Tag Archives for best albums of 2025

100 Favorite Albums of 2025: 25-1

We did, the home stretch. Proud of everyone for getting through what was, well, yet another difficult year. Regardless where you’re reading this from, it’s probably been difficult there, and I empathize with you. Luckily, music always has our backs. I’m almost always drawn to the heavier, faster, darker bands, and that’s especially true in years like this. You’ll find a lot of that in my top 25 – but not exclusively. I’m jetlagged from a flight and you’re tired of reading top lists, so let’s just get on with it.

#25. PinkPantheress – Fancy That

Without intending to, I listened to a lot more electronic and dance music this year than normal. Sometimes, I need an album that’s just fast and fun. This seriously scratched that itch, a 9-song, 20-minute mini-album that drops big beats relentlessly, alongside PinkPantheress’s bouncy vocals. Whiplash pop music mixed with UK rave music. I don’t make a lot of concessions to “England” but they really got the electronic music scene on lock. This hearkens back to the 90s club scene but also sounds completely 2025. Good music to turn your brain off and dance to. 

#24. Billy Woods – Golliwog

Another perennial favorite of mine, his presence on this list shouldn’t be surprising at all. It’s also one of the most acclaimed albums of the year in general. The indie rap hotshot has already released a number of great records both solo and as a member of Armand Hammer, but this is his magnum opus. A tough record about a tough life, an autobiography the artist’s fascinating life and his experiences in NYC. Sure, that album’s been done a million times, but if it’s earnest then it’s justifiable. This is not only earnest, it’s raw, nervous, and at times still redacted, as if Woods immediately regrets telling the listener something. 

#23. Smerz – Big city life

It’s rare in today’s music melting pot that you hear something that sounds totally new. This sounds totally new. The best I can surmise Smerz is that they are trip-hop indie, with a little extra -hop, and some jazz. Short, funky blasts that sound like the coolest thing this side of Jon Spencer. I’ve already deep-dived their previous albums – their two prior full-lengths are ones where they serve as a backing band for an indie-pop singer, and an avant-garde choir. This band is hitting originality on all fronts. 

#22. Sudan Archives – THE BPM 

I was already extremely partial to Sudan Archives, a one-woman showcase that blends indie, R&B and electro music into one. But for her third album, she roped in a significant amount of house influence, and it’s her best album to date. This is blistering and unapologetic dance music. It’s got the fast tempos and big beats that the title implies, and the heart and personality of her other albums. It’s one of the most outwardly fun albums on this list, best played after midnight. 

#21. Paris Texas – They Left Me With A Gun

You may be noticing a trend in the rap that I like the most; intense but vibrant indie-rap is my go-to. Thankfully Denzel Curry didn’t release anything this year or it would’ve been overload. The new Paris Texas release is just an EP, and I’m always hesitant on ranking EP’s against LP’s, but when something is this good it’s worth it. A quick, nonstop collection of fast rhythms and big beats, and all without the boisterousness of top 40 rap.

#20. Bad Bunny – Debí Tirar Más Fotos

The biggest album in my top 100 by far. I pity the people who don’t listen to music in languages they don’t speak. I don’t understand a word of this album and, as a pasty white man in Boston, I’m not exactly the target audience. But Bad Bunny has such an inherent skill at taking reggaeton – a genre where the biggest critique is repetition – and making every song feel important and special. Reggaeton, rap, R&B, pop, there’s a touch of everything popular here. And even at 62 minutes, it doesn’t feel overstuffed or tedious. Put this on at a party – any party – and you’ll get everyone moving in no time. Can’t wait to once turn on the Super Bowl at halftime. Eat shit, Stephen Miller.

#19. Ela Minus – DIA

I went into this one totally blind, having heard one song from it many weeks prior. Obviously, I was floored. I was expecting some light-electro indie, and probably “just another indie album” like the influx I’ve already heard this year. It’s electro-indie, for sure, but it’s very experimental and not afraid to take risks. Pop songs are meshed with ambient drone, and enough dense electronica to make Dave Gahan smile. It’s a truly unpredictable album and had me clapping my hands like a seal. 

#18. Songs By Jonas – The “Everything Is Wrong” Album

I know nothing about this artist, but this was a whirlwind of bedroom emo and experimental noise. Most songs are short and acoustic, and make clever use of double-tracking to make it sound like a full band instead of one person. But there’s plenty of fuzz and glitch, too – it’s wildly unpredictable. There’s a litany of songs here that worked more than I thought they would from the start. I can’t wait to dig into this catalog more. This one kind of slipped through the cracks – it just missed the cutoff for my mid-year post, and I never got a chance to go back to it. 2026 gives me a great chance to listen to the other songs by Jonas.

#17. Wednesday – Bleeds

I have to chalk this one up as a major disappointment. The Asheville Americana rockers are coming off their album Rat Saw God – my pick for #1 in 2023 and subsequently, my pick for Album of the Decade So Far. Truthfully, nothing would live up to that behemoth, but this is still damn good. We’ve got the most country the band has ever sounded in lead single “Elderberry Wine,” and we have some of their heaviest, grungiest songs to date as well, like the leadoff song posted below. It’s an expansion of their capabilities, and there are plenty of all-time gems here. It takes a few listens to get into, as it is not as immediately striking as Rat, but it’s still unstoppable. They’re the best band in America right now. Surely someone has shown Neil Young this album, right? 

#16. Jehnny Beth – You Heartbreaker, You

I’ll be honest, I just tossed this on at work. I remain a diehard fan of the two Savages records, but Beth’s first solo album left me a tad lukewarm. This demolished my expectations. It’s a ripping rock record, not out of league of the post-hardcore/post-punk albums with Savages that put her on the map. Nearly every song grabs you by the throat with boundless energy and urgent emotions, often resembling a cry for help. It’s abrasive, but never uncomfortably so. It isn’t the most melodic album, opting instead more for pummeling songs that don’t sacrifice honesty. Beth has never been afraid to put her real self across her art, and this is real. This barely feels like art, more like raw human feelings on display. 

#15. ameokama – i will be clouds in the morning and rain in the evening

The first a few regional Boston* discs to make the list, this is another entry in the “wildly unpredictable” canon. But instead of sticking in the world of electro-indie, this cements itself in black metal. ameokama, who also previously sang for the metal group A Constant Knowledge of Death and just last month joined Crippling Alcoholism, explores every boundary of black metal and pushes past them. She’s confrontational at points, atmospheric at others. The defining focus of this album is existing as something you can get lost in. You know how Deafheaven went from black metal to ambient? Imagine all of that across one album (ahem, more on them later). There’s still time for some doom and shoegaze elements too, because it simply can’t stay contained. 

*- She dropped this album and promptly moved away, but it counts as a Boston album.

#14. Little Simz – Lotus

It’s always a safe assumption that Little Simz will make my lists whenever she releases something, but Lotus is excellent even on a grading curve. After the monumental, unexpected success of her album Sometimes I Might Be Introvert, she stepped away a bit and released some cold, confrontational albums. But Lotus is plain old fun. The UK rapper sounds like she’s having a blast, with big beats and bouncy rhythms. It’s a different and somewhat relieving direction, as it sounds like Simz has learned to leverage her platform (a guest appearance on last year’s Coldplay album hinted at this too). As expected, there’s a lot of quick, flowing ideas and most of them work very well. 

#13. mclusky – the world is still here and so are we

And thank your god for that. Often, I want artists to stretch their own boundaries and explore new territory, especially if they are coming back from a break. But would we want mclusky to give us anything they haven’t given us before? Hell no. The band’s first album in 21 years picks up exactly where they left off, and why shouldn’t it? The things they satirized so heavily in the early 2000’s have only gotten worse! This is full of short, heavy post-hardcore songs that could easily get mistaken as punk. And as expected, the lyrics range from corny and silly to deeply political and courageously specific. I was a huge fan of Future Of The Left, Andy Falkous’ band he formed after mclusky’s initial break-up, but this album scratches a slightly different itch. It’s loose, aggressive, and straight to the point.

I normally post studio versions here, but mclusky live > mclusky studio. Here’s how the song is really meant to sound:

#12. The Croaks – Menagerie

Another favorite Boston band, possibly my actual favorite. Self-described as “wench rock,” this is some Ren Faire indie. A 4-track EP of songs with full minstrel influence, even though some of them go off the rails into punk territory. There’s nothing like this out there anywhere, as far as I can tell. It’s a gimmick, maybe, but it is music that really hooks you in quickly, too. Longtime fans will recognize 2-3 of these songs from live sets, which are always a blast. As far as bassist/vocalist Alli Fuchs goes, more on her later.

#11. TAKAAT – Is Noise, Vol. 1 & Is Noise, Vol. 2

Remember when I said I always debate whether to include EP’s? This is the same boat. But let me say that this is the exact type of thing I’m into. These two 4-tracks represent the first music released by the band, but you may be familiar with them already – it’s African indie-rocker Mdou Moctar’s backing band, without Moctar himself. These songs mix African rhythms with dense, heavy noise production to make something wholly unique and separate from the artist they’re associated with. I saw these guys play a very early show and they managed to stretch the initial four songs into an hour-long set, it was face-melting stuff. I can’t wait for more. 

#10. Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound

Agriculture were already promising themselves to be one of the most exciting and unique bands in all of metal. But their second record blows everything out of the water. The band’s black metalish music is riveting, intense, not for the faint of heart. Black metal is kind of tough to mess up – a wall of guitars and some screaming can do wonders if done well. But The Spiritual Sound is not a relentless nor repetitive record. There are a ton of fresh ideas and genre twists, all sewed into traditional black metal heaviness. This feels the same as Deafheaven did in 2013, unparalleled and exciting within a genre that has hardly evolved over three decades. This record has a maximum audience, but for those it appeals to, it is a stone-cold masterpiece. Challenge your senses. 

#9. UNIVERSITY – McCartney, It’ll Be OK & YES

Two-fer. Deal with it. At the time of writing, I don’t know anything about this band, nothing at all. The covers of their album and singles invoke the same artwork as Dinosaur Jr.’s You’re Living All Over Me, and my brain makes a false connection between the two bands. But not that false – this is probably what the Dino guys would sound like if they were young today. It’s alternative, but it takes frequent detours into straight noise. Obscenely loud, this is one of the boldest debut albums I’ve ever heard. So rarely does a band come out of the gate with a unique sound. These folks are not afraid to put a wall of guitars and screaming in the middle of an indie song, and not afraid to stretch a tune to 11 minutes as they do on their follow-up EP YES. The only thing that’s predictable here, besides the unpredictability, is that it will be chaotic. Not for the faint of heart. 

#8. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power

The kings reclaim the throne. Deafheaven’s Sunbather is arguably the best metal album of the last 20 years, whether you like it or not, and they’ve been on a tear ever since then. But where each subsequent album has explored a different facet of their sound, Lonely People With Power combines everything into one. It’s their best since Sunbather. Pulverizing black metal, blissful ambient, riffs, beautiful lyrics completely lost through guttural screaming, and occasionally just…rock music? Also these are shorter songs than normal, which gives the band more branches to show themselves off. It’s like a Greatest Hits of all new tracks. Bring earplugs. 

#7. nurse joy – can i say something…?

Not the first nor the last Boston band to grace this section of the list. I caught nurse joy by chance at a festival last year when I had downtime, and their midday set in a cramped Rockwell was a damn party. Their debut and final full-length is a dance-punk whirlwind, a bunch of raucous loose anthems that transcend genre but never stray too far from being -punk. It’s fun as hell. In some ways it sounds like a record pulled from 2007 or so, but the basement sweatiness of it can only exist in 2025. Thankfully, I got to see nurse joy three more times before they split up in September.

#6. Backxwash – Only Dust Remains

Another shoo-in, every Backxwash album I’ve listened to has made my best-of lists. There was never any doubt here. The Zambian-Canadian rapper is freed from her now-concluded trilogy of dark, religious albums, but Dust isn’t a whole lot different. We do see some varied and more experimental sides of her, making this her most well-rounded album to date. But it’s also dark, heavy, conscious and sometimes just plain nasty. This isn’t something for everyone, it’s deliberately off-putting at points; but it’s yet another triumph in a catalog full of them. 

#5. Deftones – private music

It seems that the kids these days have become nostalgic for the 2000s, a time they just missed out on. It’s bewildering – that era was worse in almost every way. But one thing the kids have gifted on us is a Deftones revival. I saw Deftones for the first (and so far only) time in 2022, at Agganis Arena, a midsize venue mostly housed by BU sports teams. This January, they played TD Garden. Other luminaries who play TD Garden? Kendrick Lamar, Charli XCX, the Boston Celtics. Now, in order to maintain this sudden second career, they had to stick the landing on their new album. They did so with room to spare – this is their best album since their original late-90s heyday. Blisteringly heavy, riff-filled, and equal parts melodic and noisy. It’s been obvious that the band members are starting to move in different directions, but this album captures them blending these differing ambitions beautifully. Deftones should’ve been a “legacy band.” Instead, they’re leaders of a whole new metal revolution.

#4. Laura Stevenson – Late Great

Laura Stevenson’s classic “Master Of Art” is my all-time favorite song. She’s got one of the best singing voice I’ve ever heard. It’s not necessarily a given that she shows up on these lists, but it’s likely – and Late Great is her best album in a long while. Touching, gorgeous indie songs that can stretch into “fun” or “haunting” territory real quick. Stevenson is excellent at making tunes that are drawn-out and dense, and following it up with something minimalistic and catchy. While her music is never exactly uplifting or optimistic, Late Great was spurned by divorce, which only adds extra gravity to the always emotional music. Everything is all under the guise of Stevenson’s beautiful vocals. She’s one of my favorite artists and she’s back even stronger than she has been in many years.

#3. Paper Lady – Idle Fate

The final local release on this list, this album is nuts. Another debut full-length, this one is somewhere in the realm of heavy alternative/shoegaze, even just rock music. These tunes are dense and unpredictable, sometimes putting everything upfront and other times opting for a slow-burning bruiser. Their live show is feral even as the songs are patient. If you’ve been missing some heavy alternative, then have no fear, Paper Lady is here. The band features Croaks bassist/vocalist Alli Fuchs as a frontwoman, and she puts everything forward. Without fact-checking, I believe billy woods is the only other person to make two separate appearances in my top 100. I hope you like guitars.

#2. Bartees Strange – Horror

I’ve been a fan of Bartees for a while, but I never predicted that he would put out a record this good. Horror does indeed dig into the macabre, adding yet another element to his already-stewing melting pot. The indie/rock/rapper delivers a chaotic album of high-speed rap, pretty R&B and catchy indie songs. It’s fun, wildly so, and delivers from start to finish. It’s easy to see an influence of TV On The Radio here, although the more macabre parts come from elsewhere darker. Some of these songs absolutely boom, but not all of them do, it’s a very well-rounded affair. Fun as hell. Pair with a follow-up EP he released in October, Shy Bairns Get Nowt, which sees Bartees dig deeper into specific genres like rap and blues. 

#1. Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory – Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory

Time to get the tissues out. I mentioned my all-time favorite song already, but SVE’s “Seventeen” is close behind it, and the song guaranteed to make me to weep immediately. SVE’s first album crediting her backing band is her best in a long while. It’s apparent that the band were more involved in the songwriting, as these tunes are more complex and more instrumental. Guitars are largely ditched for synthesizers, itself a big change for her traditionally folk-inspired indie (and usually a kiss of death for me). But her gorgeous voice still prevails and makes these songs vulnerable, shakeable. Remarkably beautiful indie record. I wasn’t sure on this at #1, I had Bartees there most of the year. You’ll notice the two swapped spots from the midyear post. This isn’t necessarily an Earth-shattering #1, but I think it’s one that will have staying power. I can see myself coming back to this one ins forthcoming years.

And that’s a wrap. May we wish for a 2026 as plentiful musically as 2025 was. I’m sure it will be. As always, I hope these posts or even this top 25 can give you one new gem to discover. Or at least it validated your own personal opinions. This wraps up my year-end 2025 coverage, although I may post a little about films watched in 2025 too.

I always highlight some releases that didn’t quite make the cut, so here’s five more in no order: Liam Peroyea – Burn | Freckle – Freckle | Valerie June – Owls, Omens and Oracles | Golomb – The Beat Goes On | AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun

100 Favorite Albums of 2025: 100-76

Another year, another onslaught of albums I listened to once and feebly attempted to put into an order in early December. If you’ve stumbled on this page, or are even a fan of this blog I suppose, I’ve tried to give a little extra weight to some lesser-known artists here. This list is not devoid of superstars – PinkPantheress, Rosalia and Bad Bunny are undeniable locks – but I listened to so, so many albums from smaller artists here that I decided to bump acts like Pulp and The Weeknd, whose great albums both hovered around the #100 cusp. I don’t write for people who want their opinions vindicated, I write for people who are always hungry for new ones. 

I’ve also made a decision this year to combine multiple releases from an artist into one entry, because it happened so many times. There was a litany of follow-up EP’s and surprise second LP’s and what not, I didn’t want to cram the list with repeated artists. That said, let’s dig into it! 

#100. Greentea Peng – TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY

Every list has to start somewhere. Truthfully, I knocked a few higher-ranking ones off to favor Peng, a new discovery for me this year. Peng is a British singer who does a version of neo-soul that doesn’t so much check every box as it does write new ones to check. Kind of R&B, kind of indie, kind of rap, she’s a difficult one to pin down. The only thing that’s really consistent on the album is the level of fun, as she weaves through traditional soul and more experimental tunes. It’s sunny indeed.

#99. Geese – Getting Killed

I’m still not fully onboard the Geese train but I think I get it. If you told me one indie band was going to break out in 2025 and had me guess 100 bands, I would not have guessed Geese. The band does an extremely loose, jangly kind of indie that, when coupled with Cameron Winter’s abrasive and Dylanesque vocals, results in something supremely unpredictable and off-kilter. These songs range from melodic to fully insane, in a similar vein to black midi but less dense. I still don’t like “Taxes,” but some of the other tracks here did surprise me in a positive way. One of the most unique bands – and even if I’m not their biggest supporter, I’m so glad they blew up. People demand original music, and that’s what this is. 

#98. Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On

The pushback against sanitized music has been in full force in 2025, with a rebound in hardcore and punk on the center stage. But we’re getting a lot more jangly, unconventional indie as well. Horsegirl’s sophomore album is actually more varied than their debut, roping in some traditional, well-produced indie songs as well as offbeat, noodly ones. “Switch Over” was the lead single and best cut, and it sounds ripped from a Pavement album. Although I think I slightly preferred their debut, this is a nice advancement of their songwriting, and it’s unpredictable in the best ways. If you got into Geese this year, save space for a fellow barnyard band. 

#97. Julien Baker/TORRES – Send A Prayer My Way

This is match made in my personal heaven. I’m not a big fan of Baker’s solo music, even though I recognize she’s an insanely talented musician, but collaborations often bring out the best in her. I am a huge fan of TORRES, so my base level interest was high. I expected gay country, I got gay country. This is a soft, fun, low-stakes y’allternative album. The pair deliver exactly what you expect, and thankfully, it seems to have served as an elevated platform for the perpetually-underrated TORRES. Yeehaw! (Shehaw?) 

#96. Amaarae – BLACK STAR

When it comes to genres I don’t listen to as much like R&B, I tend to latch on to individual artists that really stick out to me. Amaarae is one of those, I’ve been a fan for a few years now. She doesn’t really have a base-level genre; her previous, R&B-heavy album Fountain Baby is what drew me to her initially. But this album is much more dance and pop inspired, and it’s chock full of bangers. It’s a very fun album, Amaarae lets her identity shine in a collection of big, bouncing tunes. Sometimes, it’s good to just start grooving on the subway. 

#95. Mizmor/Hell – Alluvion

Rifffffffs. I first discovered Mizmor through the collaborative album he did with Thou, Myopia, in 2022. Now, subsequently, I’ve used him to discover Hell (the artist). The Mizmor albums I’ve listened to have been marked by abject dread; punishingly slow riffs and dark ambient music that signify a black world of anguish far scarier than any black metal could produce. Hell provides some screaming to, you know, really set the mood. It isn’t actually the darkest area that this can be, because there’s a focus on real writing too. But still – four songs, 40 minutes, and one of the songs is only 4 minutes long. You do the math. 

#94. Viagra Boys – viagr aboys

Surprisingly, I’ve often struggled to click with Viagra Boys. Their post-punk aggression mixed with their spoken, humorous lyrics seem like something made for me. I mean, I’m a huge IDLES fan, and what are they besides a funnier IDLES? But this was the first album of theirs I really connected with; it’s loud, boisterous, funny as hell and still feels urgent. The theme here is the importance of comedy amidst rage. It helps that there’s more bangers here than previous albums, which is the band’s strong suit. There’s just a lot of crunchy guitar and genuinely funny lyrics here. 

#93. baan – neumann

Later on you’ll see some examples of bands who are taking the traditional shoegaze formula and messing around with it. This, by contrast, is just some really heavy shoegaze. They also don’t really stick to the formula, as their music approaches doom metal through its sludge and riffs, but it’s the inverse of bands warping shoegaze through indie. This is really gnarly stuff, and basically every song hits a higher high than I was expecting it to. Kill your ears. 

#92. Laveda – Love, Darla

This one took me by surprise! I was introduced to Laveda in the summer when I saw them open for Sunflower Bean, and I wasn’t super impressed by the live show. Each member had a different energy and the music felt ho-hum. In the studio though, they kick ass. This is one of the closest things to traditional ‘grunge’ that we have today (no, I don’t like using the G word). These are feedback-heavy songs of youthful angst. It maybe doesn’t have the manic energy of Hole, but I still think that’s the closest comparison. This was consistently better and gnarlier than I expected. The dream of the 90’s is still alive. 

#91. Orcutt Shelley Miller – Orcutt Shelley Miller

The band name and album title pull no punches. This is the debut record from the trio of Bill Orcutt (from Hairy Pussy), Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth) and Ethan Miller (Comets On Fire). While I’m not familiar with Miller’s work, and not very familiar with Orcutt’s, I am a lifelong Sonic Youth fan. This is less noise-influenced and more free jazz, meaning that it is still difficult music but not as abrasive. It’s thrilling far more often than not, and each song hits a bigger climax than you may expect. These are three experimental veterans who are just completely locked in. 

#90. Poliça – Dreams Go

This is not a band that I’m super knowledgeable on, but I’ve been a fan for a few years after stumbling onto their set at Riot Fest when I had time to kill. They were an odd booking, as their general indie-pop sound doesn’t mesh perfectly with the festival’s more punk namesakes. Their seventh album doesn’t take any grand swings, opting for a collection of electronica-pop songs that are just fun and well-produced. These songs are catchy, but still have their feet planted firmly in art pop. There is a lot of depth to these songs and they’re much better to get absorbed in as opposed to them getting stuck in your head. It’s pretty music, and most songs work very well. 

#89. Orbit Culture – Death Above Life

I’ve written about Orbit Culture in past years and I’ll say the exact same thing here: I love offbeat, experimental metal, but I think that in order to appreciate music like that, you need to understand the more conventional music that those bands launch off of. Orbit Culture are about as conventional as they come, a radio standard death metal band. While I’m ultimately ambivalent about a lot of death metal, something about these guys just sticks out to me. Their fifth album brings riffs, screams, and some blast beats added in for a touch. It’s nothing a metal fan hasn’t heard before, but it’s about as good as it comes. This album is missing that one big song, but it’s still consistent enough to make the list. 

#88. Pacing – songs

It’s a great title for one of the most unassuming musicians out there. Pacing, aka Katie McTigue, bounces between true bedroom pop and short, louder pop songs in the vein of Guided By Voices. songs finds marriage between both, but is more the latter. It’s a short album of short songs, some quick ideas on everyday things. The tracks are like little gumdrops, all very sweet and small. The first two songs here are “expired yogurt song” and “parking ticket song.” These are slices of life, small inspirations into normal frustrations. 

#87. Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)

Former list-topper Japanese Breakfast are still on a global victory tour after a prolonged mainstream breakthrough. It follows in the footsteps of 2021’s Jubilee, a collection of indie-pop songs that are just absolutely pleasant. These songs aren’t necessarily joyous, but they all have an infectious energy that is never plastic or plastered. The vibes are natural. This is a bit of a step-down from Jubilee, but, again, that album topped this list. Jbrekkie can do no wrong, and this is just another omelette in one of the most digestible catalogs in all of indie. 

#86. Saba/No ID – From the Private Collection of Saba and No ID

Saba is low-key one of the best rappers in America right now, and even a more low-key collaborative album can prove it. Private Collection mimics the title, as this album never feels like a grandiose statement and more like two guys just locking in and grooving. It’s a jazzy album, and Saba’s flow remains impeccable throughout. Saba isn’t exactly unknown, but he should be much bigger than he is. 

#85. yeule – Evangelic Girl Is A Gun

Every year sees a lot of new discoveries for me, and even after two listens I still don’t really know much about yeule. I haven’t heard yeule’s previous three albums, but the internet tells me they are more glitch and dream-pop oriented, and that Gun represents a new direction. This is a collection of artsy pop songs, each one following a traditional pop songwriting structure while always threatening to diverge into something more chaotic. It’s fun, even if the songs are about personal struggles. It’s an abstract work, while maintaining graspable rhythms. It’s unsurprising to learn that they’re also a painter – listening to this feels like watching someone paint.

#84. Hannah Francis – Nestled in Tangles

Chalk this one up to word of mouth. I saw multiple writers and publications hype this one up, and I’m glad I saved space for it. This is a pretty brilliant little folk album, with a lot of creativity and patience in its songwriting. These are mostly longer, more drawn-out songs, with great vocals and a lot of brass accompaniment. A handful of these songs have horns, but not so many that it feels like a gimmick. Tangles is easy on the ears, a soft but not minimalist collection that is easy on the ears and sounds just like the twisting trees displayed on the cover. 

#83. Wooll – Thistle

I go back to day one with Wooll. I was lucky enough to premiere their debut album, as well as their sophomore record Thistle. Lovely people and lovely musicians, this is an indie dreamscape. Where Unwind was very dreamy in a fun way, this shows a few cracks into more of a nightmare. I would still count this as something close to dream-pop, but it’s denser and darker than Unwind, working as a nice complement. I can sum it up like this: it’s just really nice music to listen to. It’s pleasant on the ears, and the songs are catchy without being saccharine. They’re original while sounding familiar, and it’s something to go back to many times. 

#82. Kevin Abstract – Blush

There may not be a more fitting moniker for any artist out there than Kevin Abstract. The rapper, who made his name in the prolific and experimental group Brockhampton, has always been one to push the boundaries of hip-hop. While “experimental hip-hop” is usually mostly synonymous with “abrasive,” Abstract always weaves in artistic elements. It’s always some combination of graceful, profound, R&B, alternative, hard rock, etc. On Blush, he instead curates a selection of songs. Almost every track here contains a litany of guests – and the ones that don’t are mostly credited to other artists. Danny Brown, Dominic Fike and Quadeca get their own individual songs, among others. It’s not dissimilar to what Brockhampton did, except that that was a group with about 100 guys in it. For a solo album, it is conceptually, well, abstract. And it works, it’s a constant change of pace with a million different tones, all working together as one. 

#81. Sunset Rollercoaster – QUIT QUIETLY

Sometimes band names make sense. Like a lot of acts on this list, Taiwan’s Sunset Rollercoaster were an entirely new discovery to me this year, and it’s just delightful. I normally don’t necessarily like “happy” music, as I often find it either hollow or forced. I think pigeonholing this as “happy music” is also rudimentary, but this is really feel-good stuff. Jazzy, poppy indie that’s always interesting and just unique enough to be both familiar and new. It’s a breezy, clever work. If a lot of albums on this list are poison, this is antidote. 

#80. Miya Folick – Erotica Veronica

There were a handful of albums on this list that I really liked immediately, only for them to fade from memory (and a few fell off the list completely). Folk singer Miya Folick’s third album had the opposite effect. I listened to it on a morning commute, thought it was great but not on par with her previous effort, and then just…kept thinking about it. It’s a deceivingly great folk-rock album, with a lot of subtle beauty and outwardly great rhythms. It is humble music, yet grabs your attention for the whole runtime. Folick is still getting grounded and already has a lot of buzz – watch for her almost-inevitable elevation.

#79. Suzie True – How I Learned to Love What’s Gone

Chalk this one up to “it’s just me music.” I love Suzie True, and I loved their new album! The band’s squeaky clean but fiercely energetic power-pop scratches an itch that I get frequently. The band is in the same league as Beach Bunny, writing taut, power chord-driven ditties that maybe don’t qualify as “punk music” but sound real damn close. They definitely slow things down more on this go-around, opting for a broader spectrum, but it all works. A short, fun little pop-rock album.

#78. Disiniblud – Disiniblud

On a similar note to Sunset Rollercoaster, this is one of the more intriguing and lighter albums on the list. Disiniblud is a new group, a collaboration between Rachika Nayar and Nina Keith, two experimental artists that I was unfamiliar with individually. I don’t check out a lot of experimental music, but this was an absolute pleasure. It finds the border between melodic and ambient, with a lot of mid-song gear-switching. The songs are all unique, warm and cared-for. There are familiar melodies and sonic deviations, resulting in a wholly unpredictable album that never gets grating in the way that some experimental works do. This won’t have a wide audience necessarily, but it’s extremely satisfying.

#77. Panchiko – Ginkgo

Call it a comeback. One of the wilder stories in music history, Panchiko released one demo and crashed out in obscurity in 2001. 15 years later, some random person with clout got that demo trending, and now they’re global stars. Their second album is a beautiful collection of dream pop and slowcore, music I am not usually attracted to. Each song is unique, though, and each one is treated with explicit care. This is maybe the most tender album I listened to this year, like a warm hug. It never retreads ideas, yet is one complete whole. I really expected a collection of repetition, but I ended up wowed on every track.

#76. Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override

There’s two kinds of people out there – people who recognize that Jeff Tweedy is one of the all-time great American songwriters, and people who haven’t awakened yet. Even in 2025 there isn’t nearly enough respect put on his name. Tweedy has been cruising since 1990, as the frontman for Uncle Tupelo (1990-1994) and Wilco (1994-present), but his solo career has been lowkey and quiet. This album is full of songs that are hushed folk-rock tunes, and I mean full of them – it’s 3 discs, 111 minutes and 30 songs long. In criticism, plenty of the songs on discs 2 and 3 feel inconsequential. But Tweedy’s whole concept is about the importance of creativity, so why not include everything? Besides, it’s always pleasant to hear him strum away. This one might only be for the Tweedy heads, but I urge everyone to cherry pick some tunes out of this. 

Part 1 is done! I hope you found some gems, there’s some real nuggets in this section. Join me tomorrow for part 2, where you’ll see a behemoth of a project from a Boston indie group, some industrial metal, one of the biggest pop albums of the year, multiple hardcore releases and possibly the best emo reunion album ever made.

Here’s five albums that just missed the cut but still want to shout out: Die Spitz – Something to Consume | Jane Remover – revengeseekerz | Anika – Abyss | Lorna Shore – I Feel the Everblack Festering Within Me | Tunde Adebimpe – Thee Black Boltz