Fighting with the Undertow – Dec '24/Jan'25 update

A monthly playlist of new punk rock, alt rock and indie music tracks

This update includes Bob Mould, Mogwai, Soft Loft, Franz Ferdinand, PJ Harvey and more.

Welcome to Fire Red Sky’s latest playlist of the 20 best punk rock, alt rock and indie music track to be released in the last month.

It’s a two-fer-one deal this time around. December’s an odd month for new releases, where the occasional gem sneaks in under the radar before the Christmas slowdown, while the start of January sees the music world only gradually wake up after the holidays.

With not quite enough standout new music around in either month I’ve combined my shortlists for both months into (ahem), one mighty playlist to rule them all. Or something like that. Either way, it’s a bunch of interesting music to get you started for 2025.

Fighting with the Undertow, a line from the same Bob Mould song that provided the name Fire Red Sky, aims to help me (and hopefully you too) wade through the deluge of new music and maybe hook our next favourite band or album.

I usually update the Spotify playlist each month with 20 new tracks and try to include each band/artist just once per year to challenge myself to keep seeking out new music.

Here’s some highlights from this double update of Fighting with the Undertow:

Given the title of this playlist, and my newsletter itself, it should be no surprise to anyone that this update leads with Bob Mould’s ‘Here We Go Crazy’, the first studio track to be shared from the Hüsker Dü/Sugar punk rock/alt rock legend’s 15th solo album, which arrives in March. Although his new collection’s being billed as “a group of straightforward guitar pop songs”, this track’s a more accomplished mid-paced rocker of the sort that peppered his mid-late 00s work, but there’s still plenty to like, not least the “razor blade renegade” line.

Montreal punk ‘n rollers Taxi Girls don’t yet have a full album out, but on the strength of ‘Lion’s Share’ it’ll be one to check out, particularly for fans of The Donnas. The song’s actually the b-side to their ‘Rainy’ 7” and sees the four-piece take aim at a someone who takes up more mental space than they deserve - and the sense of freedom that letting go brings. Rocking in all the rights places, ‘Lion’s Share’ is two and a half minutes of poppy punk.

Pop-punk - easy to attempt, hard to do well. On ‘Can’t Catch a Break’ The Lockdowns approach Lillingtons levels of melody as they move beyond their ‘Ramones-core’ beginnings. The Houston, Texas band’s debut album dropped in early December, unfortunately ensuring little publicity for it amid the flurry of year end lists, but its blast of 11 songs in less than 22 and a half minutes is one to check.

Slowing things down a bit from there are Möuth, who bring stoner, psych rock from Stockholm, Sweden. The power trio’s ‘Sheep’ is one of the advance songs from their debut album Global Warning, which will arrive next month.

Covers of iconic, much loved songs can be divisive (just ask Noel Gallagher). PJ Harvey’s ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’, recorded for the soundtrack of Irish black comedy series Bad Sisters, strips back much of the instrumentation of the Joy Division original to retain the track’s essence. That it does that with drums from Mates Of State and a Velvet Underground-era John Cale violin/viola part is testament to Polly’s artistry.

At the start of ‘Eye of the Storm’ Daves briefly make you wonder whether they’re going to be the sort of landfill indie band that gazes up, doe-eyed at Liam Gallagher, before they swiftly dispel such an awful notion by kicking the shit out of their instruments. The DIY punk trio from Leeds here in the UK formed in 2016 and put out two singles on tiny local label One Step Outside Records in 2018 before Covid derailed their plans. Now they’re back and, having taken on Union Jack-clad bigotry in ‘An Act of Terrorism’, ‘Eye of the Storm’ sees them finding serenity after battling depression.

Fighting with the Undertow - Dec’24/Jan ‘25 update

1. Bob Mould - Here We Go Crazy

2. The Lockdowns - Can’t Catch a Break

3. Mogwai - Fanzine Made of Flesh

4. Taxi Girls - The Lion’s Share

5. Boob Sweat - Short & Sweet

6. Throwing Muses - Summer of Love

7. Chastity - Feeling Loved Feeling Fucked

8. The Men - Pony

9. Daves - Eye of the Storm

10. Franz Ferdinand - Hooked

11. Reckoner - She is the Knife

12. Sphere - If You Want It

13. Möuth - Sheep

14. Soft Loft - Leave the Light On

15. Drop Nineteens - Shannon Waves

16. Interpol - Say Hello to the Angels (live)

17. Jellephant - Earsore

18. Felt - Antlers

19. Witch Hunt - Flushed Away

20. PJ Harvey with Tim Phillips - Love Will Tear Us Apart

Playlist image and main image by Philipp Pilz on Unsplash