Sound Check

After a reorganizational break in October, Ondarock's monthly playlists are back: a regular appointment with the latest new releases, an easy guide through the many facets of today's musical landscape. As always, we invite you to let yourselves be carried away by selections organized according to each of the site's sections: there's certainly something for everyone's taste.

Among the best autumn releases of 2025, our playlist features – among others – the new project Snocaps (Waxahatchee + MJ Lenderman), bar italia, Jay Soms, Sprints and the surprising Agriculture, authors of what could well be recognized as the metal album of the year… (Claudio Lancia)

Pop muzik

Rosalía takes on the mainstream world: is hers the pop album of the year? (Daniel Moor)

Dark corner

An autumn rich with interesting releases: from the more relaxed atmospheres of Rosa Anschütz and the surprising Nightbus, we move on to industrial-pop gems courtesy of Patriarchy (this month's dark pick) and Pixel Grip. There's also room for a dark-club bomb from the recent Ep by Years Of Denial and for the new single by Colombia's Noromakina. Finally, we soar with the superb return of Anna Von Hausswolff and with an appendix dedicated to the darkest and most visceral metal, where the veteran Samael and the ever-reliable Blut Aus Nord stand out. (Paolo Chemnitz)

Electronic

The new Ep from Kelly Lee Owens leads a long list of tracks made for dancing, but not only that. Here's our roundup featuring some of the best releases of recent months… (Claudio Lancia)

Songwriter

A selection with an autumnal mood to fight off the encroaching cold. Best enjoyed with a nice hot chocolate, with extra whipped cream, obviously. (Daniel Moor)

As we head toward the end of the year, there's no shortage of notable releases. Anna Von Hausswolff convinces as our November album of the month, and hits the mark just as well do Shedir and Claire Rousay's return to emo-ambient with A Little Death, both chosen as top picks in their respective sections. The list also includes the ever-fascinating Širom and Necks, and much more besides. (Peppe Trotta)

Italy

The widely acclaimed new albums by Venerus and Andrea Laszlo De Simone, plus the Baustelle & Tananai duet, are just a few of the picks featured in this selection dedicated to the most interesting Italian releases of the past few weeks. Enjoy the listen… (Claudio Lancia)

Jazz

Over the past few months we hope we've convinced you: to get into today's jazz scenes, you don't necessarily have to be a die-hard fan of bebop, free jazz and other glorious styles of the past. The landscape is overflowing with stylistic crossovers, in which jazz frameworks become a kind of lingua franca, facilitators of exchange. Anything but an anchor of rigidity, then, and November's playlist tries to confirm exactly that: leaving orthodoxy to others, it focuses on the most hybrid proposals around – from the post-punk/jazz-rock of Poland's Variété to the nu jazz-tinged hip hop of the acclaimed Alfa Mist. And then there's the dark, electronic hues of Dictaphone, the chanson reinvented by Cécile McLorin Salvant, the near-post-rock guitar work of Eli Winter, and the London explorations of Tom Skinner, drummer of The Smile. (Marco Sgrignoli)