omgnyc: Best of 2025 (so far)

July 6, 2025

Best of 2025 (so far)

Since 2015, I've designated 4th of July weekend as my mid-point of the year and the appropriate time to share my favorite music from the past six months and this year, while a tad late, is serving up some excellent new tunes.

While I'm always tracking what I'm listening to and keeping tabs on my favorites at all times, the half-way mark allows for a bit more flexibility and not as finite as the ultimate choices I make for the albums and songs that define an entire year. There may be albums that fade as the year goes on and others that take time to click, so it's fun to see where things shake up between now and the end of December. If you read my newsletter Gold Soundz, you won't be surprised by the selections below, but I know there isn't room for everything, so there are plenty of great records from the first half of 2025 that didn't make the cut but are still worthy of your time and attention (see: HAIM, Lorde, or either release from James Brandon Lewis). Right now, it seems like every other rising new band is playing shoegaze or has definitely been listening to a lot of My Bloody Valentine and pop music is still aspiring to be Brat (no complaints here). Like so many of the past years, we've continued to experience a great abundance of new music and this year is proving to be just as strong as any in recent memory