Kim Baxter – All Girl Summer Fun Band + Rocketship
Favorite Music Experiences of 2025
I was super lucky and grateful to be included in some amazing music projects & shows in 2025, including:
All Girl Summer Fun Band opening for Bratmobile at Revolution Hall in Portland!
Super fun (and hot) summer backyard show with AGSFB, The Mistons and The “No” 3.
Goofing off, playing music, and writing and recording a song with Riley (Artsick) in her home studio in Seaside, CA.
Getting invited to record vocal harmonies on the new Artsick record and hanging out with Riley and Mario in Mario’s awesome studio in Oakland. I can’t wait for everyone to hear their new album, it’s so great!
Being asked by Dusty to play keyboards and sing in Rocketship. We’ve been practicing all year getting ready to tour in 2026 to celebrate the 30 year anniversary and reissue of A Certain Smile, A Certain Sadness. The songs are so much fun to play and I love playing with Dusty, Nancy & Andy!
Rocketship playing 3 songs for an episode of Playland Studio’s The Big Box Set (playlandstudio.com).
Tracy Wilson – Outer World / Courtesy Desk
In no particular order, here are things in 2025 that brought me great joy:
*Richmond’s Petit Four’s jambon + beurre baguette/my first beef on weck (I also really love visiting Buffalo)
*Kenny’s martini at home/ the fig old fashioned in Memphis at Bar Limina between Gonerfest sets
*Rostov’s Seville orange coffee on the stove after a cold dog walk – we keep it on low heat all December so our house smells incredible all holiday season
*Our rescue dog finally feeling safe enough to sleep soundly in our laps
*A newly renovated/redecorated bedroom and bathroom that feels peaceful yet invigorating.
*Self editing: letting go of things in my my life that no longer served a positive purpose, from bad habits like creating endless to-do lists, to doubles in our record collection, to energy vampire people
*Splurging on getting Veselka delivered to our home for a group of friends on Valentine’s Day and reading love poems out loud between courses.
*Ocean Vuong’s book The Emperor of Gladness that I would suggest to anyone who loves Harold & Maude
*Replacing the gardens around our home with native plants thanks to Ricky at Craft Natives
*Neighborhood friendships with the most incredibly kind, thoughtful, and strong women spanning the ages of 30 something to 70 something.
Dawn Sutter Madell Top Live shows 2025
Matmos Yoko Ono tribute at The Armory
Fanny tribute featuring Gossip and ESG at Lincoln center
Cindy Lee at Paramount
Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall
Pulp at Forest Hills
The Tubs/Wedding Present at Music Hall of Williamsburg
Courtney Barnett at Lucinda’s
Devo at Paramount
Frankie Cosmos at Union Pool
Chicago Underground Duo at Public Records
Team Dresch at Elsewhere
Big Thief (ft Laraaji, Hannah Cohen, June McDoom & Alena Spanger) at Forest Hills
Patti Smith at The Met (Philly)
Robyn Hitchcock/Sharp Pins at Bowery Ballroom
Girl Scout Handbook/Off Pink Young Ethel’s
Evelyn Hurley – Cotton Candy Favorite moments of 2025
2025 was a busy year, but I had some really lovely moments, here are a few of my favorites:
Riding the mail boat along the coast of Portland, Maine. I was visiting Portland, Maine, in January and had an afternoon free. My friend told me that the mail carrying boats make trips every day to all the little islands outside of Portland and you can pay for a boat ride and see all of the charming and isolated islands. So, I took this ride on a chilly winter day, and the water was so shimmery and bright, it was an invigorating, beautiful boat ride, and an exhilarating way to begin the year.
Visiting our son in Taiwan and visiting Japan. We spent two weeks in Asia visiting our son at school in Taiwan, and it was so exciting to be in a culture that I’ve never been in before and experience the sights and sounds of Taiwan. It was especially thrilling to have our son navigate us through the different subways, pathways, night markets, and museums. Our trip to Japan was incredible: visiting record stores in Tokyo, riding the bullet train, getting dive-bombed by a crow at the Kyoto Imperial Palace, seeing an immersive exhibit of Ryuichi Sakamoto, were highlights of an really wonderful trip.
Eating sushi in a Japanese train station. I know it might sound weird to us Americans considering the state of some of our train stations, but my neighbor told me before I went on this trip that eating sushi in the Tokyo train station was something we had to do! So on our last day we ate the most delicious sushi (while standing up,) and I think about this delectable and time conscious lunch experience quite often.
Riding my ebike to and from work. This might be a strange favorite moment(s), but after riding the Boston T for 25 years, dealing with delays and crowds, etc…, and riding a regular 7 speed for the past 15 years and dealing with the wind and heat, I bought an Ebike this past spring. I was not prepared for the convenience and ease of zipping to and from work along the beautiful North End waterfront bike trail, and looking at the Bunker Hill Monument throughout the year was a thrilling (almost daily) event for me. Highly recommend.
Stewart Anderson – Boyracer Ten heavy rotations from 2025
WET LEG moisturizer (Domino)
PUPPET WIPES live inside (Siltbreeze)
HELENE BARBIER panorama (Bonsound)
ESSENDON AIRPORT mor (Chapter Music)
BUNNY AND THE LAKERS numbers (Zaius Tapes)
SPARKS mad (Transgressive)
THE MOTORCYCLE BOY peel session (Precious)
LEBANON HANOVER asylum lullabies (Fabrika)
TONY MOLINA on this day (Slumberland)
JESUS AND MARY CHAIN psychocandy 4 X LP reissue (Third Man)
Kristin Thomson – Tsunami Best live moments in 2025
I’m not sure how many bands I saw in 2025. More than 70 for sure. Here’s what I enjoyed the most:
- MJ Lenderman, Franklin Music Hall, Philadelphia.
Saw MJ just as he stepped up to the 2000+ size venues. So languid, so compelling. Excellent players in his band. - Wednesday, Union Transfer, Philadelphia.
Speaking of MJ, Wednesday’s show supporting their album Bleeds spanned lots of their recorded output. Ferocious guitar sounds. - TAKAAT, Jerry’s on Front, Philadelphia
Stuffed into the very tiny Jerry’s for the trancelike guitars and drums from the Mdou Moctar crew. - Pinback and Hammered Hulls, Underground Arts, Philadelphia.
Two nights! I missed seeing Pinback in the early 2000s so I was captivated by their intricate songs and great vocals. - Team Dresch, First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia.
So delighted to see these queercore icons out playing shows again! Like many on this list, they were in fine form. - Gang of Four, Turner Hall, Milwaukee.
A band I never thought I’d get to see, to the point I flew to Milwaukee so I could catch this final tour. Ted Leo and Gail Greenwood were the PERFECT musicians to join original members. Taut, political, perfectly executed. - Chimers, Union Transfer, Philadelphia.
The Saints and Pissed Jeans were great, but I really loved Australia’s two-piece Chimers. Driving guitar and drums. - The Lemon Twigs, Ottobar, Baltimore.
I love them so much. I saw them in Tokyo in January, but this road trip to Baltimore was much more fun. They finished the set with a note-perfect cover of “Good Vibrations” in tribute to the recently-departed Brian Wilson. - Lifeguard, Warehouse on Watts, Philadelphia.
Only a few days after the release of their album Ripped and Torn (my fave album of 2025). Another band that has tapped into the best of British post-punk and Mission of Burma. - Lambrini Girls, Underground Arts, Philadelphia.
I’d seen enough online footage to know what to expect, but they were amazing. Unapologetically political. Crowdsurfing out to hold onto ceiling pipes, building a human pyramid in the pit, ripping through their songs. A+++ - Wand, Johnny Brenda’s, Philadelphia.
Lots of jam band fans seem to show up at these Wand shows. Huge range, and always so compelling. - Holy Rollers, St Stephens Church, Washington, DC
The Positive Force 40th anniversary show was their first show in over 35 years and they were *incredible*. 90’s Dischord political band that is so urgent, so necessary. - Ink and Dagger, First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia
The basement had been transformed into a creepy dungeon with spray painted bedsheets on the walls and ceiling. Lights off, except for chaotic strobes and flashes, the band, covered in ghoul paint, absolutely ripped. - Unwound, First Unitarian Church, Philadelphia.
Playing their 1995 album The Future of What (and nothing else), Unwound was tight, disciplined and unforgiving in its ferociousness. - Mekons, Magic Bag, Ferndale, MI.
I was going to miss the Mekons show in Philly, so Jenny Toomey and I journeyed to Detroit to see them supporting their new album, Horror! I mean, it’s the full Mekons!!
These hold a special place in my rock and roll heart:
- Pile, Underground Arts, Philadelphia.
Why was this the first time I’d seen this band?? Boston’s Pile hints at all the bands I love in the Unwound/Hot Snakes/Jehu lexicon. Blistering, political, unpredictable.
- Eno on Four Screens, Athens, NY.
Each viewing of the Eno documentary is different. I mean that. It’s sequencing the clips in real time as you watch it. Now, imagine seeing it playing on four drive-in movie screens at once, each of them playing a different version of the movie. This was amazing on so many levels.
- Rocket From the Crypt and Superchunk, House of Blues, San Diego.
What’s more fun than RFTC and Superchunk? Together? How about seeing them on Halloween!
- Peter Schickele Memorial Concert, New York, NY.
Curated by his daughter Karla (Ida, Beekeeper) and populated with an incredible range of musicians, this loving look at Schickele’s body of work included everything from clever jingles for the classical radio station, to pieces written for 10 bassoons, to a giant singalong at the end.
- Every show that Tsunami played with Ida on the Coin Toss tour. I think the show at Polaris Hall in Portland was the most special.
- Scrawl, Deep Cuts, Medford, MA.
I love Scrawl so much!! This was the first of three shows with Tsunami drummer Luther Gray on the tubs and they were having such a good time. MORE SCRAWL IN 2026 PLEASE.
Stefan Zachrisson As Chickfactor’s Stockholm correspondent I give you my top 10 Swedish music of 2o25. Click on the links, listen to the music, and support the musicians and labels:
Art Longo – Echowah Island (LP, Cracki)
Sternpost – My Silent Dream (song from forthcoming LP unworld.afterpop on Concrentric Circles)
Waterbaby – Beck n Call (single, Sub Pop)
Länge Leve – Jazz på lesbiska (EP, PACAYA)
Andreas Tilliander & Goran Kajfes – In Cmin (LP, Kontra-Musik)
Civilistjävel! & Mayssa Jallad – Marjaa: the Battle of the Hotels (Versions) (LP, Six Of Swords/Ruptured)
Mythologen – Eurovision (LP, YEAR0001)
World Of Dog – Chihuahua Sunrise (single, Excellent Spaces)
Various artists – Solidaritet med Gazas barn (a digital mixtape with songs from Jens Lekman, Sternpost, Sarto et al, Zeon Light)
Blessings 2 Go – This Stance (single, Correspondence)
Min skugga – Min skugga (LP, Kopotikop)
JJULIUS – VOL. 3 (LP, Mammas Mysteriska Jukebox/DFA)
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