No mainstream artist has captured my fan heart over the last eight years like Spacey Kacey. From classic country revivalism, through excursions into disco diva, cottage core and electro-pop, I ride with it. Middle of Nowhere packages all the elements into a cohesive LP.

She adds more western touches like pedal steel, cowboy cornpone, and Mariachi to her brew, grounding the album in her East Texas roots. Mimicking that geography, themes explore expanse, isolation and the duality of joy and pain of being alone.

Most will herald a “return,” but for me, I keep riding the Rose Wave.

Buy it.

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Song of the Summer? It’s got prerequisites: A breezy melody, a chantable chorus, laconic raps and a great video. Peak Vile jam as the weather warms and pollen proliferates.

Greg “Oblivion” Cartwright supplies backing vocals and solos, his aching Memphis drawl unmistakable for us old heads.

The track is from the forthcoming album Philadelphia’s been good to me and the video captures a Philly Saturday night in Fishtown. It's fun, features Schooly D and other cameos you can google. You’ll be joyfully singing the vocal hook out the car window this Summer: “Old time, lo-fi, DIY, Rock & Roll…Nights!”

Loop it.

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The Cut Worms have transformed from the solo vision of songwriter Max Clarke to a collective of collaborators, with Jeff Tweedy jumping on board as a producer and player.

Striking a more melancholic tone than 2023’s self-titled release, Transmitter brings Kinksian songcraft to jangly mid-tempo guitar pop. The melodies provide ample aural canvases to Clarke’s witty wordplay, highlighted on tracks like Evil Twin, Long Weekend, and Shut In. He captures a 21st-century loneliness we all feel.

Tweedy features the band’s sound well, but you can hear his knob twisting, bringing noisy flourishes that punctuate the album’s complicated introspection.

Buy it.

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Music presents a dilemma, both timeless and immediate. I listen to a lot of albums spanning almost 100 years, multiple media, and in varied social settings. But it also has an immediacy: new releases, critical buzz, and the excitement of NOW! A year-end best-of tells a partial listening story, but alas:

2025 Superlatives

Best Album: Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – New Threats from the Soul  Best Single & Video: Elderberry Wine by Wednesday Best Debut: Annie DiRusso – Super Pedestrian  Best Comeback: The Lemonheads – Lovechant Best Concert: Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band/Snocaps – Bowery Ballroom, Manhattan

Fourteen 2025 releases on heavy rotation, in no particular order:

• Snocaps - 'Snocaps' (Anti-): Twins Sisters Powers Reactivate

• Jeff Tweedy - 'Twilight Override' (dBpm Records): A box set of new material? Jeff writes a lot of songs

• Wednesday - 'Bleeds' (Dead Oceans): I slept on this band before Bleeds, awake now

• Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – 'New Threats from the Soul' (Sophomore Lounge): Can't stop listening  The Larry’s100 review

• Kurt Vile/Luke Roberts - 'Classic Love EP' (Verve): Played almost as much as Ryan Davis The Larry’s100 review

• Lemonheads - 'Love Chant' (Fire Records): Cell Phone Blues was almost my song of the year  The Larry’s100 review

• Kathleen Edwards - 'Billionaire' (Dualtone Records): A full-throated and tuneful platter of rugged individualism

• The Bug Club – 'Very Human Features' (Sub Pop): Second great album in 3 years

• Rose City Band - 'Sol y Sombra' (Thrill Jockey): Meditations with steel pedal

• Annie DiRusso - 'Super Pedestrian' (Summer Soup Songs): Punchy, energetic first record. Her Tiny Desk is a must-watch

• Dean Wareham - 'That's the Price of Loving Me' (Carpark Records): Crazy, this is his first solo album

• Superchunk - 'Songs in the Key of Yikes' (Merge): On one of the best post-hiatus runs in indie rock history

• Neil Young - 'Ocean Side/Country Side' (Neil Young Archives): Never before released, even though you know all the songs. Great to hear them, as it was originally conceived and tracked

• Kacey Musgraves - 'Deeper Into The Well' (MCA Nashville): Seven new tracks!

#music #albums #2025BestOf #MusicReviews #BestOfMusic #Larrys2025FavesMusic #NewMusic #NowPlaying #100WordReview #Larrys100 #100DaysToOffload #Larrys2025Faves

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