On the flight back from Stockholm @cozypinguin and I made our year-end lists of our favorite songs and records from 2025. Here's mine.
Not for nothing - Weakened Friends, from “Feels like hell”: this is how I feel every day, especially while running.
Small words - Logan Greene, single: I miss Logan so much.
Polytunnel - Richard Dawson, from “End of the middle”: maybe I should garden.
Hallways - PUP, from “Who will look after the dogs?”: I don’t collapse on the floor as much as this guy does, but I do feel sad sometimes.
What will you do? - JER, from “Death of the heart”: I am angry about the state of my country sometimes too.
End of the middle - Richard Dawson: I only learned about this person’s music this year, and I feel like I’ve been listening to it forever.
Feels like hell - Weakened friends: a heartbreaking record from the best band from Maine. A shift towards emo fits them well.
Who will look after the dogs? - PUP: another record by this band that makes me feel like shit and somehow also like I belong.
Part of the problem, baby - Fortitude valley: I love everything Nathy & co. does, and this record is no different. I’m excited to finally see them live in 2026.
The black hole understands - Cloud nothings: I think Dylan Baldi writes great songs to run to because he himself is a runner. This record technically came out in 2020 but only became free in 2025 (and I didn't hear it until this year), so I'm leaving it in. Note also the companion record Life is only one event which is great because I can then run more while listening to cloud nothings!
Death of the heart - JER: ska never died and it will never die, it will just be infused with metal.
Last night I heard the dog star bark - Gwenifer Raymond: holy fucking shit this blew my mind live. I love how dark and moody this record is, it fits my mood in Oxford most days.
Late great - Laura Stevenson: Laura got divorced and wants to make sure everyone knows. I love her music but this record is a little hard to listen to sometimes — it’s both too on the nose and self serving to empathize with the same way as her other work. I still listen to it often.
Hell is an airport - Liquid Mike: Midwest emo never died and it will never die.
Natural causes - Adult Mom: Putting this on my list because Rachel reminded me it existed and it's good. I used to listen to adult mom a lot, maybe I should again.
Here's a bonus photo of Brunnsviken from this morning:
