Gold Soundz: July 18, 2025

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

In 2018, Forth Wanderers dropped their excellent debut album that felt like the first chapter in one of indie rock’s next great guitar bands. However, not too long after the album was released, the band scrapped their tour plans after announcing some mental health issues and ever since, it has seemed like the band might’ve been done for good. Earlier this year, however, the band reemerged with new songs and today they’re back with their sophomore album and it sounds like no time has passed at all. The jury is still out on what the future holds for this band, but a new album is more than many of us could’ve hoped for and something worth celebrating on its own.

Over the years, Alex G (formerly (Sandy)) has stepped up as one of the most consistent song-writers of the time. His unassuming records can feel homespun and intimate and now he’s made the leap to a major label, but the lead singles suggest he hasn’t lost any of the magic that made his songs so comforting and approachable.

While Wu-Tang Clan is currently on what they’re calling their “final” tour as a group, Raekwon is dropping his latest studio album. As one of the group’s most prolific members, the stakes are always a bit higher with his solo releases and there’s always hope for another classic album from the chef.

Enigmatic DJ duo Two Shell have been creeping along with some dizzying dance tracks over the past few years and earlier this week, they surprised us all with a new album, fittingly called IIcons, which serves as the proper follow-up to their debut Icons and brings forth more twitching grooves and clubby beats.

The last release from Vines was thought to be the debut album from Cassie Wieland, but further details have revealed that Birthday Party was just an EP and I’ll be here is in fact the proper debut album from the solo artist. The dreamy slowcore vibes remain intact on the proceeding singles as swirling, ethereal synths mix with padded drums and billowing vocals for something serene and all encompassing.

Currently, Nine Inch Nails are on tour for the first time a while and this fall, they’ll release the score to the latest installment of Tron. This week, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross released the pulsing lead single and it’s great to hear them back in the pocket making killer, smoldering industrial music that can still go hard while also making for some high quality dance music.

Back in January, FKA twigs dropped one of the best new albums of the year. Eusexua was the long-awaited third album from twigs and it finds her at the club, ready to go hard. Now she’s dropped a new stand-alone single that could’ve been a prime track on the album with its accelerated beat and her titanium voice that somersaults with ease while the BPMs pulsate with a sense of urgency as you dance the night away.

Dan Snaith makes great music as Caribou. He also makes great music as Daphni and over the years, the line between the two monikers has blurred, but this week Snaith gave us a bumping dance tune that feels like the most Daphni-esque track he’s dropped in a while, with thumping beats and an ecstatic chorus that gives us instructions and expects you to follow suit.

Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy is a busy guy. Aside from fronting the legendary Americana Alt-Country outfit, he’s also an author and a solo artist. Later this year, he’ll release a new solo record, but it’s not just an album, and it’s not even a double album, no my friends, it’s a triple album and he shared not one, not two, not three, but FOUR new songs this week as a preview of the massive amount of new tunes he has coming our way.

Later this year, Blood Orange will open shows for both Turnstile and Lorde, showcasing Dev Hynes incredible range. He’ll also drop a new album featuring Turnstile lead singer Brandon Yates as well as Lorde (and more). This week we got a preview with two new tunes that features the expected lush production and even interpolates some Elliott Smith lyrics into the mix.

Cassandra Jenkins doesn’t just write songs, she creates musical immersive experiences and her new single, “Delphinium Bliss,” is a perfect example of her craft. A follow-up to last year’s “Delphinium Blues” from her album My Light, My Destroyer, the updated take on the track is a moving piano tune that reimagines the song as a wordless wonder and serves as the first preview of her upcoming instrumental record.

Sea and Cake lead singer Sam Prekop’s last album was 2022’s The Sparrow. That same year he also released a collaborative album with his bandmate John McEntire called Sons Of. Both of those records are really good. This week, Prekop announced a new album is on the way (this one is mixed by McEntire) and he shared the transfixing, grooving new song “Light Shadow,” a spacey modular synth jam that feels designed for getting lost in your thoughts.

Albums:

FORTH WANDERERS | The Longer This Goes On
ALEX G | Headlights
RAEKWON | The Emperor’s New Clothes
TWO SHELL | IIcons
VINES | I’ll be here
DJ HARAM | Beside Myself

Songs:

NINE INCH NAILS | “As Alive As You Need Me to Be”
DAVID BYRNE | “She Explains Things to Me“
FKA TWIGS | “Perfectly”
DAPHNI | “Clap Your Hands”
JEFF TWEEDY | “Enough” / “One Tiny Flower” / “Out in the Dark” / “Stray Cats in Spain”
BLOOD ORANGE | “Mind Loaded” (ft Caroline Polacheck / Lorde / Mustafa) / “Somewhere in Between”
THE LAST DINNER PARTY | “This is the Killer Speaking”
WATER FROM YOUR EYES | “Playing Classics”
SUDAN ARCHIVES | “MY TYPE” / “YEA YEA YEA”
CASSANDRA JENKINS | “Delphinium Bliss”
YOLA | “Amazing”
SAM PREKOP | “Light Shadow”
WHITNEY | “Dandelions”
KING PRINCESS | “Cry Cry Cry”
PILE | “Bouncing in Blue”
WINTER | “Without You”
DRAIN | “Stealing Happiness from Tomorrow”
SPIRITUAL CRAMP | “At MY Funeral”
FREDDIE GIBBS / THE ALECHEMIST | “1995”
OLOF DREIJER | “Iris”

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