Music Year-End List || Niek’s Favorite Singles and EPs of 2025

EPs and singles are where bands tend to swing hardest — and 2025 was ridiculous in that department. I started with a longlist of well over 100 short-format releases, and cutting it down to 50 wasn’t easy, but it sure was fun. I was also happy to see some of my cuts pop up in Dennis’ list earlier this week.

Unlike my album list (as well as Dennis’ AOTY list), this one isn’t ranked but ordered alphabetically. To my ears, these releases prove that singles and EPs are no mere afterthoughts, throwaways, or warm-ups for full-lengths — they’re often the main event.

So here it is, our final year-end list: 50 EPs and singles that made 2025 louder, brighter, and better. Over the next two weeks we’ll be taking things a bit slower on the blog, before coming back fully recharged in 2026. Thanks for making this year worthwhile — happy holidays, take care!

Autogramm || Randy
“Don’t screw up!” Leave it to Vancouver’s Autogramm to plant an earworm in your brain with Randy, a song originally slated to be included on their 2023 record. The Diodes cover on the flip is a nice bonus.

Bart and the Brats & Jacket Burner || Good Cop, Bad Cop Split
A team-up between one of France’s finest trashy Ramonescore units and a rising U.S. chainsaw garage punk act released by Goodbye Boozy Records that comes with a black-and-white xerox cover on a 45RPM? Count me in.

Big Life || The Cost of Progress
This Revolution Summer meets Our Band Could Be Your Life strain of emotionally-charged, politically-aware hardcore punk is a pressure valve, a life raft, and a battle cry rolled into one.

Big Mess || Terry
The Kirsty MacColl cover that kicks off the single is pure fire, and  the two originals are a fine display of ’60s-style pop songs exploding into 90-second punk rock bangers.

Billy Tibbals || Rock n’ Roll Kids b/w Playtime
The latest single by this rock-‘n’-roll prodigy swerves, struts, and never lets up. Tibbals yanks the tempo around on the A-side hit, slamming between restraint and full throttle, tossing in sexy guitar lines and hooks sharp enough to bruise. We’re not worthy!

Brad Marino || Voodoo b/w Between Planets
A teaser track for a new album that is prime Marino, and a Jesus and Mary Chain song played as a ’80s-style mid-paced Ramones tune. What’s not to like?

The Cindys || The Cindys
Across seven songs, this Bristol-based outfit blends the jangly melancholy of Flying Nun and Sarah Records with the lo-fi indie spirit of Matador and Drag City. The result? Dreamy, understated songs that quietly get under your skin.

Clean Lines || Nuisance
Clean Lines (members of Circle Jerks, The Briefs, Boss Martians, and Geraldine Fibbers) hit that sweet spot between rock-‘n’-roll, power pop, and glam, where bratty attitude, big hooks, and killer guitar riffs reign supreme.

Dan Webb and the Spiders || Spring Forward
This punk-tinged folk/alt-country leaning set of songs is musically rich and lyrically immersive and my favorite of the three EPs Dan Webb released this year.

DANGÜS TARKÜS || CHICAGO TO THE VALLEY
Caps lock on and GO! for another HIT FEST from Joe Sussman (NANCY, MUFF DIVERS, THE CELEBRITIES).

The Daniel James Gang || Darkness Over This Town
This might just be my favorite release by Daniel James (Chinese Telephones, Indonesian Junk, Ramma Lamma) yet—sweat-soaked, hook-heavy rock-‘n’-roll at its best.

Error de Paralaje || Imagen Latente
For an indie pop band, Error de Paralaje play with a sharp, angular edge. For a post-punk band, they’re unexpectedly smooth, groovy, and melodic. There’s also a touch of new wave bite and punk urgency in there that all add to the hype surrounding this band.

Flutter || When You Love Somebody
This debut EP is an exciting reminder that power pop in the 2020s is thriving. Flutter’s sound is warm, jangly, and unmistakably shaped by true fans (and students) of the genre.

Force Model || Barricade
Quality guitar pop with a well-timed edge, full of hooks and punch. The dominant flavors here are alt pop, power pop, and noise pop—with melody being the common thread tying everything together. How Can One Girl Be So Sad? is an instant college radio hit.

Friends of Cesar Romero || Can’t Get You
Another prolific year for J Waylon Porcupine. That installment #45 of the increasingly impressive Doomed Babe Series turned out as a catchy double A-side single made perfect sense.

Future Fix || Nothing Gets Through / Important To Me
Killer debut from new super group out of NC (members of Personality Cult, Lover!, Unwed Teenage Mothers, Bass Drum of Death), featuring a garage-powerpop-punk-rock and roll sound with the kind of huge guitar riffs that raise your pulse and make you forget your apartment has thin walls.

Game Set Match || Hang Out With You / Mundane
This Australian punk band keeps it raw, proto, and gloriously unpolished—zero concern for appearances, just straight-up shredding. Don’t even think about calling foul or double fault on these two hits.

Geoff Palmer || Kodak Flash
Kodak Flash is classic Geoff Palmer, ready to be shredded to pieces and gobbled up by fans of his debut album. And yet, there is a new depth to these pop punk gems.

Gnome || I Like It
Four original garage beat bangers from Jay Millar who would go on to release a sweet LP with the Gnomes later in the year, but I think I prefer this mono version of I Like It.

Heather The Jerk || Very Motorcycle
This EP by Heather Sawyer (The Hussy, Proud Parents, XXX Piss, Boo/Hiss) has the kind of poppy lo-fi garage punk that ticks every box. Concise? Crunchy? Catchy? Scrappy? Snarly? CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK, CHECK!

Josie || Still Time
Leading up to their fine debut album, this ‘Popenhagen’ quartet released a 7″ single that is sugary, hooky, and delightfully reminiscent of your favorite indie pop bands. Twee pop with a DIY punk heart.

Keddies Resort & Sex Mex || Two Songs About Tragedy (streaming only)
If you like your music punchy, lo-fi, and ridiculously catchy, here are two prolific acts producing some of their best material to date.

Kissa || POP // ROCK
POP// ROCK packs six tracks that battle it out for the title of catchiest pop-rock anthem. Kissa channels a glammy ’70s sound, cranking up the tempo and injecting these hook-filled tunes with solar-powered energy.

The Lemon Twigs || I’ve Got A Broken Heart
There’s so much power-pop gold packed into this 7″ that certain fans may experience temporary system overload. Impeccably produced, flawlessly sung, I’ve Got A Broken Heart is simply perfect.

The Let Down || Awake EP
An impressive opening statement from this new Austin power pop quartet who come armed with jangly guitars, melodic hooks, and just enough alt-rock edge to keep things punchy.

Los Refrescos || Conozca a Los Refrescos
Los Refrescos channel the spirit of late ’70s pop punk and power pop so convincingly, you’d swear they time-traveled here. Pressing play on this EP feels like a fist pump after a goal, or a subtle nod of approval from someone whose opinion really matters. It offers that instant warm glow and just feels right.

The Needmores || Side X Side
This new band out of Detroit operate in a zone that punk purists might dismiss as not loud or fast enough, while classic rock diehards will claim the hooks overshadow the solos. But that in-between space that is power pop? That’s where The Needmores thrive—and on Side X Side, they make a convincing case that it’s the place to be.

No Peeling || No Peeling
Fifty-three seconds. That’s all it takes for Can I Pet That Dog? to convince you No Peeling are something else. Half talk-sung, half shrieked, fully bonkers. And that’s just track one…

Normal Person || Straight to the Dome
On Straight to the Dome, Bernard Casserly (of Cende fame) crams seven songs into twelve glorious minutes—the kind of power pop sugar rush that makes you hit repeat before you’ve even processed the last track.

The Number Ones || Sorry
The return of Irish power pop masters The Number Ones is a sugar rush to the heart. I don’t think any other band right now does Good Vibrations-style punky power pop better than this Dublin band.

(Daniel Romano’s) Outfit || Even If It’s Obscure / Sweet Dew Of The Kingdom
Now that I’ve finally seen him perform live, my admiration of Daniel Romano has become even greater. This new 7″ is a seven-minute time portal to a golden era where rock gods ruled the airwaves and stirred the souls of millions. I am particularly fond of the grand and theatrical A-side.

Pansy || Skin Graft
Easily one of the year’s standout short-format releases. Seattle’s Pansy cover an impressive amount of ground on this 5-song EP that at different points is reminiscent of Big Star, Teenage Fanclub, Blondie and Tony Molina.

The Pennys || The Pennys
Mike Ramos (Tony Jay) and R.E. Seraphin collaborate for a lo-fi debut that is heavy on spine-tingling charm. These songs sneak up on you: they’re laid-back, unhurried, and full of ’60s pop melodies in an outsider package full of cracks.

Plastic Act || Now!
This project from Josh Herlihey (Private Lives) channels the most playful, bouncy, and vibrant corners of ’70s (proto)punk. Each of the three songs is a hit.

Roberta Lips || En Plein Cœur
Garage power pop sung in French AND Spanish? Inspired by `70s bands like Nikki and the Corvettes, the ’80s Riot grrrl scene AND ’90s Spanish indie pop? Hell yeah! The band’s theme song (“Ro-ber-ta Lips! Ro-ber-ta Lips!”) turned out to be one of 2025’s most persistent earworms.

Seely-Jurgens Band || We’ll Try b/w Get Me Off
This Ingrates/Dust Star (Justin Jurgens) and Sheer Mag (Kyle Seely) team-up was a nice surprise this year. The two longtime friends move deep in ’70s classic rock/glam/soft rock territory. Full length coming in 2026?

Shop Talk || Museum of Sex
Shop Talk plays a style (RIYL: your punk with a carbon date of late ’70s) that few bands attempt nowadays, perhaps because it’s so difficult to pull off without sounding like a nostalgia act or a tribute band. But they make it look easy and vital.

Sick Thoughts || Another Piece Of Plastic
A short, sharp, and seriously fun new EP from the punk mastermind that is Drew Owen. The human–machine bromance of the title track is as kickass as it is a blast.

The Smarthearts || Not Forgotten
Seven years after their awesome debut, The Smarthearts (featuring past/present members of Sheer Mag, Machine Gun, Grave Turner, and Titus Andronicus) finally return with new music. Clearly, the Philadelphia band haven’t lost an ounce of their knack for writing catchy melodies and energetic garage powerpop’n’roll tunes, while trading some of that raw garage energy for something more textured and dynamic.

The Speedways || Visiting Hours
The Speedways’ debut on Stardumb Records finds the band channeling late-’70s Elvis Costello with uncanny precision, bittersweet and effortlessly melodic—it’s power pop with brains and a broken heart.

Split System || No Cops In Heaven / Pull The Trigger
Recorded in a single Saturday, these two tracks burn with distrust and fury aimed squarely at politicians, cops, war profiteers, and oil barons. If anything proves that punk gets angrier, sharper, and more relevant the worse the world gets, it’s this 7″ from a band that has been top of the class for years now.

Star Sign || Star Sign
Star Sign’s guitar-driven sound is clean yet punchy, mixing jangle power pop with ’90s alt-pop and college rock finesse. This EP sets the Richmond band off to a flying start.

STARPOWER || TO THE TOP. VOL 1
A lot of the frequently used adjectives on this site apply here: scrappy, catchy, punchy, punky, etc. This debut EP features seven songs of explosive garage pop that hits like a sugar rush: immediate, addictive, and way more fun than whatever you were doing five seconds ago.

The Stones || Rock ‘n’ Roll Band b/w T-H-U
Let’s hope Mick and Keith take the band name as flattery, because The Stones play exactly the kind of glammy and punky rock-‘n’-roll we dream of finding while digging through Bandcamp’s basement. A bold debut by all accounts.

Strange Passage || A Folded Sky
From the opening chords, this EP is the equivalent of opening a long-sealed window — fresh air rushing in, jangly guitars chiming with purpose, and drums hitting way harder than you’d expect from a band compared to early R.E.M., Felt, or The Feelies.

Street Sweeper || Twin Turbo
Imagine Thin Lizzy and Misfits teaming up to form a pub rock-leaning power pop band, and you’ll get a good idea of what Street Sweeper’s latest single sounds like. My expectations for their upcoming full length are through the roof.

Tee Vee Repairmann || I Wanna Be A Ramone/Rock N Roll
This will be hard to purchase but is worth hunting down. The A-side is an instant entry into my ‘Top Three Songs About Wanting to Be a Ramone-list’. The flip has Ishka Edmeades calling out rock ‘n’ roll legends over riffs that are as rudimentary as they are killer.

Vista Blue || The Shift Is Dead
Mike Patton and crew take a swing at The Smiths’ The Queen Is Dead, reworking the song titles into baseball-themed old school pop-punk anthems. Bigmouth Strikes Again becomes Bigmouth Strikes Out Again — you get the drift.

Whimsyland || Bounty Bay
More than just a theme park concept, Whimsyland is a celebration of what pop punk can be—an escape that makes kids of all ages feel young again. The biggest surprise here is Kid Dynamite/None More Black singer Jason Shevchuk’s involvement on EP highlight Rough N Tumble Buccaneers.

Whitney’s Playland || Long Rehearsal
An essential single from a band that keeps getting better. The title track here is a jangle that’s straight out of the classic indie pop playbook—bright, breezy, and deeply summery. And man, can Inna Showalter sing.