Sometimes, it feels like there’s just too much awful news in the world to pay attention to new music. This is one of those times. But, if I’ve learned anything after IDK how many years of music obsession, it’s that turning up the stereo/laptop/earbuds/whatever and tuning into something different can help. Sometimes the songs make you dance, sometimes they make you chuckle, sometimes they even give you some new insight into the news on our screens.
Here’s a small sample of what I’ve been listening to in July of 2025. At the end of the post, you’ll find links to a few other recent releases that I’ve already reviewed.
Nuovo Testamento
Trouble
Imagine it’s 1991 and you’re a young teenager in a suburban Los Angeles mall rummaging through the sale racks at Contempo Casuals looking for a babydoll dress to go with your striped tights and Mary Janes. The song playing is the kind of house-y pop you might hear on Club MTV and, even though you’re growing up and your taste in music is getting darker and heavier, you don’t hate it. You can’t stop bobbing your head as you pull one crushed velvet dress off the rack after the next.
That’s the vibe of Trouble, the new EP from Nuovo Testamento. With previous full-length albums, New Earth and Love Lines, the L.A.-based trio garnered fans for their Italo disco and freestyle-influenced sound. This time around, though,
they’re leaning into the 1990s. More specifically, they seem to be drawing from the crossover house hits and synthpop remnants of the first half of the decade— think Crystal Waters and CeCe Peniston with touches of Anything Box and Kon Kan— for something that sounds like the guilty pleasures of the ‘90s teen goths who would go on to be the electroclash kids of the ‘00s. So far, “Picture Perfect” is my favorite track on the EP, but that’s always subject to change.
Get Trouble by Nuovo Testamento
Allo Darlin’
Bright Nights
Formed in London near the end of the ‘00s, Allo Darlin’ spent the early ‘10s as a buzzy indie band on the Camera Obscura tip and released three albums before parting ways for close to a decade. Bright Nights is their first full-length since 2014’s We Come from the Same Place. For their comeback, the group brings in hints of folk and country to build a collection that put the spotlight on vivid lyrics that can move from melancholic to cheeky in the same song.
Get Bright Nights by Allo Darlin’
Autocamper
What Do You Do All Day?
If you know me, then you know that I get very annoyed with the use of “post-punk” as code for “bands who sound like Joy Division.” The descriptive refers more to an era than a sound and there were loads of different sounds that emerged in the aftermath of punk. Autocamper, who are from Manchester, tap into those other post-punk sounds, primarily the raw, guitar pop of bands like The Pastels, The Vaselines and The Go-Betweens. It’s refreshing to hear this from a group that’s still relatively new and I look forward to hearing more from Autocamper after listening to their solid debut.
Get What Do You Do All Day? by Autocamper
Jonathan Richman
Only Frozen Sky Anyway
“But we have to try weird stuff, because that’s how we learn…and, sometimes, we just plain like it,” Jonathan Richman sings on “But We Might Try Weird Stuff.” It’s a sentiment that reflects the singer-songwriter’s career too. Richman founded The Modern Lovers, a band that was punk before punk rock was a thing. He’s the narrator with the guitar in There’s Something About Mary— also weird— and has written loads of songs that would probably fall under the category of “not normal.” I appreciate that and I appreciate that Richman, who performs with his longtime percussionist Tommy Larkins and former Modern Lovers bandmate Jerry Harrison (you might know him better from Talking Heads) on new album Only Frozen Sky Anyway, still does weird well. The standout for me is when he riffs on the Bee Gees while describing a night out in Europe for “Night Fever.”
Get Only Frozen Sky Anyway by Jonathan Richman
Mark Stewart
The Fateful Symmetry
In the late 1970s, Mark Stewart co-founded The Pop Group, who, even by the standards of post-punk England, made challenging music. The Pop Group went on to influence loads of artists and Stewart continued to innovate as part of the dub collective New Age Steppers and as a solo artist. Stewart’s eighth solo album, The Fateful Symmetry, was completed shortly before his death in 2023 and was released on Mute earlier in July. It’s a stunning album, one that pulls together the varied styles that marked Stewart’s career, but remains adventurous and forward-minded. “Everybody’s Got to Learn Sometime (Bébe Durmiendo Cumbia Bootleg),” a cover of the 1980 song by The Korgis, is a dark dub with a hint of cumbia in it. “Crypto Religion” taps into our dystopian present— “a new twist on the apocalypse,” he sings— which tracks with Stewart’s penchant for sharp, political songs. “Blank Town” is, essentially, dance floor-friendly punk with lyrics that seem to encapsulate a cross-generational frustration with the world. With a few slick electronic tracks and poignant ballads in the mix as well, this is an album that I love more with every listen.
Get The Fateful Symmetry by Mark Stewart
More New Releases for July, 2025:
Fever Ray Refreshes Classics and More on The Year of the Radical Romantics
N8NOFACE and Chico Mann Update a Classic Alternative Sound on As of Right Now
Liz O. is an L.A.-based writer and DJ. Read her recently published work and check out her upcoming gigs or listen to the latest Beatique Mix. Follow on Instagram or Bluesky for more updates.