New Music This Week: April 4
- BLIGATORY
- 3 days ago
- 8 min read
highlighting new music by By Storm, Black Country, New Road, Double Extra Large, Florist, PinkPantheress & MORE
An overwhelming amount of music is released daily, and we're here to help you weed through it all. Every week, we share select releases we are all looking forward to and personalized picks from a few of our editors.
Welcome to our new releases guide featuring the most notable music released the week of April 4.
BLIGATORY Picks
Double Extra Large - Double Extra Large
Indie Rock, Slacker Rock, Post-Punk
Self-Released
write-up by Dominick Baglivo
Sprouted from the solo recordings of Charlie O’Neill (several of which you can still find on Bandcamp), Double Extra Large is a fresh four-piece from Chicago. The group came to fruition as a live band last year with Billy Goode, Gabe Bostick, & Jack Fahey joining the fold. This week, XXL share their recorded debut as a collaborative unit with these seven tracks.
Double Extra Large is acutely attuned to itself and the broader scope of modern guitar music. On the cutting edge of current indie rock sounds, the jigsaw pieces sit firmly together. The lo-fi approach is matched with striking precision; the guitars come zig-zagged with a strong groove and a healthy portion of crunch. The drums punch through—never intruding, but certainly operating as a driving force at times.
Absolutely killer stuff from every angle. Listen to Double Extra Large now on Apple Music or Spotify.
By Storm - "Double Trio 2"
Experimental Hip-Hop, Abstract Hip-Hop
via By(e) Storm
write-up by Peter Doherty
"Double Trio 2" is the follow-up to By Storm's debut single, "Double Trio," released in August of 2023. In signature By Storm (Injury Reserve) fashion, the material is as existential as it gets. In contrast, the instrumental feels like a victory that has been bravely fought for—a triumphant overcoming of a rather severe rough patch. The human spirit feels fickle, but is unbreakable. The storm serves as a reminder to hold tight to what you love. It may not always be here.
Will we be on the receiving end of By Storm's debut album sometime soon? Only time will tell.
By Storm can be caught live this Saturday, April 12, in Phoenix, Arizona at Palabra.
Florist - Jellywish
Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter
via Double Double Whammy
Katrina Weissman - Phantom Thumb (EP)
Indie Pop, Singer-Songwriter, Indie Rock
Self-Released
PinkPantheress - "Tonight"
Electropop, Dance-Pop
via Warner Records UK
Since her viral explosion in 2021, PinkPantheress has solidified herself as more than just another trendy artist from TikTok. Now two projects into her young career, PinkPantheress has announced a second ‘mixtape’ titled Fancy That, which will release on May 9 via Warner Records UK. 2021’s to hell with it, which featured many of her original viral hits, was packaged as a mixtape as well, leaving room for Heaven knows to be slated as her debut album in 2023.
Her new single “Tonight” is a bouncy, electropop track that features PinkPantheress’s trademark fast and fluttery melodies over detailed drums and ethereal synths. Lyrics are not usually the main focus of her tracks, and the ultra-flirtiness of “Tonight” doesn’t set it far apart from the rest of her catalog. Overall, the song proves that PinkPantheress hasn’t overdone or outgrown her UK dance-pop sound just yet.
Fancy That will feature nine tracks, none over three minutes. She has two shows at the O2 Academy Brixton in London in September, with tickets on sale soon.
Vegyn & Loukeman - "Last Night I Dreamt I Was Alone (Loukeman Remix)"
IDM, Outsider House
via PLZ Make It Ruins
Dominick's Picks
Barbara - SO THIS IS LIVING
Indie Rock, Psychedelic Pop
Self-Released
Recommended if you like: Mamalarky, Wombo, PACKS
Beer - Beer III
Egg Punk, Synth Punk
Self-Released
Recommended if you like: Snõõper, Urochromes, Prison Affair
Eraser - Hideout
Post-Punk, Synth Punk, Art Punk
via Slitbreeze Records
Recommended if you like: Sneaks, Sweeping Promises, Silicone Prairie
Gerber and the Babies - Gerber and the Babies
Garage Punk, Egg Punk, Hardcore Punk
via Painters Tapes
Recommended if you like: PLEASANTS, Cherry Cheeks, Powerplant
Insider Trading - From Leith to New York (EP)
Post-Punk, Post-Rock, Noise Rock
Self-Released
Recommended if you like: Legss, shame, TV Priest
Leopardo - SIDE A / SIDE B
Art Rock, Psychedelic Rock
via Chrüsimüsi Records / Dot Dash Sounds
Recommended if you like: Tall Juan, Feeling Figures, Lewsberg
POWER PANTS & Dru the Drifter - POWER DRIFTER (split / EP)
Egg Punk, Synth Punk, Power Pop
via Punk Valley Records
Recommended if you like: PLEASANTS, R.M.F.C., Ausmuteants
SAUFKNAST - S/T
Hardcore Punk
via Erste Theke Tonträger
Recommended if you like: Bib, Destiny Bond, Slant
The Ophelias - Spring Grove
Indie Rock, Chamber Pop
via Get Better Records
Recommended if you like: Rosie Tucker, Wye Oak, Julien Baker
Y - Y (EP)
Art Punk, Dance-Punk, Jazz-Rock
via So Recordings / Hideous Mink Records
Recommended if you like: Fat White Family, Opus Kink, KEG
Foreign Love Language - "It's Only Fun"
Indie Rock, Dream Pop
via Crafted Sounds
New York City’s Foreign Love Language share their debut single, “It’s Only Fun.” Delivering equal parts dreamy bliss and guitar-driven grit, it’s a stellar introduction to the rising five-piece. Tap in now, as the band is set to release their first EP (via Crafted Sounds) before the year’s end.
Girl and Girl - "Okay"
Post-Punk, Indie Rock
via Sub Pop
Australia’s Girl and Girl shared their debut album, Call A Doctor, last May. This week, the Queensland four-piece deliver their first offering of 2025 with the chugging sounds of “Okay.”
About the track, frontman Kai James shares: “You give yourself enough time, things will be okay, sometimes not great, or even good, but more often than not, things, at the very least, end up okay. And that’s okay, it’s okay to just be okay. That’s what the song’s about.
Jimothy Lacoste - "Magician"
Minimal Synth, UK Hip-Hop
via TIMUSIC Records
North London raver Jimothy Lacoste leans into his minimalist tendencies on “Magician,” his fifth single of 2025. It’s unclear if these frequent drops are part of a larger project, but he’s stayed very active.
Junk Drawer - "Nids Niteca"
Indie Rock, Art Punk, Psychedelic Rock
via Pizza Pizza Records
Belfast’s Junk Drawer announces their second album alongside the new single “Nids Niteca.” A warping trippiness underscores the jolting post-punk foundation of the track.
About the single, the band explains:
“There was this empty shopfront we constantly drove past that said 'NIDS NITECA' in bold red on the way back from practice in the centre of Belfast. We realised it was this whole topic of conversation from everyone who passed it in town, and no one seemed to ever remember it being open. It began as a sort of rumination on that, a tribute to this little in-joke that exists to a specific type of Belfast person, but really is about the meaning and decay of these structures and the sort of associations that get drawn to them, and how it all exists as much mentally in this hilarious fucking mess of a localised consciousness, that will be forgotten in time.”
Days of Heaven is out June 6 via Pizza Pizza Records.
Stephen Vitiello, Brendan Canty, and Hahn Rowe - "Last Minute Guitar"
Post-Rock, Ambient, Sound Art
via Balmat
Peter's Picks
Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong
Progressive Pop, Art Rock, Baroque Pop
via Ninja Tune
Black Country, New Road return with a newfound sound. A more twee path is tread, compared to the previous highly existential output. Out with the old and in with the new. Sauntering through country lanes, flanked by intense shrubbery and trees. The leaves seem to wave you on as you go by. Birds chirp as if they're going to live forever, but deep down they know the end will arrive sooner rather than later.
As of right now, BCNR are a tale of two halves; the edgy but well-defined era of Isaac Wood, and the latest rendition of the band: a bit bland and lacking any sort of real backbone.
Forever Howlong can feel uninspired at times—music for music’s sake. There's no real direction other than to sound competent and nice. "Two Horses" especially. The track exemplifies a feel of searching for a song rather than having one. The songwriting can be trite; words which completely break the stream of verbal flow often rear their heads. It's like the words were written long beforehand and squashed in to fit the song. The words and music are supposed to be like body and mind: one. Here, they feel like separate entities.
The music has become aware of itself, somewhat indulgent—a different kind of indulgence than the previous incarnation of BCNR—making it hard to break free from any sort of rigidity and expectation.
Forever Howlong isn't 'bad' by any metric, but certainly feels like it's lacking any sort of soul or purpose. The singles were great, and "Nancy Tries to Take the Night" is pretty cool. The rest is a rather long game of indifference.
Codex - Avert Chroma
IDM, Glitch Hop
Self-Released
Codex's sophomore album Avert Chroma jumps right back into the heavily sample-filled spheres in which Codex's material has historically lived within. Snipped-up, stripped-down, ripped apart and mechanically mangled back together, the soundscapes we are allowed to wander around in are of "other" essence. Avert Chroma was in production for three years from May 2022 to March 2025. Codex's Instagram story from March 15 reads: “Dedicated to Toledo, friends, family, machines and you.”
Through the veil of a manic and somewhat scattered mind comes a work of patience and tantalising care—a highly focused, deeply energised bout of nuts-and-bolts resonance. Harbouring what seems to be a throw-the-kitchen-sink-at-it approach to making music, Codex flexes many a fragmented groove and many a moment of fractured bliss. Like being ground down into minced meat by a cuckoo clock as it rapaciously races through satellite TV, Avert Chroma feeds the maniacal mind.
Like a stream that somehow supplies itself with enough water to remain in flow, Avert Chroma is a self-sufficient world of sonic architecture. It's rapaciously discovering things about its being in order to one day consume itself and reach a point of rest, forever, but until that day comes....
Alongside the album, Codex has compiled a YouTube playlist of all samples that make up Avert Chroma.
Glare - Sunset Funeral
Shoegaze, Dream Pop
via Deathwish Inc. / Sunday Drive
Alien Chicks - "Mr. Muscle"
Post-Punk, Art Punk
via So Recordings / Hideous Mink Records
South London three-piece Alien Chicks release yet another single leads us to their new EP, Forbidden Fruit. Mr. Muscle is the band’s go-to cleaning product, if they ever cleaned, and is a well-advertised brand in the UK. However, the song harbours more serious themes such as "the mundanity of life and capitalism-induced boredom and nihilism."
BANG. The dirt is gone.
Alien Chicks' bound-to-be-brilliant upcoming EP, Forbidden Fruit, releases May 9 via So Recordings & Hideous Mink.
Search Results - "Be Laurel"
Indie Rock
via Knob Polish
100 seconds of Search Results comes courtesy of the band’s latest single "Be Laurel." It's a catchy little number that will have you itching for more dry-wit, bastardised verbiage and their signature sardonic ways.
Search Results head on a short-and-sweet UK tour in May, starting in Edinburgh on May 10 and ending in Leeds on May 17. They will also head out to Ireland in September. Catch them while you can. Find all the dates here.
Search Results' upcoming studio album, GO MUTANT, releases May 23.
SENTRIES - "The Cowboy's Carcass"
Post-Punk, Art Punk
via Eau Claire Records
SENTRIES' latest single, "The Cowboy's Carcass," claws just under the 7-minute mark. The track opens on a zoetrope-type spin. It builds upon the spin as layers slowly reveal themselves; drums, guitar, bass, extra spin-spin-spin. The cacophony of the additional layers becomes overwhelming as the track moves into less of a zoetrope-type twirl and more into a manic, madhouse state. The horses that jump up and down turn to jesters with wicked grins. Each corner turned is just as daunting as the last. Although all seems well by the song's end, the wheels are certainly starting to wobble off of their axis.
SENTRIES' upcoming Gem of the West album releases May 2 via Eau Claire Records.
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