holiday 2025 - a small batch of vinyl records and a box set laying on my futon. We got some Eater, Henry Cow, Albert King, Patti Smith, Art Blakey with Thelonius Monk, and Fugees

Holiday Pickups, Sonic Addictions, & Looking Ahead

Happy New Year. I started writing this yesterday, but that’s indicative of how 2025 went, generally. It’s been a year, in other words, one I’d rather forget. Except for the music, that is. Pretty soon I’ll kick off all the various end-of-year lists, but before fully shoving 2025’s ass out the door I wanted to take a few minutes and look back over some of my discoveries, addictions, and other music-related highlights of the year. It’s also been a hot minute since I did one of those “What I got over the holiday/break/vacation” deals, so we’ll start with the incoming holiday music (pictured in the header) and move on to my other predilections and penchants when it came to music in 2025.

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(Un)Focused Definition Ep. 78: The Thankful Aftermath

I’m exhausted, tuckered out from lack of sleep, work stress, having my son home, and getting through the Thanksgiving family madness. I’m also back to writing regularly, and ready to go once again for the daily new release catch-up that I started last December. So think of today’s playlist as a laid back, “get ‘er done” one, though I will always stand behind the music selected. I got a fresh pot of coffee and a (for now) empty/asleep house, so let’s get to it.

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