Jamie Radio Roundup 2025
This summer I finally canceled my Spotify subscription (again) because I’d gotten fed up with it for a few reasons. Obviously, changing platforms meant my listening stats would get affected, and thus my Spotify Wrapped wouldn’t be comprehensive. I was also pretty unimpressed with Wrapped 2024; I felt it didn’t accurately represent my listening habits, and it didn’t have any of the fun stats from previous years (like, “Hey you’ve made 200+ playlists, we’re calling you The Curator” or whatever the fuck [note: I wrote this before Wrapped ‘25 was released, and I did indeed get the Curator title for making a lot of playlists. I am psychic.]). So I wanted to do something I think is more fun for me: wax sentimental about the music that resonated with me in 2025 across platforms.
Jamie’s Top Songs
These choices aren’t based on number of plays, but simply comprise an unordered list of songs that struck me the most this year, or stayed with me the longest. I’ll give a quick blurb about why I like each one.
“go on / hourglass” by A Place For Owls
I decided to pair these two songs together since they really are companion pieces. They’re the perfect sad album opener, inviting the listener to admit to their own distress. I’m also a big fan of “find your friends and hold them close” from this album, but “go on / hourglass” hit me more recently and have me smitten at the moment.
“Cherry Coke” by Silverstein
Found this one because a twitter mutual posted about it. It hit harder the more I listened to it. “So call the doctor, call the cops / I was all right but now I’m not” is a perfectly exasperated plea for some regained sense of control. It’s so simply-put and that’s what makes it genius.
“I Did Not Create the Rules / You’ll Get Nothing and Like It” by Ben Quad
Great pair of songs for feeling really exceptionally bad about yourself, which I did a fair amount of in September. When everything spirals out of control and you feel worthless and ugly, what better phrase to feed that self-loathing than “You were made to throw away”?
“Is It Really You?” by Loathe
A long-time friend sent this one to me and I’ve felt sentimental about it ever since. We’ve been through a lot together and so much has changed. But we still have each other. It’s really us.
“The Deadly Rhythm” by Refused
I know I’m twenty-seven years late to The Shape of Punk to Come but god this shit fucks. I could have gone with “New Noise” for this pick too but I love the drums and double bass too much in this one. It’s a cathartic listen after a long day at work.
“IKYK” by Ogi
A happy song! It’s rare that I can feel so uplifted by a piece of music without eventually getting fatigued by it, but this one still feels right even when things are going wrong. It’s reminiscent of, and readily alludes to, Bill Withers’ “Lean on Me,” which is also an important happy song in my life.
“Speck” by Now, Now
From their fresh EP, a thematic follow-up to Now, Now’s “P0WDER” off of their sophomore album, but much more overtly melancholy in tone. It’s very sad and I like that.
“If Only I Could Wait” by Bon Iver
Despite not being able or willing to fully rank my top songs, this is definitely my number one of 2025. [And now that Spotify Wrapped is out, I know for sure that this was my most played song!] Fresh track from Bon Iver with the classic Vernonesque quality of using instruments in ways I didn’t know were possible. “Can I live inside this state? / Where the summers are charades now” is the lyric that maybe hits hardest for me out of a song full of lyrics that resonate deeply in my heart.
“Yellowstone” by S. Carey
I first had a phase with this song in 2019, but came back to it this year. The guitar feels earthy and nostalgic. It hits just the right chords, literally and figuratively, for my ears and my heart.
“Blistered” by Wig Doubt
“Fuck.”
“You Ominously End” by Arm’s Length
It feels good to yell about the sadness and beauty of living sometimes. It feels defiant. A bit of banjo can help, perhaps contrary to popular belief.
“Without Me” by Rayland Baxter
I’ve known this song for a while, but I cried to it the most this year.
“Oil” by Gorillaz
I liked this song a lot when it came out, but it made me dance more this year on repeated listens. Stevie Nicks is on this one, so I’m a bit biased.
“Worlds” by Sebastian Robertson, Daniel Davies, and The Unresolved
I told myself I would limit choosing songs from Cyberpunk for this list, but I will grant myself this one because it took me till my third playthrough to notice it. I think it can play on the radio at random, but there is another time. I won’t say when it plays, but it’s always at a specific, foreboding moment. I attach a lot of feelings to it because of that.
“5 Million Ways To Kill A C.E.O.” by The Coup
Why do you think????
“River of Darkness” by The Midnight and Timecop1983
I can’t believe I almost forgot about this one, but Wrapped reminded me because it was tied for my fourth most-played song, and I still listen to it regularly. I couldn’t possibly leave it off this list. It would be a great synthwave song on its own, but when that part comes on, you really transcend. I don’t even want to spoil it—it’s best to go in blind. And if while listening you don’t realize what I’m talking about, maybe this song simply is not for you. (Music is for everyone and everyone has a different experience listening, please don’t think I’m being serious here. I’d love to know whatever part sticks out to you!)
Jamie’s Top Albums
SABLE, fABLE by Bon Iver
Bon Iver’s fifth album. To be honest I struggled with this one in a way I didn’t with their previous work, but not because of the quality of the music—as far as I’m concerned Bon Iver sets the standard there. But the mood of the album is pretty disparate from the other albums I’ve selected here, and as I wrestle with dissociation and frustration in my life it’s been hard to relate to Justin’s optimism in this album as much as I’d like to. But in terms of the overall Bon Iver project it’s a perfect album and a natural evolution out of what came before.
how we dig in the earth by A Place For Owls
This album was a good companion to me in the darker months of my year. I am especially fond of the first half, which sets the emotional pace and contains my favorite songs from the album.
Trails by Western Skies Motel
This one is a long-awaited and completely unexpected follow-up LP to one of my favorite albums from 2016, Settlers. As with Settlers, Trails is completely instrumental, and honors the somber western-folk sound of its predecessor while incorporating some synth. Trails feels isolated and completely forlorn, as though you are stranded in the desert. Of course, we are—that’s life. There’s nothing for us out here.
The Shape of Punk to Come by Refused
My number one album of the year by far. I came to it late, but it’s as good and as relevant as ever. It’s shocking to know that this album was so poorly received at first that it led to the band breaking up, because it’s electrifying from beginning to end. It makes me want to go on strike just because. It was so prescient for its time that it still sounds new.
Hundred Acres by S. Carey
One sign of a good album is when you can listen to it on repeat for a while, then do the exact same thing again years later. That means it’s not just nostalgia influencing one’s appreciation. It defined a good portion of my summer of ‘25, so I can’t leave it off the list.
Quality Over Opinion by Louis Cole
Another album I revisited this year. Louis Cole walks a fine line between deeply serious and deeply unserious, which is important for any absurdist art. Life is a joke, and at times it is gravely important to laugh at it.
7 Songs. by The Excellent Man from Minneapolis
A final, late addition to the list. Watching YouTuber Any Austin’s videos led me to look into his music, and I loved what I found. His lyrics are deadpan yet tender and revealing, and some of the songs on this album (there are twice as many as advertised, by the way) really get the blood pumping. Between him and Louis Cole, late November was a great moment for funky white boys in my rotation.
nothing by Louis Cole
Okay, here is my real, actual final addition to the list as I edit the piece for posting. I got into it the first week of December. This album is incredible. It’s just Cole flexing his musical prowess with a full orchestral accompaniment. “Things Will Fall Apart” is catchy as fuck, and you could put it among my top songs just for how long it was stuck in my head the week I heard it. And putting a ten-minute dirge called “Doesn’t Matter” after an orchestra version of the life-affirming “Let It Happen” is a stroke of genius for Cole’s absurdist evangelizing. This album fucks.
Jamie’s Top Artists
Refused
Bon Iver
Ben Quad
A Place For Owls
The Excellent Man from Minneapolis
Louis Cole
Roundup
I think that about covers it for this year. As a final reflection, I think it’s worth talking about my experience on a different music streaming service and my thoughts about music streaming going forward.
When I unsubscribed from Spotify, I switched to TIDAL on the firm recommendation of a friend, and while audio quality-wise I can’t complain, it still leaves a lot to be desired, especially in terms of responsiveness in my opinion—it’s weirdly sluggish and doesn’t have long playlists stored in the cache, so they have to load in every time you scroll down them again. It’s also fairly expensive compared to other services, and while I appreciate that more of my money will go to artists than if I pay for a different platform, it’s not the best service for the music lover on a budget. This reflection is by no means comprehensive of my critiques of TIDAL, because I’d rather focus on the more important point: I’ve gotten pretty tired of streaming in general. They are billion-dollar corporations that think so little about the user-end experience so as to be less functional and responsive in some ways than decades-old programs. And no one is asking for the fucking AI shit! So, my final goal is to get to a point where I go back to downloading music (through whatever means necessary) or buying it directly from the artist, whether as physical media or digital downloads (maybe I will use Bandcamp more often?), and distributing it to those in want. I’ve been a big proponent of accessible music ever since I was in middle school and downloading music from YouTube; and where streaming services simplified that accessibility for a while, they’ve become increasingly cumbersome and antagonistic towards their users—or at least enough so for me, personally, to be bothered by it. And, more importantly, I’m unwilling to continue making moral compromises for these companies. If they are going to spend my money in ways I believe to be unethical (looking at you, Spotify CEO), personally I reach a point where I can’t continue to concede to them. To be clear, I’m not here to pontificate about why you should do the same—that’s for you to weigh and decide. I do what I can in a way that works for me. I only want to posit here a future where music is accessible to all, and artists are properly compensated; and to that end, hopefully someday I can ditch the streaming services altogether.
Cheers,
Jamie Barne
Jamie Radio Roundup 2025 Playlist