Taylor’s Favorites – January 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 4,000 artists on the platform, so pretty much every day, I can log in, click “What’s New,” and be 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 I enjoyed. 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 to give people an overview of what I’ve been loving. 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


Favorite Songs

🥇 Lily Seabird - “Trash Mountain (1pm)”

🥈 Customer Service - “and it feels”

🥉 Quinn Cicala - “Best Friend”

  • Mogwai - “Pale Vegan Hip Pain”

  • Michael Cera Palin - “Wisteria”

  • Conor Lynch - “Fucked Up Bumper (Demo)”

  • Momma - “I Want You (Fever)”

  • Olivia’s World - “Sourgum”

  • Star 99 - “Kill”

  • Deafhaven - “Magnolia”

  • Jane Remover - “JRJRJR”

  • Texas 3000 - “Universe Drawer”

  • Fust - “Spangled”

  • Bonnie Prince Billy - “London May”

  • Ethel Cain - “Perverts”

  • Hey, nothing - “Barn Nursery”

  • Peach Rings - “Right Back to Whomps”

  • TRSH - “DJ Unicorn Crusher”

  • Nagasaki Swim - “The Next Moment”


Other Notable Tracks

Japanese Breakfast - “Orlando In Love”
Lucy Dacus - “Ankles”
PUP - “Paranoid”
Sharp Pins - “I Can’t Stop”
Great Grandpa - “Junior”
Cloakroom - “Bad Larry”
phoneswithchords, Josaleigh Pollett - “put pressure”
Destroyer - “Bologna” 
Cryogeyser - “Stargirl”
Fleshyape - “Petey”
My Morning Jacket - “Time Waited”
Runnner - “Coinstar”
Florist - “Have Heaven”
Knuckle Puck - “Nice to Know Ya”
Sharon Van Etten - “Trouble”
Ditzy Spells - “Like an Echo”
Ribbon Skirt - “Wrong Planet”
Sleigh Bells - “Wanna Start a Band?”
Julien Baker, TORRES - “Sylvia”
Pictoria Vark - “San Diego”
Black Country, New Road - “Besties”
J Mascis - “Breathe”