Tuesday Tunes Wally's Favorite Albums of 2025 Edition

Most people come out with their best of lists in December, but I'm not like most people. Here's my countdown from 8 to 1 of my favorite albums of 2025. 

8. Snocaps - Snocaps Katie Crutchfield has a musical reunion with her twin sister Allison with M.J. Lenderman and Brad Cook along for the ride. If you were a fan of Katie and Allison's old band P.S. Eliot this album is a must for you. I'm still waiting for the actual physical LP release which doesn't happen until April, but it was issued to streaming services on Halloween last year. What a surprise treat!

Snocaps - "Cherry Hard Candy"

7. Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override A sprawling 3 LP's or CD's worth of solo material Jeff has been making over the last several years. Much of it is mediative, but never morose. It could have been cut down to a single LP, but I dig the vibe of extra one gets from this album that is a grower and not a shower. 

Jeff Tweedy - "Lou Reed Was My Babysitter"

6. Phoebe Rings - Aseurai It may be because I am a product of the Seventies, but while my first big love was of metal and punk (Kiss and Ramones were so formative for me) I'm still a massive mark for well crafted pop and New Zealander's Phoebe Rings is a delight. I got to see them open for The Beths in November and then was lucky enough to meet them and purchase their first full length record Aseurai which they autographed to me. Wish I had bought one of their lazy disco caps when I had the chance. 

Phoebe Rings - "Get Up"

5. Wednesday - Bleeds You might have thought Wednesday was taking a full fledged turn into country with the initial singe "Elderberry Wine" but Bleeds turned out to be perhaps the most eclectic of the band's career. Karly Hartzman follows her muse wherever it leads. Hardcore screaming punk...you got it. Countrygaze hum and throb...sure thing. Completely strange and weird "Phish Pepsi"...let's go. I'm down for all of it. 

Wednesday - "Townies"

4. Lemonheads - Love Chant 2025 went down as the year of Evan Dando's big comeback. First there was the excellent memoir Rumors of My Demise ghost written by Jim Ruland. It was quite an exhilarating read. The first new album of original Lemonheads material in 19 years came out in October. Love Chant was better than expected, a thrilling return to form for Evan. A successful U.S. tour happened in the fall and winter which was capped off with an appearance on the nationwide The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. Then word came that a planed European tour was off. Then the news arrived that Evan was heading into rehab after sending lewd videos to a fan via Twitter/X direct message. It seems like Mr. Dando is really into self sabotage. I hope he finally gets free of the drugs and other demons. 

Lemonheads - "The Key of Victory"

3. Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On Chicago band Horsegirl's first album Versions of Modern Performance  from 2022 was a noisy classic paying homage to Sonic Youth that made me wonder how these young ladies had been exposed to such great music growing up. If you expected more of the same with the new record you might have been disappointed. They flipped the script on the new album. The noise was gone and we get an early Wire type minimalism on what I feel is an even better record. 

Horsegirl - "Switch Over"

1. The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie Oh, how I love The Beths let me count the ways. You might notice that I skipped number 2. That's because I'm only including my Top 8 and since the 2 albums at the top of my list are in a dead heat they both get number 1. The Beths just keep on putting out great records even with front woman Liz Stokes having some health issues and writer's block. Once again, I got to see them play live and meet with after the show. They are one of the greatest groups ever. 

The Beths - "Metal"

1. Liquid Mike - Hell Is An Airport My old pal D.D. Blank got me into Liquid Mike. Feels like the old days when we would always be sharing the gospel of music amongst ourselves. Liquid Mike hail from the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and they are pure rock 'n roll! Short sweet songs with astute creative lyrics with raging guitars. If you are seeking some throwback Nineties crunch updated to today you need this album post haste. 

Liquid Mike - "Groucho Marx"

Chastity Belt, Kurt Vile and the Violators at the Ryman, plus Some Tunes....including one from your humble blog writer

Yeah, I know I should be posting more Martin listings from the past, but I've been super busy with a job rotation and just my usual up and down emotional rollercoaster of life. I did go to my first show since Covid-19 hit. I saw Kurt Vile and the Violators at the Ryman with Chastity Belt opening. I had heard Chastity Belt before, but seeing and hearing them live was just so wonderful I bought all the records they had for sale at the merchandise table. Kurt was amazing as always. I'm loving his new album "watch my moves" which is out on Verve Records. I pre-ordered it and got the neat signed lithograph with it. There was a moment during his concert at the Ryman when I gazed over at my daughter who accompanied me to the show and I felt like there was nowhere else in the world I would want to be at that time. I just dig the mesmerizing slacker rock vibe he consistently brings. I do so hope his guitar tech gets paid well since Kurt changes his axe almost between every song. I highly recommend seeing him live. 

Mount Airy Hill (Way Gone)

Kurt Vile and the Violators at the Ryman

Chazzy Don't Mind 

Chastity Belt were rocking in a indie jangle pop/shoegaze 90's sort of style, but they really impressed me when the singer/guitarist Julia Shapiro swapped with the drummer Gretchen Grimm for several songs. It reminded me of seeing the Smithereens swap instruments when I would see them perform. Just like with Kurt Vile I hope to see Chastity Belt every time they make it to Nashville. Guitarist/singer Lydia Lund rocked out "Fear" at the end of the show while my daughter thought the always bouncing bassist Annie Truscott looked like Ren Stevens. As for the sparse crowd pictured: they were the opening band so lots of people always file in late plus there was a Nine Inch Nails concert just outside of Franklin and Jack White was playing Ascend Amphitheater too. Couple that with Covid fears and the fact that the Kurt Vile concert was streamed and the turnout was light. It didn't fill up much even when Kurt came on. Too bad for those who missed the evening. It was quite magical.

Chastity Belt at the Ryman

Different Now

Fear

Another huge highlight of the Kurt Vile concert was his cover of the Silver Jews's "Punks in the Beerlight" which was totally ripping with a smoke machine cranking out over the front rows while the stage lights strobed. This led me to revisiting the late David Cloud Berman's work with the Silver Jews and his last Purple Mountains project. It's a shame he's gone, but his work will live on. 

Random Rules

Sharp eyed viewers will have noticed that the Chastity Belt video for "Different Now" was a great homage to the video for Temple of the Dog's "Hunger Strike" so let's take a look at one of my favorites from the grunge era. That moment at around 2:28 when the vocals drop out and the chords change and later at 3:23 when Chris Cornell comes back in yowling is perfection. Cornell is another one who is greatly missed.

One of the albums I'm looking forward to is by the Chicago band Horsegirl who I discovered via Bandcamp some time ago. They came out with an all new video and tune today. This song has a Swirlies vibe to it which is just cool. I keep wondering how these younger folks are channeling the 90's indie sound so well, but I really shouldn't be surprised as there were always lots of bands in the 80's that sounded like 60's bands. Anyways, dig "Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty" from Horsegirl. I already love the ooh's!

Dirtbag Transformation (Still Dirty)

Finally here's a below the fold bonus. I may be old, fat, and goofy (and I am working on changing fat back to skinny...I do that every few years for kicks), but I am still writing tunes and shoving them out on to YouTube where they rarely get seen. So let's get one rarely seen here too. It does have a line which goes "K.V. in the AM and CB in the night, hey good buddies do you have your ears on, are you picking me up tonight?" where the K.V. is Kurt Vile. CB is another pop culture reference which was inspired by the movie Out of the Blue

We Love the B.E.A.T.