January's Best New Releases

A playlist celebrating the finest albums of the month

Rather than focus on last Friday’s batch of new releases, I’d like to use this post to highlight the best records from the entire month. Is this decision partially motivated by my reluctance to listen to 84 minutes of The Weeknd? I couldn’t possibly say.

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 — think of this as a list of entry points to the month’s best albums.

For the sake of clarity, every song included comes from an album that I scored 7/10 or higher. Yes, I like scoring albums out of ten and naturally I keep an ordered list of all those silly little ratings. Sixteen albums made the cut, which equates to a pretty solid month.

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BONNIE “PRINCE” BILLY
The Purple Moon
(No Quarter)

I was quite astonished to learn that The Purple Bird is the 22nd Bonnie “Prince” Billy album. I clearly haven’t been keeping up. Looking at his discography, I seen to have missed the last fifteen years of Will Oldham’s career. If you’re in a similar boat, The Purple Bird is a welcome reminder of his singular talents, a distinctly Nashville record with the occasional plodder offset by a handful of truly jaw-dropping moments, such as the sublime Boise, Idaho.

MIKE
Showbiz!
(10k)

Brooklyn rapper MIKE’s sprawling 24-track Hip Hop odyssey, Showbiz!, is one of January’s two standout releases in the genre — the other being Ghais Guevara’s wonderful Goyard Ibn Said (Fat Possum). Both are idiosyncratic and ambitious records. More than anyone else from his generation of MCs, MIKE reminds me of the late great MF DOOM, not necessarily sonically, but in terms of spirit, style, and his affinity for capitalisation. The way Showbiz! dashes from track to track, with samples explored briefly and then tossed aside, is also evocative of J Dilla’s seminal Donuts. So that’s a DOOM and a J Dilla reference — what else are you waiting for?

ELA MINUS
DÍA
(Domino)

DÍA is a bit of an outlier recommendation from me. I don’t normally cover a lot of electronic pop music, but this exhilarating album warrants an exception. It definitely feels like a winter experience, all cool, icy beats and haunting vocals. But it’s got its fair share of hooks, too. And as much as I love fuzzy guitar pop and Hip Hop, you need to mix it up sometimes.

THE LAUGHING CHIMES
Whispers in the Speech Machine
(Slumberland)

This album didn’t quite match my lofty expectations, but it’s still one of the better indie pop offerings of the month. The early single “High Beams” is still my favourite track, but the Seurkamp brothers maintain a consistently high level on a record that smoulders away steadily without ever quite catching fire.

PRISM SHORES
Out From Underneath
(Meritorio)

This is the third and final time I’ll be banging the drum for this wonderful album… until AOTY season comes around at least.

“There’s a little bit of everything I love about 80s and 90s (largely British) indie music here. The jangly sound of C86 — and especially The Wedding Present — is the big influence, but twee indie pop, shoegaze and dream-pop are all in the mix. While I can hear shades of Sarah Records bands like The Sea Urchins, 4AD legends Pale Saints, and Bandswagonesque-era Teenage Fanclub, Out From Underneath is cohesive, fresh, and very much more than the sum of its myriad influences.”

I can’t really add much to that, nor should I need to really. If you like any of those artists and labels you will find a lot to love here.

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ALBUM OF THE MONTH

BENJAMIN BOOKER
Lower
(Fire Next Time)

Nothing hit harder this month than the visceral third album from Benjamin Booker. Kenny Segal’s (billy woods, Armand Hammer) production and Booker’s lyrical ambition ensure LOWER is virtually unrecognisable from his previous bluesy garage rock. It’s a huge leap and a truly essential listen.

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

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