Taylor's Favorites – July 2025

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There’s new music coming out constantly, and sometimes it’s hard to keep up. 

Since January of 2021, I’ve been creating monthly playlists with the sole purpose of housing new music. Say what you will about Spotify (and I have); the platform is at least good at showing you new releases from artists you follow, thanks to its robust social-media-like system. I’m currently following over 4,500 artists on the platform, so pretty much every day, I log in, click “What’s New,” and am met with a steady scroll of fresh music. This is a double-edged sword because it feels like new songs materialize each day to sweep away the previous ones. For that reason, I started creating these playlists to keep track of all the latest music that’s on my radar as it comes out. 

In previous years, I’ve also used a note on my phone to jot down my favorite songs and albums. Each month, I’d crown one record as my favorite, adorning it with a little trophy emoji, then list a bunch of other albums, EPs, or splits that I liked. I’d do the same thing with songs, shouting out three of my favorites with similar wayfinding emojis and then listing any other tracks I enjoyed that month. It’s fun to condense hundreds of hours of music down to a shortlist of things I’ve been obsessed with, but I also hope there’s utility in it for friends who might not be keeping up with new releases in the same obsessive way. 

I’ve decided to publish both of these elements as a new regular feature within Swim Selects. Each month, I will publish this list of my favorite albums and songs from the past month to give people an overview of what I’ve been loving and what they might have missed. On a related note, it’s probably worth stating that these are definitively my favorites, so the list is often biased, emo, and far from comprehensive, but hopefully it gives you at least one or two new things to check out. Anyway, onto the music. 

Favorite Albums

🏆 Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band - New Threats From The Soul

  • Alex G - Headlights

  • Tyler, The Creator - DON’T TAP THE GLASS

  • Pacing - PL*NET F*TNESS

  • Marble Teeth - there was a huge crowd of people gathered in the street

  • Wet Leg - Moisturizer 

  • Innerlove - For the Love of the Game

  • Padfoot - The Worst Part of All

  • Townies - Speak With Your Chest

  • Pretty Bitter - Pleaser

  • Walter Mitty and His Makeshift Orchestra - Yikes Almighty

  • Forth Wanderers - The Longer This Goes On

  • Why Bonnie - The Bedroom

  • Kurt Vile, Luke Roberts - Classic Love

  • Cory Hanson - I Love People

  • Chiodos - All’s Well That Ends Well (20th Anniversary Edition)

  • Bleary Eyed - Easy

  • Signals Midwest - Layovers

  • Peach Rings - i’ll look out for you

  • Nihilistic Easyrider- DELUXE EDITION

  • Cloutchaser - Spongebob

Favorite Songs

🥇 Geese - “Taxes”

🥈 Jay Som - “Float (feat. Jim Adkins)”

🥉 saturdays at your place - “waste away”

  • Palette Knife - “Prototype V.2”

  • Galore - “Bastard”

  • Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band - “Better If You Make Me"

  • Angel Du$t - “The Beat”

  • Weakened Friends - “Tough Luck (Bleed Me Out)”

  • MJ Lenderman - “Just Be Simple”

  • They Are Gutting A Body of Water - “trainers"

  • 9Million - "Shine On”

  • Pile - “Bouncing in Blue”

  • Shallowater - “Highway”

  • Wet Leg - “mangetout”

  • Jobber - “Pillman’s Got a Gun”

  • Etherl Cain - “Fuck Me Eyes”

  • Chousand - “Idwtbaba”

  • Stay Inside - “Oh, Longshoreman”

  • Deftones - “my mind is a mountain”

  • Pool Kids - “Leona Street”

  • The Big Easy - “only happy in moonlight - demo”

  • Waxahatchee, Kevin Morby - “You Found Me"

  • Breakup Shoes - “Brainwash”

  • Wednesday - “Pick Up That Knife”

  • HTML - “Damascus"

  • Tame Impala - “End Of Summer”

  • Kurt Vile, Luke Roberts - “classic love”

  • Hammydown, Caroline Rose - “Former You”

  • Avery Tucker - "Like I’m Young”

  • Nihilistic Easyrider - "Howie On the Brain"

  • The Antlers - “Carnage”

  • Geese - “Trinidad"

  • The Berries - “Angelus”

  • Fleshwater - “Jetpack”

  • Fenne Lily, Wild Pink - “Disintegrate - Edit”

  • Thanks! I Hate It - “The Butterfly Tattoo Effect”