~~ recommended by newestbeginning ~~
We all like old favorites but below are some new ones. Drop your own new discoveries in the comments if you have a chance. Be well and enjoy!, NB
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Hear recent tracks from Bon Iver, Dijon, Karol G and more.
Dear listeners,
I’m back!
Thank you to the many guest writers who took over Amplifying duties for the past several months, while I was taking some much-needed time off to work on a book. I must admit that I did not listen to a whole lot of popular music during that time: My writing soundtrack was heavy on Robert Schumann piano works and ambient Japanese electronic music. Perhaps that odd combination will inspire a playlist for another day.
Today’s, however, reflects my first few weeks back at my day job, which I spent voraciously catching up on all the new music I’d missed during my time off. Quite a few recently released albums caught my ear: the shape-shifting “Baby,” from the suddenly ubiquitous avant-R&B musician Dijon; the droll indie-rocker Greg Freeman’s latest LP, “Burnover”; and the healing two-part release “Sable, Fable,” my favorite Bon Iver album in at least a decade.
If, like me, you haven’t been paying particularly close attention to new releases this year, let this playlist help you catch up. And even if you have been keeping up with 2025 music, I hope that at least one of these artists will be new to you. I always test out my playlists one last time before posting them, so I know that this one runs the exact duration it took me to untangle the disastrously knotted chain of a beloved necklace — and was an excellent soundtrack for successfully completing that task. May it accompany you on a similarly gratifying endeavor.
Airmailing you strength,
Lindsay
Listen along while you read.
1. Bon Iver: “From”
As far back as his 2011 easy-listening ballad “Beth/Rest,” Justin Vernon of Bon Iver has been a man unafraid to get in touch with his inner Bruce Hornsby — and for that he is to be commended. (Vernon and Hornsby have even collaborated on several occasions.) Like many of the tracks on Bon Iver’s bittersweet new album “Sable, Fable,” the soulful “From” fearlessly skirts the edge of schmaltz to arrive at a greater vulnerability.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
2. Water From Your Eyes: “Born 2”
“Everybody’s Crushed,” from the art-rock duo Water From Your Eyes, was one of my favorite releases of 2023, but I think I like its new album, “It’s a Beautiful Place,” even better. Rachel Brown and Nate Amos enliven seemingly stale alternative-rock tropes with an irreverent sensibility and serious chops, as heard on this distortion-drenched banger.
Listen on Spotify, Apple Music or YouTube
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