Indie Basement is a weekly column on BrooklynVegan focusing on classic indie and alternative artists, “college rock,” and new and current acts who follow a similar path. There are reviews of new albums, reissues, box sets, books and sometimes movies and television shows. I’ve rounded up March’s best music, highlighting my favorite songs and albums, plus links to relevant features and news, a monthly playlist, and more.
We’re one third of the way through 2025, and March saw lots of albums that I feel certain will make my end-of-year list in December. I picked five cream-of-the-crop releases below but runner-ups include Bambara, Dutch Interior, Dean Wareham, Population II, Jeffrey Lewis, Cousines Like Shit, Edwyn Collins, and JJULIUS.
There was a bumper crop of new singles in March, too, and I review 12 of them. For even more of the month’s best stuff, there’s a playlist with every song I review, tracks from my album picks, and more.
Also in March: I interviewed Destroyer’s Dan Bejar and The Darkness’ Justin Hawkins.
Head below for the Best of March…
INDIE BASEMENT – BEST SONGS OF MARCH 2025
Alan Sparhawk With Trampled by Turtles – “Stranger”
I can’t say that Minnesota folk group Trampled by Turtles have ever been my thing, at all, but backing Low’s Alan Sparhawk is an inspired, only-in-Duluth combination. Also as someone who found Alan’s 2024 solo album White Roses, My God a little too far-out-there (and not in a HEY WHAT kind of way), “Stranger” really scratches that Low itch while offering a new side of Sparhawk’s songwriting.
Bibi Club – “Orgiastic”
You might think a cover of a Stereolab song by a band who clearly are sonically indebted to them might yield a version that sounds a lot like the original. But Montreal’s Bibi Club have taken Peng! cut “Orgiastic” and made it their own. “Seven years ago, I created a mixtape to accompany me throughout labor,” says singer Adèle Trottier-Rivard. “Meaningful, liberating songs. My child was born to ‘Orgiastic’ by Stereolab. That moment, out of time and space, will belong to me forever. Our version of the song carries that strength. We wanted to pay tribute to this legendary band.”
Billy Nomates – “The Test”
One of the most underrated artists of this decade, Billy Nomates (aka Tor Maries) has forged a style that’s part ’80s new wave and part ’90s country, yet sounds very now. For her third album on Geoff Barrow’s Invada Records, Tor did something she’s never done before: record with a full band. “The Test” is still pure Billy Nomates, but there’s more oomph and lushness in the production and arrangements. Sounds like a hit to me.
The Bug Club – “Jealous Boy”
Up to this point, Welsh DIY punks have been known for lots of shouting, witty lyrics filled with pop culture references and loose, low-fi production. On “Jealous Boy,” the first single from their upcoming fourth album (and second for Sub Pop), they are embracing subtlety and melody and it works like gangbusters, especially with Sam Willmett and Tilly Harris’ trade-off vocals and harmonies. For the shouting fans out there, don’t worry, there’s lots of that in the chorus.
Deerhoof – “Immigrant Songs”
“Immigrant Songs” could be the poppiest indie rock song ever about immigration issues, a very hot 2025 topic, and is loaded with irresistible “bah bah bahs” but its words pack punch: “You think we’re in your house / You are mistaken…This song we sing won’t be for you / Never again!” It’s Deerhoof’s best song in ages, one that also cuts its sweetness with three minutes of pure noise at the end.
Kae Tempest – “Statue in the Square”
Kae Tempest has struggled a bit since she stopped working with producer Dan Carey; they’ve never at a loss for words but some of the beats have been lacking. “Statue in the Square” is a powerful return, their first new music in three years, and one of their best standalone singles, facing transphobia head on with dizzying flow — “They never wanted people like me round here / But when I’m dead, they’ll put my statue in the square” — and a great production by Fraser T Smith (Stormzy, Adele, Dave). Welcome back, Kae!
Mei Semones – “I can do what I want”
What a delight this song is. “I can do what I want” swoops and swirls like playful birds in flight, darting from jazzy acoustic pop to soaring, string filled rock as her dexterous musicianship and melodies spiral up towards the sun. Parts of this remind of groups like Cornelius and Tahiti 80 who similarly blended disparate genres into something that sounds as natural as if it were born that way.
Sextile – “S is For”
S is for a lot of things according to Sextile, including Sex, Shit, Swell, Stiff, Slag, Snap, and Shut, which are all delivered, mantra-style, over a gleaming, pulsing techno beat until grows into an angry chant. The chorus of ahhhs is pure release. S, of course, is also for Sextile who continue to make some of the most fun bangers for vinyl clothing fans everywhere.
Steve Queralt ft Emma Anderson – “Lonely Town”
Andy Bell and Mark Gardner may be the chief songwriters in Ride, but Steve Queralt’s melodic basslines are the backbone. He makes music on his own as well, but apparently had to be coerced into letting others hear it. Most of his solo debut, Swallow, is instrumental but “Lonely Town” is one of two songs to feature lead vocals from Lush co-founder Emma Anderson and is a match made in shoegaze heaven.
Tortoise – “Oganesson”
Here’s the first taste of post-rock icons Tortoise’s debut album for International Anthem, a Chicago jazz label that certainly has some of the band in its DNA. (It’s also already got Tortoise’s Jeff Parker on its roster.) “Oganesson” is very promising — jazzy, electronic and groovy with the band’s signature percussiveness. There’s a distinct filmic vibe and you could almost imagine this soundtracking a ’70s cop show, apart from that it feels entirely modern.
TVOD – “Uniform”
Brooklyn collective TVOD are post-punk inspired for sure, but they’re also ambitious and not afraid to zig and zag. “Uniform” is strident but also very danceable with Tyler Wright’s distinctive vocals leading the charge. Good to know Brooklyn is still birthing bands like this.
Ty Segall – “Fantastic Tomb”
One of the most prolific artists of the last 15 years, Ty Segall puts out so many records it’s hard to keep up between solo work, and his various groups and collaborations. But I’m here to tell you that his upcoming 18th solo album, Possession, is one you’re going to want to pay attention to. It feels like he’s been saving up the good songs for this one and put a lot of care into the production which includes string and brass arrangements by old friend and occasional bandmate Mikal Cronin. Ty may work quick but there is nothing banged out about “Fantastic Tomb.” You should also know that the best from this one is still to come.
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INDIE BASEMENT – BEST ALBUMS OF MARCH 2025
Greentea Peng – TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY (GTP / AWAL Recordings)
Greentea Peng’s fantastic debut, MAN MADE, was one of 2021’s most underrated album, mixing reggae, hip hop, acid jazz, soul, trip hop and more with her unique psilocybin-enhanced flavor. Four years and one mixtape later she’s done it again. Overseen by Danger Mouse associates St. Francis Hotel and featuring the talents of MAN MADE producer Earbuds, along with Busy Twist and Nat Powers, TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY sounds amazing, and from the opening seconds of “Bali Skit Part 1” you’re dropped into Peng’s woozy, dubby, groovy and immersive world. Where MAN MADE was a reaction to external forces — the death of her father, Covid, Brexit, George Floyd, etc — TELL DEM looks inward. It’s a dark album, how can it not be these days, but she never forgets about the inner light — the “SUNNY” of the title — which radiates out through her expressive, nuanced voice and impeccable molten flow. There’s not a dud here, but standouts include “TARDIS (hardest),” the irresistible, soaring “One Foot,” the Kingston-via-Bristol skip of “Nowhere Man,” the majorly blunted “WU-LU,” the banging beats and crunchy riffs of “Create & Destroy 432,” cinematic ballad “Raw” and the drum-and-bass-dipped “The End (Peace).” At times the album plays like early Massive Attack/Tricky if they’d had Amy Winehouse as a muse; it’s very 1995 but also very 2025, with Greentea Peng standing in between, sounding timeless.
Destroyer – Dan’s Boogie (Merge / Bella Union)
After three albums where Dan Bejar flirted with dance music, he has embraced his inner lounge and cabaret singer on the fourteenth Destroyer album. The record opens with the kind of sweeping strings you might hear at the start of an awards show in the ’70s with Dan is your host for the evening, though he’s the kind that might slide up to you afterwards and ask, “Hey mister, you wanna buy some diamond rings?” Dan’s Boogie presents a world of faded glamour, like a ’40s noir film full of seedy locales and seedier locals. Dan told us he sees this one as “a mix of Poison Season and Your Blues in a lot of ways” and while you can hear that in the songs themselves, the production is like no other Destroyer album. John Collins, who has been Destroyer’s chief sonic architect since ’90s, has really outdone himself here with the sound design. There is something in the atmosphere of these arrangements that makes the room you’re listening in sound three times bigger than it is. Collins shoots the album in widescreen technicolor, allowing us to see the stains of this tableau that would be hidden in black and white — musically speaking, of course — as Dan’s signature word salad style makes your head spin. As with the best Destroyer albums, and this is one of them, don’t worry about the details and meaning. Be like Dan at a Destroyer show: sit back, have a sip of a beverage, and revel in the world of sound he’s created.
MORE: I talked with Bejar about Dan’s Boogie and a lot of other baloney.
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Snapped Ankles – Hard Times Furious Dancing (The Leaf Label)
Since their start in the late 2010s, London’s Snapped Ankles have presented themselves as creatures of the forest who’ve come down out of the branches to warn us against banks, big real estate, big corporations and the world leaders they have in their pockets, delivering their message via banging post-punk, techno, and commische rhythms. It’s like if Dr Seuss’ The Lorax led LCD Soundsystem. Swiping the title of their fourth album from Alice Walker’s 2010 book Hard Times Require Furious Dancing, Snapped Ankles have made a record that couldn’t feel more of the moment — in the best possible way — in one of the hardest times many of us have witnessed. And the music is indeed furious, urgent beats regularly flung at BPMs well above 140, with syncopated percussion and squelching synths — many of which are homemade and built into hollowed-out logs (their live show is wild) — and shouted sloganeering a la Mark E Smith. Hard Times Furious Dancing is a real state-of-the-world record, taking a look at everything from the fractured post-Covid music industry on “Pay the Rent” to those evil conglomerates on “Personal Responsibilities” (“They don’t apply to very large companies”), and starting an impromptu dance party in an endless customs line (“Dancing in Transit”). Unlike their last couple albums, these tunes were road-tested before recording and everything feels extra dialed up for maximum endorphin release. It all comes together, including the KLF-inspired but very Snapped Ankles cover art, for what is easily the group’s best, most fun, and cathartic record yet.
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Hannah Cohen – Earthstar Mountain (Bella Union / Congrats Records)
What a gorgeous-sounding album this is. Hannah Cohen has created a sumptuous garden of earthly aural delights for her fourth album. The cascade of flutes and strings on “Dusty” that opens the album instantly sets the mood, conjuring rainbows and spring. (This record couldn’t have picked a better release date, as trees are in full bloom on the East Coast.) While that song is an homage to Dusty Springfield, it also brings to mind Minnie Riperton’s kaleidoscopic single “Le Fleurs” and more than holds up to the comparison. “Dusty” is a hard act to follow, but Hannah follows it with the sultry, sassy strut of “Draggin'” and “Mountain” which has serious Fleetwood Mac vibes and harmonies via Sufjan Stevens. The wonders keep flowing from there, from sunshine pop to spectral folk, groovy soul, and even a wonderful cover of Ennio Morricone’s “Una Spiaggia” with Cohen and Catskills neighbor Clairo nailing those otherworldly vocalizations. Hannah’s partner and producer, Sam Evian, did similar magic with records by Kate Bollinger and Katie Von Schleicher and helps Cohen catch those sounds she’s chasing, and no doubt those guest contributors are cool, but Earthstar Mountain is Hannah’s baby all the way.
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The Horrors – Night Life (Fiction)
This is more like it. Following 2009’s fantastic Primary Colours, The Horrors spread their musical wings, dabbling in prog and pop, still full of drama but looking for the light. Those albums — Skying, Luminous and V — are all very good, but frontman Farris Badwan’s baritone is clearly best suited for the dark arts. The original lineup of the band fractured after 2017’s V, with Badwan, guitarist Joshua Hayward, and bassist Rhys Webb officially welcoming new keyboardist Amelia Kidd and former Telegram drummer Jordan Cook to the fold in 2024. The new lineup of the band made Nite Life — which is their first for Fiction Records aka The Cure’s label for most of their career — in Los Angeles with Yves Rothman, who has also made some very gothy records. The Horrors and Rothman turned out to be a very good combination and, along with new sonic ideas brought by Kidd and Cook, Night Life is the band’s best since 2011’s Skying. The album it’s most like, though, is the dark and hazy Primary Colours, but this is not a retread; synths and digital production stand side-by-side with roaring guitars, moody, melodic basslines and percussion that is alternately lithe/syncopated and pummelling. On their first album in eight years, on their 20th anniversary as a band, The Horrors are returning to their gothy roots and basking in the moonlight glory.
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Here’s the Indie Basement Best of March 2025 playlist in both Spotify and TIDAL form:
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