I’m finally ready to reveal my favorite albums of 2025. I probably listened to 50-60 LPs and a dozen EPs this year, and here are my favorites, with heavy emphasis on darkwave/EBM, doom metal, indie rock, garage rock, hardcore, post-punk, punk, and shoegaze. My favorite album of the year was Die Spitz’s debut LP Something to Consume, an awesome blending of punk and metal influences.

AOTY: Die Spitz - Something to Consume

#Music #Punk #Metal #Shoegaze #IndieRock #DarkWave #PostPunk #Rock

Remember Sports / Cusp

X-Ray Arcade, Saturday, May 2 at 08:00 PM CDT

KICKSTAND PRODUCTIONS PRESENTS
LIVE MUSIC / ALL AGES
7PM DOORS / 8PM MUSIC
$20 CASH DAY OF

REMEMBER SPORTS
Remember Sports have always sounded like a band in motion—chasing a feeling, chasing each other, sometimes running from themselves. Over the past decade, the Philadelphia-based band has built a cult following on the strength of bruising live shows, emotionally honest lyrics, and an ever-evolving sound that refuses to be pinned down. With their newest album, The Refrigerator, out February 13, 2026 via Get Better Records, the band captures the messy, cathartic energy of transformation: it’s a record born from uncertainty, grief, growth, and ultimately, love—for the music, for each other, and for the many past selves colliding into the present.

CUSP
Indie Rock from Chicago, IL

https://mkeshows.com/event/remember-sports-cusp

Just got tix to see #LCDSoundsystem at Aragon Ballroom + Amyl and the Sniffers at The Salt Shed!

#Punk #Dance #Indie #IndieMusic #IndieRock #Rock #RockMusic #Music #LiveMusic #Concert #Chicago

Liz Hogg – Goodbye World Hello Something

Goodbye World Hello Something by Liz Hogg tells you the whole story before you even drop the needle. It’s the soundtrack for that moment when you decide you are done with the old nonsense, take a huge breath, and step out into whatever is coming up next. A comprehensive collection of marvelous songs about getting out, pushing forward, and staring down the beautiful, scary unknown. If you’ve ever felt stuck or just needed a serious reset button, this is your jam. This whole record sits somewhere between indie rock, punk rock, and smart alternative rock, a sound that resonates deep down, not just loud on the surface. You definitely want to listen to this when the world is quiet, maybe late at night or on a long road trip where you can just process everything. Hogg builds this delicate, intricate world of sound that literally takes you from that feeling of total resignation right up to a fragile, necessary sense of hope. Seriously, she wrote the manual for hitting the reset button and set it to music.

Hogg’s voice is unique. She sounds like she’s whispering the truth straight into your ear. It’s intensely emotional and layered with sheer honesty, making you feel like you’re reading her diary. There are points, and these are the best parts, where the voice cracks or catches slightly. That’s just a pure, raw vulnerability, a vocal decoration that pulls you right in. Her melodies don’t follow the easy pop route. Quite the contrary, they twist and turn, following the messy contours of her mind. The lyrics, even if you don’t catch every word, tell stories about quiet struggles, ditching the old self, and the terrifying search for a new place to land. Underneath those vocal harmonies, the music creates this huge, gentle atmosphere. The acoustic and electric guitars serve as the backbone, and they go way beyond simple strumming. You’ll notice marvelous chord progressions, riffs, and patterns that create this beautiful, constant shimmer beneath everything else. It’s organic and reliable, giving you something solid to hold onto while the rest of the sound just moves and swells around you. Of course, there are also many themes, melodies, harmonies, and other sonic delicacies included along the way, added for even greater impact.

Hogg also uses subtle electronics and these really lush, cinematic string sounds. They just drift in and out like a change in the weather. Sometimes it’s a bright synth pad that stretches into the distance, or maybe a deep cello line that pulls the feeling down into the ground before the song finally lifts you up again. This dynamic flow keeps the whole album feeling mysterious and constantly moving, perfectly matching that whole vibe. It never stays in one place too long. On an album as delicate as this, you need a strong, steady foundation, and the bass provides it. It’s warm, deep, dense, and heavy, tracked to add massive emotional depth. These basslines are so calculated, purposeful movements that underpin the whole material. That warm, consistent low-end is super important because it makes sure that even when the sound is at its most delicate and spacey, the whole thing still feels rooted, real, and physical. The drumming matches the emotional journey perfectly of each composition. Many tracks start with super sparse, minimal percussion, just a light touch, reflecting the quiet, introspective moments, but as the songs shift and the themes move towards action and hope, the drumming gets more complex and energetic, kicking into these driving, smart beats. It’s a gorgeous, dynamic performance that pairs the entire emotional trip. The beats are clean, precise, and timed perfectly, giving those melodies the push they need to really glide.

Goodbye World Hello Something is a deeply personal record, and it is crafted to absolute perfection. It captures the quiet, scary courage it takes to leave your comfort zone and jump into the unknown. Liz Hogg uses her quiet, powerful alternative sound to create a natural, emotional experience that you can feel right in your chest. If you’ve been looking for a soundtrack for a big life change, this album will be right up your alley. Liz Hogg crushed it. Go clear your head, find a quiet place, and spend some serious time with this one. You won’t regret the ride.

#alternative #indie #indiePop #indieRock #lizHogg #music #punkRock #reviews

Old review.

Various - DJ-Kicks: HOT CHIP

https://emcritic.blogspot.com/2015/12/various-dj-kicks-hot-chip.html

Weirdly a re-issue version of their contribution to the series. Weird because the original was only a year old.

#ElectronicMusic #Disco #ElectroPop #Funk #IndieRock #NewWave #Soul #TechHouse

Complete 'B' Sides is a compilation album of songs by American alternative rock band Pixies. It features the B-sides for seven out of eight of their UK singles, as well as for one USA single, from the 1980s and 1990s. The eighth, "Letter to Memphis", had no B-sides. These singles are:

"Gigantic" (1988)
"Monkey Gone to Heaven" (1989)
"Here Comes Your Man" (1989)
"Velouria" (1990)
"Dig for Fire" (1990)
"Planet of Sound" (1991)
"Alec Eiffel" (USA) (1991)

The album's booklet also features commentaries for each song by Pixies frontman Black Francis. Of "Velvety Instrumental Version", he writes, "The title implies that there was a version with lyrics, but there wasn't." A non-instrumental version, titled simply "Velvety", would later appear on Frank Black and the Catholics' 2002 album, Devil's Workshop. - Wikipedia

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=peMm_Ra3Vlk&list=OLAK5uy_mU19DuDbMi7csv6LLE0WsaPeczTt5MKqI&index=14

#Pixies #NeilYoung #BSides #Music #AlternativeRock #IndieRock