So I’ve gotta say, 2025 has been an amazing year for music. While most other aspects of this year have been, well, less than stellar, music has been that one shining glimpse of hope that the world is moving on. I’ve been pretty happy with movies as well this year, but music has been what’s kept me going despite a summer of health scares and the looming threat of authoritarianism. Music is the best kind of escape from the shit show.
I’d thought about doing a favorite albums post in July as a sort of “Favorites so far” kind of thing. But life got in the way and next thing I knew it was nearing October. So in lieu of that list, I thought I’d mention a couple records that are still yet to drop that I’m sure will end up near the top of the favorite list for me. What are some of my favorites up to this point, you ask? Well let’s see…working back through the year we’ve got NIN’s ARES, Slow Blink’s Letters Home, Edena Gardens’ Dispossessed, Rival Consoles’ Landscape From Memory, Jeremiah Chiu and Marta Sofia Honer’s Different Rooms, Gerald Clayton’s Ones & Twos, Openness Trio, Causa Sui’s In Flux, Uhlmann Johnson Wilkes’ self-titled, Deafheaven’s Lonely People With Power, Mark Pritchard and Thom Yorke’s Tall Tales, Sharon Van Etten and the Attachment Theory and Panda Bear’s Sinister Grift, just to name a few.
Today I thought I’d mention just a couple other albums that are dropping in the next couple months that I’m very much excited about as well. These I’m sure will round out my year in music. Then come December I’ll start working on my favorite albums of the year posts. I have a love/hate relationship with those lists. I hate all of the time they suck up from me, but I love having a document of those albums that meant so much to me. It’s great being able to go back and revisit those years later to see what was tickling my fancy.
Okay, here we go.
Jeff Tweedy : Twilight Override(9/26)
It’s been a few years since Jeff Tweedy released a solo record. His album Tweedy that he recorded with his son Spencer was a fantastic record, and it mixed things up between folk-y acoustic tracks and messier rock tracks. It made for an exciting listen.
His new album Twilight Override is an expansive triple LP that, from the songs he’s released so far, will continue that vibe of acoustic-driven tracks and messier rock tunes. And with a song title like “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter”, how can you NOT be excited?
SML : How You Been(11/7)
SML, the jazz/electronic/experimental quintet of Jeremiah Chiu, Anna Buttress, Greg Uhlmann, Josh Johnson, and Booker Stardrum put out one of my favorite albums last year with their debut on International Anthem Records. A mix of minimalist groove, electronic wonkiness, and mood-heavy pieces that created a whole new vibe in my head. It was the kind of album that lives rent-free in my brain for years. Exciting, mysterious, and and wholly original.
They are returning with their sophomore record How You Been, dropping at the beginning of November. And from lead single “Takin’ out the Trash” I’d say they’ve found even more groove, style, and vibes. Very excited for this.
Tortoise : Touch
How do you not get excited about a new Tortoise album? A band that sort of set the mold for post-rock, but not sounding anything like what we think of as post-rock these days. Experimental in nature, but combining everything from jazz, krautrock, improvisational, and even dub, Tortoise define what it means to be trailblazers and defiantly not belonging to any one label or genre.
Touch is Tortoise’s first new record in 9 years, and lead single “Layered Presence” shows a band that hasn’t lost a beat.
Makaya McCraven : Off The Record(10/31)
One of my favorite artists as of late is the great jazz drummer/beat scientist Makaya McCraven. McCraven is one of modern jazz’ great arrangers and producers. His albums are culled from live recordings which he then takes them into the studio and cuts and pastes them into new works. It’s a stunning process and the results are even more so. He also surrounds himself with some of the best jazz musicians working today. I think he has at least 3 masterpiece records(In The Moment, Universal Beings, In These Times) and his new one titled Off The Record proves to be an addition to those great albums.
Off The Record is a double album put together with 4 different EPs of music. Everything I’ve heard tells me this will be in my top 5 of the year. Easily.
I don’t think it’s a coincidence that three of these albums are all coming from one label, International Anthem Records. This label has been a mainstay in the jazz/experimental music world and for me have become kind of a modern day Blue Note. And while Tweedy isn’t on the label, he’s a fellow Windy City inhabitant, where International Anthem is located. So yay for the Midwest music scene.
Okay, that’s all I’ve got for today. If you see something I mentioned that you’re not familiar with, go check it out. Come December, it’s going to be one massive year-end list. I can feel it in my bones.
Let me know what has made your favorite lists this year, and maybe what you’re still looking forward to that’s yet to drop. Hit me in the comments, fam.
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