January 3, 2026 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #788)

9:01am Folk Bitch Trio Cathode Ray Now Would Be a Good Time (Jagjaguwar)

9:04am Ty Segall Buildings Possession (Drag City)

9:08am Melody's Echo Chamber Broken Roses Unclouded (Domino)

9:15am Joy Crookes Perfect Crime Juniper (Epic/Insanity/Speakerbox)

December 27, 2025 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #787)

5:59am Margo Price Red Eye Flight Hard Headed Woman (Loma Vista)

6:02am Michael Carpenter What Makes You Think (That I Want You?) The Start of Being (Big Radio/RTC)

6:06am Dessa That Call single (Tinderbox)

6:13am The Hives The Hives Forever Forever The Hives The Hives Forever Forever The Hives (PIAS)

My top albums of 2025

In a year like this, with so much turmoil coming from the current presidential administration, and so much other stuff going on in my life, music was more of a comfort than ever. As is my wont, I listened to hundreds of full albums this year. I did my usually fussing over this list, making one big decision near my self-imposed deadline. I was going to rank Fancy That by Pinkpantheress pretty highly. But I eventually dropped it entirely. It’s a nine-track mix tape that last only 20 minutes, and as great as it is, that really can’t be considered an album. The other thing to deal with is albums that were released on streaming this year, but won’t have physical editions until next year. For the most part, I won’t rank a record without a physical edition, but sometimes I will burn a digital copy to CD. I did that with Silvana Estrada, but not with Snocaps, I guess because the former impressed me more (not that the Snocaps was bad – I liked it). Finally, the usual caveats: 1) as you go down the list, the rankings are pretty incremental, and once you get into the thirties, the albums are fairly equal in quality, 2) there are at least a few dozen albums not listed that are on par with the bottom 25 or so, and, 3) even with all I listen to, I can’t listen to everything, so I don’t have, for example, Geese on here because I never got around to listening to it. 

December 20, 2025 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #786)

8:59am Ezra Collective Joy to the World Joy to the World (Partisan)

9:05am Oasis Merry Xmas Everybody NME Presents 1 Love (b-unique)

9:09am hemlock In That Number (featuring Babehoven) Orange Streak Glow (self-released)

9:15am The Futureheads Wonderful Christmastime Christmas (Nul)

December 13, 2025 CHIRP Radio Playlist (Show #785)

9:00am Nora O'Connor Follow Me My Heart (Pravda)

9:03am Hot Chocolate Man to Man Man to Man (RAK)

9:08am runo plum Gathering the Pieces patching (Winspear)

9:14am This Is Lorelei I Can't Fall Holo Boy (Double Double Whammy)

December 6, 2025 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #784)

9:01 AM Booker T. & The MGs • Something • McLemore Avenue • Stax

9:05 AM Thao Nguyen • Chivalry • like the linen • Trust Me Corporation

9:09 AM Navy Blue • God's Kingdom • The Sword & The Soaring • Freedom Sounds

9:15 AM Dawn Richard • A Flex • single • Merge

November 29, 2025 CHIRP Radio playlist (Show #783)

8:59 AM Jimmy Cliff • Wild World • Wild World • Island

9:05 AM KeiyaA • this time (feat. Rahrah Gabor) • hooke's law • XL

9:08 AM Liz Phair • Soap Star Joe • Exile in Guyville • Matador

9:13 AM Haley Heynderickx & Max Garcia Conover • Red River Dry • What of Our Nature • Fat Possum