Favorite Albums of 2025
Music has really become my guide, companion, and reflective journal to the journey of my life. This year’s favorite albums of mine have really encompassed those three things thematically and sonically. This was a big year for me in branching out into new subgenres, new styles, and new scenes which feels fitting and reflective of my own personal rebirth and rediscovery of self.
Compiling this list and developing the content is always a great yet labored process for me. However, the reward of being able to look back on these albums, whether at the end of the year or many years later, is one of the most beautiful gifts to myself to be able to journal my life through the art and creativity of the musicians on each list. This is truly one of the coolest and most personal projects I take on every year.
To those reading this intro, any of the content below, and listening to the playlist, thank you dearly!
As always, below there are 50 albums that were released this year. They are listed in chronological order by release date. Enjoy.
Who Let The Dogs Out
by Lambrini Girls
Punk rock is steeped in tradition of social and political commentary. The bands that stand out and are remembered long past their generation bring a new sound or perspective. That is exactly what Lambrini Girls do on Who Let The Dogs Out, their debut album. The women duo bring messy chaos and leave order in the rear view mirror. The cutting lyrics call out everything from police brutality to overcompensating men to gentrification to nepo babies. This album truly is a progressive city gen z mosh pit’s best friend.
Date Released: January 10
Standout Songs: Bad Apple, Company Culture, Big Dick Energy, Nothing Tastes As Good As It Feels, You’re Not From Around Here, Cuntology 101
You Are The Morning
by jasmine.4.t
A multitude of factors, including being released just in time for the dead of winter and during my first year transitioning, has cemented this album as one of my favorites of the year very early on in the year. Jasmine’s brutally honest and empathetic lyrics coupled with boygenius’ instrumentation and production blend well together to tell a story of jasmine’s own experiences transitioning and changing relationships. I had a true privilege to see her perform this album twice, an acoustic set opening for Lucy Dacus and a punk electric small venue set, and both unique concert experiences highlight the incredible depth of this album.
Date Released: January 17
Standout Songs: Skin On Skin, Breaking In Reverse, You Are the Morning, Guy Fawkes Tesco Dissociation, New Shoes, Woman
Waiting Room
by Kathryn Mohr
When trying to find words to describe what this album sounds like, I think it's best I try to paint a picture. Imagine in the midst of an epic quest through worlds not-yet explored, and you stay the night in a cave during a storm, while sitting around a camp fire and telling ghost and monster stories to your fellow travelers. Waiting Room is intertwined with a dark and cavernous production. Mohr’s vocals and lyrics grip me in submission to listen to the raw emotional turmoil being spilled out in each song.
Date Released: January 24
Standout Songs: Diver, Driven, Petrified, Elevator, Wheel, Waiting Room
11:11
by Biig Piig
Much of Biig Piig’s debut album builds on her 2023 breakout mixtape, Bubblegum. High energy and genre spanning sound continues to be a part of Biig Piig’s sound. Yet, on 11:11, love and respect for a club night out is brought to focus with hit tracks like “Ponytail” and “9-5”. This is truly a fun club inspired pop and R&B album that is worth the listen through at least a few times.
Date Released: January 24
Standout Songs: Diver, Driven, Petrified, Elevator, Wheel, Waiting Room
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
by Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
For Sharon Van Etten, a seasoned mainly acoustic indie singer/songwriter, to come out from left field with a full rock band was nothing short of a surprise. Etten keeps her brilliant song writing and adds a level of emotion and undertones of postpunk through this band’s complimentary full and driving sound. Of all the albums on my list this year, this one stands out unique for its courage and obvious collaborative effort that is interwoven in each second of the song which translated so beautifully to being performed live, an experience I still think about many months later.
Date Released: February 7
Standout Songs: Afterlife, Idiot Box, Trouble, I Can’t Imagine (Why You Feel This Way), Somethin’ Ain’t Right, Southern Life (What It Must be Like), I Want You Here
Cowards
by Squid
Squid’s third album continues on in the lineage of Bright Green Fields (2021) and O Monolith (2023). The great thing about lineage is that there is the foundation of what came before and also the endless possibilities of what can come next. Cowards holds onto the band’s strong and ever present postpunk sound while also expanding their sound with influences that come with growing popularity and broadening touring locations. This album really takes a deep look at evil and malice around us and within us, even the subject matter takes a much broader stroke view on their surroundings.
Date Released: February 7
Standout Songs: Crispy Skin, Blood on the Boulders, Fieldworks I, Fieldworks II, Cowards
Serene Demon
by Art d’Ecco
I’ve been following and growing my appreciation and support for Art d’Ecco ever since their 2021 album, In Standard Definition. There is an electrifying sound and energy to their art pop music sensibilities that is so captivating. On Serene Demon there is an undeniable clear vision and execution that sets this album amongst similar sounding musicians like David Bowie, David Byrne/Talking Heads, and LCD Soundsystem. This album is so fun, many of the songs feel long without feeling drawn out, and is the best output in this art pop vein Art d’Ecco has been exploring.
Date Released: February 14
Standout Songs: True Believer, Survival Of The Fittest, Tree Of Life, Meursault’s Walk, Serene Demon, Honeycomb
MAYHEM
by Lady Gaga
Every time Lady Gaga releases new music I am reminded why I became such an instant fan when her first album, The Fame, came out - she and her music has been and always will be unapologetically authentically her and what she wants to do. That's hard to find in pop artists many years but lately with the tiktokification and the enshittification of so much of pop culture it feels more and more special to hear such a genuine authenticity and also such a high caliber of production and love for the craft. MAYHEM is a dance forward album with undertones of goth and punk while maintaining a clear definition of pop music. It is truly beyond fun to listen to something that is so clearly made with fun and love and enjoyment in mind.
Date Released: March 7
Standout Songs: Abracadabra, Garden Of Eden, Can’t Stop The High, Vanish Into You, Killah, Zombieboy, How Bad Do U Want Me, Blade Of Grass, Die With A Smile
Dead Channel Sky
by clipping.
At its core, music is just a lot of noises curated and arranged in a way that the final product is more than just noise. What clipping. does on Dead Channel Sky is to make noise unapologetic. There is a certain love for noise, a love for technopunk futuristic dream worlds of the 2000s that is the basis for some of the hardest hitting rap bars I heard and connected with this year.
Date Released: March 14
Standout Songs: Dominator, Change the Channel, Run It, Code, Scams, Keep Pushing, Polaroids, Mirrorshades pt. 2, Ask What Happened
Games People Play
by Desire
There is something mesmerizing about the melancholic vocal delivery across all 21 songs on Games People Play by Desire. Drawn out synths evoke ethereal and goth subcultures of the 1990s and 2000s. At times just as this album feels like it's droning on, there is a hypnotic trance that pulls the listener in further and deeper into the production.
Date Released: March 21
Standout Songs: Darkside, Dangerous Drug, Human Nature, Dream Girl, Vampire, The Judge, Drama Queen, Cold As Ice, Tell It To My Heart, I Know, Games People Play
Forever Is A Feeling
by Lucy Dacus
In an act of complete expression of life’s beauty, Lucy Dacus pours her heart out in all of its facets in support of her love, Humbleness and openness are foundational understandings intertwined into each song. The love and care that can be heard across this album comes across and Dacus’ live performance of these songs. Truly just a gift of hope and warmth.
Date Released: March 28
Standout Songs: Big Deal, Ankles, Madigliano, Forever Is A Feeling, Best Guess, Bullseye, Most Wanted Man
Forever Howlong
by Black Country, New Road
Black Country, New Road’s sound develops and strengthens with every release. Their highly collaborative spirit and workflow shines through in each song’s intense and calculated instrumentation. On Forever Howlong, the band of six really dive into their story telling and emotional provocations, delivering a gorgeous first official studio album since the change in band members in 2022.
Date Released: April 4
Standout Songs: Besties, Socks, Two Horses, Happy Birthday, Nancy Tries to Take the Night, Forever Howlong
OUT THERE
by Hiromi feat. Sonicwonder
OUT THERE is an exciting and constantly evolving sonic experience in Jazz Fusion. This is the second album that Hiromi and Sonicwonder have collaborated on and it shows in the tightness of the performance and production. Hiromi’s incredible jazz piano skills blend so well with the simple yet rich instrumentation from a trumpet, bass, and drum trio to the point where it's hard to imagine it not being a quartet from its inception. This was one of the most fun listens I’ve had this whole year.
Date Released: April 4
Standout Songs: Yes! Ramen!!, Pendulum, OUT THERE: Takin Off, OUT THERE: The Quest, Balloon Pop
10
by SAULT
SAULT’s surprise gift to us this year is an album about healing. About showing oneself love, respect, and honor as part of the process of bettering and triumphing. This album meets the bar set by the group’s whole discography - well written, well produced, and timeless.
Date Released: April 19
Standout Songs: T.H., R.L. K.T.Y.W.S., L.U., H.T.T.R., S.O.T.H.
The Film
by Sumac and Moor Mother
On paper a collaboration between Sumac, the metal band, and Moor Mother, the spoken word poet, would mix together like water and oil. Yet, in actuality this album finds a harmony like the colors of an impressionist painting. Moor Mother’s intense and socially charged poetry and lyrics take on an even darker tone than usual, like on her 2024 album The Great Bailout, with new flavors of industrialism and grunge. Themes of reexamining and criticizing politics and society, while no stranger for Moor Mother, really come into a new lens with the hard scoring of Sumac culminating in a cinematic journey of a dark, underground, gripping horror movie.
Date Released: April 25
Standout Songs: Scene 1, Scene 2: The Run, Scene 4, Camera, Scene 5: Breathing Fire
Viagr aboys
by Viagra Boys
Building off of the intensity of their 2022 album, Cave World, which still has me relistening over and over again, Viagra Boys highlight the many and crazy anxieties of the world today. It's a messier, dirtier, and less serious album than their last, yet its final product is just as refined and serious as their prior albums. This album highlights the absurdity of the current state of our modern world with songs about internet parasocial relationships, the anti-intellectual movement, and the absurd DIY health movement - to name a few. Truly a hard rocking and jolting album that's a fun energy forward listen.
Date Released: April 25
Standout Songs: The Bog Boy, Uno II, Pyramid of Health, Dirty Boyz, Waterboy, River King
Ready To Live A Lie
by Sally Shapiro
I came across this Swedish electronic duo this year and was instantly captivated by the Italian Discoteque influences, the gothic lyrical delivery, and the devastatingly heartbroken lyrics of Ready To Live A Lie. There is truly something dreamlike about the album, the way it pulses and drives at a steady yet clouded pace. I’ve come back to this album multiple times this year for the comfort it provides but also the slight uneasy nature of a dream state that maybe isn’t so dreamy.
Date Released: May 30
Standout Songs: The Other Days, Hard To Love, Rent, Happier Somewhere Else, He’s Not You
Lotus
by Little Simz
Building on their surprise and ravage release of the album No Thank You in 2022, Little Simz brings more influences of jazz and rock into her already soulful R&B rapping. She shows a much more personal and vulnerable side to herself with this album. Themes of strength, overcoming, and redemption come through across this album. Collaborators like Moses Sumney, Obonogjayar, and Sampha help Little SImz bring this album to the finished polished project that is Lotus.
Date Released: June 6
Standout Songs: Flood, Young, Free, Peace, Lion, Lotus, Blue
Magic, Alive!
by McKinley Dixon
In an aptly follow up to his 2023 album, Beloved! Paradise! Jazz!, McKinley Dixon continues to show off the unique spin on jazz influenced hip-hop he has crafted for himself. Its quite an impressive feat to turn the idea of trying to bring a friend back to life into catchy rhythm forward songs. It’s impressive how full and a complete execution of that idea is materialized in just a mere 35 minutes.
Date Released: June 6
Standout Songs: Sugar Water, Recitatif, Run, Run, Run Pt. II, We’re Outside, Rejoice!, All the Loved Ones (What Would We Do???), Magic, Alive!
Virgin
by Lorde
Lorde, a favorite musician of mine since the days of tumblr, released her fourth album this year. There is something so gorgeous about her showing up at this rebirth moment. Her looking back at the past, at moments that deserve their time and space in order to be able to move forward. She shows such vulnerability in self doubt, in trials and errors, in a recently learned and still exploring gender identity, in just some of her most personal parts of her life. She has always done this, but on Virgin it, an album whose cover art is an xray of seemingly her own pelvis with a zipper and belt buckle, it feels so much more personal and an attempt for her to reach out within and into her listeners.
Date Released: June 27
Standout Songs: What Was That, Man Of The Year, Favourite Daughter, Current Affairs, Broken Glass, David
Switcheroo
by Gelli Haha
The great thing about being known as someone who listens to a lot of music is that friends and family are constantly sending me their obscure music recs. This one takes the cake for 2025. It is a funky pop album that is unapologetic in its expression, instrumentation, and lyrics. There is no way to listen to this album and not feel better afterwards, and not dance, and not feel inspired with creativity.
Date Released: June 27
Standout Songs: Funny Music, Spit, Bounce House, Tiramisu, Pluto is not a planet it’s a restaurant
Tracks II: The Lost Albums
by Bruce Springsteen
27 years after the first Tracks compilation album was released, Bruce Springsteen released Tracks II, seven previously unreleased albums recorded and produced from 1983-2018. As a life long die hard Bruce fan these albums really help to complete the story of his long and storied discography. I truly can’t get enough of his music, but especially some very soft and tender moments across this boxset. I have especially been drawn to the Streets of Philadelphia Sessions, a whole album worth of songs recorded alongside his acclaimed song of the same name, and Twilight Hours, recorded alongside his 2019 solo album Western Stars.
Date Released: June 27
Standout Songs: Don’t Back Down On Our Love, County Fair, My One Love, Don’t Back Down, Blind Spot, Something In The Well, One Beautiful Morning, Secret Garden, Where You Going, Where You From, All Gods Children, Repo Man, Delivery Man, Janey Don’t You Lose Heart, Adelita, The Lost Charro, One False Move, Sunday Love, Two of Us, Twilight Hours, Sunliner, Follow The Sun, Idiot’s Delight, Rain in the River, Perfect World
Temporary; Solstice Equinox
by Everything Is Recorded
I’ve been a fan of Everything Is Recorded, a project by Richard Russell, ever since their 2018 debut self-titled album. In 2025 they released their third album, Temporary, a great continuation of the highly collaborative songs, this album featuring the likes of Sampha, Bill Callahan, Florence + the Machine, and Kamasi Washington. Truly a great album looking at the human condition and our existence. Five months later, largely unannounced, they released their fourth album, Solstice Equinox. Comprising 40 songs and spanning nearly two hours, Richard Russell takes the listener on a journey through almost entirely instrumental songs. Even songs where collaborators like Florence Welch and Sampha some in, their vocal contributions are mainly non-lyrical. This is a really fun and experimental album that I highly recommend everyone give a listen to at least once.
February 28; July 3
Standout Songs: My And Me, Never Felt Better, Losing You, No More Rehearsals, Swamp Dream #3, The Meadows; Brilliant White, December First, Vapour, Covering The Whole Of The Sky, W.A.L.L (Wind And Light Level), Mackerel Sky, Fish Scales, Fate Is Decided, This Is What Happens, Turn 2, Fill Me, Enter/Lonely, You Let It All Go, Bright Light
Moisturizer
by Wet Leg
For their second album, where many bands with similar success from their first album would flop, Wet Leg sticks to their intuitions and put out one of the best alt rock albums of the year. Moisturizer builds on their punk infused sound and infuses party and an electric energy that shows maturity and growth. This album sounds like it could turn a bar into a punk venue and a small punk venue into a great time. Truly a great second album from a great newer band.
Date Released: July 11
Standout Songs: CPR, catch these fists, davina mccall, jennifer’s body, pokemon, pillow talk
DON’T TAP THE GLASS
by Tyler, the Creator
Tyler, the Creator's quest to reclaim the music industry for himself and other musicians and artists continues with his 2025 surprise release DON’T TAP THE GLASS. This album’s release shows Tyler’s desire to make music that his fans old and new will want to dance to and that he will want to perform. And thus we get a dance forward funky synth and bass driven album
Date Released: July 21
Standout Songs: Sugar on My Tongue, Sucka Free, Ring Ring Ring, Don’t Tap That Glass / Tweakin’, I’ll Take Care of You
Perverts; Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You
by Ethel Cain
With the release of Perverts earlier this year, a side quest project if you would, Ethel Cain showed new and unexpected layers and depths to her sonic output. A drone and ambient-esq album that pushes into dark dystopian energies really blew me away. The dread, drear, and depressive tones really captured not only how I was feeling at the time of its release, but quickly matched the general vibe of our society in the months that followed. Then in August, a much more par for the course album was released. With Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, Ethel Cain builds upon the story telling of the song “A House in Nebraska” off of her debut album. The weight that the repeating lyrics and dark toned instrumentation bring to this song really help to hold space and give seriousness to this time in her life. Both of these albums, to me as a listener and fan of Ethel Cain, adds much more to her discography than just two albums.
January 8; August 8
Standout Songs: Perverts, Punish, Housofphychoticwomn, Vacillator, Etienna, Amber Waves; Janie, F**k Me Eyes, Nettles, Dust Bowl, Tempest, Waco, Texas
Racing Mount Pleasant
by Racing Mount Pleasant
Tyler, the Creator's quest to reclaim the music industry for himself and other musicians and artists continues with his 2025 surprise release DON’T TAP THE GLASS. This album’s release shows Tyler’s desire to make music that his fans old and new will want to dance to and that he will want to perform. And thus we get a dance forward funky synth and bass driven album.
Date Released: August 15
Standout Songs: Your New Place, Tenspeed (Shallows), You, You Pt. 2, Racing Mount Pleasant, Call It Easy, Your Old Place
Guitar
by Mac DeMarco
After a two year “retirement”, Mac DeMarco came back with a seemingly effortless, stripped back, and laid back 12 song album. Guitar is crafted with such a nakedness as if he has nothing to hide in his vulnerability. And nothing is hidden as he sings about past shortcoming and failings of his own, while also making peace with them in said recognition which ultimately leaves the album with a slight hopeful hue.
Date Released: August 22
Standout Songs: Shining, Terror, Home, Nothing At All, Holy
The Clearing
by Wolf Alice
I have always been a casual listener to Wolf Alice, listening to a song or two if they came on in a playlist. But The Clearing has had a hold on me and it started with hearing the last song on the album “The Sofa”. The album has notes of 70’s folky rock scene, with a much more open live studio sounding production. This album has continued to unfold and show new facets with each listen and brings me back every time to enjoy it more and more.
Date Released: August 22
Standout Songs: Thorns, Bloom Baby Bloom, Passenger Seat, Bread Butter Tea Sugar, White Horses, The Sofa
Essex Honey
by Blood Orange
Blood Orange first captivated me in 2013 with his album Cupid Deluxe. Twelve years later I am drawn to this new album for something completely different from him. There is a quietness to Essex Honey that his previous albums never found. It offers a much more somber view of his story telling, this time about mourning and reflecting on home, while never losing the groovy nature his prior releases exemplify. I was really excited to see him live for the first time while opening for Lorde this year, his performance of a selection of these songs and a few prior hits did not disappoint.
Date Released: August 29
Standout Songs: Thinking Clean, Somewhere in Between, The Field, Countryside, The Train (King’s Cross), Scared of It
The Hives Forever Forever The Hives
by The Hives
With over 30 years under their belt, Swedish garage rock band The Hives released the closest thing to a self titled album we will probably get, The Hives Forever Forever The Hives. Pulling punches as if they were still teenagers, the group of friends continue to put out fast paced, raging rock music that never misses. Quite simply, The Hives will rock you, continue to rock you with this album, and will always rock you with their music!
Date Released: August 29
Standout Songs: Thinking Clean, Somewhere in Between, The Field, Countryside, The Train (King’s Cross), Scared of It
Straight Line Was a Lie
by The Beths
This new album from The Beths is what indie music dreams of. Songs are catchy and driving, there is pop interwoven with stripped back rock production, it's fun and creative. This album deals with changes and uncertainty in life but goes about the introspection with fun and care and a hint of silliness. And in the end this album is a reflection of life, growth, and the non-linear reality of it all.
Date Released: August 29
Standout Songs: Straight Line Was a Lie, No Joy, Metal, Take, Best Laid Plans
Double Infinity
by Big Thief
Big Thief’s 2022 album, Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You, has become such an integral part of my regular listening. It was hard for me to imagine what their next album would be like in the context of the previous and especially most recent work. Double Infinity is this new warming sonic uplifting experience. Each song is so delicately considered. The care and empathy that can be heard through each song on this album radiates and infects the listener. To me, this album has felt like sitting underneath a tree as the leaves start to change into a rainbow of fall colors every time I listen to it - comforted, relieved, and gentle.
Date Released: September 5
Standout Songs: Incomprehensible, Los Angeles, All Night All Day, No Fear, Grandmother, Happy With You
Cover Girl
by Lady Wray
Lady Wray’s 2022 release, Piece of Me, blew me out of the water. Her vocals and soul combined with the production and instrumentation of Leon Michels was a golden combination. When I saw they came together again for her album this year, Cover Girl, I was instantly sat and quickly became awashed with gorgeous, warm, and empowering sound across each song.
Date Released: September 26
Standout Songs: My Best Step, Be A Witness, Hard Times, Cover Girl, You’re Gonna Win, Higher
Getting Killed
by Geese
One of this year’s breakout albums, Getting Killed by Geese is an instant classic making album the likes of their Brooklyn alternative predecessors like The Strokes. This album, building upon their 2023 release, 3D Country, and their frontman’s solo debut in 2024, Heavy Metal, culminates in a new moment for the American rock scene. One where block parties and mosh pits are thrusted from basements and alleyways to dance halls and established large music venues.
Date Released: September 26
Standout Songs: Cobra, Husbands, Getting Killed, Islands of Men, 100 Horses, Au Pays Du Cocaine, Taxes, Long Island City Here I Come
Michelangelo Dying
by Cate Le Bon
Heartbreak has never been captured in this degree of melancholic yearning before. The surrealist instrumentals delicately places her amongst worlds and contorted realities. There is a special kind of whispering intimacy Le Bon offers on this album that feels so cinematic.
Date Released: September 26
Standout Songs: Love Unrehearsed, Mothers of Riches, Is It Worth It (Happy Birthday)?, Heaven Is No Feeling, Body as a River, Ride
Cut & Rewind
by Say She She
I came across Say She She just after I had finished my 2023 End Of Year album list. But their album, Silver, drew me in quickly with their true to form disco sound. On their 2025 album, Cut & Rewind, the group finds themselves and their unique take and form of disco across the album. Some songs evoke the funk of the likes of Curtis Mayfield, while songs like “Cut & Rewind” and “Make It Known” lovingly infuse different generations of rock and punk sounds. I'm really happy to have found this album when it came out and have it on the list this year!
Date Released: October 3
Standout Songs: Cut & Rewind, Under the Sun, Disco Life, Possibilities, She Who Dares, Little Kisses
Nested In Tangles
by Hannah Frances
With her continuously refining folk sound, Hannah Frances sings of losing something you wish you had and being able to find a way forward without it. Her sweet voice floats atop some of the softest and nurturing folk instrumentals of the year. Even with its relatively quieter and refined sound, there is a depth and complexity to each song reminiscent of the tangled branches depicted in the album cover.
Date Released: October 10
Standout Songs: Nested in Tangles, Live’s Work, Falling From and Further, Surviving You, The Space Between
Lotto
by They Are Gutting a Body of Water
On their fourth album, shoegaze band They Are Gutting a Body of Water continues to craft their sound, this time drawing more into sleazy, raw, and emo elements to expose the depths of their emotional longing. This is an album that captures the current pervasive undertones of the horrors and failings of the systems around us.
Date Released: October 17
Standout Songs: the chase, sour diesel, trainers, rl stine, violence iii, herpim
THE BPM
by Sudan Archives
In a continuation of her exploration of the intersections of R&B, electronic, and orchestral music, Sudan Archives leans heavily into the rust belt club scene’s unique sound. There is a unique sensuality to this album that shows the care for the details like a true skilled MC would have when spinning and mixing in a club. A truly fun album with great instrumentals and even greater production.
Date Released: October 17
Standout Songs: DEAD, YEA YEA YEA, A BUG’S LIFE, MY TYPE, A COMPUTER LOVE, THE BPM, HEAVEN KNOWS
From The Pyre
by The Last Dinner Party
Following their breakout debut 2024 album, Prelude to Ecstasy, The Last Dinner Party rode the wave of energy they found themselves surrounded by and it resulted in From The Prye. While much of this album sounds like a cool down to their previous album, the energy and especially intention is still consistent and finds new avenues to explore. This is just simply a great and fun sophomore album.
Date Released: October 17
Standout Songs: Angus Dei, Second Best, This is the Killer Speaking, Sail Away, Inferno
FEMME FATALE
by Mon Laferte
Sensual, Sexy, Sultry - what else could you ask for in a vocal jazz album named FEMME FATALE. Mon Laferte uses her light voice, like fabric in the breeze, to dance about one of the best vocal performances of the year. A gorgeous album to hug and comfort one through their own sweet dreams.
Date Released: October 24
Standout Songs: Femme Fatale, Otra Noche de Llorar, Veracruz, El Gran Señor, Las Flores Que Dejasta En La Mesa, MelancolÍa, My One And Only Love
Everybody Scream
by Florence + The Machine
What is more fitting than Florence + The Machine releasing their newest album on Halloween. Everybody Scream is an ethereal witch fem forward album that continues to deliver a high caliber of writing and production resulting in another great masterpiece. And in the midst of this album’s driving force is a reflection and processing of traumas and tragedies - many of which Florence Welch described in this album’s press tour. It’s a gift of a great creative to be able to use their downs as a way to propel their ups, which is exactly what this album showcases so well.
Date Released: October 31
Standout Songs: Everybody Scream, One of the Greats, Witch Dance, Sympathy Magic, Buckle, The Old Religion, Music by Men
Stage Girl
by Eli
When looking back to a style of music that is full of nostalgia, it's a hard bar for creating something new with such close sonic similarities to feel authentic and real. Yet, Eli’s debut album Stage Girl feels so genuine and practiced and concise. The album, and in turn each song, feels so polished as if they were created in the 2000’s, put away in safe storage, and brought back to light in 2025 with an added new gloss. A true pop album full of fun and not so subtle tongue and cheek lyrics.
Date Released: October 31
Standout Songs: Stars (Lullabye), Girl of Your Dreams, I Wish I Was a Girl, Like a Girl, All At Once, Somebody I’m Not
COSPLAY
by Sorry
All across Cosplay gritty and raw emotions spill over from the lyrics to the instrumentation. The way this album had a chokehold on me within seconds of my first listen. There are so many moments on this album that have me wanting to disassociate in an alleyway in all the best ways. If it’s any more of a reason to convince you to listen to this album, it's like if Karen O and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs took a dark, grungy, punk, and goth hard left turn.
Date Released: November 7
Standout Songs: Echoes, Jetplane, Antelope, Candle, Today Might Be The Hit, Life In This Body, Waxwing, Magic, JIVE
Mercy
by Armand Hammer and The Alchemist
Armand Hammer, comprising of billy woods and Elucid, follow up their 2023 album, We Buy Diabetic Needles, with Mercy, an album in collaboration with producer and beat master The Alchemist. Beats and Samples come together across this album to culminate in a plethora of invoked emotions that perfectly score the lyrical themes across the album. What is life to those who exist in the underside of power, in the “forgotten” parts of cities where only those who live there go, what is the life lived that is still worthy of living? These are questions seemingly put on a pedestal and given their space to exist and breath across this album.
Date Released: November 7
Standout Songs: Peshawar, Calypso Gene, Glue Traps, Dogeared, u know my body, California Games, Super Nintendo
EUSEXUA; EUSEXUA Afterglow
by FKA twigs
Electronic pop mastermind FKA twigs Released not one but two albums this year, both equally as exciting and intricate. The first album, EUSEXUA, is a love letter to the emotional high of a true all night warehouse rave. This album and its alternative version of the same name, really pedestal the deep raw meanings of being a human in the modern condition, perfectly capturing the feeling of meeting a “Perfect Stranger” when a “Girl Feels Good” all the way to the moment after a hookup where those few moments together become a romanticised dreamlike “Wanderlust”.
In the album’s follow up, EUSEXUA Afterglow, FKA really works to show the different side of the euphoric feelings from an all night warehouse rave. Instead of falling in love with someone, its falling in love with life. That moment where you feel so free from one’s inhibitions and understand yourself and the world around you. Where does a night take you? What does it feel like to adventure out into the city with friends at 4 am? What does a bodega breakfast sandwich taste like after watching the sunrise after being up and out all night? Those feelings are so beautifully captured in Afterglow.
January 24; November 14
Standout Songs: Eusexua, Girl Feels Good, Perfect Stranger, Drums of Death, Sticky, Wanderlust; Love Crimes, Wild And Alone, Hard, Cheap Hotel, Predictable Girl, Sushi, Lost All My Friends
Woman of Faces
by Celeste
Truly, Celeste is one of the current generation’s best women jazzy pop vocalist. On her second album she continues to show the blossoming of her gorgeous voice and vulnerable but powerful lyrics. Her voice alone can leave one gaping and gasping emotionally, yet with the carefully scored instrumentals she brings you head first into her world, into her life, into the deep breadth of emotions she feels and sings about.
Date Released: November 14
Standout Songs: On With The Show, Woman Of Faces, Time Will Tell, People Always Change, This Is Who I am
A Duck’s Water Off My Back
by Champion Trees
Champion Tree, on their sophomore album, finds this niche sound. Similar to Racing Mount Pleasant, Champion Tree finds this combination of a Black Country, New Road type band with an american singer/songwriter folksy acoustic focused sound. These bands and so many more use highly poetic lyrics to convey deep gaping emotions while being memory-inducing and driving rhythms and instrumentals. On A Duck’s Water Off My Back, the defeatedness Gen Z feels and shows for the current state of society is so beautifully illustrated in the melancholic lyrics of this album.
Date Released: November 20
Standout Songs: I Wear a Shirt That Says Australia, Richard 2, Higher Taste, Gentle, Apple, Balanced, C. Market, Rondebosch Park
What of Our Nature
by Haley Heynderickx & Max García Conover
This album is what folk is really about, protest songs that come from the people of America for the people of America. Starting the album with “Song for Alicia” sets the tone for willingness to rip the bandaid off and expose the wounds to air. Taking on the task to write an album, as the artists say, “in the spirit of Woody Guthrie” without making music that sounds like copies of copies of his music is an impressive feat that is carefully and delightfully achieved on each ten songs.
Date Released: November 21
Standout Songs: Song for Alicia, Mr. Marketer, Boars, Fluorescent Light, Buffalo, 1981, Red River Dry