Taylor's Favorites – September 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

🏆 Wednesday - Bleeds (Review)

  • Georgia Maq - God’s Favourite (Review)

  • Shallowater - God’s Gonna Give You A Million Dollars (Review)

  • Fleshwater - 2000: In Search Of The Endless Sky

  • La Dispute - No One Was Driving The Car

  • Various Artists - I Will Swim to You: A Tribute to Jason Molina

  • Big Thief - Double Infinity

  • Algernon Cadwallader - Trying Not to Have a Thought (Review)

  • saturdays at your place - these things happen

  • Spite House - Desertion

  • The Merrier - Green Mages (Review)

  • Liquid Mike - Hell Is An Airport

  • Summerbruise - Infinity Guise 

  • TRSH - String Theory

  • Golden Apples - Shooting Star

  • Nothings - Will It

  • Tourneforte - Make Good

  • Aren’t We Amphibians - Parade! Parade! (Review)

  • Thanks! I Hate It - Scatterbrain

  • Normal Park - troubleshot

  • Equipment - First time using slang (Review)

  • Thomas Dollbaum - Drive All Night (Review)

  • Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override

  • Grumpy - Piebald

  • Geese - Getting Killed

  • Never Young - Never Young

  • White Reaper - Only Slightly Empty

  • Anorak! - Fav Riff

Favorite Songs

🥇 Big Thief - “Los Angeles”

🥈 Ratboys - "Light Night Mountains All That”

🥉 Equipment - "FACIAL PROTECTION"

  • Ben Quad - "It’s Just A Title"

  • Dim Wizard, Katie Dey - “Stoicism” (Review)

  • Golden Apples - “Mind”

  • Her New Knife, They Are Gutting A Body of Water - “kittyriff”

  • Otis Shanty - “Lowballer”

  • Slark Moan - “Emphatic Love”

  • Motocrossed - “Drown (Country Girl)" (Review)

  • Scarlet Street - “WARNING SOUNDS”

  • Wild Pink, John Moreland - “Fences of Stonehenge - Edit”

  • Latto, Ice Spice - “Gyatt"

  • Free Throw, Bad Luck - “Mike Nolan’s Long Weekend”

  • Geese - “Long Island City Here I Come”

  • This Will Destroy You - “Shapeless Burst”

  • villagerrr - “Portsmouth Raceway”

  • Seer Believer - “Seed”

  • Indigo De Souza, Mothé - “Serious”

  • Rose Gray - “April”

  • Samia - “Cinder Block”

  • Customer Service - “Never Meant To”

  • They Are Gutting a Body of Water - “rl stine”

  • Johnny Football Hero - “The Struggler”

  • Lower Definition - “Godmode”

  • PONY - “Superglue”

  • Cusp - “Oh Man”

  • Bright Eyes - “Victory City”

  • Chat Pile, Hayden Pedigo - “Demon Time”

  • Combat - “Bob Dylan to Me”

  • Mavis Staples - “Sad and Beautiful World”

  • Soul Blind - “Mistake To Wonder”

  • Remember Sports - “Across The Line”

  • Broken Record - “A Small Step”

  • Horse Jumper of Love - “Mansion”