Every month, Uproxx cultural critic Steven Hyden makes an unranked list of his favorite music-related items released during this period — songs, albums, books, films, you name it.
1. Big Thief, Passional Relations
It’s been a sneaky long time since the last Big Thief album — Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You dropped three years ago as of this month. The component parts have been busy with solo projects, and they have of course been worthy and often great. But Passional Relations — an EP released as a fundraiser for victims of the L.A. fires — demonstrates yet again that those components become something greater than themselves when reassembled as Big Thief. Four of these tracks derive from the Dragon sessions, and they naturally have the same loose-limbed spirit as that record, as well as the same general high level of quality. (The fifth song, “Shadow Too,” dates back to 2018.) There are reportedly still some 20 songs left in the vault from that era, though one would assume this chronically prolific band has been up to more music making since then. Hopefully we hear more later on in 2025?
2. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
Not to be that guy, but I saw Sharon Van Etten very early on her career, way back in the late aughts, when she was a stand-alone folkie who often looked ill-at-ease on stage. So, it’s been doubly fascinating (and gratifying) to watch her evolve into a true-blue rock star over the course of 15 or so years. Her 2019 album Remind Me Tomorrow, where she discovered her inner Patti Smith, was a milestone in that regard. But her latest album, billed as a group effort with The Attachment Theory, confirms that transformation. Van Etten has always been a great singer, but something about these pounding synth-rock jams brings out an extra layer of swagger that seemed unimaginable back in those lonely club days.
3. Sam Fender, People Watching
I have had a soft spot for Sam Fender since his 2019 debut Hypersonic Missiles, in part because he’s an inherently likable bloke (being a blue-collar British kid) and in part because his music is catered to pander to my specific biases (Springsteen, The War On Drugs, Sam’s Town). Which is not to say that he’s not prone to a cringe-y moment or three — the less said about “Dead Boys” the better — but that’s part of the cost of loving heart-on-your-sleeve heartland rock. (What is the “heartland” of England, exactly?) On his latest album, he opted to ignore the “War On Drugs rip-off” allegations and hire Adam Granduciel to produce half the record, which is good news for those of us thirsty for the follow-up to I Don’t Live Here Anymore and looking for some TWOD methadone.
4. Horsegirl, Phonetics On And On
In the sixties, a generation of rock bands dedicated themselves to studying and replicating blues music that was anywhere from 10 to 30 years old. In the 2020s, something similar is going on with current indie bands and the indie music of the nineties. (In this scenario, Stephen Malkmus is Robert Johnson.) Horsegirl is a Chicago band whose members are all in their early 20s, and yet the music they make — wiry post-punk with lackadaisical but nonetheless catchy melodies — sounds nearly twice as old. Add in producer Cate Le Bon — whose dry, naturalistic sounds is perfectly suited for this band — and you potentially have the finest 1992 album of 2025.
5. Momma, “I Want You”
Actually, maybe I mean “finest 1992 indie rock album” of 2025. Because Momma is another absurdly young rock band drawing on nineties sounds, only they have their eyes trained on the MTV Buzz Bin. I liked their previous record, 2022’s Household Name, but early indications point to the upcoming Welcome To Blue Sky (out April 4) really hitting that Veruca Salt/Siamese Dream sweet spot.
6. Oklou, Choke Enough
This French-goes-London-club singer-songwriter makes arty electronica that is heavily zoomer-coded, i.e. it sounds like a cross between a Disney soundtrack and hyperpop. And yet when I put it on I’m instantly reminded of the sort of “forward-thinking” indie-adjacent pop records that clogged best-of critics’ lists in the late nineties and early aughts. Put another way: It sounds like the future and also like “the future” as it was envisioned 25 years ago. Or put another another way: Good record!
7. Sam Moss, Swimming
“Guy goes to North Carolina to make a record with some excellent local musicians” is always an elevator pitch that will get my attention. And so it goes for Sam Moss, a veteran Virginia songwriter whose latest effort Swimming features backing from guitarist Isa Burke and Jake Xerxes Fussell and drummer Joe Westerlund, among others. Not to give short shrift to Moss’ songs, which have the same understated sense of rootsy uplift that one typically gets from a Hiss Golden Messenger record. Suffice it to say, I look forward to playing this album outdoors on the patio in a few months.
8. Dutch Interior, “Fourth Street”
I’ve been predicting for a while now that the rise of MJ Lenderman will usher in an era of sad-guy rock songs with sick Son Volt-style guitar solos. Cue this California band, which drops their new album, Moneyball, next month. “Fourth Street” resides square in the Manning Fireworks zone, though with a subtle west coast flavor that will no doubt put a unique spin on this otherwise southern vibe. Anyway: I welcome this era wholeheartedly (until it starts to produce bad music).
9. Panda Bear, Sinister Grift
The title of this album is somewhat misleading — there’s little about this otherwise warm and inviting record that reads as “sinister,” at least as it relates to Animal Collective and AnCo-adjacent music. Instead, Sinister Grift feels like a continuation of recent AnCo albums, which represent some of the poppiest and most accessible music of their career. I actually kind of miss the more sinister side of Panda Bear’s music, but I can’t really complain about that when I’m listening to this consistently lovely LP.
