Favorite Albums of 2025

Every year is a good year for music. 2025 is no different. Getting the tap on the shoulder to be a contributor to Aquarium Drunkard this past spring meant that I also participated in the 2025 version of AD’s annual Year in Review compilation. Its existence is conclusive evidence of my opening statement.

Personally, I’ve never published a year-end list before, but since I already wrote blurbs about some of my favorite albums for AD, why not blow it out and provide the full slate here on Recliner Notes. In putting together this list, I concentrated on my favorites; those albums that jumped out and grabbed me, demanded repeated listening, or made me think about the artist or band in a different way. I already covered a number of these records throughout the year, either by interviewing the artist, reviewing the album, or attempting to encapsulate a live performance. I’ve included those links below. 

Beyond music released this year, I also posted a number of deep dives on Recliner Notes that culminated with the nine-part Stephen Malkmus Series, analyzing one song from each of his nine solo albums. In addition to the pieces on Recliner Notes, I’m also grateful to Aquarium Drunkard and Asheville Stages for publishing an array of my writing. I encourage you to subscribe to both and support thoughtful and exciting music criticism from an array of contributors, who are actual human beings with talent and opinions. 

On to the list! Below are my “50” favorite albums of the year (I was going to do only 50, but then I kept adding records, so you get a few bonus entries.) Will these be the same 50 that I would say are the best a year from now? I would hope so! The list is presented in alphabetical order. Nothing is ranked because, as always, this isn’t college football.

Barry Walker Unit – At the 13th Moon Gravity Well
At 43 minutes, At the 13th Moon Gravity Well isn’t long enough. This collection of pedal steel-centered reveries and jams is so good that I want it to take up the entirety of my 11 hour drive between Asheville and Buffalo. 

Bill Callahan – What a Night!
Though it makes sense to categorize What a Night! as a solo Bill Callahan release, it really should have been issued as “Callahan & White.” Drum wizard Jim White’s playing during this performance is more than mere accompaniment as he is an integral part of the sound. White has recorded and toured with Callahan on and off for years and was the instrumental fulcrum for YTI​⅃​A​Ǝ​Я, Callahan’s last album of original songs (see Recliner Notes’ Bill Callahan Series for much more). The What a Night! version of “Coyotes” explodes with such fury and intensity that the duo could be mistaken for Orcutt & Corsano. While this rendition of “Partition” is quieter than the studio version, it’s much more intense. There’s a moment in that performance when Callahan begins to deconstruct the song, and you can feel White preparing to pounce. He seems to say, “Oh, I’ll go anywhere you want to go.” What a Night! Is a testament to the connection between two musicians. 

Bitchin Bajas – Inland See
2025 was a year of remarkably good music from the Bajas as they released a follow-up collaboration with Natural Information Society after a 10 year wait and then their own album, the beautiful Inland See. All four tracks on the record serve as a reminder to slow down and pay attention: “Skylarking” conjures the feeling of floating in a warm pool of water; the piano and sax-led “Reno” unfurls at a welcomed, leisurely pace; “Keiji Dreams” delivers on the promise of every collection of seemingly lost Japanese ambient music recordings; and “Graut” is an 18 minute and 39 second long elixir.

Bob Dylan – The Bootleg Series Vol. 18: Through the Open Window 1956–1963 
The latest edition of Dylan’s Bootleg Series documents the time depicted during the first and last sections of Dylan’s memoir Chronicles: Volume One. It shows Dylan graduating from relying on other sources for his repertoire and presentation (e.g., Woody Guthrie, Dave Van Ronk, Ramblin’ Jack Elliott) to developing his own voice and point of view. Through the Open Window chronicles this refinement and evolution. One representation of this process is a performance of Robert Johnson’s “Ramblin’ on My Mind” from 1962 in Montreal in which Dylan incorporates riffs and melodies from other songs into Johnson’s structure. He’s casting about for ideas and forms to find what will work for him. By the end of the time period captured on Through the Open Window, Dylan is onstage at Carnegie Hall in full command of his powers.

Bonnie “Prince” Billy – The Purple Bird
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review.  

C Joynes & Mike Gangloff – Tom Winter, Tom Spring
An enthralling collection of neo-old-timey guitar and fiddle tunes, but it’s “Witch Marks,” the 13-minute final song on the album which is the standout. It’s so spooky that I wrote about it for AD’s All Hallows’ Aquarium Drunkard II to recognize the true meaning of Halloween.

Cate LeBon – Michelangelo Dying
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review. 

Chicago Underground Duo – Hyperglyph
I reviewed Hyperglyph for Aquarium Drunkard at the time of its release and I’m excited about the possibility of catching this duo at 2026 Big Ears.

David Grubbs – Whistle from Above
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review. 

Eli Winter – A Trick of the Light 
I wrote about A Trick of the Light for Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review. An additional note: Walking out of the theater after seeing the fantastic vampire blues opera Sinners, I found that a lightning storm had swooped in. I put on Winter’s album for my drive home and Winter’s incredible track “Arabian Nightingale” was the perfect musical score for what felt like the end of the world.

Florry – Sounds Like
After enjoying Sounds Like quite a bit, I was able to see Florry live and review the show for Asheville Stages. In that account, I wrote that in a bit of reverse-engineering, multiverse time travel, Elvis Costello could’ve written the song “There’s A Story in Your Voice” about Francie Medosch, Florry’s lead singer, guitar player, and songwriter.

Friendship – Caveman Wakes Up
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review. 

Geese – Getting Killed
Not only did I write about Getting Killed for Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review, but I also reviewed their November 9 show in Asheville for Asheville Stages. Listening to Getting Killed for the first time was electrifying and continues to be so.

Geologist & D.S – A Shaw Deal
I wrote about this fascinating record for Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review. Additionally, “Loose Gravel” from A Shaw Deal was one of the featured songs for a piece I wrote for Aquarium Drunkard, exploring the musical equivalents of the time-based paintings by Jeremy Blake that Paul Thomas Anderson incorporated into his movie Punch-Drunk Love.

Guerilla Toss – You’re Weird Now
It’s reductive to think that some sort of jamband prophecy was going to be fulfilled with You’re Weird Now since it was produced by Stephen Malkmus and recorded at Trey Anastasio’s studio in Vermont. But Guerilla Toss prove to be their own unique animal, perhaps some sort of rainbow-hued creature that could be the featured character in a children’s book while also ruling the dance floor of a big city club. Every track on the album contains a wonderfully eccentric blending of sounds and styles, channeling the best of Living Colour, M.I.A., and The B-52s, and infused with catchy, ecstatic, chanted choruses that demand to be put on repeat. We deserve rock bands that are this fun.

Gunn-Truscinski Duo – Flam
A few years ago, I spoke with guitarist Steve Gunn as part of my interview series for Aquarium Drunkard on musical duos. That conversation focused on his long-time musical relationship with percussionist John Truscinski, which serves as a fascinating outlet and counterpoint to Gunn’s solo work. Flam’s release in early 2025 didn’t garner as much critical attention as it deserved. It’s absolutely gorgeous as well as a marked but natural evolution of the duo’s sound. Don’t sleep on this one!

James Elkington – Pastel De Nada
I wrote this about Pastel De Nada for Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review:

Jamie Lidell and Luke Schneider – A Companion For the Spaces Between Dreams
I reviewed this one in full for Aquarium Drunkard. Another tentpole act for upcoming Big Ears.

Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review.  

Jens Kuross – Crooked Songs
It’s a cliché now to describe a certain type of music as “dark night of the soul” records, but there must be a warmer, less tortured version of that state of mind. If so, Crooked Songs deserves that appellation. Also, more electric piano-based records, please!

Jungle Boogie – Cease & Desist
This incredible collection of duo recordings by Britt Walford and Ken Brown (also known as “Bundy K. Brown”) prompted me to interview Ken for Aquarium Drunkard. We not only discussed the Jungle Boogie record, but also about Directions in Music, Pullman, and many more of his musical undertakings. It was during the interview that I first learned about the Tim Barnes recording project that Ken had coordinated, which is one of the highlights of my year of listening to music (see below). A lot came from my initial discovery of Cease & Desist! 

Led Zeppelin – Live EP In the year of our Lord 2025, Led Zeppelin remains unimpeachable and undefeated. Released as part of the 50th anniversary celebration for Physical Graffiti, these live Zeppelin recordings are pulled from the band’s 1975 Earls Court and 1979 Knebworth concerts and testifies to how locked in they were as a unit. As with the best musical improvisers, Zeppelin is bursting with surprising and breathtaking ideas, especially the transition from “Trampled Under Foot” into “Gallows Pole.” Led Zeppelin truly is our once and future king.

Los Pirañas – Una Oportunidad más de triunfar en la vida
Amazing stuff from Los Pirañas, who are like a Latin version of Horse Lords!

Los Thuthanaka – Los Thuthanaka
Emerging like a previously unknown, I-didn’t-know-you-could-do-that-on-TV Adult Swim show or something recommended by that one friend who stays up late to find the most bizarre shit on the internet, Los Thuthanaka has already been canonized by Pitchfork with their “Best New Music” label upon this debut album’s release and then its recent enshrinement as “Album of the Year.” The music made by the Bolivian-American siblings Chuquimamani-Condori and Joshua Chuquimia Crampton is colorful, throbbing, kaleidoscopic, thunderous, and relentlessly weird in the best way and filled with incongruous and yet also strangely congruous sound effects. Within each track, there’s a shift to a new sound before you even know what’s happening. It’s as if a dance record threw up (complimentary)! Los Thuthanaka is an addictive record that makes you want to hear this duo’s entire catalog and then you realize that this is it. The solo work of Chuquimamani-Condori and Crampton hint at what Los Thuthanaka could be but doesn’t come close to the power of their union.

Makaya McCraven  – Off the Record 
Off the Record is made up of four EPs — Techno Logic,The People’s Mixtape, Hidden Out!, PopUp Shop — which showcases McCraven’s now-familiar approach of manipulating live, improvised performances in the studio. Each of the EPs feature a different cast of musicians. Some of the recordings date back to 2015 and one set is from as recent as this past January. Despite the varying source material, the music throughout elicits a thrill of recognition for McCraven’s sound/feel/touch, call it what you will. There are blissed out quests for enlightenment (“Away”, “Los Gatos”), Terminator X-esque beats (“Boom Bapped”), soundtracks suitable for society’s collapse (“Gnu Blue,” “Strikes Again”), and, this being McCraven, quicksilver grooves (“Lake Shore Drive Five,” “Dark Parks,” “Prime” and really too many to name). We’re lucky that we’re here for McCraven’s prime. 

Mary Halvorson – About Ghosts
Mary Halvorson’s playing on the title track of this album may be the best guitar solo of the year. It’s weird — as if being stuck in a hall of mirrors — while also deeply beautiful and soulful.

Mess Esque – Jay Marie, Comfort Me
This seductively beautiful album presented an opportunity for me to interview guitarist Mick Turner, one-half of the duo that is Mess Esque and also one-third of Dirty Three. Dirty Three are scheduled to play 2026 Big Ears and they are one of — if not the only — must-see acts for me at this year’s festival.

Misha Panfilov – To Blue From Grey in May
The music of Estonian Misha Panfilov is one of my favorite discoveries of the year. I wrote about To Blue From Grey in May for the best of 2025 Aquarium Drunkard list, but The Misha Panfilov Septet’s album Skyways— also released in 2025 — is worthy of that designation as well. Describing Panfilov’s music in the blurb for AD, I asked, “what’s the Estonian equivalent of Tropicália? Balticália?” I can’t wait to venture further into Panfilov’s extensive catalog. 

Natural Information Society – Perseverance Flow
For Perseverance Flow, Natural Information Society adopt The Necks’ model of a single-track album, and there’s something Necksian about the music of “Perseverance Flow” too. In addition to fusing dubs and sampling into live-in-the-studio recordings, the band establishes a lumbering yet nimble basic pattern. From there, they initiate subtle changes throughout the 36-plus minutes to create a larger, meta web. It’s yet another songline from Natural Information Society which is less about a quest for enlightenment and instead a constant reaching out for connection and acceptance through repetition and gradual evolution.

Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas – Totality
Natural Information Society and Bitchin Bajas blessed us with releases of their own in 2025 as well as Totality, the first studio collaboration by the two bands since 2015. I interviewed Cooper Crain of the Bajas for Aquarium Drunkard earlier this year and spoke to him about Totality as well as discussing an array of his other production work. Here’s what I wrote about Totality for that piece:

Okonski – Entrance Music
Beautiful stuff from this Asheville-based pianist, whose sound can be described as if Richard Manuel of The Band cut a jazz record.

Orcutt Shelley Miller – Orcutt Shelley Miller 
When this trio plays, they expand to the 333rd power. God, what a fucking blast this record is! I’m enthusiastically anticipating their set at 2026 Big Ears.

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – New Threats from the Soul
I came a little late to Ryan Davis, but once his lyrical voice clicks in, it’s like finding a series of books written only for you. Early this year for Recliner Notes, I did a deep dive on “Bluebirds in a Fight” and “Bluebirds Revisited” from Davis’s breakout 2023 album Dancing on the Edge. Needless to say, I was beyond excited to interview him for Aquarium Drunkard and get his insights on the thrilling New Threats from the Soul. Unfortunately, because of pesky, non-musical work commitments, I was unable to see Davis and his crew live in Asheville in December, but can’t wait for their late-night performance planned for 2026 Big Ears.

Sam Prekop – Open Close
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review.  

Setting – at Public Records
Here’s what I wrote about the latest live offering from Setting for Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review:

Shrunken Elvis – Shrunken Elvis
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review.

SML – How You Been
SML was my favorite act at 2025 Big Ears and I resorted to the old gonzo journalism trick of dispensing with narrative and just printing my notes:

A recording of SML’s performance at Big Ears emerged afterwards, which is so high-quality that you can hear the sound of my tiny brain oozing out of my head during the fourth piece. With the announcement of SML’s new album in fall 2025, I arranged to interview SML’s bass player Anna Butterss for Aquarium Drunkard. Butterss is also the bassist for Jeff Parker’s ETA IVtet and a solo artist alike, so it was a thrill to speak to them about How You Been and their host of musical endeavors. In the interview, Butterss let me know that SML is on tap to perform three nights, two sets apiece at 2026 Big Ears. Hopefully, this will result in another audio recording of me melting away. 

Super Bloom: A Benefit for Fire Relief in Los Angeles
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review.

The Necks – Disquiet
God, I love The Necks. Here’s my capsule review of Disquiet in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review:

Tim Barnes – Noumena/ Lost Words/ Inside Energy
Listening to this trio of releases by Tim Barnes playing alongside a host of the best indie and experimental musicians was truly one of the highlights of 2025. I reviewed Noumena and Lost Words for Aquarium Drunkard when they were released in June and then Inside Energy for Recliner Notes when it came out later that summer. Ken Brown’s work on this project with Barnes also has yielded an upcoming record from Pullman in February, and it’s safe to say that it will be on the 2026 version of this list.

​​Tortoise – Touch
Check out my full review of Touch for Aquarium Drunkard, which includes a lot of words on “Night Gang,” the magnificent closing track:

Ty Segall – Possession
Ty Segall is like a baseball player who hits for both power and average as the volume of the music he releases is consistently great and, more often than not, leaves the ballpark. Possession is one such album as it is loaded, front to back, with killer pop songs. It’s his Revolver. As with the rest of Segall’s catalog, the sound of Possession is so good; it’s the sonic equivalent of prose that leaps off the page.

Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes – Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes
Another entry in the slowly expanding SML/ETA IVtet genealogical chart as guitar player Gregory Uhlmann and saxophonist Josh Johnson are joined by bass player Sam Wilkes for this debut release. The 11-track instrumental album is filled with sleek, mysterious, liquid-y, and soulful grooves. Yet another performance earmarked for 2026 Big Ears.

Water Damage – Live At Le Guess Who?
2025 was a great year for me to fall in love with the drones-all-the-way-down sound of Water Damage after staying up late with them at 2025 Big Ears. Not only did they release another excellent studio release, but also the highly flammable Live At Le Guess Who?, which I wrote about for Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review. At some point in the past few months, I temporarily messed up my ears listening to Water Damage too loud on headphones. No regrets!

Water From Your Eyes – It’s a Beautiful Place
Lines chanted by Rachel Brown on Water From Your Eyes’ 2023 release Everyone’s Crushed have bored into my skull thanks to repeat playing:

One, two, three, four
I count mountains
One, two, three, counter
You’re a cool thing, count mountains.

And:

She plays the piano
She stole it from the mall
All of my best friends lost out here on the sprawl.

When It’s a Beautiful Place was released, I posted on social media: “Goal for the weekend: maximize the number of times listening to the new Water From Your Eyes album. Goal for the rest of my life: maximize the number of times listening to the new Water From Your Eyes album.”

Despite the seemingly fragmentary music that make up its slight 29-minute run time, It’s A Beautiful Place is somehow still far-reaching with songs about wanting to be healthy, the apocalypse, nihilism, love, spaceships, and love on spaceships as well as one of my favorite songs of the year:

Oh, to see Guerilla Toss and Water From Your Eyes live on a double bill!

Wednesday – Bleeds
Bleeds is the follow-up album to Wednesday’s breakout 2023 release, Rat Saw God. There’s much to say about this (presently? formerly?) Asheville-based band, but it always comes back to Karly Hartzman. Her voice is the point of singularity for Wednesday, both literally and figuratively, as she’s the songwriter and lead vocalist. This voice works so well when in the context of loud, distorted J. Mascis-esque guitars, but Bleeds sees the band successfully experimenting with different backdrops for Hartzman’s articulations. Bleeds is one of those fun rock albums that as soon as it’s over you want to start it all over again immediately. 

Wilco – A Ghost Is Born Deluxe Edition
My capsule review in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review of this mammoth reissue concludes by saying that A Ghost Is Born Deluxe Edition is “especially welcome for rabid Wilco fans who would like to hear every possible version of ‘Handshake Drugs’ please.” Here’s one particularly incendiary rendition, featuring other-worldly Jeff Tweedy guitar work: 

Will Stratton – Points of Origin
See my blurb in Aquarium Drunkard’s 2025 Year in Review. 

William Tyler – Time Indefinite
Sure, maybe you’ve achieved some sort of universal cosmic alignment, but have you listened to Time Indefinite while the sunrise breaks through the mist covering green mountains like I did one April morning? Not that it’s a competition, of course.

Thank you for following Recliner Notes in 2025. Here’s to a safe and productive 2026!