Twenty More from 2025

It could have been more, but I ran out of steam

I just haven’t been able to get in a groove with the blog this year. There have been so many albums worth spending some time writing about and just finding that headspace has been hard. I’m not ready for my year-end list yet, but I also don’t want to put one out that features many albums I haven’t written about. So, here is my attempt to do a massive catch-up. I won’t go as in-depth on most of them like I usually do, but these are all really good albums and I want to say at least a few words about each of them. As you can see, I’ve broken them down into categories because I need some sort of order to this mess of a post…

AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS

Icecream Hands/Giant Fox Pineapple Tree - If it weren’t for Indie Pop Takeout and Chasing the Essential, I would never have heard of this band, so many thanks to Chip and Rick for turning me onto them. “Back on the Road” is a classic pop song with plenty of harmonies and a guitar lick that absolutely fits; “Do Ya Feel It” would be worth it just for the layered harmonies, but the understated guitar solo is also doing some great work; “Don’t Let the Party Fade Out” feels like a barroom piano jam; and “Here and Now” is more classic pop songwriting. These songs are so well-constructed that you can just sing along or listen to the little touches…or both at the same time!

Dom Mariani/Apple of Life - I knew of Mariani, but had never really listened to his music. His pop songcraft is high level and the guitar playing is livelier than I expected. The title track will earworm its way into your head after just one listen; “Sad State of Affairs” is minor key with a bit of psychedelia, plenty of harmonies, and the right sprinkle of soloing; “Breaking Point” rides that New Wave line while “Jealous Love” leans country; and “Jangleland” wraps up the album of with all sorts of guitar.

The Prize/In the Red - This debut album features a three guitar attack that puts the power in power pop. “From the Night” is a barnburner with twin lead guitar lines and a ripping solo; drummer Nadine Miller takes the lead on “First Sight,” which has a thick bassline and reminds you of Cheap Trick; “Say You’re Mine” is reminiscent of The Buzzcocks and has more killer twin guitar lines; and album closer “Silver Bullet” slows down the tempo without skimping on the guitar.

The Wellingtons/Baby Moon - Sometimes you discover a power pop band that you can’t believe you’ve missed out on for 5 previous albums. “Always Gonna Be That Girl” opens the album with chugging power chords, some swing from the rhythm section, clever lyrics, hand claps, harmonies, and a perfect little guitar solo; “She Still Loves Me” pulls basically the same trick, adding some “ooh”s and a bit more oomph to the drums; “Lola” is super cool, with the chorus dropping into waltz time (3/4) while the verses are in standard 4/4; and two songs have early Weezer vibes, with “I Won’t Turn Away” sounding like the debut and album closer “The Long Goodbye” like Pinkerton. I will go back to those earlier albums at some point, but for now, this still satisfies.

MY KIND OF POP

Liam Kazar/Pilot Light - Kazar put out his debut album, Due North, in 2021 and I’d been hoping to get a new one. Luckily, this delivers on the promise of the debut. The title track is a melancholic slice of pop with sharp lyrics and a deft touch of keyboards; “Try Again” reminds me of Andrew Bird (this is a good thing); and the songcraft is at a consistently high level throughout (see “Day Off,” “Pick Up the Pieces,” and “Next Time Around” for prime examples).

Tony Molina/On This Day - I’ve been a fan of Molina for at least a decade, as his albums are bursting with melody, crammed into short songs that usually pile up on top of each other. On This Day is no exception, though it really has the pretty pop side of Molina on display. “Faded Holiday” is piano pop complete with a trumpet solo, all in 50 seconds; “Have Your Way” adds a bit of fuzzy guitar and takes time for a 10 second coda; “Take Some Time” has an Elliott Smith feel; “Livin Wrong” sounds like a lost 60s tune; and “Violets of Dawn,” a ringing uptempo tune, is the longest song on the album at 2:15.

Sharp Pins/Balloon Balloon Balloon - I read about their previous album, Radio DDR, when it came out last year, but didn’t listen until the expanded version came out earlier this year. I may be wrong when I say “their,” because this is very much a project by Kai Slater, whose band Lifeguard put out a good album earlier in the year as well. I was won over about 9 seconds into album upon hearing a psychedelic wash of guitar in “Popfangabout.” There is so much pop sensibility and melody crammed into these songs - “I Could Find Out” turns from a 60s pop song to a GBV song about 3/4 of the way through; “Queen of Globes and Frogs” has a Robyn Hitchcock title and vibe; there’s a Byrds guitar quote in “(I Wanna) Be Your Girl”; “Gonna Learn to Crawl” feels like a lost John Lennon-written Beatle classic - and all of that is in the first third of the album.

NEWER FAVORITES

Bottlecap Mountain/Everest - I have become a big fan of the band over the last half decade. They are both good and prolific (this is their 4th album in 4 years). I also just discovered they have a quote of mine on their website, which is incredibly cool. This new one has a number of tracks that are just sound collages, which gives their songs a different context. The title track is a rocker with drummer Ray Naylor really shining and a perfect metaphoric lyric (“We all have an Everest/a mountain to climb”); “Summat” and “I Wanna Luv U” both have very active basslines by Chris Stangland, while the latter also adds a scorching guitar solo at the end; “Tarkus” has more great guitar; “Glass Jaw” has arpeggiated chords, some spectral organ sounds thanks to Yvonne Love, and a great instrumental bridge before slamming back into the tune; “Push It” sounds like a Marvin Gaye tune with Stewart Gersmann singing the hell out of it from lower register to falsetto. Have you ever wanted a gorgeous 8 minute song about the classic North by Northwest? If not, you should, because “Northwest” is an album highlight. Readers, I love this band.

Liquid Mike/Hell Is an Airport - Their previous two albums placed high on my year-end list each of the last 2 years and I am pretty sure this one will as well. A lot of the songs roll into each other, which keeps the pace high (14 songs in 27 minutes). Current standouts include the adrenalized “Double Dutch,” the hip hop beats of “AT&T,” the acoustic riff to electric pummel of “Groucho Marx,” and the album-closing title track, which reminds me of something off The Meadowlands. Press play and turn it up!

Snocaps/Snocaps - I was a fan of Swearin’s Surfing Strange in 2013 and found Waxahatchee with 2017’s Out in the Storm; those bands are headed by Allison and Katie Crutchfield, respectively. With this album, a surprise Halloween release, they have reunited and brought MJ Lenderman and Brad Cook along with them. It leads off with the crunchy and catchy “Coast,” which just glides along in the groove and offers some shout-along vocals in the chorus; “Heathcliff” has Allison on lead vocals, but really features the unison and harmony singing that the sisters do so well; it’s also got a driving beat and rock solid bass line to support the singing; “Wasteland” features more of a galloping vocal in the verses (sung by Katie) and a perfect melody with harmonies on the chorus; and if you’ve liked anything off of Saint Cloud or Tigers Blood, check out “Cherry Hard Candy.” A definite treat!

OLD FAVORITES

Guided By Voices/Thick Rich and Delicious - This is the second GBV album of the year, the 19th for the current lineup (the run started with 2017’s August by Cake), and the 42nd overall. While the 4 Ps (Pop, Prog, Psych, and Punk) are on display here, the melding of them feels pretty power pop to me. “(You Can’t Go Back To) Oxford Talawanda” has a very catchy chorus; “Lucy’s World” has both chiming and grungy guitars; “Mother John” gets a little more spacey; Doug Gillard gets to solo on “A Tribute to Beatle Bob,” which may be my favorite song on the album, and really let loose on “Replay”; and “Siren” always makes a case for being my actual favorite. High quality GBV throughout.

Josh Ritter/I Believe in You, My Honeydew - While I’ve liked the last couple Ritter albums, they haven’t grabbed me as much as his music usually does (granted, it could be me). This one, however, hit immediately with “You Won’t Bring My Grave,” which is piano-driven rocker and has Josh signing in his compelling cadence. “Truth is a Dimension (Both Invisible and Blinding)” sees him back with a narrative song, which has humor and a drive even though its musically sparse; “Kudzu Vines” gets into some blues rock, which also effectively pairs a guitar solo with a gospel choir; and “The Wreckage of One Vision of You” adds in organ and sax to its swirling slow burn.

Sloan/Based on the Best Seller - Sloan are back with album #14 and it’s another one to listen to over and over again (2022’s Steady was my favorite album of that year). Jay Ferguson kicks things off with “Capitol Cooler,” which layers instruments as it goes and gets some sweet harmonies in there too. Patrick Pentland is up next with the glammy stomp of “Dream Destroyer” and then Chris Murphy comes in with “Open Your Umbrellas,” a jaunty piano-driven pop tune full of his signature witty lines (he rhymes “accessory” with “necessary”). Andrew Scott only has two tunes this time out, but both “Baxter” and “No Damn Fears” are really strong. Chris puts some Beach Boys touches on “Fortune Teller” and Patrick gets a little 60s girl group with “heard you got a new boyfriend” on “So Far Down.” Chris delivers the cracked power pop hit “Live Forever,” a tune about how living a long life might not be the way to go. It’s great when bands you love keep producing high quality work after 30+ years.

Jeff Tweedy/Twilight Override - Tweedy and his songs have been constant companions over the last 30 years. This is a triple album with 30 songs, so it takes a while to get through, but each listen reveals something new. Disc 1 has some classic sounding Tweedy tunes like “Caught Up in the Past” and “Forever Never Ends,” but you also get the noirish spoken word of “Parking Lot” (“I’d like to teach the world to sing…fuck, anything”) and “Betrayed,” which keeps the introduction going so long you think it will never end and then it kicks in with that descending bassline and all the voices and it’s on. Disc 2 also starts with some classic Tweedy tunes in “KC Rain (No Wonder)” and “Out in the Dark,” but I also love Spencer Tweedy’s drumming on “Better Song” and I can hear Julee Cruise singing the chorus of “Blank Baby” in an episode of Twin Peaks. The disc ends with “Feel Free,” a song of beauty and hope that locks into a groove for 7 minutes. Disc 3 opens with “Lou Reed Was My Babysitter,” a rocker which feels like something new from Tweedy even while retaining his typical touches like that skronky guitar. I’ve come to really like the woozy serenity of “Stray Cats in Spain” and how the gentle lope of “This Is How It Ends” is affected by Tweedy’s discordant guitar and cacophonous bits in Spencer’s drums. The album ends with the spectacular “Enough,” which is my new favorite Tweedy tune until the next one.

POWER POP

Bird Streets/The Escape Artist - When I heard this new album was coming out, I went back to 2022’s Lagoon and fell in love with it even harder than before, so I was eagerly anticipating this, which reunites John Brodeur with Jason Falkner (sorry for all the clauses). Thankfully, it delivers. “Mistaker” is a rock solid pop tune that’s elevated during the chorus when you can hear some pounding piano sitting back in the mix; “Pride Is a Gun” starts with choppy acoustic chords before bursting into widescreen; “It’s A Start” is endlessly melodic with lyrics like “everyone’s out here looking for the cure/and they don’t even have the disease”; and “Suite Amnesia” shifts from one kind of rocker in its main section to a different one in the coda, a cool trick.

The Goods/The Goods - I quite enjoyed the bands eponymous debut EP when it came out in 2023 and was excited they had a full album coming out. When I listened the first time, it felt less immediate than The Goods, but like with a lot of really good power pop, you just need a couple spins for the songs to get under your skin. “April Fools” starts it off with jangly guitars and clever lyrics that both play with and against the song title…and then a guitar solo steps off and takes everything up a notch; “Aurora” sounds like it could have come out at any time in the past 45 years; “Me and My Ghost” leans into harmonies and has a cool lead guitar line overtop the jangle; and “Sunday Morning Out of the Blue” pulls off the trick where instruments drop out partway and the bass steps into the spotlight to keep the poppy fun going.

Splitsville/Mobtown - I had never heard of the band before this year, even though they first put out albums in the 90s. This is their first in more than two decades and it’s a song cycle about Baltimore, a city I’ve spent quite a bit of time in. If they have more songs with the drive and harmonies of “Glorious Lie” in the catalog, I can’t wait to work backwards; the bass and drums take prominence in “On Federal Hill” and the lyrics shout out Fell’s Point; “I Hate Going to Hutzler’s” has a incredibly catchy chorus reminiscent of Jimmy Eat World or Blink-182 at their best; and “Beth Steel” mixes a little jangle with some sharp guitar.

RETURNS (OF A SORT)

The Honeydogs/Algebra for Broken Hearts - This is more of a return of my awareness of the band, as I bought their 2001 album Here’s Luck when it came out and completely lost track of them after that. Thankfully, I heard a song or two off of this and got reacquainted. It opens with “Attic Brain,” an infectious rocker, and then rolls into the more contemplative “I Don’t Want to Fight,” with a really cool bridge that leads into a perfectly tasteful guitar solo. “Righteous Came the Stranger” is a bluesy tune that rides the line between strutting and slinky; the album closes with “Bend or Break,” a lovely song that feels much more expansive than its 3:19 runtime.

Midlake/A Bridge to Far - I absolutely loved the band’s 2006 album The Trials of Van Occupanther and then completely lost track of them. A good review had me give this new one a try…and then I’ve kept going back to it. The gauzy title track has some lovely sighing “ah”s; “The Ghouls” is built around a cool little riff and has propulsive drums; “Eyes Full of Animal” achieves the same sort of hypnosis that made Trials so popular in the blogosphere; and “The Calling” is as close to a rocker as you’re going to get from the band (it does sound great, especially that guitar tone).

Whitney/Small Talk - This is a return to the sound that Whitney had on their first two albums and shifted away from on 2022’s SPARK. Quite a few critics panned this album, but I guess they’re allergic to good tunes. “Won’t You Speak Your Mind” puts a little funk in it; “Dandelions” makes great use of pedal steel, piano, and horns; the horns return on “Back to the Wind,” helping to lift the sticky melody. The album is of a piece, but varied enough to keep it interesting, or you can file it in the category of “music that don’t hurt” with a hat tip to my cousin.

SIX MORE I COULD HAVE WRITTEN ABOUT AND RECOMMEND

1. Neko Case/Neon Grey Midnight Green

2. Flock of Dimes/The Life You Save

3. Massage/Coaster

4. Juliana Riolino/Echo in the Dust

5. The Telephone Numbers/Scarecrow II

6. Wednesday/Bleeds