*INTERESTING* NEW RELEASES: FRIDAY MAY 16TH 2025
Ch-ch-ch-changes! A month into the new place and it's starting to come together...
Fun fact - sometimes I do these lists post hoc. This is one of em.
Just a reminder that each week, we will be adding all the releases highlighted on these pages to Spotify playlists - divided up by each month. We’ve entered May, so the new May 2025 playlist (2025 - 05) is below. Smash the little ⨁ sign next to the shuffle icon of each playlist if you want to save it to your library (recommended).
January 2025 Spotify Playlist - 2025 - 01
February 2025 Spotify Playlist - 2025 - 02
March 2025 Spotify Playlist - 2025 - 03
April 2025 Spotify Playlist - 2025 - 04
May 2025 Spotify Playlist - 2025 - 05
Now, then, let’s get into some select new releases from FRIDAY, MAY 16th, 2025, and let us know if we missed anything worth hearing!
::THE KNOWNS::
Ken Pomeroy ::CRUEL JOKE:: Some of my favorite songwriters (i.e., John Moreland and BJ Barham to name two) have already given high praise to Ken Pomeroy’s latest record. That’s enough for me.
Mourning [A] BLKstar ::FLOWERS FOR THE LIVING:: It’s an acquired taste of R&B, soul, jazz, hip-hop and pop, but if it’s your taste, then you already know it’s gonna be good.
Tune Yards ::BETTER DREAMING:: I am told folks like this outfit. I saw them at SXSW nearly two decades and it’s still a no for me, dog. YMMV.
::THE NEWS::
Alexandra Savior ::BENEATH THE LILYPAD:: Apparently Savior is pretty popular and probably doesn’t need this page to promote her work, but her story is an interesting one: Lauded in the early twenty-teens by Courtney Love, picked up by the music “industry”, then summarily chewed up and spit out by it. This latest record sounds like that of a mature, sad-gothic singer-songwriter. It’s indie pop that might be something akin to Gen Z’s answer to Gen X’s Fiona Apple with some hat tips to Father John Misty’s lush song arrangements peppered in.
bug crush ::SOMEHOW I GO IN CIRCLES ALL THE TIME [EP]:: FKA “Junebug”, the project under this new moniker punches hard with four tracks that are at times fuzzy/grungy, and other times lilting indie rock songs that lay the bedrock under songwriter Carolyn Fahrner’s soaring vocals.
Friendship ::CAVEMAN WAKES UP:: When 2022’s LOVE THE STRANGER was mentioned on this blog, it seemed to quietly slip into oblivion (not showing up on many - if any - of the Postcard From Hell membership best-of lists. Maybe this time will be different now that we’re more aware of the bandmembers’ pedigree, like John Samuels (who plays 2nd guitar to Jake Lenderman in The Wind), and Michael Cormier O’Leary who co-wrote and sings harmony on my #1 song of 2023: Fust’s “Violent Jubilee". Cormier-O’Leary also founded Dear Life Records which boasts one hell of a talent roster. No surprise that this record is getting finding some ears.
Gold Dust ::IN THE SHADE OF THE LIVING LIGHT:: Western Mass songwriter Stephen Pierce put together a great jangle pop outfit that, as the band bio puts it, “embraces you with captivating guitar squalls, and warm vocal rhythms, steady rhythms, and an innovative blend of influences from traditional folk to West Coast psych, alternative punk, jangle rock, and 90s college rock.” And as you do in Western Mass, J Mascis makes a cameo on one of these tracks.
Pretty Rude ::RIPE:: Prolific NYC musician James Palko hit my radar a couple years ago with his band Taking Meds and their 2023 record DIAL M FOR MEDS. I still wake up some mornings with the intro to “Long Tooth” in my brain. In Pretty Rude, Palko holds the role of chief songwriter, and for the latest, he spent a lot of time listening to classic rock and 90s grunge (as he admits in this Paste piece that’s worth reading).
Revival Season ::FORMLESS [EP]:: Hip hop with a melodic musical instrumental backing…and with song titles like “Slick Rick” and lyrics like “Eazy where you been?” this one sounds like my era of hip hop.
Swimming Bell ::SOMNIA [EP]:: High praise from NPR (“top ten artist to watch in NYC”), MOJO (“like folk-era Sharon Van Etten, Meg Baird and Rosali”) and Brooklyn Vegan (“a lush, mid-70s California vibe).