Editors' Choice for August 2025

Album cover for Surrender Instead

Surrender Instead

Alternate Side Records / Many Hats

A decade into his craft, this multi-genre songwriter brings a newfound self-assuredness to some of his best written and most carefully arranged songs to date.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for Bugland

Bugland

Sonic Cathedral

The genre-defiant polymath collaborates with co-producer Fire-Toolz on an album of maximalist pop that never stops changing gears but somehow never overwhelms.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for Maybe I'm Dreaming
Various Artists

Maybe I'm Dreaming

Anthology Recordings

The fourth volume in this compilation series of unknown soft rock artists from the '70s and '80s focuses on even deeper obscurities from private press recordings.

— Fred Thomas

Album cover for If Not Winter

If Not Winter

Interscope / Music Soup

Ranging from crushing riffs to ambient collages, Natalie Lu's debut album secures her place as one of the definitive shoegaze artists of the 2020s.

— Heather Phares