Daily Newsletter, December 4, 2025

A regularly updated guide to the new albums, EPs, mixtapes, and projects getting released in the coming weeks and months

We look back at the year’s most defining moments in music, from the Trump administration’s takeover of the Kennedy Center to Kendrick’s Super Bowl performance, the Sean Combs trial, the 'Sinners' phenomenon, artists we loved and lost and more. But we begin with a question: Was it an unusually great year for music, unusually bad or par for the course?Check back for more year-end coverage from NPR Music and All Songs Considered, including our picks for best songs, best albums and more.Vote for your favorite albums of 2025.Enjoy the show? Send it to a friend and leave us a review on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts. Questions, comments, suggestions or feedback of any kind always welcome: [email protected]

This year has been particularly exciting for experimental music, ranging from free-form guitar freak-outs to lush, ambient, always pushing boundaries.

Featuring Rosalía, Dijon, Cameron Winter, Erika de Casier, Addison Rae, MIKE, and more.

By Stereogum

NICOLA CONTE VIAGGIO BLUE NOTE/SCHEMA/FAR OUT RECORDINGS With compilations, particularly curated ones, there’s almost never a middle ground; they are either great or they are simply bad. To come up with a great one is a painstaking process; you have to be really knowledgeable about the subject matter you are covering, and you have to […]

In a way, Of Becoming presents what Vanbur have already achieved musically elsewhere, but also gives a sense of what could be expected from the duo from now on.

ÁRNÝ MARGRÉT I MISS YOU, I DO: THE SJÁUMST EDITION ONE LITTLE INDEPENDENT RECORDS Excellent artists from Iceland—or anywhere else that is not U.S. or U.K.—are no big surprise for decades now, so neither was the fact that Iceland’s Árný Margrét really made splashes with her second album, I Miss You, I Do. Simply put, […]

SINGER. MATTRESS. CAT. SUBTROPICAL PERSONALITY INDEPENDENT There’s one question that might be looming among the melody-oriented indie rock fans; is bedroom pop a dying breed, or are they going into a sort of merger? If you ask Australian Martin Cooke, the man who was behind Gaslight Radio, a band that got quite a following Down […]

Unsung heroes: 14 brilliant 70s bands, from psych-folk to operatic prog, that deserve a fresh listen

"It took me three hours, and I worked real steady all by myself," said Brian Wilson on recording the track. "Neil wasn’t there."

1965: The year rock exploded, when Dylan went electric, The Beatles got deep, and music became ambitious, sophisticated art.

Despite their talent for writing about more innocent topics, The Beach Boys discovered early on that they could tap into deeper emotions.

Pulp, Flea, Lucinda Williams, The Delines, The Lemon Twigs, Hen Ogledd, The Coral, Aphex Twin and more

Playlist · Numero Group · 30 items · 3.2K saves