Given the nature of things in the Year of Our Lard 2025, I’m not offering much by way of personal retrospection on the prior year. It’s been a bit much. So very much.
However, this year has me on a massive music acquisition kick. By my count, I’ve picked up 217 albums this year, which is astonishing to me that I can do that, considering once upon a time, if I bought 4 CDs and spent $70, I immediately felt buyer’s remorse and spent the next 4 months sucking the marrow out of every disc before I could afford another 4. Much of this year’s collection is from trawling the used CD bins at bookstores and record shops on the cheap. The remainder is from online shops, the artists’ sites, or from merch tables. Some are bands I saw at this year’s SXSW.
The absolute standouts for me this year are Lost Signal, Kirlian Camera, HEALTH, Envy of None, Art School Girlfriend, Trevor Rabin, David Sylvian & Robert Fripp, Qual, Dido, and SUSS. I find myself putting these on repeat.
I also find myself picking up more soundtracks, which is not something I do. But with the thrift of used discs, I’m doing a lot more experimentation and exploration, and filling in the gaps for artists I already love. I’m also re-buying albums that I already had in crappy low-bitrate digital files; now they’re gloriously lossless.
I hope to continue exploration in 2026, albeit at a not-so-voracious rate. Like I said, it’s a bit much, and I’m wondering what hole I’m trying to fill with all this, but that’s an entirely different discussion.
Posting the full list below the readmore fold.
May you have a good 2026. Vote the bastards out.
- 2047: NEXUS DAWN
- ACTORS: Reanimated LP
- aliceffekt: Ver’Iytsl
- alsoknownasrox: XIII [alsoknownasrox Edit]
- Alter der Ruine: I Will Remember It All Differently
- Amon Tobin: Supermodified
- Annie-Claude Deschênes: LES MANIÈRES DE TABLE
- Art School Girlfriend: Is It Light Where You Are
- Art School Girlfriend: Soft Landing
- Automelodi: Cavallo
- Basement Jaxx: Crazy Itch Radio
- Benji Vaughan: Oneiric
- Billy Idol: Charmed Life
- Billy Idol: Rebel Yell
- Biosphere: Microgravity
- Boards of Canada: Music Has the Right to Children
- Burden Brothers: Buried in Your Black Heart
- Chrystabell & David Lynch: Cellophane Memories
- Chuck Johnson: A Struggle Not A Thought
- Cosmic Gate: Earth Mover (Platinum Edition)
- Covenant: Andreas E.P.
- Covenant: Modern Ruin
- craque: c hord s apar t
- craque: Zeitlos Jawbone
- Cult of Luna: The Beyond
- Cynthoni: Sewerslvt Presents: Cynthoni, Pt. 1 – EP
- Daniel Lanois: For the Beauty of Wynona
- Daniel Myer: Hingabe (SGLP15)
- David Bay, Gome: Comic Relief (ZISSOU010)
- David Bay: Comic Relief (ZISSOU010)
- David Bowie: Station to Station
- David Lee Roth: Skyscraper
- David Sylvian & Robert Fripp: Damage
- David Sylvian & Robert Fripp: The First Day
- Delerium: Karma
- Delerium: Poem
- Delerium: Remixed
- Dido: Girl Who Got Away
- Dido: Safe Trip Home
- dilettante: Life Of The Party
- Dire Straits: Brothers in Arms
- Dire Straits: Love Over Gold
- Dire Straits: Sultans of Swing: The Very Best of Dire Straits
- DSTR: Loudspeaker
- Ed Sheeran: –
- Ed Sheeran: ×
- Enjoyable Listens: The Enjoyable Listen
- ENOENT: 4K EP
- ENOENT: TENONEv1
- ENOENT: TENONEv2
- ENOENT: The Dark Souls EP
- Envy Of None: Stygian Waves
- Essaie Pas: Tout est jeune
- Ether Diver: Metaphysical Shitposting
- Ether Diver: The Mechanics of Mysticism
- Eurythmics: We Too Are One
- Faithless: Outrospective
- Five Eight: Weirdo (2015 Remaster + Bonus)
- Friends of Dean Martinez: The Shadow of Your Smile
- Front 242: Tyranny ▶For You◀
- Front Line Assembly: Mechviruses
- Gary Numan: Warriors
- Geir Jenssen & Pete Namlook: The Fires Of Ork
- General Dynamics: Where Animals Play
- Giorgio Moroder: Déjà-Vu
- Goldfrapp: Silver Eye
- Goto80: *
- Halsey: If I Can’t Have Love, I Want Power
- HEALTH: CONFLICT DLC
- HEALTH: DEATH MAGIC
- HEALTH: HEALTH
- HEALTH: RAT WARS
- Igneous Flame: Lapiz
- Imogen Heap: Sparks
- Intelligent Communication: Principles of Motion
- INXS: Kick
- Iris: Radiant
- James Iha: Let It Come Down
- Jane Siberry: When I Was a Boy
- Jethro Tull: Crest of a Knave
- Jon Anderson: The Promise Ring
- Kirlian Camera: Hologram Moon
- Kirlian Camera: Invisible Front
- Kirlian Camera: Radio Signals For The Dying
- Klaus Schulze & Lisa Gerrard: Farscape
- Klaus Schulze: Moondawn
- Kontravoid: Detachment
- Lau Noah: 3
- LEATHERS: Ultraviolet
- Lebanon Hanover: Asylum Lullabies
- Loreena McKennitt: An Ancient Muse
- Loreena McKennitt: Elemental
- Lost Signal: Anatomy of Melancholy
- Lost Signal: Eviscerate
- Lost Signal: Light of Other Days
- Lucy Kruger & The Lost Boys: A Human Home
- Marie Davidson: City Of Clowns
- Mark Knopfler: The Ragpicker’s Dream
- Maruja: Connla’s Well
- Maruja: Knocknarea
- Me’Shell Ndegéocello: Peace Beyond Passion
- Midnight Oil: Blue Sky Mining
- Mike Oldfield: Tubular Bells
- Mimi Page: Dark Before the Dawn – EP
- Minimal Schlager: After Midnight
- Minuit Machine: Infrarouge
- Minuit Machine: Live & Destroy
- Minuit Machine: QUEENDOM
- Model/Actriz: Pirouette
- Nevada Hardware: Split Scene
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: Nocturama
- Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds: The Boatman’s Call
- Only Now: Captivity
- Orbital: The Middle of Nowhere
- Orbital: The Saint
- Ozzy Osbourne: Black Rain
- Panther Modern: Deluxe
- Paula Temple: Deathvox
- Personal Trainer: Still Willing
- PERTURBATOR: Age of Aquarius
- Peter Gabriel: Passion: Music for The Last Temptation of Christ
- Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel
- Peter Gabriel: Up
- Phil Collins: Face Value
- Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs: Death Hilarious
- Precenphix: Husks of War
- Promisk: Depende de las estrellas
- PYPY: Sacred Times
- Qual: Love Zone
- Queensrÿche: Hear in the Now Frontier
- Queensrÿche: Promised Land
- Queensrÿche: The Warning
- Rhys Fulber: Memory Impulse Autonomy
- Robert Palmer: Riptide
- Robert Plant & Alison Krauss: Raising Sand
- Robert Plant: Band of Joy
- Rollins Band: Hard Volume
- Rollins Band: The End of Silence
- Ron Gallo: HEAVY META
- Rotersand: Don’t Become The Thing You Hated
- Rush: Different Stages Live
- S. Product: Suicide Beat
- Safe Mind: Cutting the Stone
- Sarah McLachlan: Mirrorball
- Sarah McLachlan: Remixed
- Sarah McLachlan: Shine On
- Sarah McLachlan: Wintersong
- Saul Williams: Saul Williams
- Saul Williams: Unanimous Goldmine
- Savage Garden: Savage Garden
- Seal: System
- Sextile: Push
- Shannon Curtis: 80s Kids
- She Past Away: Narin Yalnızlık
- Shin Bone, ENOENT: TENONEv1.5
- Shin Bone, ENOENT: TENONEv2.5
- Shin Bone: 4K EP
- Shin Bone: TENONEv1.5
- shishi: FAQ
- shishi: Nearly Happily Ever After
- Sigur Rós: Takk…
- Sleater‐Kinney: One Beat
- Soap&Skin: From Gas To Solid / you are my friend
- Sonic Youth: Washing Machine
- Spin Doctors: Homebelly Groove
- Stereo MC’s: The Stereo MC’s
- Sting: Ten Summoner’s Tales
- Sting: The Dream of the Blue Turtles
- Stromkern: Light It Up
- sungazer: Sungazer Vol. I
- Supersuckers: The Smoke of Hell
- SUSS: Heat Haze
- SUSS: Promise
- SUSS: SUSS
- Switch Angel: Switch Angel
- Tangerine Dream: Mars Polaris – Original Motion Picture Space Reality
- Temple Rat: The Composition Of Air (ST๐๐๙)
- The Crystal Method: Vegas
- The Dresden Dolls: Girl Anachronism / Bad Habit
- The Dumes: …in this economy?
- The Future Sound of London: Multiple Angled Distortions
- The Future Sound of London: Yage 2019
- The Oktober People: Explore The Sky Too
- The Orb: Buddhist Hipsters
- The Real Tuesday Weld: The London Book of the Dead
- The Smashing Pumpkins: Oceania
- The Tea Party: The Interzone Mantras
- The Velvet Underground: The Best of The Velvet Underground: Words and Music of Lou Reed
- They Might Be Giants: Here Comes Science
- They Might Be Giants: They Might Be Giants
- Thompson Twins: Greatest Hits
- Toadies: Burn (live)
- Todd Rundgren: The Very Best of Todd Rundgren
- Trevor Rabin: Can’t Look Away
- U2: Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me, Kill Me
- U2: One
- U2: The Best of 1980-1990
- U2: The Best of 1990–2000
- Van Halen: OU812
- Van Halen: Women and Children First
- Vangelis: Opera sauvage
- Various Artists: Back to the Future: Music From the Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Various Artists: Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Various Artists: Go: Music From the Motion Picture
- Various Artists: Hackers (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)
- Various Artists: Lilith Fair: A Celebration of Women in Music
- Various Artists: Magnolia: Music From the Motion Picture
- Various Artists: Mortal Kombat: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
- Various Artists: O Brother, Where Art Thou? Music From a Film by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
- Various Artists: Until the End of the World: Music From the Motion Picture Soundtrack
- VNV Nation: Construct
- Wilderness: Wilderness
- Yanni: Chameleon Days
- ZZ Top: Degüello
- ZZ Top: Greatest Hits
- ZZ Top: Recycler
- ZZ Top: Rio Grande Mud