Notable vinyl releases out this Friday - October 03, 2025

For more than three decades, AFI has been a band in a constant state of reinvention. No album they’ve released has sounded much like the one before it, sometimes dramatically so. The band has never gotten too comfortable in one genre or allowed themselves to coast on any successes. It’s an approach that has regularly challenged their audience, as their sonic identity has shifted in wild, unexpected directions every few years. But on their twelfth album, Silver Bleeds the Black Sun..., the members of AFI managed to surprise even themselves.

Blue Lake reveals his most ambitious album yet, which finds it's visionary creator Jason Dungan harnessing the collective alchemy of his band, with ten spirited tracks that resonate with a powerful directness, evoking an ecological connection to the wider world. On The Animal, Dungan introduces the use of voice as an instrument, as a way of unlocking song-like characteristics. On the gracious album opener "Circles", which sees the group embrace in choral unison, like in birdsong, voices echo as a part of the surrounding sonic environment. The band are fore grounded and formidable in their delivery, forming a rich, acoustic accompaniment to Dungan's zither strokes, earthy guitars and percussive patterns. The soundworld is noticeably bolder and livelier, as evidenced on "Cut Paper", with now regular mixing collaborator Jeff Zeigler capturing the fullness of the new band sound. Dungan also enlisted the help of Danish producer Aske Zidore who encouraged him toward new working strategies, a liberating intervention which allowed the element of surprise and discovery. The center ground is never fully consumed by Dungan as we find him consciously orchestrating from a respectful distance, giving generous space for the musician's spontaneous performance and improvisation, allowing their musical intuition to give rise to beguiling, holistic synchronicity. "The Animal" is a form of musical metamorphosis, still acoustic, yet more amplified, elevating it to new dimensions. The Blue Lake project takes on a new lease of life to encompass collaboration with Jason Dungan bound in a universal connectivity, resulting in his most ambitious album to date. A harmonious rejoicing that cements his reputation as a transformative presence in contemporary music.

Idlewild's self-titled 10th album begins in medias res, with Rod Jones' guitar crunching and wailing, the sound hanging in the air until vocalist Roddy Woomble catches hold of it with the first of Stay Out of Place's fizzing, inimitable hooks. Immediately, there is the sense of a band in motion, their storied past not an anchor but a spur. Idlewild's songs offer a string of compelling answers: "Everything adds up to the present moment, doesn't it?" Woomble asks.Idlewild have been a lot of different things. They were a teenage punk band, slinging buzzsaw riffs and barbed refrains, before becoming one of the most compelling mainstream rock groups of their generation. With 2019's Interview Music, they made sprawling art-pop. On Idlewild, they welcome each of these past selves into the room.Work on a follow-up to Interview Music was initially planned to begin immediately after the band wrapped up touring, but the pandemic put things into a skid. Touring the 20th anniversary of The Remote Part in 2022 was a visceral reminder of where they'd been and a prompt for what might come next.They assembled songs that celebrated pop hooks and livewire distortion, as well as expressive interplay. Writing continued at Post Electric Studio in Edinburgh and the Isle of Iona Library, before a short, sharp burst of recording in early 2025.The result is a lean, focused document - 10 tracks that get in and out in 30 minutes and change. With Jones engineering and mixing, the production reflects a collaborative, in-house approach. "We were referencing ourselves realising that we had a 'sound'," Woomble says. Facing forward, not back, Idlewild captures beauty, nuance, and clarity from three decades of sound and feeling - spontaneous, purposeful, and unmistakably them.

(What’s The Story) Morning Glory? (Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition) features newly unplugged versions of five classic tracks. These tracks include "Cast No Shadow", "Morning Glory", "Wonderwall", "Acquiesce", and "Champagne Supernova". All of these songs have been newly mixed by Noel Gallagher.

Rachael Yamagata is proud to announce her new studio album in almost ten years, Starlit Alchemy (pre-save), due out on October 3rd via Jullian Records. A fiercely independent artist with a voice both instantly recognizable and emotionally unflinching, Rachael Yamagata first emerged in the early 2000s with her critically acclaimed debut Happenstance. Over the next two decades, she built a loyal following on the strength of her raw, cinematic songwriting and soul-baring live performances – releasing a string of beloved records including Elephants…Teeth Sinking Into Heart, Chesapeake, and Tightrope Walker. Known for pairing bruising vulnerability with wry humor and unabashed grit, she’s worked with artists as varied as Liz Phair, Toots and The Maytals, Ray LaMontagne, Ryan Adams, and Bright Eyes, while consistently forging her own path outside the major label system. Now, she’s returned with her most intuitive yet intentional work yet. Starlit Alchemy isn’t a collection of singles or an algorithmic playlist; it’s a “deep dive record,” as Yamagata calls it – a body of work meant to be heard in full..”

R is for Rocket, the quartet's remarkable debut album, out October 3, 2025 via Transgressive Records/ Canvasback is a joyride through sonic terrain that is gloriously loud, anthemic, bombastic and beautiful, with instantly captivating songs that achieve the rare feat of evoking nostalgia while sounding completely new. The band's jagged, fuzzed-out sound has antecedents in '90s guitar bands like Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine, but Rocket are doing something uniquely their own with those touchstones. It's no wonder they are widely considered one of the most promising guitar-forward bands of their generation.

Push pull/ Side to side/ This way/ That way/ Can'tdecide/ Pressure! Pushing in/ Flattened me out fromend to end," Blair Tramel sings on "Worldwide," thetitle track from Snooper's new album. The songcaptures the dizzying headspace of the band'srapid ascent from the Nashville DIY circuit to globaltouring and notoriety in far-flung corners of theworld's underground music scene. But though theband was feeling the pressure - the song is partiallyinspired by hydraulic press YouTube videos - all thechallenges presented opportunity for transformation."Worldwide" is a mission statement for the record notjust thematically, but also aesthetically, showcasingSnooper's stylistic exploration. Newly inspiredby electronic music, the rhythm of "Worldwide" isunrelenting and mechanistic - capturing the frenziedpace at which Snooper's lives were moving, butallowing for release in Tramel's yelps and ConnorCummins' scuzzy guitar breaks. "Worldwide"introduces us to the next chapter of Snooper - morepersonal, more cathartic, sharper, bolder, catchier."There's a sweet spot," Tramel says of the evolutionthat came out of Snooper's whirlwind experiencethese last few years. "For a moment, push and pullcreate this beautiful dance.

First ever EP release from Sparks, MADDER! Is a companion to their record-breaking 28th studio album MAD!, which gave them their career-best UK chart position (#2, May 2025). The EP follows on the tail of their rapturously received tours of Europe and Japan, and is announced just ahead of their North American dates.

Taylor Swift's 12th studio album, The Life of a Showgirl, was created during the European leg of the Eras Tour in 2024, inspired by her life as an entertainer. She described it as a vibrant and lively project, departing from the bleak lyricism of its predecessor, The Tortured Poets Department (2024).

Horizons/West (2025) completes the thematic arc begun with Horizons/East (2021), pairing personal reflection with sweeping sonic ambition. Self-produced by the band, engineered by guitarist Teppei Teranishi, mixed by Scott Evans, and mastered by Matthew J. Barnhart, Horizons/West balances cinematic tones with spacious atmosphere. Teranishi calls it "less dense," while vocalist Dustin Kensrue sees it as their first sequel-two halves of a larger emotional and political panorama. Blending post-rock textures from their earlier albums Beggars and Major/Minor, with rhythmic complexity from Horizons/East, the band sharpens it's edge without losing nuance. Kensrue's vocals shift from whisper to roar, anchoring meditations on perception, memory, and social influence. Horizons/West looks inward while never ignoring the larger world-urging listeners not to adopt beliefs, but to interrogate them. After more than two decades, Thrice continues building catharsis from chaos, and clarity from noise.

As KT puts it, there’s never been a moment when she didn’t have rage. As the singer of Upchuck, the Georgia punk band whose music is as sharp as a scythe, KT has felt fierce energy inside her well before she had the band as an outlet through which to channel it. Upchuck’s Domino debut is I’m Nice Now recorded at Sonic Ranch Studio in Texas with producer Ty Segall. But don’t mistake newfound niceness for weakness. It’s self-preservation. “In this world of constant distractions and stressors it’s important to keep your mind, body, and spirit sane and sound enough to continue through this seemingly never-ending fight,” she says. With I’m Nice Now, Upchuck channels their feverishness into an album that, yes, is filled with rage. But in addition to being a continuation of their musical exorcism, the album delivers a sharp critique of the powers that be, lamenting why they still have to be those in power.