Remember December ’25: My Top 25 Albums of the Year

Mine is an idiosyncratic blog, filled with whimsy, silliness and such, plus references to and ruminations about matters beyond the topic du jour. I subscribe to Carl Jung’s theory of the collective unconscious, for instance, and discern connections that others might not. I also enjoy philosophizin’ and referencing poetry, time travel, parallel universes, and the like. The best fuel I’ve yet found for my flights of fancy: music.

As a result, most mornings find me at my desk, listening to this or that new or forthcoming release and pondering whether to feature it in print. Most of those albums, EPs and singles, if I’m being honest, I quit halfway through—if not before. They’re just not for me. Others find their way into my daily routine and, over the weeks and months leading to their street date, I listen to them again and again and, when possible, road test them in real-world conditions. (There’s nothing quite like listening in the car, am I right?) Which is to say, I’ve played—at least in part—hundreds upon hundreds of releases since January 1, some high profile, many not. Much of the music comes courtesy of labels and publicists, some from the artists themselves, and quite a few from my ever-expanding circle of favorite artists.

It isn’t an exact science, however. I don’t draw blood and run it through a slew of tests, checking for protein deficiencies and whatnot. I simply listen and love or listen and grow bored. It’s really that simple. If I like something, I spotlight it. If I don’t—well, to quote the Beatles: “Life is very short, and there’s no time/For fussing and fighting, my friend.” I.e., I don’t feature that which I don’t enjoy. I’ve spotlighted 130 albums and EPs over the past 11 months and believe that each and every one deserves many spins.

A handful deserve even more love. Over the past good while, I’ve revisited the stickiest of those sticky spins and whittled them down to 25 nominees—listed below in alphabetical order—for my much-ballyhooed Album of the Year award, which I’ll announce in two weeks’ time. I’ve linked to my original reviews.

• Alina Bzhezhinska & Tulshi – Whispers of Rain
• Amanda Whiting – Can You See Me Now?
• Calista Garcia – Animal Magnifique
• Cassandra Jenkins – My Light, My Massage Parlor
• The Castellows – Acoustic Live Sessions
• Cat Clyde – Live at Rare Bird Farm
• Chip Wickham – The Eternal Now
• Christian Winther – Sculptures from Under the City Ice
• Ella Haber – Through Blood, Like Kin
• Emma Swift – The Resurrection Game
• Holly Palmer – Metamorphosis
• Jamie Leeming – Sequent 
• JM Stevens – Wish on a River Bridge
• Kassi Valazza – From Newman Street
• Kelsey Waldon – Every Ghost
• Kristin Daelyn – Beyond the Break
• Laura Elizabeth Hughes – Knots & Echoes
• Malin Pettersen  – Wildflower
• Rebecca Sykes – Face to Face
• Sam Moss – Swimming
• Sara Bug – Into the Blue
• Selena Feliciano – From Every Direction
• SOHN – Albadas (Dawn Songs)
• Suzanne Vega – Flying with Angels
• Tessa Rose Jackson – A Mirror Sometime