Looks like an icy minimal record produced by Cate Le Bon is going to be in my winter rotation for a second consecutive year.

Looking at Jerry's guitars like

This format is such a good idea and I know shamefully little about Lucinda's catalog, so I'm quite excited to play along.

My son's School of Rock class is doing The Wall this session and I'm very curious how they will handle certain...aspects.

Is this a Geese jam?

Starting the year with a 30-minute Tweezer like

Here's my list as it stands on the last day of 2025. Great year for Chicago bands!

my annual year-end mix, 103 mp3s i've known & loved, 7 hours of music ready for shuffling & affronting darkness. drive.google.com/file/d/1GyQz...

Happy to announce a new project for 2026: Catalog Club. It's like a book club but with albums. Every month, I'll pick an artist and over 4 weeks talk about 4 of their albums. It starts Jan 6. Read here to learn more and find out the artists for Jan and Feb tinyurl.com/3ks5c3jh

...With

My only Avatar take is that it’s a bummer Edie Falco doesn’t drink any coffee in the new one.

Keepchange You! Filthy Animal

"I find that LLMs produce sentences that are smooth, glib, poreless, smiling, somewhat like a beluga whale. But every busted sentence written by a human is busted in its own way. Each of these sentences is unwittingly an act of resistance against the onrushing techno-homogenization of language."

The Olympics are still like six weeks away, why have they already taken Rebecca Lowe from us?

Nice pairing from the “S” section.

"Within days, Claudius had given away nearly all its inventory for free—including a PlayStation 5 it had been talked into buying for “marketing purposes.” It ordered a live fish. It offered to buy stun guns, pepper spray, cigarettes and underwear. Profits collapsed. Newsroom morale soared."

One from the "missed it but now clicking hard" pile: the Alan Sparhawk/Trampled By Turtles record. Also reminds me that Hey What and Double Negative were two of the best records of the century.

Thank you @longrally.bsky.social for landing on the SML descriptor my brain has been struggling to find: "gorp jazz"

the time has come: Hear Hear’s List of Lists is here! 🎶 my annual guide through the year in music, pulling from my favorite tastemakers & critics to spotlight the albums & songs you shouldn’t miss. this one is a labor of love — share it with anyone you know who loves music discovery!

Yo La Tengo | Big Crime (Neil Young) - Bowery Ballroom, NYC 12/14/2025 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL0DUlADG4U

There's over 600 albums on here now, and you're not allowed to say "this was a bad year for music" until you've listened to all of them. That's the rule.

Did a big update to the Album of the Year spreadsheet now that list season is slowing down. The sleepers tab is also now live, but it produced some amusing results this year.

Maybe this is a Trash Tuesday take, but the songs in the Muppet Christmas Carol stink. Paul Williams flop era.

An hour's worth of SML searching for the magic of the moment in Brooklyn earlier this year.

Taubmans

I wanted to ask for the WYWH box with the LA Sports Arena show for Christmas, but I can't figure out which version has it? Maybe none of them? Good work, everybody.

Best show I saw this year was the last.

And Trey, sources tell me.

For @theringer.com.web.brid.gy I was pleased to be given a lot of (too much?) space to write about Bob Dylan's ongoing ROUGH & ROWDY WAYS tour, the strangest, most singular, and most predictable/unpredictable musical experience of the decade. www.theringer.com/2025/12/12/m...

The fact that you can't see Dylan even from the good seats makes buying tickets way less stressful. Obstructed view? Who cares?

C H I C A G O ! ! ! .. get your tickets TODAY: tinyurl.com/e9m7a923

Some year-end lists congratulate you for having liked all the right things this year. The list @aquariumdrunkard.com buries you alive like an avalanche.

Bob Dylan spring tour dates dropping! Midwest and Southeast mostly www.bobdylan.com/on-tour/

"note: microphone is overloaded - average sound quality"

How can leaders make ethical decisions in situations where both sides are "right"? Wrote about it for @kellogginsight.bsky.social, based on insights from Brooke Vuckovic insight.kellogg.northwestern.edu/article/3-ti...

Soccer: the sport known for touching the ball with your hand.

Up to 13 lists on the Album of the Year spreadsheet, please use it to inform your Bandcamp Friday purchases:

40 years ago today, the Chicago Bears Shufflin' Crew recorded an unplanned track-by-track cover album of Rubber Soul, as part of the rehearsal and recording sessions for the Super Bowl Shuffle.

Instead of Spotify Wrapped I recommend just starting a spreadsheet and keeping track of everything you've listened to all year. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Not caught up yet, but started the AOTY 2025 spreadsheet last night. You won't be surprised by the early leader. docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

*Robert Pollard voice* HOT PRIESTS! HAAAAAAHT PRIESTS! HOT. PRIESTS.

Glad I don't have to do year-end lists on publication deadlines any more because Sharp Pins' Balloon Balloon Balloon just cannonballed into my top tier.

if Homer had just looked one ad down, he could have seen the Dead at the Capital City Stadium

If you haven't heard this yet, make the time.

Finally they invented a way to enjoy the Smashing Pumpkins without Billy Corgan (mostly).

That’s a Beatle.

As excited to see Paul McCartney tonight as I am repulsed by him calling his tour "Got Back."

It feels better to wonder if GEESE are important than to know it wapo.st/3XdmAsc

Of course the Jokerman himself has the Jokermen mindset.

Letting my perseverance flow with Natural Information Society.