Like the last few years that preceded it, 2025 has been a year rich in good, also excellent music, just thinking about Stereolab, Suede, Pulp, Saint Etienne, Miki Berenyi Trio and The Gentle Springs plus brilliant newcomers like The Cords, Tulpa, Autocamper and plenty of Indonesian bands, amidst the droning flow of an ever-increasing and disorienting offering, made even more swampy and acrid by an ever-growing number of AI-generated productions, whether declared or treacherously not, from which it is easy to be deceived. Here’s the usual perfectible and changeable end-of-year list, with many misses and no particular order. Grateful to all the bands/artists who shaped our listening pleasure. Happy New Year and much love to you all!!!
THE SLOW SUMMITS –“Every Intention”LP [Subjangle Records]
Swamped in 80s British guitar pop, brilliantly recollecting nods to Echo and Bunnymen, The Smiths, Belle and Sebastian, Aztec Camera and Lloyd Cole and Prefab Sprout, the Swedish four-piece’s proper debut album, “Every Intention,” displays a multitude of shades from jangle through a fine luminous blend of suave melodies and persuasive melancholy. A colorful whirlwind of zesty rhythms, snaky bass lines, layers of arpeggiated chords, and crystalline harmonies brings rays of unfettered hope and melancholy, besides the thought-provoking lyricism. Nostalgic and bittersweet, as captivating and passionate, the songwriting proves once more to be immaculate, as are the easygoing, soberly fluid and hued arrangements, with fresh, effervescent riffs combined with elegant, velvety melodies that let the emotions shine brightly and make you sway, compelling repeated listening.
Favourite Track:
HIGHSPIRES “Crushed” LP [Shelflife Records]
One of the surprising and welcome comebacks of bands who seemed lost in the limbo of faraway, yet treasured memories, Highspire, the Pennsylvania shoegaze staple of the early 2000s scene, together with Astrobite, Skywave, Airiel, Malory, Sciflyer and many others, mesmerise us with a third album of dazzling old school, or better say, timeless shoegaze with a prominent and infectious melodious edge. Ideally balancing noise and delicacy, the band transports in a captivating floating, visionary state, brimming with warm and dreamy atmospheres, suspended between reality and fantasy, intertwined with subtle walls of distortion, to induce an enveloping sensory rapture to the lilting rhythm of palatable, gliding and stirring harmonies.
Favourite Track:
SUGAR FOR THE PILL “LUV” LP [Make-Me-Happy (GR) / Shelflife Records (US)]
A rollercoaster soul ride about the complex nature of love, where endings often carry the seeds of a new beginning, that consolidates, refines, and expands the Athenian band’s Dream-Pop/Shoegaze sonic universe successfully defined on the 2022 debut album, weaving a cohesive, immersive and engaging whole throughout. Propelled by a loose, more compelling, and incisive rhythmic section, overlaid with dense layers of guitars, sharper and fuzzier than ever, and by a voice that harmonize perfectly, leading the songs gracefully with increased personality, adding emotional hues of soul-penetrating, at times weightless, emotional intensity, breathing life into a rich opus, equally airy, lavish, and luminous, underlying by a dark heart, that acquires further nuances with each listen.
Favourite track:
THE LIONS CONSTELLATION “New Moon Rising” LP [Too Good To Be True (FR) / Make-Me-Happy (GR) / Shelflife Records (US)]
Formed in 2008, the experienced Spanish trio returns with a more thoughtful, yet no less urgent, eclectic and balanced album, creating an immersive, intoxicating concoction of Shoegaze, Noise-Pop, and Psychedelia with a copious dose of hook-laden melodies, as if the years have not passed in vain. The group displays a dizzy whirlwind of diverse sonic influences from Post-punk, Indie Rock, and Grunge, at times with vibrant, yet vaporous guitars drenched in reverb, alternating with flare-ups of distortion and electric energy, to deftly craft intricate interplays harmonized in density, cadence, and intensity, reaching equally mesmerizing, sprawling introspections and electrifying climaxes, layered with dreamy, wistful vocals and nostalgic chorus, reflecting on heartache, loss, and acceptance.
Favourite track:
SHOPFIRES“We Are Not There But We Are Here” LP [Subjungle]
“There is beauty in sadness and reflection”, hints the new album by East Midlands songwriter Neil Hill. An immersive, glowing guitar embroidery filled with hazy intimacy and organic subtlety as a whole, flavored by Felt, Friends Again and Pale Fountains echoes, where one song swings its way into the next in a gentle, circular, hypnotic misty shimmer, lacing together a unique soul-tingling and heartfelt nostalgic bond. Soberly reverberating crystal-clear guitars meander with the effortless charm of slow moseying fluidity, framing warm and relaxed tones, imbued with gloomy, whispered vocal sentiments and flawlessly crafted heart-warming, bittersweet melodies, colored by pointillist keyboards and occasional teasing trumpet flourishes, effortlessly keeping the delicate pacing and jangly sheen in full bloom. It’s the cuddly, relaxing place you’ll wish to return to again and again.
Favourite track:
THE SICK MAN OF EUROPE “The Sick Man Of Europe”LP [The Leaf Label]
A collision of surgical Krautrock propulsion, Kraftwerk mechanical minimalism and post-punk bleakness, the debut album by London-based art-rock underground group explores the interplay between humanity and machines through a heady automatic stream of consciousness, harnessing its power by reiterating motorik drum patterns, and quaking basslines, layered with spindly guitar smears and alienating synth textures, pulsing toward a dazed oblivion before a search for identity and meaning causes the monochromatic angst and melancholy of feared obsolescence, to transform from a heavy depressed illness into a slightly elevated vibrancy that reveals “I’m alive.” The live iterations of the follow-up EP, “Fade/Form (The Bunker Tapes)”, and related visuals reveal a band at the height of its powers.
Favourite track:
THE MELODY CHAMBER “The Melody Chamber” LP [HHBTM Records (US) / Too Good To Be True Records (FR)]
Richmond, VAMelody Chamber’s postmodern new wave eponymous debut album runs from cold wave to jangle to post-punk and back again. If we had to quickly single out a guitar pop release with the freshest, compelling melodies, infectious refrains, and catchiest choruses of this year, the sumptuous songwriting liaison of pop enthusiasts Wallace Dietz and Dan-O Deckelman would effortlessly come to mind. A timeless, captivating ’80s pregnant concoction diving into the memory lanes of R.E.M., The Smiths, The Psychedelic Furs, Sad Lovers And Giants and Echo & the Bunnymen through a colorful whirlwind of jaunty rhythms, bobbing bass and sparkling guitars, that chimes earnest urgency all around, proof that the crystal clear hooky prowess of the band will instantly resonate upon first listen.
Favourite track:
NOSSIENNES “Water from the Sun” LP [Self Released]
The English band makes its meandering way through heady reverbs of Krautrock, Shoegaze, Post-Rock, Post-punk and Psychedelia, which mix, contract and expand, diving deep into the outer realms of perception. The fragile, faraway voice drifts into an esoteric mazey fog to appear like a haunted lysergic euphoria through a wobbling push and pull of raining bursts of distortion, shards of dazzlingly blazing feedbacks, urgent ghostly motorik rides, contemplative piano-led interludes, and Pink Floydian meditations. A challenging yet intriguing expressionist album imbued with crepuscular, surreal, ritual, and hallucinatory resonances for an intense and visceral exploration of the inner consciousness, from which a stretched, raw, ultimately moving beauty emerges and leaves its mark.
Favourite Track:
DAYFLOWER“Comfort”LP [Sunday Records (US) / The Stone Records (JP)]
An exquisite sensorial melange of immersive Dreampop and pillowy Shoegaze permeated with captivating dreamy melodic prowess from the East Midlands combo’s sophomore effort, wrapped in meticulous curated instrumentation. Hazy, drifting guitar chords and richly layered ethereal pads, as sunlit and caressing as a sea breeze, seizing the sheen and the sublime of bittersweet reveries, are the constant elements of a comfort blanket of shimmering heartfelt tunes, kissed by inspiration and empathy.
Favourite track:
THE RADIO FIELD “Air and Sunlight” LP [Subjangle]
Perched on their masterful, crystalline jangled pop delivery, which permeates most of their sophomore album, the German band letting loose lively and enthralling chiming energy in the dizzy balance with the breezy, bittersweet sunny nostalgic harmonies cast by delicately hoarse, warm laid back male vocals layered with enticing female back-ups, exuding infectious inbred melodic freshness, while showcasing a remarkable, unusual eclecticism in the dexterity of handling the 80s/90s indie sonic arsenal that possibly few others around have, adding slightly thicker electric rock graininess, swooning brass decorations and haunted female vocalizations. The Radio Field continues to delight us with a unique, unpredictable, sparkling pop sensibility.
Favourite track:
PRISM SHORES “Out From Underneath” LP [Meritorio Records]
Like every year, the Spanish label Meritorio is a reliable oasis of excellent guitar-driven music; therefore, it’s difficult to single out a choice among notable releases such as Monnone Alone and Exploding Flowers, but not only… Montreal four-piece’s sophomore album is a masterful collection of enthralling, beautifully arranged tunes in the best pure pop-rock tradition, as emotionally heartfelt and infectious as few others, trading familiar Sarah, Creation, Flying Nun Records changeable territories, seamlessly weaving an ideal middle ground between noisy fuzz-laden and bittersweet arpeggiated jangle parts. Ten power pop tunes that inescapably induce repeated listening, a fact not so obvious these days.
Favourite track:
GOODBYE WUDAOKOU “Anything Of Us” [Subjangle Records]
It’s certainly been a memorable year artistically for the Manchester-based Mat Mills‘ music project, crowned by the reissue of their debut album from a couple of years ago. The second album consolidates and expands his multifaceted, constantly tweaked, and fresh songwriting, weaving late ’80s and ’90s UK/US indie rock (Field Mice, New Order, Dinosaur Jr., Sebadoh, Yo La Tengo) with shoegaze and jangle pop fragrances, sparkling with sensitive lyrical wit, lo-fi dreaminess, and bittersweet melodic charm. Possibly more gritty and urgent than ever, the songs glimmer, shiver and drone around slightly off-beat melancholic vocal harmonies, expressing deep emotions and feelings in a genuine, soul-stirring way, which, quoting the last words of the closing, will “stay close at heart”.
“The melody always finds me, whenever the thought reminds me”, sang Lee Mavers in the late 80s, a magic that seems to be at home in the inspired, burgeoning songwriting of the Philly-based young bedroom ‘POP’, the capital letter is fully deserved, crafter Kai Slater, as well acclaimed for this year’s debut, as part of the noiser trio noiser underground rock trio Lifeguard. The album coasts an imaginative trip down memory lane from the Beatles, Byrds, Big Star, and the Kinks, to the more recent Teenage Fanclub and Guided By Voices, through a lo-fi alchemy of Byrd-esque jingle-jangle and folk-rock archetypes, cloaked with velvety Psychedelia and bursts of Rock’n’roll, in a fresh and electrifying fashion, never an end in itself.
Favourite track:
THE LAUGHING CHIMES “Whispers in the Speech Machine” LP [Slumberland Records]
Early year pick from the plethora of excellent albums from the ever scintillating Slumberland Records camp, the haunted jangle pop from the Midwest combo resonates on the wings and introspections of fantastically chiming guitar melodies that hark back to ’80s nostalgia, alongside passionate vocals that pierce through the emotions, expanding the earliest Paisley Underground and Dunedin school proclivities, fueled by new British vibrant inflections pulled from Echo & The Bunnymen, The House of Love, The Felt, and The Smiths. The innate sense of bright, seductive melody blurs with the ghosts of the native Rust Belts, haunted by the shadows of the past, and into the misty, bleak landscapes of Northern England, both steeped in melancholic romanticism and tormented, desolate decadence.
Favourite track:
MY RAINING STARS “Momentum” LP [Too Good To Be True (FR) / Shelflife (US)]
Weighted by personal family tragedies, the deeply-felt second album by the French indie one-man band, recorded with the sophisticated support from talented Dane multi-instrumentalist Casper Iskov, represents a process of reflection, catharsis and, at the end, an organic growth, and strikes a fine balance between the desired pursuit of heavier rock density and the usual subtlety and fluidity, while manifesting his aptitude for conveying pristine pop emotions. Impeccably written, the songs live and breathe in a meticulous space-time interaction between the shimmering Creation Records-laced, British guitar-pop of the ’80s and the more emotional and engaging frames of ’90s Britpop, spiced with Stone Roses vibes, swathed in hazy atmospheric shoegaze textures. Faced with the heartfelt passion and fresh reimagination, equal parts nostalgic and romantic, after two decades of Albionic sound, I feel a kindredness, my deference crumbles down like those of any Maginot lines.
Favourite track:
BLANKENBERGE “Decisions”LP [Automatic Music]
Sublime songs, like mesmerizing dreams that shine with their own light, soberly imbued with sweetness, spleen, and elegance. The incessant pulsing of shifting drums and snaky warm basslines stirs enveloping rarefactions and electric discharges, shimmering veneers, powerful, dazzling rips of effulgence, and billowing sheets of fiery harmonic distortion, skirting around delicate nostalgic vocals to explore the range of inner and outer expansiveness found in unfathomable oneiric dimensions, where spaces and boundaries seamlessly blur into a deep magical empathy between light and shadow, that caresses and overwhelms the senses at once. Sweet dreams from which you never want to wake up.
Favourite track:
ETTI/ETTA “Of Two Minds” LP [Self Released]
A compelling cinematic atmospheric alchemy of dreampop and shoegaze steeped in a bath of reverbs, occasional distortion and synth-laced introspective ambience, while an angelic voice, whispering intimate emotions, unfolds through electric pulses that illuminate and transform the shadows, with an arcane sense of supernatural creeping in via spindly, bittersweet resonances. The ‘two minds’ array time, stills, frequencies, noise and textures with sheer refinement into a contemplative, spiritual work of heft and grief, but also of a hovering loveliness that stirs, immerses, lingers and seduces.
Favourite track:
T R E M O U R S “Fragments”LP [Little Cloud Records]
Mystique-driven atmospheric shoegaze propelled by Glenn Fryatt’s urgent, pulsating and pace-shifting drums and Lauren Andino’s hazy, reverbed, drifting guitars, and immersive, undulating synth patterns, laced with whispery, lonely female vocals of a fragile child-like quality, enclosing a deep sense of sadness and alienation. The minimalist psychedelist-dusted instrumental hypnotism creates surreal liminal states suspended between dream and reality, equally intimate and expansive, as contemplative and transcendent, rippled with subtle electric charges of distortion, in which inwardness vibrates to the rhythm of harmoniously moving mellow languor and idyllic, fluctuating melodies, carrying us toward a chilly depth perception.
