Some of my favorite music of 2025 (mk)
What is a blog for if we cannot do whatever we want with it? Most of the writing here will be (loosely) academic, but given my most recent artist statement revisions and the fact that the world is on fire, I think it makes a little bit of sense to tell you about something we used to do at the record store: Make a list of our favorite music of the year. In no particular order, here’s mine:
Destroyer, Dan’s Boogie
“That’s life, a lot of near hits,
Some misses,”
What else is there to say? Dan gets me.
Stereolab, Instant Holograms on Metal Film
Part of me was just so excited they were making music again. With that said, there’s a chord progression/key change in the first section of “Immortal Hands” that floors me every time I hear it. It’s like clouds parting. I wish I could bottle that feeling.
Matmos, Metallic Life Review
I got to finally see them live in Louisville this past summer. It was worth the drive.
Every time I try to explain these guys to someone new, I get the most deranged looks. “On one album, they play a cow uterus.” I honestly don’t know why this doesn’t at least inspire curiosity. This one is all metal objects and there is a physicality to it that I enjoy a lot. I would say ‘phenomenological,’ but my hand-rolled cigarette is clouding up the computer screen a bit and I just spilled a little water on my Merleau-Ponty books.
Cindy Lee, Cat O’ Nine Tails (new to me)
Who's ready for some good ol’ pretension? I liked Cindy Lee before “Diamond Jubilee” came out. I was a huge fan of Women, always wanted to see them live, and was so sad when they broke up but it gave us two interesting bands in its wake: Cindy Lee and Preoccupations (although Preoccupations’ best record, in my humble opinion, is their first, when they were called VietCong, not great, I know). I liked the haunted quality of the early Cindy Lee records; it felt like catching something cool on a late-night drive from a (slightly) alternate dimension. I read about this on Reddit when it was first getting passed around and just chalked it up to another thing I would miss out on, and wham, he rereleased it.
Tortoise, Touch
Another important college band to me that surprised me by putting out a new record. I drove to Lexington to see them play and then taught the next day. I am out of concert shape but it was worth it.
Foxwarren, 2
I respect a lot of Andy Shauf’s work but don’t always fall in love with it. For some reason, I hold it at arm’s length. However, I really enjoyed the vibe of the first Foxwarren album and looked forward to this. If you like samples of old movies and really skilled indie-pop, this is for you (and me).
Deerhoof, Noble and Godlike in Ruin
Deerhoof, still crushing it after all these years. And while no one ever really knows, they seem from afar to be great people, too.
All the William Tylers (solo and Four Tet)
Tyler put out two albums this year, his solo Time Infinite and a collaboration with Four Tet. Time Infinite feels like it is going to disintegrate in parts to me (actually, some of it does remind me just a bit of William Basinski’s Disintegration Loops). It took me a few listens, but I came to really love it, especially on headphones. The collaboration with Four Tet caught me off guard, not because I thought they wouldn’t be into each other’s music but because it made the music world feel very intimate to me. When this one works, I love the way they play with melody and just a bit of dissonance.
Geese/Cameron Winter stuff
I think this is on almost every list, so I will just say the Geese performance on From the Basement on youtube is worth your time if you haven’t seen it.
Eiko Ishibashi/Jim O’Rourke, Antigone & Pareidolia
Eiko’s soundtrack/instrumental work was how I first really came to love her. She did the soundtrack for Drive My Car (an incredible movie) and made this thing called For McCoy, inspired by her love of “Law and Order.” This is one of her ‘pop’ records, which means we get melody and some outer limits jazz writing mixed together. Unpredictable and so enjoyable. I love how she and O’Rourke play off each other. Pareidolia is more out there with field recordings and such, if you, like me, enjoy that kind of thing.
Uhlmann, Johnson, Wilkes, S/T
This is a Sunday morning jazz record that makes me very emotional. Seriously, I almost cry 3/4’s of the way through it every time. I never listened to it at work because I figured I would get committed if someone walked into my often while I was blubbering with headphones on. Sublime.
Golomb, The Beat Goes On
This is a band from Columbus that I saw open for Basic with about 15 other people. That night, I really enjoyed Basic a lot. But when I think about that concert, I think about Golomb and how I went from “I liked that song” to “Wow, these people are incredible!" in about four songs. Just a super-fun record that I enjoy playing at ‘home alone’ volume.
Tim Barnes, Noumena and Lost Words
I just want to go on record that if I were a billionaire, one thing I would do is give all these digital publications with a deep love for what they are doing all of my money. Since I’m not in that tax bracket, I am forced to pick and choose who to support and Aquarium Drunkard is one of those sites. I just like their whole deal. They wrote about Barnes, his terminal condition, his family, and his creative life; it broke my heart, and I bought these records. The collaborators here are just a murder’s row of musicians. What a life.
Oneohtrix Point Never, Tranquilizer
Sometimes I think about what musician/artist I could be, given my skill set. Actually, that’s not quite right. Sometimes I think about what musician/artist I wish I could be given my interests if I was only 75% more talented. Daniel Lopatin might be that because of the way he works with archives and sound. I’m in awe.
Cate Le Bon/Horsegirl, Michelangelo Dying & Phonetics On and On
My favorite Cate Le Bon will probably always be Mug Museum or Crab Day because I love the way she plays guitar and those are two guitar records. Seeing “What’s Not Mine” live was an experience. But she clearly has a point of view and writes good songs and helps others make their albums better. I will always check out everything she touches.
Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling, and Andreas Werliin, Ghosted III
Do you like drone and komische music? I do.
Steve Gunn, Daylight, Daylight
In my mind, I pair this record with Uhlmann, Johnson, and Wilkes. First, it sounds absolutely spectacular, down to the smallest detail. The first track, “Nearly There,” is achingly beautiful and sets the stage for the rest of the album. The songwriting language is both familiar and strange.
Lapgan, Lapgan is Ecstatic
One of my favorite rap/hip-hop related things I heard this year is this remix of Mos Def’s album The Ecstatic. Lapgan completely reworks the soundscape of the original and helps me hear it again for the first time. Bookmarking this one for talking about the importance of context with my students.
Orcutt, Shelley, Miller, S/T
Face=melted
Pino Palladino and Blake Mills, That Wasn’t a Dream
When these two made their first record together with Sam Gendel playing saxophone all over it, I had two thoughts: I love this and I hope they do it again. They did it again. Pino and Blake, if you are reading this (you are not), I will buy everything you put out.
Jeff Tweedy Twilight Override & Califone, The Villager’s Companion
Jeff Tweedy is wildly productive with his output, while Tim Rutili is a little more restrained. With that said, one thing I admire about both is that they seem set on maintaining a creative practice that shifts and changes as they age. I realize I probably could say the exact same thing about Dan Bejar and Dylan and Joni Mitchell, so maybe don’t overthink this and just appreciate their work in the world.
So that’s it. That’s my list. I will probably think of something else I wish I put on this later (damnit! Horse Lords!), but that’s life. Two things I am thinking about now that I have this list:
All the digital streaming services may be making things too accessible. Don’t misunderstand me, I use Apple Music and pay for our family plan, so I’m not exempting myself. It feels like some Faustian bargain: you can learn about all these new things but will you ever really spend enough time with them to love them? Do we lose a little bit of our souls through this technology? David Grubb’s book on John Cage, Records Ruin the Landscape, talks a bit about how music is meant to be experienced live and the record is a bastardization of this experience. I don’t agree with that, but it is interesting to think about and might be right, but I love the form of the record too much to go that way.
This was enjoyable to do. I haven’t done this in many, many years. The biggest difference between the last time I did this and now is that last time, ashamedly, I thought my list had some claim to expertise or thought of myself as a bit of a gatekeeper. But I am not that, I am an appreciator of things. Let us shout our appreciation to the heavens.
