The Best Albums of 2025

We made it.  One year of Trump 2.0 in the books and it feels like it's been a decade.  The less said about it the better.  But this was also the year that I turned 50 which was marked with a host of trips meant to put some sort of meaning around this milestone.  First was a brutal 3 day hike up Mt. Shasta to prove that my 50 year old legs can still do it.  The last trip of the year was with my wife and some friends in Turkey that was strictly about celebration (and plenty of amazing food and booze).  In between was a road trip to Montreal with the three friends that I've known the longest (since high school).  That trip was all about reminiscing and included all four of us making our "50 year playlist" - essentially a play list with one song from each of our 50 years that was particularly memorable for that year (for instance, 2006 for me was the year of When You Were Young).  My 50 year playlist might well be a future post but it was a lot easier to put together than you would think.  I've been pulling this annual list together for 24 years now and it always somehow reflects the larger state of my world for that year.  Some years are angrier (a lot of years), some years are more experimental, some years are disgustingly romantic.  This year for me was a lot more reflective.

And I think what that reflective mood means for this list is going back to the type of music that I always go back to.  I always tend to cast a wide net and that breadth is still reflected in this year's list but, by and large, I found myself listening to loud, fast, not very complicated rock - pop punk, post punk, indie.  There's always room for some exceptional records in other genres and you'll see many of those in the list - but 2025 was essentially a Duke Jeopardy roots year.

Missing the list and looking forward

Honestly, this was an easier list to put together than most years.  My top 10 was a pretty clear tier above those that missed the cut.  Matt Berninger put out a nice solo album that is essentially a National album.  Hamilton Leithauser put out a nice solo album that is essentially a Walkmen album.  There was a sophomore album from Wet Leg that had some good singles but was kind of a letdown.  There was a sophomore album from The Last Dinner Party that had some good singles but was kind of a letdown.  The Belair Lip Bombs showed that girls know how to do indie pop.  Die Spitz showed that girls know how to do punk.  Neko Case came out of a long layoff to remind us all how awesome she is.  Pulp came out of a really long layoff to remind us all how really awesome they are.  And Ohio punk legends Whatever... came out an even longer layoff to remind us all how even more awesome they are.

There were really only two albums that were tough calls to leave off and they're both in a bizarrely very specific niche genre but from different ends of that genre.  If you're a fan of spoken word lyrics, these albums are for you.  First up was La Dispute's No One Was Driving the Car - brainy poetry about dread and existentialism delivered in an almost scream over angry guitars.  It's awesome, I just didn't feel like I listened to it enough this year.  The album that was really hard to leave off was Destroyer's Dan's Boogie.  Dan Bejar kind of talks and kind of sings over jazz rock instrumentation with a lot of feedback.  It's all very cool and I would confidently put it in at a strong number 11.

I don't have as much on my list for next year as I've had in past years.  There is some interesting stuff coming though.  First up in early January will be indie rock heroes Dry Cleaning.  They're consistently good.  On the potentially good, potentially really strange side of things, Flea (yes, that Flea) is releasing his first solo album.  His first single is almost 8 minutes long with some great instrumentation and plenty of weird lyrics.  Who knows where this one is going.  Gorillaz has kind of turned into a band that only does collabs and their next album seems like it's all collabs.  That said, the first single that they've released is with Sparks and is as good as you would think it is.

The Top 10 Albums of 2025

10. Witch Post - Beast

It's technically an EP, but it's a long EP at 8 songs and 30-ish minutes.  It's pushing the boundaries of full album enough for me to include it.  In a year where the most famous guy and girl garage rock duo got inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, it feels poetic to include Jack and Meg's spiritual descendants.  A lot more melodic than the White Stripes and a lot more dependent on the varied vocal styles of the duo - Alaska Reid and Dylan Fraser.  Witch Post is a lot more indie pop than garage rock but there's plenty of rock to go around on the entire album particularly on Dreaming and The Wolf.

9. Lord Huron - The Cosmic Selector Vol. 1

I was a real late-comer to Lord Huron not hearing what would become one of my top 10 songs of all time until years after it was released.  They have a definite sound - these are melancholy songs for lonely hearts with a tinge of cowboy.  They're like a southwestern version of the National.  They've been honing that sound for a decade and this album is like their dissertation.  There's one track that features a voice over from Kristen Stewart that is pretty lame, but every other song on here is solid.  Check out, in particular, Bag of Bones and Looking Back.  

8. billy woods - Golliwog

One of the great books I read this year was Dan Charnas's Dilla Time.  Part biography of hip hop producer J Dilla who died far too early at age 32 and part exploration of his invention of "Dilla Time".  Basically, musical time is universally metronomic - 1, 2, 3, 4 1, 2, 3, 4.  Black musicians in America introduced swing time where the last note in a meter is sped up.  J Dilla invented Dilla time where the timing is chopped up and re-arranged from meter to meter.  It's essentially only possible to play Dilla time with a drum machine.  I bring this all up because Golliwog was the first time I listened to an album and was able to identify Dilla time.  I was very proud of myself.  It's not a surprise since billy woods is consistently one of the smartest, most inventive hip hop artists around.  The production on this album is incredible.  You've got the jazzy, Dilla timed Misery.  The impossibly sad Waterproof Mascara about the domestic abuse of his mother and how his father's death didn't improve things - rapped over a production that turns a woman crying into the backing track.  And, of course, on all 18 tracks you've got billy's dense, smart rhymes similar in erudition and poetic skill to Kendrick but with a completely different delivery.  Born Alone might be the lyrical stand out on an album full of standouts.

7. Brian Eno & Beatie Wolfe - Luminal, Lateral, Liminal

This is a three album collaboration set between UK ambient music pioneer Brian Eno and American vocalist Beatie Wolfe whose music has been described as "space cowboy".  It seems like a pretty natural pairing.  Underscoring Eno's genius as a composer the three albums effortlessly move between completely different genres.  Luminal is pop, Lateral is ambient, Liminal is sort of in between.  Luminal is clearly the least challenging listen with songs like Suddenly that could even be called radio friendly.  Liminal is the most unique with vocalization incorporated into an ambient soundtrack.  It features Part of Us which I think is the best track by far.  Lateral is straight up ambient for all the hard core Eno fans.  

6. Raveonettes - Pe'ahi II

Danish rock begins and ends with the Raveonettes as far as I'm concerned.  Just like Lord Huron, the Raveonettes absolutely have their distinctive style.  No one else really sounds like them.  They're what the Everly Brothers would have been if they had had distortion pedals and effects boards.  Sweet harmonies between the two lead vocals with a lot of fuzz.  I've loved them for 20 years but the last couple of albums have been a little staid.  Pe'ahi II (yes there is a Pe'ahi I) is right up there with the best of their early albums.  I love their combination of noise and melody so much that any good Raveonettes album will automatically make my list.  This album has a ton of throwback Raveonettes tracks like Strange and Killer.

5. Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out

Speaking of comeback albums.  Clipse is brothers Pusha T and Malice with a lot of production on this album 16 years in the making coming from Pharrell.  No complicated Dilla time production on this but it's a lot more radio friendly.  This is the album for you if you're looking for smart rhymes and radio friendly production.  There's a lot of depth here even with Pharrell's ear for radio friendly tunes.  16 years ago, Clipse was all about cocaine and guns but this album opens with The Birds Don't Sing which is about the brothers losing their mother and father in the same year.  This is definitely grown up Pusha T and Malice.  Most every track on here is a banger especially Chains and Whips with some serious input from Kendrick.

4. Freak Slug - I Blow Out Big Candles

Freak Slug is super weird British artist Xenya Genovese.  This is one of those albums where the song Spells gets played on Sirius XMU and you're like "Who is....Freak Slug?"  But then you listen to the song and it's pretty good so you call up the video and you're like "Hmm....she's as weird as I thought she'd be."  But normal people don't make good music.  This is a throwback to DIY music that art school kids make on their laptops by themselves.  Freak Slug has one of my favorite musical devices - sweet girly voices that swear a lot.  Filled with catchy hooks, early 20's angst, and clever production best summed up in the song Licorice.  I love this album.

3. Geese - Getting Killed

Far and away, the buzziest indie album of the year.  It kinda came out of nowhere.  Geese have been around for a while so it was a pleasant surprise to see this take off like it did despite the fact that this can be a pretty challenging album.  It was a slow burn kind of album for me.  But they really seemed to explode after playing the song Taxes on Jimmy Kimmel.  I love when a band takes the time to craft an album and makes stylistic choices that a lot of people aren't going to like get rewarded for it. This is clearly a band evolving into the best version of themselves.  On Getting Killed Geese have really perfected that art of making very sophisticated songs that sound rough and unrefined.  I'll hear bits and pieces of Radiohead in parts of the album but this is a band definitely evolving into its own sound.

2. SPRINTS - All That is Over

My heart has been swelling with pride to see how Ireland has become the world's moral compass on Gaza and Ukraine.  A little less importantly but still pretty great, the Irish music scene has never been better.  Kneecap is officially the world's scariest band right now.  That mantle used to be reserved for metal bands, but now it's a bunch of Irish guys rapping in Irish.  Fontaines DC continues to put out great album after great album including last year's #2 album on my list.  And now, this year, we have the latest from Dublin-based punks SPRINTS.  This is just about as good as a punk album can get.  There's plenty of loud, in your face missives decrying the state of things mixed in with plenty of braininess.  I mean, there's an entire song named Descartes.  They're clearly students of the Pixies, though, and there's enough quiet to mix with the loud to make this a great, great album.

1. Rosalia - Lux

Last year a great album from a great Irish punk band (Fontaines DC) came in just behind Cowboy Carter, an epic iconoclastic album from a huge female pop star.  This year a great album from a great Irish punk behind comes in just behind what is essentially the Catalan Cowboy Carter - another epic iconoclastic album from a huge female pop star.  Before you read any further, if you have not heard the first single off of Lux (Berghain), immediately watch the video below.  Take all your preconceptions and expectations of Rosalia and listen to this song:

I guarantee that you didn't expect THAT because who would possibly expect that?  This song sounds like nothing else.  It is 100% unique.  Let's break it down - you start off with the full London Symphony.  Okay, plenty of songs have a symphony.  Up next, though, is a classical chorus singing in German.  That's different.  Okay, here's Rosalia now singing.....an operatic aria in Catalan?  Who knew Rosalia was a classically trained soprano?  Not this guy.  Back to the German chorus and now on to more of a traditional pop song sung in Spanish but with the symphony backing rising to a timpani led crescendo that gets us to.....Bjork?  Bjork's interlude is sweet and mellow but then things turn dark and here's Yves Tumor terrifying everyone singing "I'll fuck you til you love me" over cacophonic strings.  This song is only 2:30 long and all that happens.  I have never seen a more drastic right turn from an artist that was pulled off so well.  

This song is incredible and so very intricate.  It's about a relationship where you feel like you're starting to lose yourself and are being absorbed into an amorphous couple.  There is an intentional use of language here that I don't know has ever been utilized to this extent.  When the bits are very personal, Rosalia sings in her native Catalan.  Most of the album is sung in Spanish.  On Berghain the chorus sings in German which feels like an intentional choice because the part they're singing ("His fear is my fear.  His anger is my anger. His love is my love. His blood is my blood.") feels, for lack of a better word, very German to me.  Bjork comes in to sing (in English) the line "the only thing that can save us is divine inspiration" which it seems if you need anyone to sing about magic and hope that Bjork would be that person.  Finally, divine intervention isn't working, and we get to the sinister turn of "I'll fuck you til you love me" again sung in English which really does seem to be the best language for swearing.  All in all Rosalia incorporates 13 different languages into this album and each language choice is intentional.

Beyond Berghain, we have songs thematically arranged around the lives of female saints to explore concepts like relationships, humanity and AI, spirituality and incorporating classical, electronic, and pop elements.  It's such a detailed album that is so singularly unique while still being fabulous to listen to.  Clearly, the number one album for this year.