In this special edition of Big Ears: Conversations About Music, four deeply engaged listeners -Ayana Contreras, Piotr Orlov, Liz Pelly, and Steve Smith - survey the sounds that moved them in 2025—offering a preview of just a few of the highlights in store for Big Ears 2026. The conversation encompasses a fiercely prolific Downtown innovator (John Zorn), a wide embrace of the contemporary classical landscape (JACK Quartet, Hania Rani); fiercely independent rock bands (Deerhoof, YHWH Nailgun); folk music deeply rooted in history and identity (Haley Heynderickx, Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band) gospel music ripe for the dance floor (Annie & The Caldwells), two vastly different fusions of electronics and improvisation (Patricia Brennan & Flying Lotus) and two trumpeters from Baltimore & Chicago whose sound is deeply informed by local community and collaborators (Brandon Woody & Marquis Hill). This episode offers the kind of snapshot of outsider music scenes that only Big Ears can offer. Explore the common and contrasting musical DNA that defines our ethos. Give it a listen!

Tracks Played in this Episode:

Annie & the Caldwells

• I Made It

• Don’t You Hear Me Calling

Marquis Hill

• I Promise to Listen

• The Cool

Brandon Woody

• Real Love, Pt. I

• We, Ota Benga

John Zorn (Masada / related works)

• Jachin (Masada Quartet – Live at Tonic 2001)

• Sacred Beasts (John Zorn & Dave Lombardo – Memories, Dreams & Reflections)

JACK Quartet

• Conjurations (from Necronomicon, Complete String Quartets)

• Spectral Waves (from Waves & Particles)

Hania Rani

• Chilling Bambino (from Ghosts)

• Piano Concerto “Non-Fiction”: I

YHWH Nailgun

• Penetrator

• Castrato Raw (Fullback)

Flying Lotus

• Ingo Swann

• Arkestry

Patricia Brennan

• Palo de Oros (Suit of Coins)

• Antilia

Deerhoof

• Kingtoe

Haley Heynderickx

• Song for Alicia

• This Morning I Am Born Again

Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band

• New Threats From the Soul (Studio)

• New Threats From the Soul (Live in Cambridge)