Protomartyr – Hotel Usona
Detroit’s Protomartyr accentuated their verbose, gloomy post-punk dirges with brass on Hotel Usona. It is the most conceptual and cohesive album of their career and perhaps, the album that best justifies them as heirs to the gothic existentialism of The Birthday Party. The sound is characterised by ‘noir’ harmonies and post-industrial soundscapes. The instrumentals emit a powerful sense of existential despair, particularly bolstered by the intricate drum patterns and additional use of moody and cacophonous synthesisers and horns. Singer, Joe Casey’s delivery, as always, eschews the manic new-wave energy of Nick Cave (his most notable soundalike) and instead plays the role of the detached intellectual commentator. Everything is calm, collected and observant. Affected rather than possessed. Impressionist rather than expressionist.
The intro Hotel Usona is only a stones throw from the National’s gloomy chamber pop, particularly in its echoey second half. But this track is merely a teaser for the cacophonous swirl of guitars and saxophone of Sounds We Cannot Hear, which paints a world of unrelenting gloom and despair. Highlight, Exalted Eagles is split between the noirish atmosphere on the guitars and Casey’s ritualistic shout. The Knife Dream, which contains the ‘jazziest’ atmosphere begins with ambient horn playing and light piano figures before the drum figure leads us into a haunted house-like soundscape. This is only one of several tracks that are heady and meandering, relying predominantly on the atmosphere created by the drums, keyboards and horns rather than a clear structure. For example, Lavender – Gospel sets the stage for Casey’s rant with a spiralling digital ambience and persistent drum patterns. Third Country meanwhile, is a peculiar fusion of goth-rock and an abrasive waltz. Feed The Sewer matches a relentless barrage of guitars with an epic melody that could be taken from an Iron Maiden song. which truly does justice to their obvious predecessors (Bauhaus and The Bad Seeds). Checking Out closes things off with an oppressive post-industrial piece before the drums roll in with intensity and it morphs back to a musique concrete like soundscape for Casey’s mournful reflections on the world.
The album is the most staunchly political of their career (various tirades against AI, drone warfare, digital paranoia and growing militarisation). The album feels consistent and wrapped together cohesively. Some credit must go to indie super-producer Dave Fridmann for crafting the lush post-industrial audio environment, which seemingly reignited the bands inspiration.
Losing My Edge Rating: 7/10
Best Tracks: The Exalted Eagles, Sounds We Cannot Hear, Feed The Sewer
Released: September 25, 2026
Label: Domino
Water From Your Eyes – It’s A Beautiful Place
New York duo Water From Your Eyes, i.e. keyboardist Nate Amos and vocalist Rachel Brown, shifted towards indie genre crossovers on It’s A Beautiful Place. The primary highlight Life Signs comes first, crossing Stereolab’s power pop with heavy metal riffage and a rap-suing delivery (recalling the genre mashups of the 1990s). The second is the disco-jam Playing Classics, which evokes the heyday of electroclash in the mid 2000s. Born 2 is a relatively well-constructed, if derivative (Sweet Trip) shoegaze-pop number. Spaceship, meanwhile is the biggest shapeshifter, playing out like a collage new wave, progressive rock and country snippets. The rest of the tracks are basically interludes. The duo is clearly creative though the album is rather scant and even a little dated.
Losing My Edge Rating: 6/10
Best Tracks: Life Signs
Released: August 22, 2025
Label: Matador
Horsegirl – Phonetics & On & On
Chicago’s Horsegirl refined their brand of sardonic garage rock (a la Jonathan Richman) on the sophomore album Phonetics On and On, their most accomplished album yet, establishing them as more than mere imitators of that format. The method is anchored by a deliberately lifeless delivery that borders both on the decadent register of Nico, the naive register of the French singers of the 1950s, as well as the the calm neuroticism of some new-wave acts of the 1970s. Additionally, the hypnotic instrumentals recall both the silly imitations of 60s rock of early punk and the new wave music of the 1970s (particularly, Television). The lyrics and melodies have a childish phonetic quality, as suggested by the title.
The guitar punctuates the short Where’d You Go, with a noisy solo which leads into the clattering new wave of Rock City, with hypnotic strumming (a a The Feelies). In Twos recalls the sparse and fatalistic atmospheres of Young Marble Giants with plodding, quasi-baroque backing and a catchy twee melody. The dadaistic nursery rhyme 2468 accelerates into a psychedelic delirium. On the catchy side are also Well I Know You’re Shy which sounds like the early Cure without the gothic overtones and also boasts one of the best guitar arrangement, and the minimal power pop of I Can’t Stand to See You. The repeating vocal interplay of Switch Over is basically another ‘phonetic’ experiment with very few lyrics and a rhythm that trots along to its conclusion. There are softer moments, like the romantic acoustic ballad Frontrunner or the despondent lullaby Julie, which could be influenced by Sparklehorse, with its burning organ and harmonic sound effects. Each track has an oddly static feeling, courtesy of the dry and production, instrumentals that are unusually sparse and performance that feel almsost artificially slowed-down.
Losing My Edge Rating: 7/10
Best Tracks: Well I Know You’re Shy, Rock City, In Twos
Released: 14 February, 2025
Label: Matador
Model/Actriz – Pirouette
Boston’s Model/Actriz play industrial noise rock, infused with dysphoria and powered by Cole Haden’s psychosexual exorcisms that occasionally devolve into a primal breakdown. Pirouette further leans into marrying the band’s industrial dance and ‘kammerspiel’ (spoken word theatre) template to a more controlled and less dynamic counterpoint, to the point that the bands has begun to sound less derived from the likes of The Jesus Lizard and more like a parody of 00s disco-pop. Haden sometimes sounds like Jamie Stewart of Xiu Xiu’s primal whimpering and sometimes like as if James Chance was fronting an industrial group like Killing Joke or Ministry.
Several tracks follow a formula: industrial techno beat, distorted and abrasive soundscape, neurotic whispering in the verse before the music pulls away in the chorus to reveal a sung melody. Vespers indicates the new template, with its ticking industrial beat and sassy delivery, which are both a betrayal of noise rock and probably a more original expression of post-industrial neurosis, especially amidst the painstaking decaying soundscape powered by Jack Wetmore’s guitar abrasions. In this vein, there is also Departures, complete with sinister synthesisers and one of the most infectious melodies and rhythms. Both Doves and Cinderella’s twitching beats and occasional rumbles of bass can’t hide the dancefloor and melodic sensibility.
These tracks are furthermore a setting for’s initimate storytelling about sexuality, self-esteem and dysphoria, which emanante a severe depression, particularly emphasised on the decadent Diva and the spoken-word over musique concrete of Headlights and the skeletal closer Baton. Each track feels like being in the head of a mentally insane person, except it’s taking place in the seediest club in Berlin.
The album also delivers quiet moments like the techno-pastoral Acid Rain and the skeletal acapella lullaby Baton. On the other end of the spectrum, Ring Road is perhaps the most terrifying atmosphere, with its crushing distorted beat. The variety of memorable melodies and rhythms is impressive for such a noisy record.
Losing My Edge Rating: 9/10
Best Tracks: Vespers, Departures, Ring Road
Released: 2 May, 2025
Label: True Panther
Greg Freeman – Burnover
Greg Freeman continued his slacker rock- alt-country fusion on Burnover, sung in a frail tenor. The music is defined by ragged harmonies and unkempt performances, certainly related to the indie rock music of the 1990s (Pavement, Built to Spill, Modest Mouse and their ilk), but with a lot of extra instrumentation scattered in a haphazard manner across the tracks and a more decisive connection with the ghost of Neil Young. The compromise between discordance and melody usually comes out in favour of the former. Freeman deliberately eschews the harmonic stereotypes of folk and country music, which both freshens the format but makes some of the songs less memorable.
Point and Shoot is emblematic of his dynamic style with its burning guitar solos and emotional vigour. The multidimensional harmonies of Salesman lie atop a Doors-ian riff that eventually devolves into a noisy near-psychedelic jam. Rome, New York meanwhile effuses the syncopated guitar jam associated with Modest Mouse’s Lonesome Crowded West. Curtain sounds like a postmodern take on The Band (ending with an interplay between honky-tonk piano, dissonant guitars and a Wurlitzer played in the most abusive of manners).
But the reference point is clearly still Neil Young. When Freeman sheds the noise, we are left with strained laments like Gallic Shrug or the sprawling Burnover predominantly for guitar and harmonica.
The most memorable songs however are the simplest; the rocking road-song Gulch with a driving rhythm, the most alt-country, Gone (Can Mean A Lot Of Things) and the most poignant melody, Sawmill (backed by a stellar violin counterpoint). The album closes with the 9-minute Wolf Pine which starts off like a dramatic Steinman-esque ballad but rather than explode, gradually limps towards its finish, and mostly serves as a showcase for Freeman’s apocalyptic Americana philosophy.
“Go and count the purple rings of Saturn
Or of your ringed and wounded heart
But there ain’t no long division
That could ever keep these two things apart”
Losing My Edge Rating: 7/10
Best Tracks: Point and Shoot, Gulch, Wolf Pine
Released: August 22, 2025
Label: Canvasbank / Transgressive
Some other ratings for albums I have no time to cover:
Car Seat Headrest – The Scholars: 5/10 (C.C.F. (I’m Gonna Stay With You)*)
Arcade Fire – Pink Elephant: 4/10
Beach Bunny – Tunnel Vision: 4/10
Cheekface – Middle Spoon: 5/10
Acloudskye – This Won’t Be The Last Time: 4/10
Sam Fender – People Watching: 4/10
Franz Ferdinand – The Human Fear: 3/10
The Murder Capital – Blindness: 6/10 (Words Lost Meaning*, Can’t Pretend To Know*)
Panchiko – Ginkgo: 5/10 (*Subtitles)
Sharp Pins: 4/10 (*Every Time I Hear)
Wolf Alice – The Clearing: 4/10
Hayley Williams – Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party (singles collection): 5/10 (Mirtazapine*, Parachute**)