And the line between open and embarrassing is hard to see at best, and ever-narrowing. ................................................................................... My name's Marina and I love classic sci fi, weird animals, and... yeah folks it's mostly going to be Good Omens for the foreseeable future.
one of my friends in a discord server was talking about how they were nervous about their first scheduled acupuncture appointment. another friend offered to do a tarot reading for them. sent this picture.
Job hunting hasn't been the worst ever like on the whole its been a bit better than I expected but GOD i am starting to get tired of the waiting part of it. I don't want to be patient anymore!!!!! Just tell me what's up!!!!!!
happy make a terrible comic day!!! i haven't stopped thinking about this post since i saw it. in 2018 a common merganser was spotted with 76 (SEVENTY SIX!!!) chicks!! that's SOOOO many baby. so much success.
“The baby hippo was clearly not used to the red and yellow oxpeckers on his back,” Mol says. “It was only a matter of 10 seconds or so before the little guy had had enough. […]"
Hippos and oxpeckers generally have a symbiotic relationship in which the birds eat ticks and other types of parasites from the hippo’s body — the hippo gets free grooming while the bird gets free food.
In this case, however, it seems the baby hippo hadn’t yet gotten the memo on its feathered friends.
Ok, mother of GOD that's a lot of responses and I am but one man with Excel. I'll update these ASAP but also some rules:
A Pokemon only counts for itself, not its evolution line.
A Pokemon with multiple forms (like Zygarde) will only be counted for the specified form. A Pokemon with multiple appearances (like Spinda, Vivillon, Sylvally, etc.) count for all their appearances.
I'm literally doing this as a testament to my own depression that not everyone is lovable, so add that to the weight of this post's meaning.
in this book they make a team called ACME (african coelacanth marine expedition) and they actually put tnt in the ocean to explode random fish hoping this would somehow result in an intact coelacanth specimen. These loony toon antics were infective
With the benefit of hindsight, it has become increasingly clear that 2024 was an all-timer year for music – hot new interesting pop stars, big defining moments for already famous acts, and a ton of really great music. Much like the year itself, pretty much everyone agrees that by comparison the music in 2025… sucks. And looking at the pop charts, it’s hard to disagree, but that only represents a tiny fraction of music that comes out a year. Look hard enough, and there’s always good stuff coming from somewhere. So, in my little corner of music land (indie rock/pop with a bit of adventuring into other genres) did I also think music this year was bad?
Uhh, yes? Kind of?
Okay, no, obviously there’s still good stuff out there, but overall, I definitely felt less connected to my favorite picks this year. Even when I found individual tracks I liked, whole albums tended to fall flat for me, artists I previously loved put out projects I didn’t enjoy as much as I expected to, and making this list was a lot harder this year than it was last year. But even so, there are still some albums I really loved, and I’d really love to talk about why! So, without further ado, my list of top 8 (+1) albums of 2025:
8. Middle Spoon – Cheekface
Geez, these guys don’t stop. On their third album in three years, heirs to the TMBG geek rock throne Cheekface unloads another batch of wiry, stressed-out indie rock for the late-twenties nerd in your life. If anything, this album might be even better than last year. The sonic variation is very welcome, although some genre experiments work better than others- Cheekface + ska on “Don’t Dream is a combination so perfect you wonder how they haven’t done it already, but Cheekface + hard rap on “Military Gum” is not my favorite, even if the guest verse from McKinley Dixon is pretty good. The lyrics that speak directly to my soul are still there too, especially on “Art House” and “Hard Mode”. So why was last year’s Cheekface album #2 while this one is #8? Part of that is that the repeated dial tone on “Wind Is Gone” is so annoying that I actively avoid the song, part of it is that I think the grooves on the last album were tighter, but mostly it’s that even with the style switch-ups I’ve started to notice that most good Cheekface songs are just about as good as any other good Cheekface song, meaning your favorite Cheekface album is bound to be the one you listened to first.
7. From The Pyre – The Last Dinner Party
This is a pretty good album, but a little bit of an indictment of 2025 that it’s on the list at all. Let me explain. The Last Dinner Party is back again, barely a year after their debut, with a sophomore album once again full of gothic theater kid indie rock. Last year’s album made my honorable mentions but not the main list. This one is… pretty much as good? Maybe? I still haven’t decided which of the two I like more, but one thing I know for sure is that this one had the better singles. “This is the Killer Speaking” is an upbeat bouncy number with an instantly catchy chorus (and the way they say “killer” reminds me of Wendy Williams which makes me giggle) and the soaring vocals on “The Scythe” could totally bring me to tears in the right headspace. There are also just a lot of great vocal flourishes in this one. The inflection on “Babe, you know it ain’t fair” in Second Best is probably my favorite 2 seconds of music in 2025. This is another case of the album tracks being a bit on the forgettable side, though. Another good album from TLDP, still waiting for the great album I know they have in them.
6. Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party – Hayley Williams
Indie rock royalty Hayley Williams is back to prove it really is good bein’ all alone. With a 20-song track list that clocks in at over an hour, this project is pretty dense and I’m still working through it so I can’t say for sure where I’ll land on all of the songs, but it only needed one song to make this list, and that song was “Good Old Days”. This laid-back sequel (did you know songs could have sequels?) to “Hard Times”, one of my favorite songs of all time, is packed with clever references to Hayley’s career and the music that inspires her, and the groove on it is just so good. I put my favorite tracks from this year into a playlist (see below) and this is the one I found myself singing along to. There are other highlights from the album, too. The crunchy vocal textures on “Ice in my OJ” catch my ear every time and “Parachute” is a great anthemic closer* (*until the last couple tracks were added). Some songs still haven’t made an impression on me yet, but the ones that have are excellent.
5. EURO-COUNTRY – CMAT
CMAT you will always be famous to me! And now it seems she’s suddenly famous to a bunch of other people too. CMAT’s musical style tends to swing between theatrical power ballads and jaunty acoustic guitar country numbers. Comparisons to Chappell Roan are overplayed, but if you liked “Guilty Pleasure” or “California” off of Midwest Princess, you’d probably love CMAT too. She may not be average-American famous yet (and she was already average-Irish famous) but her star has definitely risen this year, thanks to EURO-COUNTRY. This album definitely leans more into the power-ballad side of her range, with the title track and “Jamie Oliver Petrol Station” soaring to new heights of lush, layered production. Meanwhile, “Iceberg” provides a softer, more stripped back counterpoint and feels more in line with CMAT’s previous sad-girl country songs. But, as always, her greatest strength is that she’s really, really funny and songs like “Take a Sexy Picture of Me” and “Lord Let that Tesla Crash” are perfect vehicles to deliver her unique combination of wry, self-deprecating humor and heartrending emotion, wrapped in clever lyrics. I’m always happy to have more CMAT and I can’t wait to see where she goes next, but this album falls lower on this list because there are a few total throwaway songs (Truly, who is returning to “Ready”?) and I just don’t understand why this is the one that finally broke her through. It’s good! I just don’t find myself coming back anything on here as much as I did “Have Fun!” or “I Want to be a Cowboy, Baby.” Then again, it’s already growing on me. It started this list at #8 but another listen convinced me it deserved to be higher. And ultimately, I’m just excited to see her finally get the recognition she deserves.
4. Lovesick – The Happy Fits
Probably the pick I’m least proud of on this list. It’s not lost on me that over half of these albums are male-led indie rock bands and of those I think this is probably the least unique. But damn it, it’s also the most hype. Lovesick works best when it’s an explosion. “Everything You Do”, “Black Hole”, and “Wild in Love” make me want to start running and never stop. The production is catchy and fun and touches like the Broadway vamps on “Everything You Do” and the cello on “Black Hole” keep them interesting. Another standout for me, “Sarah’s Song” sounds like a song to close out a Muppet movie and I mean that as a compliment. Unfortunately, like any explosion, this one must fade out eventually, and the softer songs like “Wrong about Me” lose me somewhat, but when this album is at its peak it shines brighter than anything else this year.
3. viagr aboys – Viagra Boys
Sometimes all you want to do is listen to bad music by bad people, and Viagra Boys are proudly bad people. No one does sleazy punk rock better than the boys at shrimptech and on viagr aboys they’re back to deliver another dose of disgusting ooze. I picked a few favorite singles off the last two albums, but this is the first one since debut record Street Worms I’ve kept looping all the way through. There are still a few meh songs for me, but most are good to great. And you can’t beat these guys for originality. A song about being jealous of a bog mummy’s good looks? Never heard that one before. A track about going to the vet from the perspective of a dog? Yeah, it’s on here. “You N33d Me”, a love song about how a WWII history buff will complete you is the standout for me and includes the best lyrics of the year- “I can drink about 15 beers or maybe 25 // That depends on the can”. Ultimately, though, what puts this album above the last couple for me is that, for the first time, the boys strip back the act a little and put out some tracks with real feelings behind them. “Medicine for Horses” and “River King” are both lovely little ballads that manage to convey a surprising depth of emotion. Get you a dirtbag who can do both!
2. Boys These Days – Sports Team
This album won’t be your favorite of all time, it won’t change your life. But it may be the most fun you have listening to an album in 2025. I know it was for me. Like my #3 pick of last year- Yard Act, Sports Team are yet another British post-punk indie rock band tearing down the artifices of modern life. What these guys have that the others don’t is they’re not afraid to get incredibly cheesy. The saxophone on opening track “I’m in Love (Subaru)” sounds straight out of “Careless Whisper” and it makes me smile every time. “Bang Bang Bang” might not actually have anything deep to say about US gun culture, but it makes you feel like you’re shooting plastic bbs at a cardboard deer at the county fair and who doesn’t love that? But more than anything, I just love a catchy hook, and this album is packed with them. “Moving Together”, “Boys These Days”, and “Bonnie” haven’t left my head since this album came out in February. Don’t take it too seriously and you’ll have a great time.
1. Shish – Portugal. The Man
Arigato Shiiiiiiiiiish! I had already heard of Portugal. The man. You almost certainly have too. Remember “Feel it Still?” That toothless alt-rock earworm from 2017 that was absolutely inescapable for like 18 months? Yeah, those guys. Real indieheads will know Portugal. The man had a long, successful career as underground rockers before they broke into the mainstream, but pretty much no one expected anything else from them after “Feel it Still” wore out its welcome. I actually really liked that song and even I was pretty sick of it by the time it finally went out of circulation. So, imagine my surprise when they dropped lead single “Denali” and the opening guitar vamps sound straight out of a Metallica album (in the best way). The whole song is incredible, layering hooks on top of hooks and pulling it all together with lyrics that will stick in your head for weeks. And they didn’t slack off on the rest of the album either. Every song is complex and packed with ideas, running the gamut from incredible guitar shredding on “Knik” to the shimmery strings on “Tanana”. If you ever don’t like a bit, wait twenty seconds and another one will probably kick in. If anything, there’s an argument that it’s a little overstuffed and not all of it will work for everyone (“Pittman Ralliers” really isn’t for me, sorry), but in a year where full albums have bored me, this one keeps me engaged the whole way through and coming back for more.
+1 (Favorite album I listened to this year that didn't come out this year) SHINBANGUMI – Ginger Root
This is my favorite album of the year. Sorry 2025, you weren’t even the best at being 2025! SHINBANGUMI came out last year, but it wasn’t on my radar until I ran across a clip from one of the music videos halfway through this year. Since then, I’ve listened to Ginger Root’s entire back catalog, watched SHINBANGUMI The Movie five times, and been to three live shows. Ginger Root is the project of Cameron Lew, a guy you’ll most often see wearing either a grey business suit, or full anime girl cosplay, and his music sounds how you’d expect based on that description. It’s jazzy indie rock with strong Japanese city pop influences, both sonically and visually, it’s a little geeky, a little weeb-y, and so much fun. This is the album I’ve been looking for, the one I love all the way through, the one you can put on in the background and vibe out to or have front and center and dance along with. It’s fun, it’s fresh, it’s unique. The beat on “No Problems” and “Giddy Up” gets me moving every time, the grooves on “Kaze” and “There Was a Time” are immaculate. The rest of the Ginger Root catalog is great too, “Weather” and “Friends” have been particularly sticky in my brain these last few months. Ginger Root is going on hiatus for 2026, but I’ll be there when he come back, excited to hear what’s next!
Also, because it’s my list and I can do what I want, my honorable mention for this slot is No Name from Jack White. Best hard rock in years. Owned the first four months of my 2025.
And some Honorable Mentions:
Straight Line Was A Lie – The Beths: This was the hardest cut for me. The first half of the album is suuuuch good electric guitar rock with lyrics that speak directly to my soul. Unfortunately, I couldn’t tell you what the second half of album sounds like at all because it just does not stick in my head.
Getting Killed – Geese: Previous album 3D Country is my favorite album of the decade (so far) so believe me when I say I wanted to love this one. And y’all, I just do not get it. Feels utterly devoid of hooks and while I can appreciate that lead singer Cameron Winter has found a unique and special vocal style that seems to be working for him, I just really need him to remember he can sing more than one pitch per song. But if you’re at all interested in the “state” of indie rock this is essential listening.
The Crux – Djo: If the kid from Stranger Things wants to keep making pastiches of his favorite rock stars of yesteryear for the rest of his career, I’ll keep listening. But throwbacks only ever get you so far.
New Threats From The Soul – Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band: This is a new album for me and I’m still working through it, but I think it’ll grow on me. Strong contender for my country pick of the year. Why are the songs so damn long, though?
A Matter of Time – Laufey: If you already like Laufey, this is more Laufey. If you don’t, this may not have much to offer you. The closer is crazy good.
The Human Fear – Franz Ferdinand: I’m a pretty big FF fan and this was alright! Won’t rearrange my favorites list or anything but worth putting on.
For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women) – Japanese Breakfast: Kinda forgettable tbh but gets points for being my favorite concert I went to this year. Going back, it’s some lovely minor key indie rock with truly gorgeous strings, but, yeah, still doesn’t really stick.
All the Magdalena Bay double singles: One of the best bands from last year also makes some of the best music from this year! If this were an album, it would definitely make the list. Absolute essential listening if you love dreamy psychedelic pop. PLEASE Matt and Mica, I am BEGGING you to put these all on one CD release!
HERE’S the playlist with my top picks of the year. If you’re on Spotify, you can listen to the list HERE.
gracieabrams
titsay
2087
dailybridgerton
areudirty
theartofmadeline
pixelskylines
