Out This Week | Post-Trash Highlights

As we all head into the weekend, we’re happy to share a few of our favorite new releases, out this week (in splendid alphabetical order). The write-ups are all kept brief and bite sized, snippets to catch your interest. There’s a lot of great music out every week and these are just some of the many we think you should check out.

Featured

MAGIC FIG | "Valerian Tea"

Exploding In Sound Records
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple

I could listen to Magic Fig endlessly... forever. The band's brilliant blend of swirling psych pop, folk-tinged prog, and 60's art rock is meticulously arranged yet performed with a sense of exuberance, of wanderlust. Valerian Tea, the band's new album, weaves between wonky time signatures, layered synths, keys, mellotron (courtesy of Jon Chaney and Inna Showalter), jaw-dropping fills (courtesy of Taylor Giffin), and celestial vocal melodies to create the most stunning of potions. Magic Fig make music that's profoundly complex and yet feels like easy listening, a gentle breeze on the LSD tinged air. They are a band of equal parts, everyone contributing the majestic whole, each guitar and bass riff (courtesy of Muzzy Moskowitz and Matthew Ferrara) as vital as their melodic choices. This is prog rock that's rooted deep into explorative pop and dreamy psych, a record that's ambitious but plays it so damn cool.

MONDE UFO | "Flamingo Tower, Nobody Cares EP"

Fire Records
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple

Eight months after the release of Flamingo Tower (one of the year's best albums), Monde UFO return with the Flamingo Tower, Nobody Cares EP, a companion piece that doesn't sound nearly as dejected as the title may seem. Diving deeper into the abyss of haunting atmospherics, crackling art pop, and warped psych, the EP is free to wander, moving at its own pace in its own directions. It's a fitting piece of the Flamingo Tower puzzle, even with a kaleidoscopic sense of focus. Half lit but fully immersive, it's a mixed bag of psychedelic flavors.

RANSOM & CONDUCTOR WILLIAMS | "The Uncomfortable Truth"

Momentum Entertainment / Station
Spotify | Apple

It's only been three weeks since we featured Ransom in this column but the supreme lyricist is back at it again, this time collaborating with Conductor Williams (Rome Streetz, Boldy James, Conway), one of modern hip-hop's absolute best producers on The Uncomfortable Truth. With beats that feel cinematic and generally epic, Ransom lets his bars run wild, a death defying collection that reminds us all why he's widely considered one of the underground's finest lyricists. This is grown ass rap, crafted with knowledge and experience, personality and precision.

SHARP PINS | "Balloon Balloon Balloon"

Perennial / K Records
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple

Sharp Pins are making jangle pop at the highest level, their acid tinged psych pop reaching toward perfection. Kai Slater's (Lifeguard) solo project needs no introduction, his understanding of lo-fi production, mountainous hooks, heartfelt glee, and pop splendor has been apparent since the project began, but Balloon Balloon Balloon takes it all to the next level, a record that could sit side by side with Bee Thousand and the best of The Byrds. These songs are impossibly good, fuzzy power-pop with nuance and artistic depth.

TERROR CORPSE | "Ash Eclipses Flesh"

Dark Descent Records
Bandcamp | Spotify | Apple

Terror Corpse arose earlier this year from the ashes of Malignant Altar with a scathing demo that festered between death metal and wretched grindcore. Ash Eclipses Flesh, their full length debut, finds the band scaling back to a trio, only to seemingly get more ruthless. The grind elements are minimized but their ambitious take on classic death metal weaves new territory, shifting from rotten knuckle-draggers to brute force carnage with a genuine unpredictability.

THA GOD FAHIM | "Ultimate Rapper Guillotine 5000"

Self Released
Bandcamp | Youtube

Tha God Fahim releases way too much music, but that doesn't mean its not worth listening to. Ultimate Rap Guillotine 5000 is the MC's 27th record of the 2025, but the first of the year to be self-produced. We've said it before but Tha God Fahim never sounds better than when he's rapping over his own beats, his sense of rolling drums and DJ Muggs reminiscent menace is the perfect accompaniment for his free flowing rhymes. Fahim gives himself a raw pocket for his raps, dropping a highlight in an endless onslaught of releases.

Further Listening:

Bee Bee Sea - Stanzini Can Be Allright
De La Soul - Cabin In The Sky
Decrepit Altar - Egregious Defilement
Glyders - Forever
Horse Lords & Arnold Dreyblatt - Extended Field
Low Blow - Money Fetish
Tha God Fahim & Drega33 - Slam Dump

Further Listening:

by: dan goldin