Wax Trax Best of ’25

2025 is officially over. To celebrate making it to the next quarter-century (all our cigarettes and beer haven’t killed us yet), some staff compiled their list of the year’s best music and music experiences. Read their picks below for their takes on 2025’s best album, single, reissued vinyl, album art, show, Denver venue, and all their lingering, snarky thoughts.

BEST ALBUM of 2025

• Hunx and His Punx –Walk Out On This World (Lala)
• Ryan Davis the Roadhouse Band – New Threats From the Soul (Gillian)
• Geese – Getting Killed (Jess)
• Total Wife – Come Back Down (Nick)
• Pink Lady Monster – PONK (Duane)
• Viagra Boys – Viagr Aboys (Ethan)
• Automatic – Is It Now? (Erica)
• Prewn – System (available at Wax Trax Cap Hill soon) (Daisy)
• Sudan Archives – The BPM (Sam)
• Peki Momés – (self-titled) (Pete)

BEST LOCAL ALBUM of 2025

• Spin Move – Spin Move 1 (Lala)
• Pink Lady Monster – Ponk (Gillian, Nick, Duane, Ethan, Daisy)
• O Manhattan: The Project! – Mugen (Jess)
• Tassles – Net Worth (Sam)
• Destiny Bond – The Love (Pete)

BEST EP of 2025

• Total Con – Who Needs The Peace Corps? (Lala)
• Caspar Milquetoast – From the Cheap Seats (Gillian)
• Devi McCallion – I Want Things To Be Beautiful (Jess)
• She’s Green – Chrysalis (Nick)
• Cherry Spit – Plaything (Duane)
• Orville Peck – Appaloosa (Ethan)
• Paris Texas – They Left Me With A Gun (Daisy)
• Nation of Language – In Your Head (Sam)

BEST SINGLE of 2025

• BRUHA – Pacoima (Lala)
• Red Bird – Soup Dreams (Gillian)
• Geese – Taxes (Jess, Duane)
• They Are Gutting A Body of Water – American Food (Nick)
• Slayyyter – CRANK (Ethan)
• Gecko – Dance of the Gecko (Erica)
• Smerz – Fiesty (Daisy)
• Fcukers – Bon Bon (Sam)

BEST REISSUED VINYL of 2025

• Sleigh Bells – Treats (Lala)
• John Lee Hooker – It Serves You Right To Suffer (Gillian)
• Makoto Matsushita – First Light (Jess)
• Beck – Mellow Gold (Nick)
• Patti Smith – Horses (Duane)
• Sky Ferreira – Night Time, My Time (Ethan)
• Connan Mockasin – Caramel (Daisy)
• Paramore – Riot! (Sam)

BEST ALBUM ART of 2025

• Artificial Go – Musical Chairs (Lala)
• Hellbender – Soup Dreams (Gillian)
• Ninajirachi – I Love My Computer (Jess)
• Wednesday – Bleeds (Duane)
• Clipse – Let God Sort ‘Em Out (Ethan)
• Nation of Language – Dance Called Memory (Daisy)

BEST SHOWS OUR STAFF SAW in 2025

• Haywire @ D3 Arts AND Febuary @ D3 Arts
  • “Top two! Why? PALPABLE ENERGY! Two back-to-back max capacity gigs in a concrete warehouse, the way the DIY gods intended. Haywire brought a sense of togetherness with breaks in-between riffs, stage dives, and mic grabs, to pause and ask the crowd to exchange “I love yous”. Febuary brought the youth. When you’ve been involved with DIY for a while it’s easy to become a Premature Bitter OldHead™. Febuary’s first national tour brought over 350 young show goers to the space, a large number of whom were Hispanic/Latino. As someone who came up in a DIY scene lacking in frequent POC contributors, I damn near cried watching Westwood teenagers jump off the speakers into the sea of emos.” (Lala)
• Horse Bitch @ UMS
  • “They bring the heat every single time. They are my friends but I was their fan first. I got hit in the head with a paper maiche horse. Two different people asked if I was okay in the pit — the answer was yes so it was kind of annoying they asked. Several of my friends crowdsurfed over me. Any time anyone crowd surfs over me I drop them. Horse Bitch is the best band ever.” (Gillian)
• Post Animal & Djo @ Mission Ballroom
  • “Post Animal as the opener had insane energy, can’t wait to see them headline at the Bluebird.” (Jess)
• They Are Gutting A Body of Water @ Marquis
  • “They are the “goats” of modern shoegaze.” (Nick)
• Delta Sonics @ The Rusty Bucket
  • “Local Blues band. Best Chicago Blues this side of, well, Chicago!” (Duane)
• Waterparks @ Gothic Theater
  • “Over the three times i’ve had the chance to see them, Waterparks manages to put on one of the most engaging, energetic, and unforgettable performances. The energy is high– even when the songs are slow. Definitely check them out next time they’re in town!” (Ethan)
• Viagra Boys @ Mission Ballroom
  • “The show was so good, my body had to shut down and reboot (aka pass out and leave this plane of consciousness) in the pit. Nothing like some water, kind strangers, and the sweet sound of topless VB frontman Sebastian sing-yelling to bring me back.” (Daisy)
• Ekko Astral @ Wax Trax Northside grand opening
  • “Legendary surprise headline moment to help us open the doors to our new location.” (Sam)

BEST DENVER VENUE in 2025

• Hi-Dive (Lala, Gillian, Nick, Daisy)
• The Grave (Lala)
• D3 Arts (Lala)
• Lost Lake (Jess)
• Rusty Bucket (Duane)
• Mission Ballroom (Ethan)
• Bluebird (Daisy)
• Wax Trax in-store/sidewalk shows (Sam)

Any lingering thoughts on music in 2025?

• “Geese sucks.” (Nick)
• “AI is here and it isn’t going away as long as the rich feel they can squeeze any money at all out of it, no matter the cost to the planet or the detriment to music overall. They are going to keep shoving slop down your throat because they think you are stupid and helpless. Now more than ever music you can see and touch is important. Fuck streaming, buy physical media, go to your friends gigs and show up for your local musicians. You can make the world you want to live in.” (Jess)
• “Lot’s of good music this year: Blawan: SickElixer; YHWH Nailgun: 45 Pounds; Supreme Joy: 410,757,864,530 Dead Carps; Tropical Fuck Storm: Fairyland Codex; Ethel Cain: Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You; Kilynn Lunsford: Promiscuous Genes; Ada Rook: 59 Nights; Sharp Pins: Balloon Balloon Balloon; Florry: Sounds Like…; Brutalismus 3000: Goodbye Salo; Rocket: R is for Rocket; Lambrini Girls: Who Let The Dogs Out; and more!” (Duane)
• “I hate to be preachy, but for the love of God and all that is holy… cancel your Spotify subscriptions!!! Don’t let “losing your playlists” be the excuse you continue supporting such a morally corrupt company. There’s plenty of playlist and library converters! And as always, support local artists. :)” (Ethan)
• “As much as I detest social media, there’s something to say for it being a music sharing source. Wax Trax has upped our Instagram and TikTok silly music content game this year, and it’s been entertaining as hell. Give us a follow (not for the sheepish).” (Daisy)

Thanks to all who celebrated this year in music with us — by buying records, attending our events, selling us vinyl, or hanging around the shop and making us laugh. We’re grateful for you, this year in music, and the music yet-to-come in 2026. Until then!