Daily Newsletter, September 5, 2025

Staff Picks: The best albums of August 2025 include new releases from Deftones, Sabrina Carpenter, JID, Wolf Alice, Dijon, and more.

From Dylan’s electric shock to Bowie’s endless reinventions, these 15 acts didn’t just evolve — they transformed so radically they became almost unrecognisable

From Brian Eno to Talk Talk, we run through the obscure, avant-garde, and indie albums that critics have loved, but the public have never got on with.

Brian Wilson in 2015. (Photo by Brian Bowen Smith.) Though he long ago guessed he just wasn't made for these times, Brian Wilson left a musical legacy that was built to last, long after summer's gone. Outside of Vincent Van Gogh, Brian Wilson had the most infamous—and ultimately the most valuable—left ear in the world. Wilson—the chief architect of countless Beach Boys pop classics, who passed away at age 82 on June 11, 2025—lost the hearing in his right ear at an early age (footnote 1).

The tidiest explanation for the pop star’s success is that she befriended an underestimated audience of girls and young women. That’s only part of the story.

What compels creativity at the level of John Lennon's songwriting is difficult to pin down, but sifting through various pearls of wisdom illuminates the mystery.

The quietly revolutionary Talk Talk singer made one final album before calling it quits: his self-titled solo album debut, from 1998. While often overshadowed by the majestic experimentation of his former project’s late work, Mark Hollis harbors its own secrets and surprises, while building upon the work those albums began. As a final testament, it’s a fitting paradox, full of roaring silences and whispering explosions, a collection of whisper-thin abstractions that have been annealed into something durable and concrete.

New songs and old talent this week. Robert Plant has a new album out as does Natalia Lafourcade and Margo Price

A recent article in The New Yorker wondered aloud if music criticism has lost its edge. In this current age of Anthony Fantano and the pivot to YouTube as

Gnomes, werewolves, aerialists, and witches all feature in September's haul of new fantasy titles!

Nico sings about Jim Morrison in a song that sounds like it was written by ghosts, for ghosts.

The FADER's weekly roundup of the best new songs including Blawan's "NOS," Oli XL's "NOSEBLEED MELODY," and more.

On Thursday we’re announcing some changes to our subs system to mark our seventeenth birthday – keep your eyes peeled to find out what they are. In the meantime, our Subscriber and Subscriber Plus tier members can access over four hours of music connected to everything we were writing about in the long, long month of […]