The best sounds I heard in 2025, ranked.

The List 💿

38. No Cops In Heaven - Split System

37. Upwards - Ela Minus

36. Head Empty Blues - Ekko Astral - “Is it Bon Iver / or Bon Iver / I don’t care”

35. Blue & Gold - Madra Salach - this one stopped me in my tracks

34. GTA Online - UNIVERSITY - noise noise loud fuzzy noise

33. Trace - Crave

32. Avalanche - Grace Ives - big beat. Enya strings. love the humming

31. Blue Mountains - Subsonic Eye

30. Til My Heart Stops - The Beths - At Brooklyn Paramount they played this and “Mother, Pray For Me” back to back and I cried. a melancholy song about love and life and ……

29. Hideaway - Mallrat

28. American Porn - Die Spitz - ugly angry punk

27. catch these fists - Wet Leg

26. Bittersweet - Cliffords - I dig the rhythm.

25. Roundabout - The Beths - “I loved you / screaming through the roundabout” so sweet

24. Illegal - PinkPantheress - “you were recommended to me by some people” has such a good cadence

23. New Best Thing - Home Counties - gotta dance to this

22. Act Like Your Title - Rocket - love the riff

21. Cobra - Geese - everybody in the world knows the words to this song now which is a twist I did not expect for a weird but very pretty little song

20. Bitter Everyday - Wednesday

19. This is the Killer Speaking - The Last Dinner Party - banger. “I hope my televisión appearance drives you fuckin’ maddddddd” slaps

18. Julie - Horsegirl

17. R4DR4M - SKORTS - I still call this “Redrum” in my head. SKORTS continue to kill it.

16. Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation - jasmine.4.t - wonderful folky collab track with Phoebe Bridgers. Excellent moody switch in the pre-chorus kinda part.

15. Best Laid Plans - The Beths - the lil high-frets guitar strum and slide that punctuates thru this song is irresistible. The drums, the whole arrangement. The harmony on “light ray”.

14. Well I Know You’re Shy - Horsegirl - the drums are a highlight throughout this album too

13. Humdrum - Home Counties - gotta dance

12. 100 Horses - Geese - a line like “there is only dance music in times of war” (which goes hard af) juxtaposed with a line like “there were 100 horses dancing / maybe 124” is hilarious and I’m a fan

11. Feel Something - Madi Diaz - some expert-level songwriting

10. John Mulaney - Wetsuit - the. vocals. my. god.

9. CRUISING TO SELF SOOTHE - Ecca Vandal - rips from the opening scream

8. Switch Over - Horsegirl - pared back but still layered, and just a very pleasing ending

7. Idiot Box - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - great melody

6. Elderberry Wine - Wednesday - I remain transfixed by this track

5. Straight Line Was a Lie - The Beths - joyous music, pure and simple

4. 2468 - Horsegirl - dadadadadadahhhdadah. obsessed with the catchy simplicity of this album, epitomized by 2468.

3. Taxes - Geese - lots can be said about the goofiness of Geese—which I mean as the highest compliment—but all that matters for this one is the dark-humor fun of the first half and how it blows open into the shout-along catharsis of the second half

2. Townies - Wednesday - heavy heavy heavy, and that break down at the endddd. Is anybody else writing music like Karly Hartzman??

1. Metal - The Beths - perfection. stunning lyrics, beautiful layers of guitar. I adore this song and this band.



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