Michael O Connor Marotta

If there’s any lens through which we wish we could revisit life, it’s the hazy daydream nature of a grainy ’90s-era handycam video. That feeling of carefree bliss felt organic and natural, far from the modern-day subjugation of constantly being recorded and surveilled, and the idea of being in front of a camera wasn’t so embedded into our (self-)consciousness.

Fast Tracked: Life seems to be a lot better when the Swedish electro-pop duo is soundtracking our every move.

Fast Tracked: The British crew stake a claim to Song of the Summer consideration, if such a thing even exists anymore.

The month was soundtracked by new and notable efforts from Glazyhaze, IAN SWEET, Shark School, Ellise, and Paycheque.

Back when we were young and alive, a friend would often drive up to our crib, tell us to get in the car, and off we’d go without knowing just where we were headed. But we knew it’d be a good time, and the journey was always as much fun as the destination. That’s our vibe as soon as we hit play on

Suede’s remarkable second act is showing no signs of slowing down. The iconic British band and Britpop kickstarters unleashed a searing new single this week called “Emotionally Unavailable,” and it fuels the expanded edition re-issue of last year’s Antidepressants album, arriving July 10 via BMG.

A series of inspired yearly releases from Wishy — from the Paradise EP in 2023 to debut album Triple Seven in 2024 to the Planet Popstar EP in 2025 — gave us a glimmer of hope for an indie rock future, but now the Indianapolis band has sights set on something far more expansive. And that’s because new single “Lovesick,” the first taste of forthcoming sophomore record Nature’s Pill, out in October on Winspear, finds the quintet at perhaps their most magnetic (and that’s saying something).

Fast Tracked: The Vermont artist weaves together a aural fling of indie rock, shoegaze, and pop that holds our head like a warm embrace.

Our 2025 was made all the more better by the return of Charlotte OC, who with soulful yearner “God, We Tried” dolled up our New Sounds column (March), midway look-back Half Year in ReView (July), and grand finale Year in ReView (December). Now the English artist heralds one of our favorite points of the calendar with new single “Start of the Summer,” a reflective and warm alt-pop bop that would be an instant chart-topper if the world still had taste in music.

New Sounds: The Manchester riser's blissfully turbulent new single experiments with a warped approach to pop music and contained emotion.