Best Music 🎵 of 2025!

Rip_City said:
I'll say this, listening to this isolated in a dark, quiet space (just past midnight) amplifies the music's atmosphere tenfold. It is an invitation to the void that I feel in relation to the years to come, with suffocating darkness, hopelessness, creeping tension, and whether hope can exist in a world so fraught with despair and desecration. Hayden is accurately capturing my headspace in these first weeks of 2025.

It's happening to everybody.
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Yeah, the listening room is pretty dark and it was isolated. Closer to nine. Headphones.

I guess it does capture that fairly well. Maybe that’s the issue that I want to get away from all that?
 
musicjunkiegreg said:
I would likely agree if I actually had a proper listening room and the opportunity to use it (having kids makes it tough to enjoy a loudspeaker listen appropriately). Headphones are easily accessible and can offer a sense of isolation in and of themselves, methinks.
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Oh yeah they definitely offer a sense of isolation but I’m perfectly good at isolating myself inside myself without that lol!
 
Nee Lewman said:
@Rip_City i don’t know that this kind of reaction is something to get down aboMuch ut. It is an emotionally draining album. I think that folks are calling it brilliant and reacting to it is as much as anyone could really hope for. I. don’t know about you but I don’t want to watch The Exorcist everyday. Doesn’t detract from its art, just not a headspace I want every day. It’s a lot and in a good way but it’s still a lot.

I’m actually curious about your, @musicjunkiegreg and @jt4527 ‘s reaction to it. I know you guys are saying it’s AOTY material (and to be clear it is heads and shoulders above anything else I have listened to so far this year) but is it something you want to listen to all the time? I love a good horror film or a Palahniuk novel but I’m probably good do something lighter before the next one.

I liken it to this… a couple of years ago Angel Bat Dawid released Requiem for Jazz. It might be the most important album of the decade imo, but it was not my AOTY because I don’t return to it often because it is draining. When I was younger, it probably would have been my AoTY and probably would have overtaken The Phosphorescent Blues as my Album of the Century. In the past few years I’ve realized that in the name of “art”, I often discounted things that really resonated with me. There’s something to be said for the music that just demands to be played over and over: that guy wouldn’t have put the new Lake Street Dive in his top ten last year because it wasn’t artsy enough. My thought process today is that it was returned to enough to earn a spot for me:
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On the one hand, much like @musicjunkiegreg I have only listened to a handful of new records this year, and Perverts is far and away the best out of those. On the other, this style of music is what tend to gravitate towards when I am not trying to listen to new stuff and things I perhaps wouldn't ordinarily listen to.

And to be honest, I didn't find it to be that dark when compared to other records that I would consider to be dark ambient from my favourite labels such as Cold Spring, Cold Meat Industries, Cryo Chamber or Cyclic Law.

I will definitely be giving it a few more listens though, it is excellent :)
 
After getting through my radar list for this past Friday (1.17.25), plus a few additional albums, there were some standouts.

Sarcator's newest LP, Swarming Angels & Flies was a healthy dose of blackened thrash metal that really surprised me. Personally, I struggle to find thrash metal anymore these days that I enjoy, because the majority of the genre just sounds like a regurgitated copy of a copy. This album was fresh and cutting edge. And I loved the track "Where The Void Begins".



Trauma Bond returned with Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone. The grindcore/powerviolence outfit put out another slab of fast-paced, loud, and pummeling tracks that aim to unsettle. At only 9 tracks and 28 minutes (the final track taking up a third of the album's runtime), this LP is just long enough before you need a break. Surely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. The tracks "Wolfing The Lamb To Mutton" and "Chewing Fat" really stood out.



Tamara Lindeman makes her highly anticipated return with her project The Weather Station with her latest album Humanhood. I had very high expectations going into this one, as I've enjoyed many past albums (2021's Ignorance, my #11 album from that year, being my favorite thus far). After three full listens through, I, admittedly, still don't have a fully formed opinion. This one didn't jump out at me initially much like Ignorance did four years ago (holy fuck, it's already been four years..). Once again, Lindeman's vocals are stunning and the musicianship is superb. But I don't have the connection to the album.. yet. I'm thinking this one is going to be a slow burner for me this year and will probably require several more revisits. That being said, I very much enjoyed this album. My favorite tracks so far are "Neon Signs" and the title track, "Humanhood".



And my standout RBF for the week was Sophie Jamieson with I Still Want To Share. If I had to pick a favorite from the week right now, I would probably give the edge to this album. I was initially hooked from the get go with Sophie's vocals. Wow, her voice is amazing! She reminds me of a blend of Natalie Mering and, funnily enough, Tamara Lindeman. On my initial listen, I was truly captivated by her voice. Now, four listens through, it's the vocal performance to beat this year, now three weeks in. The songwriting and musicianship are mature, compelling, and introspective. And there is an intimacy and vulnerability to her lyrics that just pulls you in. This is the album I felt connected to this week. "Highway" was my favorite track, but "Camera", and "I don't know what to save" were strong as well.

 
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musicjunkiegreg said:
I would likely agree if I actually had a proper listening room and the opportunity to use it (having kids makes it tough to enjoy a loudspeaker listen appropriately). Headphones are easily accessible and can offer a sense of isolation in and of themselves, methinks.
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The only time I get to really listen to albums is when the kids go to school.
 
musicjunkiegreg said:
After getting through my radar list for this past Friday (1.17.25), plus a few additional albums, there were some standouts.

Sarcator's newest LP, Swarming Angels & Flies was a healthy dose of blackened thrash metal that really surprised me. Personally, I struggle to find thrash metal anymore these days that I enjoy, because the majority of the genre just sounds like a regurgitated copy of a copy. This album was fresh and cutting edge. And I loved the track "Where The Void Begins".



Trauma Bond returned with Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone. The grindcore/powerviolence outfit put out another slab of fast-paced, loud, and pummeling tracks that aim to unsettle. At only 9 tracks and 28 minutes (the final track taking up a third of the album's runtime), this LP is just long enough before you need a break. Surely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. The tracks "Wolfing The Lamb To Mutton" and "Chewing Fat" really stood out.



Tamara Lindeman makes her highly anticipated return with her project The Weather Station with her latest album Humanhood. I had very high expectations going into this one, as I've enjoyed many past albums (2021's Ignorance, my #11 album from that year, being my favorite thus far). After three full listens through, I, admittedly, still don't have a fully formed opinion. This one didn't jump out at me initially much like Ignorance did four years ago (holy fuck, it's already been four years..). Once again, Lindeman's vocals are stunning and the musicianship is superb. But I don't have the connection to the album.. yet. I'm thinking this one is going to be a slow burner for me this year and will probably require several more revisits. That being said, I very much enjoyed this album. My favorite tracks so far are "Neon Signs" and the title track, "Humanhood".



And my standout RBF for the week was Sophie Jamieson with I Still Want To Share. If I had to pick a favorite from the week right now, I would probably give the edge to this album. I was initially hooked from the get go with Sophie's vocals. Wow, her voice is amazing! She reminds me of a blend of Natalie Mering and, funnily enough, Tamara Lindeman. On my initial listen, I was truly captivated by her voice. Now, four listens through, it's the vocal performance to beat this year, now three weeks in. The songwriting and musicianship are mature, compelling, and introspective. And there is an intimacy and vulnerability to her lyrics that just pulls you in. This is the album I felt connected to this week. "Highway" was my favorite track, but "Camera", and "I don't know what to save" were strong as well.

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I ordered the ghost variant of humanhood because I was a big fan of ignorance. Now I'm wondering if I should have gotten the blue one since I have the silver variant of ignorance and the ghost variant will probably look somewhat similar to that as they are both grayish looking. I haven't heard the full album as I'm waiting for my vinyl to arrive but I did like the singles.
 
musicjunkiegreg said:
After getting through my radar list for this past Friday (1.17.25), plus a few additional albums, there were some standouts.

Sarcator's newest LP, Swarming Angels & Flies was a healthy dose of blackened thrash metal that really surprised me. Personally, I struggle to find thrash metal anymore these days that I enjoy, because the majority of the genre just sounds like a regurgitated copy of a copy. This album was fresh and cutting edge. And I loved the track "Where The Void Begins".



Trauma Bond returned with Summer Ends. Some Are Long Gone. The grindcore/powerviolence outfit put out another slab of fast-paced, loud, and pummeling tracks that aim to unsettle. At only 9 tracks and 28 minutes (the final track taking up a third of the album's runtime), this LP is just long enough before you need a break. Surely not for everyone, but I enjoyed it. The tracks "Wolfing The Lamb To Mutton" and "Chewing Fat" really stood out.



Tamara Lindeman makes her highly anticipated return with her project The Weather Station with her latest album Humanhood. I had very high expectations going into this one, as I've enjoyed many past albums (2021's Ignorance, my #11 album from that year, being my favorite thus far). After three full listens through, I, admittedly, still don't have a fully formed opinion. This one didn't jump out at me initially much like Ignorance did four years ago (holy fuck, it's already been four years..). Once again, Lindeman's vocals are stunning and the musicianship is superb. But I don't have the connection to the album.. yet. I'm thinking this one is going to be a slow burner for me this year and will probably require several more revisits. That being said, I very much enjoyed this album. My favorite tracks so far are "Neon Signs" and the title track, "Humanhood".



And my standout RBF for the week was Sophie Jamieson with I Still Want To Share. If I had to pick a favorite from the week right now, I would probably give the edge to this album. I was initially hooked from the get go with Sophie's vocals. Wow, her voice is amazing! She reminds me of a blend of Natalie Mering and, funnily enough, Tamara Lindeman. On my initial listen, I was truly captivated by her voice. Now, four listens through, it's the vocal performance to beat this year, now three weeks in. The songwriting and musicianship are mature, compelling, and introspective. And there is an intimacy and vulnerability to her lyrics that just pulls you in. This is the album I felt connected to this week. "Highway" was my favorite track, but "Camera", and "I don't know what to save" were strong as well.

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I particularly enjoyed the Trauma Bond.
 
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