RULES:
I. Had to be released as a single on streaming in the U.S. in 2025 (buying more albums in 2026!)
II. Had to sound good to me (be aware, I have niche tastes!)
III. Wasn’t also a track on one of my Top 10 Albums (coming soon!)
10) “Acid Rain” – Greywind
There’s a certain vibe—you know it when you hear it—to Aughts alt-rock that contemporary acts carrying a torch for the era can struggle with: not just mad and sad but keening, wistful, and apt to equate despair with some ruinous natural phenomenon. 2017’s brief Afterthoughts was admittedly just that for many moons, yet in what’s been teased so far, Greywind’s pending trip to Severed Heart City is poised to whip up a whole new storm.
9) “Hurry Up, Darling, We’re Going to Miss the Crucifixion” – First & Forever
Who was the first band to do the whole “sardonic long song name” thing? I’ve always assumed Fall Out Boy, but it’s fun to imagine some similarly verbose predecessor. In any event, First & Forever have been dropping downtrodden tracks for a while with no full-length in sight, but in their latest batch, they’ve arrived at a promising flourish: medieval melancholy meets bangin’ riffs. Toss on a title that’s irreverent in every sense, and this might just be my favorite F&F not led by Vin Diesel (although, just imagine…).
8) “Let it Out” – FlickN
Hey, do you miss vintage Blink? The fellas in FlickN do, and with cheeky moniker in tow, they spent 2025 cranking out one skate-punk homage after another. That I came to learn of them through a fellow attorney acquainted with one member might’ve tilted the scale (without giving away too much, I believe they’re from the area), but I suspect I’d relish hearing this sound come back ‘round regardless. Looking forward to that freshman album!
7) “Better Days” – Yellowcard
An embarrassing anecdote is that, growing up, I didn’t know Yellowcard had a violinist. I was introduced to them by “The Takedown” in Guitar Hero: Van Halen (2009), where I just assumed—sandwiched between saintly Eddie solos—I was miming really fast strumming. While I arrived at their full catalog too late to embrace every minute of this year’s titular album, then, the band’s resurgence at the crest of the “When We Were Young” wave is a welcome call to positivity, Blockbuster-bound music video and all. No, it’s not too late!
6) “Oh No!” – All Time Low
It’s the aging emo’s dilemma: If I finally, for serious this time, clean up and turn that frown upside-down, am I still me? All Time Low was always bubbly even for “pop punk,” but when decades-strong frontman Alex Gaskarth frets about whether, now “over the rain clouds,” he’s as appealing as back then, it’s hard not to relate, even without merch sales to monitor. I’d like to be known as happy and well-adjusted… but what if it is the madness in the man that makes the music?
5) “Please Me” – Coven Dove
Gotta rep for local talent! Coven Dove, in their own words, makes “witch-pop stories from the pit,” and having attended a hometown concert earlier this year, I can confirm the classic-meets-cryptic appeal firsthand. If you like smooth tunes for an evening in or at the bar, this is an outfit to watch out for.
4) “6SPEED” – Rematch
The cross-pollination between hip-hop and punk rock always intrigues me even as it tends to go one way, with rappers copping a guitarist and new flow. Rematch, however, picked a fitting name twice over, coming back from years of sporadic singles with their first record proper and this gear-switching centerpiece. With its pity-party chorus and nod to weeping at G-notes, “6SPEED” is a sure shoutout to scenehood, and yet it’s also cocky and self-referential, singer Matt LeGrand spitting boasts about stacks of cash as his “boys” blast through fangirl speakers that feel spiritually at home in the club. It may claim to be Nothing Like You Wanted, but this blend of flavors is just what I needed.
3) “100%” – New Found Glory
Yeah, it’s all gonna be about self-improvement from here on. The hit-to-eh ratio on NFG’s (many) LPs has always been a bit too bottom-heavy for me to identify as an outright fan… so if I saw them in concert and have a pennant of theirs on my wall, that’s just because when they’re good, they’ve glorious indeed. I may not always reach that coveted full quantity, but I aspire to this attitude, this goal, and with the same jubilant insistence that’s kept these dudes going strong since ‘99.
2) “Kept Me Alive” – Grayscale
Here comes a technicality, since only a variant with Slowly Slowly from a deluxe reissue of The Hart made it as a single, but it’s my self-imposed gesture at music critic conventions and I’ll bend it if I want to. Bend and break, really, as this gale-force tribute to a loving partner became the latest installment in a small, unwritten playlist of ballads I can’t carpool-karaoke along to without welling up. Pining for unrequited love may be the cornerstone of many songs, but celebrating someone who’s already there for you, and always has been? That’s bedrock.
1) “Lose Your Way & Find Yourself” – AS IT IS
In the early months of 2024, I sought mental health services for the first time. The circumstances aren’t relevant, suffice it to say that I worried I’d be a hazard to myself if I didn’t phone a professional. Therapy followed (“professional growth coaching,” rather—tomayto, tomahto) as, by coincidence, my boss decided I had enough potential that it was worth bankrolling me seeing someone who could loosen up a few interpersonal kinks. And with their powers combined… well, it worked. I’m still not perfect, but I’m better than I was five years ago, and I want to keep improving. As I always try to remind myself, regret is cheap. There’s infinite things we all could’ve done, but there’s just as many things we still can do. I won’t turn my back on the past like I once did, but I’m also ready to move from reaction to action. I won’t let the future just come—I’ll bring it toward me. I’ll still get scared, sad, anxious, and angry sometimes. But when it happens, with eyes on the horizon, I won’t let that pain haunt me.
Notes&Sketches 