February’s Best New Releases

Nine great new music recommendations and a playlist celebrating February’s best albums

When it comes to new music discovery, February is often when the wheels fall off for me. If January is full of hope, commitment, and best intentions, February is where my best-laid plans go to die.

I’m delighted to report that I’ve done slightly better this year. Life has been busy, but I’ve almost matched January’s new album total. And the quality level has been high, with several records earning heavy rotation. This post is a celebration of both those favourites and some under-the-radar highlights.

There’s a playlist at the end of the feature, which as ever prioritises content over cohesion. I’m not curating a perfect mixtape here — consider this a list of entry points to the month’s best albums. Every song included comes from a release that I scored 7/10 or higher.

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Even further behind? Here’s last month’s round-up

January's Best New Releases

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FRESH RECOMMENDATIONS

The records in this section are all from artists I haven’t featured previously. They’re not all tiny artists and may well be on your radar already, in which case good for you because they’re all very good.

HEARTWORMS
Glutton For Punishment
(Speedy Wunderground)

Two and a half years after signing to producer Dan Carey’s Speedy Wunderground label, Jojo Orme’s full-length Heartworms debut is such an assured and accomplished work that you’d be forgiven for thinking she was five albums deep into a storied career. While initially pegged as a goth-inspired post-punk artist, Glutton For Punishment suggests Orme is destined for art-pop stardom. It’s a spectacular record, immaculately produced by Carey and oozing talent and panache throughout.

MINDSONE
Stages
(Fort Lowell)

The latest release from veteran Wilmington, North Carolina collective MindsOne feels like a perfect Hip Hop recommendation for this newsletter. Stages is an impeccably produced boom bap record with serious crossover appeal. Smooth and lyrically dense, it’s a smart, engaging listen that will excite both serious heads and casual dabblers alike. If you only listen to a couple of Hip Hop records each year and favour the classic boom bap sound over modern trends, Stages is one for you. And if you love this, I am certain you’ll enjoy Skyzoo’s last few records.

KESTRELS
Better Wonder
(Noyes / Darla)

Chad Peck is a high school English teacher by day and veteran shoegazer by night, fronting Halifax, Nova Scotia’s premier purveyors of noise, Kestrels. Better Wonder, the band’s fifth full-length, is a freewheeling fusion of dreamy soundscapes and J Mascis-inspired guitar heroics. In other words, it’s a whole lot of fun.

NAPOLEON DA LEGEND & GIALLO POINTS
F.L.A.W
(NDL)

Prolific French-American rapper Napoleon Da Legend’s fifth collaboration with producer Giallo Points is another intelligent, well-crafted and consistently impressive addition to an already huge discography. The Brooklyn-based MC delivers sharp rhymes and vivid wordplay with the confidence of an artist who knows just how talented he is.

JAMES BRANDON LEWIS
Apple Cores
(Anti-)

As much as I love jangly power pop and shoegaze, I do like to bring you something different in this newsletter. While I don’t listen to many new jazz releases, the latest offering from tenor saxophonist James Brandon Lewis really blew me away with its relentless energy. Great artwork too.

TRANSISTORS
Everything Will Never Happen Again
(Melted Ice Cream)

Let’s close out this section back on familiar ground, with a raucous record from an obscure New Zealand power pop band. Transistors broke up in 2016 — of course they did — which makes Everything Will Never Happen Again something of a lost album. And I love lost albums. This trio hits like a freight train; everything is cranked up to the max and the riffs and hooks just keep on coming. These days James Harding can be heard in the equally excellent Best Bets, who I featured in September 2024’s round-up.

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HEAVY ROTATION

I’ve written about these records already but they’re really, really good.

THE MURDER CAPITAL
Blindness
(Human Season)

I can’t get enough of this record. If preferring Blindness to Gigi’s Recovery makes me a contrarian outlier, so be it.

CLOAKROOM
Last Leg of the Human Table
(Closed Casket)

When I reviewed Cloakroom’s 2022 album Dissolution Wave I cited bands like Jesu, Kyuss and Swervedriver as audible influences. Last Leg of the Table is a different beast. It still has those huge slabs of distortion; they are just more sparingly utilised. At times the guitars even jangle. It’s a beautiful record and a just reward for the band’s bold sonic detour.

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ALBUM OF THE MONTH

YOUTH LAGOON
Rarely Do I Dream
(Fat Possum)

Youth Lagoon’s Trevor Powers has taken a stash of childhood VHS recordings and concocted a wonderfully nostalgic record that taps into the very essence of memory itself. Rarely Do I Dream blurs the line between the personal and the universal and possesses the power to trigger all sorts of unexpected emotions in the listener. It is a record of rare beauty and an astounding achievement.

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You can find all the picks above and many more in my creatively titled Best Albums of February 2025 playlist on Spotify. Please feel free to share your own favourites in the comments!

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