Tape Op Staff Picks 2025

Larry Crane, editor/founder

Emily A. Sprague
Cloud Time
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My partner at Tape Op, John Baccigaluppi, turned me onto Emily A. Sprague's music and he interviewed her for Tape Op #171. Late night/early morning looping dreamscapes with so many cool bits and textures. If you like Brian Eno [#85] at his spaciest or Steve Roach [#161], you'll love her work.

Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno
Luminal, Lateral, Liminal
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A set of three albums with Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno [Tape Op #85] that verge on the barely there ambient of Lateral to floaty songs on the others. I feel like every listen I get closer yet something slips further away. Fascinating.

Ken Boothe & Jah Wobble
Old Fashioned Ways
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Like his collab with the venerable Horace Andy, Jah Wobble (one of my fave bassists) casts a classic reggae vocalist in a new-yet-old light. Ken hadn't released an album in ages, and this is an awesome listen! Produced by Wobble and Jon Klein (also on guitar).

Margo Price
Hard Headed Woman
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Read her book, Maybe We'll Make It: A Memoir, and tell me the music biz isn't gross. Luckily, Margo Price knows that surrounding herself and her music with the right people matters. Our super pal, Matt Ross-Spang [Tape Op #117], is back producing, at RCA Studio A in Nashville, and the record is damn perfect. Kim Rosen [#108] spotlessly mastered it.

Tortoise
Touch
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Their eighth record over 35 years. Tortoise is one of those sneaky groups that could exist for 100 years or so, reconvening as they wish and popping out studio sculptures of amazing beauty. John McEntire [Tape Op #23] lives back in Portland, OR, these days, and we hang out a lot. Tracked at the late Steve Albini's Electrical Audio [#10, #87], Flora Recording & Playback (w/ Tucker Martine [#29]), Pierre de Reeder's 64 Sound in L.A. [#109], and mixed (and heavily edited!) at John's Soma Electronic Music Studios. Mastered by Dave Cooley at Elysian Masters.

Steven Wilson
The Overview
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Saddled with a "prog rock icon" status, Steven Wilson [Tape Op #143] sometimes pushes back, declaring his love for ABBA, ELO, electronica, and more. I've even seen his own crowd boo at him when he played a poppier song! Unreal. But The Overview is pure prog rock. Each LP side is a song, tells a story, and Andy Partridge of XTC [#19] even wrote a section for side 1's "Objects Outlive Us." Amazing album and prob my most listened thing in 2025.

The Chills
Springboard: The Early Unrecorded Songs
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When I interviewed the main Chill, Martin Phillipps in 1997 for Tape Op #4, he was on what seemed like a comeback. It sorta didn't play out, and other "hobbies" back in New Zealand might have derailed him for a bit, but more recent albums and tours were such high quality pop/rock music. Before he passed, Martin went back and dug up early '80s demos of The Chills' songs and re-recorded them for this release. It's likely been said elsewhere, but I feel he never wrote a bad song. May he rest in peace.

Cymande
Renascence
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Steve Scipio's bass playing alone would make this a great album. Check out the doc, Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande, to understand the tale of a groovin' UK band from the '70s that returned last year. I went to a live show and it was stellar. This record will make you dance and smile.

The Replacements
Let it Be (Deluxe Edition)
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A template from 1984 for the idea that an underground band could write dumb, sensitive, sad, and highly-observational songs of the highest caliber, yet then play shows completely outta their heads. My band opened for them in 1985 and even stupidly covered one of these songs. The band was "sick," or so they said. This box set has outtakes and a rough-sounding-but-fun live show. Remastering by Justin Perkins at Mystery Room is thoughtful and appropriate. One of my fave albums ever.

The Beatles
Anthology 4
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I don't care what you think, The Beatles still captivate me and a release full of what some might call "floor scrapings" is still listenable. Track separation technology has given Giles Martin [Tape Op #103] some tools to clear up and remix many of the older tracks, and it's an informative listen for sure. New Jeff Lynne [#92] mixes of "Free as a Bird" and "Real Love" are a treat as well.

John Baccigaluppi, publisher

2025 was a great year for new music. Once again, I’m having a hard time keeping this to ten releases, so here’s a baker’s dozen and another ten as close runner ups. I’m encouraged to see the return of extremely ambitious albums like Rosalía’s LUX and Turnstile’s Never Enough, along with more personal records from artists like Emily A. Sprague and Claire M. Singer. Rarely do I get through a week without putting music on from Claire and Emily early in the morning. It’s also nice to see established artists like Bon Iver, Modern Nature, and The Weather Station still making vital and relevant music, alongside exciting new music from newer artists like Nona Invie, Yeemz, and Lizzy Dutton. I think enough has been written about Geese at this point , but if you have not heard Getting Killed, it’s worth checking out. (We’ve covered a few of these albums previously in Tape Op, so click through the links if you want to read more.) I had a really hard time deciding which record to put as #1 here, and finally settled on Turnstile, as their sold out show at the Bill Grahm Civic was a near transcendent experience. It’s also great to see the return of live music. I’ve also heard a few advance LPs from 2026 and I’m looking forward to what next year brings us musically, and I hope it’s good year for all our Tape Op readers and family.
-JB

1. Turnstile - Never Enough
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2. Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE
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3. Geese - Getting Killed
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4. Nona Invie - self soothing
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5. Emily A. Sprague - Cloud Time
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6. Claire M. Singer - Gleann Ciúin
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7. Rosalía - LUX
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8. Malibu - Vanities
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9. Modern Nature - The Heat Warps
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10. Yeemz - Blame The Gods
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11. Lizzy Dutton - See It All
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12. The Weather Station - Humanhood
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13. h pruz - Red sky at morning
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Equally deserving: Anna B Savage - You & i are Earth, Blood Orange - Essex Honey, Daughter - Middle Farm Session, Deftones - private music, Jenny Hval - Iris Silver Mist, Juana Molina - DOGA, Nils Frahm - Paris, Oklou - choke enough, Perfume Genius - Glory, Racing Mount Pleasant - s/t.

Geoff Stanfield, online content director

There was so much great music this year, and it's almost an impossible task to make a complete list of everything I found getting lots of airtime. For many of these releases, I was fortunate enough to sit down with their creators and dig into the process a bit. There were several releases that were on John and Larry's lists, like Rosalía, Emily A. Sprague, and the Beatie Wolfe and Brian Eno trilogy. Juana Molina's DOGA stays on both, because... Juana Molina. In no particular order:

I'm With Her
Wild and Clear and Blue
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Miles Davis
Kind of Blue (Corrected Speed Reissue)
Vinyl Only
Central Cee
Can't Rush Greatness
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Juana Molina
DOGA
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Panda Bear
Sinister Grift
(Produced by Panda Bear and Josh Dibb)
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Lord Huron
The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1
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Goose
Everything Must Go and Chain Yer Dragon
(Produced by D. James Goodwin)
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Young Miko
Do Not Disturb
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Steve Gunn
Daylight Daylight
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Yves Jarvis
All Cylinders
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Rival Consoles
Landscape From Memory
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My Morning Jacket
is
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Adrian Quesada
Boleros Psicodélicos II
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Corey Reidy, director of operations

“I feel tired.”
“I feel sick.”
“I feel alone.”
“I think I’m gonna put some music on.”
“Oh, wow, I feel so much better now.”

Here are some of the albums I found to work best for that in 2025:

Rehash
mock
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Stereolab
Instant Holograms on Metal Film
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Hotline TNT
Raspberry Moon
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Emma Harner
Taking My Side
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fanclubwallet
Living While Dying
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J.R.C.G.
Grim Iconic Sadistic Mantra
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Released in 2024 and coming to me in 2025, its first minute starts like this: Bombast! Sustain! Approach! Decision! Go! Grim Iconic Sadistic Mantra enters the world already knowing exactly what it is, and over 39 minutes it moves through the hills and valleys of whatever landscape you are traveling, physically or metaphorically, and it holds your hand. Sometimes you hum a melody. Sometimes you jam the aural equivalent of wires into a switch and flip on the power, sparks shooting everywhere while bandleader Justin Gallego's drums pull you through the mania, leaving you thinking, “Huh, I guess you’re seeing that too”.

Andy Hong, resident Gear Geek

Converge
Live on Audiotree