2025 Year End

If only I had time to listen to it all

Year end is a semi-stressful time of year for the pseudo music journalist. There comes a point when I realize, it’s nearly mid-December and I’ve listened to a sliver of the new releases I’ve wanted to listen to. Do I have to do a year end “best of” list? Do I have any original thoughts about the year end bests or am I just parroting more qualified music critics?

If I was a 40+ hour a week, full time songseeker, maybe I could put in the time and thought to sort it all out, but alas…

It’s still fun, though, limited that my sample size is, so yeah, we’re doing this!

As for parroting legit music critics, I can’t pretend it’s not a possibility. The two biggest names that seem to be popping up on this year’s critic lists are Rosalía and Geese. I love the Geese album, Getting Killed, and I’m pretty sure that’s me talking and not Yasi Salek and/or Steven Hyden influencing my feelings, though it is true, both are boosters of Geese and Geese frontman, Cameron Winter. And both have podcasts I frequently listen to. So who knows really? Objectivity is a myth.

I like Cameron Winters’s voice personally, but it is a stumbling block for some when it comes to the enjoyment of the Geese album. My friend, Michael, described it as sounding like he’s singing with a mouth full of minestrone soup, which very well might be my favorite description of anything ever. He meant it as a compliment and it makes me wonder if the secret to rock and roll stardom is actually soup. What can’t it do?!?!

Sonically the album is a barrage of noise and minestrone imbued warble-screams and I love every minute of it. And though I get why some may not dig it, to me the very definition of indie rock is to present something wildly independent and unique. Cameron Winter and Geese achieve this and the album lives up to the hype. It’s definitely a top fiver for me.

As for Rosalía, I haven’t gotten around to listening to her 2025 release, LUX, in full yet. But from the first five songs I have heard, I’m sort of speechless.

First of all, let’s talk about her voice. Whaaaa? It is incredible. I don’t know how many octaves she’s darting in and out of. It’s tender and powerful all at once and jaw-droppingly beautiful.

Then there’s the sound of the album. At times it’s almost operatic in its drama. There’s swelling strings and romanticism. But then there are the pop elements and her brilliant rhythmic phrasing. As an intermediate Spanish learner, I’m not picking up on everything lyrically, but if you’re in it just for the music, you’re still going to be blown away. The arrangements and production are stunning. It’s sort of like nothing I’ve heard. Guess I’m not entirely speechless. Chills I tell you. Literal chills at the end of the songs “Divinize” and “Porcelana”.

But let’s get back to another top fiver. Mavis Staples. When I write her name out and/or say it out loud, there’s a deep reverence that I feel. Not just for her solo work and her work with her family in The Staples, but for what she stands for and represents.

Say what you will about Boomers. I’m not really about making broad generalizations about everyone in a generation, but in recent years it’s been the pastime of certain individuals in younger generations to accuse Boomers of selling out their younger values in favor of mass consumption, inequality, and rampant violence and environmental degradation.

There’s probably some truth to it, but there’s a lot of untruth to it too. Mavis represents one of the authentic voices of that generation that has never wavered from her values of peace, justice, love, joy, and a deep commitment to faith and humanity. Joan Baez is the other name that immediately comes to mind for someone close to this ilk, but let’s face it, there’s only one Mavis Staples.

Her 2025 album Sad and Beautiful World is a stunning collection of songs that weren’t written by Mavis, but when she sings them, it’s like they were somehow written with her in mind. It’s like she was preordained to one day sing them and they would hit just right for our trying times. These songs acknowledge sadness and struggle but they are filled with hope and soft whispers of joy. It’s not full on celebration music. Now’s not the time for that. It’s an album of reassuring-hand-on-your-back songs sung in the soulful, compassionate way that only Mavis can deliver. It is indeed both sad and beautiful and yet the heartbreak also feels uplifting. Such is the mystery of music. I feel blessed to share the planet at the same time with Mavis.

In no particular order, here are a few more of my favorites from 2025:

Wet Leg - moisturizer

De La Soul - Cabin in the Sky

Charley Crockett - Dollar a Day

Wednesday - Bleeds

Liam Kazar - Pilot Light

Alright, back to some other top fives:

These next two artists had albums that make my top five, but they are both favorite artists regardless, so it does beg the question, “Would these have made my year end top five no matter what?”

The answer is…probably, but that doesn’t mean they don’t deserve the designation. Both Jeff Tweedy and Margo Price are supremely talented singer songwriters who write great songs and play with incredible musicians. So yeah, I might have a bit of bias, but there’s no denying that when certain artists release new material, it’s kind of a big deal and it’s probably going to be good on some level. The question becomes, just how good?

Let’s start with Margo Price. 2025 saw her returning to her country roots with the type of album that would fit in as an appropriate companion to any “outlaw” album of the 1970s. Hard Headed Woman is Margo at her, don’t-take-no-shit finest and in many ways feels like a sequel to the album that first put her on the map, 2016’s Midwest Farmer’s Daughter.

Some people like to say that Neil Young’s albums Harvest, After the Gold Rush, and Prairie Wind form a trilogy of sorts, with songs that generally feel like they fit together, but also show Neil’s growth and difference of perspective as he ages. That’s sort of what I feel is going on with the two aforementioned Margo Price albums. Will there be a third to round out this arbitrarily decided upon trilogy? One can hope! In the meantime her voice is one of the truest examples of fearless honesty, speaking truth to power, and honey tonk troublemaking that exists.

Alright, you’ve reached the Jeff Tweedy portion of the Substack entry. I won’t spend a lot of time on his magnificent triple album Twilight Override, but I will tell you that it achieves something pretty remarkable by making a triple album seem like an easy and enjoyable listen from start to finish. I’ve not only heard double albums that are a chore to get through without skips, but I’ve heard plenty of single albums of the same ilk.

There’s a quality to these songs that I can’t quite put my finger on. There’s an observer’s eye that picks up on little details that most of us take for granted, especially in hard times. There’s a similar quality here that is shared with the Mavis album, which makes perfect sense because of the close friendship that the two have nurtured since Jeff produced a few of her albums. I suppose it’s the quality of quiet hope. It’s the strength of story and harmony to uplift and to say, “I know you’re not okay, but remember what is true and remember what is real and remember music heals.” And it’s just a great songwriter doing what he does best—writing great songs with the desire to share and connect.

To round out my top five, I’ve got to go with a stunning release from all the way back in February, courtesy of a young group of Chicago musicians that goes by the name of Horsegirl. Phonetics On and On is an impressive second album and shows their willingness to experiment and grow as songwriters and performers. I’ve seen them live twice—once opening for Wilco and once at Wilco’s Solid Sound Fest, where I was right up front and soaked in the glorious loudness of their sound. To generalize, their sound is something between garage rock, indie rock, art rock, and melodic power pop. There’s a chaotic tightness to it at times and a polished sheen to it at times. You can hear a bit of Yo La Tengo, Velvet Underground, and Sonic Youth, but you can also consider them sonic siblings to fellow Chicago band Finom.

For my top five, I think you can sort two of them in the category of, “This is who I am and what I believe.” And two can be sorted into the, “I’m not sure I can tell you what this is but you’re in for a ride, so hold on tight.” The former being the Mavis and Margo albums and the latter being the Geese and Horsegirl album.

As for the Jeff album, I think it’s a little of both categories. The song, “Feel Free” sort of tells that message. Feel free to hear the album and make of it what you will. It’s Jeff saying, “It’s me, but it’s also not me. It’s all of us and it’s something else.”

There’s so much music every year and I’m curious to hear what some of your favorites were. I apologize for omissions due to both my memory and due to the fact that I haven’t heard it all! One day maybe.

I wish you all a safe, peaceful and joyful holiday season. May it go however you need it to go…if it’s family and friends you need or if it’s quiet and alone time you need, I sincerely hope you can find it.

I may not get around to posting again until February as the holidays be holidaying and I’m getting married in late January. So needless to say, I’ll have other priorities. But with February I do hope to relaunch a podcast episode or two as well, so stay tuned for that!

Thank you so much for reading and for your support of indie Substack writers/creators. Your support means the world to me!