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Will Hermes - Best Music of 2025

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Will Hermes is a regular contributor to NPR, The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. He’s the author of “Love Goes to Buildings on Fire” and “Lou Reed: The King of New York.” His Substack of music writing is at newmusicoldmusic.substack.com.

Since 2010 - Will and I have wrapped up the year in music during the waning hours of each calendar year. We missed a couple of years for a couple of different reasons, but we are here, this year, to share some songs with you.

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Will's playlist.

Segment playlist:

  • Mentioned - Bad Bunny - DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS

Rosalia - Lux - song played: “Berghain”

  • Mentioned - Lady Gaga - Mayhem
  • Mentioned - Sabrina Carpenter - Man’s Best Friend
  • Mentioned - Obangjayar - Paradise Now & Forever
  • Mentioned - FKA Twigs - Eusexua
  • Mentioned - Smerz - Big city life
  • Mentioned - Oklou - chose enough

Juana Molina - DOGA - song played: “siestas ahí”
Ale Hop (Alejandra Cárdenas) and Titi Bakorka - Mapambazuko (album title and song played)
Carter Faith - Cherry Valley - song played: “Sex, Drugs, & Country Music”

  • Mentioned - Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman
  • Mentioned - Ken Pomeroy - Cruel Joke
  • Annahstasia - Tether - song played: “Villain”
  • Mentioned - Hailey Whitters - Corn Queen
  • Mentioned - Hayes Carll - We’re Only Human
  • Mentioned - Tyler Childers - Snipe Hunter
  • Mentioned - Madi Diaz - Fatal Optimist

Dijon - Baby - song played: “Yamaha”

  • Mentioned - Blood Orange - Essex Honey

Little Simz - Lotus - song played: “Free”

  • Mentioned - Neko Case - Neon Grey Midnight Green

The Mountain Goats - Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan - “Broken to Begin With”
Wednesday - Bleeds - song played: “Townies”
This is Lorelei - Box for Buddy, Box for Star (deluxe edition) - song played: “Dancing in the Club” (MJ Lenderman version)

  • Mentioned - Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On

Geese - Getting Killed - song played: “Au Pay Du Cocaine”
Lucius - Lucius - song played: “Old Tape”

  • Mentioned - T Bone Burnett - The Other Side [2024]

Brandi Carlile - Returning to Myself - song played: “Human”

  • Mentioned - Tortoise - TOUCH
  • Mentioned - Tom Skinner - Kaleidoscopic Visions

Marshall Allen with Neneh Cherry - New Dawn (album title and song played)

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Sarah has worked in radio since she graduated from college in 2006. In her work with WAMC, she often interviews regional and global artists in all fields including music, theatre, film, television, and visual arts. During the main thrust of the Covid-19 pandemic shut-down, Sarah hosted a live Instagram interview program "A Face for Radio Video Series." On it, Sarah spoke with artists about the creative activities they were accomplishing and/or missing. She is on the board of WAM Theatre and lives in Albany, New York with her husband, Paul, and their dog, Doritos.
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  • Will Hermes has been writing about music and culture for nearly 40 years. He writes for Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Pitchfork, and Uncut. He’s a contributor to NPR’s Morning Edition and All Things Considered and he’s the author of “Love Goes To Buildings On Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever” and “Lou Reed: The King of New York.”
  • Will Hermes is a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, a longtime contributor to NPR’s All Things Considered and The New York Times, and the author of "Love Goes to Buildings on Fire." This year, FSG released his new book “Lou Reed: The King of New York” - and now - he’s joining us to talk about music he enjoyed in 2023.
  • In this segment we take a musical adventure through 2022 with Will Hermes – our pal and music contributor to NPR, Rolling Stone, and Pitchfork. Will is the author of “Love Goes to Buildings on Fire: Five Years in New York That Changed Music Forever” and the upcoming “Lou Reed: The King of New York” – which will be published by FSG in 2023.
  • Will Hermes is a long-time music writer and contributor to Rolling Stone, NPR, The New York Times, and Pitchfork. He is the author of "Love Goes to Buildings on Fire" and an upcoming biography of Lou Reed. He joins us often to share his expertise and at year's end we call on him to let us know what music we may have missed.
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