58 Albums We’re Anticipating for Summer 2025

July 4 Weekend is upon us, summer is officially here, and we’ve put together a list of 57 albums we’re excited to hear between now and the end of September. We mostly stuck to albums with confirmed release dates, but we’re still hoping we might get the delayed Lana Del Rey album soon, and it looks like we’re finally about to learn more about the new Deftones album too. We’re also always keeping our fingers crossed for Joanna Newsom, My Bloody Valentine, Frank Ocean, Sky Ferreira, Rihanna, King Diamond / Mercyful Fate, LCD Soundsystem, D’Angelo, Kate Bush, Thursday, another one from The Cure, and other long-teased albums.

Read on for the list, in alphabetical order, and let us know which albums you’re looking forward to this summer…

Alex G – Headlights
due 7/18 via RCA

It doesn’t seem like Alex G’s jump to a major label has done much to change his usual approach to folky bedroom indie, but both current singles do lean into his catchier side and we’re not complaining. If you like what you hear, pick up our exclusive opaque fruit punch vinyl variant of the new LP.

Allo Darlin’ – Bright Nights
due 7/11 via Slumberland

Nine years since breaking up and 11 since their last album, underappreciated UK/AU indiepop greats Allo Darlin’ are back together and making new music. “It’s an album from the heart, dealing with themes of love, birth and death, which are things we reflect more on than we did when we made our first album,” says singer and songwriter Elizabeth Morris of Bright Nights. “I would hope that the album sounds timeless and joyous, at other times reflective and emotional.”

Amaarae – Black Star
due 8/8 via Interscope

The genre-busting Amaarae cites Ghanaian ’80s highlife trailblazer Ata Kak, Detroit club bass, Magic System, Michael Jackson, Janet Jackson, and Donna Summer as influences on her new single “S.M.O.,” and you really can hear how all of that comes through. It’s got us very excited for the rest of Black Star.

The Armed – The Future Is Here and Everything Needs to Be Destroyed
due 8/1 via Sargent House

Judging by the new singles, The Armed are getting heavy again on this new album. We’re here for it.

Baxter Dury – Allbarone
due 9/12 via Heavenly

Baxter Dury, son of the great Ian Dury, has dabbled in dance music before, including an album with Etienne De Crecy, but on his eighth long-player he’s gone full electro. Helping his transformation is producer Paul Epworth who is most famous for working with Adele and Florence but has also twiddled knobs for FKA twigs, Bloc Party, The Futureheads and more. “I don’t want to say it’s contemporary, because I sound like a cunt using that word,” Baxter says of Allbarone. “But it does sound really contemporary. It doesn’t sound like a band made it all. Which is what I wanted most of all. It’s just something that’s brand new for me. It’s quite exciting, really.”

The Beths – Straight Line Was a Lie
due 8/29 via ATO

“Linear progression is an illusion,” Elizabeth Stokes says of the title to her band The Beths’ fourth album. “What life really is is maintenance. But you can find meaning in the maintenance.” Straight Line Was a Lie is also first for ATO and the singles released from it so far find their brand of crunchy power pop still in top form.

Big Thief – Double Infinity
due 9/5 via 4AD

The ever-changing Big Thief’s first album in over three years arrives in September, and lead single “Incomprehensible” finds them in dizzying art rock mode.

Billie Marten – Dog Eared
due 7/19 via Fiction

British singer-songwriter Billie Marten made her fifth album in NYC with producer Phil Weinrobe (Adrianne Lenker) at his Sugar Mountain studio with a whole lot of cool players, including Núria Graham, Sam Amidon, Shahzad Ismaily, and Sam Evian. The musicians bring cred but given the singles from it, Marten’s songwriting stays in the spotlight.

Blackbraid – Blackbraid III
due 8/8 via self-release

Blackbraid, the one-man indigenous black metal band from the Adirondack Mountains, has quickly become one of the most exciting black metal acts around. His music is equal parts melodic and ferocious, and Blackbraid III‘s recent single “Wardrums at Dawn on the Day of My Death” is one of his best tracks yet.

Cardi B – Am I The Drama?
due 9/19 via Atlantic

IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING. Over seven years and multiple hit singles since Invasion of Privacy, the Cardi B album is actually coming out. Two of those massive singles are on the album (“WAP” and “Up”), along with new single “Outside” and 20 other new songs.

The Chameleons – Arctic Moon
due 9/12 via Metropolis Records

Mark Burgess has kept some version of The Chameleons going since the band reformed at the start of the millennium but Arctic Moon is the group’s first album in 24 years (and last one was their first in 15 years). “Arctic Moon signals a departure from the sound of earlier Chameleons albums,” Burgess says, adding it “represents a new chapter.” Album single “Saviors Are a Dangerous Thing” sounds like The Chameleons to our ears, though.

Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out
due 7/11 via Roc Nation

Pusha T and No Malice are finally releasing the first Clipse album in over 15 years. It was entirely produced by Pharrell Williams, whose former production duo The Neptunes entirely produced the first three Clipse albums, and it features Kendrick Lamar, Tyler the Creator, Nas, Stove God Cooks, and more, plus Pharrell himself as a guest on multiple tracks. We’ve heard some bits and pieces of the album, and it all sounds great.

Cory Hanson – I Love People
due July 25 via Drag City

Wand frontman Cory Hanson got some of the best reviews of his career with 2023 solo album Western Cum and here he’s back with its follow-up. He made it with the current lineup of Wand as his backing band, but this twangy, soulful music is pretty far from their normal MO. In a good way.

David Byrne – Who Is the Sky?
due 9/5 via Matador

Fresh off performing with Olivia Rodrigo, David Byrne announced his first solo album in seven years, Who Is the Sky?. It was made in collaboration with New York chamber ensemble Ghost Train Orchestra and producer Kid Harpoon, and it also features Paramore’s Hayley Williams, St. Vincent, Tom Skinner (The Smile), Mauro Refosco (Atoms For Peace), and more. Lead single “Everybody Laughs” finds the former Talking Head delivering the kind of polyrhythmic pop he’s excelled at since Remain In Light.

Debby Friday – The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life
due 8/1 via Sub Pop

It’s a lot of pressure following up an acclaimed debut like GOOD LUCK, especially when it wins Canada’s Polaris Music Prize, but Debby Friday seems to be taking it in stride. “I want to be a starrr, I can’t hide that desire,” she says of her sophomore album. “But what I don’t want is to live someone else’s dream or to follow a pre-set path.”

End It – Wrong Side Of Heaven
due 8/29 via Flatspot

Baltimore’s End It are such an established part of the hardcore scene that it’s almost hard to believe they still haven’t released a full-length album, but it’s true; their first one, Wrong Side Of Heaven, comes out this August via Flatspot. It remains to be seen how the band makes their jump from four-to-six-song, no-filler EPs to a 15-song album, but we know this much: the 72-second lead single “Pale Horse” is a ripper.

Erykah Badu & The Alchemist – TBA
due date TBA

Erykah Badu confirmed in March that her long-awaited new album will be a collaboration with The Alchemist, and the pair recently shared their first new songs together. They’re both great, and they’ve got us very excited to hear the rest of this album, which doesn’t currently have a release date.

Ethel Cain – Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You
due 8/8 via Daughters of Cain

We already got one release, Perverts, from Ethel Cain this year, and the second will arrive in August. She’s calling it her sophomore album, and describes it as a prequel to her fantastic 2022 debut Preacher’s Daughter. Whether mostly oriented, like Perverts, around ambient, noise, and drone remains to be seen, but the first single, “Nettles,” is haunting, folky, and gorgeous.

Folk Bitch Trio – Now Would Be a Good Time
due 7/25 via Jagjaguwar

Melbourne’s Folk Bitch Trio caught our interest with their instantly appealing folk songs, full of sublime harmonies and clever lyrics. They signed to Jagjaguwar earlier this year, and their debut album arrives later this month. Judging by singles like the lush “Cathode Ray” and the gentle “Moth Song,” it’s shaping up to be a stunner.

Forth Wanderers – The Longer This Goes On
due 7/18 via Sub Pop

Montclair, NJ indie band Forth Wanderers have been quiet since releasing their self-titled sophomore album (and Sub Pop debut) in 2018, and then cancelling a tour in support of it, but they recently returned with some great new singles and the announcement that a new album will be out on Sub Pop in July.

Greg Freeman – Burnover
due 8/22 via Transgressive/Canvasback

As promising as Vermont singer/songwriter Greg Freeman’s 2022 debut album I Looked Out was, its followup Burnover is shaping up to be a big step up. The singles kinda sound like Songs: Ohia meets Pavement, and we’d also recommend this to fans of MJ Lenderman.

Guerilla Toss – You’re Weird Now
due 9/12 via Sub Pop

If nothing else, Guerilla Toss’ new album will be known as the record where Stephen Malkmus and Trey Anastasio finally appear on a song together. The Pavement frontman produced You’re Weird Now while the Phish frontman co-owns the Vermont studio where it was made. The two notable noodlers don’t seem to have changed Guerilla Toss too much, at least judging from the song they’re on, “”Red Flag to Angry Bull.”

Hand Habits – Blue Reminder
due 8/22 via Fat Possum

“For this record I set out to no longer shapeshift when it came to the person I become in the face of love,” says Meg Duffy of their latest album as Hand Habits. After dabbling with synthesizers for 2023’s Sugar the Bruise, Duffy seems to be going for more of an American feel, which really suits her style, with some help from Blake Mills and more.

The Hives – The Hives Forever Forever The Hives
due 8/29 via PIAS

The Hives frontman “Howlin’” Pelle Almqvist is no stranger to braggadocio, and that goes double for the band’s new album which was co-produced by Beastie Boys’ Mike D and features Josh Homme of Queens of the Stone Age. “I really think this album is my favourite,” Pelle told NME. “After 30 years of being a band, we’re at the peak of our powers. That doesn’t happen a lot. I’ve studied rock history and it’s super rare. Judge for yourselves, but I’m assuming you’re going to agree.”

Hot Mulligan – The Sound A Body Makes When It’s Still
due 8/22 via Wax Bodega

As Hot Mulligan’s song titles get even sillier (“Monica Lewinskibidi”???), their music just gets more dead-serious. Judging by recent single “And A Big Load,” the anticipated followup to Why Would I Watch is gonna live up to expectations.

Hunx and His Punx – Walk Out In This World
due 8/22 via Get Better Records

It’s been 12 years since Seth Bogart has made a Hunx and His Punx album but he’s finally back to it. He made Walk Out In This World with longtime Punx bandmates Shannon Shaw and Erin Emslie and first single “Alone in Hollywood on Acid” is the kind of raucous ripper you’d expect from these three.

Innumerable Forms – Pain Effulgence
due 8/22 via Profound Lore

The members of Innumerable Forms have all been busy with other bands (including Sumerlands, Dream Unending, Power Trip, Mammoth Grinder, Iron Lung, Genocide Pact, and more), and now they’re back together to unleash more beastly death-doom on us this summer.

Ivy – Traces of You
due 9/5 via Bar-None

“The world thought IVY was gone after 2012, and for a time we did too,” says Andy Chase of Ivy, a band who haven’t put out a record in 13 years and whose time seemed to be permanently over with the 2020 death of cofounder Adam Schlesinger.“So Dominique and I are thrilled to give everyone a brand new IVY album, with our beloved Adam playing on every song!” While working on Ivy reissues, Chase and singer Dominique Durand stumbled across a box of reel-to-reel tapes featuring unreleased songs. They got ahold of Ivy keyboardist/guitarist Bruce Driscoll to help bring these songs back to life. As Chase mentions, every song features Adam Schlesinger on bass with his family’s blessing.

Jehnny Beth – You Heartbreaker, You
due 8/29 via Fiction

You Heartbreaker, You is former Savages frontwoman Jehnny Beth’s second solo album and she made it with partner and collaborator Johnny Hostile. “We’re living in a dark time, full of drama and barbarous tragedy,” Jehnny says. “It became clear to me that, in these times, we either learn how to scream really well, or we learn how to whisper.” Jehnny does a little screaming on the album’s ripper of a single, “Broken Rib.”

Kerosene Heights – Blame It On The Weather
due 8/15 via SideOneDummy

Not many current bands are doing noodly Midwest emo with clean, punchy hooks as effectively as Kerosene Heights are right now. Their upcoming SideOneDummy debut is not to miss.

Kieran Hebden & William Tyler – 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s
due 9/19 via Temporary Residence Ltd

Four Tet (Kieran Hebden) and William Tyler first met at Bonnaroo in 2013 and have been planning a record ever since, which finally came to be thanks to the pandemic. “The main influence was found when we discovered a shared deep connection to ‘80s American country and folk music – artists like Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, and Joe Ely,” says Hebden. “Our idea for the album was to make music that focused on that influence and brought it to the front of our awareness.”

La Dispute – No One Was Driving The Car
due 9/5 via Epitaph

The ever-ambitious post-hardcore band La Dispute’s first album in six years is a multi-act concept album and the new singles find the band in great form. We’ve also got an exclusive tri-color vinyl variant of this one up for pre-order.

Liquid Mike – Hell Is An Airport
due 9/12 via self-release
Marquette, Michigan guitar-slingers Liquid Mike have made a name for themselves as torch-carriers of power-poppy, ’90s-style alt-rock, and the singles from their upcoming album Hell Is An Airport have all been a blast. If you’re unfamiliar but you’re into Guided by Voices, Weezer, Superchunk, Sugar, Sebadoh, etc, this might be right up your alley.

Lord Huron – The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1
due 7/18 via Mercury

Lord Huron have been rolling out singles from The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1 all year, and they range from spoken word ft. Kristen Stewart to propulsive indie folk rock. Blonde Redhead’s Kazu Makino is on the album too.

Mark Stewart – The Fateful Symmetry
due 7/11 via Mute

The Pop Group‘s Mark Stewart had just finished completing a new solo album before his death in 2023 and it’s finally coming out. The Fateful Symmetry was produced by Youth of Killing Joke and features contributions from The Raincoats’ Gina Birch and Hollie Cook.

Maruja – Pain to Power
due 9/12 via Music For Nations

After a string of impressive EPs, the undefinable UK band Maruja are set to release their debut album. Recent single “Look Down On Us” is a 10-minute protest song that touches on almost everything Maruja have proven to be capable of: punk, jazz, prog, spoken word, hip hop, experimental art rock, and more. If that’s just one song on this album, it should be needless to say that we’re excited to hear more.

Modern Life Is War – Life On The Moon
due 9/5 via Deathwish/Iodine

The past two decades of melodic hardcore would sound a lot different without Modern Life Is War’s influence, and though the band have been active, they haven’t released a full-length album since 2013. That finally changes in September.

Molly Tuttle – So Long Little Miss Sunshine</>
due 8/15 via Nonesuch

Following two bluegrass albums with her band Golden Highway, Molly Tuttle announced a new solo album and lead single “That’s Gonna Leave A Mark” goes in more of a ’90s country pop-rock direction. “I’ve been wanting to make this record for such a long time,” Molly says. “Part of me was scared to do such a big departure, and that went into the album title. [Eventually I decided,] ‘You know what? I’m just not going to care what people think. I’m going to do what I want.”

Nation of Language – Dance Called Memory
due 9/19 via Sub Pop

For their fourth album, and first for Sub Pop, NYC synthpop trio Nation of Language worked with Nick Millheiser of Holy Ghost! to take their music somewhere new. “In this era quickly being defined by the rise of AI supplanting human creators I’m focusing more on the human condition, and I need the underlying music to support that,” says frontman Ian Devaney. “Instead of hopelessness, I want to leave the listener with a feeling of us really seeing one another, that our individual struggles can actually unite us in empathy.”

No Joy – Bugland
due 8/8 via Hand Drawn Dracula / Sonic Cathedral

For her first No Joy album in five years, Jasamine White-Gluz teamed up with sonic soulmate Fire-Toolz (Chicago experimental/electronic musician Angel Marcloid) and found their styles melting together perfectly into weird, shoegazy goodness. “The collaboration really felt limitless,” Marcloid says. What took so long to make a new album? Moving outside of Montreal into countryside Quebec where it was literal bugland may have played into it. Says Jasamine, “I think rural living made me tune out the noise of the music biz and focus more inwards, writing and taking my damn time.”

Nuvolascura – How This All Ends
due 7/8 via Zegema Beach/I.Corrupt

After releasing their first two albums in a two-year span, LA screamo band Nuvolascura quieted down for a bit but now they’re back and louder than ever.

Open Mike Eagle – Neighborhood Gods Unlimited
due 7/11 via Auto Reverse

The ever-charismatic indie-rapper (and comedian, podcaster, screenwriter, etc) Open Mike Eagle is about to return with a new album that he says was inspired by films like Get Out and Sorry to Bother You. “The trauma at the center of Neighborhood Gods Unlimited is mine,” he says. “I was shattered as a young person and I spent the majority of my life not knowing it. In my ignorance I would go on to shatter myself even further because it was all I knew. This is a story about how people who are trying to find themselves get confused when they encounter things that remind them of themselves.”

OSEES – Abomination Revealed at Last
due 8/ via Deathgod

“Well this album just channelled out of the mist of atrocities swirling around the planet right now,” OSEES founder John Dwyer says of his group’s latest. “AI empathy, genocides, social media data collection & addiction, the alignment of tech billionaires with the fascist overlords and their armada of dogs, civilians being kidnapped by bootlicking thugs, the death of due process…the list goes on and on. It’s been a long year already.” After toying with synths for a few records, Abomination is a bit of a return to classic Oh Sees sound, if you can even say that about a group that mutates as often as they do.

Pinkshift – Earthkeeper
due 8/29 via Hopeless

Baltimore punks Pinkshift have dropped two songs from their upcoming sophomore album, and both find them leaning more into their heavy, riffy hard rock side than ever.

Pool Kids – Easier Said Than Done
due 8/15 via Epitaph

Pool Kids have signed to Epitaph and Easier Said Than Done‘s lead single/title track finds them leaning more into pop songcraft than ever without losing their explosive emo/rock side. It’s a great track, and it seems like it’s only the tip of the iceberg for this album, which is said to touch on a variety of different styles of music, including synth pop, slacker rock, and acoustic balladry.

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – New Threats from the Soul
due 7/25 via Sophomore Lounge/Tough Love

Somewhere in between alt-country, slacker rock, and jam bands lies the two recent singles from Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band’s sophomore LP New Threats from the Soul, which is shaping up to be one of the most promising new albums within this whole recent indie-country boom. If you’re into anything from Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy (who appears on this album) to MJ Lenderman (who Ryan Davis recently toured and collaborated on stage with), don’t miss out.

Saint Etienne – International
due 9/5 via Heavenly

After 35 years of heavenly pop, Saint Etienne have decided to call it a day. They’re not “breaking up,” per se, as Bob Stanley, Pete Wiggs and Sarah Crackness remain great friends but they’re ceasing operations. They’re going out with a bang, one last album. International was co-produced by the band and Tim Powell of hitmakers Xenomania who worked on 2012’s fabulous Words & Music. International is also packed with guest collaborators, including Erasure‘s Vince Clarke, The Chemical Brothers’ Tom Rowlands, Doves’ Jez Williams, Haircut 100‘s Nick Heyward, Erol Alkan, Confidence Man‘s Janet Planet, Orbital‘s Paul Hartnoll, and more.

Shame – Cutthroat
due 9/5 via Dead Oceans

Shame frontman Charlie Steen says his band’s fourth album is “about the cowards, the cunts, the hypocrites. Let’s face it, there’s a lot of them around right now.” For this one they worked with producer John Congleton to take more risks, mixing rock with more electronic elements.

Sloan – Based on the Best Seller
due 9/27 via Murderrecords / Yep Roc

“It’s not a challenge to make a 14th album,” says Sloan guitarist Jay Ferguson. “But sometimes it’s a challenge to think of a new overarching theme for a 14th album.” At this point Sloan, whose four members are all talented songwriters and singers, don’t really need a theme. News of a new album is enough.

The Starting Line – Eternal Youth
due 9/26 via Lineage

Emo/pop punk vets The Starting Line ended their career on their most adventurous note (2007’s Direction), and doing so always left us wondering what they might’ve done next if they didn’t break up. Now, they’re finally releasing their first new album in 18 years, and so far lead single “Sense of Humor” only strengthens their legacy.

Suede – Antidepressants
due 9/5 via BMG

“If Autofiction was our punk record, Antidepressants is our post-punk record,” says Suede frontman Brett Anderson of the Britpop vets’ 10th album. “It’s about the tensions of modern life, the paranoia, the anxiety, the neurosis. We are all striving for connection in a disconnected world. This was the feel I wanted the songs to have. The album is called Antidepressants. This is broken music for broken people.”

Superchunk – Songs in the Key of Yikes
due 8/22 via Merge

Superchunk’s 13th album is very much a product of our uncertain times. “It’s always been the case that everyone is going through something that you may not be aware of,” the band’s Mac McCaughan says of the album’s title and themes. “This is currently more true than ever—but also the case that we are all going through some things together. In the face of that, what good is art and where is happiness found? (Spoiler alert: I don’t know.)”

Tyler Childers – Snipe Hunter
due 7/25 via Holler Records/RCA

Tyler Childers has been one of the most interesting country singers around for a minute, and his gorgeous new single “Nose on the Grindstone” suggests he’s got plenty more to say. It’s the first taste of his new Rick Rubin-produced album, which arrives in late July.

Water From Your Eyes – It’s a Beautiful Place
due 8/22 via Matador

“It ended up being about time, dinosaurs and space,” Nate Amos says of the new album from his duo with Rachel Brown. “We wanted to present a wide range of styles in a way that acknowledges everything’s just a tiny blip.” With Nate’s solo project This is Lorelei getting a lot of attention last year there could be carryover cooking here with his other main gig. First single “Life Signs” definitely feels less obtuse than anything on 2023’s Everything’s Crushed.

Wednesday – Bleeds
due 9/19 via Dead Oceans

Wednesday bandleader Karly Hartzman calls Bleeds “the spiritual successor” to their 2023 breakthrough album Rat Saw God and adds, “This is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like. We’ve devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out—and I feel like we did.” So far we’ve heard the album’s country side (“Elderberry Wine”) and its grungy, shoegazy side (“Wound Up Here [By Holdin On]”), and these songs already make good on Karly’s promise.

Wet Leg – moisturizer
due 7/11 via Domino

Following up a debut that was a hype sensation is almost always difficult – just ask The Strokes, The Stone Roses, or Franz Ferdinand. For Wet Leg, they took their time, working again with producer Dan Carey for more snarky, catchy indie rock while giving themselves an image makeover. It will be hard to match the undeniable momentum they had off the success of “Chaise Longue,” but recent live shows find them ready for the challenge.

Preorder moisturizer on clear vinyl.

Wolf Alice – The Clearing
due 8/29 via RCA

Wolf Alice are gearing up to return with a followup to 2021’s very good Blue Weekend, and lead single “Bloom Baby Bloom” is a soaring rock anthem that finds the band in great form.

The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – Dreams of Being Dust
due 8/22 via Epitaph

Five albums into their career, post-rocky emo vets The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die are getting heavier than ever. One of the recent singles from Dreams of Being Dust is a straight-up hardcore song, while another features Brendan Murphy of Counterparts/END. But the album also includes the band’s proggy 2024 single “Auguries Of Guilt,” so even going by these three singles alone, it can’t be easily summed up.