The Best Albums of August 2025

The annual existential crisis begins here and now. Plus, celebrating 10,000 subscribers with an Ask Me Anything and a double record giveaway.

1. Best of August
2. Ask me anything!
3. Enter to win the new SASAMI and Ela Minus records
4. My most anticipated records of the rest of 2025
5. The August Playlist

This is the time of year when my enjoyment of keeping up with and sharing new music starts slowly turning into a stressful, ever-snowballing game of catch-up. If you’re new here, you’ll see why when you get to the new release calendar at the end of this post. If you’re old here, you’ll remember the music discovery emotional timeline.

I’ll let you guess what point I’m at right now.

Even after giving myself the freedom to abandon diligent tracking systems and eschew album rankings entirely, I know that this clickbaity fantasy of what’s “best” is a fiction we all buy into.

Next year I’ll probably just dispense with it entirely and give you “Some [Monthly] Albums” instead. But for now, let’s play pretend just a little bit longer…

The “Best” Albums of August 2025

After the slight reprieve that July offered, August is back with an explosive bang. It’s certainly my longest monthly playlist to date.

I don’t play favorites amongst my favorites, so albums are listed alphabetically.

As usual, the first 3 are free, the rest are for paid subscribers.

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1. Jehnny Beth - You Heartbreaker, You

I haven’t heard a lot of buzz over this solo record from the Savages vocalist, which is a shame. A warning I shouldn’t have to give: don’t expect a Savages album or you’ll have a bad time. This is harder, more metallic, more dramatic. Something to help reignite your angst. RIYL: Nine Inch Nails, Orgy, Tool. (Standout track: Out of My Reach)

2. Black Honey - Soak

It’s my pleasure to formally recommend Black Honey, finally — I’ve been fangirling over them since their 2018 debut, after all. Push past the Kubrick homage on the cover (though it’s kind of genius, honestly) and you’ll be transported back to the early 2000s, the heyday of salty/sweet indie pop. RIYL: Metric (especially Emily Haines’ vocals), Garbage. (Standout track: To the Grave)

3. Dijon - Baby

My commitment to promoting almost exclusively up and coming, under the radar musicians flies completely out the window when I hear a record this conceptually layered and phenomenally produced. If you don’t normally like R&B, give this a chance. RIYL: D’Angelo, Jai Paul, Prince, Mk.gee. (Standout track: Another Baby!)

Bonus: If you enjoy this, check out the new Nourished by Time release, as well.

The rest of the records are behind a paywall, so let’s take a quick celebratory break, shall we?

Happy 10k subscribers to us all!

I am unbelievably grateful to all of you for being here. It’s been three years of New Bands for Old Heads and a little over a year of this newsletter, and I truly never expected it to reach more than a few dozen inboxes. I’m floored and delighted to have you.

To celebrate, let’s do an AMA. Non-music topics welcome.

Ask me anything

And in case that doesn’t sound too exciting, let’s also do another record giveaway.

Enter to win Ela Minus & SASAMI on Vinyl

I wrote about Ela Minus’ new record here, and have talked about SASAMI here (though her sound has really changed since her previous release — she’s gone pop, and it’s fantastic!).

All paid subscribers are eligible, but you gotta fill out the form below. It’s easy peasy, I promise.

Still to come - some things familiar and some things strange, August was packed with incredible releases. The rest of the year is only going to get more intense.

All of the other month-by-month best of lists are here.

The Best Albums of 2025, So Far

The playlist of the month is at the very bottom of the post. Here’s you usual reminder about the playlist of the year, free to all.

Also on Apple, SoundCloud, and YouTube