i've struggled this year as well. not sure if this is the year i finally "turned old" or what, but i feel like i've come across a lot less dynamite this year than usual.
Ha! This is EXACTLY what I said to my friends a couple of weeks ago before one our vinyl nights. We were going to cover 2025, BUT we switched it up to 1993 because I had the exact same problem this year.
Since that "vinyl night", I've actually found a few cool releases from this year I like. 🤓
I liked 2025 for music! I think it was a decent year, especially for classical, jazz, hip-hop and Latam folk. Not the best of the decade, not the worst. I was just lost as to what's been going on in the pop-culture zeitgeist this year. Mainstream felt oddly under the radar...
Based on year-end lists so far, the major releases I've skipped are by Wednesday, Panda Bear, Hayley Williams, Ryan Davis, Wet Leg & Pulp (is this one actually good? Always skeptical with Brit-rock comebacks)— all of which fall under that pop/rock umbrella— I also completely missed that new Big Thief record, heard very little about it upon release— and the new Quadeca keeps eluding me, but I'll get to it eventually—
But yeah, this P4k songs of the year list is baffling me. I've heard less than half of it, and what's actually there makes 2025 come across a little light. No qualms with the #1, but I wasn't expecting it at all (especially considering it's a '24 track, etc)— figured they'd go Nettles, Stateside, DTMF, Taxes, Dopamine or possibly even Miller's Funny Papers (some of which weren't even present)— I don't envy the team that had to whip up 100 tracks for '25 though... I felt the year was far more geared towards albums than singles—
Being said, '25's had some solid recent releases— these all landed my chart with ease—
Quite liked this, even if I had the feeling that I always knew what was coming next.
I thought it was a very mature record. For near 40 years now The Necks have continuously shifted their sound from a more punk-jazz to today's more minimalist-jazz, and their discography almost mimics... age? It's a very interesting progression of taste, yet they've always put out quality. Longevity wise, I'd say they're one of the better bands from the 80s still kicking (along with The Bad Seeds & possibly The Cure), making consistently intriguing releases— yet, over the course of that 40-ish years, they've always rooted their music in this base hypnotic groove, and worked every other aspect around that. Now, course, their latest has a runtime to scare off... anyone... I mean, every track is long enough to be an album by itself— but over the course of a quiet evening? Lovely record. Baffling you somehow don't tire of it. It works. Very much like waves crashing ashore—
And as much as it's 'jazz' in theory, this is very far from post-bop or modal— it leans more post-rock/ambient—
Hope BEA gives it a chance—
(Along with the other records up there) _________________ Doubles & Conch
a lot of people I'm interested in released a lot of interesting things this year but this was the stuff from this year to which I returned the most this year.
lucio capece / takako suzuki / masahide tokunaga - ただずまい tatazumai
kai fagaschinski - aerodynamics
zachary good - lake heritage
ryan packard - garden variety
michael pisaro-liu - within (2) / appearance (2)
lucy railton - blue veil
ned rothenberg - looms & legends
chiyoko szlavnics - memory spaces
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