Stephin Merritt – The Magnetic Fields
Movies:
Art Spiegelman: Disaster Is My Muse
Echo Valley
Homemade Gatorade
It Was Just an Accident
The Last Republican
Peaches Goes Bananas
Pee-Wee As Himself
Sanatorium Under the Sign of the Hourglass
Secret Mall Apartment
This Unremarkable Life
Riley Riley (Artsick) favs of 2025:
Misc:
Joshua Tree National Park with my family
Shooting with my Hasselblad again
Recording with Mario
Kim Baxter harmonies
Cuddles with my dogs
Music:
Tony Molina (On This Day)
Galore (Dirt)
The Cords
The Telephone Numbers (Scarecrow II)
Books:
Teenage Daydream by Debsey Wykes
You & Me Against The World: 2 Women, 5 Bands, 80’s
Edinburgh by Saskia Holling
Podcasts:
MENOPUNKS Podcast by Alicia J. Rose
Good Luck With That: A Podcast About Skateboarding by Ashley Rehfed, Alex White and Nora
Vasconcellos
Good Hang by Amy Poehler
Handsome Podcast with Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin
Snacks:
Rebel Cheese vegan brie
Bubbies Kosher Dill Pickles
The Paella Mario made at his backyard party
Live shows:
Just A Summer Fling: Remedy & Wren, The Kitchenettes, Ryli
Chappel Roan in LA
Video:
Rocketship live on The Big Box Set
I Love LA on HBO max
Tour Moments
- Having Rob and Amelia from Heavenly drive the band around England, showing monolithic stones and yo-yo tricks to Adam, Cynthia, Madison, and I for a week straight.
- My one afternoon with Mt Misery in Glasgow made my whole year worth it.
- Late night hangs with Kenji and Adam at Kenjis flat will hopefully replay on my deathbed, I will never forget falling asleep on Kenjis couch to some of the best music I had never heard.
- The incredible hospitality of Emanuel, Jeremie, and Hadrien in Paris, and walking out to open our show to a completely packed and sold out Supersonic.
- Rachel Love giving me a Dolly Mixture cd in Brighton made me cry almost immediately upon delivery lol
Releases
Aside from all the excellent slumberland releases, like the ones from our tourmates Jeanines and Tony Molina, I listened to the new records by these bands a lot (in alphabetical order!)
Alley Girl
Betty Brite
Jobber
Paper Jam
Playland
Sharp Pins
Winter
WPTR
Cynthia Rittenbach – Lightheaded
Chess
Paris
Chess in Paris
The gym
Touring
Alan Turring
Autocamper and Betty Brite
Tape machine getting fixed
Gail O – chickfactor editor in chief
Nina Nastasia at Show Bar
Stuart Murdoch book event and solo set at Polaris Hall
Michael Hurley Memorial at Cherry Sprout
Gina Birch at Mississippi Studios
Saint Etienne – International
Sharp Pins – Balloon Balloon Balloon
Brian Bilston and the Catenary Wires – Sounds Made by Humans
Jeanines – How Long Can It Last
Edith Frost – In Space
Destroyer – Dan’s Boogie
Mei Semones – Animaru
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On
Edwyn Collins – Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation
Marissa Nadler – New Radiations
Robert Forster – Strawberries
Telephone Numbers – Scarecrow II
Dean Wareham – That’s the Price of Loving Me
William Tyler – Time Indefinite
The Real Tuesday Weld – Crow at Christmas
Flinch. – Misery Olympian
The Clientele – Violet Hour on vinyl
Salem 66 – Salt
glo-worm – glimmer on vinyl
The Motorcycle Boy Peel Session
Railcard – Railcard EP
John Roseboro
Shouting Out Loud: Lives of the Raincoats (Audrey Golden)
Teenage Daydream: We Are the Girls Who Play in a Band (Debsey Wykes)
Futsal
Soccer City USA
USWNT
The American people saying HELL NO to this shit
Portland, Oregon – deserves the Nobel Peace Prize
A tough year even beyond the kakistocracy shitshow. I hated missing Sarah Cronin’s wake, YLT Hanukkah, Dromfest/Salem 66 songs, and a few other things, but it is what it is.
RIP, Sarah and Shay
Franklin Bruno
It’s been decades since I listed, much less ranked, my top records of the year; I discover or rediscover so much older music through reissues or just crate-digging that I’ve stopped distinguishing past and present as a listener. But I can tell you about 24+ excellent shows I saw in 2025: two per month, roughly one rock/pop/“indie” and one jazz/improv/experimental, plus a few outliers. (NYC unless noted.)
Eljin Marbles, The Pick-Ups, Girls on Grass; Sanger Hall, 1/18
Susan Alcorn; Zürcher Gallery, 1/21
The Love Hangover (about 15 artists doing 2-song sets); Berlin Under A, 2/15
Lesley Mok/Lester Saint Louis/Craig Taborn: Bar Bayeux, 2/26
Angela Niescier/Tomeka Reid/Savanna Harris: Jazz Gallery, 3/12
Sloppy Heads; Main Drag Music, 3/14
Nels Cline Consentrik Quartet; Le Poisson Rouge, 4/14
Ida, private show, Laurel Canyon (CA); 4/27
Pomona College Balinese Gamelan; Bridges Hall of Music (Claremont, CA), 5/5
Robyn Hitchcock, Emma Swift, Philosophical Research Society (L.A.); 5/14
Sam Newsome/Anthony Coleman/Brandon Lopez/Nick Neuberg; Bar Bayeux, 6/18
Bug Club, Omni; Bowery Ballroom, 6/26
Mekons, Johnny Dowd; Bowery Ballroom and White Eagle Hall, 7/17-18
Matt Mitchell, trio w/ Kim Cass/Ches Smith, and solo; The Stone, 7/16 and 19
[Wild Card: “Weird Al” Yankovik/Puddles Pity Party; Madison Square Garden 7/12]
Tie: Open Hand, Landowner, Editrix; Union Pool 8/9 and Sable, Room de Dark, Sotto Voce; Bar Freda, 8/22
Gabrielle Stravelli Trio; Mezzrow, 8/12
[Wild Card: Lucinda Williams, Wilco, Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson; Jones Beach, 8/1]
Haircut 100, Chao; Sony Hall, 9/24
Cecile McLorin Salvant w/ NY Philharmonic; Lincoln Center, 9/25
Stereolab, Dorothea Paas; Brooklyn Steel 10/2
Sullivan Fornter/David Virelles/Kris Davis; Jazz Gallery, 10/4
[4-way tie]
Anthony Braxton, Composition No. 101 and Syntactical Ghost Trance Music, Roulette; 11/5
[Ahmed], Billy Steigers; Cafe OTO (London), 11/12
Ed Kuepper & Jim White, Mick Harvey; TV Eye 11/17
Tiers de Familia, The Scene Is Now, Deerfrance; Francis Kite Social Club, 11/22
Jonathan Paik/Shogo Yamagishi/Max Nguyen; Close Up, 12/14
Stephen Prina, For The People (of New York), and w/ David Grubbs; MoMa, 12/4 and 12/13
I can’t really list shows I played myself, but I have to put in a word for the absurdly talented people I made music with in 2025: my bandmates in The Human Hearts (Bob Bannister, Pete Galub, Matt Houser); Tsunami, our touring partners Ida, and onstage guests including Richard Baluyut, Clint Conley, Kate Pierson, Sally Timms, and Bob Weston; Laura Cantrell and the States of Country band (Jeremy Chatsky, Kenny Kosek, Mark Spencer); Beth Kaplan (of Salem 66) and Chris Brokaw. Career — no, lifetime — highlight: sitting in with Scrawl (Union Pool, 9/1) to play keyboards on Magazine’s “Song From Under the Floorboards” with Scrawl (Union Pool, 9/1).
Read round one
Read round two
Read Theresa Kereakes’ list
Read Rob Pursey’s list of his top tees