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.

20 Favorite Songs of 2021 that Didn't Come Out in 2021

I say this every year, but i discovered so much music this year that may not be new to the masses out there, but was new to me.  Awesome tracks ranging from everything from '60s Japanese pop, jazz-infused soul, library music, and Italo disco to folky soft rock, shoegaze, goth, and Brazilian psych filled my ears this year.  The sounds came from all over the world.  The songs came from every era spanning the last 60 years.  I've assembled my favorite 20 old songs of the year into something resembling a playlist below.  Check them out.

1. Romi Yamada - Tabako no Kemuri

2. Vittorio Paltrinieri - Mist and Smoke

3. Terry Callier - Dancing Girl

4. Brute Force and His Drum - Weird and Wonderful

5. Achab - White Summer Lights

6. Autumn Dust - Spend Another Day

7. Bob Mould - Black Sheets of Rain

I'm actually a little embarrassed it took me this long to check this one out.  I've been familiar with Mould's work in Husker Du and Sugar for a long time, but never really sought out his solo work.  I'm remedying that now.

8. Ozean - Scenic

9. Carola Baer - Nothing Left to Say

10. Lycia - Ionia

11. Falcons - Perdido en el Universo

12. The Electric Connection - Groovy

13. Andromeda - Andromeda

14. Claudio Natili - Il Miele del Diavolo

This one is from Lucio Fulci's film "The Devil's Honey," and is actually a cover of Franck Pourcel's "Morir de Amor," but done in a soft rock/yacht rock vein with plenty of sax...sax that does things in the movie that you may or may not be prepared for.

15. Mouth & MacNeal - Land of Milk and Honey

16. Moon Birds - Baby Moon

17. The Charlottes - Love in the Emptiness

18. Francois Bernheim - Tom

19. Mary Saxton - Is It Better to Live or Die

20. Milton Nascimento & Lo Borges - The entirety of Clube Da Esquina

Cheating here just a little bit as i couldn't force myself to pick just one song off of this 1972 masterpiece.  If this were a new album, it would be my favorite of the year.  Check the whole thing out (all 21 tracks) below.

Be back tomorrow for a whole bunch of movies i saw for the first time that didn't come out this year either.

100 Favorite Songs of 2021

This list could just go on and on, but to keep things relatively brief, here are my 100 favorite songs in no kind of order from 2021, a year that was hard for all of us.  Check 'em out!

1. Squid - Narrator

2. Xiu Xiu and Chelsea Wolfe - One Hundred Years

3. Viagra Boys - In Spite of Ourselves

4. Molly Burch - Emotion

5. Poison Ruin - Carrion

6. Bobby Lee - Fire Medicine Man

7. Small Black - Duplex

8. Fawning - All I Have

9. Tomahawk - Sidewinder

10. Nightshift - Make Kin

11. Writhing Squares - Rogue Moon

12. Boyhood - Don't You Dare

13. Divide & Dissolve - Oblique

14. Nun Gun - On Neurath's Boat

15. Hooveriii - Control

16. Nana Yamato - Under the Cherry Moon

17. The Pink Noise - Out of Step

18. Anika Pyle - Emerald City

19. Andrew W.K. - Babalon

20. Stomp Talk Modstone - Linger

21. Beachy Head - Destroy Us

22. Bloodslide - Pica

23. Yoo Doo Right - Don't Think You Can Escape Your Purpose

24. Adrian Younge - Light on the Horizon

25. Rudimentary Peni - Anthem for Doomed Youth

26. Perturbator - Lustful Sacraments

27. Foam and Sand - Circle 11

28. Krallice - Resistant Strains

29. THROTH - Dead Eyes

30. Whitney K. - Maryland

31. Iceage - Vendetta

32. Lost Girls - Menneskekollektivet

33. 36 & Awakened Souls - Guide Me Home (Shoegaze Version)

34. Clouds Taste Satanic - Sleeping on the Roof

35. Tele Novella - Crystal Witch

36. Kele - Smalltown Boy

37. SPC ECO - All I See

38. Damon Albarn - Darkness to Light

39. Calvin Love - Sailin' On

40. Electric Youth and Pilotpriest - Modern Fears

41. Bobby Gillespie and Jehnny Beth - Remember We Were Lovers

42. Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen - Like I Used To

43. Exum - Dark Kept Secret

44. Renee Reed - I Saw a Ghost

45. Lovelorn - Sickness Reward

46. Khruangbin - Right

47. Charles - Remember Blushing

48. Liars - Sekwar

49. Kataan - Abyss

50. Pictureplane - Avalanche

51. The Gabbard Brothers - Sell Your Gun, Buy a Guitar

52. Ivan the Tolerable - Gold Hat

53. The Body and Big/Brave - Oh Sinner

54. HEALTH and Nine Inch Nails - Isn't Everyone

55. Flying Lotus and Thundercat - Black Gold

56. Mdou Moctar - Afrique Victime

57. The Lost Days - In the Fade

58. Amigo the Devil - Small Stone

59. Whatitdo Archive Group - La Pietra

60. Conway the Machine and Big Ghost LTD - Kill All Rats

61. Soup - Burning Bridges

62. Failure - Headstand

63. EggS - Old Fashioned Virtue

64. Noveller - Laura Palmer's Theme

65. The Diasonics - Gurami

66. Holy Hive - Deadly Valentine

67. Cindy - To Be True

68. Flowertown - Time Trials

69. Mega Bog - Maybe You Died

70. BADBADNOTGOOD - Signal from the Noise

71. Ty Segall - Whisper

72. Cass McCombs and Karen Black - I Wish I Knew the Man I Thought You Were

73. Parquet Courts - Walking at at Downtown Pace

74. Jarvis Cocker - Aline

75. Aeon Station - Leaves

76. Converge and Chelsea Wolfe - Blood Moon

77. Nothing - La La Mean I Love You

78. Julia Shapiro - Death (XIII)

79. Sugar Horse - Dadcore World Cup

80. IDLES - The Beachland Ballroom

81. Curses featuring CICI - Gina Lollobrigida

82. Pink Milk - Terminator 2 Theme

83. Men I Trust - Before Dawn

84. Maria Davidson - Persona

85. Psychic Mirrors - You Remind Me

86. Leonie Pernet - Mon Amour Tu Bois Trop

87. S Y Z Y G Y X - Light You on Fire

88. Daniel O'Sullivan - Perpetual Ascension

89. Natural Yogurt Band - 57 Lashes of the Mallet

90. Mouth Painter - Tropicale Moon

91. Herbal Tea - Front Seat Painting

92. Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and The London Symphonic Orchestra - Movement 6

93. White Ring - Light Hours Linger

94. Badwan/Coxon - Boiling Point

95. Supreme Joy - Julie

96. Wolves in the Throne Room - Masters of Rain and Storm

97. Grouper - Kelso (Blue Sky)

98. Zetra - Care

99. Cory Hanson - Paper Fog

100. Magdalena Bay - Chaeri

That's what i've got.  I really thought about including Fucked Up's "Year of the Horse," but as it takes up the duration of a double LP, maybe it's an album instead.  Who can say?  Anyway, check these out and know that i left plenty of great stuff off of there.  And like every other year, i'm sure i'll hear something new in the next couple of weeks that should also be on this list.

Be back tomorrow for a bunch of older songs i just heard for the first time this year.

And now...My Favorite Songs of 2020 That Didn't Come Out in 2020

Every year i inevitably come across a bunch of old songs that are new to me that get just as much listening time as all the new stuff that comes out.  This year was a little different as i didn't get to do much crate digging (which is where i sometimes find pure gold), and had to rely on YouTube excavations, random listens, and one film score from a bonkers '80s movie starring Tawney Kitaen that i'm totally obsessed with now.  Here's 10 songs from the last few decades currently in the regular rotation.

1. Pierre Bachelet - "A Pikao"

2. Mariangela - "Alone with the Day"

3. Diastereomer - "Place"

4. Magnetic System - "Escape"

5. Carol Rich - "Computered Love"

6. Satya Sai Maitreya Kali - "Ice and Snow"

7. Ann Boleyn - "Illya"

WiredForSound · Ann Boleyn - Illya (Mammoth 445-A)

8. Piero Umiliani - "Nostalgia"

9. Rowland S. Howard - "Dead Radio"

10. The Love Children - "Where Is All the Love"

Here's to discovering old sounds.  Be back tomorrow for some cool 2020 album cover art.

And now...My Favorite Songs of 2020

Here's 100 songs i bugged my wife and kids with all year.  It's hard to pick an absolute favorite as that varies from day to day, hour to hour, but i love them all.  Check 'em out.

1. Zeal & Ardor - Vigil

2. Jack Name - I Came to Tell You in Plain English

3. Special Interest - All Tomorrow's Carry

4. Orion - Higher

5. Record Setter - An Impression

6. Sea Oleena - Lost Song

7. Sadness - Capturing

8. VOWWS - Stay Where You Are

9. The Black Lips - Rumbler

10. The Paranoyds - Pet Cemetery

11. White Flowers - Katy Song

12. Salem - Starfall

13. Benny Yurco - Moss Roads

14. Big Blood - Ave Mariea

15. First - Restless

16. Small Black - Tampa

17. STAR - Last Star

18. Offermose - Korrupt Tradition

19. Tony Jay - Castle of Dreams

20. Art D'Ecco - I'll Never Give You Up.

21. Washed Out - Time to Walk Away

22. Wolf Parade - Against the Day

23. Laurel Halo - Hyphae

24. Local H - Turn the Bow

25. Bambara - Miracle

26. BOYO - Backseat Driver

27. Winter - Say

28. Cindy Cane - Be My Nightmare

29. King Dude - Full Virgo Moon

30. Porridge Radio - Don't Ask Me Twice

31. Big Cheese - Heartbreak Ball

32. Danzig - You Were Always on My Mind

33. Monophonics - Chances

34. Hallows - Subtle

35. The Cowboys - The Beige Collection

36. Sven Wunder - Magnolia

37. Tan Cologne - Cave Vaults on the Moon in New Mexico

38. Kompromat - Niemand

39. Alex Rex - Funeral Music for Alex Rex

40. Clouds Taste Satanic - Funeral for a Friend

41. Marissa Nadler - Nothing Else Matters

42. Infant Island - Content

43. Chromatics - Toy

44. Banshee - Livin' in the Jungle

45. Rose McGowan - Green Gold

46. Trees Speak - Shadow Circuit

47. Paint - Ta Fardah

48. Powerplant - A Spine

49. Circles Around the Sun - Babyman

50. Khruangbin - Time (You and I)

51. Angel Bat Dawid - Transition East

52. Spectres - EVOL

53. Mrs. Piss - Knelt

54. Archers of Loaf - Street Fightin' Man

55. Ela Minus - They Told Us It Was Hard, But They Were Wrong

56. Nick Sadler & Tobias Grave - Autoluminescent

57. Unrighteous Brothers - Unchained Melody

58. Sault - Strong

59. Run The Jewels - Walking in the Snow

60. Clipping - Say the Name

61. Annie - American Cars

62. Kelly Lee Owens - On

63. Donny Benet - Mr. Experience

64. Flesh of Morning - Death Becomes Bitter

65. Jaga Jazzist - Spiral Era

66. Sungaze - Amarillo

67. WOW - Falene

68. Zetra - Beyond Death

69. Death Valley Girls - The Universe

70. Ora Cogan - Sleeping

71. Frank Ene - I've Studied You

72. Conway The Machine & The Alchemist - The Contract

73. Vile Creatures - Apathy Took Helm!

74. Privacy Issues - Privacy Issues

75. The Flaming Lips - Flowers of Neptune

76. Mothermary - Give It Up

77. New War - Bang On

78. Becky & The Birds - Do U Miss Me

79. Nick Hakim - Qadir

80. Fiona Apple - Cosmonauts

81. Angel Olsen - All Mirrors (Johnny Jewel Remix)

82. Gorillaz w/ Peter Hook & Georgia - Aries

83. Klack - Distancing

84. Oranssi Pazuzu - Uusi Teknokratia

85. Discovery Zone - Blissful Morning Dream Interpretation Melody

86. Chelsea Wolfe & The Dillinger Escape Plan & Mutoid Man - Crazy Train

87. Young Ejecta - Canyon Cactus

88. Hum - Waves

89. The Rentals - Shake Your Diamonds

90. Brigid Dawson & The Mothers Network - Is The Season for New Incarnations

91. Cut Worms - Unnatural Disaster

92. Marie Davidson - Renegade Breakdown

93. Emma Ruth Rundle & Thou - Killing Floor

94. Nothing - In Blueberry Memories

95. MJ Guider - Quiet Time

96. Rupert Lally - The Indian Burial Ground (Pet Sematary, 1983)

97. Kairon; IRSE! - White Flies

98. Ana Roxanne - Suite Pour L'invisible

99. Cindy Lee - Just for Loving You I Pay the Price

100. I Break Horses - Turn

There ya go.  Be back tomorrow for 10 more songs that i loved this year that didn't come out this year.  Golden oldies and what not.

Favorite Non-2019 Songs of 2019

Every year, aside from all of the new music that collides with my ears, i come across probably hundreds of old songs that blow my mind too.  2019 was no different.  This time around, i discovered a Japanese folk and new wave singer (who appears on this list twice) that i've now made it my life's mission to find and collect her entire discography.  I got into some yacht rock, some soul, some old folk, some library music, and Indonesian psych pop, and an '80s pop hit i hadn't thought about in years.  Check them all out below.

 Doji Morita - Horizon

 

Jim Sullivan - Jerome

The Blackbyrds - Dreaming About You

Undisputed Truth - Down by the River

George Atwell - Meat Grinder

Prambors Band - Wajah Wajah

Bill Fay - Screams in the Ears

Alessi - Do You Feel It?

Limahl - Never Ending Story

Doji Morita - Wolf Boy




And we'll be back tomorrow with some 2019 album art.