Gold Soundz: February 14, 2025

This week's suggested new music, curated by omg!nyc

Somehow, despite it feeling like an already very long year, we’ve made it to the halfway point of February. This week’s real highlight comes from Marshall Allen, the long-time leader of Sun Ra Arkestra who, at the age of 100 year old, is releasing his debut solo album. From fighting in World War II to being a catalyst in the cosmic spiritual free-jazz scene, it’s hard to believe that there are still new moments that could occur in his career, but here we are and what a signal that you’re never too old and it’s never too late to try something new. After hearing the divine lead single that features vocals from Neneh Cherry, it’s sure to be one of the leading jazz albums of the year.

The new record from lo-fi rockers Horsegirl continues their style of straight-forward guitar music that features homespun melodies and sturdy rhythms. It’s a steady album that hones in on what the band does best without breaking their lock-step vibe of wiry grooves and DIY aesthetics.

I jumped the gun last week with the new album from Bartees Strange, but this week it’s really here and despite popular opinion, guitar driven rock music still has a pulse and he is proving to be a guiding force in the scene. This week he drops his new record that shreds like the best of them and gives us more evidence that the genre is still kicking and delivering music that’s well worth your time and investments.

After several great EPs, John Glacier has delivered her debut full-length record and it’s got a wide range of sonics from big beats and pulsing electronics to lo-fi guitar work. The producer, rapper, and fashion model has already set the bar high with her previous output and it’s caught the eyes of folks like Jamie xx who included her on last year’s In Waves. Now it’s time to see if she can stick the landing on her hotly anticipated breakthrough.

Following last year’s Sable, EP, Bon Iver has announced his first album since 2019. SABLE, fABLE is coming this summer and features the songs from last year’s EP, but today Justin Vernon has shared the bright, groovy synth-filled jam giving us one of her most straightforward pop tunes to date by way of R&B-inflected Dire Straights vibes.

We’re still a little while away from the new album from Lucy Dacus, but this week she dropped the lovely third single “Best Guess,” a song she’s played live in the past. After the rather surging anthems on Historian, this is once again in the more refined lane of Home Video with its easy melodies and gentle rhythms all over glassy synths and plucking guitars.

While the film adaptation of her best-selling book Crying in H-Mart may be on hold, we’re just over a month away from Japanese Breakfast’s follow-up to 2023’s smash hit Jubilee. On the record’s second single, “Mega Circuit,” Michelle Zauner keeps things chill as the song’s subtle shuffle moves along at an easy pace with a marching percussion beat backed by chimes and bubbling textures.

The first single from the upcoming album by My Morning Jacket was a softer number that hit the band’s sweet spot for ballads, but “Squid Ink” puts the fuzz back into the mix with big guitar riffs and the epic vocal swells that Jim James can nail with such perfection. Things lead up to a wailing guitar solo that gives the song the juice it deserves and highlights the band’s ability to still maintain their magic.

For the first time in six years, post-metal band Pelican are dropping a new album and the lead single is a surging instrumental banger that reaches dizzying heights and unleashes massive moments of pure bombast. It’s a great track for those who may have skirted metal releases in the past as the focus remains on the interlocking play between the band members as they rage on with killer force.

Post-punk band Preoccupations typically hit us with bruising clangors of industrial nature as their chaotic, sharpened focus keeps a rigid sense of melody firmly within the hardened confines of their sound. They’ve softened things up just a touch on their new single “Focus” and have added some synthy textures, going harder on some ‘80s sounds while still packing a bit of a punch.

Albums

MARSHALL ALLEN | New Dawn
HORSEGIRL | Phonetics On
BARTEES STRANGE | Horror
JOHN GLACIER | Like A Ribbon
HOOKY / WINTER | Water Season EP
JACK WHITE | No Name Live EP
KELELA | In The Blue Light [Live Album]
SABRINA CARPENTER | Short N’ Sweet (Deluxe)
FATHER JOHN MISTY | I Love You, Honeybear Demos, etc.

Songs

BON IVER | “Everything is Peaceful Love”
LUCY DACUS | “Best Guess”
JAPANESE BREAKFAST | “Mega Circuit”
PELICAN | “Cascading Crescent”
MY MORNING JACKET | “Squid Ink”
PREOCCUPATIONS | “Focus”
TORO Y MOI / KENNY BEATS | “Daria”
ALABASTER DEPLUME | “Invincibility”
SPELLLING | “Alibi”
BEN KWELLER | “Dollar Store” (ft Waxahatchee)
BEIRUT | “Guericke’s Unicorn”
SWERVEDRIVER | “The World’s Fair”
FENNESZ | “Last Days of May”
MARK PRITCHARD / THOM YORKE | “Back in the Game”

If you’re a Spotify user, you can listen to these songs (and more from 2025) here!