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This music fan and more than fortunate left of the dial radio employee and independent critic took in well over 100 new records this year. Some of them received a deep listen, others got smoked over on the quick.
These 10 are the best of those records, that being releases that stuck with me since first listen. While some of these come from artists I’ve been a fan of for years and to my ears can do no wrong (Ty Segall, Neko Case), others blipped on my radar from nowhere and quickly became a house favorite. Love them or hate them, let this list serve as a musical education.
The catch-all that is Americana is a riper descriptor for this bassless power trio. With a Hammon organ delivering groove, this release drops gospel, blues, lounge and boogie in a rock ’n’ roll package. Since dropping this in the summer, they’ve added an EP to their 2025 releases that’s just as fierce and fun.
This record finds Schulze and gang giving a hearty nod to the British bands that pushed blues into the American mainstream 50 years back. With that nod to Creem and The Yardbirds, there’s a bit of Thin Lizzy, Ramones and The Hold Steady; it’s all rock ’n’ roll.
This is all cocktail jazz and lush exotica, a dreamy soundtrack that will score your gin-heavy happy hour or laid back surf film where vibraphones, flutes and clarinets are guilty of dreamy melody provision.
Canada shouldn’t keep Rick White to itself. His latest continues the audio mission started with his past bands in Elevator and Eric’s Trip, a release that carries with it plenty of psychedelia, prog-rock and subtle hooks. A one-person package, the writing and performing, recording, engineering and mixing are all courtesy of White.
The duo of Chris Coleslaw and Lexi Goddard dig into cosmic country with hints of The Denver Sound. You’ll find this release psychedelic and spacey, a dose of garage twang that both creeps and crawls, where drifting pedal steel weaves with reverb-heavy harmonies.
Case’s early career descriptors quickly morphed from alt-country starlet to indie-rock dreamster. This latest finds Case offering up soul-heavy harmonies and playful melodies, where experimental rock rubs elbows with fractured and twisted pop music.
Morgan Greer’s latest is an offering of rough-around-the-edges gospel direct from the Bible Belt. Digging into the familiar of the public domain while offering newbies to the canon, horns give certain cuts a second-line vibe while others come via a playful yet intoxicated shuffle.
Childers continues to defy genres despite an ultimate classification as “country.” With Rick Rubin on board, Childers is romantic, aggressive and loaded with angst as he drops cuts that move from folkie roots to banging rock, singing about everything from hunting and eating to loving older women and everything down under.
Every accolade tossed Pomeroy’s way is well-deserved. This is true Americana from the heartiest of heartland: Pomeroy’s angelic yet earthy croon perfectly placed in her take on roots and folk. A release both dreamy and drifting, grounded and real, Pomeroys both tender and tough, pulling at the heart while honest and painful as a gut punch.
Segall’s a little bit of musical everything, with those musical everything bits on display with every great release. “Possession” hits on Segall’s signature blasts of garage-punk-psychedelia, while also demonstrating his ability to throw around a John and Paul like ability to construct stick-in-your-head hooks, all with an experimental flair. From beginning to end, this is a hell of a listen.
Bryant Liggett is a freelance writer and KDUR station manager. Reach him at liggett_b@fortlewis.edu.
