The Dumbest Songs of 2025
A break from our regularly scheduled program to discuss the absolute worst of the year.
124 articles
Andy's Favorite Music of 2025
From drizzly digital grunge to jackhammering club music, lo-fi guitar explorations to glacial jazz standards, this is the music that moved me most this year.
Shostakovich’s 5th Played Backwards in a Concrete Silo
A BPM-crushing jungle experiment by a canny Instagram curator, a rap album bridging the revolutionary and the corner boy, and more.
Pop Songs With Plot Twists
Plus: agitprop merengue, dreamlover alt-R&B, an actually-good Christmas song, and more.
The Bronx Duo Bringing Perreo to the Mosh Pit
Plus: A Spider-Man-inspired rapper building his own superhero persona, an exploration in the freaky tunings of nature, and more.
The Guitar-Bass Hybrid That Gives Tortoise Its Lonesome Sound
Bassist and multi-instrumentalist Douglas McCombs has made the cult-favorite Bass VI a staple of the post-rock legends’ palette.
Put on Your Big Guy Pants
Plus Skrillex remixing Caroline Polachek, an actually good viral TikTok indie-folk hit, and more.
Raps About Tony Blair, Synths About Vikings
Plus two more intimate hip-hop albums and a high-energy new DJ-Kicks mix.
Brat Summer to Wraith Winter
Plus psych-pop homage, delirious club music, slo-mo folk, and mystical Atlanta rap that would have the 'Game of Thrones' crew throwing bows.
Rosalía's Orchestral Benediction
Plus: a must-hear album from a virtuosic avant-rock quartet, the fiery return of an essential Chicago rap collective, and more.
Noname and De La Soul Glide Over the Abyss
Plus a welcome return to form from Oneohtrix Point Never, spaced-out sophsitipop from rural New England, and surrealist funk from the UK.