Jangle Pop

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

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk, Surf / Leave a Comment

Last week we posted the overviews of our favorite LPs of 2025 (here is Niek’s, there is mine), but this year also saw countless short-format releases that deserve to be listed. Below you can listen to the 50 singles and EPs that I enjoyed most last year (note: individual songs are excluded), in alphabetical order. Links point to Bandcamp or another sales outlet (the titles), and to previously posted reviews (in the body text).

While I traditionally prefer albums, if only because you don’t have to get up as often to turn the record over, but also because it literally gives you more time to immerse yourself in the artist’s world, I’m increasingly enjoying the pleasures of singles and EPs. They’re often explosions of positive energy packed with hooks, which immediately make for a good time, and that was certainly the case over the past 12 months. If this were the soundtrack to a night out, I’d return home exhausted but utterly delighted.

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New album: The Photocopies || Counterintuition

Heartfelt fuzz-pop melodies amid boredom, burnout, and backlash

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

Just when you think Sean Turner is finally slowing down, new work from The Photocopies pops up in our mailbox. With Counterintuition, he adds ten new songs to his already impressive discography (plus eight equally enjoyable bonus tracks, for those still unconvinced by his unbridled productivity). It all seems so easy, but what lies behind all those sugar-rush melodies?

The lyrics here suggest a world where personal lives and public forces collide: love persists amid boredom, fear, and precarity, while hope flickers stubbornly against systems that seem designed to grind people down. It fits the DIY approach, born from a lack of any budget, as nicely reflected in the title track: “Got a world full of nothing and I’m losing my way // Happens to me every time.”

All things considered, we listeners benefit: this combination of warm melodrama and charming energy with jangly riffs and earworm choruses is simply so enjoyable that we can’t, and won’t, ignore it.



Counterintuition—written, performed, and recorded by Sean Turner—is out digitally, on cassette, CD, and 10″ vinyl, through Plastidisc / Subjangle. The digital en CD version have eight bonus tracks from recent digital-only releases.

Add to wantlist @ Bandcamp: Photocopies || Plastidisc || Subjangle

New album: The Roves || Pope & The Computer

Warm melodies hiding big questions about care and belonging

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

As the year draws to a close, the flood of new releases has calmed down, but luckily we can count on British indie pop stalwarts The Roves for a nice surprise. In mid-December 2022, they released the Needle Factory LP, which they now follow up with the mini-album Pope & The Computer—seven songs in 23 minutes—around the same time. It paints a nervous portrait of modern emotional life: people desperate to connect but never quite managing to say the right thing, or be heard at all.

On a bed of shimmering guitars and a solid sound, the lyrics circle insecurity, loneliness and quiet mental-health struggles, mixing self-blame, social comparison, and romantic jealousy with the dull grind of work, financial worries and days slipping by without resolution. Yet a gloomy phrase like “I’ve got money in my hand // But it never lasts forever, oh no” can easily turn into an infectious “Woah yeah” (in I Don’t Know Yet). The warm melodies, rich orchestration, and vibrant harmonies ensure an uplifting remembrance no matter what.



Pope & The Computer—produced by Dom Monks—is out now digitally and on 12″ vinyl through Discotif / The State51 Conspiracy.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Music Year-End List || Niek’s Favorite Albums of 2025

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / 1 Comment

Five years of Add To Wantlist, and the underground music scene is still fighting the algorithm with the only weapon that matters: better music. Look, 2025 had plenty of reasons to spiral: A.I.-generated music clogging up the web like malware, streaming services paying artists in pennies while investing in war machines, shipping costs that make you weep, and indie labels on shoestring budgets battling tariffs and trade barriers. And yet—and yet!—the real music kept showing up like it had something to prove.

Because 2025? It was stacked with the good stuff. Tiny labels dropping masterpieces from basements. Bands recording in bedrooms, kitchens, storage units, sheds—somehow crafting songs with more soul than anything focus-grouped into existence. Punk bands running on spite and failing systems. Garage weirdos alchemizing chaos into pure joy. LGBTQ+ musicians turning their most vulnerable moments into anthems that hit like freight trains. Jangle-pop obsessives writing hooks so good they feel like they’ve existed forever. For those paying attention, it was a year full of human fingerprints on every beat, and it was everything.

And here’s the wildest part: people still give a damn. Scenes are rebuilding from the ground up. The daily release count keeps climbing. Bands are back on the road in whatever form of transport their budget allows. I witnessed a legendary pop punk label throw an anniversary show that sold out to a room full of believers who actually showed up and loved every second of it. I stood with 5,000 people losing their minds as the hottest band around redefined what a hardcore band can be. Every week brought a new obsession—some scrappy little record punching way above its weight class. And our blog grew this year, which means more of you beautiful weirdos have joined us in the crates. Welcome aboard!

So yeah, the world’s a mess. The internet’s a dumpster fire. But independent guitar music? Still kicking, still vital, still the best argument for why we started this blog in the first place: community, curiosity, and that unbeatable high of stumbling onto a band that sounds like everything you’ve been looking for.

Here are the 50 albums (plus 50 more) that, for me, made this year worth it. As Dennis wrote in his eclectic and amazing AOTY list this Tuesday—our overlap is minimal, so dig in—rankings are just taste. What matters is the joy, the discovery, that moment when a song connects and suddenly your day is better. My ranking criteria? Simple: which records did I love spending time with the most…

You’ll find all of them below. Enjoy reading, enjoy listening, and if something grabs you, the links go straight to Bandcamp or Discogs—and to earlier reviews when we wrote about them in depth. Check out our favorite short format releases of 2025 next week! Oh, and here is a playlist with 91% of my picks  (FYI: pretty sure this time next year we’ll be on a different streaming service).

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Music Year-End List || Dennis’ Favorite Albums of 2025

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / 3 Comments

“When the universe looks right at you // You’d be wise to hold its gaze // Averted, missed opportunities // A crisis on its way” (from Universe Blues by Moon Orchids).

“What once was pure through your childish eyes is complicated by the truth // What once was pure as a shot so sure has you longing for a time // When you could stand judging right and wrong through tight drawn blinds // At safe distance” (from At Safe Distance by Patterson Hood).

We live in uncertain times, but music still knows how to meet us wherever we are, whether by giving voice to our feelings, offering an empathetic hug, or simply providing a much-needed distraction. The journeys songwriters take—often more compelling than any destination—lead us through personal and family reconciliation, anxiety and imagination, nostalgia and escapism, emotions and vulnerability, holding on and giving up. Bridging past and present, my favorite musicians and new discoveries shape their messages and sounds with equal parts mind and heart (usually with a guitar in hand, but that goes without saying). Throughout last year, there was plenty to appreciate, if not get completely lost in.

In 2025, I checked out 2,600+ new albums—it’s far from possible to listen to everything that came out—which ultimately led to a diverse longlist of 130 wantlist-worthy releases (the ones I was able to buy are shown in the photo above). Let’s dive in. The 50 records I liked and played the most—is there any accounting for taste?—are listed below, each with a standout song embedded (it’s all about the music after all). Links point to Discogs or Bandcamp (the headings), and where available to our previously posted, more extensive reviews (in the body text). As always: add to your wantlist—or even better: your collection—whatever you like!

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New album: Tulpa || Monster Of The Week

Sweet on the surface, dangerous in the undertow

By / / Indie Rock, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

Allegedly, a Tulpa is a mythical being manifested into existence through the act of concentrated thought, like an imaginary friend brought to life, but (sometimes) scarier. Leeds, UK-based musicians Josie Kirk (vocals, bass), Daniel Hyndman (guitar), Myles Kirk (guitar), and Mike Ainsley (drums) derived the name for their new band from the phenomenon, and it is probably not without reason that their debut full-length is titled Monster Of The Week—it feels similarly summoned.

It’s a set of eleven songs that move between charming jangle pop and biting indie rock. You’ll hear clear vocals and warm melodies, but also guitar outbursts and screams. That tension between sweetness on the surface and danger in the depths surprises again and again, and explodes towards the end of the record in Raw Nerve, then closes with the amazing earworm Whose Side Are You On?—made for the repeat button, but that actually applies to the entire album.




Monster Of The Week—recorded by Jamie Lockhart—is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Skep Wax Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Silk Cuts || Tell Me It’s Not True

Indie pop devotion turned into the real deal

By / / Indie Pop, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

Exeter trio Silk Cuts released their debut LP earlier this month, and it’s required listening for anyone with even a passing affection for classic indie pop, jangle, twee, C86, and all that good stuff. This is one of those bands where you can practically hear their record collections—impeccable taste, piles of obscurities, and enough enthusiasm for underground pop that starting their own obscure band felt like the only reasonable next step.

And you know what? Tell Me It’s Not True is a surprisingly confident launch—bright, tuneful, understated, and instantly endearing. Silk Cuts sound like future cult favorites already.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Silk Cuts

New album: Sharp Pins || Balloon Balloon Balloon

Kai Slater's well of inspiration seems infinite and we all win

By / / Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych / Leave a Comment

Kai Slater is only just getting started, yet he’s already racked up more accolades than most musicians working in the lo-fi, left-of-the-dial guitar-pop trenches. And honestly? Every bit of praise is warranted. Slater is a spectacular talent, releasing his third Sharp Pins record in as many years (Turtle Rock in 2023, Radio DDR earlier this year), and as good as those were, Balloon Balloon Balloon feels like his most fully realized work yet. At some point you start to wonder how he keeps both feet on the ground while sending underground music fans sky-high on these melodies.

It’s impossible not to compare the new Sharp Pins LP to the new Tony Molina record that came out just a week ago—both have 21 songs, yet Balloon Balloon Balloon runs nearly twice as long. Both are jangly and crammed with ideas, riffs, and killer hooks. But where Molina sounds increasingly pristine, Sharp Pins operate in a different aesthetic universe: scrappier, fuzzier, more psych-leaning, more power-pop punch, more distortion, and quirkier around the edges. They complement each other beautifully, but they’re not interchangeable. And yet, if you’re wired for this kind of music, you could spin both albums for the rest of 2025 and call the year a win.

Will Sharp Pins become the Guided By Voices of the next generation? Hard to say. But right now, Slater’s well of inspiration seems bottomless—and Balloon Balloon Balloon is further proof he’s on a serious tear. Buy now at K & Perennial Records.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp | Discogs

New album: Red Devil Ryders || Is It Love?

Cleveland's scrappy trio deliver a jangly, soulful garage power pop record that rewards both casual listening and deep dives

By / / Alternative Rock, Garage Rock, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop / Leave a Comment

Cleveland’s Red Devil Ryders play the kind of jangly, soulful, slightly scuffed-up power pop that makes you want to dig through their record collections just to confirm your suspicions about their impeccable taste. Is It Love? is scrappy in all the right ways—melodic but never polished to a shine, energetic but never trying too hard, the kind of college rock that sounds like it was recorded in someone’s basement because it probably was.

The comparisons that come to mind—Laika’s Orbit’s DIY charm, Royal Headache’s emotional punch, and a whole lotta classic rock bands—are helpful but don’t tell the whole story. It’s the kind of music I’d put forward when someone asks what I listen to after they’re disappointed I don’t like those major rock acts they name when they discover I like guitar music.

For a trio, Is It Love? is rich in its instrumentation and variety. Don’t be shocked when they drop a 7-minute instrumental, and do be surprised when horns pop up mid-song. This unit definitely plays like a tight group that builds on each other’s energy, and we’re blessed to be made a part of that. Red Devil Ryders have made a record that feels spontaneous and utterly sincere—the kind of album that rewards both casual listening and deep dives.

Out now on LP at Feral Kid Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Tony Molina || On This Day

Tony Molina proves less is more, then proves it twenty times more

By / / Country & Folk, Indie Pop, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych / 1 Comment

Twenty-one songs. Twenty-three minutes. Tony Molina just made the most deceptively simple record you’ll hear all year and it’s going to ruin you in the best way possible.

Look, most of these songs don’t even crack the one-minute mark, which will either make you think parts are missing from your copy or make you realize Molina is operating on a completely different wavelength than the rest of us. The man writes guitar pop like he’s rationing hooks for the apocalypse—every note counts, nothing overstays its welcome, and by the time you realize how good a song is, it’s already over and the next one is punching you in the heart.

If you’re looking for the buzzsawy alt-pop of years past, you won’t find it here—well, except for Have Your Way, a song I’ve played about twelve times today. Instead, Molina offers a masterclass in writing timeless guitar pop melodies for attention spans too short to sit through a three-minute song. One of the longer and most accomplished tracks is Livin’ Wrong, and even that stays well under the two-minute mark. The only song that exceeds it is Violets of Dawn, coincidentally a cover of an Eric Andersen tune—and what an amazing version it is.

Recorded at home on 8-track analog tape, On This Day has a warm quality enhanced by Mellotron, trumpet, Hammond organ, piano, and bells that never feel cluttered. It is an extremely rewarding and addictive record. You finish it, you hit repeat, you notice things you missed the first three times through. It’s like eating the world’s best cookie one tiny bite at a time just to make it last. LP out now on Slumberland Records.



Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Slumberland

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