What happens when a music critic, two poets, a Nashville transplant, and a former Migos labelmate all come together?
Photo courtesy of CPR
Good morning!
We’re in for a treat today; NYC-based Crisis Public relations stops by to talk about their new EP,
The pitch: A self described “NYC-based firm consisting of a former Migos labelmate, a pseudonymous music critic, two sister-poets, and a Nashville-to-Brooklyn transplant” get together and make an EP that bends the definition of pop and all it’s variants. It might read like the set up to a hipster version of a dad joke, but is quite the opposite. Part experimental, part hyperpop, part screed against the hellscape we find ourselves in, Life Rights is quite a ride.
My on ramp to the band first came this past fall when I was turned on to their “Out the Window” single, which we had a chance to feature on playlist 316. This past week, they released an EP, Life Rights, which is fantastic.
Trying to define the band’s sound has proved tricky for me. I know my way around a keyboard, but with each track, my list of possible influences and reference points would shift. That makes for tough review writing, but an awesome listening experience, and I wondered if it was by design. This is after all a group that set out to challenge assumptions and the status quo.
We’re interested in persona, we’re interested in production, we’re interested in obscurity—all things that might scan as “less authentic.” But “Crisis Public Relations” and “Life Rights” are phrases that read as clinical, but the component words are all quite meaningful.
I recently had a chance to chat with the band via email. In our wide-ranging discussion, we talked about the band’s origin story, the record, and what’s coming next. Our chat has only been lightly edited for grammar and flow.
KA—
Congrats on the new record! Can you walk us through the backstory of how this project came together?
Three of us—Reggie, who sings and plays guitar, Isa, who sings and produces the songs, and Meg, who also sings, plays guitar and writes lyrics—moved into a house together during the COVID pandemic. We started jamming most Sundays, gradually inviting friends, including Meg’s sister Eleanor and John, who now plays bass, to join. In 2023, the project started really coming together, and then in 2024, we met Noah, who plays drums, through mutual friends.
On your website, you describe the band as “a new NYC-based firm consisting of a former Migos labelmate, a pseudonymous music critic, two sister-poets, and a Nashville-to-Brooklyn transplant.” Say more, please.
You forgot the food content creator, Noah! It does what it says on the tin. That’s all literally true. Isa was signed to a 360 record deal when they were 18 years old, Reggie is not who he says he is, Meg and Eleanor are sisters and published poets, and John was performing as a folk singer-songwriter in Nashville for several years before he moved back to the East Coast.
Photo courtesy of CPR
How is this EP different from previous outings, or to be more specific, work band members previously released?
This project has aspects of each of our styles, but it comes together into something new. For instance, this music is still really lyric-focused, but compared to, say, John’s solo music, it’s much freer from traditional narrative and song structures.
I can hear a few different artists that might’ve been an influence. Were there any specific bands that informed the sound on Life Rights?
Our inspirations are pretty varied; CPR is made up of a lot of members with different tastes. “You’ll Be Fine” was definitely influenced by the Jamaican diasporic sounds on labels like Trojan Records, and also the RnB-gone-reggae sounds of ‘90s and ‘00s radio. And the ending of the song breaks down into an almost Pinegrove like acoustic indie rock thing, which breaks down into pure ambient noise.
NYC is obviously a massive scene, but what’s your orbit like? What other bands are in it? How (relatively) close-knit are you all?
In our non-CPR lives, we all have various different scenes we travel in—Reggie writes a lot about all kinds of different scenes, and John works at a conservatory. Noah collabs with indie musicians. It’s TBD what the CPR scene is, but we loved performing with Sister, and Jude Johns recently, and we always make a point to see acts like Asher White and Grumpy.
For anyone new to CPR, what’s the one thing you hope they walk away with?
Sometimes, it feels like social media algorithms put pressure on musicians to manufacture “authenticity” to compete for attention, to grab people with the most intensity possible. So a lot of tears, a lot of “here’s a song about the time I saw my dad run over my dog.” Some people really make that work, to be clear. But we’re interested in persona, we’re interested in production, we’re interested in obscurity—all things that might scan as “less authentic.” But “Crisis Public Relations” and “Life Rights” are phrases that read as clinical, but the component words are all quite meaningful. Similarly, we hope that people see that these glossy songs were all made with care.
What’s next for the band? What’s 2026 look like? Back in the studio? On the road?
We’ve talked about doing a couple weekenders in other cities in the northeast, but mainly we want to be making a lot more music. We want to rent out a practice space and dial in the CPR sound. Noah played on the last two songs on the EP, “You’ll Be Fine” and “The Subletter.” Production is a huge part of our sound, so the next step is finding our groove in the room and working that into our records. In 2026, we’re also looking for someone who can reprogram a printer to print sheets of music so we can incorporate that into the show… so if that’s you, please message us.
Last one, just for fun; I bump into you as you walk out of the record store. What records are you carrying?
Reggie is probably carrying something from Mississippi Records. Isa bought 15 unfindable-online $1 records in the hopes of finding sample gold. John’s probably holding some sensitive folk record about, like, the light through the leaves or whatever. Meg’s holding the collected works of Eileen Myles. Noah’s carrying a world-class sandwich he personally made.
Listen:
Crisis Public Relations | Life Rights (2025)
Right-click the record to listen via Bandcamp.
Life Rights is out now. You can grab your copy here.
Thank you to CPR for their time, and thank you for being here.
The 3rd Annual On Repeat & Friends Best Records of 2025
Good morning!
Today we’re taking a look at our Top Albums of 2025
We’re back!
By almost any metric, 2025 wasn’t great. The universe didn’t send us its best. But if we’re talking about records—and we are—this was a banner year. For every stain on the landscape (Daniel Ek, the Velvet Sundown), there were countless counterpoints: music that doubled down on what we love, and artists unafraid to cover new ground.
I sometimes get asked if I ever worry that I’ll run out of records to write about. My answer is always a polite version of, “Are you kidding me?!” That might happen at some point, but the biggest hurdle in 2025 was finding enough time to cover all the records I wanted to. I thought for sure I’d have figured out how to do that by now. Nope. Maybe next year.
The list below represents what I consider the best the year had to offer. These were the records that consistently fed my ears and lit up my brain. For fans of semantics, we can swap in/out terms like “best,” “favorite,” etc.—dealer’s choice.
The ultimate barometer is this: if we were at a diner after a show and you channeled your inner Rob Gordon and asked me what records I’d recommend, these would be the ones I pitched.
For the past couple of years, Sam ColtSteve Goldberg and I have put together our annual favorites. There’s not a lot of overlap in taste, and that’s what keeps this so fun. I’m not blowing smoke when I say that I start looking forward to this group project in early fall.
When you’re done here, please head over to their pages and check out their takes!
Meet the co-conspirators
Sam Colt—Recovering copywriter and author of This Is A Newsletter!—a consistently hilarious, biting chronicle of modern life and its indignities.
Sam’s List:
Rosalia- Lux
Clipse- Let God Sort ‘em Out
Deftones- Private Music
Geese- Getting Killed
billy woods- GOLLIWOG
Nourished by Time- The Passionate Ones
Wednesday- Bleeds
Panda Bear-Sinister Grift
FKA twigs- EUSEXUA
Stereolab- Instant Holograms on Metal Film
Read his full breakdown- including honorable mentions-here.
Steve Goldberg—Writes Earworms and Songloops, weaving personal essays with the songs that lodge themselves in your brain.
Steve’s Picks:
(alphabetical order)
Yazz Ahmed – A Paradise in the Hold
Amadou & Mariam – L’amour à la folie
The Antlers – Blight
The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Ghost Nation
Anna Von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts
Henge – Journey to Voltus B
Walt McClements – On a Painted Ocean
Midlake – A Bridge Too Far
Vines – I’ll Be Here
Youth Lagoon – Rarely Do I Dream
Check out Steve’s thoughts on his picks—and those that just missed the cut— here.
As in Part 2, some of these we’ve talked about before, and I’ve included excerpts from previous reviews. I like yapping about records, but the goal is—and remains—finding you a new favorite or two.
Also: All are Gizmo-approved:
Let’s get to it!
Immersion-WTF
My love for Wire is no secret, and the same holds true for frontman Colin Newman’s solo work. This year, that circle expanded to include Immersion, his project with partner Malka Spigel (formerly of Minimal Compact). They actually gifted us two releases this year (plus a collaboration with / reworking of a single by Dummy). Nanocluster Vol. 3, with SUSS, was gorgeous. WTF?? takes the best parts from all of those disparate pieces and blends them into something incredible.
From my original review:
The record kicks off with “Defiance,” an instrumental that gets things off to a strong start with uptempo beats but refuses to plant its flag in either camp: not synth, not pop, not really anything but itself. Immersion—and Wire before them—thrive in these in-between zones, especially when they let the music do the talking. I tried to categorize their last record, Nanocluster Vol. 4, and failed spectacularly. I know better this time around.
“It’s a Long Way to Brooklyn” is a highlight, a track that doesn’t need words. But the whole thing opens up when they do. Spigel’s voice on “Timeline” is cool and almost detached, and Newman sidles in with a wry spoken-word counterpoint. Elsewhere, like on “Use It Don’t Lose It,” his trademark deadpan delivery turns a good track into a great one.
If this all sounds heavy, it is—and it isn’t. At least no more so than something like Talking Heads’ Life During Wartime was back in the day. David Byrne was singing about NYC’s Alphabet City, and Immersion is speaking on a much larger scale. Nevertheless.
WTF?? is an album about the constant, low-grade anxiety of modern life, and an era where current events have you saying “what the fuck?” several times before lunch.
Bob Mould- Here We Go Crazy
At my day job, one of my corollary duties is administering annual hearing exams and helping people find hearing protection that works for them. This is thanks to Bob Mould.
Husker Du’s New Day Rising hit me like a kick to the head and was never played at less than full volume. I liked it that way and loved his power trio, Sugar. To this day, it’s still the loudest show I’ve ever been to. I used to find that post-show ringing in my ears a weird badge of honor. When it was still there after day two, I started to worry. My hearing rebounded (sort of), which marked the point when I no longer cared how uncool I looked wearing earplugs at shows. But Mould hasn’t quieted down. He’s at his best when he’s at full throttle, and on his 15th solo record, he delivers.
The opener, “Here We Go Crazy,” reminds listeners of the best parts of Sugar. “Fur Mink Augurs” and “Sharp Little Pieces” are equally intense. The songs come at you relentlessly: blast furnace chords, merciless drumming, and sometimes hard-to-understand vocals (especially for those with hearing difficulties). When you listen closely, they often touch on challenging subjects—it would be easy for a sound like this to wear down even the strongest among us. Yet Mould consistently shows us a bit of light (heh).
Here We Go Crazy isn’t exhausting; it’s invigorating. It’s a breath of fresh air at a time when we need it more than ever. Play it loud; just remember to limit your exposure and keep in mind that the most effective hearing protection is the kind you’ll actually wear.
Hayley Williams– Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party
I know you’ve already seen a bazillion reviews of this record, so let me save us all some time by just saying: “same!” But before you go play it, I want to add that I love how this record was released. Last year, Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee drew raves for not being streamable and for being available only on YouTube and a specific website. Williams followed suit (sort of) by releasing the tracks via her website—no tracklist, no problem.
This is her first outing as an independent artist, and if that’s not doing things on your own terms (while raising a middle finger to those who got rich off your talent for decades), well, I don’t know what is. Williams—and, to an extent, Paramore—have always shapeshifted stylistically, but here that impulse is taken to another level, with wonderful results. Still, in my opinion, she truly shines when she leans all the way into old-school pop, like “Good Ol’ Days.”
Do the kids still refer to songs as “bops”? Because this is a bop—and a perfect example of her incredible talent.
Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band- New Threats from the Soul
Over the last few months, there’s been a trend in “bigger” publications to tout Americana as the latest new thing, as if it just popped out of the ether—as if Waxahatchee (or whoever) suddenly sparked a whole-ass genre. That’s obviously not true. What’s actually happening is that people are slowly discovering artists and bands who have been there, putting in the miles for years.
I can’t claim any sort of moral high ground or expertise here. As noted in my initial review, “until not too long ago I was a dues-paying member of the ‘anything but country’ club”—a broad brush that also treated folk and Americana as collateral damage. As usual, I’m late to the party, but I’m happy to be here now.
That said, how do you not fall for a record that casually namechecks A Tribe Called Quest, Peg Bundy, and Betty Rubble before the first chorus even hits?
And then a line like this comes in and stops you cold:
“You can see the kingdom from the tailgate
If you stack a couple coolers, but you’re never gonna see it from the front of the line”
Maybe college football has cooked my brain, but damn, that’s my kind of wordsmithing. Again, we’re not even through the opening track here!
Speaking of which, these sound radio-friendly but are absolutely not built for the airwaves—the shortest track here clocks in at 5:55. That’s fine by me. Morgan Wallen and co. can have the chart space and radio spots. This is a record suited for back roads, sitting on the porch, or in your favorite bar on a cool summer evening.
With New Threats…, Davis and the Roadhouse Band tip their hat to Americana while bringing new energy. It’s not easy to sound brand-new and 100 years old at once, but they walk that tightrope well here (absolutely NOT derogatory). It’s music that understands the lay of the land, respects it, and is cool with adding its own take. It’s the sort of thing that will convert skeptical listeners like me sooner rather than later.
Nourished by Time- The Passionate Ones
When I was in high school, my girlfriend was very much into R&B, and I was very much… not. We landed at a kind of musical détente, where we’d swap who got to control the music based on a very blurry set of criteria that seemed to change with every trip. That said, there were a few “compromise” records that we both begrudgingly enjoyed.
The Passionate Ones reminds me of that same very narrow band of R&B from around 1988–92 that used to blast out of my tape deck. We spent a lot of that time dreaming, and on Marcus Brown’s latest, it feels like a love letter to the dreamers—the ones just trying to get by. It’s a bit of sonic reassurance that it’s okay to have your head in the clouds.
It might evoke memories of bands and days gone by, but it’s also really hard to pigeonhole. Sure, R&B fits, but so do experimental and dance. Brown takes us on a ride and isn’t afraid to go off on a tangent or two. And there are earworms, and…
…and in a world where slop like Velvet Sundown becomes a thing, it’s nice to know there are still some things Suno just ain’t going to be able to copy. In my totally objective, not-at-all-blurry rubric for what makes a great record, originality is part of the calculus. And in that category, The Passionate Ones is off the charts.
There are no compromises on this LP, but I’d like to think it would absolutely qualify as a compromise record.
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Have you ever been to Wendover, Nevada? If not, it’s a border town that’s a little worse for wear. Not quite a Temu-brand Vegas, but it’s close. It’s transient by nature, and melancholy and hard luck seem to be the only permanent residents.
In my head, this is the sort of place where Dan Bejar—aka Destroyer—would have a standing gig as a lounge singer. The songs are great, but the louche persona he’s built feels like a perfect fit. On 2011’s synth-pop masterpiece Kaputt, he talked about doing coke and all sorts of other midlife debauchery.
New iterations came via subsequent records like Poison Season and have reached their peak (or bottom?) with Dan’s Boogie. It feels like the end of the road for a guy with nothing left to lose—the sort of entertainer who still thinks “the act” has some life left in it, even if that means playing to a midday crowd of four or five disinterested truckers. The whole thing has a morning-after vibe, literally and figuratively, as if Bejar is in on the joke and no longer worries whether you’ll “get” his free association and poetry.
…and it’s fantastic.
Ultimately, places like Wendover are a great place to study the human condition—the wins, the losses, the beautiful, and the ugly. Sometimes they’re just a great place to get off the road and into some cheap food. Dan’s Boogie encompasses all of that. I honestly don’t know where Bejar goes from here, but I’m in no rush to get past this record.
Kathleen Edwards- Billionaire
One of the highlights of my week are our Monday discussions. Sure, I share a ton of picks with everyone, but I get WAY more in return. Occasionally, a record takes on a life of its own in the chat, and comments about it stretch over the course of a few weeks. This, of course, is a very loud signal that maybe, you know, you should check the record out? That happened with Billionaire, and man, am I glad I paid attention!
I originally noted
It didn’t take me long to get why people are so excited about this record. In fact, it took about 30 seconds of the opener “Save Your Soul.” I found myself nodding enthusiastically and saying, “Okay, then!” The line “Line your pockets with gold… Who’s gonna save your soul/When your money’s no good.” feels like a question a LOT of people should be asking themselves in 2025. And just in case Jason Isbell doesn’t already have enough fans here in the community, the solo on this track rips.
That was followed by “Say Goodbye, Tell No One,” one of those rare tracks whose gorgeous sound is a thin veneer over caustic lyrics. It’s incredible. I can almost guarantee someone’s going to use this to get through a bad breakup. They could do worse.
I also mentioned that if there was a weak link here, “I Need a Ride” was it. People told me to give it some time; maybe it would grow on me? Dear reader, that’s exactly what happened. And if Isbell wasn’t enough, towards the end, Shelby Lynne and Allison Moorer stop by to add some vocals.
Gelli Haha- Switcheroo
Where do I start with a record described by a fan as “…like Kate Bush meets Suburban Lawns, and it is pretty good!“? Switcheroo is what happens when an artist starts out making folk music, moves to LA, connects with a producer, and makes the pivot of a lifetime. Along the way, Angel Abaya ditched her legal name, adopted the Gelli Haha persona, and proceeded to make one of the most unhinged records of 2025.
Imagine your favorite dream pop band grabbing a copy of The B-52s’ Whammy! on the way to the launch pad, taking off, and crash-landing in an electroclash warehouse party in the coolest part of the galaxy.
Switcheroo is ecstatic. It’s aspirational and absurd in equal measure. It’s awesome. In other words, it’s perfect for this moment. Speaking with Abaya earlier this year, I asked how this project came to be. Her answer?
“Gelli Haha is a project born through curiosity. I wanted to create something that was fun and moved people physically and emotionally. Fun music to dance to, something mystical, and enchanting and silly.”
Mission accomplished.
In that same piece, I said,
Maybe it’s just me, but here’s something liberating about how this album refuses to care what you think. It’s not just theatrical—it’s maximalist identity performance with zero fucks given apologies. Gelli Haha isn’t aiming for relatability; she’s too busy being a pop gremlin, and tbh, that rules. The whole project feels like a rejection of our (collective) obsession with being “real,” that’s often ripping through the usual music discourse channels. Instead, she turns her persona into a playground—and lets you run wild with it.
Switcheroo is weird, hilarious, and absolutely unhinged—and it might be the most fun I’ve had with a record all year. Listening makes joy feel like a radical act- a rare treat in the current era. Once you’re in the Gelliverse, you may never want to leave. I certainly don’t.
Fust-Big Ugly
From November:
Fust is the latest to corner the market on the sort of storytelling Drive-By Truckers and Wussy have mastered. On Big Ugly, the band’s third album, they’ve hit critical mass. Real stories about real people, just tryin’ to get through the day. It’s the world of hard-working folks, hours under a vicious sun, and well-lit places. In this case, 24-hour gas stations out by the highway. It’s always strange to me, a child of suburbia, and a man that’s spent 49(ish) of his 50 years living above the Mason-Dixon line, to be so fascinated with the stories from the South. I don’t know what it is, but it’s always been a goldmine for storytelling. Even the nomenclature follows this pattern: Big Ugly is an area in West Virginia. And like the state, it’s an odd name for a beautiful thing — or in this case, specifically, a record from a North Carolina–based band.
“Spangled” kicks things off with a story of a repossessed hospital and helping a friend. And if that’s not a track for today, I’m not sure what is. It’s also a banger with no shortage of guitars, piano, and pedal steel. It’s purpose-built for rippin’ a heater and thinkin’ about things as you whiz down your nearest moonlit back road.
“Mountain Language” is another swaggering track with fuzzy riffs and lines like:
You can’t even find work at the Country Boy Selling gas station drugs To take care of your sister Dallas She’s a little, little older than us She’s a little older than us
This is a masterclass in telling the stories of the people who live in places Yankees rarely go, and of values we can all relate to. The record ends the same way it begins — with a story of collapse when Aaron Dowdy tells us on the way out that he’s blacking out from living.
Big Ugly is a mix of ballads and rockers, but truly shines on the latter. Dowdy isn’t afraid to paint an unvarnished picture of real life, but does so in a way that never feels condescending. The characters here feel like his people, not caricatures built for peddling records. This is a world progress often leaves behind, but like an abandoned school bus slowly being consumed by kudzu, there is grace and beauty in the decay.
I keep trying to find new things to say about this record, but my quiver of superlatives only holds so many arrows, ya know?
Preoccupations- Ill at Ease
Ill at Ease is certainly not something you’ll be blasting on your boat as you and the crew knock back tall boys. It’s icy in spots and apocalyptic in others. One song mentions centrifuges. Does Van Halen sing about centrifuges? Dear reader, they do not.
Oh, and it will sometimes make you want to dance (probably on land).
When Women broke up in 2012, the Flegel brothers went their separate (musical) ways. Patrick morphed into Cindy Lee, whose Diamond Jubilee record was on just about every AOTY there is last year. Matt and bandmate Mike Wallace went on to form the core of Viet Cong. That name was thankfully changed for a whole host of obvious reasons, and Preoccupations came to be.
Ill at Easeis the band’s fifth record, and arguably their most accessible. It’s a post-punk record, but it’s as pop as anything Psychedelic Furs or The Sound ever put out. On a more contemporary note, I kept drawing a line to The Helio Sequence. For absolutely no reason at all, the record’s “Andromeda” reminds me of “Keep Your Eyes Ahead.” While I’m at it, Flegel’s almost raspy vocals will evoke comparison to The Fur’s Richard Butler’s.
None of this is a liability. In fact, it’s all in the plus column for me. There has been some chatter that this record is too pat, too polished compared to their previous releases. I am not in that camp. Sure, there are a points where I miss that earlier volatility, but I like my post-punk dance-y, and this delivers for days. “Andromeda” and “Focus” have been battling it out for my fave track of the year, and several others make a good case for being shortlisted as well.
Get in, we’re listening to the soundtrack to the apocalypse.
A few more incredible records I’d recommend in a second:
Stereolab — Instant Holograms on Metal Film: The data goblins at Spotify tell me my most-played song in 2025 was “Ping Pong,” off the band’s 1994 record Mars Audiac Quintet. Such is the staying power Stereolab enjoys that, three decades on, I’m still playing the records—and so are a whole lot of other people. Will this one have the same longevity? It’s Stereolab! I wouldn’t be against it.
Sextile — Yes, Please: One of my “old man yells at cloud” complaints is that techno—er, EDM—er, dance music has started to over-index on glitches and bleeps and bloops. There’s nothing wrong with that (see Stereolab), but sometimes I want big bass, a little sweat, and some weapons-grade hedonism. The lyrics flit between existential and immediate, but if I’m honest? I’m here for the beats. And they never stop coming. Incredible record that takes you right back to those nights that didn’t even get started until 10:30 p.m. Listen again? Yes, please.
Andy Bell — Pinball Wanderer: This year, we got records from Erasure’s Andy Bell and the former Ride frontman of the same name. A real “Oh, we got both kinds. We got Country and Western” moment. This one is from the latter Andy and is a fantastic ride into space. The record’s cover of the Passions’ 1981 track “I’m in Love With a German Film Star” is worth the price of admission alone.
Avery Friedman — New Thing: Writing this record up last spring, I quipped: “I am convinced someone, somewhere, decided that any promo email had to include either ‘pedal steel’ or ‘indie folk’ in the description. It feels like a bit of PR Mad Libs or refrigerator-magnet poetry gone wrong…those two phrases are as ubiquitous as UPCs on the records they’re trying to move.”…which said PR rep then posted on social media. Lol. Oops. It was all taken in stride, and why not? I loved the record, and Friedman made it easy. On the title track, Friedman tells us: “It’s a little bit of a new thing / It’s a little hard to predict / And I can’t quite describe it / But it’s like a magnet flipped.” Honestly, I can’t think of a better way to sum up this record than that. This album fades in and out—sometimes it feels like the light of midday; other times like a fever dream or fuzzy memories struggling to make it out of the back of one’s mind. I closed that first review by stating, “It’s not PR spin when I tell you that’ll be a contender for a spot on my AOTY list.” And, well, here we are.
Die Spitz — Something to Consume: My elevator pitch for this Austin-based quartet has always been simple: Die Spitz is the Gen Z equivalent of L7. To be clear, that’s meant as high praise. They’re fast, loud, and have something to say—and exactly zero Fs to give. Ava Schrobilgen, Chloe De St. Aubin, Eleanor Livingston, and Kate Halter also happen to be talented musicians. Their 2023 record was centered around “Hair of Dog,” one of my favorite tracks of the year, and the EP quickly found its way onto my Best of 2023 list. It set the stage for Something to Consume. Almost a rough draft, if you will. That’s not to say this record has the edges sanded off—it absolutely doesn’t—but it’s clear the group has worked to evolve from those early beginnings.
And that’s a wrap! Any of your favorites on this list? What should be on here? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Sound off in the comments, and let me know!
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For those of you who are new, we kick off every week by sharing what we’ve been playing, and the playlist below is some of what’s been in heavy rotation for me.
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Album-of-the-year season is one of my favorites. I love making lists. I love seeing everyone else’s picks. Most of all, I like going back and rediscovering faves from early in the year I may have forgotten about.
It all makes for a few weeks of gorging on the best the year had to offer… and then I hit a wall. There comes a point where I need to decompress and listen to anything but whatever might be making a deep run on my AOTY bracket. That’s where this week finds me.
I quipped earlier this week that I was binging tracks by Stock Aitken Waterman. I was only half joking. There are none of those here—maybe a themed list at some point? A couple of ‘25 songs are here (the new Afghan Whigs cover track was never not going to make the cut), but by and large this is a swing the other way toward old favorites and sonic comfort food.
Jay Som kicks things off, and then we go right into the poppiest (IMO) track YLT ever put to tape. Spoon’s here too, as are the Go-Betweens and one of the purest pop tracks they ever recorded. DC faves Dot Dash deliver a jolt of energy, and a deep cut from New Order leads us to some early Simple Minds and our pals from Philly, the Tisburys.
As noted, the new Afghan Whigs track is here (it’s a cover, and it rips). There’s a detour through some dream pop from 1989, and an older one from Preoccupations—their latest is a lock for my best-of list on Wednesday—and then some of the delightful chaos that only Kid Creole could deliver. (Shout-out to The Twelve Inch (Disco/80s) for nudging me to dust this one off!)
The back stretch starts with a cover by John Fogerty, The Treasures of Mexico (AOTY class of ‘23), Cheatahs, and Hayley Williams. Hard to pick a fave off her latest record, but this is definitely one of them. We then wind things out with a trifecta of Buzzcocks, Paul Westerberg, and Bauhaus.
What caught your ear this week? Any new releases or shows you’re looking forward to? Do you make any end-of-year lists? If so, have you started putting them together?
Another round of breakthrough releases, long-awaited returns, and under-the-radar surprises—from Patterson Hood to Deep Sea Diver—that shaped the year in music.
Good morning!
Today we’re taking a look at part two of On Repeat Records’ Top Albums of 2025
We’re back with part two of On Repeat’s picks as the best records of 2025 so far. If you missed Part 1,you can check it outhere.
Some of these we’ve talked about before, and I’ve included excerpts from previous reviews and links to the full(er) ones if you’d like to check ’em out. Things’ll wrap up next week when I’ll join Sam Jami and Steve for our Best Records of 2025 Extravaganza. It’ll be the best “Best Of” recap you read this year. Okay, so that’s a little hyperbolic, but in these trying times we’re allowed some license, no? Really, I’m just stoked that I get to join them again for another go. I think you’ll dig it too.
Anyway.
I’ve touched on how music discovery has changed a lot lately, and to state the obvious, the Internet has helped all of us gain access to records we might otherwise never have heard. There are pros and cons to that, but in aggregate, I think our lives are richer for it. Some of these records came via word of mouth, but a lot of them came from places that would’ve felt like something out of a sci-fi novel not all that long ago. Zines? Sure, but I can only imagine 20-year-old me looking askance at someone talking about “Discord Servers” or Bandcamp.
In my head, I’m still that over-caffenated, excitable guy at the table at Quality Pie, Sharis, or wherever, playing hype man for any given record. I’m a card-carrying suburban dad now, but I hope that’s the vibe that comes through on these lists.
There’s a little bit of everything here—that’s just how I’m wired. I’m happy to talk about the ersatz rubric I tell myself I use when evaluating any release, but the common denominator is this: If it made the list, I found it exceptional. Once these found their way to my ears, they rarely left heavy rotation. Some kept me awake serenaded me on my 3:30 AM commute; others helped make Saturday mornings more enjoyable. Almost without exception, I think I’ve made a solid case for why you’ll dig these (you’ll just have to trust me with Deep Sea Diver). I hope so, anyway. I like yapping about records, but the goal is—and remains—finding you a new favorite or two.
Now on to the music…
Patterson Hood-Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams
All good things in time. It’s taken Hood a dozen(ish) years to follow up Heat Lightning Rumbles in the Distance, but it’s worth the wait. Hood, of course, has a second job as co-founder of The Drive-By Truckers keeping him busy.
His fourth solo record finds him in a reflective spot and revisiting his past. For example, the gorgeous, spare opener “Exploding Trees” is about a storm he experienced as a kid. He’s also brought friends along for the ride, including fellow Alabaman Waxahatchee, Wednesday, and Kevin Morby. On Repeat fave Lydia Loveless joins him on “A Werewolf and a Girl.”
This is an intentionally (?) low-key record made by a guy at a point in life where there’s is plenty of “past’ to mine. Records like this are hard to pull off, but Hood hits the right marks here.
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Good morning! Need an antidote for the algorithms? Looking for a place to share the music you love with like-minded people? You’re in the right spot.
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For those of you who are new, we kick off every week by sharing what we’ve been playing, and the playlist below is some of what’s been in heavy rotation for me.
The season of lists is now upon us. Christmas lists… AOTY lists… book lists… to-do lists… and if you’re in one of the flyover states, snow-closure lists. As the resident playlist dealer, it’s no secret that I love a good list—especially when it’s in the form of a mixtape. Today’s playlist reflects a bit of all of those. Avery Friedman’s New Thing was not a record I was expecting to like, but here we are. “Photo Booth” is a fave on an LP packed with them. “Automatic Love” was another revelation and feels like it’d be as at home on a 1991 best-R&B list as it does today (not derogatory). Immersion has shown up a lot this year, and don’t be surprised if they do again before we’re done with 2025.
The algorithm goblins at Spotify tell me that Stereolab’s “Ping Pong” was my most played this year, and honestly I’m not mad about it. Nothing says “2025” like a song that makes you dance while singing about economic collapse. Don’t worry, be happy. Things will get better naturally. We should be so lucky.
From there, we move to 808 State—which was one of my favorites of 1991—a little Wishy, and a nice return for De La Soul (don’t call it a comeback). Die Spitz, The Dead Milkmen, and Swervedriver make for a nice three-piece. We cool off a bit with Helene Barbier and Water from Your Eyes (another revelation), before a quick blitz of old faves/sonic comfort food. I’ve previously raised some hackles by saying that R.E.M.’s Out of Time ranks as one of their best, but I stand by it. I also put “Me in Honey” at the top of their closers. What do you think?
I didn’t have a new one by Madison friends Gentle Brontosaurus on my radar, but they gifted us one just the same. “Luxury Bones” is another one where serious—and timely—lyrics are supported by a jangly sound. If that’s a new name for you, get them on your gift list now. You won’t be disappointed!
What caught your ear this week? Any new releases or shows you’re looking forward to? Do you make any end-of-year lists? If so, have you started putting them together?
AOTY season kicks off with an all killer/no filler roundup of some of the year’s most noteworthy releases.
Good Morning!
Today we’re kicking off a 3- part series spotlighting the best releases 2025 had to offer.
It’s the most wonderful time of the year. Welcome to AOTY season.
It’s no secret that I believe hearing the right album at the right time can change your life. I could point to plenty of examples — and odds are good you can too — but the point is simple: music sticks when it meets you where you are.
I know I sound like a broken record (heh), but 2025 was once again an incredible time to be a music fan. The big station in your town might’ve been filling the airwaves with empty calories, but on the other end of the dial (and online), it was a completely different story. New artists were showing up daily. Older artists were too. Geese put out a great record, Goose put out a bunch.
It’s worth noting that in 2025, we saw releases from Madonna, Mekons, and 7 Seconds, plus live sets from Hüsker Dü and the Dream Syndicate. That doesn’t even touch the loads of reissues we were gifted this year (Lush, Unrest, etc.). Madge has a new record slated for 2026, and odds are good it’ll be on more than a few lists next December. Bob Mould’s still making records too — great news for music fans and hearing-aid manufacturers alike.
Part of what made this year interesting for me personally was a side project: I spent a good chunk of the year (re)listening to records from 1989 as part of a bracket challenge, and De La Soul’s 3 Feet High and Rising made the final four. Their Cabin in the Sky came out less than four weeks ago — and IMO, it’s some of the best work they’ve ever put out. The only reason it’s showing up here today is that it’s so new (note on that below). The more things change…
Growing up, the “best of” lists were both easy to find and incredibly monolithic — self-appointed tastemakers dictated what we heard on the radio, and that was that. Light work, but homogenized. Consumption was a collective experience. If you want to figure out someone’s age, ask about AT40 or name-drop Rick Dees. The reaction will tell you everything. That’s obviously no longer the case, though looking at some early lists, you’d be excused for thinking otherwise. After working through a bunch, I saw the same titles cropping up again and again.
It’s not that I think those records are bad. I just know there are hundreds of others worth your attention. As I read each of these, I kept thinking, where are the rest?
And that’s where lists like this come in.
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Good morning! Need an antidote for the algorithms? Looking for a place to share the music you love with like-minded people? You’re in the right spot.
As always, thank you to those who have recently upgraded their subscriptions over the last several days. Your direct support fuels this community and makes a positive impact. Shares and reposts also help!
When you’re ready, joining them is easy. Just click here:
For those of you who are new, we kick off every week by sharing what we’ve been playing.
The playlist below is some of what’s been in heavy rotation for me. Winter finally hit here in America’s Dairyland, and we’re up to about 9” of snow and counting as I type this, with no sign of letting up. It also happens to be the week that Sirius XM is turned on for everyone. For me, the biggest threat on the road isn’t that first snow or ice; it’s First Wave, SiriusXMU, Smokey’s Soul Town all calling for my attention. I can steer into a skid without thinking about it. Taking my eyes off the dial is something else entirely. Existential threats aside, it’s largely influenced what I’ve been listening to this week. Songs I heard on there led to rabbit holes which led back to…the car radio. And so it goes. I’ve also been (re) listening to a lot of 2025 releases ahead of Steve GoldbergJami SmithSam Colt and I putting our annual AOTY lists together. Hopefully, you caught our preview of that, where we looked at the best of the 2020s (so far). If not, please check it out!
On to the music:
Side A: We kick things off easy with a little Billie Marten before heading to the best state in the union for the slinky grooves and sunny vibes of the Rose City band. From there, a quick stop in Philly for some killer power pop from
The Tisburys and over to the pond for a little Stereolab, some grapes of Grain, and a band called New Order. Not for nothing, Jamie Ward put together an awesome Stereolab playlist, which you can listen to here. Side one ends with two all-time classics from B.A.D. and The Tubes.
Side B: We start the 2nd half right here in Madison with some Spooner, and then going back to New Pornographers’ Electric Version, a little Dramarama, J Brekkie’s Diving Woman (which always reminds me of predawn commutes in the winter), and a dose of Destroyer. That’s followed with a little PJ, some Paul Weller, and Saint Etienne. I love this record, but have to admit I’m a little bummed this is gonna be the last one! More 2025 releases from Hayley Williams and Ninajirachi, and a little bit of BR-549 before winding things up with ORR faves Winged Wheel.
Do you make any end-of-year lists? If so, have you started putting them together?
Four writers. Zero consensus. Forty-plus albums that defined indie, post-punk, and everything in between—ranked, argued over, and ready for your queue.
Good morning!
Today we’re taking a quick look at the best records of 2020-2024.
Narrowing down a favorite anything can be tough. It’s much easier to overdeliver and give someone a list of 5 or even 10 top picks. And even that can be fraught. Are these objectively the best, or are they your favorites? Maybe a blend of both? And are you sharing something truly worthwhile — a nudge in the right direction — or have you just given the other person homework?
There’s also a line of thinking that you shouldn’t do these sorts of lists at all — much better to, say, group by genre or list by release date. And to that I say… fair point. But I should be clear here: I love lists — especially when it comes to music. Every music writer is really just three Rob Gordons in a trench coat, and I think (hope?) people like reading them.
If you’re looking for breakdowns on drop tuning, chord changes, or whatever, I’m not your guy, but that’s not usually why people check top 100 or best-of lists anyway. A few are there for the rage bait & hate reads; the rest are there for the recommendations without having to sift through 4000 releases a year.
In other words, they’re trying to avoid a homework assignment.
The first half of the 2020s gave us no shortage of unforgettable albums, from indie and post-punk to genre-crossing experiments. If you’re searching for the best records of the decade so far, consider this your cheat sheet.
For the past couple of years, Sam ColtSteve GoldbergJami Smith and I have put together our annual favorites. There’s not a lot of overlap in taste—or any other demographic—and that’s what keeps this so fun.
We’ll be doing it again this year, so please keep an eye out! In the interim, we wanted to tee things up by taking a quick look at our faves of the decade so far. A fool’s errand? Maybe, but why not?
Consider it the music writing equivalent of a recap or clip show, only this is the lead-in to 2025’s best-of, and not a “very special” episode of your favorite TV series.
Meet the Contributors
Jami Smith—Author of Songs That Saved Your Life, exploring overlooked queer perspectives in music. Her work has appeared in The Advocate and Out Traveler.
Jami’s List:
St. Vincent – Pay Your way in Pain (2021)
Dua Lipa – FutureNostalgia (2020)
Run the Jewels – RTJ4 (2020)
Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg (2021)
Doechii – Alligator Bites Never Heal (2024)
Yeah Yeah Yeahs – Cool It Down (2022)
Janelle Monae – Age of Pleasure (2023)
Beyonce – Renaissance (2022)
Brittany Howard – What Now (2024)
Cimafunk’s El Alimento (2021)
Sam Colt—Recovering copywriter and author of This Is A Newsletter!—a consistently hilarious, biting chronicle of modern life and its indignities.
Sam’s List:
Alfredo — Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist (2020)
Promises — Floating Points, Pharaoh Sanders & the London Symphony Orchestra (2021)
Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You — Big Thief (2022)
Blue Rev — Alvvays (2022)
Cave World — Viagra Boys (2022)
SCARING THE HOES — Danny Brown & JPEGMAFIA (2023)
3D Country — Geese (2023)
“NO TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28,340 DEAD” — Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2024)
No Name — Jack White (2024)
Imaginal Disk — Magdalena Bay (2024)
Steve Goldberg—Writes Earworms and Songloops, weaving personal essays with the songs that lodge themselves in your brain.
Fantastic Negrito — Have You Lost Your Mind Yet? (2020)
Silk Sonic — An Evening with Silk Sonic (2021)
Arooj Aftab — Vulture Prince (2021)
Sloan — Steady (2022)
Weyes Blood — And in the Darkness, Hearts Aglow (2022)
Corey Hanson — Western Cum (2023)
King Gizzard — Petrodragonic Apocalypse (2023)
Cowboy Sadness — Selected Jambient Works Vol. 1 (2024)
Storefront Church — Ink and Oil (2024)
My List
Maggie Rogers — Don’t Forget Me (2024)
Wussy — Cincinnati, Ohio (2024)
Sweeping Promises — Good Living Is Coming For You (2023)
Chemical Brothers — For That Beautiful Feeling (2023)
New Pornographers — Continue as Guest (2023)
Spoon — Lucifer on the Sofa (2022)
Nada Surf — Moon Mirror (2024)
Destroyer — Have We Met (2020)
Alvvays — Blue Rev (2022)
Working Men’s Club — S/T (2020)
2020:
This year started on an auspicious note; I blew out my knee the first week of January, and also managed to fracture my foot in multiple places, because why not? At the time, I assumed that would be the defining event of 2020. Silly me. We went on vacation at the end of the month, my knee held together only by my stubborn desire to sit on a beach, and returned to a world almost unrecognizable. After that, we made the same descent into “online learning” and sourdough as everyone else.
Working Men’s Club’s self-titled debut was a bright spot in a bleak year, and landed with me because its sound harkened back to those late ’80s/early ’90s post-punk and dance records I was binging in my newfound free time. I found Destroyer retroactively, thanks primarily to readers here who never missed a chance to mention Dan Bejar whenever I talked up The New Pornographers. Have We Met is elegant, quirky, and well-built all at once. As good a trifecta as any when looking for a “best of” record. This is still one I play relatively often.
2021:
You may notice that there are no 2021 records on the above list. Given the lag between producing a record and us getting our hands on it, 2020 ran on the fumes of records actually recorded in 2019. The dearth of 2021 releases more accurately reflects what lockdown life looked like—a year of live streams and doing shows via Zoom to survive, not booking studio time. At least that’s my impression, anyway.
That’s not to say there weren’t some killer records like Japanese Breakfast’s Jubilee. I’m still #teamPsychopomp, but this is excellent, and “Be Sweet” got the nod for my favorite song of 2021, so there’s that. Ditto, Lily Konigsberg’s Lily We Need To Talk Now, and since this is my newsletter, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention a live record by a certain Manchester band.But if you only have enough time/money/whatever for ONE record, and asked me which 2021 release to pick up, it’d be Dry Cleaning’s New Long Leg. The English post-punk band knocked it out of the park with their debut album. The musings/vocals mix well with the layered, dense soundscapes she’s talking over (but not overtaking). Dry Cleaning reminds me a bit of King Missile, except frontwoman Florence Shaw is talking about things like lanyards and helicopters, and not detachable… organs…
2022:
Look, anytime Spoon puts out a record, it is a cause for celebration, and Lucifer on the Sofa delivers. They’ve teased a new record for next year, and there’s a greater-than-zero chance I’ll be yapping about it in next year’s year-end piece.
The year also gave us debuts from The Linda Lindas and Wet Leg. The former channeled every pop-punk record in your cabinet, and with tracks like “Ur Mum,” the latter came across like the Gen Z equivalent of Lily Allen.
The Paranoid Style also gifted us For Executive Meeting, an LP where I gave up trying to find new superlatives and just went with: “This record is just one heckuva good time. Have fun.”
Afghan Whigs dropped one on 9/9 that was a solid 10, and 5-3-8 by Dendrons proved post-punk was alive and well. Picture Wire’s Colin Newman, Joy Division (in a good mood), and High Vis all stuck together making an album during the pandemic — and they’re listening to Pavement for inspiration. The result is first-rate post-punk from America’s Second City.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Cool It Down just missed the cut here. Had there not been a deadline to get this out, it’s possible I’d still be fussing with the lineup, and this would likely’ve been on it. As I noted at the time, it managed to thread the needle, making a record that sounds both “like a Yeah Yeah Yeahs record” and brand new all at once. The performance-art element isn’t as front & center as before, but the edge is as sharp as ever. No easy feat.
The record that pipped it? Alvvays — Blue Rev, where the chords are all in the right spots, and where the bridge on a track like “Belinda Says” is exactly as it needs to be. You can hear vestigial traces of the usual suspects here (Lush, MBV, etc.), but nothing is derivative. Blue Rev takes the best parts of power pop, dream pop, shoegaze, and whatever’s going on in lead singer Molly Rankin’s mind and just makes it work.
2023:
If 2021 was a reawakening, and 2022 was an (almost) return to normal, 2023 felt like when we hit our collective stride again. The last of the “pandemic project” modifiers peeled away, and the good music faucet was opened all the way up.
Drop Nineteens came out of nowhere to give us an incredible record, Seablite gave the shoegaze crowd a lil’ something, and the sad dads got a gift from Jason Isbell, the rare songwriter who can tell a whole story in one verse. The Chemical Brothers got in on the action with For That Beautiful Feeling. Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons still know a thing or two about putting together a record rather than piling a bunch of singles together and calling it good
Good Living Is Coming For You from Lawrence, Kansas-based Sweeping Promises was a revelation. The title sounds like the sort of slogan you’d see on Soviet agitprop posters or hear Peggy Olson come up with in a strategy session for Tupperware. Both are true. Speaking with the duo, frontwoman Lira Mondal described their sound as “Voracious, wild-eyed, grabbing-with-both-hands YOLO energy.” I also saw their sound described as “The B-52s if they never saw the sun.” Both of those are true, too.
Continue As Guest will take a listen or two before it clicks. But the band will win you over, as they invariably do. I often find myself writing, “Just go buy this record!” as a placeholder until I can better articulate my thoughts. Sometimes, I wish I could leave it at that. This is one of those cases.
2024:
Is there some recency bias here? Sure, maybe. But it’s undeniable that last year was chock-full of good records from end to end. Cloud Nothings tried to blow our speakers with Final Summer, and Cola dropped the best Parquet Courts record not made by Parquet Courts. What’s old was new again as J Mascis, Jesus and Mary Chain, and Pearl Jam all dropped new records. Kim Deal, too.
Last year saw Nada Surf gift us Moon Mirror, a rock-solid power pop from one of the most consistent, if not popular (heh), bands of our generation.
Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee garnered almost as much ink for how it was distributed as for how good it was. Any record that gets someone to sit down and listen for two hours without doing anything else is worth considering for any best-of list. Cindy Lee is the stage name of Patrick Flegel. No spoilers, but don’t be surprised if another Flegel shows up on this year’s list.
My fave of last year was Wussy’s Cincinnati, Ohio. I don’t know what it is about this band, but man, they strike a chord in me that few other bands can hit. I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but I think better than anyone else, they have helped me “get” what living in the Midwest is like. And the music? Well, it’s an LP with gem after gem just waiting to be discovered.
That’s a wrap! Did we nail it? Miss something obvious? Snub your favorite? Let me know—I’m always ready to be proven wrong (or at least add a few more albums to the listening pile).
Good morning! Need an antidote for the algorithms? Looking for a place to share the music you love with like-minded people? You’re in the right spot.
As always, thank you to those who have recently upgraded their subscriptions over the last several days. Your direct support fuels this community and makes a positive impact. Shares and reposts also help!
When you’re ready, joining them is easy. Just click here:
For those of you who are new, we kick off every week by sharing what we’ve been playing.
The playlist below is some of what’s been in heavy rotation for me. I’m thinking about travel, but this week it’s more about being in the air than on the road. For those of us in aviation, this week kicks off the high season. Doubly so if you live in a college town, as the mass exodus of students for winter break starts now. Closer to home, one of my kids will be taking his first solo trip— he’s off to Florida for a rugby tournament. It’s a massive leap of faith on our part, but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t also kinda excited for him.
On to the music:
Side A kicks off with us taking a trip to Oceania to hear The Beths. It’s about to be high season for AOTY lists, too, and their Straight Line Was a Lie is sure to be on a lot of ‘em. From there, we head to the Rose City for a brand-new one from Foamboy. Bonus points if you recognize where their artist pic on Spotify is from. Double points if you’ve been there. Hazel English is back with some dream pop goodness in “Gimme” (worth noting the video was shot at JFK’s TWA Hotel), and one of my top songs of the year in Tunde Adebimpe’s “Somebody New.” Before Side A is done, we hit everywhere from DC to Curitiba, Brazil! It’s quite an itinerary.
Side B: We start the 2nd half doing a little time travel to hear from Innovations, before coming back to catch Willowake, Smashing Pumpkins, and Preoccupation’s “Andromeda” (another of my faves of 2025). From there, we hop to Lawrence, Kansas, and a couple stops in Canada to check out Home Front and Arcade Fire, before returning to the Carolinas for Superchunk’s killer take on a Magnetic Fields classic, and winding things up with the track that recently got my vote for “best Pink Floyd song.” Run like Hell? During the frenzy that is holiday travel, you don’t have to be in a terminal too long to see someone doing it.
Are you going anywhere this week? If so, I’d love to hear where you‘re off to, even if it’s just across town.
Today we’re taking a quick look at the latest from Playland, Via, and SG Goodman.
Longtime readers may recall that I reviewed 100 new (to me) records last year. Because I’m a glutton for punishment love music, I’m doing it again this year. This is the latest in the series.
Good morning!
Today we’re taking a look at the latest from Playland, SG Goodman, and Via.
The boilerplate intro: Every year, I celebrate all the great music we’ve been gifted while worrying that next year will see the other shoe drop. I first did that in December 2020 and have been proven wrong every month since. Not only are there a ton of releases steadily coming out, but it also transcends genre or any other artificial guardrail we try to put up.
In other words, a ton of good stuff is still coming out, and there’s something for everyone. It’s almost overwhelming— but in all the best ways. These are another batch that caught my attention recently.
Hard to believe that it’s almost AOTY season, but here we are. I’ll be posting through it, discussing what’s on my list, what isn’t, how I try to winnow things down, etc., over the coming weeks.
In the meantime, the records keep coming. There are always a few that get in under the wire, and ones from earlier in the year that might’ve been missed. Below are a few quick field reports from right between the sound machine.
Let’s get into it!
Playland- Playland 2
Cover art courtesy of Smoking Room Records
A late contender to the AOTY discourse has entered the chat.
I don’t think Playland 2 is trying to make a grand statement, but it ends up feeling like one anyway. Songs like “Everyone in the Park Is in Love,” “Power Outage,” and “Interactions” have a jangly brightness — fans of labelmates Ex-Pilots will find a lot to love here — blended with a lo-fi glow that lets the melodies bloom. It’s music that feels familiar, even when you’re hearing it for the first time.
Tracks like “Luv Like That,” “I Don’t Want to Live Here Anymore,” and “Vanity” pick up the pace, and the guitars get a little fuzzier. There’s some serious humanity in these tracks — they sound like someone trying to sort out their thoughts in real time. It’s messy but sincere. It’s not “perfect” in the traditional sense, but that’s exactly why it works. It sounds like, you know, a person. It plays like an album made because someone had something to say and didn’t want to wait. And in an era of performative nonsense, that feels kinda rad.
Kevin Sent 
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