Two of the best German bands out there right now. Herrenmagazin are just lyrically above almost everyone else and that album was a great comeback after their hiatus. And ZSK are just a great political punk band. Even ignoring the content, that album had so many bangers on it, it's ridiculous.
Well…I missed out on this for this year but better late than never I guess?? 1. TRSH - String Theory -This band hit me out of nowhere. I suck at labels but Midwest emo vibes! Yellowcard - Better Days Mayday Parade - Sweet Ben Quad - Wisher Arms Length - There’s a Whole World Out There Coheeed & Cambria - Vaxis III Silverstein - both 2025 releases Saturdays At Your Place - These Things Happen Hot Mulligan - The Sound a Body Makes When It’s Still EP Shoutouts: 1. Best Noodles In Town - Better, I Think Another Midwest emo band that took me by surprise. 2. Senses - I’m Still Breathing 3. Relate. - Have I Ever Done Anything? 4. Belmont - Last to Love Wrote this entire thing on a treadmill at the gym lol so I may return when I can actually think better!
It took me a little extra time to put it together this year, but here's my contribution lol Moving Mountains - Pruning of the Lower Limbs Oklou - Choke Enough Great Grandpa - Patience, Moonbeam FKA Twigs - Eusexua Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer The Beths - Straight Line Was A Lie La Dispute - No One Was Driving The Car All Get Out - Side A Pool Kids - Easier Said Than Done Anxious - Bambi Seer Believer - Make A Wish Downward - LP2 Wednesday - Bleeds Weatherday - Hornet Disaster Big Thief - Double Infinity Greet Death - Die in Love Stay Inside - Lunger Cloakroom - Last Leg of the Human Table Cryogeyser - S/T Coastlands - S/T Twenty One Pilots - Breach Indigo De Souza - Precipice Palmyra - Restless Thrice - Horizons / West Kerosene Heights - Blame It On The Weather Hodera - Old Wounds Lorde - Virgin Good Luck - Big Dreams, Mister Baths - Gut The Callous Daoboys - I Don’t Want to See You in Heaven EPs Weatherbox - The Compass Flooding - object 1 fourwaysplit with Aren’t We Amphibians, awakebutstillinbed, California Cousins, and Your Arms Are My Cocoon illuminati hotties - Nickel on the Fountain Floor Now, Now - 01 Record Setter - Evoke Invoke Others that I enjoyed Jay Som, Hard Chiller, The World is a Beautiful Place, Ultra Deluxe, jasmine.4.t, Athletics, Benjamin Booker, The Armed, Deftones, mofie, Black Country, New Road, Arm’s Length, Lucy Dacus, PUP, Deafheaven, Skimp, Sydney Sprague, Flycatcher, key vs. locket, Japanese Breakfast, Aren’t We Amphibians, Algernon Cadwallader, ROSALÍA, Geese, High., Miley Cyrus, Purity Ring, Haley Williams, Eversame, Head North, Stay The Course, Jane Remover, Bob Iver, Club Night, Snocaps, Matt Maeson
Can we ban people for saying they like AI “music” or is that too harsh I’m blocking that individual out of principle but you know, for the good of community etc lol. I am 51% joking to be clear
I appreciate that they told on themself so I know not to take any of the post seriously Would rather that than they try to hide that detail
That's the first time I've ever blocked someone on here in ten years, and there have been a lot of stupid posts in that time.
I think it’s time for me to stop paying for this site. Anytime I say anything on here, which is rare as is, I am constantly attacked and “bullied” from all angles. This board has a lot of people who just flat out believe they are better than everyone else. I don’t claim to be the world’s most knowledgeable music knower but music is supposed to be inclusive. I just like to put on some headphones and press play. I’ve given my money to this community for over 9 years now and yet this place is a constant negative feedback loop. I don’t know why it makes so many of you happy to put other people down.
I’ve been listening to the ZSK album more and it’s really incredible. I can’t think of any skatepunk (I guess that’s what I’d call it, or like melodic punk with pop tendencies) releases from anywhere in the world in quite a while that sound so authentically like stuff from 90s and early 00s as this does. Really cool.
respectfully (i guess), this board is also full of musicians and creators and people who love music who find it downright insulting that you could lift up AI music so high as putting it on your best music of the entire year list. as it always was and forever will be, you can have any opinion you want but youre not free of criticism for it.
It wasn’t listed among my “best music of” sections, it was listed under a separate section of “weirdest development” of the year. AI is infiltrating everything from social media and news, to our jobs and yes, even music and I don’t think it’s going away anytime soon. There may even be a time it’s normalized because for untrained ears like mine, there was no way to even know it was AI and that was the point of my post. I liked what I heard enough to look these “bands” up and had to dig to realize they were AI and not just undiscovered and I thought that fact was super weird. Didn’t realize that warranted insults or a “ban”. That said, even if you think my taste in music sucks just move on. The gang bully mentality on these boards to constantly pile on people is ridiculous, especially over something as innocent as a best of list. You seem way too comfortable labeling an opinion you don’t like about music taste as offensive and using it as justification to belittle someone. My subscription of 9 years officially ends 1/30/26. It’s just not worth it anymore when even this type of post gets me killed.
AI is destroying the planet and people hating on AI has caused tangible results for a positive outcome and people saying "it's going to stay so deal with it" are making it worse. Forgive me for not having a ton of pity and please just educate yourself. Being able to take it so personally that people are against AI is a massive privilege. I think that's a nice enough way to put it
As an aside it's very hard to take seriously holding up your subscription like it means you deserve extra special treatment and/or a shield from criticism on the website. It's great that you've supported the website, I'm sure it's appreciated. It's also a website with people who have strong convictions and you shouldn't be surprised to hear those convictions come up. It's made lots of lives better thanks to those convictions (mine has for sure, I'd be way worse off if those convictions weren't present here). Stopping and listening is valuable
I agree that AI sucks and I never made some deep pro AI argument so you trying to turn an innocent post of “this was a weird part of 2025” into some crusade where I need to educate myself about the harms of AI and thus I deserve to be belittled and bullied is absolutely insane. I said it was weird!!! I didn’t say hey guys this shit is the greatest let’s all go listen to AI music! Get off your moral high ground of bs justification for treating others poorly and saying they deserve it. You are twisting things to act like I am taking it personally that people don’t like AI when in reality I am taking personal the personal attacks, belittling and gang bullying.
I think this is very revealing. I think there will be future use-cases for AI in good music, but right now it's all just bad art. Herndon is a genius and I'm sure she's finding interesting stuff to do with AI, but as Noah says she has a misguided idea of the neutrality of the tools she's using. They are made with plagiarism and funded by some of the most evil people on the planet. These aren't inherent to the technology, just the way it has been presented so far. This is notwithstanding environmental concerns
What are the past comments that also got you “killed”? And do you really not see how your post read like someone recommending AI music?
My feeling on this is that there should be a legal requirement to label anything that used AI with a disclaimer. Music, ads/commercials, images, websites, etc. ESPECIALLY music. Spotify doesn't want that, because they love having "ghost" artists that they can pack their playlists with; it saves them money in royalty payments and most people don't know the difference. As people who really love music, though, I think we all have a responsibility to keep an eye out for that shit and call it out when we see it. @SoCoWilderNeSs is right that it's going to become more prevalent and probably harder to spot, but I don't think that means we have to accept it in any fashion. We can and should fight against AI intrusion into art as hard as we possibly can.