20 records to listen to in physical format

Steven Wilson is one of the most authoritative personalities of contemporary rock, not only for his artistic career as a soloist and with Porcupine Tree, but also for his work as a sound producer and restorer who has restored centrality and depth to numerous classics through remixes and reinterpretations in immersive audio, not least the historic “Live At Pompeii” by Pink Floyd. Added to this is an increasingly marked role as a musical popularizer, capable of connecting past and present with competence and unconventional curiosity. For these reasons, his listening list is of particular interest.
Steven Wilson's “20 records of 2025” are not, in reality, all released in 2025. The criterion is not chronological but experiential: they are records listened to intensely over the course of the year, strictly in physical format, while a large part of the public shared statistics and playlists generated by algorithms. The span of listening is broad and transversal: it ranges from Tom Waits to Jeff Buckley, from Neil Young to the recent solo debut of Cameron Winter of Geese.

Wilson introduces his selection thusly: “These days a lot of people are posting their Spotify Wrapped 2025 stats and artists are thanking listeners for playing their music, so I'd like to take a moment to thank everyone who actually bought a physical copy of any of my records this year. In fact, a huge thumbs up to anyone who bought a physical copy of anyone's record this year, helping to keep the art of the album alive. I'm not naive enough to think that streaming is not, by far, the dominant platform for listening to music in the 21st century, but I also believe that the relationship between a listener and a physical piece of art is still something magical and special, that will never be replaced by ones and zeros streaming from a server. So here's Steven Wrapped: 20 physical releases I listened to a lot this year (mostly things released or reissued in 2025, but not only).”
Below, the complete list of the twenty records cited by Steven Wilson:

• Squarepusher – “Stereotype”
• Natural Information Society – “Perseverance Flow”
• Soviet France – “Chasse”
• Deathpile – “GR”
• Paul Schutze – “New Maps of Hell”
• Matt Berry – “Heard Noises”
• Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – “Dirt Silver and Gold”
• Dissecting Table – “Ultra Point of Intersection Exist”
• Mike Ratledge – “Riddles of the Sphinx”
• The John Cameron Quartet – “Off Centre”
• Orbital – “The Brown Album”
• Tom Waits – “Heartattack and Vine”
• Merzbow – “Collection: 010”
• Polygon Window – “Surfing on Sine Waves”
• Cardiacs – “LSD”
• Jeff Buckley – “Grace”
• Anthony Braxton – “Five Pieces”
• Neil Young – “Oceanside Countryside”
• Cameron Winter – “Heavy Metal”
• Charles Rouse – “Two Is One”