There’s so much music coming out all the time that it’s hard to keep track. On those days when the influx of new tracks is particularly overwhelming, we sift through the noise to bring you a curated list of the most interesting new releases (the best of which will be added to our Best New Songs playlist). Below, check out our track roundup for Thursday, July 24, 2025.
Wednesday – ‘Pick Up That Knife’
Remember that story about someone pooping in the moshpit at a Turnstile show? Well, here’s another one about Wednesday pedal steel player Xandy Chelmis throwing up in the pit at a Death Grips concert. The North Carolina band’s latest Bleeds single, ‘Pick Up That Knife’, isn’t about that incident, but it’s one of the song’s most notable examples of pushing your body to its limits. “’Pick Up That Knife’ is a song that revolves around feelings of helplessness, when every minor inconvenience hurts double cause you’re close to giving up,” bandleader Karly Hartzman explained. “It’s also about when our pedal steel player Xandy threw up in the moshpit during the Death Grips set at Primavera Sound in 2023.”
Anna Tivel – ‘White Goose’
Here’s a beautiful stream of lyrics: “Five semis in the darkness, the stars that map the night shift/ Driving back to oregon on the burned out path the fire took, I could cry
only chimneys left alive, is there a lonelier sight/ The ghost of everything we loved and everything we didn’t fight for.” Anna Tivel sings them with tender intimacy on her latest single ‘White Goose’, which she describes as being about “the way the natural world shapes our understanding – of life, death, truth and meaning.” It’s set to appear on her forthcoming album Animal Poem.
Sam Smith – ‘To Be Free’
Sam Smith is back with a new single, ‘To Be Free’, a stirring acoustic ballad they co-wrote and produced with longtime collaborator Simon Aldred. “I’ve never had a recording experience like I did making this song. It’s one vocal and guitar take from start to finish – one live performance of me and my friend Simon Aldred in a pure state of music and expression,” Smith explained. “I wrote it five years ago while writing my last album Gloria and then parked it because I knew it was not a song for that album. It was created during a time in my life where I became free within myself.”
White Reaper – ‘Blink’
White Reaper have delivered another bright, hooky single off their forthcoming LP Only Slightly Empty. ‘Blink’ follows lead cut ‘Honestly’.
Lace Manhattan – ‘ODDWADD’ and In the Sun She Lies’
Margaret Qualley plays the lead role in Ethan Coen’s upcoming film Honey Don’t, and while on set, she created a musical alter ego named Lace Manhattan. Today she’s releasing two songs for the film, ‘ODDWADD’ and In the Sun She Lies’, which were co-written with Coen and produced by her husband Jack Antonoff. One is a snappy dance track, while the other sounds like something the producer would’ve worked on with Lana Del Rey. You could guess from the titles which is which.
Patrick Shiroishi – ‘There is no moment in my life in which this is not happening’
‘There is no moment in my life in which this is not happening’ is the lead single from Japanese-American multi-instrumentalist and composer Patrick Shiroishi’s latest solo LP, Forgetting Is Violent. The ominous, elegiac track features Haining, China-raised, Berlin-based artist and vocalist otay::onii.
No Joy – ‘My Crud Princess’
No Joy, the project of Jasamine White-Gluz, has unveiled a new track from their Fire-Toolz-produced LP Bugland. About the muddy yet radiant ‘My Crud Princess’, White-Gluzed shared: “This song is granular. Like you are sifting through deep soil and coming out just covered in crud but still feeling cute. Going a little feral while still trying to maintain composure because you’re in public. Lyrically, we are searching, waiting and hoping for something or someone – until we finally find it and start to build ourselves into the silt we’ve been digging through. This is for all my other Crud Princesses who like to get dirty!”
Atmosphere – ‘Velour’ and ‘Really’
Atmosphere, the hip-hop duo of Slug & Ant, have announced their new album Jestures, arriving September 19. Along with the news, they’ve dropped two new songs, ‘Velour’ and ‘Really’. “We were having fun,” Slug shared. “We didn’t want to stop. That’s how we ended up chasing this idea of making 26 songs, all the way from A to Z.” Ant added, “I was able to throw the kitchen sink at it more than I probably ever did, seriously every kind of style or anything I wanted. It was super fun to be able to do any kind of style of music.”
SPRINTS – ‘Rage’ and ‘Bet’
SPRINTS have unleashed two ferocious songs, ‘Rage’ and ‘Bet’. “I think in the world today, it’s a lot easier to be angry than it is to help facilitate change,” the band’s Karla Chubb reflected. “People are fatigued, disillusioned – it’s understandable, but we shouldn’t be pointing the finger at those already marginalised and making them shoulder the blame. The world is full of false prophets and false promises; it’s time we call them out. Don’t let the rage bait fuel the fire and burn us all in the process. Sonically, I was pretty consumed by Dandy Warhols and Viagra Boys during the writing of this album so I feel like that’s seeped its way into the subconscious of the song. The rumbling, desert, garage influence that almost feels like a tumbleweed of chaos blowing across the track in the guitars.”
“‘Beg’ is a track that represents a lot of the key motifs, themes and topics we explore across the album,” she added. “Sonically, it’s a sum of all of the parts, new and old, that make up the sound of All That Is Over. Inspired originally by a line in a Vladimir Holan poem, ‘Beg’ is written in part as a joke, a call and response to the question, ‘Is Karla Jesus?’ that was written atop a moodboard when we were brainstorming ideas for a music video. It’s tongue in cheek, it’s satirical, and it pokes fun at the idea that often it’s those in positions of power that preach their moral codes and judgments, while committing the most heinous crimes themselves. Meanwhile, the communities often under attack are just aiming to exist and to live. It’s an exploration of the self, sexuality, lust, ambition, but also my own shortcomings and the constant battle to be better.”
mark william lewis – ‘Seventeen’
Plenty of great songs about being seventeen. If you want to write a coming-of-age song, you might start with the title ‘Seventeen’. Contributing to that list is mark william lewis, the first artist to sign to A24 Music, with his harmonica-assisted new single. “To me it’s about the difficulty of that time but also the joy of finding creativity and music,” he commented. “There’s a few different characters and people who appear in the song from my life and imagination.”
Jouska – ‘Pierced.’
Jouska has announced a new album, How Did I Wind Up Here?, with ‘Pierced.’, which sublimates in various shades of dream-pop and shoegaze. “This one grew out of a shame tied to being seen at all,” Marit Othilie Thorvik explained. “I’ve always struggled with visibility. Part of me wants to be seen and heard; another part just wants to disappear. Artistry brings that tension to the surface. I often feel like I’m stepping into a role that doesn’t quite fit, exposing parts of myself I’d rather keep hidden. It feels too personal, too raw, and often uncomfortable.”
“This song captures that feeling,” she added. “I wrote it with my partner Hans Olav Settem, who also plays guitar, bass, and synths. The drums are a blend of live and programmed elements, performed by Elias Tafjord (Sassy 009, Why Kai), with Bård Kristian Kylland (Giddygang) on Rhodes. Sonically, the track moves through a darker, hypnotic space, drawing from the music I grew up with like Massive Attack, Portishead, layered with elements of shoegaze and noise rock. The arrangement is stripped back and repetitive, almost meditative. It’s heavy, but also strangely sensual.”
Robert Finley – ‘Helping Hand’
North Louisiana blues singer Robert Finley has shared a new song, ‘Helping Hand’, which was produced by longtime collaborator Dan Auerbach at his Easy Eye Sound Studios in Nashville. It features guitarist Barrie Cadogan (Little Barrie, Primal Scream, The The), drummer Malcolm Catto (The Heliocentrics, Madlib, DJ Shadow), bassist Tommy Brenneck, and keyboardist Ray Jacildo.
Runnner – ‘Split’
Runnner has shared another track off his sophomore LP, A Welcome Kind of Weakness, the sprightly ‘Split’. “I think this is the fastest song I’ve ever written, which is ironic because I wrote it in the slowest times I’ve ever had,” Noah Weinman commented. “I started it years ago when I first moved back home from college. There was the feeling of stillness and defeat during that time that I felt again when I was stuck in bed with an achilles injury while writing this album.”
