The Absolute Best Records and Reissues of 2025

2025 was definitely a year.  I checked.  It had the right amount of days, but it didn't always feel like it had the right amount of records.  I definitely bought less new music this year than any previous year I've been alive since high school, I think.  I'm not sure if that's something that is just going to keep happening as I get older, or if I wasn't as aware of what was going on this year.  Or maybe this year simply had fewer records for me.  I'm not really sure, though putting together a really strong top ten was still pretty easy.  

Despite only having had it for a month, it is very obvious to me that Plosivs put out my favorite record of the year.  As I mentioned on Monday, it's one of those records that grows on you and every time I listen to it I like it more and more.  If I had more time with it, I think it would have been a runaway number one, but I debated quite a bit between Plosivs, Melvic Centre and the Swami John Reis album.

Melvic Centre was certainly the best new band I've heard this year, or at least a new to me band as this album is their second.  What a record.  The Swami John Reis album is the best of his solo records I think and was quite close to taking the number one spot for me.  All three of these records are excellent and if I had put any of them at the top, it still would have been correct.

As far as the rest, they're all great too.  Radioactivity is not going to put out a bad record and disappoint the legions of Marked Men fans out there.  If you are looking for some stellar melodic UK punk, Diaz Brothers and Roach Squad have you covered.  Bob Mould and Superchunk are as consistent as ever, each turning in a very good album this year.  And if there are bands that I think might have been overlooked in 2025, it's Lutheran Heat and Model Martel.  I haven't seen much chatter about those records (though admittedly, I don't even know where chatter happens anymore), but both are worth going out of your way to check out.

The Absolute Best New Records of 2025

01 - Plosivs - Yell At Cloud - Swami
02 - Melvic Centre - Trawler - Brassneck / Evil Tone
03 - Swami John Reis - Time To Let You Down - Swami
04 - Diaz Brothers - The World Is Yours - Dead Broke / Serial Bowl / Waterslide / Break The Silence
05 - Radioactivity - Time Won't Bring Me Down - Dirtnap / Wild Honey
06 - Lutheran Heat - Hi Again - Pinata

07 - Roach Squad - Roach Squad - Little Rocket / Sounds of Subterrania / Waterslide / Rad Girlfriend
08 - Bob Mould - Here We Go Crazy - Granary / BMG
09 - Model Martel - A Thousand Couple Times - Snappy Little Numbers
10 - Superchunk – Songs In The Key Of Yikes - Merge

On the reissue side of things, rock and roll releases were quite excellent this year. LONG time wants like Sultans, Beezewax and Fig Dish got first time vinyl releases of some of my favorite albums.  After me screaming about it forever, DGC Rarities Vol. 1 finally got reissued and I couldn't be happier.  It's awesome that the Leatherface Peel Sessions got an LP release, and I couldn't be happier to see some singles comp action from Bum and Gentleman Jesse.

On the hip hop side of things 90s Tapes continues to be the gold standard of record labels,  While there aren't as many of their records in my top 15 this year as there were last year, had I done a top 30, they would have had most of the bottom 15.  They also had the number one spot with their glorious release of the one and only album from The Future Sound.  It's one that had been on my wishlist forever and it's great to finally have a nicely done, full artwork copy of this record on vinyl.  Their take on the Rough House Survivers album is also incredible.

Casual's sophomore album was released as a double LP with full artwork for the first time.  All of the Cenobites songs were compiled onto a double LP and you know how I love me some early 90s Kool Keith and Godfather Don.  I was also really excited to get the chance to pick up the first Ugly Duckling on vinyl, thanks to the excellent reissue that Back2dasource put out in 2025.

The Absolute Best Reissues of 2025

01 - The Future Sound - The Whole Shabang Volume 1 - 90s Tapes
02 - Sultans - Shipwrecked - Swami
03 - V/A - DGC Rarities Vol. 1
04 - Beezewax - A Dozen Summits - Boss Tuneage / Sellout
05 - Leatherface - The Peel Sessions - Little Rocket
06 - The Cenobites - The Cenobites - Downtown Music / Fat Beats
07 - Fig Dish – That’s What Love Songs Often Do - Forge Again
08 - Casual - Meanwhile... - Trumindz
09 - Gentleman Jesse – I Wonder If You Would Even Notice - Beach Impediment
10 - Bum - Kidd Bitz (& Glazed Rookies) - Hey Suburbia / Radiation
11 - Rough House Survivers - Straight From The Soul - 90s Tapes
12 - Ugly Duckling - Down The Road - Back2dasource
13 - Clikatat Ikatowi – The Trials And Tribulations Of... Box Set - Numero Group
14 - Pudgee Tha Phat Bastard - Give 'Em The Finger - Rarebreed
15 - Smif-N-Wessun - Dah Shinin' - Fat Beats

And that's going to be a wrap on 2025 for me.  As I say every year, I'll be taking a couple of weeks off to recharge those batteries and then I'll be back at it.  In particular, I have a bunch of reissues I didn't get a chance to write about before the end of the year (several are on the list above), so I'll be hitting those pretty hard when I start back up again.  Merry New Year!

Plosivs - Yell At Cloud LP - Black Vinyl (/500) & Clear w/ Splatter Vinyl (/2000)

Swami (2025)

Back in 2022, Plosivs released their debut album and it is still the best record I've heard since then.  To say that I have been eagerly anticipating this release is perhaps the understatement of the year, especially because it's been looming on the horizon since 2022.  The bulk of these recordings were started very soon after the first album was recorded, but for a litany of tawdry reasons that you can read about on far more reputable websites than this one, it is just now being released.

And unsurprisingly, it is great.  Now, I didn't find it as immediate as the first Plosivs record.  That one was a whirlwind of in-your-face hooks and I was completely floored the very first time I listened to it. Yell At Cloud has definitely been more of a grower for me.  I'm not one to throw around music writer terms all willy nilly, but if there's one that comes to mind when I listen to this record, it's tension.  There's a lot of pent up tension in this record and it builds in each of the songs, sometimes getting a satisfying, catchy release in the chorus, but other times not so much.

It's a record that rewards multiple listens and each time it plays, I find myself picking up on something new.  A hidden melody here, and overlooked riff there.  It's darker than the first, without sacrificing any of the inherent optimism in Rob Crow's vocals.  In general the songs are longer this time out (the shortest clocking in at just under three and a half minutes) instead of the many under three minute pop smashes of the last one.

I'm definitely doing that annoying thing where I'm focusing too much on comparing this album to the last one, and while it's different, it is every bit as wonderful.  Few people wield a guitar as iconically as John Reis does.  While his myriad of bands all have different sounds, there's always that thread that ties each of them together.  You're unlikely to mistake his guitar playing for someone else's as it has an instantly identifiable style, not matter what sort of song he's playing on.  When you add Rob Crow to the mix, it's a guitar combination that's unique, but familiar.  And those vocals. Sheesh, you'd be hard pressed to find someone better suited to turn songs like this into something so inherently hummable in the back recesses of your head.

Plain and simple, I love this record.  I think it's every bit as good as the last, while being different enough from it to not just be the same thing again (which for the record, I also would have been totally fine with).  As usual with Swami affiliated releases, I picked up both versions.  The main retail version is on splatter vinyl and there were 2000 of those pressed.  As usual for Swami releases, the black vinyl is the scarcer of the two versions and there were 500 of those, available from the Swami web store.

Plosivs - Yell At Cloud:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kcnCrNO6-HYWs5OOva6iJ863pwmRbMwdU

The Cenobites - The Cenobites 2xLP - Green & Yellow Vinyl (/300)

 

Downtown Music / Fat Beats (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

There are few things in this world that I like more than prime, golden era Ultramagnetic MCs.  Their first three albums are one of my favorite runs in all of hip hop.  I always wanted more, but I tended to be disappointed with anything that came out after The Four Horseman.  While Kool Keith has some other interesting projects, the production never rises to level of those first three albums, so I usually end up being disappointed.

But what I didn't know was that Kool Keith had hooked up with Godfather Don and recorded a bunch of songs under the name The Cenobites.  They release an EP on Fondle 'Em in 1996 and that was pretty much it aside from some other tracks trickled out on 12"s over the following decades.  I became aware of this project a few years ago and while I found the tracks online and downloaded them, the vinyl was a bit pricey to me.  Plus I really wanted a bit more than the seven songs on the EP.

Luckily for me, my patience paid off as a double LP Cenobites collection of what I assume is every song that they could scrape together.  Clocking in at 21 songs, there are so many gems on this album.  In some ways it feels like an extension of what was happening on The Four Horsemen.  Dark jazz loops drive the production with Keith and Don trading the sort of off kilter lyrics that are everything you really want out of these two.  

As much as I love 95% of this album, I do have to call out "Kick A Dope Verse" (both versions, as there's also a remix on here).  Don't get me wrong, it's a great song and Keith and Don tear it up.  But Bobbito from The Stretch Armstrong and Bobboito radio show (and who also ran the label the EP originally came out on) shows up and delivers one of of the worst verses I have ever heard on a good track.  Sandwiched in-between Keith and Don both rocking at a high level, Bobbito sounds like a failing open mic MC that just wandered into the studio.  I have absolutely nothing but respect for everything that Stretch and Bobbito did for hip hop, but woof, this verse is epically terrible.  And you have to hear it twice because of the remix.

Anyway, I just had to get that one off my chest.  But don't let that dissuade you from grabbing this otherwise incredible album.  I could not be more thrilled that all of these songs have finally been compiled and given a quality release with full artwork and all that.  Completely essential.

Various Artists - Rock Stars Kill LP + 7"

Kill Rock Stars (1994)

Recently, my buddy Alan and I were talking about the albums that were most influential to us. In fact we did a whole YouTube live stream about it if it's something you'd be interested in (YouTube: Perfectly Excellent).  The topic wasn't necessarily our favorite records of all time, but those really important ones that were life changing and sent us down different paths.  One of the five records I selected was this compilation album that I heard for the first time in 1994 early on during my senior year of high school.  It then dawned on me that I still only had the CD that I bought back then and never picked up a copy on vinyl.  Due to its importance, I felt that I really needed to correct this.

In 1994 I started to go through something of a musical crisis.  The hip hop landscape was drastically and rapidly changing into something that I didn't really like the sound of anymore.  I knew absolutely nothing about anything that was going on outside of the hop hop world until a friend of mine, Scott, played me the Beck album Mellow Gold because there were a few songs on there that he thought sounded enough like the Beastie Boys for me to be interested in them.  Not only was he right about those songs, I ended up loving that album.  Especially the weirder stuff and that sent me digging around to find more things like that.  

That's where my other friend Dave came into the picture.  He wasn't even a particularly close friend at the time.  Just a guy I had a few classes with, but he was more knowledgable about punk and indie rock than I was.  He let me borrow his CD copy of this album.  When I played it for the first time, it was kind of that second awakening where I just couldn't comprehend what I was hearing.  This stuff didn't sound like anything I had ever hear before.  I had no idea that music like this was being made and even less of an idea of where to get more of it.  That led to my friend Pat taking me to Flipside records for the first time and I was finally able to really start exploring rabbit holes.

I'm pretty sure it was the diversity of sounds that really intrigued me when I first started listening to this album.  There's loud songs, quiet songs, fast songs, slow songs, weird songs, serious songs and everything in between.  There were a handful that jumped out at me immediately.  I can't tell you how much I loved (and still love) the Peechees song "Patty Coahuila."  At least the actual song after the intro thing (which is way too long).  I bought three different Smog albums trying to find a song anywhere near as good as "37 Pushups."  I was not successful.  

This compilation is where I discovered The Spinanes (who I ended up being a huge fan of, especially their first album Manos), Rancid (this is pretty much the only Rancid song I ended up liking, though enjoying this song let to Pat recommending I try out Operation Ivy) and Team Dresch (whose record I bought on an early trip to Flipside, but I didn't end up enjoying the record as much as the song on here).

This album also marked the beginning of my Compilation Era.  I bought so, so many comps during this time period as it was pretty much the most economical way to discover a whole pile of new bands all at once.  I did discover a ton of bands this way.  But all of that sort of stems from listening to this album at a very important, transitional time in my life.  I'm grateful that I heard it when I did (especially as a good amount of it doesn't really hold up to me 30+ years later) and I'm really appreciative that Dave let me borrow this.  I haven't spoken to him in over 25 years, but him lending me this album had a far more profound impact on me that I'm sure he realizes.

Various Artists - Rock Stars Kill:

https://killrockstars.bandcamp.com/album/rock-stars-kill

Melvic Centre - Trawler LP - Orange Vinyl (/254)

Brassneck (2025)

Leave it to Scott at Brassneck to find a way to break through the barrier to new music that has been forming around me over the last few years.  It's not that I don't want to hear new things, it's just that so little tends to interest me and in turn, I become one of those cranky old guys that doesn't think there are any good new bands anymore.  I'm wrong (not just about this, but in general life I'm also usually wron0 because here comes Melvic Centre with an album that knocks me off my chair.

Melvic Centre is from Australia and Trawler is their second full length album.  I am very much looking to get a copy of their first self titled LP, so if you're holding, please get in touch.  Trawler was initially released in Australia on Evil Tone records earlier this year, but Brassneck threw their hat in and this lovely orange vinyl version is on that fine label.  Bloated Kat had some copies in America, if you want to give Instagram a shot to see if they have any left.

Back to the record at hand, this is exactly what I want to listen to.  Big, chunky guitars the fuel catchy songs and vocal melodies for days.  There are so many bands that I hear when I've got Trawler on.  You can pick out the parts that sound a bit like Sugar, there's some nice Big Drill Car style vocals on certain songs, some hooks that remind me of Doughboys and the general 90s sounding nature of the recording makes me feel like I am absolutely the target demographic for something like this.  

There's one song in the middle with a bit more yelling than I prefer ("Snake Oil"), but aside from that, Trawler is pretty perfect from start to finish.  Every time I listen to it I just find myself loving it more and more.  It's one of those albums that's so completely my cup of tea that I struggle to find away to accurately convey that.  So I'll just say this.  If you read this dumb website, you probably have a pretty decent idea of the sort of rock and roll music I tend to like.  Trawler is all of those things.  You really need to listen to it if you ever bother to come here and read my ramblings.

Melvic Centre - Trawler:
https://brassneckrecords.bandcamp.com/album/trawler

The Future Sound - The Whole Shabang Volume 1 3xLP

90s Tapes (2025, Reissue)

Every Wednesday, in honor of Ed Lover Dance Day from Yo! MTV Raps, I take a break from rock and roll to write a little bit about hip hop. In the late 80s and early 90s hip hop ruled my musical life. During this often called 'Golden Era' I discovered so much incredible music. As I am slowly replacing the CDs I've had for thirty plus years with vinyl copies, I'm going to talk about some albums that had a really important impact on me during some very formative years.

I could (and sometimes do) go on and on about what an amazing lebel 90s Tapes is.  They are the kings of the reissue game and release classic after classic, all of the absolute highest quality.  Even if the album isn't one I'm super into, the care they put into each album is the gold standard that all other labels should be held to.  Now, when you have that perfect storm of 90s Tapes tackling an album I genuinely love, that's been desperate for a real reissue, that's when the magic really starts to happen.

The Whole Shabang Volume 1 was the first and only album released by The Future Sound.  It originally came out in 1992, which I have said many times could be the absolute best year in hip hop history if you look at the overall quality of everything that was released.  Well, The Future Sound got lost in the that shuffle.  I have no memories of them from 1992 and it wasn't until decades later that I stumbled across the album on one of those internet lists touting under-appreciated albums. 

In the few years that I've been listening to The Whole Shabang, I've become completely enamored with it.  The incredible, upbeat production mixed with lyrics from Flashback and Relay create the sort of album that begs to be listened to repeatedly.  When I wrote about the original pressing of this album (a barebones, no artwork, single disc, promo only  endeavor) I compared them to UMCs and Lords of The Underground among others.   I still feel like that's the camp The Future Sound fits best in, feel good hip hop with killer production.  I wish they had the chance to follow this up with another album.

The 90s Tapes reissue is pretty much flawless.  We've finally got full artwork and the triple disc pressing not only sounds great, but includes pretty much every sound they could find that this group recorded.  Maybe noone really needs to listen to six remixes of "Lady / What's a Bro to Do?" in a row, but as a completist I sure do love having all of them at my disposal when I do want to listen to one of them.  I'm so thrilled that 90s Tapes was the label to finally reissue this semi-forgotten classic and it's on my shortlist for the best reissue I've picked up this year.

The Future Sound - The Whole Shabang Volume 1:
https://90stapes.bandcamp.com/album/the-whole-shabang-volume-1

The Blues Brothers - The Lost Recordings LP - Blue Vinyl (/2500)

Z2 (2025)

If you know me even casually, you likely know that The Blues Brothers are one of the most important things in my life.  The movie is the only favorite movie I've ever had and the music is the foundational bedrock that all of my tastes are built on.  Earlier this year there was an announcement that a comic book style graphic novel was coming out that continues the story of Jake and Elwood.  Honestly, I can't say that I was all that interested as comic books really aren't my medium of choice most of the time.  Then it was announced that there would be an obnoxious bundle with the comic, a bunch of unnecessary tchotchkes and a vinyl record of some unreleased Blues Brothers recordings.  

I begrudgingly preordered said $150 bundle as the Z2 folks indicated that it was the only way you could get the record.  Then, of course, a few months later the record became available to preorder on its own.  I was quite cranky about this, but luckily Z2 was kind enough to let me cancel the order for the bundle and I was able to pick up the album on its own.  And I am really glad this album didn't cost me $150.

That's not really to say anything bad about the contents of the record.  In fact, I find them absolutely fascinating.  It's a recording of the band essentially going through the set of their first album, which was recorded live at the Universal Amphitheater.  I believe that this is a recording of a rehearsal leading up to those shows.  You can see the evolution of what they were doing with a different intro section that wasn't built on top of "Can't Turn You Loose," but still had most of the same intro dialog from Elwood about how one day the blues would only be available in "the classical records department of your local public library."

The rest of the album is recordings of the songs that ended up on the Briefcase Full Of Blues album.  There's also two additional songs.   "Excusez Moi Mon Cherie" is here and it was the original B side from the "Soul Man" single that came out in the 1970s.  Also included is a version of "Green Onions" that is really neat and quite a bit different from the one that eventually ended up on the third Blues Brothers album, Made in America.

All of those good things said, the recording quality of the recording is not great.  It sounds like it was recorded by a tape player in the corner of the room.  Now, it seems like it was a really good tape player as the quality isn't unlistenable or anything.  But it's really lacking the fullness and low end of a professionally recorded session.  As a fly-on-the-wall document, it's an incredible, behind the scenes glimpse at an unbelievably important event, album and band.  But as a record you would sit down and listen to regularly, I can't really see why you wouldn't just pick up Briefcase Full Of Blues 99 times out of 100.

The Blues Brothers - The Lost Recordings:
https://music.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_k3D8KAVmMuKAPKrdj4jG4l6uxiGn3mM3A

Sultans - Shipwrecked LP - Black Vinyl (/350) & White w/ Splatter (/1600)

Swami (2025, Reissue)

Long one of the records at the tippy top of my 'never released on vinyl' want list has been the second Sultans long player, Shipwrecked.  When this was originally scheduled to be released in 2004, I was pretty excited, having enjoyed the stripped down, garage blasts of their first album.  In no way was I prepared for the fairly dramatic departure that Shipwrecked was.  Gone was the impenetrable wall of fuzz from Ghost Ship and in its place were jangly guitars that flirted with power pop sensibilities.  

When John Reis, errr...I mean Slasher, is playing guitar, his sound is always going to come through in some capacity, though these tones and arrangements weren't something that was as familiar in his work up to that point.  Shipwrecked wades into raucous pop with bright, shiny guitar chords that are still anchored in the sound that is recognizable to fans of Rocket From the Crypt, Hot Snakes, Drive Like Jehu, etc.  It was something of a harbinger to the later Night Marchers records, but was also parked a little more firmly in a throwback to the 70s.

I have loved this record since the moment it first came out and I've been desperately hoping for a vinyl release for decades.  The Swami finally came through with this reissue.  The entire album sounds fantastic and it's clear there's been some sprucing up in terms of sound quality.  Everything sounds a little richer and clearer.  In addition to the album tracks we've got four bonuses.  "Permission to Bored and "Blow Up" from the Walk Of Shame 7" are included along with "Empty Hole" from the Swami Southwest Seance compilation 7".

To make things even better, there's a previously unreleased song, "Out Of Focus."  With it's jagged guitar riff and booming chorus, it fits in perfectly with the rest of the songs and makes this absolutely the definitive version of Shipwrecked.  Thank the Swami I can finally play this on my turntable, the way it was always meant to be listened to.