Hey! You! It's My Favorite 10 Movies of 2025

Well, i've seen all i can see before the clock strikes midnight tonight.  It's time to pick my favorite movies of the year.  There's a lot of excellent stuff out there.  Here's what i got: a gnarly Australian horror film, a bleak neo-western from Ari Aster about the awful state of humanity, a horror master's take on an all time classic, an earnest tale about life, death, and the universe, a dystopian yarn, an over-the-top horror comedy, a Thomas Pynchon adaptation, a vampire story that's about so very much more than vampires, a stomach-churning, body-horror take on a fairytale, and a horror flick about missing children.  None of these blurbs of mine really, truly describe how excellent these movies are...you'll just have to see them for yourself.  Check 'em out.

1. Bring Her Back

2. Eddington

3. Frankenstein

4. The Life of Chuck

5. The Long Walk

6. The Monkey

7. One Battle After Another

8. Sinners

9. The Ugly Stepsister

10. Weapons

Here's to a new year of movies.

Nyron Higor

Here's one i missed out on from way earlier this year.  Brazilian artist Nyron Higor fuses jazz and bossa nova into just about the hippest, smoothest thing you've ever heard on "Ciranda," the opening track of this year's self-titled release.  Check it out below and get the record here from Far Out Recordings.

Go Kurosawa

Japanese psych band Kikagaku Moyo called it quits a couple of years ago, but this year saw the first solo release from the band's drummer Go Kurosawa.  Dig on the slinky, groovy, impeccably cool kosmische sounds of "Autowalk" below and get the "Soft Shakes" LP here from Guruguru Brain.

Footings

Catching up on some more music from earlier this year.  New Hampshire artist Footings plays a kind of bluesy, folky, slightly grungey style of alt-rock.  August's "The Worm Moon" is a dusty, earthy collection of songs that feel almost timeless.  Check out "Reverie" below and get the album here.

Daily Jam - Only Happy When It Rains

Here's the energy i'm walking into 2026 with courtesy of Shirley Manson and Garbage.  Listen to "Only Happy When It Rains" below, our Daily Jam...and Happy New Year.

Mod Lang

Let's end 2025 with some power pop from the appropriately named, Big Star-inspired Detroit band Mod Lang and their debut 7" release "TV Star" b/w "3+1."  Dig on the excellent A-side below and get the record here from Just Add Water Records.

Daily Jam - Got My Sunshine

I will always be a sucker for Slowdive, but during their break up years, a few members of the band made mellow indie folk as Mojave 3.  And that stuff was pretty cool too.  So here's a number from the band's third album "Excuses for Travellers."  Listen to "Got My Sunshine" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Roscoe

It's hard to believe this year is almost done.  It has very much flown by, both the good parts and bad.  Ponder on that with a classic from Denton, Texas indie band Midlake.  Listen to "Roscoe" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Love Yer Brain

I understand that Steven Drozd recently left The Flaming Lips.  With Michael Ivins having departed a couple years back, that leaves Wayne Coyne as the sole remaining original member.  I get the feeling that he may not be the most fun person to work with.  Anyway, here's a track from the band from happier times.  Listen to "Love Yer Brain" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Bitter-Sweet

Back in the '90s for the "Velvet Goldmine" soundtrack, the filmmakers put together a supergroup called The Venus in Furs consisting of Radiohead's Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood, Suede's Bernard Butler, Grant Lee Buffalo's Paul Kimble, and Roxy Music's Andy Mackay.  Here they are covering Roxy Music's "Bitter-Sweet."  Listen below, our Daily Jam.

SUICIDEWAVE

Here's some dark, brooding, and haunting electronic music from an artist called SUICIDEWAVE.  Listen to "Mistake" below and download the "Something" EP here from Untitled Burial.

Friday Horror Trailer - Wrong Turn 2: Dead End

Daily Jam - Ramona

It's my wife's birthday today, so here's a love song by Beck.  Listen to "Ramona" below, our Daily Jam.

Daily Jam - Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)

Merry Christmas everybody!  Do something good today.  Here's the Vince Guaraldi Trio with some holiday music.  Listen to "Christmas Time Is Here (Instrumental)" below, our Daily Jam.

Romance

Fresh off one of my favorite releases of the year, London artist and producer Romance dropped a new seasonal tune today for our Christmastime listening.  Check out the beautiful, melancholy ambience of "All I Want for Christmas Is You" below, and think of snow falling.  And download it here from ECSTATIC.

Daily Jam - Gone the Dream

Irish alt-rock band Ash's 1996 album "1977" is one of those records that always transports me back in time to when i listened to it as a teenager.  Listening now and i'm a senior in high school again with all the ups and downs and good and bad that that entails.  Here they are with "Gone the Dream," our Daily Jam.

Still

St. Louis shoegaze band Still dropped a new single today.  Merry Christmas everybody!  Check out the noisy and dreamy "Disarray" below and download the track here from Sunday Drive Records.

Daily Jam - Your Silent Face

I really need to start wrapping presents today.  Here's some New Order.  Listen to "Your Silent Face," our Daily Jam.

Dimples'

Here's some more music i missed out on from earlier in the year, this time around with some mellow, hazy, druggy psych pop from Dimples'.  Slow everything down just a little bit with "Pluto Return" below and download the band's "Obscure Residue" album here from Laughable Recordings.

Daily Jam - Life's What You Make It

Yesterday i posted a track from Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man, AKA Talk Talk's Paul Webb.  Well, speaking of Talk Talk, here they are with a track from their 1986 album "The Colour or Spring."  This is the album when they started to set a little weird and the segue into their arty post rock period.  Listen to "Life's What You Make It" below, our Daily Jam.

Düül Suns

Here's some groovy new psychedelia from New York band Düül Suns.  Dig on the far-out sounds of "Jealousy" below and snag the self-titled EP here.

Daily Jam - Funny Time of Year

Winter officially starts now, but we've got nothing but 70-80 degree days ahead of us here in the greater Austin area...which i think sucks.  So here's to listening to some music to put me in an appropriately chilly mood.  Here's Beth Gibbons (Portishead) and Rustin Man (Talk Talk's Paul Webb) with "Funny Time of Year," our Daily Jam.

Bono / Burattini

Experimental Italian duo Bono / Burattini have a new album coming our way in March of next year.  Pre-order the upcoming "Ora Sono un Lago" LP here from Maple Death Records and listen to the analog electronic sounds of the title track below.

Daily Jam - The Nurse Who Loved Me

Doing my normal Saturday thing where we clean the shit out of the house while watching college football.  And listening to, what in my personal opinion, is one of the greatest albums of all time, Failure's "Fantastic Planet."  Listen to "The Nurse Who Loved Me" below, our Daily Jam.

Hey! You! It's My Favorite 10 Movies of 2025 that Didn't Come Out in 2025

And now it's time for my quick annual recap of one of my favorite things to do: discover old movies i've never seen before.  My time being what it is, work and family and such, i didn't get to experience quite as many first-time viewings this year as i would have liked, but what i did get to see was wild.  These are my 10 favorites: a Japanese ghost story, a Dirty Dozen aping  Hong Kong action flick, an Australian thriller/adventure with kids in peril, a bizarre "documentary" about witchcraft that plays kind of like an educational film, a trashy John Waters classic i finally got around to seeing, a Peter Bogdanovich character study featuring Ben Gazzara as a man of integrity who also happens to be an expat pimp, a bonkers erotic thriller/sex comedy hybrid, a total fucking fever dream directed by none other than Norman Mailer, Nicolas Roeg's stunning second film, and an insane and exploitative martial arts flick with two, count 'em, two extended, completely nude fight scenes.  Yeah, it was a wild year of movies.  Check out my list below.

1. Bakeneko: A Vengeful Spirit (1968)

2. Eastern Condors (1987)

3. Fortress (1985)

4. Legend of the Witches (1970)

Couldn't find a trailer for this one.

5. Polyester (1981)

6. Saint Jack (1979)

7. They're Playing with Fire (1984)

8. Tough Guys Don't Dance (1987)

9. Walkabout (1971)

10. Women on the Run (1993)

I'll be back again on New Year's Eve with one more list for 2025, my favorite new movies.

Friday Ho-Ho-Horror Trailer - Black Christmas

Daily Jam - Your Hidden Dreams

One of the perks of my job is that i can take off a full two weeks at Christmas.  It's awesome.  Take advantage of any and every perk your job might offer you.  Well, those two weeks begin later this afternoon.  To celebrate, here's one of my favorite musical genres: weird electronic psychedelia from the '60s.  Listen to "Your Hidden Dreams" by UK group White Noise below, our Daily Jam.

Hey! You! It's My 10 Favorite Songs of 2025 That Didn't Come Out in 2025

Every year i discover a bunch of old songs i've never heard before that get just as much play (if not sometimes more) than all the new stuff i hear too.  This year, i've narrowed it down to my 10 favorites: a mix of prog, jazz, and neo-classical music from a French composer, some Japanese new wave, a solo effort from the guitarist of The Church, an early lo-fi, alter-ego project from a now famous Austin alt-rock musician, Swedish '90s emo, unearthed solo music from the former guitarist to Siouxsie and The Banshees, early '90s garage punk from Austin, Texas, yearning lo-fi instrumental pop from a late, great artist who never got her due, dark Japanese new age, and some Marc Bolan-produced glam and soul.  Check 'em out.

1. William Sheller - "Introit"

2. D'f - "Something in the Air (12" Mix)"

3. Marty Willson-Piper - "Lantern"

4. Drake Tungsten (Britt Daniel of Spoon) - "He Was Soon To Undergo An Experience For Which His Long Training As An Aristocrat, A Gentleman, And An Officer Had Scarcely Prepared Him"

5. Far Apart - Hazel

6. John McKay - "Flare"

7. The Satans - "Ain't Gotta Choose"

8. Q Lazzarus - "Home"

9. Shiho Yabuki - "Samadhi"

10. Gloria Jones - "Sailors of the Highway"

Make sure to put all of these on your next mix-tape or playlist, and come back once again tomorrow for my favorite first-time movie watches of 2025.