Geese is cool. The Brooklyn-based Gen Z band revived a certain style of rock and roll this year—and our music writer picked the group’s fall release as her album of the year. Plus:

• Susan B. Glasser on Trump’s profane Presidency • Americans can gamble on the news now • Our review of the latest “Knives Out” mystery

Geese is a dramatic outfit, prone to bursts of sound, meandering digressions, and feral bleating.Illustration by Claire Merchlinsky

Amanda Petrusich A staff writer covering music.

In late September, the Brooklyn-based band Geese released “Getting Killed,” its third studio album. The members of Geese are young, lanky, and elegantly disaffected in a way that recalls both the Strokes and the Velvet Underground, two forebears of a certain strain of New York City cool. Less than a year prior, Cameron Winter, Geese’s twenty-three-year-old vocalist, had released a solo album titled “Heavy Metal.” It arrived during the end-of-year hubbub, and it took critics and listeners a few weeks to catch up to its odd, jagged brilliance. “Heavy Metal” slowly raised expectations for Geese’s next LP; Winter seemed to be on a hot streak, writing songs that felt vulnerable, weird, trenchant, and surprisingly catchy.

Fortunately, “Getting Killed,” which I write about in this week’s issue, is a gorgeous and provocative record. For me, there is something ineffably but profoundly New York-y about this band, in both comportment and sound. It’s been a while since the city produced an act that feels so emblematic of the place itself: a little cocky, a little tough, self-assured, very smart, and, on occasion, shockingly lovely. If you are new to Geese, I’d recommend starting with “Taxes,” a song that’s both funny (“If you want me to pay my taxes / You’d better come over with a crucifix / You’re gonna have to nail me down,” Winter sings) and also ecstatic. There’s a moment about ninety seconds in when the track suddenly opens up, becomes jangly, infectious, neon. Hearing it for the first time was one of the best things that happened to me in 2025.

See the list of the year’s best music »

And see more of our picks for the best in culture this year:

• Books: Twenty-four essential reads in fiction and nonfiction. 📚
• Movies: Our critics share their duelling lists. 🎥
• Podcasts: In a moment when every podcast has pivoted to video, what was still worth listening to? 🎤

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Editor’s Pick

Photograph by Greg Kahn for The New Yorker

Going Nuclear Without Blowing Up

There are approximately four hundred nuclear power plants around the world. Experts are worried about a new era of atomic brinkmanship and covert proliferation. Robin Wright reports on how an elegant Argentinean diplomat named Rafael Grossi risks his life tracking the world’s most dangerous material. Read the story »

More Top Stories

• The Curse of Trump 2.0
• “Wake Up Dead Man”: A Murder Mystery with God in the Details
• America’s Betting Craze Has Spread to Its News Networks
• Chris Paul Was Sent Home for Being Himself

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Our Culture Picks

• Read: Our editors and critics think that “Audition,” Katie Kitamura’s first novel set in the U.S., is one of 2025’s essential reads.
• Watch: With his latest film, “Is This Thing On?,” the director Bradley Cooper has scaled back from the grandness of “A Star Is Born” and “Maestro.”
• Listen: Geese owes an attitudinal debt to the punk pioneers the Stooges.

Daily Cartoon

“These layers were formed from thousands of years of A.I. slop.”

Cartoon by Adam Douglas Thompson

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Puzzles & Games

• Today’s Crossword Puzzle: Grain-storage structures—five letters.
• Shuffalo: Can you make a longer word with each new letter?

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P.S. Jimmy’s Corner, a gritty boxing-themed dive bar near Times Square that opened in 1971, faces eviction. The spot, an old favorite among New Yorker staffers, “has the feel of an underdog story.” 🥊

Ian Crouch contributed to today’s edition.