By Null
I listened to many of the usual suspects this year—punk rock to save my life, jazz and instrumental music to sort out my head, and what have you. What follows are the albums and artist who wouldn’t leave me alone.
As I get older, I don’t really feel like I am presenting a list of music suggestions. It’s more a list of musical viruses, which attacked my musical sensibilities. Sure, I did make these choices and I wanted to listen to these records, but in the past my obsessions seemed more willful.
I feel like this is more a list of muses that I didn’t necessarily choose. These are albums that happened to me.
Dead Can Dance, Dionysus (PAIS. 2018).
An absolutely, mentally transforming masterpiece. Dionysus is right up there with the live album Toward the Within and Peter Gabrial’s Passion.
Feeder, Torpedo (2022), Black/Red (2024), Tallulah (2019), All Bright Electric (2016), and Best of Feeder – 3 CD Box Set (2017).
I probably listened to Feeder more than any other band this year. More specifically, I became obsessed with the later, or more mature, version of the band. I don’t really know their albums made before 2016, other than the newly remastered and expanded Comfort in Sound, as well as all the early tracks that show up on the Best of Feeder Box Set.
The later albums all suffer from overproduction, specifically the “loudness wars,” resulting in a muddy wall of noise. However, after repeated listening, I found my way through the sludge and wouldn’t change the sound now. It has become a part of their identity and an aspect of my love for these albums. Likewise, if one were to just randomly hear a Feeder song, it probably wouldn’t jump out as distinguishable from the rest of the commercial noise out there.
Still, I kept coming back to the songwriting, the melodic British strumming punctuated by Seattle “grunge” riffage. As the lyrics began to settle in, I found Feeder to be very healing and therapeutic. I needed to hear these albums, like I needed vitamins and leafy greens. I know this is partially due to my age and the things I think about on a daily basis. The albums were also an elixir for my tendency toward melancholia and cynicism. Somehow this band delivered that, as well as familiar mantras that I have had to tell myself every day for the last 45 years to stop myself from stepping in front of a bus. Life is precious and short. Take heed. Put love into the world.
The album Torpedo was my foot in door, but my life raft was the double album Black/Red. It was the best soundtrack for spending two weeks this summer driving around Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula—vast expanses, heavy glaciers, a dying Arctic, and an emotional response to impermanence. Don’t blink and don’t be afraid to cry.
Chris Cornell, Chris Cornell Deluxe 4 CD Box Set (2019).
This box set is beautifully packaged and highlights Chris Cornells various bands and projects throughout his life. It was a revealing and touching journey to wander though this retrospective.
I’ve been a fan of Soundgarden since the late 1980s. I also loved Temple of the Dog, but this box set gave me a glimpse into his solo work, various projects, and Audioslave songs. It was worth every penny.
Neil Young, Official Release Series #6.
This volume covers the years 1992 - 1995 and includes the albums Harvest Moon (1992), Unplugged (1993), Sleeps with Angels (1994), and the album Neil recorded with Pearl Jam, Mirror Ball (1995).
When Neil Young swings for the fences, he usually misses by a log shot. However, once in a while he creates a masterpiece. In the early nineties, he was on a role. The four albums included in this box set are some of my favorites. I have a lot of history with these records. I especially enjoyed revisiting Sleeps with Angels. Shortly after the release of Mirror Ball, he released the Dead Man soundtrack, which is also one of my favorite albums. Dead Man was reissued separately. I think this was the last great Neil Young creative period.
Simple Minds, Once Upon a Time Box Set (2025).
Originally released in 1985, this album was a big hit for the band, but I didn’t know it from a hole in the wall. I loved “(Don’t You) Forget about Me” from The Breakfast Club soundtrack, but that is where my knowledge of this Scottish band ended. I tried to listen to them over the years, but nothing stuck. For some reason, I got sucked into this box set, which contained the album, The Breakfast Club hit, B-sides, and a live show. I became obsessed with the song “Jungleland.” I’m sure there was something nostalgic about the sound that drew me in. I even got the album on vinyl too, where they added “(Don’t You) Forget About Me” to the end of side one. It fits perfectly.
Superchunk, Songs in the Key of Yikes (2025).
Over the last several albums, Mac and company have distilled the thoughts and feelings of aging punk rockers while living through our current social and environmental catastrophes and nightmares. Welcome to the new normal.
Bruce Springsteen, Inyo (2025).
Whenever I talk to someone about Bruce Springsteen, I have to figure out what person I am talking about, which depends on the knowledge of the person I am talking to. There are the popular images and mythology of Springsteen as the one-dimensional cartoon character, and then there is the Springsteen who represents a vast body of complex and nuanced work. Who are we talking about? I’m only interested in the second.
This year, Tracks II: The Unreleased Albums was released, containing seven fully formed unreleased albums. It was priced grotesquely high. However, it contains some of the greatest Springsteen albums ever recorded. Inyo is an absolute masterpiece with heartfelt lyrics, poetic beauty, and powerful social commentary. It contains mariachi instruments, violins, and drama. It is moving and cinematic. It reminds me of The Ghost of Tom Joad, but more above ground. Another album, Perfect World, feels like a sister album to Letter to You. I haven’t heard Bruce as pissed off as he is in the song, “Another Thin Line,” in quit a while. The Streets of Philadelphia Sessions is a bleak, but hopeful, internal meditation in the modern world with drum loops and keyboards. Twilight Hours is Bruce as a crooner singing original songs. He nails it. There are other albums in this box set that I haven’t had the time to spend with yet.
The breadth and quality of Springsteen’s work is astonishing. If you know, you know.
I hope these albums are released separately so wage slaves don’t have to throw down a ton of money for all of this.
Various Artists, The Fall of America II (2023).
I love the poet, Allen Ginsberg. I have most of the recordings of Ginsberg reading his own poetry. This new compilation, released by Allen Ginsberg Estate, combines a wide variety of artists who provide musical accompaniment to recordings of Ginsberg, and sometimes artists read his work themselves. A compilation like this could go either way. This one hits it out of the ballpark. It is an atmospheric and powerful display of his poetry presented in a cinematic way, which seems to enhance the poems’ meanings instead of distracting from them.
The Gaslight Anthem, The ‘59 Sound Sessions: 10 Year Anniversary Retrospective (2018).
I was rocking’ this CD in the car when I pulled into a parking space. I had to give myself a few minutes to wipe the tears from my eyes before I could enter the store. It is rawer than the original album and it only has nine songs. It also rocks.
Chicago, X (1976).
I don’t even like Chicago. I always skip the first song. My girlfriend wouldn’t stop singing “If You Leave Me Now.” I couldn’t stop listening to “Mama Mama.”
Notable mentions:
Jesse Welles, Middle (2023).
Dio, Lock Up the Wolves (1990).
Obituary, Frozen in Time (2005).
The Jerry Garcia Band, Live at the Warfield Box Set (2025).
Live Shows and happenings:
Black Dots It is a joy I get to see this band as often as I do.
Superchunk in Denver, Colorado.
Englebert Humperdinck in Las Vegas, Nevada.
At 89 years old, I was worried I might not ever get to see The Dinck. However, SoDak lit some fires and made it happen. Dreams do come true. Thank you.
Hanging out and talking with Kieth Morris at The Punk Rock Museum. He was kind, gracious, honest, and generous with his time.
Standing in front of the Joe Strummer exhibit at The Punk Rock Museum and losing my shit. I do not have heroes. All people are human. However, looking at Joe’s beat up guitar, his hand written lyrics to “Comma Girl,” and his petit shirt was too much for me. I was standing alone in the room and tears just poured from my eyes. Joe’s lyrics and creative output had an enormous effect on my emotional, intellectual, political, and social life. He was just a small little man with a hole in his heart, no different than any of us.
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