Musicwhore.org Music and memory

Tiffany Poon, Nature

Tiffany Poon takes a geographical turn focusing on French composers for her second album, Nature. The care she brought to Diaries Schumann shows up here as well.

Hooverphonic, The Magnificent Tree

For the longest time, I thought the only thing I needed from Hooverphonic was their cover of “Shake the Disease” on the tribute album For the Masses. I was wrong.

Miguel, CAOS

The title of this album is an apt description for the songs therein, but they don’t get too out of hand to lose focus.

Rosalía, LUX

The orchestrations on this album are phenomenal, but I think Rosalía could study Shiina Ringo’s Karuki Zaamen Kuri no Hana for a lesson on how to keep ambitions in check. This album would be more impactful with a short running time.

Black Country, New Road, Forever Howlong
Geese, Getting Killed
National of Language, Dance Called Memory

I’ll admit I had to do some fourth quarter catch-up on these albums, so they’re indelibly tied in mind due to context-switching. In the case of Forever Howlong and Getting Killed, these albums flex ambition that wouldn’t sound out of place next to a Shiina Ringo or Naked City album, just a bit tempered. Dance Called Memory, meanwhile, evokes an age familiar to anyone who grew up in the Reagan years.

As much as I liked these albums, I didn’t discover them early enough in the year to dislodge the favorites I’ve already ranked. I was also listening to Dijon’s Baby, which did manage to break into the year-end list. Getting Killed garnered a lot of acclaim, but I perceive it as a less-fun version of Parquet Court’s Wide Awake!

Tortoise, Touch

I bet this album might have also ranked higher on the Favorite Edition 2025 list if it had just come out slightly earlier in the year.

Additional picks listed in the Favorite Edition 2025 Catalog list:

• Bruce Springsteen, Nebraska ’82
• Kaji Meiko, Yadokari

Tags: black country new road, bruce springsteen, geese, hooverphonic, miguel, nation of language, picks, purchase log, rosalia, tiffany poon, tortoise