Alive and Spaced but All So Beautiful: November 2025

Written By Stephen Bands

phew, they’re gone now

Having an honest to God democratic socialist as the leader of the country’s biggest city feels like a win for society and sanity. But, I’m sure Cankles and the Couch Fucker will find a way to ruin that high in about one minute.

Spooky Season is over and the only thing more depressing than realizing that you’ve ingested more Halloween candy than you gave out is how quickly Lowe’s replaced the giant skeletons with goddamn Christmas trees before it’s even Thanksgiving. It also means that we are rapidly winding down on this year’s qualifying window for the best albums. It’s okay though, there’s plenty of great music to check out this month.

The Listen List

An update about what’s out now and what people around the internet are talking about

October

** must-listen

The Rewind

A look back at a favorite from (at least five) years past

Dopes to Infinity

Monster Magnet

Stoner Rock | 1995

Ususally, I would start these Rewinds with a long explanation of why a band is great, how their sound came about, or where and when I first heard it. Waxing philosophical about music is…kinda my thing.

However, every once in a while, there’s an album so awesome, rad, and kick-ass that it doesn’t need any of that. It just needs to be. And you just need to listen to it.

Thirty years ago, the New Jersey band Monster Magnet, having already redefined stoner rock once with their mind-bending Spine of God (considered one of the three pillars of stoner rock, along with Kyuss’ Blues for the Red Sun and Sleep’s Holy Mountain), would proceed to redefine it again with perhaps the greatest album of the genre, and one of the best albums of the 1990’s, Dopes to Infinity.

The opening/title track leaks in some spacey radio waves before exploding out with the massive crunchy guitars that will be prevalent throughout the album. It is a slower, marching track, but it is heavy as a neutron star, positively headbanging. It also contains perhaps the most uplifting chorus in modern rock music, quite the feat for such the otherwise dark genre of stoner rock: “We burn that mountain down / And always pump for peace when possible / … / We are all here my friends / Alive and spaced but all so beautiful.” What a totally ass-kicking way to open an album

“Negasonic Teenage Warhead,” the second track and main single from the album, is a hard-rocking, goat-throwing track that totally kills sonically while also poking fun at the growing faux-depression of Monster Magnet’s grunge and post-grunge contemporaries. Its inclusion of more soloing guitars and the badass chorus of “I WILL DENY YOU” makes it one of the greatest hard rock songs of the 90’s.

The tempo comes down a bit for “Look to Your Orb for the Warning,” but be warned, it is the heaviest song yet. If the opener was a neutron star, this is a black hole singularity. The guitar layers are thick and sticky, the drums are pounding, it’s everything you could ever want from a hard, trance-like rock anthem. The track is over six minutes, but it’s never a slog, as Wyndorf and company leave musical treats throughout, before crescendoing into one of the loudest, most bombastic finales in rock music that’s equal parts metal and Hans Zimmer score.

“All Friends and Kingdom Come” begins with some eastern influences, but more in the…Through the Looking Glass Caterpillar smoking hashish way. It’s an unexpectedly pleasant change of pace from the ultra-weighty guitar walls of the first three tracks. The song shows Monster Magnet’s range and ability without distracting from the overall vibe of the album. Plus, that line, “I can take all your friends away,” Wyndorf wails out with the urgency of a threat made seriously. The song is everything even greats like Kyuss wish they could pull off: sonically diverse, thematically on-point, brilliantly written, perfectly executed.

Then, Jesus Christ, what an insane trip “Ego, the Living Planet” is. Buildings have fallen over from this level of quaking and destructive inertia. That the track is nearly wordless for five minutes is nothing short of astonishing, considering when I went to remind myself of the runtime I thought for sure it was under three. The propulsive, bass-heavy riff is broken only twice, for a pitch-distorted sample of Wyndorf yelling “I talk to planets, baby,” and once more for a collection of guttural screams, both sampled and real, giving the entire song a layer of dread and doom that you won’t find anywhere else.

“Blow ‘Em Off” then seemingly comes out of nowhere, with it’s almost-pleasant (comparatively) acoustic guitar set-up and tambourine-only percussion set. Then, oh my, is that strings? Yes, Monster Magnet has a straight up string arrangement in their stoner space rock. It’s such a wonderful moment on the album, that honestly, it’s the one I revisit the most, even with as butt-crushingly awesome as the rest of it is. It might be Monster Magnet’s finest album-construction moment, and it’s a 90’s alternative rock highlight.

And that’s just the first half. Holy shit, this album is so amazing that all that was just six of twelve songs. I didn’t even get to talk about the insane roadtrip that is “Third Alternative,” the head-rattling drum fusillade that is “King of Mars,” or the stoner-trance perfection of album closer “Vertigo.” Everything about Dopes to Infinity is hard rock perfection. If you need to lift weights, go for a long run, fight our waking nightmare kleptocracy, or drive roughshod through the burning wastes of the ever-looming apocalypse, this is the fucking goddamn right album for the job.

I, personally, consider this their magnum opus. Sure, they would finally get a big, charting hit with “Space Lord,” but basically everything after this is less than. Some of it is still pretty good—and in the case of 2014’s Milking the Stars, genuinely excellent—but it’s not Dopes good.

But, to be honest, literally nothing is.

Next month: wait, who wants to rule the world? Everybody?! This I gotta hear!

Now Playing

A quick look at my personal favorite recent release

Through the Wall

Rochelle Jordan

Alternative R&B

Let’s just start by saying, I was not familiar with Rochelle Jordan. I thought I’d hear a wannabe-Solange (not that Solange is a bad artist to aspire to) based purely on the cover art and how other outlets have described her.

She is not.

Through the Wall is a wonderfully bright, bouncy combination of R&B, funk, and deep house that mixes so well it makes your feet move and your rump shake just hearing the first couple notes.

“The Boy” highlights those house influences with its samples and its blippy synth lines, but that beat is undeniable. Plus, the mix of live percussion elements in a dance track…damn, it makes me wish I could insert the lip-biting emoji into this website.

“Doing It Too,” likewise, has big house influences on its sleeve, but Jordan is blasting her R&B chops overtop in a way that perfectly showcases why these two styles were meant to be married. This is an instant dance floor maker; wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, you won’t be able to stop yourself.

And those noir horns on “Close 2 Me” hit another spot deep in my electronica-nostalgia, then I’m jarred out of it by the stunningly inventive mixing and production. Jordan’s voice seems to be coming from all directions as beats slide in and out of the foreground, left, then right…now behind you somehow?! It’s a brilliant track that must be heard to be believed.

I’m glad my surface-level initial apprehension about this album didn’t keep me from experiencing it. Through the Wall is easily one of the highlights of 2025’s already pretty packed musical scene, and it will for sure be seen in various year-end lists, here and elsewhere.

Up Next

What’s coming out in the next few weeks?

November will see a couple new releases I’m pretty excited about. Maybe you are too:

  • Allie X - Happiness Is Going to Get You

  • Armand Hammer & the Alchemist - Mercy

  • AVTT/PTTN - AVTT/PTTN

  • Blondshell - Another Picture

  • Danny Brown - Stardust

  • FKA twigs - EUSEXUA Afterglow [remixes]

  • Portugal. The Man - SHISH

  • Rosalía - Lux

  • The Mountain Goats - Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan

  • The Neighbourhood - (((((ultraSOUND)))))

  • Whitney - Small Talk

Well, what releases did I miss? What’s coming out soon that you can’t wait for?

And as always, release the Epstein files.

I mean… Happy listening!

Stephen Bands
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Funny How Time Flies: December 2025
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Run Away With Me: October 2025