There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Tuesday, May 13, 2025.
Ada Lea – ‘baby blue frigidaire mini fridge’
Ada Lea has announced a new album, when i paint my masterpiece, with the radiant and touching lead single ‘baby blue frigidaire mini fridge’. The singer-songwriter said the track was inspired by “the Chantal Akerman film where the camera moves in slow circular pans around her apartment. Then what if the frame quickly zooms out as far as it could possibly go? And in that wide pull back, what we recognize as universal is still ‘this chair, this window, this mountain view.’ Then, move out again, even further. What we are left with—three things: ‘our old time souls, this old time moon.’ Two things, I mean.”
La Dispute – ‘I Shaved My Head’, ‘Man With Hands and Ankles Bound’, and ‘Autofiction Detail’
La Dispute are back with news of their next LP, the self-produced No One Was Driving The Car. They’ve already shared the first of five acts – comprising the songs ‘I Shaved My Head’, ‘Man With Hands and Ankles Bound’, and ‘Autofiction Detail’ – which was inspired by Paul Schrader’s 2017 psychological thriller First Reformed. Frontman Jordan Dreyer shared: “it begins with a man examining his own slow dissociation from himself while shaving his head alone in a bathroom at night, then shifts through a neighbor’s open window to a conversation about control and desire, framed via the image of a man seen through it: bound on the floor with a woman standing before him, presumably a sex worker. when the woman exits the building (her companion still tied up), the narrator leaves his own, following less her than the idea represented by her inside his own struggle to reconnect to desires for life severed by time, self, and circumstance, or perhaps fleeing the implication he draws from the man left behind (his helplessness, maybe, or else his confidence to pursue something complicated where the narrator has so consistently failed). the third song follows him on that destination-less late night walk, among the street people and their disasters, ending where he had the whole night subconsciously always headed: the hospital where\ his partner works, at which point an internal reckoning occurs.”
Folk Bitch Trio – ‘Cathode Ray’
Newly signedto Jagjaguwar, Folk Bitch Trio have announced their debut LP, Now Would Be A Good Time, dropping July 25. It’s led by the lilting, claustrophobic new single ‘Cathode Ray’, which the band’s Gracie Sinclair said “expresses a feeling of being trapped in myself and wanting to break out of that so violently that Iʼm literally talking about opening up a body viscerally. Itʼs about frustration and knowing thereʼs no cheap thrill thatʼs going to fix that.”
Pile – ‘Born at Night’
Pile have announced a new album, Sunshine and Balance Beams, sharing the dynamic and foreboding ‘Born at Night’ along with the news. “The fulfilment I receive from pursuing art has been a guiding force for me,” frontman Rick Maguire shared. “But it can be damaging when that pursuit subscribes to material expectations of where you might be able to go, and then doesn’t square with the reality that follows.”
Standing on the Corner – ‘Baby’ and ‘Friends 2day Enemies 2morrow’
The enigmatic New York art collective Standing on the Corner is back with two drowsy, jagged new songs, ‘Baby’ and ‘Friends 2day Enemies 2morrow’. Their last full-length was the 2017 mixtape RED BURNS.
Slow Crush – ‘Thirst’
Slow Crush, who hail from the Belgian city of Leuven, have announced their third LP, Thirst – out August 1 on Pure Noise – and shared its gauzy, visceral title track. “‘Thirst’ is about an unquenchable desire for what’s next, with focus on essence and balance, not losing yourself in the ever-growing distractions that surround us,” the band said. “A yearning pulse for renewal, ‘Thirst’ ripples with a craving for something pure, something vital. It churns with an unrelenting drive, building an electrifying momentum that surges forward and breaks through, offering both release and rebirth.”
Liquid Mike – ‘Groucho Marx’ and ‘Selling Swords’
Liquid Mike have detailed Hell Is An Airport, the follow-up to last year’s excellent Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot, arriving September 12. “Airports are these weird, intermediary spaces that have always made me feel like I’m stuck in limbo,” Mike Maple explained. “This album deals a lot with themes surrounding feeling stuck and unable to crawl out. Airports are stressful and congested and bureaucratic and never sleep; I imagine hell operates very much like an airport.” ‘Groucho Marx’ and ‘Selling Swords’ hook you right in.
Joseph Shabason and Dawn Richard – ‘Broken Hearted Sade’
Dawn Richard and Toronto saxophonist Joseph Shabason pay tribute to Sade on their new collaborative single, ‘Broken Hearted Sade’. It blends Sade’s classic songs ‘No Ordinary Love’ and ‘Cherish the Day’ with Shabason’s ‘Broken Hearted Kota’, and the resulting track has a fractured yet gentle beauty. “Back in the fall, when I was touring with Dawn and Spencer [Zahn], I would soundcheck with ‘Broken-Hearted Kota,’” Shabason said in a statement. “Almost immediately after the first soundcheck, Dawn would come in and start singing Sade songs over the chords. It worked so seamlessly that we made it part of the show every night. After the tour ended, we knew we had to record it. In February, Dawn sent me her vocals, and I rearranged and remixed the original song so that the arrangement worked. The end result is a fun reimagining of both the Sade songs Dawn sang and what ‘Broken-Hearted Kota’ could be.
Tune-Yards – ‘How Big is the Rainbow’
Ahead of the release of their new LP Better Dreaming on Friday, Tune-Yards have served up one more single, the incredibly danceable ‘How Big is the Rainbow’. “The title lyric came out in a flash, and felt more sincere than I’ve ever been lyrically, maybe,” Merrill Garbus shared. “But in this day and age, there is no room for subtlety when it comes to advocating for every single human being, for our trans family especially. And SHIT, how big IS the fucking rainbow?! It feels like the time to prove it to each other, to show each other how big it can be.”
NxWorries – ‘Everybody Gets Down’
Knxwledge and Anderson .Paak have shared a new NxWorries track, ‘Everybody Gets Down’, which is a thumping dance tune. It accompanies the announcement of the duo’s first North American tour, kicking off in the fall.
The Swell Season – ‘Factory Street Bells’
The Swell Season – the duo of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová – have shared a new single, the tenderly heartfelt ‘Factory Street Bells’. “We live on a street in Helsinki called Tehtaankatu (Factory Street), in former shipyard workers flats. There’s a church on our street with a very distinctive hourly bell pattern,” Hansard explained. “Christy, my son, has always visibly enjoyed the bells…and when leaving for work I’d promise him, I’ll be back as soon as I can, and in the meantime, the bells would remind him of my love and return.”
Golomb – ‘Real Power’
‘Real Power’ is the exhilarating lead single from Columbus, Ohio band Golomb’s newly announced album The Beat Goes On, which comes out July 25 on No Quarter. If you’re a fan of Yo La Tengo, don’t let this slip under your radar.
Aunt Katrina – ‘Peace of Mind’
Aunt Katrina, the project of Former Feeble Little Horse member Ryan Walchonski, have announced their debut album, This Heat Is Slowly Killing Me. It arrives July 11 via Crafted Sounds, and the mesmerizing, heartfelt ‘Peace of Mind’ is out now.
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – ‘Grow Wings and Fly’
King Gizzar have previewed their forthcoming orchestral LP, Phantom Island, with a new single called ‘Grow Wings and Fly’. “There are so many strange and beautiful ways to grow wings and fly,” director Hayden Somerville said of its accompanying video. “We had a very special time down the coast with the band and our crew, releasing our sea creature—who somehow makes me feel a little ill and completely full of joy at the same time.”
Jane Paknia – ‘The Dream Is This’
Jane Paknia have shared a new single, ‘The Dream Is This’, taken from her forthcoming LP Millions of Years of Longing. It’s as kinetic as it is hypnotic. “In Providence, I had a dream that Elmo died,” Paknia recalled. “Elmo as in Sesame Street Elmo. It was very beautiful; he said goodbye and just stepped down into the abyss under the window until I couldn’t see him anymore. I saw it as some inner child business in my heart truly reconfiguring. At the same time I was saying goodbye to people like angels who had changed my life. Although there’s no end to the process of growing and becoming the next iteration of yourself, there are ways of relating to it besides discomfort and self-disavowal. This way was the feeling of heading towards a dream, being alongside one, or within one.”
