STILL EDITING THIS
BEST SINGLES OF 2025
Alex Orange Drink "Queen Victoria".(feat Conor Oberst) & "Everything Is Broken"
Alison Krauss & Union Station. "Looks Like The End of The Road"
Bob Dylan & Barbra Streisand. "The Very Thought Of You"
The Beths. "No Joy". & "Mother, Pray For Me"
Bright Eyes. "1st World Blues".
Ben Kweller. "Optimystic" & "Dollar Store" (feat Waxahatchee)
Bob Mould. "Here We Go Crazy" & "Neanderthal" & "When Your Hear Is Broken".
Bonnie "Prince" Billy. "Downstream" & "London May" & "Turned To Dust (Rolling On)"
Bright Eyes. "Dyslexic Palindrome" (feat Hurray For The Riff Raff). Bright Eyes & Cursive. "Recluse I Don't Have To Love"
Dropkick Murphys. "Who Will Stand With Us" (Unreleased Live) & "Sirens" & "Who Will Stand With Us" Dropkick Murphys. "A Hero Among Many". Tribute to Welles Crowther who died saving others on 9/11.
Fiona Apple. "Pretrial (Let Her Go Home)" & "Heart Of Gold" (Neil Young cover)
Fontaines D.C. "It's Amazing To Be Young" & "Before You I Just Forget" & "In Heaven"
Flea. "A Plea". Famed bass player is on his trumpet here. Half the track is a jazz meditation, the other half a screed on the world today. And the video is, uh, one of a kind.
Gorillaz. "The God Of Lying" (feat Idles). Follows collabs with Sparks and Trueno & Proof.
Geese. "This Must Be The Place".
The Hard Quartet. "Lies (Something You Can Do)" (feat Pavement's Stephen Malkmus)
Hurray For The Riff Raff. "Pyramid Scheme"
Janie Ian & Joan Baez. "One In A Million". Cool, new protest anthem.
Jill Sobule. "Underdog Victorious" (from a musical F*ck 7th Grade being developed by the late singer/songwriter, who died recently in a tragic house fire)
The Hard Quartet. "Lies (Something You Can Do)" & "Coreopsis Trail" feat Stephen Malkmus
Hurray For The Riff Raff. "Pyramid Scheme"
jasmine.4.t. "Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation" feat Phoebe Bridgers, Lucy Dacus & Julien Baker.
Julien Baker & Torres. "Sylvia". & "Tuesday" & "Sugar In The Tank".
Manu Chao & Juliana Linhares. "Melo Do Bode"
The Minus 5. "Blow In My Bag".
MJ Lenderman. "Dancing In The Club" (This Is Lorelei cover)
Manu Chao & Juliana Linhares. "Melo Do Bode" (Mestre Vieira cover)
The Molotovs. "More More More"
Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts. "Let's Roll Again"
Neko Case. "Wreck". & "Winchester Mansion of Sound"
The Molotovs. "Today's Gonna Be Our Day". & "Suffragette City".
Robert Plant. "Everybody's Song" (Low cover) & "Gospel Plough"
Shame. "Quiet Life". & "Sparktak"
Suede. "Dancing With The Europeans" & "Trance State"
Stella Donnelly. "Baths".
Tom Morello. "Pretend To Remember Me".
Toro Y Moi. "CD-R (unerthed)"
The New Pornographers. "Ballad Of The Last Payphone"
Suzanne Vega. "Speakers' Corner"
Ty Segall. "Fantastic Tomb". "Possession"
Pup. "Get Dumber" (feat Jeff Rosenstock)
Shame. "Cutthroat".
Sparks. "Drowned In A Sea Of Tears"
Suede. "Disintegrate".
Tyler, The Creator. "That Guy"
Vienna Vienna. "God Save The Queens"
Vicki Peterson & John Cowsill. "A Thousand Times"
Wavves. "Goner" & "Lucky Stars"
Wednesday. "Elderberry Wine". (feat MJ Lenderman) & "Wound Up Here (By Holding On)
Kim Gordon. "Bye Bye 25". Updated political version.
Kneecap. "The Recap".
Wednesday. "Wound Up Here (By Holding On)" & "Pick Up That Knife" & "Bitter Everyday".
Wet Leg. "Davina McCall"
Woody Guthrie. "Deportees (Plane Wreck At Los Gatos)".
Zach Bryan. "Bowery" (feat Kings Of Leon).
Sugar. "House of Dead Memories". Bob Mould's band's first new release in three decades.
Joni Mitchell & Neil Young. "Raised On Robbery". Also this version by Jesca Hoop & Friends.
José González. "Pajarito".
BEST ALBUMS OF 2025
Aesop Rock. I Heard It's A Mess There Too. His second album this year. Hip hop for people who don't like hip hop? Well it is refreshing to hear clever smart rhymes instead of mere bragging.
The Avett Brothers & Mike Patton. AVTT/PTTN. Cool Americana-ish collaboration between The Brothers and the innovative Mr. Mike Patton.
The Beths. Straight Line Was a Lie.
Aesop Rock. Black Hole Superette. Something different and interesting and cool.
Alan Sparhawk. With Trampled By Turtles. Former Low frontman collab with Trampled By Turtles works on many levels.
Bob Mould. Here We Go Crazy. Former Husker Du frontman back with a solid album.
Jenny Hval. Iris Silver Mist. Beautiful singing.
Julien Baker & Torres. Send A Prayer My Way. Best damned singin' lesbian cowgirls out there.
The Minus 5. Oar On, Penelope! Love it!
Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts. Talkin To The Trees.
Pavement. Pavements. (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
Peggy Seeger. Teleology. The 89-year-old legend returns with a strong new album.
Peter Doherty. Felt Better Alive. A Libertine goes solo with some cool new songs.
Juan Wauters. Mvd Luv. Nice, gentle songs in Spanish and English.
Laura Jane Grace. Adventure Club.
Lord Huron. The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1. Dreamy little epics.
Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts. Talkin to the Trees. Surprisingly strong album from this vet.
No Joy. Bugland.
Queens Of The Stone Age. Alive In The Catacombs. Intriguing.
Tyler Childers. Snipe Hunter. Rick Rubin-produced country gone wild, genre-bending, etc.
Tyler, The Creator. Don't Tap The Glass. He's a creative little bastard, innit he?
Mavis Staples. Sad and Beautiful World. Love her.
Orcutt Shelley Miller. Orcutt Shelley Miller. Being a word-oriented guy, I hate instrumentals, but for some inexplicable reason, I find Bill Orcutt's guitar instrumentals, full of feedback drone and fuzz, incredibly compelling. He's suddenly all over the place, an unlikely rock star, but fresh and exciting. He's helped here by bassist Ethan Miller and drummer Steve Shelley from Sonic Youth.
Snocaps. Snocaps. Surprise album from new group feat Katie Crutchfield of Waxahatchee and her twin sister Allison Crutchfield, (along with MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook) has indie rock, jangle pop, and hints of Americana, all with great harmonies. Check it out. BEST NEW ALBUM.
Willie Nelson. Workin' Man: Willie Sings Merle. Willie's Tribute to Merle Haggard.
Wreckless Eric. England Screaming. We know and love him from his 1977 punk classic "Whole Wide World", but he's still at it in 2025. This album is actually pretty good and worth checking out.
Bob Dylan. Through The Open Window, The Bootleg Series Vol 18, 1956 - 1963 feat "Boots Of Spanish Leather".. Focus on Bob's early career and his transition from Minnesota teen to NYC folkie "unwashed phenomenon".
Curtis Mayfield. The Makings Of: A Curtis Mayfield Collection. The soundtrack of the Curtis documentary is a nice overview of his amazing career.
Devo. Energy Dome Frequencies: Songs From The DEVO Documentary. Classic.
Faces. Early Steps. Rhino (love them!) just released this collection of alternate takes for the first Faces album First Step (1970) feat Rod Stewart (voice), Ronnie Wood (guitar), the late Ronnie Lane (bass), the late Ian McLagan (keys), and Kenney Jones (drums), recorded shortly after the band formed from the ashes of The Small Faces (feat Steve Marriott) and The Jeff Beck Group. Now we're waiting for the rumored NEW Faces album and tour feat Rod Stewart, Ronnie Wood, and Kenney Jones to emerge in 2026.
Sly & The Family Stone. Sly Lives! (AKA The Burden Of Black Genius). Mega-Classics. The First Family: Live at the Winchester Cathedral 1967. Early appearance by the ensemble. Great stuff.
Ted Lucas. Ted Lucas. Interesting folkish album from back in the day, rediscovered.
The Who. The Best Of & Greatest Hits Live Broadcast Collection. The Best.
Bruce Springsteen. Lost And Found (Selections From The Lost Albums). Some of this is really good but doesn't sound at all like the Springsteen we're used to. Bruce Springsteen. Electric Nebraska 1982 (Expanded Edition). Out October 24, 2025 feat "Born in the U.S.A.".
Jimi Hendrix. Bold As Love - The Axis: Bold As Love Sessions. Simply great!
Thin Lizzy. 74-75 - Night Life/Fighting. Their first two albums feat the classic line-up, with several bonus tracks. All these years later, the twin guitar attack of Thin Lizzy, along with their frontman, the immortal and singular Black Irishman, Phil Lynott, still rings strong in the valleys and on every mountainside. Feat "She Knows" from a session with John Peel in 1974.
The Who. Who Are You (Super Deluxe). This 1978 classic was the last album The Who did with psycho drummer with a heart of gold Keith Moon. The Super Deluxe version contains lots of extras including some live rehearsals and concerts showing the band trying to plot a path forward from tragedy. The Who. Live At The Oval 1971. BEST ARCHIVAL....
Woody Guthrie. Woody At Home, Vol. 1 + 2. Twenty-two previously unreleased recordings by an American master. Some of the songs we've heard before, but others are completely "new". Guthrie made these recordings at home for a publisher and the intimacy is powerful. A new classic. BEST "NEW" ARCHIVAL RELEASE.
