10.03.2025 – 03.10.2025 – 10/03/2025 – 03/10/25 – Oct. 3rd, 2025
Who’s brave enough to share a release date with Taylor Swift?
It was another high-stakes weekend for Taylor Swift, whose new album arrives amid a swirl of divided fan chatter, but little competition from her peers.
Predictably, much of the industry chose to steer clear of Swift’s latest drop, leaving the charts momentarily hollowed out. In spite of a mixed reception to album itself, nevertheless Swift still commanded the spotlight, and could discover some reassurance in the Machiavelli line, “It is much safer to be feared than loved.”
Still, a few artists seized the opening. This reporter scraped this week’s playlists for notable new releases, a colorful if melancholy mix peppered with electronic house and R&B, two corners of the market seemingly immune to Swift’s gravitational pull.
Recommended LPs: Say She She, AFI
Highlights, Curiosities, and Observations:
- Brooklyn’s disco professionals Say She She kick off the playlist with the clavinet- and synth-laden funk banger “Shop Boy.”
- Atlanta punk band Upchuck dial in a Pixies-esque indie rock facet to their sound with catchy mid-tempo rocker “New Case.” Repeat listens to the track’s climax reveal clever melodic and rhythmic switcheroos happening underneath singer KT’s repeating, woozy slacker vocals.
- At the risk of getting into Musicologist territory, “Lasting Impression” by Ava Luna also shows off some unique tricks involving time, as the employment of a looping groove either deprived or overloaded by a beat leaves both the song and listener with the sensation of being out of breath, unable to catch up.
- AFI surprise listeners by doing a damn-accurate impression of an Eighties goth-rock band like Bauhaus on “Ash Speck in a Green Eye.”
- Dream Peel Magazine’s caught expanding their sound doing vintage bubblegum rock reminiscent of The High Llamas on “Letters.”
- dodie takes a folk ballad to unexpected and blissful symphonic heights on highlight “I’M FINE!”
- Johnny Greenwood’s score for the movie One Battle After Another’s been out for a week, but after seeing the film, it would be omissive not to highlight the dark beauty of “Trust Device.”
- Chicago jazz-post-rockers Tortoise make the list with the release of their latest single, “Works and Days.” Here, the band peels back just enough studio crispness to hint at a tender design notably absent from the band’s more harsh works of late.
- “Secrets” by M-High takes an animated bassline and stacks it, hamburger style, with harmony, unlocking a potential new sound for acid, house, or dubstep-based electronic music.
As always, Enjoy!
-Martin
LINKS:
Leave a Reply