New Album Roundup - Summer 2025
So, here we are now into Fall of 2025, and high time to look back on all the music that came out over the summer months. Once again, there were quite a lot of really good albums this summer. Here were my favorites of those I listened to that came out over the past few months or so (July, August, September). Good stuff (but have to say that the album of the summer for me was still OK Go's And the Adjacent Possible, which actually came out in early Spring (April) but has remained a top pick and has a great summer feel.
Styx - Circling From Above
Anders Buaas - Trollringen
Wonderful, mostly instrumental melodic prog album from Norwegian multi-instrumentalist Anders Buass, with what was the surprise of the summer for me, becuase Buass is mainly known in the U.S. for playing guitar with hard rock-metal bands (Iron Maiden, Judas Priest), yet this album is absolutely beautiful, full of great instrumental Prog tracks and a few vocal tracks that are quite removed from metal, with prominent acoustic and classical guitars, gentle moving melodies, lovely spirited instrumentals, jazz and folk influences, grand and dynamic themes, and elements reminiscent of Pink Floyd, Mike Oldfield, Mark Knopfler, Steve Hackett, Al Dimeola, etc. The album is loosely based and inspired by the Norwegian historical murder mystery novel Trollringen. A truly great, uplifting and moving listening experience. Best Tracks: Trollringen, Opening Credits, Sunrise, The Last Drop, End Credits. Rating: 4ó
Big Thief - Double Infinity
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Indie folk-rock band Big Thief follows up their impressive, expansive double album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe in You (2022), with another very good album. Although this new album is not as adventurous or diverse, as it sticks to a more standard indie folk, singer-songwriter style, it nonetheless is very successful. While it doesn't have quite the highs of that previous album, it also manages to avoid the lows, with a consistently strong set of songs. The songs themselves are pretty basic structurally, but are imbued with a pleasant easygoing charm highlighted by Adrianne Lenker's plaintive vocals and perceptive lyrics, as well as sparse but effective arrangements. Best Tracks: All Night All Day, Words, Grandmother, Incomprehensible, How Could I Have Known? Rating: 3.5ó
Flyte - Between You and Me
The fourth album from this UK alternative folk duo features gentle folk-rock with deeply personal reflections and delivers an intimate, quietly wonderful, impactful, and cohesive album. Beautiful vocals, melodies and harmonies, great acoustic guitar, and simple but effective arrangements. In some ways, kind of the UK Simon and Garfunkel, in that some of the songwriting has somewhat of a Simonesque style and feel, and imbued with wonderful vocals and harmonies. From Hello Sunshine, one of the best acoustic guitar songs you'll ever hear, to the upbeat pop-folk of If You Can't Be Happy, to the simple beauty of the album closer, Everybody Says I Love You, just a wonderful album that is quietly brilliant, moving, and thoroughly entertaining. Best Tracks: Hello Sunshine, Emily and Me, If You Can't Be Happy, I'm Not There, I Just Can't Believe We're Friends. Rating: 4ó
Ambient Den - Ambient Den
Impressive debut album from this new prog band featuring Australian multi-instrumentalist Ben Craven, along with Tim Bennets and Dean Povey. Although they go for some crossover appeal in the more poppy vocal tracks, the highlights of the album are the soaring symphonic prog instrumental excursions, with the 16-min epic instrumental Terraforming the absolute best, an adventurous, mesmerizing track showing the best of modern prog, and one of the best prog tracks of the year. Building from a quietly beautiful opening to grand themes and dynamic instrumental passages, a truly brilliant musical excursion. Less successful are some of the vocal tracks and sections, such as the drawn-out single For All Mankind which goes on a bit too long and has a somewhat annoying and too-often repeated chorus. The album closes with a curious jazz-funk version of the opening Future History theme. Some funky fun, but doesn't fit with rest of album and seems out of place here. If the whole album was as good as Terraforming, it would be among the very best of the year, but even with the lesser tracks, it is still very good overall. Best Tracks: Terraforming, Provenance, Earthrise. Rating 3.5ó
Sloan - Based on the Best Seller
This latest album from stalwart Canadian indie rock/power pop band, their 14th, delivers great fun with another dose of quality power pop. This one is a bit lighter in tone than the previous album, Steady (2021), and features bouncy, upbeat 70's-80's-style power pop (think Beatles, Badfinger, Kinks, 10 cc, etc.), with great melodies, hooks, vocals, and harmonies throughout, and a nice variety of sounds and styles. Nothing very complex, sophisticated, or groundbreaking here, just good, well-crafted songs and melodies, catchy and hummable, with just enough power guitar riffs to keep things rockin'. This underrated band, where all 4 members write and sing (4-part harmonies!), hasn't had a single lineup change since their inception in 1991, just keeps going strong with another really good, fun album. Rating: 3.5ó
The Black Keys - No Rain, No Flowers
Very enjoyable album (their 13th) from this versatile veteran rock duo. This one leans more toward pop and blue-eyed soul, with more lush arrangements and a bit less rockin' than I was expecting. The boys worked with established songwriters/producers, such as Rick Nowells, Dan Tashian, and Scott Storch, on this album, which explains the more easygoing, polished style. But there is a nice blend of songs here, from pop, soul, funk, rock, and even a pleasing folk-rock closer, creating a nice listening experience, probably their most melodic album, although many may be missing the harder edge and rockin' blues of earlier albums. May not be among their very best, but still a very pleasant excursion and some different directions for the band. Best Tracks: On Repeat, Man on a Mission, No Rain No Flowers, A Little Too High, Neon Moon. Rating: 3.5ó
Ihlo - Legacy
This Second album from the relatively new UK Prog Metal band marks a major step forward. Now, in general, I am not a fan of Prog Metal (or anything Metal really), but some Prog Metal bands that show real creative Prog elements I can get behind. Invariably, for such bands, it's the songs that show the most Prog and least metal intrusions that I really respond to, and it is the same here. This band has the chops and style to create some really impressive symphonic prog, with soaring melodies, great vocals, and impressive instrumental arrangements, and that is evident on some standout tracks here. Mute and album closer Signals are among the best Prog songs of the year, and a couple others are quite good as well, but, unfortunately, most of the songs are marred by metal tendencies that are just total turn-offs and dealbreakers for me, even though there are some fine sections in those as well. If they would have stuck to the more melodic symphonic Prog of the best songs here, it would have ranked as one of the best of the year, but the metal elements really get in the way for me. Still, a very good album, and if you are a fan of Prog Metal, a must listen. Best Tracks: Mute, Signals, Legacy, Empire. Rating: 3.5ó
David Byrne - Who is the Sky?
On this newest album, his 1st since American Utopia (2018), Byrne teams up with the Ghost Train Orchestra, a New York-based ensemble that specializes in re-imagining (sometimes with avant-garde arrangements) vintage and little-known jazz songs, to bring his current visions to fruition. This is a pure pop album that centers on joy and reasons to be cheerful. As usual with Byrne, the highlights of the album are the bustling, complex arrangements, polyrhythms and orchestration, and the witty, sometimes absurd lyrics that keep the tone light and playful. But this album does show that Byrne has entered his old man stage (he is 73), in that his vocals have deteriorated substantially from his heyday, being somewhat shaky and wavering in and out of key, and just having that old man sound, and the song subject matter seems pretty random, like he just looked around and started writing about things around him, such as his apartment, moisturizing cream, and how his partner has to explain things to him. But musically the songs are solid and it is nice to have a new album of poppy David Byrne songs. Not among his very best, but still quite enjoyable. Best Tracks: Everybody Laughs, Don't Be Like That, What is the Reason For It?, The Avant Garde. Rating: 3ó
Arjen Anthony Lucassen - Songs No One Will Hear
Solo concept album from prolific Dutch prog rocker Lucassen (Ayreon, Star One, Ambeon, Guilt Machine), deals with the final days of humanity as they prepare for the destruction of the world from an inevitable comet strike, with various degrees of humor, sincerity, and contemplation. The songs cover various emotions and responses of the people as they try to reconcile with the catstrophe, ranging from denial (Goddamn Conspiracy), getting as much sex as possible (Shaggathon), profiting from it (Dr. Slumber's Blue Bus), to acceptance (Just Not Today), leading to the final day and epic closer (Our Final Song). Musically, Arjen maintains his proclivity for hard rock-edged prog, but shows various styles throughout ranging from pop to theater to metal. The album comes in 2 versions, one with explaining narration of the story, one with just the music (No narration). Overall, an impressive, ambitious project, but the songs themselves only partially succeed, creating a mixed bag of highlights. Quite good, but doesn't consistently deliver throughout. Best Tracks: Our Final Song, Just Not Today, Shaggathon, Goddamn Conspiracy. Rating: 3ó
Agropelter - Book of Hours
Debut album from this impressive Norwegian instrumental symphonic Prog band, which is primarily a project of multi-instrumentalist Kay Olsen, who plays most of the instruments on the album, with some help from guest musicians, including Jonas Reingold, Andreas Sjoen, Mattias Olsson, and some classical musicians (strings, winds). What I really like about this album is the emphasis on classical influences throughout and the prominent use of grand piano, acoustic guitar, and strings. It gets back to the classic prog style that mixed strong classical themes with mellotrons, synthesizers, and complex structures. However, what I was less excited about on this album was how the sections and tracks were somewhat disjointed and didn't really fit together well. After 3 shorter tracks, the rest of the album consists of the epic title track, broken into 4 parts, encompassing a total of more than 33 minutes. However, that is a bit misleading because each of those 4 parts is then broken down into multiple separate sections that don't seem very related to each other, as it jumps from tender grand piano sections to heavy prog to synth solos, etc. without much to connect or relate the parts. And each section just runs a few minutes, so never quite develops into a groove or develops into grander themes. I really wanted to like this album much more than I actually did. There are many quite wonderful sections, with beautiful melodies, great musicianship and instrumental prowess, yet it just never really fully comes together. So, although there is much to admire and enjoy about the project, overall, it is a bit disappointing, despite its many fine features. Rating: 3ó
Whimsical Creature - Wistful Thinking
Whimsical Creature is a UK acoustic folk-prog duo, a collaboration between prog vocalist-multi-instrumentalist Michael Whiteman (I am the Manic Whale, Ryo Okomoto, etc.) and vocalist-flutist Ella Floyd, and this is their first album. They feature vocal harmonies and all acoustic instrumentation (acoustic guitar, piano, flute, autoharp, drums, percussion) providing a breezy, refreshing sound. The music is a mix of pop and folk-rock with prog elements, as many of the songs include extended instrumental sections and proggy excursions. Overall, a really nice, light, thoroughly entertaining listen, perfect for a bright summer day. Best Tracks: Begin Again Again, Better Than This?, The Stargazer, A Way With Fairies. Rating: 3.5ó
Pareidolon - The Unattainable Shore
Discipline - Breadcrumbs
Solid, enjoyable album, their 6th but first since 2017, from U.S. Prog band Discipline provides some quite good and compelling moments, but never quite soars the way it should. Opens with the epic title track (17 min), which while has some fine moments, sadly just doesn't quite come together to create a fulfilling whole, as of some the melodies and sections are a bit lackluster and not engaging. More successful are the shorter punchier tracks in the middle, with a more melodic style and rock feel. Overall, good, enjoyable, but just not that great or something I would come back to over and over again. Rating: 3ó
Stephen Bishop - Thimk
Nearly fifty years after his debut album (Careless - 1976), smooth pop singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop has released what he has called is final studio album, Thimk. It features many brand new songs, and some older ones, as well as contributions from an impressive roster of guest artists and friends from throughout his years as an artist and performer (including Sting, Eric Clapton, Art Garfunkel, Graham Nash, Christopher Cross, Kenny Loggins, Michael McDonald, and many others). The result is a wonderfully warm and engaging set of songs and reminisces, that certainly fits right in with his past successes and smooth easygoing style. May not be anything earthshaking here, but quite enjoyable. Rating: 3ó
A couple albums from earlier in the year suggested by readers
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Carpe Diem, Moonman
A weird, wild, creative and compelling album from this intriguing and versatile Australian rock band. Their style is all over the map, but mainly features a blend of heavy psychedelia, energetic garage rock, dreamy pop psych, and eclectic prog rock. The tracks run from quite heavy, in-your-face, shouty punkish psych to dreamy wistful pop, with psych and prog overtones throughout. With complex arrangements and instrumentation, there's always a lot going on in these songs, but also are anchored with a strong melodic core, and all very compelling and entertaining. If there are any comparisons that can be made, it would be with bands such as King Gizzard and the Lizard Wizard for their breadth of styles, and on many of the tracks I hear a sound similar to Motorpsycho, particularly on the more dreamy proggy soundscapes. Certainly off the beaten track, but well worth the wonderful journey. Thanks to 'jonder' for recommending this (in the comments), as this was a new band for me. Best Tracks: Concrete and Cola, Qwik Maff, As the Hummingbird Hovers, Scapegoat, Incubator, Winter in Parachutes. Rating: 3.5ó
Lou Hazel - Riot in the Red
This sophomore album from American singer-songwriter Lou Hazel presents heartfelt folk and Americana. Wonderful songwriting, and the sparse but effective arrangements highlight his world-weary reflections and perceptive observations, with a vocal style that lies somewhere between Dylan and early John Prine. Although this style is not quite in my wheel house, there's no denying the genuine talent here, and an artist that deserves more attention and notoriety. Thanks to 'aburtch' for recommending this album, which I would not have been aware of. Rating: 3.5ó
Some notable albums I was less impressed with
Alice Cooper - Revenge of Alice Cooper
After some 40 years the original Alice Cooper band has reunited for a final go round, and fans of the band will surely appreciate the effort here, as they try to recapture the early days of the band. But musically, this is a bit of a mess, with mundane generic guitar rock and cringy and at times quite silly lyrics. Its best if you just look at this as a fun get together for the band and don't pay much attention to the music itself. Not exactly an embarrassment, but certainly not one of the band's best. Rating: 2.5ó
Wet Leg - Moisturizer
Many were impressed with their debut album in 2023, but for me, their style and obvious shtick grows tiresome very quickly. Although they do try to step out with a bit more variety here in their sophomore effort, for me it is still just OK. Rating: 2.5ó
Cardiacs - LSD
I've heard people rave about the eclectic UK art rock band The Cardiacs for many years, but I had never listened to them, until this new release, their last album, compiled over many years due to the tragic health issues of their founding member and primary songwriter Tim Smith. However, I hated this, excruciating to listen to. There is obviously some great musicianship and craftsmanship here, but but for me the style and songs are just terrible. Rating: 2ó (only that high due to fine musicianship)
Between the Buried and Me - The Blue Nowhere
Acclaimed in extreme metal and prog metal circles, I gave this a listen due to other recommendations and the lead single, title track The Blue Nowhere, which is a more straight-forward pop-rock song. However, other than the final 2 tracks, The Blue Nowhere and Beautifully Human, Which are quite nice, melodic, and catchy songs, the rest of the album is their more typical extreme heavy snarling vocals and bludgeoning metal riffs throughout, and thus not at all for me. Again, they show they can play, but not what I want to hear. Rating: 2ó
BB’s Rating scale:
1ó – Terrible, torturous to have to listen to
1.5ó - Poor, not worth your time
2 ó – Fair, maybe a couple half-way decent songs, but
sub-par overall
2.5ó – Average, OK, meh, not bad but not that good either
3ó – Good, solid album, several good songs, but not
spectacular. Certainly worthy, but may not be something you come back to very
often
3.5ó – Very good album. Some stellar tracks, very
enjoyable overall
4ó – Great album, filled with great songs, one that you
will want to come back to over and over again
4.5ó – Excellent album, beyond great, superb in every
way, just short of a masterpiece
5ó – A Masterpiece, among the greatest albums of its
type, and has stood the test of time
So, lots of good stuff all summer long. That's what I've been listening to and enjoying. What were your favorite albums over the summer months or up to this point in the year? Let me know your thought in the comments.
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