It’s New Year’s noonish, and I have to come to a conclusion about the records that got me through this growing mess. 2026 ain’t gonna be much better, I’m afraid—maybe in the music universe, but not on the ground, so to speak. I may have short-changed December; if you didn’t see my December 1st long-list, it’s here. A few December releases did make my Top 25 line-up.

If you have followed this blog for awhile, you’ve already noticed I am a bit restless about formatting. This year, I just alphabetized records most of the year and used an asterisk system to indicate my level of enthusiasm (I am not a critic; I am merely an enthusiast who measures records by the degree to which my short hairs stand up while playing an album). I also did not separate out archival digs or reissues. I vote in the Francis Davis Memorial Jazz Critics Poll, but below, I did not weed out jazz (however, I will share my poll ballot, which would change if I resubmitted it today). To paraphrase Duke Ellington, there’s only two kids of music: good and bad. Seldom this year did I write at much length about albums; if I mentioned them at the top of the post, that indicated that I really cared. Also, my perspective about ordering records is very subjective: my life experiences, prejudices, 42-year-career as an English teacher, my 63-plus years hanging out in the middle of the country, my commitment to being a married man but also to seeking new aesthetic territory to open my mind—those are the determiners, and I respect yours, as different as they may be. Finally, I’m a hardcore Heraclitian (?): you can never step in the same river twice, because you are mutating by the moment and the river just keeps on running. Apply that to a piece of music you’re listening to for, say, the 157th time; I have Professor Longhair’s Crawfish Fiesta on right now, two days after hearing the combo’s unique drummer Johnny Vidocovich play live 40-some years after that record got waxed, and damn right I’m different than I was at 19 and my ears are way better after that show. Anyway…the point is, I’m not asserting that these are rankings that you should mind, my friends.

Thoughts: I have been invulnerable to Americana / folk / alt-country whatever since, oh, 2016. To be honest, even though many artists categorized as such are en resistance, and even though I am a Midwestern white guy one generation removed from the family farm, I just have not wanted to hear what those white (mostly) guys have had to say. Childers (intense vocals conjuring Gary Stewart—read Jimmy McDonough’s new bio of that one), The Delines (really downbeat and sharp writing from off the grid or hanging by the fingernails from it), Tommy Womack (a lifelong struggler apparently indomitable despite not being in denial), and I’ll throw in octogenarian Irish folk legend Christy Moore (fighting his own fight at home but aware of the threats to the world at large) changed that. [ahmed], Los Thuthanaka, and a vintage Hüsker Dü live set were aural fists in the face to creeping (ok, faster than creeping) repression. Among my peers, few have sung the praises of Colombian folk goddess Karol G but that album outjukes Bad Bunny’s. If Danny Brown can get his whole health together, so can I. Death was a constant presence in my personal life in ’25, so Brotzmann’s stunning final live sessions of autumnal free jazz—if he was ever too much for you, this is where to get on board—empowered me. I liked woods’ and Fanon’s reimagining of woods’ original version way more, because it seemed to deliberately tackle the problem folks occasionally have with woods’ tracks. And I’ll stop with a big plug for Natural Information Society’s perfectly-titled album: I saw the group perform the piece (on the album, in multiple versions) live and was completely mesmerized by their militantly disciplined minimalism across nearly an hour’s playing (36 minutes in its long version here). Apologies to Sudan Archives, Lil’ Wayne, C-MAT, and maybe-just-maybe Geese for not giving your work the time it very likely deserved

Living to Listen’s Top 25 for ’25 

1. Tyler Childers: Snipe Hunter (RCA / Hickman Holler)
2. The Delines: Mr. Luck & Ms. Doom (Jealous Butcher) 
3. [ahmed]: Sama’a [Audition] (Otoroku) 
4. Los Thuthanaka: Los Thuthanaka (Studio Pankara)
5. Hüsker Dü: 1985—The Miracle Year (Numero Group) 
6. Karol G: Tropicoqueta (Bichota)
7. Sabrina Carpenter: Man’s Best Friend (Island)
8. Bad Bunny: DeBI TiRAR MaS FOToS (Rimas Entertainment)
9. Danny Brown: Stardust (Warp)
10. Peter Brotzmann: The Quartet (Otoroku) 
11. August Fanon & billy woods: Gowillog (reimagined) (BackwoodzStudioz)
12. Steve Lehman: The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi Recordings)
13. Christy Moore: A Terrible Beauty (Claddagh) (11/2024 release in Ireland, so I’m counting it)
14. Natural Information Society: Perseverance Flow (Eremite)
15. Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts (Nonesuch)
16. Amina Claudine Myers: Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) 
17. Ale Hop & Titi Bakorta:  Mapambazuko (Nyege Nyege Tapes) 
18. Sharp Pins: Balloon Balloon Balloon (K / Perennial Death)
19. Various Artists: The Bottle Tapes (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
20. Cosmic Ear: TRACES (We Jazz) 
21. Lily Allen: West End Girl (BMG)
22. Tommy Womack: Live a Little (Schoolkids)
23. doseone & Height Keech: Wood Teeth (Hands Made EP)
24. Dijon: Baby (R&R )
25. De La Soul: Cabin in the Sky (Mass Appeal) 

My Jazz Critics Poll Ballot (FWIW)

Best New Jazz Albums of 2025

1. [ahmed]: [Sama’a] (Audition) (Otoroku)
2. Peter Brotzmann: The Quartet (Otoroku) 
3. Cosmic Ear: TRACES (We Jazz) 
4. Mary Halvorson: About Ghosts (Nonesuch) 
5. Steve Lehman: The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi Recordings) 
6. Amina Claudine Myers: Solace of the Mind(Red Hook) 
7. Deepstaria Enigmatica: The Eternal Now Is the Heart of a New Tomorrow (ESP-Disk)

8. William Hooker: Jubilation (Org Music) 
9. OTHERLANDS TRIO: Star Mountain (Intakt)
10. Joe Chambers, Kevin Diehl, Chad Taylor: Onilu(Eremite)

Rara Avis (reissues and/or music recorded in 2015 or earlier)

1. Various Artists: The Bottle Tapes (Corbett vs. Dempsey)
2. Rahsaan Roland Kirk: Jump Up & Down Fast—Vibrations in the Village, Live at the Village Gate (Resonance) 
3. Cecil Taylor / Tony Oxley: Flashing Spirits (Burning Ambulance)
4. Marco Eneidi Quintet: Wheat Fields of Kleylehof (Balance Point Acoustics / Botticelli) 
5. Shamek Farrah & Sonelius Smith: The World of the Children (Strata-East) 

Best Jazz Vocal Albums

1. Silvana Estrada: Vendran Suaves Lluvia (Glassnote)
2. Laura Ann Singh: Mean Reds (Out of Your Head)
3. Lena Bloch: Marina (Fresh Sounds)

Best Latin Albums

1. Roger Glenn: My Latin Heart (Patois) 
2. Miguel Zenon: Vanguardia Subterranea (Miel Music) 
3. Aruan Ortiz: Creole Renaissance (Intakt)