My Favourite Music of 2025

Who says I can’t meet deadlines? Here’s my annual round-up of my favourite music of the year, and with hours to spare. This is not, I hasten to add, a best-of-2025 list; I am too old and not fond of many of the dominant musical trends to pretend this is anything more than just what I liked. 

People who check out my playlist (Apple Music* or Spotify) every year—a practice that still baffles me—will recognize some of the artists here. Katie Crutchfield, who performs as Waxahatchee, is back for the umpteenth time, both as Waxahatchee and as part of Snocaps, a new project with her sister Allison and MJ Lenderman (who’s also on a couple of other songs). Jason Isbell is back with a solo acoustic break-up album. Bonnie “Prince” Billy returns with his best album in a while. 

Jeff Tweedy is also here again, though not as part of Wilco this time. I rolled my eyes when I heard he was releasing a triple album, which seemed far too much self-indulgence. I was happy to be wrong.

But this idiosyncratic collection does include some new stuff. I’ve liked previous Cass McCombs music, but I am not sure he made my list before. Now he does. So does Toronto’s Saya Gray. And Geese, rock’s new “it” band, is here, too. I know Cameron Winter’s voice isn’t for everyone—and I wasn’t a fan of Heavy Metal, his 2024 solo album for that reason—but Geese gives me hope that the youngs can still rock.

Finally, I always miss lots of music that I later wish I’d included here. This year, I am starting a new tradition of including something from the previous year by ending this playlist with two songs from the Des Demonas. They opened for Neko Case at Massey Hall in the fall and I fell for their new-wavish energy. Maybe you will, too.

* Apologies, but for some reason, the Weather Station’s “Humanhood” isn’t showing up on the Apple Music playlist