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Tone Madison’s favorite songs of 2025

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Music
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January 14, 2026
A sampling of the local music that helped us get through the year.
About Tone Madison

Madison’s fiercely independent voice on culture and politics.

Our journalist-owned, reader-supported publication highlights the neglected corners of Madison’s cultural landscape, elevates vital viewpoints from the left, and pulls off ambitious reporting projects. We champion things we love, but we also ask annoying questions and throw the occasional brick.

Latest in Music
A composite banner of the cover art from each of the 20 selected releases is displayed on a baby-blue background.
Tone Madison’s favorite songs of 2025
By , &
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Music
●
January 14, 2026
A sampling of the local music that helped us get through the year.
An American Robin with nesting material in its beak rests on a power line in the lower lefthand corner of the "Resolution" album art. Typewriter font with a strikethrough is centered near the top of the image and reads "tm." The image is primarily gray/blue with a strong grain effect, and a subtle vignette.
“Resolution” is out today!
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Music
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December 5, 2025
Proceeds from our new Bandcamp compilation will help fund Tone Madison.
Cynthia Burnson takes a passionate guest vocal turn during Christy Costello's set at the High Noon Saloon. Burnson wears a white tank-top and appears to the right of the image, tilting her head up with her eyes firmly closed as she belts outs, with one hand wrapped around the microphone and the other on the mic stand arm. A stage light coming in from the right sharply illuminates the side of her face.
Look out for our next compilation album, “Resolution”
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Music
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December 1, 2025
Our fourth Bandcamp collection features unreleased material from Madison artists.
Latest in Film
In a spacious and opulent house, two sisters stand at a medium shot in a sunlit room and look out to the right (through an unseen window). Both women have dark brown hair that is pulled back. They also both wear comfortable, long-sleeve clothing.
Evaluating tenderness and depth of family dynamics in “Sentimental Value”
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Film
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December 10, 2025
Grant Phipps and Lance Li argue in favor of and against the artistic framework of Joachim Trier’s latest psychological family drama.
A photograph shows a medium close-up of different sizes of two t-shirt designs hanging on a clothing rack. The leftmost one is "Blade Runner" and the rightmost one is "The Thing." The "Blade Runner" tee prominently features Deckard's face (Harrison Ford) as well as text from the film in yellow and white, while "The Thing" tee includes small portraits of the cast arranged in two long rows with blue text and the iconic alien monster design rendered in black and white.
Movie tee envy
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Microtones
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December 5, 2025
Pondering a shirt collection, and stumbling upon Cosmic Cabin, which has the goods—at least niche ones for cinephiles.
Still image from the film "The Annihilation Of Fish" shows a rainy park scene in Los Angeles with geese along the grass and paved trail. A man in a tuxedo and black trenchcoat carries a black umbrella in the foreground. His facial expression appears pensive and perhaps a bit upset. In the middleground, a woman in a blue floral dress and red and orange floral umbrella stands still and looks at him with a sense of sympathy and concern.
“The Annihilation Of Fish” wholeheartedly renders the enchanting eccentricities of a senior romance
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Film
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December 3, 2025
Charles Burnett’s long-lost love story from 1999 screens on 35mm at UW Cinematheque on December 5.