the greats. — Solar Noor
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Marshall Allen — New Daybreak
There are numerous titles you may bestow upon Marshall Allen: legendary saxophonist, completed composer, Solar Ra Arkestra chief, and eventually, on the ripe age of 100, solo recording artist. New Daybreak is the artist’s lengthy, looong-awaited debut launch beneath his identify and his identify alone. Why now, you ask? The reply’s within the identify. The mission isn’t a celebratory lap or a summation of Allen’s prolonged record of earlier musical accomplishments. Slightly, it’s a — ahem — new artistic daybreak. The seven compositions are distinct from the free-jazz eccentricities of Solar Ra Arkestra. Slightly, as heard on stunning tracks like “African Sundown,” Allen performs it restrained and remarkably accessible. Unsurprisingly, he’s in a position to absolutely excel in that lane as effectively. It would solely be February, however I feel it’s secure to say that New Daybreak would be the greatest album of 2025 that was recorded by somebody of their 100s. — J. Krueger
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
Maruja — Tír na nÓg
The music of Maruja, one in all our Artists to Watch in 2025, has at all times been pretty sprawling, however for his or her new EP, Tír na nÓg, they develop their grand scope even additional. Comprised of 1 lengthy improvised session break up into 4 tracks, the mission is a dramatic, 22-minute rise and fall. Alongside the way in which, the act reveals off their jazz chops, their wild experimentation, and their mastery of sonic texture. The result’s one thing akin to a punked-up Godspeed You! Black Emperor launch, if that famed post-rock band got here up listening to early Black Nation, New Street and Black Midi. Now if we might simply get that debut album… — J. Krueger
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
Mdou Moctar — Tears of Injustice
Final spring, Tuareg guitar virtuoso Mdou Moctar and his band launched Funeral for Justice, which made our record of the 50 Greatest Albums of 2024. The uncooked and fiery report was a robust political assertion, straight addressing the violence of colonialism. The band has returned with Tears of Injustice, a stripped-back, principally acoustic LP, that includes conventional Nigerian devices. Right here, the band tones it down, wanting inwards, highlighting the vicious cycle of the nation’s political instability, providing hope and a voice for the unvoiced. — S. Noor
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
Michigander — Michigander
It’s wildly simple to slide into the musical world proffered by Michigander, the mission of Nashville-based artist Jason Singer. The self-titled debut album effortlessly blends private songwriting with a few of the extra relatable perils of present in trendy life; notes of existential dread, musings on coming-of-age, and questions across the grand experiment of being alive pepper the album. Revisit the Observe by Observe breakdown of Michigander, and hold an eye fixed out for the act on the street with Dawes later this spring. — Mary Siroky
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
Sam Fender — Individuals Watching
On Seventeen Going Below, Sam Fender regarded inwards and got here again with some revelatory discoveries about trauma, identification, household, and psychological anguish. It resulted in a few of his strongest songs to-date, and now, with Individuals Watching, Fender takes a glance outdoors of himself and onto the on a regular basis people which might be combating their very own battles. With stadium-sized manufacturing from Markus Dravs and Adam Granduciel, plus the unimaginable specificity that he captures the Geordie working class with, it’s positively his most Springsteen-esque album but. However even outdoors of the affecting tales discovered on Individuals Watching, Fender’s bleeding coronary heart is so humanizing and actual that you simply’re introduced straight into the pool of feelings he’s singing from. Fender’s music covers quite a lot of thematic floor, and when these songs attain their majestic peaks, they turn into bigger than life. — P. Ragusa
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Idea — Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Idea
There’s a brand new Sharon Van Etten album, although not fairly; it’s Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Idea now, because the indie stalwart has added her longtime band members into the artistic course of. Certainly not was Van Etten operating out of steam earlier than, however she sounds really invigorated on this new mission; the uptempo numbers burn with a New Wave-esque brightness, and the band’s slower cuts are proper up there with Van Etten’s most majestic tracks ever. However moreso than any of her prior efforts, these songs groove. The stressed bassline that dazzles beneath “I Can’t Think about (Why You Really feel This Means)” is the funkiest factor in Van Etten’s catalogue. The drums on the climax of “Fool Field” drive with heaps of momentum. The entire tracks are gratifying and illuminating, making Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Idea a triumph. — P. Ragusa
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
Winona Fighter — My Apologies to the Chef
My Apologies to the Chef, the debut full-length LP from our February CoSign Winona Fighter, serves as a formidable introduction to the rising Nashville indie punks. It’s chock filled with propulsive energy chords, cheeky and relatable lyrics, and spectacular, Hayley Williams-esuqe vocal runs — simply throw on a track like “You Look Like a Drunk Phoebe Bridgers” for proof. It’s a showcase of every band member’s respective skills, in addition to their capability to return collectively as a cohesive unit. Much more than that, it’s a real reflection of the pursuits, targets, and morals of the trio. “This album is as Winona Fighter as Winona Fighter will get,” frontwoman Coco Kinnon tells ipromiseyoumedia. “It’s 100% authentically us.” Learn extra about Winona Fighter and My Apologies to the Chef right here.
Stream: Apple Music | Amazon Music
Purchase: Vinyl
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