18 New Songs Out Today to Listen To: Hunx and His Punx, Laura Stevenson, and More
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 Tuesday, May 20, 2025.
Hunx and His Punx – ‘Alone in Hollywood on Acid’
You may not expect a song called ‘Alone in Hollywood on Acid’ to be as jaunty as this, the ripping lead single from Hunx and His Punx’s first album in 12 years. Walk Out on This World comes out August 22 via Get Better, but you can catch a glimpse of its escapism right now.
Laura Stevenson – ‘Honey’
Laura Stevenson has announced a new album: Late Great will arrive on June 27, and it features contributions from Jeff Rosenstock on piano, guitar, saxophone, and arrangements, as well as Chris Farren on synth. It’s led by ‘Honey’, which begins acoustically before rising to a heart-wrenching conclusion. “I said in my mix notes [to Agnello] that I wanted it to sound like a thousand angels screaming and crying,” Stevenson commented.
Winter – ‘Just Like a Flower’
Winter explained that ‘Just Like a Flower’, the soaring, infectious lead single from her just-announced LP Adult Romantix, “captures the essence of daydreaming in your bedroom — a place where limitless imagination and inspiration can exist.” She added, “It ties back to memories of writing songs in my old bedroom in Echo Park, CA. There were these summer nights when I’d walk back from a local show with a sense of wonder and enchantment, only to lie down on my bed and replay everything that happened in my head like a movie.”
Turnstile – ‘Look Out For Me’
Turnstile have dropped ‘Look Out For Me’, a groovy (but still ferocious) preview of their forthcoming album Never Enough. The band’s Brendan Yates and Pat McCrory directed the song’s accompanying video.
Stereolab – ‘Transmuted Matter’
Sereolab’s first LP in 15 years, Instant Holograms on Metal Film, is out this Friday, and today you can succumb to the groove of its latest single, ‘Tranmuted Matter’.
U.S. Girls – ‘Like James Said’
Toronto-based artist Meg Remy has previewed her upcoming U.S. Girls album, Scratch It, with a new song called ‘Like James Said’. What James said is “You gotta dance til you feel better,” and the track itself is helpful as well as instructive: “Stretch/ Move/ Pose/ Groove,” goes the refrain.
These New Puritans – ‘Wild Fields’
Ahead of the release of their new album Crooked Wing this Friday, These New Puritans have shared one more single, the expansive, cavernous ‘Wild Field’. “‘Wild Fields’ is a bit of an outlier on the album, in that it’s quite a traditional song,” Jack Barnett explained. “It ends with the words “come down from crystal heavens above,” which is a quotation from William Byrd’s lament for Thomas Tallis. When I googled it to check the reference, it just showed me endless advice about crystal meth withdrawal. Those are the only ads I see now. So this song has a lot to answer for.”
Greet Death – ‘Motherfucker’
Greet Death have shared a new single, ‘Motherfucker’, lifted from their forthcoming LP Die in Love. About the doomful, riveting track, the band’s Logan Gaval said: “Ever feel like something or someone else was controlling your life, like you hopped in an Uber headed straight to hell? This is the depression anthem.”
Wombo – ‘Danger in Fives’
“’Danger In Fives’ has something to do with loops and cycles and the comfort I get from walking around a peddlers mall,” Wombo vocalist and bassist Sydney Chadwick explained of their new single. If you find yourself in a similar situation, the otherwise ominous track, which leads their album of the same name, should aid in the escapism.
Matt Jensik and Midwife – ‘Delete Key’
Matt Jencik (of Implodes, Don Caballero, and Slint’s live band) and Midwife have announced a new collaborative album, Never Die, which arrives July 11 on Relapse. “Even though I was not the songwriter on this project, the work falls in line with all the themes that Midwife explores,” Midwife’s Madeline Johnston remarked. “Each song tells a story, an experience documented and preserved, like a moment trapped in a snow globe.” Encased in ‘Delete Key’ is the mind-numbing relief of making it out of a horrible relationship alive, even if the memories remain unerasable.
Runnner – ‘Achilles And’
Runnner has announced that his sophomore album, A Welcome Kind of Weakness, will be released on August 29, sharing the single ‘Achilles And’ along with the news. It’s more upbeat than most anything in Noah Weinman’s catalog, though it finds him in the midst of a breakdown. “This one was actually the second song I wrote with Achilles in the title but the only one that made it on the record,” It feels a bit like a thesis or an overture for the record in that it lays out all the lyrical and sonic themes pretty obviously. The first Achilles song was more of a solo acoustic ballad, but my mood was calling out for more energy. I think being so cooped up and so still made me wanna rock out even more, so I started writing faster and bouncier songs until I arrived at this one.”
Hotline TNT – ‘Break Right’
Hotline TNT have released ‘Break Right’, the third offering from their upcoming album Raspberry Moon. Previous cuts ‘Julia’s War’ and ‘Candle’ were great, but ‘Break Right’ stands out for its infectious clarity. “Some songs hide their meanings behind a facade of metaphors, PR quotes, and half-measures,” Will Anderson said. “‘Break Right’ hides nothing. This is the sound of TNT becoming a band. Every effect has been unplugged, every sample has been deprogrammed, and every emotion has been laid bare. You’ve never heard a Hotline song quite like this before.”
Smut – ‘Touch & Go’
Chicago band Smut have shared a new song from their forthcoming LP Tomorrow Comes Crashing, the catchy ‘Touch & Go’. “‘Touch & Go’ is a broken fantasy that was pretty directly inspired by ‘Time to Pretend’ by MGMT,” vocalist/lyricist Tay Roebuck explained. “The pursuit of success and the daydreams we have of ‘making it’ are pretty easily shattered once you put that fantasy in the modern world. The song ends with the realization that the best part of music will always be the community you build with it.”
Lou Tides – ‘Low Wow’
Later this week, Teeny Lieberson – a member of Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Sleater Kinney’s touring band, and a film composer – will release a new album the moniker Lou Tides, Autostatic!. Today, she’s shared the eerily campy ‘Low Wow’. “I find camp a useful tool when touching on dark themes. Not because I don’t take things seriously, but rather, because I take it too seriously. Sort of like sci-fi, I like to lean into fantasy, as a vessel for storytelling. A shield of sorts. This is the case for ‘Low Wow,’ as it deals with a villian who is an abusive partner. The inner voice becomes a sort of monster, as it takes on the mentality of the abuser. I wanted it told in a playful voice to deal with the monstrosity of the topic.”
Zoh Amba – ‘Fruit Gathering’
Tennessee-born New York-based baritone saxophonist Zoh Amba has announced her new LP and first for Smalltown Supersound, Sun, set for release on June 27. Though she recorded three of the album’s pieces entirely solo, most of it was made with an ensemble that features bassist Caroline Morton, pianist Lex Korton, and percussionist Miguel Marcel Russel. “We spent days just playing together, and I was trying to mentally take notes of what naturally wanted to exist in this band — before giving instructions or handing out sheet music,” Amba shared. “I wanted to see where we were all standing in life, right at that moment. From there, I started carving out the process with them.” The stirring ‘Fruit Gathering’ is out now.
thistle. – ‘wishing coin’
thistle. have announced their debut EP, it’s nice to see you, stranger – out July 4 – with the disorienting ‘wishing coin’. “At the time of writing ‘wishing coin’ I realized that there were a lot of things in my life that were holding me back from doing what I always wanted to do,” frontman Cameron Godfrey explained. “I remember having really vivid dreams of my future and they were never anything pleasant. As a result I decided to cut a lot of what I was doing out of my life as they were slowly making me forget what my goals and aspirations were.”
Histamine – ‘Poison II (Miracle Cure)’
Australian hardcore punks Histamine have announced their debut album, Quality of Life, for release on June 27 via Convulse/Last Ride. It’s led by the furious new single ‘Poison II (Miracle Cure)’.
For Those I Love – ‘Of the Sorrows’
For Those I Love, the moniker Irish producer David Balfe, has returned a new song, the deeply evocative ‘Of the Sorrows’. “When I wrote ‘Of The Sorrows’, it felt like I was bargaining with myself. It was one of the first songs I’d written to myself, for myself, while still trying to embody the feelings and thoughts of my closest peers,” Balfe reflected. “At its heart, ‘Of The Sorrows’ is about a city rapidly boxing you out, and the choices you make in order to stay.”
The post 18 New Songs Out Today to Listen To: Hunx and His Punx, Laura Stevenson, and More appeared first on Our Culture.
