Whether your music collecting began like many of our generation’s with Columbia House’s legendary 10-CDs-for-only-a-penny subscription service offer or like legions of tweens who just last week maybe woke up Christmas morning with their very own record player and a fresh clutch of brand new T-Swift wax, the bug, once caught, is hard to shake. For us, after a few decades and potentially thousands of CDs, cassettes, and LPs later, we’re still adding pieces to our stash.
Residing in a musical hotbed like North Texas, we’re fortunate enough to experience a swell of great music consistently coming out of our own backyard. Like a great, lithe Smaug lounging upon its mountains of gold, each year our stacks just get bigger and bigger. Here are just a few of our staff’s local favorites that were added to our hoards in 2025. — Patrick Higgins
Patrick’s Picks
Locally, I probably spent at least a week with Cool Jacket’s Power Lunch on repeat. I’ve been a fan of Kevin England’s writing for years, both in CJ and as a solo artist, and his wit and charm are in top form on the hook-laden LP.
Rivaling the amount of time I spent with that was Space Available, the six-song EP by Ten Kilowatt Test Drive, a thunderous, washy guitar-driven post-punk power trio. Smart, anthemic, and hook-laden vocals cover expansive guitar landscapes and thundering drums. Think if D. Boon from Minutemen got a delay pedal.
Another fave was heavygazers Dream Deleter when they burst into my consciousness with a pair of singles this fall. A massive behemoth of sound and emotion, their forthcoming full-length is one of my most anticipated for 2026.
One of the most prolific artists in the area is Clint Niosi, and his music got plenty of play for me this year. From his Kafka-inspired Metamorphosis EP to his haunting, apocalyptic “Destroyer of Worlds” single, or the laid-back chill of his nuevo-dub project Stem Afternoon, Niosi contributed tons to the Fort Worth music coffers.
Above them all, however, was Gold & Rust by Cameron Smith & The Slings. It’s the singer-songwriter’s first record with a full backing band and is a full-on country concept album in the Red Headed Stranger tradition, detailing the journey of a farm-boy-turned-outlaw on a quest for peace and a balance between light and shadow. On the album, Smith’s songwriting has achieved a new highwater mark, and the accompanying instrumentalists elevate his Dylan-esque twang to gospel chorus heights. Full transparency: I played on this record, but it would absolutely still be top on my list even if I hadn’t. The recording experience for me was like a dude attending a Fantasy Baseball Camp, where the out-of-shape nobody gets to catch fly balls from Juan Gonzalez or take BP on pitches from Kenny Rogers — the average Joe suddenly finding himself playing with his heroes. There’s a ton of amazing players on the album, including Chuck Brown and wife Tamara Brown, Katie Robertson, and Morris Holdahl, to name a few, and I’m beyond proud to have stumbled ass-backward into joining them on it. It’s a special record.
Steve’s Faves
The records that hit the hardest for me this year ran the gamut from psychedelic punk to Pavement-inspired guitar rock, introspective rap, and cosmic country. The ever-profilic, ever-evolving LABELS put out White Hot, their third LP, in April, and it hasn’t really left my brain since. The 10-song album is a furious blast of grimy, fuzzy guitar riffs that wrap around the band’s incinerating, rage-fueled hardcore like rusty barbed wire. Lead-off track “Wake Up (and Wait for the World to End)” should be a rallying cry for everyone who shares the band’s loathing of this administration and the cultural-political era it fomented.
Life in the Faust Lane by Joe Gorgeous might have taken 10 years to finish, but it was well worth the wait, as the veteran punk rockers poured all their personal sadness, confusion, and tragedies of the past decade into an album full of anthemic hooks and inventive arrangements.
The Four Noble Truths EP by BruceLeeroy, the collaboration between rappers Sagemode Wrex and Dru B Shinin’, showed these two old heads — both have been in the game for nearly 20 years — at their most introspective. Inspired by the Buddhist concept of the paths of suffering, temptation, imperfection, and mindfulness, the four songs track the two rappers’ journeys through each. It’s equal parts sad, harrowing, empathetic, and inspiring, and the rappers’ deft phrasing highlights a lot of funny lines.
Also inspiring: Cool Jacket’s Power Lunch. Maybe it’s because I am a middle-aged man, but the band’s wry, weary record about the disappointments and bummers that seem to be baked into being a middle-aged man really resonated with me. There have been plenty of times over the fall when I wanted to stick needles into my eyes over one frustration or another, and the chorus of “My Glasses” made me feel like I wasn’t alone.
Denver Williams’ rollicking country-rock opus Let It Ride got me good — the abrupt stops and starts of lead track “Lay Low” sound like if NOFX made a country song, and by the time you get to the title track at the end of Side A, you kind of hope this road goes on forever, to the point that the end of Side B makes you sad to see that it doesn’t.
Kena’s Choices
Dallas’ South FM have once again shot arrows into my soul with Telegrams from the Dead: Knives//Razors. Paco Estrada’s full-range vocals belt out pure emotion backed by rock bliss. South FM’s signature thrashing melodic riffs carry the ear through the thoughtful lyrics. My favorite song is “Roses,” which also has a stunning and stylized video with a red backdrop that draws you in as much as the song. This EP is a powerfully put together journey and every bit as addictive as South FM’s previous work.
Earlier in the year, hip-hop/funk/rap collective Cure for Paranoia knocked hard on NPR’s door and shot to the top-ranked entries in the Tiny Desk Contest. “The Artshow” racked up more than 3 million listens on streaming services. The intricate lyrics are to the heart and to the point. As vocalist Cameron McCloud puts it, “This seems a bit conceited, but I really used to hate myself. So, this song’s for people who need it, OK?” Cure for Paranoia’s new EP, Work of A.R.T., just came out last week with a release show at Trees and was everything an art show should be.
The Apples of Johnny’s Eye
I spent my time jamming out to nearly every genre, and picking favorites isn’t easy. The Vandoliers’ Life Behind Bars, though, needs to be on everyone’s playlists. Trans frontperson Jenni Rose opens up about her dramatic life change with heartfelt songs like “Your Picture” and “Bible Belt.” The theme of breaking free from stereotypes describes Rose’s transformation via these personal and rowdy country tracks.
