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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 single: Eye Ball || Of The Northern Americas

Tiny songs, huge payoff

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I once overheard someone define volunteer work as “being asked to do something and forgetting to say no.” That came to mind when Eye Ball released this one-minute single simply because a label (Knuckles on Stun) asked them to.

In that single minute, Eye Ball cram in two 15-second songs and one 30-second one. All three are perfectly formed little blasts, with Making Babies Smile At Me standing out as an absurdly catchy pop-punk hit. The two shorter tracks don’t waste a second — pure blink-and-you-miss-it punk jolts.

Fun idea, nailed execution.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Knuckles on Stun

New EP: Barpinson || Population

Four songs of dirt-pop charm from Jakarta

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This week we’re sharing our favorite short-format releases of the year. Those lists are already locked, so this EP from Jakarta sadly missed the cut on timing alone. That’s a shame, because Population would have fit right in.

Barpinson is the brainchild of Prabu Pramayougha , who clearly has a knack for writing catchy, sugary pop-punk — the kind of dirt-pop that would feel right at home on Bloated Kat Records. The EP packs four songs, including a cover of Foreign Girls by The Tours. Dance Off! is my jam here. Pure bubblegum, all bounce and charm.

Simple, sweet, and very easy to like.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Baby Muffler || Baby Muffler

Fun and scrambled egg punk

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For some, 2025 was the year where the egg punk label should retire. For others, that playful, synthy, hyperactive mutant strain remains one of the most fun directions punk has taken in recent years. Whatever crate you want to file Baby Muffler under is up to you—I’m less interested in labels than results, and this one delivers.

Created by Keegan Turner with support from Jacky Downey, Baby Muffler stands out through sheer charm and momentum. It’s scrappy, catchy, and genuinely fun, the kind of EP that feels like it was made without overthinking any of it.

This self-titled EP is out now on Teenage Mutant Ninja green cassette via Ink Spot Tapes.


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 EP: Soda Pops || Sweet Nothing

Sugar-coated chaos from Helsinki

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Helsinki duo Cherry Twist and Candy Crash make up Soda Pops, and with names like that — plus a bubblegum-pink cover — I’m happy to report they sound exactly as advertised on their debut EP: super-sweet garage pop’n’roll with ’60s girl-group sparkle and punky rough edges. Or as they put it themselves: “sugar-coated chaos to keep your heart warm while it breaks.”

Sweet Nothing is four songs, all hits, all charm. A couple of songs in, and Soda Pops have me going doo doo shoo wap, yeah! The best part: they’re only just getting started.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Album review: Mujeres Podridas || Sangre Y Sol

Love, violence, death — and punk that feels alive.

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It’s been a while since I’ve checked in with Mujeres Podridas (Austin, Texas), but four years after Muerte En Paraíso, their follow-up Sangre Y Sol is here — and it’s essential listening for anyone who likes their punk sharp, urgent, and played like something’s genuinely on the line.

Everything here orbits a tight, volatile triangle of love, violence, and death. You hear the lightness of the first, especially in the melodic punk of Sol and Fantasmas, before the darker shades settle in as the album progresses. The further you go, the heavier it hits.

By the end, you’re reminded why bands like this matter — they play punk rock that feels alive, high-stakes, and absolutely necessary.


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New EP: Friends of Cesar Romero || Cars, Guitars, Girls

The Doomed Babe Series is nearing completion and we're not ready for it

By / / Garage Rock, Power Pop, Punk / Leave a Comment

Last week, in a move that felt a bit like Marvel dropping a Phase 12 rollout chart, J Waylon Porcupine casually announced three FOCR releases for 2026: Jolly Joker, Soul Scouts, and Beneath The Valley of the Go Go’s—installments 48, 49, and 50 of the Doomed Babe Series. But buried in a massive list of every entry was a header that froze me: THE COMPLETE DOOMED BABE SERIES.

Sigh. Does that mean what it sounds like?

The series launched in 2011, and FOCR is probably the band we’ve covered more than any other. I’m nowhere near ready for it to wrap up. And naturally, the questions pile up: is this the end of the series? The band? Both? Or just a clever setup for whatever comes next?

At least one surprise has already landed. The unannounced Cars, Guitars, Girls EP—conveniently numbered #47.5—is classic FOCR comfort food: punky power pop tracked straight to the garage floor. What’s inside? A 90-second blast about chasing a heartbreaker who never picks you (Pro Yearner), a scorched-earth breakup burner loaded with FOCR-greatest hits playlist potential (Nine Pound Hamer®), and 70 seconds of “gosh, I wish I could write songs like this” pop perfection about quitting the fool-in-love routine with someone who’s not worth the wreckage (Headlight Queen).

So now the question hangs heavier: is 2026 a farewell tour—or a victory lap? Or both?


Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Heritage || Blood and Tears

Classic rock instincts with hardcore teeth

By / / Alternative Rock, Indie Rock, Punk / Leave a Comment

Heritage are hardly the first band to claim that name—hence the (50) slapped onto their Discogs page—but this version feels like the one you’ll actually remember. Built around Jason Wood (Grinning Death’s Head) and backed by a stacked lineup of underground lifers—Jeff Jelen, Mark McCoy, Nate Wilson, and Ian Jacyszyn—Heritage sound like five people playing as if they’ve got something to prove. And on Blood and Tears, they do exactly that.

Trying to categorize this thing is an impossible task. At times they sound like a hardcore punk band reverse-engineering classic rock anthems; other moments feel like street-punk kids chasing their love for Springsteen. Town Hall is basically what would happen if Skid Row went punk rock. Break the Bank leans into snarling street energy. Witness Protection lands somewhere in that sweet spot where bruised punk meets big-hearted heartland rock. What ties it all together is the songwriting—every track comes with either a massive chorus, an unexpectedly catchy hook, or both.

Despite its fixation on societal collapse, Blood and Tears is surprisingly uplifting. The anger and frustration are there, sure, but so is the catharsis—the sense that the world may be burning but Heritage are handing you the match and saying, “Let’s go.” It’s a jolt of conviction, sincerity, and sheer rock-’n’-roll vitality. A perfect year-end palette cleanser.




Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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