Chris Mason (Faulty Cognitions)
What are your top five albums that were released in 2025? (In order 1-5)
I’ll stick with punk records for this list.
- Home Front – Watch it Die
- Radioactivity – Time Won’t Bring Me Down
- Makin’ Out – Living in a Glass House
- Liquid Mike – Hell is an Airport
- Visual Learner – Greg
What band did you discover in 2025 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? How so?
I got minorly obsessed with this band called Floodlights from Australia. Their new album Underneath is moody and theatric and great to listen to while driving down the highway in the middle of the night. There were points this year were I had similar obsessions with other new (to me) bands like Friendship and Fust. I also learned that Motion City Soundtrack is one of my favorite bands from the mid-aughts even though I was way too “punk” to care about them at the time.
How will you remember 2025 (in terms of music)?
Faulty Cognitions released out second LP They Promised Us Heaven on Dead Broke Records. We got to tour Texas with our friends The Dumpies and Night Court, and we did a southwest tour out to San Pedro (for the Recess Romp). I didn’t realize how much I needed to spend some time in DIY spaces in the desert (where I cut my teeth) until we were out there. We also took our music off Spotify because fuck AI and fuck warmongers.
What can we look forward to from you in 2026?
We’re hoping to keep the one record a year thing going. We’ve got the songs written for LPIII already and we’re just working on them in preparation for recording. We’d also hoping to do a few tours -- maybe the east coast and pacific northwest?
What records are you looking forward to most in 2026?
I’m sure there’s a lot of I’m aware of, but currently excited for The Arrivals, Toys That Kill, Adult Magic, and The Dumpies all releasing new records.
Singles rule the music scene right now. How has that affected you as a band or label? Has it influenced your approach to new releases or touring?
7”s are the only singles I care about and those are dead. Faulty Cognitions has only released full-lengths. So I guess the answer is not at all.
