New Music Friday – April 25, 2025

April 25, 2025 Ben Pagani

This New Music Friday shines the spotlight on big names. There’s multiple strong releases today. Read on to see a full list of top picks from this week. First, here’s an in-depth look at the most noteworthy release out now.

The Best of New Music Friday:

Samia – Bloodless

During Samia’s February 2023 Honey tour stop at First Avenue in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the crowd roared when the now 28-year-old musician sang “I’ve got a letter still in my backpack // It’s from the Saint Paul Police Department // They wanna give me my state ID back.” Those lyrics, from the song “Kill Her Freak Out,” refer to what might have been a presumably booze-filled night out in the other half of Minnesota’s Twin Cities. Samia has officially called that midwestern region home as of December 2024. And while there’s no references to the area on her latest effort Bloodless, the album is stuffed with lyrics so strong that fans in any city are likely to erupt when she performs.

Bloodless is about a lot of things: Unsolved mysteries, the presence of God, the never ending chase to find “perfect” femininity, inexplicable cattle mutilations and Tulsa, Oklahoma. Whether or not these are all actually ghosts in Samia’s life, she’s happy to share her feelings on them. There are things haunting Samia, though. “I noticed a pattern in my life of wanting to live up to the person I became in someone’s head,” she says. “You become a lot bigger with distance.”

Perhaps the same could be said for Samia’s career. Her stardom has catapulted since her record Baby arrived on the indie scene in 2020. She has learned how to sprinkle various sounds throughout an album. Bloodless bounces from pop songs to acoustic tunes. The track “Carousel” begins with softer guitars, but ultimately ends with synthesizers that add an extra level of sparkling power to this song’s arsenal. “Bovine Excision” is also a fascinating acoustic-forward number.

The most interesting thing about Bloodless? How intertwined the whole album is. On the song “Pants,” the last track written for the record, Samia sings “Wanna see what’s under these Levi’s?” It’s a call back to “You keep flashing your angle like you wanna see mine // Do you wanna see mine?” from a previous song on the album, “Lizard.” “I got nothing under these Levi’s,” she concludes on “Pants.”

Samia is a fun artist for fun people. Her lyrics dabble into a bit of everything. Thanks to producers like Caleb Wright and Jake Luppen assisting, her instrumental sound has more to offer, too. But the ultimate overall vision for Bloodless wouldn’t have come to fruition without Samia herself. Here’s hoping her vision continues to grow with time and distance. She’ll become even bigger that way.

New Music Friday Top Picks:

Adrianne Lenker – Live at Revolution Hall [4AD]

Broncho – Natural Pleasure [Broncho Worldwide]

Deerhoof – Noble and Godlike in Ruin [Joyful Noise]

Emma-Jean Thackray – Weirdo [Brownswood]

Jawdropped – Just Fantasy [Fire Talk + Angel Tapes]

Sumac & Moor Mother – The Film [Thrill Jockey]

Sunflower Bean – Mortal Primetime [Lucky Number]

Tennis – Face Down in the Garden [Mutually Detrimental]

Which of these tracks from New Music Friday will you add to your favorite playlists today? Any we missed? Let us know in the comments or on Instagram!

Author
Recent Posts

Ben Pagani

Music Projects Manager at Beyond The Stage Magazine

Ben is a music journalist living and working in Chicago. They joined Beyond The Stage as an intern and have stayed on the staff for several years. Now serving on the editorial board, Ben is proud to be BTS' Music Projects Manager, coordinating coverage between international record labels and our staff. Ben has interviewed, photographed and written about bands from across the world. Ben has lived all over the United States working in television and media. They are an Emmy Award-winning writer. Ben can be found spinning records as 'DJ Wearing Sunglasses' in clubs and basements across the US.