Ryan’s Favorite Music of 2025
The sounds that struck me most this year, including subversive slowcore, deranged future-pop, apocalyptic techno, and more.
You would think, after more than 20 years of working as a music journalist, I’d be prepared to answer the question: So what kind of music do you write about? But it can still stump me. A harried response like “Everything!” is meaningless and broad and not totally accurate. Then again, zeroing in on just a few genres doesn’t really work either. So I usually say something mealy-mouthed that trails off and satisfies no one.
But nothing clarifies one’s taste like writing for a publication that you run with your friends, where there are no overlords telling you what you should and shouldn’t cover. Even more clarifying: putting together a personal year-end list of my favorite music for that publication! It makes me realize I write about music that sounds gargantuan, as if it were produced by mythic gods. And music that’s deeply personal and quiet, like a knowing glance from across the room. I write about artists with big audiences who do not capitulate to what those audiences are accustomed to hearing. I love half-crazed songwriters who put as much, or more, brainpower into their lyrics as I put into my own work. My specialties include end-of-days electro-goth and R&B plucked from the heavens, jazz that sounds like electronic music and electronic music that sounds like jazz. More than ever, I write about the music I love. It’s that simple.
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