Music of the Month - October 2025

By Aaron Isenstein, Jack Haldeman

French producer Barbra Braccini, stage name Malibu, creates sweeping ambient atmospheres that feel both expansive and deeply intimate. On her debut LP, Vanities, she tackles 13 soundscapes that all feel vastly different yet relaxingly cohesive. The tracks on Vanities evoke a feeling of longing through hypnotic vocal layering and a combination of haunting synths and laid back baroque-inspired instrumentation. While Braccini’s previous projects have been portraits of staring into the limitless ocean, Vanities sounds just like the album cover, observing the happenings of the city. Listening through Vanities is how I can only imagine traveling through the endlessness of time and space itself feels: an ambient, soothing soundtrack to an unknown feeling. It is a truly gorgeous debut record and one of the year's best.  - Aaron

Best Track: “Contact"

Texas-based musician Peter McPoland has tried his hand at many genres, notably finding the most success in TikTok indie rock. But after throwing away his phone and locking himself in his studio for months, there is no trace of the internet in his work. After following his career for years now, it has never been more clear that he has finally found his sound. On Big Lucky, McPoland feels more reminiscent of an MJ Lenderman and a Pavement type than before, his love of country music shining through. Not only does this style work better with McPoland’s whiny vocals, but it helps his unique approach to lyricism stand out. The lyrics on Big Lucky are certifiably nonsense, with “I Love the Animals” being about a day at the zoo where he talks to the animals and “Rats” just being about the titular animal, but there is a quirky charm to them that truly does feel so Stephen Malkmus. I am glad to say that Peter has finally made a truly great album rather than just a few truly great songs, and I look forward to seeing where his new alt-country sound leads him to next. - Aaron

Best Track: “The Biggest Question"

The Last Dinner Party had a rip-roaring debut with a bona fide hit single in 2023’s “Nothing Matters” and their critically acclaimed premier record “Prelude to Ecstasy” in 2024. In October, they followed it up with an ambitious if undercooked sophomore LP in From the Pyre. The band’s theatrical inclinations show no sign of slowing down on this album, doubling down on their signature song structures that implement climactic tempo changes and multi part harmonies, pairing them with vocal performances that carry raw emotion such that the band’s pathos reaches almost operatic levels. But despite the undeniable grandeur in this album’s presentation, the storytelling fails to extend further than surface level melodrama, yearning and anger. This causes the accompanying sounds to act more in excess than in compliment, leading to a less satisfying experience than their debut. However, this band is still undeniably talented, and there is still more good than bad here. - Jack

Best Track: “Second Best"

This Bandcamp exclusive from Nashville-based rapper R.A.P. Ferreira in collaboration with American underground mainstay producer Kenny Segal is a grizzly carousel of southern poetry, jazz and dreams. Ferreira’s rhythmic, matter-of-fact delivery takes prosaic lyrics and jigsaws them into a larger thesis on language and poetry as humanity’s source of truth and, inversely, its source of danger. Sonically, Segal is delivering his strongest collection of beats in his career, delivering low-key yet layered jazz beats that take great joy in their dark and deranged turns, drawing a real sense of tension from the trance their loops lull the listener into. Accessible but demanding, The Night Green Side of It is an absolute gem from the underground scene that stands head and shoulder above the year’s selection of rap albums. - Jack

Best Track: “spicer and I”

The most known woman in the world comes back with her 12th album, which unfortunately feels more like a first. After the expansive career of Swift’s, including many truly great albums, she should have grown and progressed as an artist. Alas, The Life of a Showgirl is abysmally bland and offensively corny. The woman who once wrote “Peace” and “State of Grace” is now making explicit references to Travis Kelce’s podcast and writing a diss track about Charli xcx that should have just a “Shady af comebacks” Twitter thread. The Life of a Showgirl would be an understandable first album by an eighteen year old, but Swift is far too talented to write about trolling on the internet and girlbossing too close to the sun. Considering how much talent a legacy like hers attracts, her album should sound at the very least sound interesting, but the production never escapes Love Island background music territory. The Life of a Showgirl is a staunch disappointment that makes me ask one question only: what the hell happened between Midnights and now? - Aaron

Best Track: “The Fate of Ophelia”