So a little birdie told me that you're looking for the Top 50 Albums of 2025? You've flown to the right coop because, every year, for the past 16 years, I have written one of these thingies. And yet, for some reason, this was by far the most chaotic year yet. It was down to the bird on the wire, only recently listening to my 365th album, which is the absolute featherless minimum. When it came to flapping this list together, it was for the birds, no easy birdbath, and I cried like a dove, unable to sleep as that damn blackbird sang in the dead of night. But I realised, you know what? If birds do it, bees do it, even educated fleas do it, then I can do it! Let's do it! Let's fall in love! With music! Wooo! So, powered by a blue canary in the outlet by the light switch, I made a little birdhouse in my soul, and here we are, together, nesting, little love birds, in love not with each other, but the artistic audio medium, tweet that shit.
From a bird's eye view, 2025 was, honestly, fucking insane. Usually, birds of a feather flock together, and specific genres soar higher than others, but this year, no such pigeon-holding technique would apply. How this round elevated the norm was due to the sheer amount of absolute phoenix powerhouses. Three little birds upon my doorstep? More than that, Bob! Five or six of 2025's albums were worthy of the top slot, and each would've easily perched atop as the Album of the Year in any previous context. Honestly, this is the strongest top 10 I've seen in all my days, from when I was a spring chicken right up to a balding eagle.
But first, a bird-brainer disclaimer: it's essential to note that I loosely evaluate these albums using an intricate formula which goes something like: (talent) x (production) x (ingenuity) x (presentation) = (a). Then I take (a) and throw it out the window, instead favouring those records that hardened in my memory like white poop on the windsheild. So if your favourite is not included, don't be an angry bird! Rather blame my memory, which is like a bird exactly. It'll only fly away! I don't know where my soul is (soul is)! I don't know where my home is! What was I saying? Oh yeah, you can find a list of every album I listened to here, as well as a neat Spotify playlist of my absolute favourite 2025 songs here. If you still have a problem after all that, write your own list. I'd love to read it. You can tell me everything you want, and your bird can sing.
Ok, enough of this flutter, I'm done, it's done, I'm as free as a bird now, and this bird you cannot change. 50 - 1, check out this pecking order, bird is the word, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, let's get these eggs!
50. Dean Blunt & Elias Rønnenfelt - Lucre
Indie Rock1 January 2025
Spotify
If you’ve paid attention over the last, oh, I don’t know, 13 years, the name Dean Blunt has persistently jabbed upwards from the underground with a series of records that have left permanent markings on the skin of Art Pop. And then there’s Elias Rønnenfelt, the singer for the far more famous post-punk outfit Iceage, a band that has dominated plenty of end-of-year best-of lists, including mine. So put these two together, and what do you get? An EP that is over in less than 16 minutes, meaning that you won’t have a moment to collect any helpful thoughts. Oh well, might as well start from the beginning right away, as even if you listened to it four times in a row, it still clocks in shorter than the majority of indulgent rock albums these days. And the songs? They may be nameless, but they are perfect, even if track 3 sounds like two different songs unnaturally smashed together. It’s also worth noting that this record was released on the 1st of January, which means, for an undeniable flash of time, this was the best album of the year, no argument.
49. Benjamin Booker - Lower
Art Rock24 January 2025
Spotify
The music may build a wall of loud fuzzy rock, but somehow Benjamin Booker’s timid voice stands above it by standing down, nonchalantly reflecting on his bleakness as if lost in a daydream. Admittedly, his upbeat weirdo tracks seize my soul the most profoundly, but each listen has floated different songs to the top, and ultimately, the consistency of its quality and the cohesiveness of its arty sound have convinced me of its preciousness. It's undersung in the general 2025 album landscape, so I'm doing my part by giving it a nudge your way.
48. Agriculture - The Spiritual Sound
Post-Metal Blackgaze3 October 2025
Spotify
Agriculture are so artistically liberated that they almost blasphemously toy with the black print, fearlessly messing with the genre yet protected by a fortress of riffs so dense that no one can argue against them. I adore when this album goes for the jugular, but somehow its greatest strength comes from its weakness: the vocals regularly cowering into fragility, driving the metal into the mental patient. Songs like "Hallelujah" further prove that these dudes have the capability to do whatever they want, but have consciously chosen this noisy avant-garde path, which makes it all the more admirably unsettling.
47. Quadeca - Vanisher, Horizon Scraper
Art Pop25 July 2025
Spotify
I'll openly admit that I did not care for this album on first listen. But everyone wouldn't shut up about it, so I tried again, and thanks to just enough pop digestibles, my second visit encouraged a third visit. After that, its semi-mismatched indulgence settled into a coherent artistic vision that was fairly beautiful within its whimsy cringe. It's challenging to make a production with so much going on for over an hour without tripping over your own mess, but Quadeca kinda smashes it. That said, something about Vanisher, Horizon Scraper feels a little... too of The Now, youknowhatimean? Like, a trendy reflection of an age younger than me that might get lost as time moves on. Actually, I promised myself I wouldn't write this down, but here goes: I also get visions of Timothee Chalamet dancing to this record. I don't know why. I'm probably alone on this, but that's what happens in my brain. Timothee Chalamet dancing. I hope I haven't cursed you with that now.
46. Addison Rae - Addison
Contemporary Alt-Pop R&B6 June 2025
Spotify
The general pop umbrella is one of the most misunderstood and fascinating of musical genres over the last century. For starters, every other style borrows from the pop formula when it needs additional appeal. But more notably, pop itself has constantly grown pop crops that have popped preconceptions and broken through to the snobbiest of critics, proving that it can be one of the smartest genres when it wants to be. Frequently, this comes in some hybrid form, but with Addison Rae, it’s pop for pop’s sake, where the sexiness hangs thick in the air, and the sweetness bows out just past the half-hour mark, the ideal amount of time to leave you craving for more. As a social media influencer turned musician, Addison Rae is precisely the type of persona that muso junkies wish to fail, which makes this debut an even more remarkable feat. If you’re looking for the straight-up pop record of 2025, she may be your gal!
45. Amaia - Si Abro Los Ojos No Es Real
Alt-Art Pop31 January 2025
Spotify
I don't speak Spanish, so beyond my Chrome browser automatically translating the album title for me ("If I Open My Eyes, It's Not Real", nice!) I am in the dark about what Amaia has to say. No matter! As it's how she says it that provides the torch, leading the footpath through the magic with a dance in her step, rousing the glow of my spirit and then using song ("Tocotó") after song ("M.A.P.S") after song ("Magia en Benidorm") as the kindle to a warm fire that further solidifies pop as having yet another vibrant year.
44. Venturing - Ghostholding
Indie Shoegaze Rock14 February 2025
Spotify
I struggle against my instinct to blurt out lines I may regret, such as, "Ghostholding sounds like an old classic!" But the problem is, when a record shoves the depths of my being with such hefty bittersweet emotions, I sink into the atmospheres of some indiscernible nostalgia and say stupid things. For example, something about how Venturing reminds me of Daniel Johns? Anyone else? That's a big compliment in my house, by the way. Whatever, the vibe is there. Love the messy bits too. Surprised more people aren't drooling over this one.
43. PinkPantheress - Fancy That
Dance-Pop UK Garage9 May 2025
Spotify
PinkPantheress is in an interesting creative place. Her sound is as British Party Club as it gets, riding high on the current resurgence of smarty-pop we're hearing around the globe. But while she's undoubtedly part of the cooler crew within the demographic, I still get the sense that the world is only now starting to latch on as fiercely as she deserves. Case in point, this record has placed two Grammy nominations next to her name, which is an exceptional triumph for a work that's less than 21 minutes long. Still, I get it. This mixtape is as well-composed and well-produced as the best of them, and she makes me feel happy, so I propose we pump as much money her way as we can, just to see what she does with it. Right?
42. Maruja - Pain to Power
Post-Punk Rock12 September 2025
Spotify
You know the overwhelming feeling of unrest that dominates today’s political climate? Ok, so take that angry energy of protest and SHOUT ABOUT IT, but also... make it artsy. That’s what Pain to Power has done, and true to its name, it churns our turmoil into positive calls for action, using one message to throw punches at authority, then another message to celebrate the vast spectrum of human differences that make us such a fascinating species. I’m sure the right-wing will hate it, but they can chew on this left-hook for all I care, because Maruja bring the skill to the fight, with intelligent word play and jazzy instrumentation. Such talent is easily gauged across a gradient of styles that change as it goes, invoking RATM at first but ending off with something almost reminiscent of Pink Floyd or Jeff Buckley. There’s a progression in that, both musically and politically, which gives me hope. Although sometimes hope can be the saddest thing.
41. The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die - Dreams of Being Dust
Post-Hardcore Alternative Metal22 August 2025
Spotify
The World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die have been around for a long long time, and people change. But what's so hilarious about Dreams of Being Dust's slight shift towards a metal style is that fans fucking hate it! They're so upset! Hahaha! Isn't it always the way? You dedicate yourself to a group for what they do, and when they switch that up, it feels like a tragic betrayal. Then again, for more casual listeners like myself, the adjustment might just align better with your vibes, and you'll end up questioning if you're hearing a completely different album based on the general reaction. Truly, the production here is massive, not only in terms of sonics but also in presentation, as if there's some invisible force pressing down upon it that brings so much weight that it seems longer than it is, yet when it ends, it ends too soon. Even if you despise this album, the amount of work put into polishing the thing is undeniable, and what's more, you are wrong. I am right. There's not a factor about this record worthy of criticism, and your antagonism only reflects poorly on your undeveloped palate. I said good day!
40. BRUIT ≤ - The Age of Ephemerality
Post-Rock25 April 2025
YouTube
When musicians have sociopolitical messages, they usually rely on the vocalist to hit hard with lyrical attacks, but what do you do when you're an instrumental outfit? One method is to repurpose samples from Zuckerberg speeches, which, within the context of this noise, is arguably the most terrifying thing you'll ever hear. Another effective move is your visuals, and in the accompanying YouTube video, this album's fears are blatantly clear: we're progressing too fast, and it's destroying the planet. Incidentally, we should also point out that BRUIT ≤ have turned their back on Spotify, which proves they are action-oriented. But finally, even without all of this, their post-rock presents the post-apocalyptic just fine, provoking all the necessary emotions with audio alone, delivering something that Godspeed should've sounded like now if they'd followed the path fans preferred.
39. Alex G - Headlights
Indie Folk18 July 2025
Spotify
I have a complicated relationship with Alex G. Don't get me wrong, I like him, it's just... I kinda forget that I like him. I listen to his albums, and they're sweet and pretty and pleasant and quirky, and I have a good time. I appreciate his talent, and I treasure his layers of instrumentation, but then I simply... move on, the same as I ever was. However, something on Headlights hit differently, in particular that opening four-song run. Those tracks are so impossibly wonderful that the rest of the album could not follow, which is totally forgivable because no other 2025 album boasts such an introduction. For the first time, I wondered if I'd completely overlooked Alex G? Because this record made me feel so good, and then, quickly following, feel so bad, because Alex G purists are dissing this work as his most blatantly commercial. Am I basic? Regardless, Headlights may prove to be a significant entry point to the man's discography, where people who have never really vibed with him can finally click and make their way back to his more classic offerings? Time will tell. For now, I appreciate the serotonin, Alex. Cheers for that.
38. Psychedelic Porn Crumpets - Carpe Diem, Moonman
Neo-Psychedelia Rock15 May 2025
Spotify
While the productivity of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard appears to be slowing down in their old age, no longer shoving out a million albums a year, fellow psychedelic Aussie rock band, Psychedelic Porn Crumpets, are ramping it up! In 2025, we received not one but two records of their stoner goodness, and what’s more, we could consider either to be their best work yet. I’ve gone with Carpe Diem, Moonman (omg, great title!) as the superior representative, but October’s Pogo Rodeo (omg, great title!) ticks the identical boxes without losing a puff of steam. It’s incredible how they have their finger on a musical pulse that has existed for over half a century, yet somehow their pure rock riffs run circles around it, never constrained by the genre but flourishing with every song giving us something. Honestly, in terms of psychedelia, these are full-fledged modern classics.
37. Crippling Alcoholism - Camgirl
Gothic Rock12 September 2025
Spotify
When I first came across this swirly pinky album cover, I thought, "Nice, I sure could relax to a dream-poppy, perhaps shoegazy record right now!" Based on their band name, I should've known better. As anyone with actual Crippling Alcoholism will tell you, it's a condition that requires quite the balancing act, and Camgirl captures this concept proudly. The creepy atmospheres cloud the otherwise firm pop sensibilities that are as dark as they are hooky. Meanwhile, both male and female voices deliver messages that are either hilarious or terrifying, depending on whether we should take this level of self-deprecation seriously. And once you know all of this, the album cover suddenly shifts to represent the music really well. It may not be what I expected, but it sounds exactly like that. I have since grown slightly obsessed with their whole thing, tbh, and by the looks of the internet, I love this album more than anyone.
36. Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles - Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles
Chamber Folk Americana30 May 2025
Spotify
From 1993 to 2021, the band Low provided the world with 13 of the most essential slowcore albums ever produced. No doubt they would’ve blessed us with many more if they could have, but tragically, drummer/vocalist Mimi Parker passed away in 2022 from ovarian cancer, and Low passed with her. One can only imagine the hole this left in Alan Sparhawk’s life, losing not only his creative partner but also his wife. To make matters more difficult, Low isn’t exactly the most cheerful of music, and Sparhawk must’ve felt that, consequently leaping in a different artistic direction to heal. His 2024 solo record is best forgotten, but here on this collaborative album with Trampled by Turtles, he’s found the perfect folky country outlet to assist us all. What I find so fascinating is how much and how little this sound resembles Low simultaneously. More importantly, it hits hard as a post-mourning statement, where Alan seems like he’s breaking through the melancholia of latter-stage grief, almost discovering a spiritual expression within it. I see this as the ultimate unspoken homage, where some afterlife interpretation of Mimi can rest in peace, knowing that her partner is doing alright, and that she may eternally live on through the memories of Low, which remain sacred to all of us.
35. Volahn - Popol Vuh
Black Metal15 September 2025
Spotify
As a recovering metalhead, my lists are always the harshest on that genre because I am extremely particular about what qualifies. For example, I generally reject hybrids because I prefer my subgenres to remain pure, yet at the same time, I despise anything that refuses to progress beyond the past. You see the conundrum here? It truly comes down to the ever-elusive X-factor, which is impossible to describe and can only be discovered in the midst of the unknowables. Whatever that means, Volahn has it, because I distinctly remember thinking “wow, this is the best panic attack I’ve ever had.” It is black metal that is black black black, a suffocating wall of chaos void of air pockets, a fever nightmare that only stops when the 55-minute album ends. But while it’s essentially that same intense song from start to finish, it knows precisely when to make a change to keep us swimming, often in the form of a meso flute, bringing a dainty neutralisation to the Mexican fire, which is... kinda funny actually. Wait, was the X-factor just a meso flute all along? I dare not ask.
34. Erika de Casier - Lifetime
Alternative Downtempo R&B16 April 2025
Spotify
When assembling a three-component audio output designed to set me right, it may take the form of simple synth lines, busy trip hop beats, and gorgeously lush vocals, which (as you’ve no doubt assumed) is exactly what Lifetime is made out of. Erika de Casier takes her time to ensure her climate is soft enough to bring comfort but sexy enough to keep us awake, which is the ideal hazy setting to gently fall in love. I also resonated with the line on "Delusion" where she said, “took a screenshot so I could look at your pretty face all the time now”. Oh, so other people do that too? Kind of a relief to know.
33. Oneohtrix Point Never - Tranquilizer
Progressive Ambient Electronic Vapor Glitch Collage21 November 2025
Spotify
Oh no, there’s a bug in the orchestra! Or is it a defect in heaven’s insect factory? Whatever, there is definitely some sort of gorgeous soundscape in here, swaying close to actual melodies but not quite, impossible to grasp like water as they flow this way and that, distracted by tiny little details zipping in and out of your ears, the machine jittering, stalling, petering out, a digitised symphony of cacophony. I am unsure what to call this genre, but Oneohtrix Point Never wholly owns it. They invented something just to master it, then to conquer it, hang onto it, and do it better than everyone, because no one else even really knows wtf they are doing.
32. Honningbarna - Soft Spot
Post-Hardcore Noise Rock28 February 2025
Spotify
Fuck me violently, who knew Norwegian hardcore had such an abundance of raw energy? Talk about a Soft Spot: this album knows all about lulling you into a false sense of comfort before smacking you hard and smacking you weird. This form of noisy rock is famous for utilising very little to muster very big emotions, and this is one of the best examples you're likely to find, not only in 2025, but forever. Song after song after song lands every punch, until I'm bloodied and blissful for Honningbarna's success. With a decade and a half of activity behind them, they've finally broken through to a more major stage and can now enjoy the showering of props they've earned. That said, some mental defence mechanism does block it out, and I always struggle to remember it, gradually slipping down each revision of this list, but never gone entirely, because I remember something, and it's big.
31. Skrillex - F*ck U Skrillex You Think Ur Andy Warhol But Ur Not!! <3
Hybrid Brostep Trap1 April 2025
Spotify
What?? SKRILLEX!?? On myyyy precious list??? How could I possibly justify such an inclusion? I'll tell you. It's the drops. Skrillex is the King of the Drops, and while there are an incalculable number of drops on this record, every single one satisfies without predictability. To be fair, even with his cringe-dated brostep era, this was the case, so his constant tweaking to maintain relevance is a huge testament to a fluke-less success. With this album in particular, he's created something truly special, presented like the greatest radio show you've never heard which races along, a new song every one-to-two minutes but never losing steam, bringing you up then taking you down, giving you time to dance and giving you time to get your work done, never losing my attention yet never distracting me at the same time. What's more, there's a weird concept running through here that kinda sounds like a desperate cry for help, Skrillex probably telling us that he's going to kill himself, except it's so hilarious that it's easy to brush it off as comedy, hahaha. In the end, the loudest compliment I can give this album is that I don't even like Skrillex. I am embarrassed to put this record on such a high shelf. But I must stay true to myself and confess that, production-wise, he achieves several things I've never heard in all my days.
30. iANO - Be Again
Indietronica Art Pop28 February 2025
Spotify
iANO does it again. By layering his layers upon layers, the core chaos is encrusted with an upbeat bounce while the electronic sinks low from the profundity only melancholia understands. So much is going on, but it feels like a disguise, where there's an extra layer beneath those layers, one you cannot hear, a haunting quality that is desperately trying to relay something without saying it. And that is precisely what makes iANO so uniquely special as one of the most overlooked artists on the planet. He produces albums which are albums, complete artworks, not separate pieces. The constant gorgeousness of this guy's records cannot be overstated, and there seems to be little doubt that Be Again is a career highlight. However, if you are struggling to connect, I can only implore you to hang on until the very end, as the record only ramps up with surprises, including "What Can We Know", a shoegaze piece as swirly as anything MBV ever did.
29. Swans - Birthing
Experimental Post-Rock30 May 2025
Spotify
What I want to say about Birthing may sound like an insult, but it is actually a compliment. It's that this is Swans. It's the same Swans as it ever was, the identical experience as always. It's gentle and lush, and then it's jarring and horrific, that retreat-attack dynamic remaining as their fundamental thing. A song may run like an endurance test for eight minutes of repetitive slowness before absolutely anything happens, and when even the slightest change occurs, the relief is spiritual. So yes, again, I've just described every modern Swans album, but then again, no one else is making Swans albums, which is why I am not complaining. Their technique of fashioning a weapon out of subtle shifts and then bludgeoning you with it still has its place in post-rock. A song like "Rope Away" is an outstanding example of how you are always one guitar bend away from turning the uplifting upside down into the ominous. And when "Red Yellow" comes into play at only 6 minutes(!), you can see how Swans are making some compositional adjustments after all. Once the standard two hours are up, I don't sense that this quite competes with their best stuff. Still, it's no worse than their general output, which is actually a monstrous compliment for one of the most consistently terrifying bands for the last, oh, I don't know, four decades or something.
28. CMAT - Euro-Country
Soft Country Pop Rock29 August 2025
Spotify
Euro-Country starts on a high, but when we hit the third track ("When a Good Man Cries"), the record suddenly elevates the entire world, and everything makes sense, life clicking into place. There's an almost gospel quality to what CMAT achieves here, the vibe so comforting that it's therapeutic, while each song brings something special to the event. Every year needs its country representative, and this is my proposal. My ears purr, and my memory absolutely adores it.
27. Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer
Electro House8 August 2025
Spotify
Ninajirachi is an Aussie electronic producer, so I sent it to my Aussie mate, and he responded with, “Rad dude, sounds like my next nang mission”. I think that was a positive review? It must be because this is the synthetic serotonin we are all desperate for, digitising my spirits and uploading them to the cloud. But while it’s ideal for a smiley dance party with cute pixelated heart emojis popping from your head, it also serves as hyper-work music, bouncing behind the desk with high productivity vibes. Electro hasn’t kicked my ass in a long time, and neither has I Love My Computer. But it definitely pinches my butt cheek, and I giggle.
26. Samia - Bloodless
Indie Folk Rock25 April 2025
Spotify
I ruminated over various clever angles to sell Bloodless to you, and ultimately could not choose between two approaches. So I decided to give you them both. The first is to call attention to her lyrics, which include some of the best lines of the year. How about this potent confession from "Craziest Person":
I always look for the craziest person in the room,
Sit down with the craziest person in the room,
I'd rather be part of something awful,
Than lie about having fun with you,
Or maybe it's just that the craziest person in the room,
Makes me the second-craziest person in the room,
I'd rather hear about someone else's problems,
Than worry about what I'm supposed to do.
Incredible stuff. On the other side of the class coin, we have these questionable lines from "North Poles":
Trying to feel hugs from heaven,
Jack off to someone who's pregnant.
Little blue dress for the strangers,
Little black dog in the manger.
More importantly, the aforementioned songs join a group of five tracks ("Craziest Person", "North Poles", "Bovine Excision", "Fair Game", and "Carousel") which, stripped out, would make the greatest EP of the year. But while the other songs are filler, they are utilised correctly, neatly padding the highlights at regular intervals, maintaining a dynamic in which the hooks are never far away from one another and never ever cheap. How she manages such a feat is quite an obvious compositional trick, frequently abandoning songs before they sound done, giving us unrealised pieces of work coming and going just as easily. And, to be honest, hell yeah! Why play on for the sake of it? Why do we need a bridge ever? Normalise fucking off after the 2nd chorus, I say!
25. Ethel Cain - Willoughby Tucker, I'll Always Love You
Slowcore8 August 2025
Spotify
Over an hour of Slowcore, what could possibly go wrong? Honestly... nothing! Because this is Slowcore at its utmost gorgeous, and while the long long longness does fall into some ambient waffle, these extended, hazy atmospherics help densify its stretched-out existential melancholy. It's a particular depressive drone that most people don't have access to, and seeing as she's called this the final "Ethel Cain" album, the heartbreak is all the more tragic.
24. billy woods - GOLLIWOG
Experimental Abstract Conscious Hip Hop9 May 2025
Spotify
Every year, I feel like I'm reviewing a Billy Woods project, and each text is just a repeat of itself: "blah blah Billy Woods has been the best rapper for over a decade blah blah dude's productivity and consistency needs to be studied blah blah somehow this is his greatest work yet blah blah." All of which applies to Golliwog as an evolution of his signature darkness, delving even deeper into that dark as definitely his closest stab into horrorcore, waving his political messaging and ominous sample-use like a razor blade. Even when I'm just sitting in my room, I become whiter than ever, transported to bad streets at nighttime. It isn't exactly comfortable, but it's precisely what makes this a 2025 gem, through talent or force.
23. Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful
Art Pop Rock30 May 2025
Spotify
A little over a decade ago, I casually deemed Miley as the new Madonna, a title meant with all the honour in the world. My reasoning was one of genre-hopping, as by that stage we'd seen our girl bounce from teenie-boppers to electropop bangers to experimental neo-psychedelics to soft country rockings, all of which impressed me, if not by quality, then at least by their transformations. But with Something Beautiful, Cyrus has not only exploded in an uncharted direction, but she has also shot miles into space, far above whatever benchmarks she set below. With a tank brimming from 70s/80s fuel, you're going to hear Pink Floyd, Bowie, and Fleetwood Mac, as well as Gaga and, again, Madonna, as artists who've travelled those paths before. Every song plays its part, and the attention to production is so out of this world that 50+ minutes of Miley soars by, never running out of gas. At the end of the day, she went full blast for something and completely captured it, which is too much of an epic achievement from such a famous name for us to ignore.
22. JID - God Does Like Ugly
Conscious Hip Hop8 August 2025
Spotify
What’s crazy about this record is that I nearly scrapped it. I listened to it once and disregarded it as “not for me”. My system obviously works, however, as God Does Like Ugly nagged for another spin, and I relented. Thank goodness for that! I see now that this weirdo hip hop was never designed to make sense upon introductions. It requires time to grow, and when you give it that, boy, does it grow! The eclectic beats blossom into hallucinatory colours while JID’s flows wrap around my head so fast that I can hardly keep up, suddenly buried beneath a dense forest of warm Southern fun, and also, my wallet is gone.
21. YHWH Nailgun - 45 Pounds
Experimental Industrial Math Rock21 March 2025
Spotify
Ok, so that band name? You’ve already got my attention, hello. But the music itself pinned me to the wall from two different angles at once. The first is an intentional mess of noise backed by solid drumming that is out for blood. But secondly, it’s also vulnerable and mellow in its own misunderstood way, perhaps only attacking because it’s more scared of us. This coexistence appeals to both sides of my brain, and then meets in the middle to split my skull apart, proving that within 20 minutes, you can do a lot, or even way too much. It’s an obvious 2025 winner, one which is so unique that nothing else has the stamina to challenge it within the same arena.
20. Sadness / abriction - That Lasts Forever
Shoegaze Emo8 July 2025
Bandcamp
"This is an EP," they'll tell you, before playing 1 hour and 15 minutes of music, lol. It's also a split project, but Sadness dominate the runtime substantially, which works for me, because that's the artist I know better out of the two. However, if I came for Sadness, I definitely stayed for Abriction, these two as a coherent sonic match, each pulling their weight. And by pulling their weight, I mean more weightless, as the soaring vocals swoop down and scoop me up up up, impossibly uplifting, to the point that I could honestly be leaving the ground. Of course, with songs clocking in at 10, 12, 14 minutes a piece, a little dawdling is unavoidable, but it never quite loses me thanks to emotional suckerpunches of some of the coolest screams in the game. It's hard to think of any bands nailing this type of euphoric rollercoaster as passionately, especially when talking about Sadness, and I just want to hug the whole thing.
19. Shearling - Motherfucker, I Am Both: "Amen" and "Hallelujah"...
Experimental Post-Noise Rock1 May 2025
YouTube
If you're into a one-track album over an hour long that violently rips off your jaw while spewing some conceptual narrative about Genesis mythology meets vulgar homosexuality meets pessimistic hatred meets amusing poetry, then boy, do I have the record for you! Prepare yourself for unrelenting noise, but be additionally warned that this is not leaking out the sides. It's honed in on attack mode with a goal to destroy, which makes it all the more dangerous. As to be expected, with such an ambitious runtime, some drawn-out soundscapes flirt with the waffle, but that equally enriches the spectrum, moving right up to the line on either side but never quite crossing it and always finding its way back to the central chaos eventually. Still, I can't help wondering how tight the nightmare could've been if they hacked away 20 minutes of fat and separated the songs, but I'm sure Shearling had their reasons (most likely just a statement of rejection towards the norm). Regardless of what anyone thinks, this is the culmination of something we've been listening to for a long time, and we've now reached some sort of a peak that we should probably not pursue any further.
18. Juana Molina - DOGA
Ambient Neo-Psychedelia Folktronica Pop5 November 2025
Spotify
Let's play a game! It's called "Juana Molina: Strengths and Weaknesses".
STRENGTHS: Juana Molina, as a voice, is unmistakably distinct, fearlessly bringing herself to the forefront because she knows she's cornered a signature piece of the musical market. So even if she repeats herself, it's the only place to find that thing, and that's why we come to her. Cooler still is that this unique presentation softly swells into all other aspects, permeating the highly detailed music and even the fun cover art, which are equally recognisable features in Molina's adorably weird universe.
WEAKNESSES: None.
17. Jim Ghedi - Wasteland
Progressive British Avant-Folk Rock21 February 2025
Spotify
People talk about old school, but how about going way back to the oooold old school? To, like, traditional Northern Englishman folk music school, 1800s or whatever, the only thing modern being the super clean production quality. Oh, and the fine-tuned art of song sequencing, of course, where it starts high and then takes one long trip into better and better songs (the move from "Just a Note" to "Sheaf" alone is masterful, gently placing you down, then shaking you right back up). But the sound itself, British Avant-Folk, has pretty much zero representation in our contemporary landscape, which is why this one sticks in my mind like the blast of a musket. We haven’t heard anything like this for centuries, trust me, I know, I'm a time traveller.
16. Huremic - Seeking Darkness
Experimental Post-Noise Rock13 March 2025
Soundcloud
I read someone calling this “crescendo core”, and that is unnecessarily accurate. The jammy chaos repeats and repeats but builds and builds until nuts and bolts start to fall out of my body from every orifice, so many nuts and bolts, lost. I’m almost tempted to call this post-post-rock, as it stretches out whatever the fuck that means anymore anyway. Us music lovers, we talk about the X-factor in an album, and this, my comrades, has it: an undefinable element that vibrates beyond the sum of its parts, above itself or below itself, as one, so the other. My only confession is that I struggle to remember it when it’s over, but when it’s on, it’s about as good as an album could possibly get, and sounds like something that is already a staple in musical history.
15. Oklou - Choke Enough
Electronic Alt-Pop7 February 2025
Spotify
Cheers to albums that feel like I've swallowed a fairy and now it's fluttering all around, bumping my insides, my stomach acids slowly dissolving it into a magic healing potion, distributed through my veins. If you think that sounds too theatrical, you obviously haven't listened to the record yet. Admittedly, the runtime may have a slight midway slump, but it's nothing to whine about as the ethereal euphoria keeps my foot tapping and my smile smiling throughout. I can only express gratitude for such a thing. More pop like this, plz, thx.
14. Pile - Sunshine and Balance Beams
Post-Hardcore Indie Rock15 August 2025
Spotify
What do you call it when one of the best bands in the world levels up even higher? Would you perhaps say they’ve... climbed... to the top... of the pile?? I’m not sure where the top of that pile is or what this pile consists of exactly, but Sunshine and Balance Beams is certainly at the top of the Pile pile, where both the production and compositional value have been cleaned up so we can really hear the outward passion crying from depths of their guts. Another way of putting it is that Pile always remind me of holding a feral animal that is petrified and ready to attack. What I really want to do is set it free, but I can’t seem to let go. Unsure if that makes sense, but this album is the most intense version of that they’ve ever done.
13. Saya Gray - Saya
Indie Art Folk Pop21 February 2025
Spotify
If you scraped my taste buds to generate an album perfectly suited to me, Saya would most likely be the output. I may obsessively scour every corner of every genre, but Indie Art Pop remains my go-to happy place, and Saya Gray? She knows exactly how to play me, lifting me up with the quirks, then letting me down gently with little breathers of ambience. Her lyrics suffer from cliches, but if I listen with my spirit rather than my ears, it’s a healing experience from beginning to end, clocking in at just under 40 minutes, the ideal time for any record not overstaying its welcome. If there were more music like this, the world would be a better place. Just listen to "Shell" and tell me I'm wrong.
12. La Dispute - No One Was Driving the Car
Post-Hardcore Emo5 September 2025
Spotify
La Dispute's signature technique was always one of a hard exterior surrounding a fragile interior, where the passion and the power are launched from a place of compassionate awareness and vulnerable spirituality. Considering the bounds of post-hardcore guitarwork and vocalist Jordan Dreyer's monotone, almost spoken-word poetics, you'd be forgiven for thinking this approach would not remain relevant for nearly two decades. But that'd be wrong. No One Was Driving the Car is a prominent step in every direction, bringing more muscle around an even softer core, not miles from what they've always done, but landing every feel harder than ever before. It's my favourite album they've made since 2011's Wildlife, which is saying a lot, because Wildlife means everything to me.
11. LAUSSE THE CAT - The Mocking Stars
Abstract Jazz Rap6 November 2025
Spotify
Sometimes you hear an album once, and you just know right away that it's something special. And you hear it again and again, and you sit there all smug with yourself that you were totally right. As far as general mood goes, I swear, I get flashbacks during this record of sitting comfortably on the wooden floor of a warm room, chilling out with friends, all smiles, mindful in the joyful moment, but not ignorantly blissful, aware of the nostalgia it will bring in a future which is equally melancholic and optimistic. But then, if you really listen to the lyrics, it's actually a fairy tale about a cat or something? Like, it's really committed to the cat thing. Whatever, everything about this record is super talented, and despite the feline focus, so much of it applies to my life. Do I want to get a job? Naahhhh!
10. Lily Allen - West End Girl
Alt-Pop24 October 2025
Spotify
Lily Allen has never been a stranger thing (SWIDT?) to tabloid drama, which is why we shouldn't be surprised that she has produced one of the most scathing revenge break-up albums in the history of music. The songs may be superbly standalone, each with single potential, but together they function as a clear narrative, dragging someone unnamed through the muddy laundry. BUT WE KNOW EXACTLY WHO HE IS. We were following the relationship from the start, and now she's handed us a magnifying glass to analyse the ultimate destruction, and we have to wonder... how can this not result in a lawsuit? How does he feel after hearing this brutal onslaught? Hopefully we'll find out, but for now, it's enough to know how Lily feels, as she spreads her heart wide open, her pain made even more potent by her theatrical experience and her signature humour. And who's Madeline?? Yet while she is speaking for herself, she is also giving a voice to so many who know exactly how she feels. In that way, something about this record matters. It's an artwork that time will not soon forget, unlike many of the so-called superior pieces on this list that will vanish tomorrow.
09. Model/Actriz - Pirouette
Industrial Dance-Punk Rock2 May 2025
Spotify
My least favourite method of reviewing music is comparing artists to artists, especially when the artist is incomparable. And yet! Here I go again: Model/Actriz is what you’d get if Morrissey had a baby with Nine Inch Nails. Aggressively dance extrovertedly within your melancholy introspections! Is that ridiculous? Perhaps it’s easier to say they are like the New New Xiu Xiu, except that’s even less fair because Xiu Xiu are still around and smashing it. So how about we simply compare Model/Actriz to Model/Actriz? Their last record was crazy good, but this? Is? Better???? Sophomore slump? How about a sophomore punch the fuck up! Plus, it delivers right to the end, down to the last song, down to the last minute. Always great when a fresh band proves themselves as not a fluke and instead one of the most exciting bands of the decade thus far.
08. Kali Uchis - Sincerely,
Smooth Pop Soul9 May 2025
Spotify
Kali Uchis has worked hard to rise as a serious contemporary defender of the classic pop soul torch, and with her fifth studio offering, there’s a solid argument that she has quietly taken the lead. Everyone is talking about the triumph of Sincerely, but it’s better than that, as a cohesively smooth ride where every song is intentionally set up to serve the next, and some of the most perfect tracks slide in near the end. But more so, it’s about those soothing vocal hooks that sink into layers of honey, dripping down into my spirit, then rushing shivers up my spine. Close your eyes, this shit is so beautiful.
07. Deftones - Private Music
Alternative Metal22 August 2025
Spotify
Whether talking about Private Music or Deftones’ career as a whole, the imagery of babystep evolution applies. On this, their tenth album, it immediately holds your hand with melodic tenderness, their famous effeminate side leading the way. However, this is a structural trick, and instead of relying on the tried-and-tested top heaviness of standard song ordering, Private Music swings the other way, punching harder as it goes until it rolls out with one of their greatest ending runs in their catalogue. In some abstract sense, this is a metaphorical summary of exactly who Deftones always were. They know how to be comfortably themselves yet still embrace natural growth, refusing to equate age with staleness. And this is one of their most impressive glow-ups so far, once again showing us that eternal relevance is not only possible but relatively effortless if you know how. In the history of music, I’d now happily place Deftones in the top five most consistent discographies of all time.
06. Geese - Getting Killed
Indie Art Rock26 September 2025
Spotify
This is a mad compliment to even utter, but I stand by it: Geese are the best Rolling Stones since The Rolling Stones. There is a distinct Jagger Swagger to their demeanour, a psychedelic bluesiness to the clamour that races the line between progressive jams and artsy rebellion, all of which are highlights, not a dip to be found. Cool! But while I am here to loudly state their undeniable fuckery of radness, nothing I know how to say could come close to what has already been said, as a brief scope across 2025’s landscape and Geese is all you’ll see, the ultimate IT band of the year, the absolute winner when all the averages have been tallied. Honestly, the way people are loving this is what I love the most, and while I’m not calling it my Album of the Year, I’m so stoked it’s yours.
05. Andrea Laszlo De Simone - Una lunghissima ombra
Canzone d'autore Baroque Pop17 October 2025
Spotify
Do you find yourself preoccupied with the unadulterated terrors of the world? Then why not step into this gentle Italian elevator that runs purely on love, gradually raising you away from the noise and into the quiet celebrations of heaven. It may take a long time to get there, but it gives you so much along the way, with such a bouquet of standout songs that it’s impossible to pick a favourite. The fact that everyone isn't talking about this record simply means that they haven’t heard it, because if they had, it’d be all anyone was talking about.
04. Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power
Post-Metal Blackgaze28 March 2025
Spotify
In 2021, Deafheaven’s fifth album, Infinite Granite, presented a side of the band they were always edging towards: a pure shoegaze presentation. General consensus went something like “Booo! Go back to Blackgaze! You basically single-handedly defined that genre! Do the old stuff again!” You can imagine the sigh, then the resignation, Deafheaven responding, “Ok, fuck you, you want blackgaze? Here is the blackest-fucking-gaze album you’ve ever heard from the eternal kings of blackgaze”, and then... they did just that. In every way, Lonely People With Power is a “back to the roots” record, and, goddamn, I cannot think of a band that returned to form as hard as this, pretty much smashing the form with what will no doubt be called the Album of the Year by metal publications across the board. I am not one for fan pandering (fandering?) but, as a Deafheaven fan, fukkit, this is what I want, and the point is that this is who they are: 100% this thing. Just listen to "Body Behaviour", which is precisely what they do better than anyone else, wrapped in one place. If they were trying to prove something, then congrats, they proved it, because on a list of the best modern bands, Deafheaven are one of them. And on the list of best Deafheaven albums, this is inches from the top.
03. Anna von Hausswolff - Iconoclasts
Post-Art Rock31 October 2025
Spotify
Part of me thinks that everyone is lying to themselves when they don't call this the Album of the Year, including me. Iconoclasts comes on strong af, a transcendence almost too epic for anyone to endure. But as it sloooowly burns across its one hour and 12 minutes, it engulfs you until you are lost deep within it, and then, suddenly, part of it. By Anna von Hausswolff's reputation alone, we already knew this would be another great album. However, she has outdone herself by building dark soundscapes around a classical core which allow her impassioned vocals to soar high above it all. She needs no help to do so, yet still enlists some powerhouse names to provide enhancement, like the harsh contrast of Iggy Pop, or the reliability of Ethel Cain on "Ageing Young Women", certainly one of the album's highlights. That said, it's not perfect. I have to ask... is "An Ocean of Time" really necessary? And perhaps most criminal of all is the saxophone style, which has completely ripped off Colin Stetson's signatures, to the point that it's frankly unfair. Still, nothing changes the truth: no 2025 album is justifiably better than this. And by the end of the decade, it'll be right at the top of that list too.
02. Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out
Gangsta Rap11 July 2025
Spotify
This is culturally inappropriate! So much of modern hip hop rushes towards gangster pandering or radio-friendly commercial polish, yet I've never heard an album that balances these two elements as perfectly as Let God Sort Em Out. Pharrell Williams' beats are cleaned to modern perfection, but not at the expense of integrity. On the contrary, duo Pusha T and Malice are incorruptible with their old school power, no amount of gloss shining away the danger. It's a tight attack that does not let up, no song overstaying its welcome, and that guest list? Does. Not. Fuck. Around. Honestly, I can't think of a hip hop album in recent years that appealed to me even as close as this. The genre is desperate for such a style, which I only realised now that I've heard it. It's on par with whatever the greatest hip hop albums are, and easily my Album of the Year. Well, except for...
01. Rosalía - Lux
Classical Art Pop Crossover7 November 2025
Spotify
With every album, Rosalía uproots absolutely everything about her style, so much so that one could forgivably confuse them as separate artists. Why would she risk her career like that? The stuff before was working! And it was brilliant! Why not build on that for a while? "No!" she would probably shout at me. Instead, Rosalía paves the path ahead with Lux, exploring a distinctly churchy experience that surgically attaches cold classical to her fiery flamenco heritage while her unprocessed voice cleanly slices through it all. Her dedication to mixing modern flavours into timeless masterpieces is further exemplified by splitting the record into Movements, where the song ordering is an overwhelming journey that smashes into BIG BOOMING MOMENTS that dominate your entire life, yet remain secondary to the subtle details that you earn to catch (or perhaps more accurately, they will catch you when you're ready). The excessive luxury and otherworldly expression flattens me every listen, but no matter how much I think I've grasped it, it reaches higher levels with every spin. And so, on her fourth studio album, Rosalía has gone beyond proving herself as an unrestrained artist who may very well be the greatest in the world, and we are only now catching a glimpse of this truth. It was a struggle for the 2025 top slot, but once Lux entered the conversation, no one stood a chance. This is the Album of the Year. If anyone says anything different, then I gently close the door on them. We do not listen to music in the same way.
Near Misses
FKA twigs - Eusexua/Eusexua AfterglowLou-Adriane Cassidy - Journal d'un loup-garou
Ada Rook - UNKILLABLE ANGEL
Rebecca Black - Salvation
Frog - 1000 Variations on the Same Song
Lexi Jones - Xandri
Djrum - Under Tangled Silence
yeule - Evangelic Girl Is a Gun
Mei Semones - Animaru
These New Puritans - Crooked Wing
Trhä - lact’eben
Wet Leg - Moisturizer
Nourished by Time - The Passionate Ones
No Joy - Bugland
Titanic - Hagen
Not for Radio - Melt
moreru - ぼぼくくととききみみだだけけののせせかかいい
Pupil Slicer - Fleshwork
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