How were your holidays? After a month of little more than Christmas songs, it’s time to dive into the 2025 release schedule. What does the first New Music Friday of the year have for us? It’s light, but there’s some great stuff here.
Singles
1. The Darkness, I Hate Myself (Cooking Vinyl)
I will never, every apologize for being a fan of The Darkness. Yes, they can be an acquired taste but when it comes to balls-out rock, they know what they’re doing. The eighth Darkness album, Dreams on Toast, will arrive March 28. And the video for this advance single is utterly bonkers. What was the budget? Nine dollars?
2. Laibach, I Want to Know What Love Is (Staalplaat)
Laibach is weird. The sometimes-industrial band from Slovenia was doing Rammstein-level stuff before there was a Rammstein. And in 2015, they became one of the first (maybe the first) Western rock band to play an official concert in Pyongyang, North Korea. They somehow made it past the censors and performed in front of 1500 baffled people. Laibach is also known for their strange choices of cover songs. This fits the bill.
3. The Lumineers, Same Old Song (Dualtone/MNRK)
The Lumineers are set for their fifth album, Automatic, which will arrive on February 14. The band’s Jeremiah Fraites says “People who think they have our number, they’ll be surprised.” The entire project was inspired by Peter Jackson’s 2021 Beatles documentary, Get Back, in the sense that they set everything up in a big studio and had everyone swift and pivot between various set-ups. Everything was wrapped in a month.
4. Bob Mould, Here We Go Crazy (Granary Music/BMG Records)
The revered Husker Du man has been out of sight for about four years now, but he’s coming back March 7 with his fifteenth solo record, Here We Go Crazy. Bob has spent the last few years in the California desert learning to listen to the landscape. The video for this first single was shot there.
Albums
1. Franz Ferdinand, The Human Fear (Domino)
Alex Kapranos and his crew have been around since around 2002–that’s 23 years–and have only managed six albums. There’s a new drummer aboard: Aubrey Tait replaced Paul Thomson, the original stickman in 2021. Does the band still have what it takes to stay relevant? Opinions are split when it comes to this record. Take a listen to this song and tell me how it makes you feel. Me? I really can’t make up my mind.
2. Lambrini Girls, Who Let the Dogs Out (City Slang)
Love this. Love it love it love it. Lambrini girls are two women out of Brighton who want to kick the crap out of everyone with their brand of punk rock. No wonder they’ve received an official endorsement from Iggy Pop. He even asked to collaborate with them. I think that’s all you need to get you started on this album. Please play it loud. VERY loud.
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