Farewell Five

By Miles Silverstein and Mia Romanoff

In our last edition of Favorite Five as co-editors, Miles and I wanted to take this opportunity to give some final recommendations. Thank you to all our readers and I can’t wait to keep putting out articles for you all next year! – Mia Romanoff

For our final column as editors this year, Mia and I will be sharing our Farewell Five: Three albums and two songs that have defined the 24/25 year for each of us. Thank you very much to our dedicated readers for making this an unforgettable year for Hearing Aid. – Miles Silverstein

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Le Tigre - Le Tigre

Is “post-riot grrrl” a thing? If it is, there’s one clear frontrunner for its most quintessential record: Le Tigre’s Le Tigre. Formed in the wake of the breakup of the legendary Bikini Kill, Le Tigre embodies everything awesome about late-90’s DIY alt-rock. Le Tigre is an irresistible dance romp from start to finish with a palpable feminist B-plot. It’s like if Beck read Andrea Dworkin and got high with The Slits. Everyone knows the opener ‘Deceptacon’, but the real unsung heroes of this record are ‘Hot Topic’ (a college-age ‘Losing My Edge’ some three years before LCD Soundsystem would completely rip off the formula) and ‘Phanta’ (a sample-heavy track about the 60’s “Children of God” death cult). – Miles Silverstein

Late Teens – Press Club

During a deep dive into Melbourne’s local scene this fall I stumbled on Press Club’s first album Late Teens. Full of loud percussion and bursts of energy, Late Teens steers into the messiness. Despite the low energy of St Andrews in November, this album got me through those last few weeks of classes (and again in April), with tracks like’ Crash’, ‘Suburbia’, and, one of the my favorite break up songs, ’Late Teens’. Like wine night with your flatmates, Late Teens has fun with misery – there’s anger, there’s disappointment, but its not the end of the world. – Mia Romanoff

Graceland - Paul Simon

An unbelievable feat in the history of popular music, Paul Simon’s Graceland has been written about six ways from Sunday in the forty years since its release. It really does speak for itself. I rediscovered this album as it began to get warm again in St Andrews, and beach walks soundtracked by ‘The Boy In the Bubble’ or ‘Diamonds On the Soles of Her Shoes’ made deadline season all the more manageable.  – Miles Silverstein

‘Cypress’ (and New Jersey/I Hate Steven Springer) – Blue Deputy

I am definitely cheating with this three in one answer, but having discovered Blue Deputy in High School when they were based in Philly, the now-Belfast based band has come to define for me what it means to prioritize quality over quantity. Having released only 3 singles (New Jersey/I Hate Steven Singer in 2020 and ‘Cypress’ this past October), each of these tracks has managed to become and stay at the top of my “must listen” list. ‘New Jersey’ cuts right through you getting at that nagging disappointment and exasperation that comes with a relationship always being slightly wrong – always just short of what it could be if they and everything else were different. Their new single ‘Cypress’ goes beyond this perpetual discomfort and gets into something below the surface. ‘Cypress’ may be melodic and moody but cannot be confined to the box of “mellow music” that people love to stick singer-songwriters into. What is left is a devastatingly simple portrait of insecurity, love, and heartbreak that is essential listening. – Mia Romanoff

45 Pounds - YHWH Nailgun

This is a new one, released at the end of March 2025 – the record is just over a month old at time of writing. It’s my current fixation, a go-to album for the end of my final year at St Andrews. Equal parts surrealist abrasion and danceable percussion, YHWH Nailgun are carrying the torch of Lightning Bolt, Hella, James Chance, and more. On 45 Pounds, they bring no wave back to New York with a new mathy, danceable flair. Standout songs on the record are ‘Castrato Raw (Fullback)’, ‘Tear Pusher’, and ‘Changer’, but it is most appropriately enjoyed as a singular experience from front to back. Let 45 Pounds consume and overwhelm your every sense as one. – Miles Silverstein

Crazy Arms – Pigeon Pit

Having been released this past January, Pigeon Pit’s latest album, Crazy Arms, is some of their best work yet. Absolutely dominating my January and February listening, Crazy Arms pulled me out of my typical winter music slump. Though the album is phenomenal from start to finish, favorites include, ‘Hot Shower, Winter Morning’, ‘Bronco’, and ‘Maddy’s Song’. Crazy Arms is everything all at once – kind, forgiving, messy, lost – but it doesn’t shove any of the chaos away. – Mia Romanoff

‘Easy Money’ - King Crimson

Winter, to me, lends itself nicely to progressive rock. I’m never one to shy away from a 10+ minute song, but there’s something about the winter that invites it a little more. This past winter, I reacquainted myself with King Crimson’s Larks’ Tongues in Aspic. An underrated masterpiece often overshadowed by Red, Larks’ really can speak for itself when given the opportunity. Its centerpiece is a rather poppy and comparatively short (7 minutes) tune that shows off the full range of 70’s King Crimson’s musical capacity. Sparse sections of complete silence are built from the ground up to sonic assaults from every direction. ‘Easy Money’ is an exploration of everything the band can do – weird percussion, off-putting silence, walls of sound, raring violin solos, and abstract chord harmonization, all the while holding onto catchy hooks and hummable choruses. – Miles Silverstein

‘The Destroyer’ – Famous (UK)

While I have already written about Famous’ Party Album as part of Hearing Aid’s favorite albums of 2024, I would be remiss if I didn’t take this opportunity to reiterate the brilliance of ’The Destroyer’. Somewhat hidden in the middle of the album, ‘The Destroyer’ is the closest I’ve found to the perfect song. Both heart-wrenching and freeing, the song comes in at just under three minutes and does not waste a second managing to somehow be all build up and all payoff – from the intro to the outro it locks you into its raw and unbridled world. – Mia Romanoff

‘Paris 1919’ - John Cale

Everyone lauds Lou Reed’s solo career – few take a second look at John Cale’s. What gives! Lou Reed may have written the lyrics and some guitar parts for the Velvets, but all the avant-garde sensibilities that pushed their music from 60s pop into the legendary trailblazing art rock it is immortalized as today was all John Cale and his weird cello! Everyone knows the output of the Velvet Underground fell off after White Light/White Heat anyway. All jokes aside, an early masterpiece of Cale’s solo career is the song ‘Paris 1919’, a beautiful, maxi orchestral tune with a legendary triumphant chorus. No one really knows what the lyrics mean, which add to the abstract beauty of such an ethereal tune. The backing band is entirely string instruments, which adds a kind of melancholic nostalgia for a bygone era of Parisian high society. The song is nothing short of gorgeous, and it stands alone above the work of any of the former members of the Velvet Underground. If you’re a Lou Reed fan, it’s about time you hear the guy he fired – it’ll blow your mind. – Miles Silverstein

Blond – Frank Ocean

I know you’ve heard it, but when it comes to albums that defined this past year for me Blond has to make the list. The production on this album is unmatched, managing to stay fresh even after 9 years. (Guys don’t worry he’s going to drop the album any day now.) Though obvious favorites include ’Self Control’ and ‘Nights’, I urge you to revisit, André 3000’s feature, ‘Solo (Reprise)’ and album closer ‘Futura Free’. That being said, the shifts and whispers that make Blond so special are clearest when listened to from start to finish. – Mia Romanoff