Best new music this quarter

Editor’s note: From Olivia Rodrigo to Paul McCartney and The Strokes, we bring you an eclectic mix of must-listen albums. Filled with bangers, ballads, and catchy bops, our roundup has all the best music releases—new and upcoming—from May to August. And we have a special playlist for you to mark the occasion.

*****

everyone for ten minutes by Bleachers

May 22

FYI, Jack Antonoff isn’t just the producer for all our favourite pop girls (see Lorde, Taylor Swift, Lana Del Rey). He’s also very much a musician, and a new wave rock band frontman to boot. And the 13-time Grammy winner’s band, Bleachers, came out with its fifth studio album this year.

Known for their boppy, groovy, sometimes anthemic tunes, this record takes you on a journey of distortion, electronic experimentation, and some good old catchy hooks that might make you feel like yelling from a speeding car. With euphoric choruses and heart-wrenching bridges, this album is typical of the New Jersey band’s existing style and production, hitting familiar soft spots with their sound.

Inferno by Boards of Canada

May 22

Boards of Canada—Scottish ambient experimental brother duo belonging to the Warp Records sensibility of radical, future-forward music—do one thing, and they do that one thing so spectacularly that there’s little need to head off in other directions. They’re able to find such depth, such emotional heft, in their deceptively intricate ambient soundscapes. And within each such passage of sound, they conceal ominous bits of sound design that offer an odd kind of dissonance.

Having been silent for the past 13 years, they’ve returned this year with a monster of a record, Inferno—it is, in its aural identity, a pretty logical and straightforward continuation of their past works. But within these electronic textures and pummelling rhythms lies a lot of heart and meaning. There are worlds to be found here.

Florescence by Maisie Peters

May 22

It’s so easy to get lost in the vast slush pile of sadboy/sadgirl singer-songwriters threatening to turn every house party into an acoustic concert about love and heartbreak. But Maisie Peters cuts through the clutter with a rich, lively vocal delivery that gives shape and vigour to her confessional, autobiographical compositions. Florescence is a thoughtful coming-of-age record about healing and moving forward in life. And Peters infuses these ruminations with dollops of character through her sharp, off-centre style of arrangement and songwriting. You can sense a spirit of maximalism in her vocals, which can seem jarring given the generally stripped down nature of the genre, but that’s perhaps what sets her voice apart.

The Boys of Dungeon Lane by Paul McCartney

May 29

For as long as Paul McCartney continues to make music, the world still feels like a hopeful place. He may be a thousand years old (give or take), but Macca retains the same electric spirit and joy for music he’s always had. And you can hear that quality in the more bouncy moments on The Boys of Dungeon Lane, his 12th solo record, where he reflects on his youth and growing up. We also get as close to a Beatles reunion as is humanly possible, with old pal Ringo Starr popping up alongside him on ‘Home To Us’. Paste Magazine, on his drive to keep going, wrote:

Paul McCartney could have started coasting decades ago. Yet here he is, in his eighties, still experimenting and pushing himself. Not every moment on The Boys of Dungeon Lane captures the electrifying zeal of his best work—but a whole lot of them do, even the nostalgic spots, and it’s hard not to marvel at that idea.

Philadelphia’s been good to me by Kurt Vile

May 29

Kurt Vile sounds like he’s born in the wrong era. But then, realistically, Kurt Vile would sound like he’s born in the wrong era in every era. An elusive, nostalgic, slightly bittersweet quality runs through this, his 10th studio record, as he tries to make sense of life as a musician and his relationship with his home, Philadelphia, via folksy, restrained rock ’n’ roll set over his wandering, chatty lyricism. “It just goes to show,” wrote Pitchfork in a review, “that when you put on a Kurt Vile record, you pretty much know exactly what you’re getting, but you’re still never entirely sure of where you’re going.”

Blue Morpho by Ed O’Brien

May 29

We may never get another Radiohead record, but honestly, maybe that’s OK? Each of the band members has ventured out on their own, finding new modes of communication and expression. Ed O’Brien, the towering guitar player who holds the song together with the rhythm section whenever Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood are off on their violently whimsical creative detours, released his second solo record earlier this year. And there’s something very quietly powerful about it. It’s not in your face, it doesn’t demand attention to its theatrics; rather, O’Brien builds these tense, hypnotic passages of sound with confidence and underpins the structures with his very thoughtful, very inherently melodic vocal delivery. It simmers and it simmers, with the pressure valve routinely released for moments of catharsis. This one’s a worthy slow burn.

you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love by Olivia Rodrigo

June 12

One of the most anticipated records of this year, our girl OR doesn’t disappoint with her third studio album. Although she broke the misplaced stereotype and expectation of being ‘just’ a sad teenage girl when her second album showed immense maturity and a growth in her songwriting skill and musical ability, this new album takes things a notch further. Gentle ballads which could lull you to deep sleep co-exist with tunes you can lose your head and rock out to, and the production echoes a Paramore meets Taylor Swift meets Fiona Apple vibe—simply delicious.

Up is the only direction for Rodrigo next, as her sound becomes more and more her own, and her fanbase becomes stronger and bigger with each release. Pitchfork wrote:

A moment for co-songwriter and producer Dan Nigro at this juncture. you seem pretty sad for a girl so in love is their third collaboration, and by far their most sophisticated. The friendship with pop-punk has pretty much ended—the palette is, broadly, “1980s,” but it encompasses new romantic-era rock, post-punk, college rock, and just a touch of mall pop, somehow running the gamut from Gary Numan to R.E.M. without sounding like pastiche at any point.

After the Astronaut by Butthole Surfers

June 26

You can never really predict what’s coming with the Butthole Surfers. Like, on ‘Venus’, the song is plodding along like a standard alt-psychedelic jam, and suddenly a lush sitar melody pops up for a few bars with no advance warning. And then Gibby Haynes, the wild and frantic (and, honestly, very strange) frontman of this deranged experimental/alt-rock ’90s cult band starts sing-speaking over spacy, swivelling guitar effects. It’s just their whole thing. They’re weird and reckless and willing to chase any creative direction that catches their fancy.

But why are we talking about the Butthole Surfers in 2026? Well, After the Astronaut is their infamous ‘lost’ album, a challenging, dense record they wrote all the way back in 1998. Their label, Capitol Records, junked it for being too esoteric. They wanted the big ‘Pepper’-like hits; instead, they got these twisted, meandering genre-bending experiments. No thank you, they said. Twenty-eight years later, this time capsule is finally upon us in all its perverted glory.

'Not Dead Yet: it's aLive!' Compilation vol. 1 (various artists)

June 26

A rarity in Indian indie music—a live compilation album featuring a diverse range of desi artists. Misfits Inc., a music agency and label in Mumbai, has put together this 22-track album featuring a song each by bands performing at their live gig series, ‘Not Dead Yet: it’s aLive’. The series has been taking place since 2023 at Mumbai’s antiSOCIAL, which has over time become a major hub for indie music gigs. This one features the likes of Ankur Tewari and the Ghalat Family, the Lightyears Explode, Anoushka Maskey, Tejas, and a bunch of others.

Now naturally, you can’t expect pristine recording quality given the dynamism and chaos that lie at the heart of live performance, as well as the sound constraints, but this could really be a useful series of compilations. It’s a great way to experience how these bands actually sound in a live physical space; and equally, recordings such as these serve as essential documentation of an indie space that, while a bit chaotic and disorganised, has so much to offer to fans and listeners.

Full Moon Chamber by Prateek Kuhad

July 10

From “uncertainty and turmoil” by his own admission, to a place of self-discovery, Prateek Kuhad’s latest tracks this emotional journey, slowly finding hope over the course of the record. The songs, as ever, have a sensitivity and vulnerability in the words, with Kuhad’s knack of finding memorable earthy melodies over sparse instrumentation shining through once again. Full Moon Chamber, his third full length, was written and recorded in New York and Los Angeles, with Nick Ruth serving as co-producer.

Foreign Tongues by The Rolling Stones

July 10

The Rolling Stones’ late-career golden patch continues on Foreign Tongues, as they eschew comfort and, indeed, the lure of nostalgia, to craft a very hard-hitting modern record that showcases their effortless skill across sounds. The uncs still got it.

Frontman and rock ’n’ roll icon Mick Jagger, per The Guardian, sounds “more energised and enthused than he has in years”. And the band has somehow always sounded like themselves, the review pointed out, regardless of what style of sound they’re attempting. “Nobody else has been able to assemble their quintessentially just-shaky Jenga tower of sound, which often sounds like it could fall to pieces at any moment but somehow never does."

Daughter from Hell by Gracie Abrams

July 17

Despite never really beating the nepo baby allegations (by virtue of being daughter to JJ Abrams and Katie McGrath), Gracie Abrams has not only embraced and acknowledged that title, but managed to break out of its mold. Her 2024 album, Secret of Us, caused quite the stir, and since then, she's even opened for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour.

Her third studio album is now on its way to us next week, and from the two singles so far, it’s going to be a wild, emotional rollercoaster filled with broody, introspective ballads and a nod-your-head-along indie pop sound. Prepare in advance for your solo dance parties.

Reality Awaits by The Strokes

July 24

Early era Strokes—Is This It? (2001) or Room on Fire (2003)—was raw, brash, unafraid. They wore their influences (and hearts) on their sleeves, paying homage to ’70s punk and garage rock, with charismatic frontman Julian Casablancas writing absurdly infectious hooks and screaming his face off. Those rough edges have mostly been rounded off now—the band isn’t nearly as carefree, and today their songs are more polished than fraying. As we can hear on ‘Going Shopping’, the first single off Reality Awaits; the cat-and-mouse melodies remain, but they have a sheen of softness on the guitar tone. Casablancas is still honest and at times despairing, but he’s messing around with auto-tune on the track to shift mood.

Really, over time, they’ve become far more mature as songwriters, more confident in expanding beyond the self-limiting constraints of indie/garage rock, and their previous record, The New Abnormal, was widely appreciated. But it’s always that eternal question though, isn’t it? Would you rather a band you enjoy stay in their youthful, (often) derivative but carefree sound, remaining in suspended animation forever? Or would you rather they grew, had bigger ambitions, tried new stuff?

Music, Fashion, Film by Charli xcx

July 24

One way or another, this one’s going to be an event. After teasing a potential rock album, only to later backtrack, only to then release a single called ‘Rock Music’, only to then release another very poppy, very catchy single called ‘SS26’—we’re not exactly sure what’s coming. There’s guitars in here, and she’s clearly moving slightly away from dance music to incorporate a wider palette on this record. But the full LP release is still a couple of weeks away, and it’s bound to spark intense conversation, particularly after the spectacular success of 2024’s brat, which catapulted Charli xcx from the fringes—and the “indie sleaze” world she occupied—into very much the big leagues. We do have an album cover though, and it’s weighty as hell. Martin Scorsese, the great John Cale, and Marc Jacobs in monochrome, all looking super broody and intense.

Lost Weekend by Phoebe Bridgers

August 14

It’s been six years since Phoebe Bridgers last released an album. And while she’s been active in other ways—such as the supergroup boygenius’s 2023 releases, and her collaborations with other artists—this album has been long awaited by her fans.

After the recent drop of her single, Lost Boys, it seems as though the album will follow the line of progression her music has already been taking, with a dip further into some more electronic production with contrasting emotionally intense lyricism, tied together with a soft rock sound, but we won’t really find out until it’s out.

Fata Morgana by L’rain

August 14

Taja Cheek—composer and singer—pushes boundaries in the most sublime, unexpected ways on her project L’rain; routinely, she’ll switch from angelic vocal harmonies set over gently purring guitar lines into full blown chaos, followed by a left turn into impenetrable jazz refrains or R&B to close out a song. On ‘Soulless Cycle’, we can hear these machinations in play as languid, chant-like vocal lines fight for space with exploding drums and guitars. Cheek, in her public persona, also comes across as thoughtful, politically engaged, and creatively intentional in her work as an artist, and this album follows on the heels of the 2023’s I Killed Your Dog, a wonderful and moving record exploring all manner of terrains. In her words: “I’m thinking about the ways in which this societal malaise manifests within myself[ …] As we’ve slipped further into fascism and trad culture, I’m thinking about all the beliefs society has manufactured about itself and about me.”