The unofficial award season began this week with the highly anticipated 2025 edition of the American Music Awards. Because we’re so cool and edgy, we couldn’t be bothered to watch. It’s about ethics, and mainstream music is at its best, unethical and at its worst, kinda totally lame. To prove how committed to this bit we are, here are five ‘alternative’ songs we listened to this week since we totally weren’t shrieking at the top of our lungs when Billie Eilish allegedly fuckin’ swept that shit.
Wet Leg ‘CPR’
It wasn’t too long ago that you would hear the words ‘wet leg’ and immediately think of some non-existent fungal disease that occurs when you leave one leg in the pool for too long. Thanks to modern pharmaceutical breakthroughs and the help of a New Zealand rock outfit, we now just think of getting down when Wet Leg is mentioned. Their latest single ‘CPR’ strongly affirms the association with an unrelenting backbeat that would have us moving if we knew how to dance.
The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die ‘Beware The Centrist’
Guiness World Record holders for longest goddam band name The World Is A Beautiful Place and I Am No Longer Afraid To Die – often abbreviated as TWIABP which, honestly, is still kind of pushing it – have dropped a new track ‘Beware The Centrist.’ Stylistically, it finds the band digging into their hardcore inclinations. It’s a blazing and cathartic ride. Coming in at under two minutes it will speed past you literally faster than you can say ‘the world is a beautiful place and I am no longer afraid to die.’
Bright Eyes ‘A Song To Pass The Time’
In case your saddest, most concerning friend hasn’t already mumbled to you about it in passing, Bright Eyes’ landmark album ‘Fevers and Mirrors’ celebrated its 25th anniversary this week. Said friend celebrated by locking themselves in a dark room and listening to the album on loop for a full 48 hours. Conor Oberst, on the other hand, marked the occasion with a new sprawling piano rendition of ‘A Song To Pass The Time.’ It adds a delightful ‘hopeful but still sad’ vibe to the original’s ‘sad but still hopeful’ vibe.
Holy Fawn ‘Beneath A Lightless Star’
‘Holy Fawn’? More like ‘Holy Fucking Shit’ amirite? The Phoenix trio has notoriously avoided classification since their formation in 2015, and their latest offering ‘Beneath A Lightless Star’ does little to clear things up. The track starts off serenely. For a full minute it lulls you through a lo-fi dreamy soundscape before slamming you head-first into a wall of sonic obliteration. Just when you think you have your bearings, the genres flip again, as if the band is doing some bizarre ‘evolution of post-hardcore’ bit. It’s as confusing as it is exhilarating, and you might never recover.
Neck Deep ‘You Should See Me Now’
In case you missed it, Welsh pop-punk heroes Neck Deep are back with their first new music since last year’s self titled LP. ‘You Should See Me Now’ is a cathartic and empowering anthem that plays out like a particularly productive therapy session held in the stock room of a Hot Topic. With hooks for days, it’s highly possible you’ll be involuntarily singing the chorus out loud to yourself as your increasingly concerned friends look on.
Now that you are certifiably too cool to listen to music normal people have heard of, you’re probably looking to feed that personality even more. You monster. Normally we wouldn’t advise further alienating yourself, but we already have a playlist, so why not share it? Check out every song we’ve ever listened to (in 2025) below: