It would probably be financially prudent for me to keep vinyl in the shrink wrap. Let it age a bit. Collect value. Appreciate.
Thanks, but no thanks. I hit the 300-record milestone with my vinyl collection recently. I’m proud to say that all of them have been listened to at least once.
That’s because every time I buy new vinyl — whether it is at a show, at a record store, or ordered online — it has to be spun before it can get properly put on the shelf. It’s a rite of passage.
This is a problem if I ever plan to sell any of them. I don’t.
The bigger problem? That I have this bad habit whenever I buy new vinyl, where I set the record down on my dining table, and then I just buy more.
The stack of un-listened records gets taller.
Taller.
Taller.
Eventually, it is borderline unsafe to have this many records stacked on one another.
So there’s typically one day of purging, where I sit and listen to every album in the stack. Ideally, this day falls in sync with a day of chores or a lazy Sunday morning.
Last weekend, Mia and I tidied the place up and listened to albums by Simon & Garfunkel, Momma, The Goalie’s Anxiety At The Penalty Kick, Olivia Rodrigo, Foxing, jasmine.4.t, Danielle Durack, Blair Borax and Cottonwood Firing Squad.
It was a righteous and satisfying binge, a SportsCenter Top 10 of my music habits for the month prior.
When you listen to nine albums back to back to back, the whole day moves at a sort of breakneck pace. You sit with the froth of each album. Certain lines resonate more with the liner notes in front of you. In this weekend’s case, it was this bit from “Looks Like Nothing” by Foxing:
I blend the lows and the highs
Until they all become one lie
That's what I wanted it to feel like
Also, this little snippet from “Leaf” by The Goalie’s Anxiety at the Penalty Kick:
I know I’m a little behind on what I wanted to get done this year
Found a secret way to never get my feelings hurt
Found a sticker yesterday with a leaf on it
So this week in the blog, I thought … why not replicate that feeling of plowing through a stack of records? Because the proverbial Pisa of albums I have not written about yet has been leaning.
I planned to write about five of my latest favorites in April; then I wrote an NFL Draft thing instead. I planned to write about 15 of them a few weeks ago; I ended up doing a combo blog that pushed aggressively against the email word count.
So here we are, watching a leaning tower of wax tilt hazardously toward the window. And I hope you’ll help me catch these albums before they tumble.
These are some records from 2025 that you should hear, delivered at 77 RPM. One sentence, one song, one lyric, per album.
I considered picking 25 or 30 albums but thought I’d go for a nice, round number instead.
Here’s 28.
Part 1: Yup, they’ve still got it!
These artists have high expectations for a reason.
Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE
Justin Vernon gets a little soulful with it, and it works especially well on the riveting second disc.
Favorite song: “Day One (with Dijon & Flock of Dimes)”
Favorite lyric: I am afraid of changing / And when it comes the time to check and rearrange shit / There are things behind things behind things (“THINGS BEHIND THINGS BEHIND THINGS”)
Saba & No ID - From The Private Collection of Saba & No ID
Two of hip-hop’s most consistent creatives team up for 15 shadowy, memorable tracks.
Favorite song: “She Called It (feat. Frsh Waters & Tru)”
Favorite lyric: Don't you know I gave you keys before you had a piano? (“How To Impress God”)
Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong
The band’s second post-Isaac Wood project is a lot more spritely, but still packs the signature, expansive BCNR punch.
Favorite song: “Goodbye (Don’t Tell Me)”
Favorite lyric: How many things can one read till they feel they're not afraid of it all? (“Socks”)
Julien Baker & TORRES - Send a Prayer My Way
The country collab from Julien Baker & TORRES is a breezy Trojan Horse hiding heavy reflections on addiction and queer love.
Favorite song: “Dirt”
Favorite lyric: And everything I begged of you comes bouncing off the clouds / Now I just hear my own voice saying ‘Help me’ twice as loud (“Showdown”)
Great Grandpa - Patience, Moonbeam
An asymmetrical collection of indie-rock textures, knotted together by Al Menne’s gentle vocals and the band’s immersive songwriting.
Favorite song: “Task”
Favorite lyric: All good things in time define thеir meaning / And fold sweet ends into their own mouths / Around the tree we stirred the hatchling garter / And felt that sight held weight in our lives (“Kid”)
Aminé - 13 Months of Sunshine
Only Aminé, rap’s most charismatic emcee, could put a Waxahatchee feature and Hellogoodbye interpolation back-to-back — and it’s not even the most memorable moment on the album.
Favorite song: “New Flower! (feat. Leon Thomas)”
Favorite lyric: I am not a nepo baby, no trust funds, so it's fuck you, pay me / These n****s glazin', they ways is shady / So I must put 'em in a grave like Kacey (“Arc de Triomphe”)
Part 2: Winnesota
The Twin Cities just can’t stop winning (somebody please tell the Wolves).
Harlow - Cows Come Home
Fifty minutes of moody, country-tinged freeway rock, stretched as thin as lake foam.
Favorite song: “Deathbed”
Favorite lyric: It’s the deja vu / I’m supposed to know you (“Old New Friends”)
Samia - Bloodless
A combination of cryptic, tick-covered imagery and critical self-study makes Bloodless Samia’s densest, most impressive album yet.
Favorite song: “Bovine Excision”
Favorite lyric: To be loved like a child's toy or cigarette is to die a funny feeling in a chest (“Proof”)
Kiernan - Always, I Love You
A relentless indie-folk storybook, full of tales that are as restless and warm as the backseat on a family road trip.
Favorite song: “AILY”
Favorite lyric: Every now and then I think about the daffodils I planted last spring / I can do things by myself / But lately I’ve been feeling / So unhelpful (“Unhelpful”)
Walker Rider - Fair
For fans of the Asheville alt-country onslaught of the last several years, this will feel like a gift from Americana Heaven, delivered alongside a semi-cold PBR and a rusty tailgate seat.
Favorite song: “Til’ I’m Through”
Favorite lyric: I was not prepared for loving you / And now it's all I do (“Free”)
Porch Light - Porch Light (EP)
The brisk, debut Porch Light EP is chock full of yearning indie-rock hits and lives up to the band’s massive social media buzz.
Favorite song: “Fall Back”
Favorite lyric: Hanging on just to stay on the surface / Then they're gone, nothing left but a witness (“Over Flow”)
Part 3: Twang Time
This is for all my fellow “Elderberry Wine” enjoyers.
Dutch Interior - Moneyball
Often over whirring pedal steel and muddy guitar riffs, Moneyball vibrates like an ATV going off-trail, leaving behind a dusty scent of home.
Favorite song: “Wood Knot”
Favorite lyric: I wanna be where the people are / Turns out most of them are actually really far (“Fourth Street”)
Ken Pomeroy - Cruel Joke
Pomeroy’s bone-cutting candor and sparse instrumentation makes Cruel Joke, a collection of earthly and timeless songs, perhaps this year’s best Americana album.
Favorite song: “Flannel Cowboy”
Favorite lyric: I met someone I didn't want to talk to / She said my Saturn was on fire / What a liar / I am a liar (“Cicadas”)
Lily Seabird - Trash Mountain
With wildflowers at its edges and paragraph-packed lyricism at its center, Trash Mountain is everything you want a folk album to be.
Favorite song: “Trash Mountain (1pm)”
Favorite lyric: I hear that train whistle blowing as I sing to you tonight / And do you remember when we said we’d ride those rails together till we died? (“Albany”)
Truman Sinclair - American Recordings
With his DIY emo and bedroom-folk background, Sinclair steps into country music with ease, stringing together velcro-like hooks, quippy lyricism and a little harmonica as a cherry on top.
Favorite song: “Frank”
Favorite lyric: There's spaceship drones and dinosaur bonеs / And love is the answer, you turn it like stone (“Bloodline”)
Colin Miller - Losin’
Light as a whisper, Miller — prolific producer-engineer and touring drummer for The Wind — simmers over these reserved alt-country tracks, delivering with the Haw Creek musical tree’s knack for lyrical vignettes.
Favorite song: “Thunder Road”
Favorite lyric: I don’t need another Christmas morning / I don’t need another birthday picture cake / I just need you here for a second (“Lost Again”)
Free Range - Lost & Found
Following their 2023 debut Practice was a tall task, but Free Range met those expectations gracefully on Lost & Found, an album of earworms that has an Elliott Smith-ish acoustic intimacy.
Favorite song: “Big Star”
Favorite lyric: I stayed with my past as long as it took me to let go / There’s no sense in trying to protect me from my ghosts (“Storm”)
Part 4: Let’s rock, let’s roll
Rock isn’t dead, you’re just not looking.
Park National - You Have To Keep Searching
Perfectly paced, tenderly written and consistently catchy, You Have To Keep Searching is a godsend for those who love sappier and softer emo acts like Valleyheart or Innerlove.
Favorite song: “Edgerly”
Favorite lyric: On the dash of grandma’s old Corolla / A Radiohead CD / If there was one thing you taught me, it’s how to disappear completely (“Your Mom’s House”)
Slow Joy - A Joy So Slow At Times I Don’t Think It’s Coming
With guitar riffs that sound like they’re stuffed in a zipped-up hoodie, begging to break the teeth, Slow Joy’s debut LP is easily one of this year’s most explosive, form-bending emo projects.
Favorite song: “Until The End”
Favorite lyric: Lay me on the floor so I can kiss the pretty world (“Bent”)
Momma - Welcome To My Blue Sky
With a new album that somehow rivals the flawless Household Name, it’s abundantly clear that Momma is one of the best bands on the planet — and if the music world was just, they’d probably have arenas full of people to prove it.
Favorite song: “Stay All Summer”
Favorite lyric: It's so hard to hold on / To the driveway, the front yard / The dying grass and dead dogs (“My Old Street”)
The Casper Fight Scene - S/T
Grab a cheap beer and hustle to your favorite Midwest venue to see these new Casper Fight Scene tracks, which manage to feel like both a bucket of explosives and a pile of embers.
Favorite song: “Motorcycle”
Favorite lyric: Stay until you’re sober / Before you get in your car / Maybe we can talk things over / I don't care if you think out loud (“Cadillac Deathtrap”)
Beddy Rays - Do What Ya Wanna
Beddy Rays — Australia’s most fest-ready indie-rockers — follow up their booze-soaked 2022 self-titled with another collection of rollicking bangers.
Favorite song: “Silverline”
Favorite lyric: Waste of time / Wouldn't take a leaf out of your gutter (“A Million Times”)
girlpuppy - Sweetness
This year’s best breakup album is a relentless slew of slow-burners, capped by a cathartic closing sequence that will heal any broken heart.
Favorite song: “I Was Her Too”
Favorite lyric: I hear you in my voice / I see you in my eyes / Yesterday I noticed that you’re not listening to any of the music we liked (“In My Eyes”)
Part 5: It’s sad folk summer, baby
I can’t stop telling people that 2025 is the year of the soft folk album. Here’s why.
Darci Phenix - Sable
Draped with pillow-soft guitar strums and forest metaphors, Sable is a necessary album for wanderers looking to soundtrack a morning hike (or maybe a needed epiphany).
Favorite song: “Hummingbird”
Favorite lyric: Pretend to be an airplane and circle me in yellow rainbows until I believe I deserve to be happy (“In Plain Speak”)
Árný Margrét - I Miss You, I Do
Backed by an All-Star team of producers (Brad Cook, Josh Kaufman, Andrew Berlin), this Icelandic folk singer immediately steals your attention with her feathery vocals and lush, minimalist instrumentation.
Favorite song: “I Love You”
Favorite lyric: One day we'll meet like nothing ever happened / Talk about the bruises on our feet / And we'll think of the time we shared once upon a time, linking arms on the street (“I Miss You, I Do”)
Clara Mann - Rift
A perfect score for a rainy day, Rift is wall-to-wall with quicksand acoustics, haunting lyrics and Lenker-esque vocal quivers.
Favorite song: “Oranges”
Favorite lyric: Sometimes you call, so I never sleep (“Stadiums”)
chrysalis - dog songs
Full of questions and looking for answers, chrysalis rocks out a bit on this new LP, which has myriad memorable one-liners and campfire-ready folk songs.
Favorite song: “do you?”
Favorite lyric: I'm tired of ‘what’s-your-names’ / With time, it stays the same / Can I age old with you? (“angel sent”)
Florist - Jellywish
On my favorite album of the year so far, Florist examines — with gut-wrenching precision — love, nature, wonder, deterioration and the way these things interact.
Favorite song: “Our Hearts In A Room”
Favorite lyric: Is this love something that blends into the sky? / Or is it placed upon the countertop? / It's been a long time since we laughed until we cried / It's been a short time in the entirety of life (“Gloom Designs”)
Excellent list thank you.
The biggest ommission in my book is Dove Ellis’s ‘Blizzard’.
I dig your commitment to one sentence descriptions.