"Looking back at the songs I played the most in 2025, I can sense my own hunger for music that felt wounded, carnal, unfamiliar, tactile, and askew-far from the uncanny sheen of A.I., far from the devastated feeling I get when I must scan a QR code to see a menu. I have listed fifteen of my favorites below. These are the records that best balanced my humors and kept me afloat."
"Lately, listening has transformed into such a cloistered experience, a private ritual, enacted on headphones or in our cars, a hyper-convenient way to make the world disappear. It's easy to forget that music also accelerates communion, a sense of belonging. That's something I often feel when I'm writing: a giddiness to share the experience, whether it be transcendent or ghastly, with others."
Fifteen favorite records from 2025 reveal a hunger for music that feels wounded, carnal, unfamiliar, tactile, and askew, deliberately distant from A.I.'s uncanny sheen and the emotional flatness of QR-code convenience. Several excellent contemporary releases nearly qualified, but curation required hubris and constraint. Live experience, including a four-hour Phish New Year's Eve show at Madison Square Garden, contributed to the musical year. Listening habits have become cloistered, often enacted on headphones or in cars, yet music still accelerates communion and belonging. The impulse to share transcendent or ghastly musical experiences affirms a sense of being alive.
Read at The New Yorker
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