2025: The Music Post

It was an incredible year for music -- and music friends!

2025 was a wild year. I started the year dedicated to producing this substack, with zero intention of ever finding a “real job.” As the year comes to a close, I’m back as Prez at ETF.com, helping build cool new stuff I can’t wait to talk to y’all about next year. (You can bookmark anything I personally write at my author page, or catch up on the over-20 interviews we dropped this fall on YouTube.)

But this isn’t a work post. It’s a music post. 2025 was a lot of chaos, but the soundtrack’s been killer. Here’s my 2025 mixtape, and a few others from friends.

THE MUSIC!

My tastes lean towards indie, rock, alt-rock, experimental, electronic, ambient, punk, grunge, hyperpop, and anything different. That’s mostly what you'll find in my “125 songs for 2025” list on Spotify:

Which you should shuffle. It’s not in any particular order. I want to specifically call out 3 Albums, sprinkled into those 125 for ‘25 that you might have missed, even if you’re listening to college radio or listening to SiriusXMU’s evening programming (the single best source for eclectic new music nationally).

Horsegirl: Phonetics On and On

Horsegirl, a Chicago band I first heard on the track “Ballroom Dance Scene” which was a real post-pandemic noisy-emo salve. This album is much smaller in ambition, and much bigger in delivery. Whiel songs like “Switch Over Switch Off” anchor them in a kind of retro-late-80s New Order vibe, the album as a whole is a minimalist masterpiece of songwriting and restraint. Critical tracks include “Frontrunner” — which reminds me of Moldy Peaches — and Julie, which strips down to nearly tone-poem territory to great effect.

Bar Italia: Some Like It Hot

Bar Italia, another 2019-born band that’s just cranked out music is vaguely in the same school of rock as Teenage Fanclub, Sonic Youth, Wet Leg and Dry Cleaning, maybe with some new-wave and Kooks tendencies. I think this is their best work yet. “Rooster” is the standout track, a super-hooky call-and-response duet with a great grimy guitar wall behind it. “Fundraiser” is a lot more polished, nearly new-wave in orientation, but that’s what I lvoe about this album: every song feels different. Heck, there’s a Cure-adjacent Waltz on the album for Pete’s sake.

Geese: Getting Killed

Look, some vocalists are just not everyone’s cup of tea. You either love or hate Geese lead singer Cameron Winter, and his nasal style. It took me a while, but I’m hooked now. This is a weird album, with weird lyrics, odd rhythms and odd twists and turns. On-everyone’s-lists “Taxes” is the song they played (very well) on Kimmel and likely most folks introduction. But the real standouts to me are “Trinidad” and “Au Pays Du Cocaine,” both of which feature real musicianship, vocals included.

Other People’s Lists!

A great surprise of the last year was connecting with some fellow music nerds for the first time. I’d be especially remiss not to point out Matt Zeigler (who you may know from his Cultish Creative blog, or perhaps his work at Panotpica.ai or over on the Excess Returns Youtube channel where we both make our stupidest financial content: ClickBeta.). His weekly Sunday Music article is must reading.

Kevin Alexander writes On Repeat Records, and has become an incredible soutce not just for new music but for great crate-dives into old stuff and stuff I’ve never heard of. Check out his 2025 recap. Our tastes seem to be aligned — we seem to think the same thigns are great — but somehow our picks and lists are always different, which is an AMAZING gift.

Last, Conor Platt curates some great mixtapes. Here’s his “what I listened to”

And his latest installment in a decades-long project of holiday music (not really): Inflatable Christmas Tree Volume 11 (you can see prior mixes here, all great):

I hope you, constant reader, have an amazing end of year celebration with friends and family and listen to lots of great music. But, even if your year isn’t going like that, I hope some great music can bring a little extra cheer. Music’s awesome that way.