March's Best New Releases
A quarter of the way through 2025 and the great music keeps on coming
For various reasons, March has been a tricky month for me. New music discovery hasn’t always been a top priority, and my listening has been sporadic rather than consistent. Sometimes that’s how it goes. Fortunately, my bursts have been sufficiently productive to gather enough highlights to justify a Best New Releases feature. Those highlights are up there with anything else from the first quarter of 2025.
As ever, there’s a playlist at the end, which prioritises content over cohesion. Every song included comes from a release that I scored 7/10 or higher. I’m not aiming for the perfect mixtape but rather a set of entry points to the month’s best albums.
Playing catch-up? Here are the last two round-ups…
FRESH RECOMMENDATIONS
These are all records I haven’t featured previously. I can’t promise these will all be obscure gems, but perhaps there will be something new to you here.
STUART PEARCE
“All This Vast Overproduction”
(Safe Suburban Home)
Not a singer-songwriter, but rather a band named after an 80s/90s English footballer whose nickname was “Psycho”, Nottingham’s Stuart Pearce channel post-punk (specifically The Fall), jangle and C86, creating a heady concoction of energetic nostalgia. Incidentally, Pearce himself is an old punk and a Stranglers superfan — I’m sure he would approve of his namesakes.
THE TUBS
“Cotton Crown”
(Trouble in Mind)
While the songs on the second album by The Tubs are brilliantly written and well performed, I can’t help but feel Owen Williams’ charming folk-inspired vocal is incongruous against the backdrop of shimmering jangle pop. Material that would catch fire merely smoulders and fizzes. It’s a shame, but Cotton Crown is still a perfectly good record.
SHARP PINS
“Radio DDR”
(K)
Following Pitchfork’s Best New Music endorsement last week, the cat is well and truly out of the bag on this one. How they managed to write a review without mentioning Guided By Voices remains a mystery, because that’s one of the primary influences I can hear on Radio DDR. And I’m talking classic Bee Thousand/Alien Lanes-era GBV. There are more innocent British Invasion references too. It’s exactly the kind of accomplished indie rock album that would have earned rave reviews in 2004 so it’s great to see it getting similar coverage today.
MOREISH IDOLS
“All In The Game”
(Speedy Wunderground)
Here’s another gem of a debut from the label and producer behind last month’s excellent Heartworms record. Moreish Idols originally hail from Cornwall but have found a home in the London scene around Speedy Wunderground. I can hear echoes of the Beta Band here, which is always a good thing.
COURTING
“Lust For Life, Or: How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story”
(Lower Third)
I will always have a soft spot for Courting. The Liverpool band headlined the first small venue show I attended after the pandemic, and after two years of consuming music in isolation, the communal experience at that gig was genuinely thrilling. Even then, it was striking how little they cared for genre boundaries — riotous covers of Icona Pop’s “I Love It” and Abba’s “Mamma Mia” were performed with sincerity and affection rather than sneering irony. They still haven’t quite captured their live magic on record, but Lust For Life might just be their closest attempt so far. The pulsating indie sleaze banger “Pause at You” is also their best track since “Tennis”.
HEAVY ROTATION
I’ve written about this record already and make no apologies for recommending it again.
SABA & NO I.D.
“From the Private Collection of Saba and No I.D.”
(From the Private Collection, LLP)
Veteran producer No I.D. and cult rapper Saba are both legends of Chicago’s Hip Hop scene. Their long-awaited collaboration is a joyous, smooth, soulful slice of nostalgia, with superb guest spots and a gargantuan highlight in the Marvin and Tammi-referencing “Every Painting Has a Price”. I’m going to embed that one again in case you missed it last time. It’s one of my favourite songs of the year so far.
ALBUM OF THE MONTH
NÄRA DÖDEN
“Villkorslöst”
(Septembernatt)
It’s no secret that I love Sweden and most things Swedish. Köttbullar (meatballs), the films of Ingmar Bergman, semlor (sweet cream-filled buns), ABBA, prästost (an underrated cheese)… the list goes on, and yes, a lot of it is food-based. Nära Döden are recent additions to the never-ending list (subtle IKEA reference for you there) and on the strength of Villkorslöst look set to stay there. Many bands have found success exploiting the interplay between contrasting hard and soft elements and Nära Döden are no different, with gritty post-punk jostling for space in the mix alongside sweeter, more wholesome indie. More often than not, and especially on standouts like “Helvete” and “Jag kommer sakna dig”, the results are intoxicating. Villkorslöst is a joy from start to finish and a worthy album of the month.
You can find all the picks above and more in my Best Albums of March 2025 playlist on Spotify. Please feel free to share your own favourites in the comments!
Some great picks here! Although they didn’t make my list this month, I’m with you on the Moreish Idols and Sharp Pins releases.
Here’s what was in heavy rotation for me in March: https://open.substack.com/pub/joyinthejourney/p/new-music-sampler-march-2025
That Saba & No ID album is indeed a gem! You might also dig new releases from Consumables (Infinite Games) and Tea Eater (I Don't Believe In Bad Luck).