New Music Drops: September 2025

​New Music Drops is a monthly series on T&E where we share some of our favorite new releases from this year in rock, pop, metal, punk, hip-hop, and global music. For the September installment, you'll find outsider French-Swiss folk pop, ultra energetic forro mixtapes, heavy hitting garage punk singles, electroacoustic ambient drone, and more!

All selections written by Parisa except where otherwise noted.

Pop/Rock
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Blanco Teta - La Debacle Divas
Genre: Noise rock
Total ripper of an album from Buenos Aires’ pissed off punk divas. I knew this record would have a special place in my heart when I saw it was dedicated to “Flixbus divas” and it surely delivered.  Has some elements of grunge, pop, no wave, metal, but noise and feedback take the forefront. Liner notes mention how it’s all recorded in one room with no edits or overdubs, and you that sort of raw, urgent energy is pulsing through this whole record. If you’re like me and are super tired of the contrived, forcefully ironic groups (not to name drop - but damn can we agree that Amyl and Wet Leg kinda suck now ??), then this album will be a breath of fresh air for you too.

Alice - Châteaux Faibles
Genre: Art pop, outsider folk
The sweetest, strangest lil outsider oddball French-Swiss folk-pop album. Very minimal synth backs up a trio of harmonic singers - for fans of the DIY basement folk style of music a la Daniel Johnston. Favorite track: “Les fleurs” 
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Takeshi Terauchi - Let’s Go Eleki Bushi
Genre: Surf
An exceptional album from Japanese guitar shredder extraordinaire, Takeshi Terauchi, originally released in 1966 but now getting a new reissue and first time high quality digital release. Super fun combination of traditional Japanese folk songs and surf rock, a meeting of ancient traditions with modern sounds that still sounds timeless today
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Goon - Dream 3
Genre: Shoegaze, dream pop
​A dreamy, hazy, melancholic shoegaze album that goes into some very unexpected territory. Tracks like “Patsy’s Twin” build towards a peak of harsh noise and screaming - intensity that you don’t really hear mixed in with shoegaze, but somehow they make it work. A solid listen for people who dig that nostalgic ‘90s indie sound, i.e. Galaxie 500
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Los Zheros - Psychedelic Cumbia
Genre: Cumbia
First ever reissue of pioneering Peruvian cumbia band, Los Zheros. Spectacular surfy, psychedelic instrumental sounds that you’d expect from this scene - but what sticks out for me are the garage rock cuts like “Cuarto Oscuro”. 
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Artificial Go - Musical Chairs
Genre: Post-punk
A release from earlier in May - but since I haven’t down a New Music Drop all summer, figured it’s never too late to share! This will likely be my favorite album of the year. If you’re into weirdo Midwest ‘80s post-punk era type stuff (i.e. Suburban Lawns, Devo, B-52s and what have you), then you’ll absolutely love this. Also a band that is not to be missed live! 
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Chelsey Lee Trejo - Fluid Crystal
Genre: Drone, ambient
A beautiful, quiet, introspective electroacoustic ambient drone album from local Tucson musician Chelsey Lee Trejo. Guitar-driven with folky Americana stylings a la John Fahey, layered with subtle synth melodies and textured field recordings. Favorite song: “Convergent Talk”

Any - Mega Mercy
Genre: Ambient folk
Another electroacoustic album, this one more on the electronic/ambient/beat-driven side of things. Debut from Greco-Canadian producer Any who murmurs gently around Celtic harp and minimal electronic beats. For fans of the soft poeticism of artists like Tirzah 
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Sheriff Lindo and the Hammer - Ten Dubs that Shook the World
Genre: Dub
A brand new reissue available of the 1988 dub album from Australian artist Anthony Maher aka Sheriff Lindo (I guess that makes this an aftershock?). This reissue serves two great purposes - one for the remastered audio, and secondly to reshare this for folks like me who had been ignorant to this incredible release previously. A combination of Jamaican dub and UK post-punk, very spacey and bassy, for fans of Adrian Sherwood

Joseph Snihur - Ukrainian Dances in Northern New Jersey, 1943-45
Genre: Ukrainian folk
I’m normally not one for polka unless it sounds like this, however this release from archival label Canary Records is a great exception. Joseph Snihur was a Ukranian violinist who immigrated to New Jersey in the 1930s, and this album offers a rare glimpse into his recordings from the early '40s. If you don’t generally listen to this type of music but enjoy albums from say, The Caretaker, this would be highly recommended. Favorite track: “Sunday Morning Waltz” (And on this note - there have been dozens of amazing reissues this year from Canary Records, absolutely worth checking out the Bandcamp page, and all around $5. Another favorite of mine would be Songs and Dances from Free and Enslaved Epirus: Epirotika ca. Early 1960s)

Useless Eaters - singles
Genre: Garage punk
One of my favorite bands from the 2010s bay area garage scene just released a new batch of singles for the first time in a decade and they absolutely RIP!!!! “Ego Shell” is one of my favorite singles of the year so far. Garage punk but leaning way more heavily into the moody, rhythmic, synth-led nature of post-punk. The latest single, “Work”, is way left-field bizzaro noisy craziness and I can’t get enough of it. 
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Wolfgang Pérez - Só Ouço
Genre: Brazilian pop
A German-based Spanish musician making Brazilian music, drawing in influences from all said cultural heritages to create a truly dynamic and unique release. Delves into the psychedelic and experimental forms of classic Brazilian samba
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Saicobab - Sab Se Purani Bab
Genre: Experimental
I try my best not to focus *too* much on reissues for NMD, but this 2017 release that just got a vinyl reissue reached my ears for the first time and I’m mindblown. SAICOBAB is a Japanese quartet that masterfully recreate Indian ragas but with a punk, experimental twist. This is the kind of fusion that I live for.
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​Electronic
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​C.D.R - “Spa Coal” (Single)
Genre: Breakbeat, Electronic
Write-Up: The latest single from Phoenix-based lo-fi artist, C.D.R, blends tasteful dialogue samples into a cyberpunk soundscape that blurs the boundaries between waking life and half-remembered dreams. A slight departure from his past work dabbling more in laid back lo-fi music, this track feels very reminiscent of late-night Toonami marathons and the frequent musical breaks you’d be hit with between anime episodes. This, on top of C.D.R. 's entire back-catalog, comes highly recommended.
- Brandon
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V/A - All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985
Genre: Synthpop
80s!!!! SYNTHS!!!!!! YEAH!!!!!!! A fantastic compilation celebrating the deep cuts and underground classics of the early DIY synth post-punk world. I’ve always considered myself a big fan of this scene but I didn’t know 99% of the music on this comp. I am gratefully humbled. 

JLZ & GG - Medio Grave
Genre: Forro
Re: the liner notes: “forro is a vibrant musical genre that has been the soundtrack of the region's [Northeastern Brazil] social gatherings and festivities since the 1930s. Traditionally characterized by the rhythmic interplay of the accordion, zabumba, and triangle, forró has evolved over the decades, giving rise to various subgenres, including the contemporary piseiro.” This frantic, energetic, high-pitched, super hype mixtape celebrates its rich musical heritage and challenges preconceived notions of forro music. Manipulated samples fly at you at a mile a minute, you’d almost forget that this is a midtempo mix with how in-your-face it is. 

Bicep - TAKKUUK Original Soundtrack
Genre: Ambient techno
TAKKUUK is an installation art piece between Irish breakbeat duo BICEP with filmmaker Charlie Miller and visual artist Zak Norman that explores “the lives, communities and challenges facing artists Indigenous to the Arctic Region”. The soundtrack to this immersive installation piece features Indigenous vocalists from Greenland, Iceland, Sweden, Norway and Canada alongside field recordings of their respective lands and electronic compositions. A sonic (and visual - if you go to see the installation, of course) exploration of the environmental consequences of climate change and the subsequent displacement of marginalized communities. Lots of heavy emotion throughout the album; the titular track is a stand out for me - fiercely representing the resilience of Arctic nations

xtclvr - Blessed Loops
Genre: Experimental, ambient trap
If you’re like me and used to be hooked on artists like Thriftworks and then got disillusioned by the horrific world of the new age wookies, you can now REJOICE in knowing that there are artists outside of that scene making similarly dark, heady psychedelic electronica that’s 1000x better and without all the toxic Burning Man mumbo jumbo. Dubby minimal techno with blown out, distorted trap vocals, cerebral bleeps and bloops. One of my favorite releases as of late

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Soft New Magic Dream
Genre: Indietronica, synth pop
Couldn’t really describe this one better than the liner notes, that after twenty years of making music they’re still creating “that signature blend of strange neon nostalgia, sweetly melancholic synth pop wizardry, hip hop head bobbing, and citric acid tinged freak out flourish”. If you’re already a fan of BMSR then this album will be mostly what you expect, and while I thought some songs dragged, I overall still found it to be a solid addition to their discography. 
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Egoexpress - A Piece of the Action (1995 - 2005)
Genre: House
A forthcoming release compiling hits from Hamburg underground electronica house duo, Egoexpress. Not your typical cool, unaffected type of German house music - lots of very playful and buoyant sounds that exemplify the attitude that made them so seminal in their scene
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AMMAR 808 - Club Tounsi
Genre: Club music, Tunisian folk
Another favorite of the year so far, and instead of explaining it in this here lil blurb, you can read my interview with AMMAR 808 for T&E via this link.
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Punk and Metal
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​Clan Dos Mortos Cicatriz - Técnicas de Morte
Genre: Hardcore punk
Twenty-five minutes of fast hardcore/crust punk from Curitiba, Brazil. Vocals wail hysterically over pummeling fast riffage, lots of feedback and reverb that make it less the “crunchy” side of crust punk and more on the garage wave. Lyrically encompassing themes of suffering, misery and death - depravity you can understand even if you don’t speak Portuguese! 
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In the Company of Serpents - A Crack in Everything
Genre: Doom
Denver sludge/doom metal band In the Company of Serpents’ newest album finds them in their most personal effort to date, delving deep into themes of depression, addiction and personal struggle. Heavy emotions are explored sonically through sludgy doom, heavy grunge, and interestingly, a lot of spaghetti western influence. (PS - They were one of the first bands I interviewed for T&E many moons ago!)

Haggus - Destination Extinction
Genre: Mincegore
I spent ten minutes sitting here and trying to decide if I love this or hate this. Then I spent another twenty minutes trying to figure out if “mincegore” is a redundant phrase as “mincecore” already reflects a goregrind influence. Then I realized I’ve spent entirely too much time thinking analytically about this ridiculous frenzied clusterfuck of an album and now all I gotta say is that I’m fairly certain this does rule.
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Bludgeoned by Deformity - Epoch of Immortality
Genre: Brutal death metal
Debut EP from a metal supergroup of sorts - featuring vocalist Devin Swank (Sanguisugabogg), bassist Ethan Buttery (Jivebomb), drummer Adam Jarvis (Pig Destroyer, Misery Index), and guitarists Bradon Studebaker (Immortal Torment) and Andre Pickens (Tsuris). In this short EP, they switch off from brutal death metal to a more hardcore-style delivery, like in tracks “False Deliverance”. 

Ritual Mass - Cascading Misery
Genre: Death metal
Debut EP from Pittsburgh death metal group, Ritual Mass, that has all the *insert heavy brutal adjectives here* qualities and ebb between crushingly dense, weighted tempos to sweepingly fast riffage. The highlight track would be the 14 minute closer, “Disquiet”, which shows their adept songwriting and versatility 
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Hedonist - Scapulimancy 
Genre: Old school death metal
Bolt Thrower/Entombed/old school death metal style worship but with crustier and more guttural vocals. An absolute beast of an album that may be one of my year end contenders. 
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Blackbraid - Blackbraid III
Genre: Atmospheric black metal
There’s really nothing I can say that hasn’t already been said about this album, and if you like black metal than surely you’ve already heard Blackbraid, but for those unfamiliar with the genre and want a contemporary artist to start with - look no further. 
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Hip-Hop and R&B
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Mal Devisa - “Old Intro”
Genre: Hip-Hop
Write-Up: Hearkening back to the classic rhyme scheme delivery of 90’s MC’s and posessing the gritty-yet-polished production values from the very same decade, this track is a delightfully nostalgic summer jam. Devisa grabs your attention immediately with her effortlessly smooth yet authoritative flow, which is further complimented by lyrics of rich, visual imagery and verbal substance that warrant repeated listens in order to fully appreciate the complexity she is serving up. The full album, Palimpsesa, just dropped and Devisa is definitely a voice to keep an ear out for. - Brandon
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DJ Haram - Beside Myself
Genre: Club music
Couldn't decide whether to put file this under "electronic" or in this section here due to all the rappers featured on this album. Genre considerations aside, I finally got around to this highly acclaimed album from producer DJ Haram that combines heavy electronic club music, Middle Eastern instrumentation, footwork, and an impressive lineup of rap features from Armand Hammer, bbymutha, Moor Mother and more.  Fusion that mostly works save for a few tracks, absolutely worth a listen

MC Yallah & Debmaster - Gaudencia
Genre: Grime
This album is a collaboration between Berlin-based French producer Debmaster with Ugandan rapper MC Yallah, who has been featured several times on NMD and her albums keep on hittin’! Per usual, she flows effortlessly between English, Luganda, Luo and Kiswahili with a sharp dexterity, while Debmaster’s apocalyptic sounding beats flow over frenzied tempos
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Kelly Moonstone · Seagulls (feat. BADBADNOTGOOD & MARCO PLUS)

Kelly Moonstone - New Moon
Genre: Hip-hop, R&B
Playful, soulful, sparkling sweet release from NY indie rapper, singer and producer Kelly Moonstone, featuring collaborations with BADBADNOTGOOD, Pink Siifu Saba and more. RIYL: Jill Scott, early Noname 
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Jazz and Soul
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​SHLOTO - Metropolis / The Right Orchid
Genre: Cinematic soul
​A short, sweet 'n soulful two track EP from London instrumental groovers. Big orchestral-sounding sweeps, big funky bass tones, jazzy tones with sax, trumpet, and organ. For fans of El Michels Affair

Patrick Shiroishi - Forgetting is Violent
Genre: Experimental, ambient jazz
A lush and emotionally poignant sound collage from composer Patrick Shiroishi and an eclectic ensemble cast featuring Aaron Turner (SUMAC, ISIS), Gemma Thompson (Savages), Faith Coloccia (Mamiffer), otay::onii (Elizabeth Colour Wheel), and Mat Ball (BIG|BRAVE). This album works in two suites. The first explores racism and colonialism from history to the present day with sonic tension weaving through looped and layered interview recordings. The second suite explores Shiroishi’s grief of losing a family member to an overdose. He balances emotional density with light, ambient and airy compositions beautifully. 
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The Circling Sun - Orbits
Genre: Spiritual jazz
Sophomore release from a New Zealand-based spiritual jazz collective that boasts a wide range of influences from Afro-Cuban rhythms to Brazilian bossa nova. A stellar and smooth listen all around; for fans of Art Blakey, Floating Points, etc.

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