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Here it is, the list you’ve been waiting for all year: MGRM’s roundup of 2025’s most memorable albums. As always, our globally scattered pool of contributors came together to craft an eclectic list. This year touches on everything from prog rock to ambient pop, with an underlying interest in records updating country. From immediate classics to records I hadn’t even heard of, buckle up for a true journey.—Music Editor, Ted Davis
Honorable Mentions:
Moving Mountains – PRUNING THE LOWER LIMBS
Javiera Electra – HELíADE
Patterson Hood – EXPLODING TREES & AIRPLANE SCREAMS
Fust – BIG UGLY
Pile – SUNSHINE AND BALANCE BEAMS
Jack Schneider – STREETS OF SEPTEMBER
50. Hayley Williams – EGO DEATH AT A BACHELORETTE PARTY
Genre: Pop Rock
Should this even be on the list? Upon its initial release in August, Hayley Williams made a very deliberate choice to release all the songs individually, without any set structure or sequencing. In an age where everything creates discourse, the reaction on X was largely muted—or so it seemed. Elsewhere, the choice to let every song exist as its own statement and engage listeners in curating their own tracklist proved electrifying. The songs genuinely hold up to scrutiny. In the past, Williams has been criticized for a lack of originality with Paramore. Here, she blends past and present into all sorts of shapes and sounds, whether it be the blistering sincerity behind “Mirtazapine,” hooky synthpop on “Love Me Different,” or the interpolation of “The Bad Touch” on the eerily detached “Discovery Channel.” The record contains some of Williams’s finest poetry, much of which is centered around themes of grief, righteous fury, and anxiety, though hints of optimism bleed through. EGO DEATH AT A BACHELORETTE PARTY embodies what it feels like to live in America in 2025. [Connor Shelton]
49. Agriculture – THE SPIRITUAL SOUND
Genre: Blackgaze, Post-Metal
Blackgazers Agriculture take their triumphant, existential noise to new heights on THE SPIRITUAL SOUND. Much of their previous output contrasted long build-ups with big pay-offs, but here they opt for soft beats shrunken by drum barrages. It’s a fascinating dichotomy that coincides with the record’s interrogation of struggle. The introspective peaks and valleys escalate in the latter half, featuring crustier feedback and sparser acoustics. Agriculture thoughtfully explore human nature and affirm they are a driving force. [Dom Lepore]
48. Dim Gray – SHARDS
Genre: Progressive Rock
It’s not often that progressive rock ends up on a year-end list. Beyond being niche, most prog bands prioritize ego over accessibility; Dim Gray are a notable exception. If the group’s first two albums were proof of concept for where the genre could move forward, SHARDS is a refinement of their earnest, emotive style. This is a band that’s just as at home flirting with electronica on “Myopia” as they are blending the musical traditions of Norway with shimmering post-punk riffs on “… Murals.” Despite stylistic variety, not a single track feels out of place thanks to the delicate touch and grace Dim Gray pour into each composition. [Connor Shelton]
47. Blue Lake – THE ANIMAL
Genre: Ambient Folk
Back on our Best Albums of 2023 list, Jacob Martin described the immaculate Blue Lake’s album SUN ARCS as “meditative, serene, and carefully measured.” The joy of that album was hearing Copenhagen-based instrumentalist Jason Dungan negotiating serenity step-by-step—if it felt carefully measured, it was because it was a singular exploration in isolation, slowly calculating every flourish, beat, and instrument himself. THE ANIMAL, his first album working with a full band, feels more alive and animated. The existential support and freedom that comes from human collaboration blooms across the album; if SUN ARCS felt like entering the solidarity of the wilderness to understand yourself, THE ANIMAL is about the journey back more enlightened. The biggest songs across the album, including the joyous babble of “Strand,” the delicate folding within “Vertical Hold,” and the awakening daze of opener “Circles” remain immaculately crafted but bursting with an exhilarating exaltation—capturing the triumph of the human spirit throughout. In his own words, Dungan calls it “musical metamorphosis,” and whatever physical and spiritual transformation is happening across THE ANIMAL viscerally feels like an essential evolution of spirit and sound. [CJ Simonson]
46. Dead Gowns – IT’S SUMMER, I LOVE YOU, AND I’M SURROUNDED BY SNOW
Genre: Indie Folk, Singer-Songwriter
Dead Gowns’ combustible debut, IT’S SUMMER, I LOVE YOU, AND I’M SURROUNDED BY SNOW, is deeply felt. Genevieve Beaudoin’s songwriting is shaped by the changing conditions of coastal Maine—facing the uncontrollable seasons of life is a sound universally understood—and, while deterministically categorized as folk rock, yearning needs no genre. She sings of loss, want, and missing the expectations of yourself and others. This record isn’t about one person, place, or time. It’s about the range of emotions one feels when life spins just out of your control. These songs are less about an express heartbreak, more about the slow and patient realization that your crush probably doesn’t like you back, or the deeply rooted physical sensation of missing someone who used to be there and is now out of reach. IT’S SUMMER, I LOVE YOU, AND I’M SURROUNDED BY SNOW is immersive and calming, lovely and sticky—it’s hard to not return to the warm glow of tracks like “Wet Dog” or “Swimmer,” belt out “In the Haze” or “How Can I,” or dance slowly to “Burnout.” Beaudoin is your friendly neighbor in the deep season of a Northeast winter, offering you a glass of red and a cozy conversation. She knows what it feels like to feel lonely, and forgives you for feeling the same. [Devyn McHugh]
45. César y su Jardín – CORRE Y SUELTA A LOS PERROS
Genre: Progressive Folk
The debut album of Xalapeño ensemble César y su Jardín distills folklore to its fundamentals: the communal, theatrical and intricate, hypnotic depths of the natural world. Samba, son jarocho, and jazz are all present in arrangements that dissolve like mist. Cesar’s dulcet tones are accompanied by birdsong, distant dog howls, and buffeting winds. Don’t let the monochrome cover fool you: This is an album brimming with life. A phantom’s embrace, startlingly warm. [Jay Bracho]
44. lots of hands – INTO A PRETTY ROOM
Genre: Ambient Folk, Bedroom Pop
For 20 years, I’ve made a Top 10 records list, but I’ve never known my number-one pick so early in the year. This time, for all 12 months, lots of hands’ INTO A PRETTY ROOM has stayed at the top. The album doesn’t feel like a bold statement so much as endless space. You enter slowly, carefully, gently, before you feel the emotional weight fall heavily. lots of hands operate somewhere on the margins of indie folk and experimental sprawl, letting songs stretch and blur without losing their center. What makes INTO A PRETTY ROOM compelling isn’t just its warmth, but how it stays open-ended. Some songs feel like they’re still finding themselves, forming gentle vignettes of forgotten notes that feel like moving through a dream. Songs like “rosie” and “beatseat 30” come into focus as textured memories carved out of grief and pain and sweetness. Gentle acoustic guitars and twinkling piano shine over atmospheric feedback, organ, banjo, and warped vocals that drift in and out like half-remembered thoughts. It’s a record that rewards patience, offering small quiet moments of beauty, trusting the listener will drift along for the ride. [Jack Probst]
43. Sam Fender – PEOPLE WATCHING
Genre: Heartland Rock
If there is a universal truth about popular music, it is that every generation yearns for their own Bruce Springsteen. Boomers obviously got the real deal, while their younger peers settled for … Joe Grushecky and the Houserockers? Millennials got to choose between the likes of the Killers and the Gaslight Anthem, and Gen Z has their own man of the people in Sam Fender. While the Springsteen acolytes of the past have often failed to rise beyond their influences, Fender sets himself apart because of his malleability (and because of his Britishness). On previous albums, he seamlessly meshed the Boss’s lyricism with slinky guitar riffs and power pop choruses. On PEOPLE WATCHING, he dials the energy up to 11, casting aside whatever reservations he may have had about his sound on previous albums. It is an assured work that’s not afraid to embrace its influences on songs like “Little Bit Closer” or the title track, while also putting his own signature stamp on the style cemented by his forebears. At its heart, PEOPLE WATCHING is an examination of community, a work that has deep admiration for the everyday person and all the joys and heartache that come with such devotion. [Connor Shelton]
42. Courting – LUST FOR LIFE, OR: ‘HOW TO THREAD THE NEEDLE AND COME OUT THE OTHER SIDE TO TELL THE STORY’
Genre: Post-Punk, Indie Pop
Forgoing much of the hyperpop inspiration of their previous releases, Liverpool’s Courting still manages to put together one of the freshest, most exciting indie rock albums of 2025. LUST FOR LIFE covers a ton of ground in 25 minutes, a kaleidoscopic journey through post-punk, electronica, garage rock, and dance-punk. It’s a thrilling mix, and it all coheres beautifully—likely because Courting never take themselves too seriously, giving equal weight to the snarky kiss-off “Namcy,” the deadpan post-punk banger “After You,” and the six-minute liftoff of the jittery, jazzy title track. “Somebody stop me!” Sean Murphy-O’Neill repeatedly begs throughout “Pause at You,” but Courting sounds unstoppable threading the needle on LUST FOR LIFE. [Zac Djamoos]
41. Neko Case – NEON GREY MIDNIGHT GREEN
Genre: Alt-Country
Armed to the teeth with strings, Neko Case’s seventh album under her own name is a triumph on all fronts. Entirely self-produced, the songs are passionate and boundless, with such depth they could easily drown out most vocalists. Neko’s inimitable voice and lyricism are only bolstered by them: That moment in “Wreck,” where the cellos burst ahead as she pleads, “Don’t be afraid of me or my love” is delivered with such clarity it feels like a revelation. Neko’s music has always been vibrant, but on NEON GREY MIDNIGHT GREEN, the emotions are rampant and blinding. [Jay Bracho]
40. Friendship – CAVEMAN WAKES UP
Genre: Countrygaze, Americana
Standing out from the crowd of nu-Americana acts in 2025 was a challenge for many, as pedal steel players all over the country found themselves in high demand—Carhartt beanies and Realtree hoodies have become de rigueur concertgoing fashion. Philadelphia’s Friendship, 10-year veterans with four albums already to their name, swam against the tide by packing the guitar slides away and embracing a haunted raggedness. On CAVEMAN WAKES UP, chords ring out like the guitar was just dropped and spectral violins hover atonally, while rogue pianos, vibraphones, synthesizers, and clarinets flicker in and out of songs like ghosts. All of this is stage dressing for the exposed nerve that is frontman Dan Wriggins, who dissects the minutiae of everyday life with a grim countenance equal parts desperate and droll. Pulling suffering from silence and finding salvation in cheap cigarettes, Friendship wrings literature from the utterly mundane, presented in such skeletal confines that it’s hard not to feel like you’re listening to songs about your own life. [Jacob Martin]
39. Alex G – HEADLIGHTS
Genre: Indie Folk
What else is left to say about Alex G? HEADLIGHTS sees Alex Giannascoli refining his sound on a major-label debut for RCA. The album retains his melodic oddness, yet it’s framed by a rich production style that feels purposefully lived-in. While he never quite makes the extreme left-turns found so often in his previous records, that restraint feels intentional. HEADLIGHTS is less about the reinvention of an artist in the spotlight, more taking stock of where he’s been and deciding what sounds are worth carrying forward. Giannascoli’s voice, often a shape-shifting instrument melting into songs at various speeds and rhythms, sounds grounded and assured in these new tracks. It’s a record that won’t surprise longtime fans but is the most accessible entry for newer listeners. Alex G isn’t reinventing the wheel on HEADLIGHTS so much as showing off the strength and maturity that comes from making art so consistently stellar, retaining the quirky charm we’ve come to love. [Jack Probst]
38. Black Country, New Road – FOREVER HOWLONG
Genre: Art Rock
The Black Country, New Road of today may no longer be the same iteration behind the epic ANTS FROM UP THERE—an existential quality was lost when vocalist Isaac Wood departed. But FOREVER HOWLONG proves the ensemble is still thriving on its feet. They embrace light, writing more theatrical arrangements, with female members taking vocals. A tamer set of songs, the prowess of the young collective is marvelous. [Dom Lepore]
37. Jobber – JOBBER TO THE STARS
Genre: Power Pop
Getting into the ring with Jobber is a joy. JOBBER TO THE STARS, the Brooklyn wrestling aficionados’ debut album, is perhaps the year’s best bridge between a current wave of ‘90s grunge relativism and the post-grunge pop radio excess that we’ve seen remain popular for nearly 30 years—it’s a little Liz Phair, a little Juliana Hatfield, a little Belly, but always strongarms that nostalgia with a more slacked-out, modern edge. In Luke Phillips’s interview with Kate Meizner earlier in the year, Weezer’s THE GREEN ALBUM and Sugar’s BEASTER EP come up, themselves both interesting sonic framings for the type of anthemic, muscular power pop the trio makes. The highlights remain the accessibly playful pop fare (“Nightmare,” “Clothesline From Hell,” “Summerslam”), but bubbling, anthemic slowcore anthems, like “Pillman’s Got a Gun” or the title tracks, or even the madcap Veruca Salt pastiche of “Million Dollar Man,” give the album a lot of texture. And I’ll give the essential disclaimer: You don’t have to care about wrestling to find the fun in a (lightly) wrestling-themed rock project. If there’s any justice, it’ll grow to be Speedy Ortiz’s MAJOR ARCANA for a new generation of indie kids. [CJ Simonson]
36. Dutch Interior – MONEYBALL
Genre: Rock, Alt Country, Freak Folk
On their third album, Dutch Interior come into their own as one of the best local Los Angeles bands and a self-actualized player in the nascent post-pandemic collusion of shoegaze, slowcore, and alt-country. True to their name and album title, they apply their own sabermetrics to heartworn Americana, resulting in a casual set of songs that are knowing and literate. Named after a series from Spanish painter Joan Miró, the band alludes to their forebears. “Sandcastle Molds” evokes Modest Mouse’s “Gravity Rides Everything,” while the shuffling “Sweet Time” includes an interpolation of the Allman Brothers Band’s “Jessica.” There is a jovial easiness to the tracks where camaraderie is palpable, no matter the point of origin. The future looks bright for these rookies, so let’s hope they keep on truckin’. [Luke Phillips]
35. Water From Your Eyes – IT’S A BEAUTIFUL PLACE
Genre: Indie Rock
Water From Your Eyes’ IT’S A BEAUTIFUL PLACE reminds me of ads for sunglasses. “Life Signs” makes me think of slim sunglasses, the super dark kind that spies in turtlenecks wear while hacking into the mainframe. “Nights in Armor” reminds me of pushing up well-worn aviators to look at the sun set across an endless horizon. The raucous shredding of “Born 2” recalls the big, bug-eyed sunglasses that rock stars who wanted to stay private wear in the spotlight. Semi-ironic, semi-wrap-around sunglasses à la Brat Summer pair with the dance beat of “Playing Classics.” The soft tempo of the penultimate track, “Blood On the Dollar,” suggests the small, chic sunglasses a protagonist in a rom-com wears at the beginning of the movie to suggest she’s cold, but doesn’t wear by the end because she’s opened her heart and realized the world around her is a beautiful place. And that’s how I feel when I get to the end of the album, too. It is a beautiful place. [Caro Alt]
34. Danny Brown – STARDUST
Genre: Hip-Hop, Hyperpop
A hyperpop Danny Brown album may come as a surprise, but with much of his audience firmly rooted on the internet, it’s not so strange. Brown has reinvented himself on every record, and he can jump on literally any beat—if he can spit bars on dissonant psych-rock, why couldn’t he do it on nine minutes of breakbeat? By tapping into this forward-thinking electro sound, STARDUST is Brown’s most out-there album. You can tell he’s having so much fun throughout the entire project, particularly when he knocks it out of the park with Frost Children and Jane Remover. STARDUST shows how exciting genre-hopping can be. [Dom Lepore]
33. Shallowater – GOD’S GONNA GIVE YOU A MILLION DOLLARS
Genre: Slowcore
There is something despondent about GOD’S GONNA GIVE YOU A MILLION DOLLARS. Listless riffs, dusty percussion, and Blake Skipper’s twang all contribute, not to mention that the reverbed pedal steel guitar will immediately invoke alienation and longing. But every time the mood even hints towards settling, a sudden wall of crushing feedback will disturb it. The imagery invoked throughout mirrors these constant disruptions: fireworks emerging from the cemetery, angels taken back to Heaven, flowers growing brittle. There’s no reprieve from loss. [Jay Bracho]
32. Golden Apples – SHOOTING STAR
Genre: Indie Rock
After 2023’s wonderful BANANASUGARFIRE, Golden Apples continue to prove they’re most comfortable within excess. Their new record, SHOOTING STAR, sounds like it came from another timeline where Jeff Mangum fronted Imperial Teen and went on tour with the Apples in Stereo. It’s a record built on buzzy guitars layered with effects, creating a shoegaze wall that uses playful synth for a dash of charming whimsy. SHOOTING STAR feels energetic, communal, and open-ended, less concerned with perfection than with forward momentum. These songs thrive on the shifts between jangle, swirling psychedelia, and moments of near-chaos that never feel scattered. While initially a solo project for singer-songwriter Russell Edling, he sounds best when he opens himself up for collaboration. His lyrics toggle between vulnerability and wry detachment, capturing the anxious optimism of someone reaching outward without entirely knowing what they’ll find. By expanding the range of his songs, Edling has transformed Golden Apples into a band that feels upbeat and poppy while maintaining its post-rock edge. [Jack Probst]
31. Um Jennifer? – UM COMMA JENNIFER QUESTION MARK
Genre: Punk
I am lucky enough to have heard a lot of live music, but nothing comes close to Liberation Weekend, the trans punk DIY fest in D.C. If I could pick one set to relive, I would pick leaning against the speakers in the hot, cramped second floor of DC9 and watching Um, Jennifer? thrash around the stage. Since that performance, their debut album, UM COMMA JENNIFER QUESTION MARK, has stayed on constant repeat. One of the stories of the year has been the revival of New York City rock, and you cannot participate in that conversation without bringing up Um, Jennifer?. The band describes themselves as “trans slut punk” and I have yet to find a better description—this album is loud, loving, fun, and simmering with all impossibilities somehow made possible. [Caro Alt]
30. Teethe – MAGIC OF THE SALE
Genre: Slowcore
Something about Teethe’s aching, slowcore country feedback leaves me numb. Like another album on this list, Dutch Interior’s MONEYBALL, there’s a soft-spoken curiosity that runs through MAGIC OF THE SALE. Within this evolving sense of quiet wonder are many stupefying, nearly labyrinthian curios—outside of its rollicking title track and the explosive “Holy Water,” there’s a gradualism to the arrangements, often erring on lush, reserved orchestration above overt rock hooks. That steadiness creates a hazy hypnosis. “Iron Wine” glacially ticks by, with echoes of guitar we’ve already heard traces of earlier; the strings and vocals on “Hate Goodbye” offer a sense-memory of the album to that point. The more you listen to it, the more MAGIC OF THE SALE becomes a morphing M. C. Escher drawing—wholly enveloping, unprecedentedly beautiful, and delightfully uncanny. [CJ Simonson]
29. Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL
Genre: Cosmic Country
The twin flames of Karly Hartzman and MJ Lenderman ignited a firestorm, numerous bands chasing their styles and commercial come-ups. The wave crested in 2025, the pretenders separated from the contenders, and the rising tide revealed that some of the sturdiest boats had been here all along. Such is the case for 40-year-old road dog Ryan Davis, a journeyman songwriter and role model of Lenderman’s, who invited Davis and his Roadhouse Band to open for him on tour in 2024. This year, Davis capitalized on the exposure with NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL, a masterclass of peerless songwriting—seven discursive, psychedelic tracks with a six-minute minimum and more memorable turns of phrase than most wordsmiths conjure in a lifetime. The overdue emergence of Davis felt like a finalizing full-circle moment for the defining musical trend of the decade’s first half, the discovery of the true evolutionary missing link between Berman, Molina, and the present. [Jacob Martin]
28. Rico Nasty – LETHAL
Genre: Pop, Trap, Pop Rap
If there’s one person I believe in this world, it’s Rico Nasty. She’s easily one of the most versatile artists working today, and her latest album, LETHAL, proves it. The cross-genre project offers a collage of her endless sonic capabilities while tearing into the hardcore and metal roots that have always grounded her sound. The album begins in a rush: the fireworks that naturally come with her rapping explode on “WHO WANT IT,” the opening riff of “TEETHSUCKER (YEA3x)” that should be a wrestling walk-out song, and the battle of buzzsaw guitars on “GRAVE.” Rico’s signature hardcore spin kicks in on “SMOKE BREAK” as she promises to “break shit always,” and on “CRASH” she assumes a vintage flavor of punky bravado. Throughout LETHAL, Rico creates a storm of beautiful fury, but after all these clashing guitars and lightning-bolt dramatics, she ends the album on one of the greatest love songs of the year, “SMILE,” a dedication to her son. Turn this album up to 11. [Caro Alt]
27. Panda Bear – SINISTER GRIFT
Genre: Neo-Psychedelia, Psychedelic Pop, Indietronica
Animal Collective founder Noah Lennox lent his Panda Bear alias to several experimental projects before re-embarking on an accessible solo venture. In the ever-expanding Animal Collective discography, SINISTER GRIFT is one of the best. These 10 songs are all psychedelic chords soaked in dub and tropical haze, but the straightforward nature of their delivery—musically and vocally—makes them timeless pop tunes. The shuffling “Praise” is a sticky highlight, as is the low-slung “Anywhere but Here,” but the obvious standout is “Defense,” where Cindy Lee lends their electrifying guitar noodling to the groove. [Dom Lepore]
26. Horsegirl – PHONETICS ON AND ON
Genre: Garage Rock
For their sophomore effort, the New York-by-way-of-Chicago trio leans into repetition, minimalism, and slight variations, allowing shifts in rhythm or unconventional melodies to hold their own. Where Horsegirl’s earlier work leaned into distortion and youthful abrasion, PHONETICS ON AND ON embraces restraint, revealing emotional precision. Here, they operate more abstractly, with repeated phrases conveying a subtle loneliness and longing. Each note feels carefully considered without feeling precious. This batch of songs understands the power of saying less and saying it well. PHONETICS ON AND ON proves that Horsegirl’s evolution isn’t about volume or complexity, but about precision, play, and emotional nuance. If this record’s recurring sounds and themes fail to resonate with you sonically, give it some time to loop its many textures through your ears via headphones. [Jack Probst]
25. Los Thuthanaka – S/T
Genre: Indigenous Andean Music, Latin Electronic
Chuquimamani-Condori once described their being as “always in the process of becoming.” When your life’s work is deeply queer and anti-colonialist, fluidity is nonnegotiable—taxonomy is death. LOS THUTHANAKA, made in collaboration with their sibling Joshua, honors this. One could dissect its infinite DJ tags or the searing guitar work or the steadfast percussion that melts every song into one big groove, but it’s much more. It’s a prayer for rain and abundance. It is queer medicine. It is a celebration of contrasts and the in-betweens. Unmastered, because it’s uncontainable. [Jay Bracho]
24. McKinley Dixon – MAGIC, ALIVE!
Genre: Jazz Rap
Despite hailing from Richmond, VA, rapper and songwriter McKinley Dixon didn’t take long to acclimate to his new home of Chicago—quickly becoming a tentpole of the city’s hip hop ecosystem. It certainly helps that his music is custom-built to push forward the local style championed in years past by Chance the Rapper and Noname, thoughtful and tuneful songs made more vibrant by jazz and soul instrumentation. MAGIC, ALIVE! Is Dixon’s first album as a full-time Chicagoan and showcases a dynamism that the majority of writers aspire to, spanning a seemingly endless array of modes and moods without skipping a beat or breaking a sweat. Aided by a coterie of talented friends, Dixon is in full command of his formidable powers at all times, standing out as a singularly magnetic voice in a particularly strong year for rap music. [Jacob Martin]
23. Just Mustard – WE WERE JUST HERE
Genre: Noise Pop, Experimental Rock
Just Mustard hones their atmospheric depth with WE WERE JUST HERE. The dense noise pop that was once submerged in the dark is now resurfaced to an open field, with melodies that run and glide with freeing aplomb. Shadowy tones linger, but the band keeps looking upward as they let their voices echo with a bright, sweet sheen. Here, they’re now sounding livelier than ever. [Louis Pelingen]
22. Arm’s Length – THERE’S A WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE
Genre: Emo, Pop Punk, Post-Hardcore
Nobody in an Arm’s Length song has free will. Every character in every song the Ontario four-piece has released since 2019 is bound by fate or lineage, genes or geography, acting out roles dictated to them since time immemorial. On their sophomore album, THERE’S A WHOLE WORLD OUT THERE, the band tries to break free. They do so sonically, pushing past the confines of emo and pop punk via an embrace of eclectic instrumentation—violins, 12-string guitars, banjos—and unconventional, nonlinear song structures, and they do so lyrically. Between frank recountings of struggling with eating disorders, suicidal ideation, and OCD, Allen Steinberg searches for a way to make the best of the hand he’s dealt; on “Halley,” the best song he’s ever penned, predestination isn’t a prison but a promise of solidarity: “Your greatest fear is someone taking care of you / But that’s what I was made to do.” A great philosopher once said, “The circumstances of one’s birth are irrelevant. It is what you do with the gift of life that determines who you are.” After all, there really is a whole world out there—maybe there’s a place for them too. [Zac Djamoos]
21. Oklou – CHOKE ENOUGH
Genre: Art Pop, Alternative R&B
With PC Music officially a thing of the past, pop music felt a little bit adrift in 2025. One of the few artists to present a compelling vision of the future was French singer Oklou, whose debut album CHOKE ENOUGH builds on the prevailing sounds of the 2020s by weaponizing the same quality that made Robyn’s HONEY such an addictive listen: restraint. Oklou’s feather-light vocals float above synthesizers that fall like raindrops, exercising such tight-fisted control that the mere presence of a kick drum feels like a cathartic bass drop. In the hands of a less assured artist, this approach could be boring. But CHOKE ENOUGH is endlessly captivating, an album I’ve found myself returning to again and again to feel the hard-earned rush. [Jacob Martin]
20. Double Wish – S/T
Genre: Dream Pop, Indie Rock
When I first heard the new Double Wish album, it was through my phone speakers while I lay on the floor of an Airbnb during a visit to my hometown. Even through the phone’s limited output, I knew it was something special. One of the quiet pleasures of DOUBLE WISH is how quickly it convinces you that you already know it. There’s an immediate sense of recognition that runs through the record, not because the duo is retreading old ground, but because they understand how memory works in pop music. Mixing dream pop with atmospheric darkwave, Double Wish create something moody but approachable. Shimmering synths pulse rather than drone, and melodies linger with you long after the record stops spinning. The familiarity is intentional, and it’s where the album’s subtle confidence lives. There’s a clear lineage running through it, drawing on influences like ‘90s trip hop, 2000s indie rock, and Flaming Lips in the SOFT BULLETIN era. Double Wish rarely chase the highs their sound could easily accommodate, opting for continuity and feel. The songs move quietly, like they’ve been playing in the background of your life for longer than you realize—comforting without being passive, melancholic without leaning too far into nostalgia. [Jack Probst]
19. Hannah Frances – NESTLED IN TANGLES
Genre: Baroque Pop
Hannah Frances’s KEEPER OF THE SHEPHERD was among the best albums of last year, containing a lifetime of ideas and thoughts rising through mucky chamber folk and baroque Americana. While the gap between her previous album BEDROCK and SHEPHERD was nearly three years, NESTLED IN TANGLES arrived quickly—only 18 months after its predecessor. Defined in many ways by the two tracks featuring Daniel Rossen, whose sonic palette complements producer Kevin Copeland’s ambitions, his inclusion almost reframes the album as a lost relic of the Pitchfork 2000s: part blogosphere art rock, part blurry, neo-psych folk exploration, all a precise, heady trip. Some of the most thrilling, blown-out rock moments within Grizzly Bear’s SHIELDS or Fleet Foxes’ HELPLESSNESS BLUES can be found within NESTLED IN TANGLES. Like those albums, Frances’s sweeping cinematics and existential poetry feel timeless, and it’s among the most meticulously orchestrated albums of the year. [CJ Simonson]
18. Model/Actriz – PIROUETTE
Genre: Industrial Pop
After the bulky barrage of their debut, Model/Actriz’s PIROUETTE steps in an intimate direction. Rougher post-punk is balanced with delicate tones, as Cole Haden emphasizes lighter singing over loud snarls. Embracing both heaviness and softness reflects Haden’s struggle to embrace his queerness, achieving gradual acceptance by the end of this bruising, elegant album. [Louis Pelingen]
17. Hayden Pedigo – I’LL BE WAVING AS YOU DRIVE AWAY
Genre: Ambient Americana
While Hayden Pedigo’s excellent collaboration with Chat Pile, IN THE EARTH AGAIN, grabbed more headlines, his solo record, I’LL BE WAVING AS YOU DRIVE AWAY, continued a remarkable streak for the blooming folk instrumentalist. On the final entry in what’s being dubbed “The Motor Trilogy,” the desire to be both known and unknown have never been more at odds; Pedigo’s searching for peace: “There’s all these emotions running through these records,” he says. “Loneliness, hope, forgiveness, redemption, frustration, and I want this record to be the resolve.” Within these albums is the protagonist—a drifter—for whom Pedigo’s lilting harmonies and palliative guitar-picking soundtrack a journey of discovery. Is this Hayden Pedigo? It will take more music to find out. But I think when the closing title track begins its thoughtful wind-down, the pedal steel fading into the sunset, peace has been achieved. Stay golden, Hayden Pedigo. [CJ Simonson]
16. Greet Death – DIE IN LOVE
Genre: Shoegaze
“I will have a wedding with everyone I hate / I will host a funeral on the very same day.” It’s all spelled out crystal clear at the top of DIE IN LOVE: Greet Death are having a gathering—perhaps you’re invited—through a mix of love, hate, joy, anger, sadness, contempt, and calm; when you leave you will eventually accept peace. From the rotting corpse of tranquility comes some of the biggest songs of the year. Leaving basement gigs and walking around small-town cemeteries; listening to demos in the car and seeing movies starring Kurt Russell. DIE IN LOVE’s profoundly loud rock blend comes with its own visual and emotional gravity; “Country Girl” has the most colorful lyrics and best soloing of any song all year, the sensitive slowcore of “Red Rocket” sticks out as one of the genre’s finest moments in 2025, and “Same But Different Now” would’ve been the best song on any recent Mogwai album. Endlessly listenable and, more importantly, genuinely entertaining, DIE IN LOVE is one of the best pound-for-pound rock albums of the decade. [CJ Simonson]
15. Ribbon Skirt – BITE DOWN
Genre: Post-Punk, Indie Rock
Tashiina Buswa’s dry declaration, “Right timing, wrong planet,” has rung through my ears all year, becoming an almost anthemic sentiment through repetitive listens of Ribbon Skirt’s album, BITE DOWN. The whole album is filled with moments so poignant I couldn’t help but spend the entire year comparing everything else I heard to them—the heartbeat bass of “Off Rez,” Buswa’s staggered breathing on “Cellophane,” the distorted voices in “41,” and that one nearly intergalactic guitar chirp on “Look What You Did,” followed by a sneaky piano riff trailing behind. BITE DOWN pulses with life, giving the impression that the band dug into the Earth’s molten core and scraped the Earth’s atmosphere to find their inspiration. But they didn’t. What makes the record special is how interpersonal it is: how much it draws from your identity, the secrets you find in the corners of your own home, the interactions you have on the sidewalks, the years of remembering the things people have said and done to you. Ribbon Skirt’s latest reveals the expansive depth lurking around every inch of this wrong planet. [Caro Alt]
14. Colin Miller – LOSIN’
Genre: Alt-Country, Singer-Songwriter
Colin Miller takes it slow on LOSIN’. Where most of the current crop of alt-country revivalists go for messy, unbridled energy, Miller is subtler. Even when the band behind him picks up the tempo, like on “Hasbeen,” Miller prefers to sing at conversational volume, fading into the background. It’s characteristic modesty for a song of that title, which immediately precedes another called “I Need a Friend.” LOSIN’ is, as the title may hint, an album about lost loves and missed connections, but Miller’s still able to hold onto hope, somewhere deep down: “I leave the porchlight on,” he vows, “Even though I know you won’t come home.” [Zac Djamoos]
13. Tyler Childers – SNIPE HUNTER
Genre: Outlaw Country, Americana
Is it a couple songs too long? Perhaps. Do all the sonic experiments pan out? Not quite. Should Rick Rubin quit producing country artists? There’s a multitude of reasons why this might not hold up as the absolute pinnacle of recorded music from 2025, but the fact remains that this is Tyler freakin’ Childers giving us a baker’s dozen of some of the most passionate, raucous, and inventive music popular country has to offer. Whether you’re a traditionalist who empathizes with the steel-driven ode to struggling country performers that is “Cuttin’ Teeth,” a punk who vibes with the raw-up riffs of “Snipe Time,” or a blues fan looking to let loose with the stomp on closer “Dirty Ought Trill,” this record has a little something for everyone. [Connor Shelton]
12. Cloakroom – LAST LEG OF THE HUMAN TABLE
Genre: Shoegaze
After releasing doom-y shoegaze and tuneful space rock, Cloakroom return with their most succinct work to date. LAST LEG OF THE HUMAN TABLE showcases refined songwriting. The album brings to mind the disparate but still united sonic influence of GBV, Torche, and even the emo debut of early Foo Fighters. You can tell the band has been boning up on their Beatles, and the results have turbocharged their approach. A decade in, Cloakroom show no signs of being at a creative crossroads, accentuating their wall of sound with an assured collection of songs. [Luke Phillips]
11. Deafheaven – LONELY PEOPLE WITH POWER
Genre: Black Metal, Post-Metal
“All hail now the panopticon / See all around me / All of my failure”
So begins Deafheaven’s explosive sixth album LONELY PEOPLE WITH POWER. Undeniably their strongest release since 2013’s SUNBATHER, the blackgaze pioneers re-asserted their rightful place at the heart of modern American heavy metal. With churning, urgent riffs and singer George Clarke returning to his signature hyper-controlled growling vocal style, it almost feels as though the band were picking up right where SUNBATHER left off—an interesting hat trick for a band that’s explored many different paths over the last 12 years. Always unafraid to be literary at the risk of being accused of pretension, Clarke’s lyrics are some of the most poetic and potent they’ve ever been, filled with an ennui and existential anger that’s difficult to match anywhere else in music. The album is about the small minority of people who have amassed most of the wealth and power in this society, and how achingly unhappy they still are. But the record is also self-critical; it’s an examination of the feeling of living in a time of technical material comfort and still failing to find a deep sense of connection with anyone. The panopticon we’ve imprisoned ourselves in, our endless apps watching us as we willingly feed them all of our data for days on end, is making us all tremendously lonely. It’s an eerie, depressing feeling, but somehow Deafheaven can always translate those feelings into gorgeous music. [Carter Moon]
10. Geese – GETTING KILLED
Genre: Indie Rock, Art Punk
Whatever superlative is necessary to describe them, Geese deserve it. Few indie rock bands today confront societal burdens with the playful naïvety of the old guard. Geese, the Brooklyn quartet of 23-year-olds, do this on GETTING KILLED, making rock music feel exciting again. Years prior, they’d been shrugged off on their debut for riding the waves of off-kilter post-punk. On their country-flavored follow-up, 3D COUNTRY, the newly muscular and beguiling sound showed promise. Frontman Cameron Winter’s surprise solo debut from last year, HEAVY METAL, placed him in the pantheon of magnetic singer-songwriters. All of this unconventional emergence—a severe understatement—is what has made the prospect of Geese so exciting: There’s still so much room for them to evolve.
The curious producer pairing with Kenny Beats has allowed the band to really shine—entrancing rhythms are placed front and center. “Trinidad” detonates with corrosive solos, “Islands of Men” is a pouncing Krautrock jam, and “100 Horses” is stuffed with jangly riffage. Winter’s malleable voice ties it altogether. GETTING KILLED’s longevity is immediate, which is why Geese are the new vanguard of indie rock. [Dom Lepore]
9. Gelli Haha – SWITCHEROO – Innovative Leisure
Genre: Indie Pop
Gelli Haha has crash-landed with her imaginative take on electropop. The Gelliverse is a fully formed aesthetic built around primary colors and a choreographed stage performance. The “whole package” of Gelli Haha arrives in a confident way that has not been seen since Lady Gaga or DEVO. A freak flapper girl, she is the conceptual persona and alter-ego of indie rocker Angel Abaya, who brings rousing instincts to alternative dance. Wide-eyed wonder is interspersed with an impish, grown-up naughtiness. By the record’s end, Gelli is singing, “We’re all out of stardust, tragically, I’m afraid”—a denouement that is befitting such a full-fledged rollercoaster of an album. Wherever her cartoon galaxy leads us next, we’re all just living in it. [Luke Phillips]
8. Jim Legacy – BLACK BRITISH MUSIC (2025)
Genre: Hip-Hop, Alternative R&B, Pop Rap
BLACK BRITISH MUSIC (2025) serves as an important mixtape for Jim Legxacy, his introspection detailing what it felt like to grieve and struggle through loneliness and poverty, all spiraling through his trademark genre-fusing. All of it has a touch of his wild creativity, a sense of liveliness that underscores the pain. Cherishing the connections he has made, this is music that leaps in splashy directions. [Louis Pelingen]
7. The Tubs – COTTON CROWN
Genre: Jangle Pop
What happens when one guitarist plays a $4,000 Rickenbacker while another guitarist plays the cheapest Squire Stratocaster you can find? The answer is perfect guitar tone, something Welsh janglers the Tubs have used to maximum effect on their sophomore album, COTTON CROWN. There’s something immediately timeless about the way songs come together, hooks buried around every corner, manic trickster energy bouncing off every wall. The plaintive croon of frontman Owen Williams elevates these immaculate pop gems even further, exploring the darkest underbellies of love and loss. The tack of his lyrics cuts so wildly against the grain of the ebullience that every word lingers like a curse. In a Tubs song, to love is base, desperate, psychotic, humiliating, and invariably futile. There is no other way to live. [Jacob Martin]
6. Oneohtrix Point Never – TRANQUILIZER
Genre: Progressive Electronic, Ambient, Glitch, Art Pop
For a long time, Oneohtrix Point Never’s interest in archiving has led him to put discoveries in their own sonic containers. On TRANQUILIZER, Daniel Lopatin has offered a splendid one. He lets new age commercial samples play out, dropping glitchy fragments that scratch the calming mood. It is a process that never gets tiring, pulling you back into the shuffle. For a space conducted via soothing soundscapes, Lopatin breaks it apart in an astonishingly playful way. [Louis Pelingen]
5. Greg Freeman – BURNOVER
Genre: Singer-Songwriter, Indie Rock
At the end of “Rome, New York,” a highlight from Greg Freeman’s marvelous sophomore album, his injunction to “Pacify the broken dreams of the broken-into cars” shifts, subtly, into the more quotidian “Pass right by the broken dreams of the broken-into cars.” It’s instructive of Freeman’s viewpoint: All the drama and hopelessness of the day-to-day is, in the end, just part of the day-to-day. See, for example, the six-minute title track, a story-song that sums up in a single couplet nearly every large-scale political disagreement in American history: “Three people died by the evening / And people looked for someone to blame.” His matter-of-fact delivery matches his matter-of-fact conclusion: “I guess some things were warm.” Understatement of the year, maybe, but how else do you deal with the scope of such preventable tragedy? Again, Freeman himself captures it best: “You’re looking to the sky for love / But all you get is a gallic shrug.” That might be all the comfort you get from the heavens, but at least Greg Freeman will pass you the bottle. [Zac Djamoos]
4. james K – FRIEND
Genre: Ethereal Wave, Ambient Pop, Dream Pop
On FRIEND, the third album by New York producer Jamie Krasner (aka james K), she synthesizes her ethereal sensibilities into glossy pop. The result is a foggy world, with pristine trip hop, bellowing ambient, and guitar-driven chillwave on display, all while Krasner sings tales of yearning for camaraderie. The album title is apt—FRIEND feels like a companion. [Dom Lepore]
3. Baths – GUT
Genre: Art Pop
Yearning for queer romance in your 30s is a different stride, a reflective process that Baths evokes over the course of GUT. It is endowed with sonic depth, palpitating layers of indietronica and rock shimmering with poetry and ecstatic vocal runs. Baths’ display of sensual desire is refreshingly free, an expression that conflicts with his thoughtful introspection: relying on gut impulse that may stumble into heartache, still leading to evocative emotions worth desiring anyway. [Louis Pelingen]
2. Wednesday – BLEEDS
Genre: Countrygaze, Americana
This time last year, I got a call that my high school car lightly exploded on the highway. Someone else was driving it, there was a ton of smoke, and then it stopped in the middle of rush-hour traffic. A very dramatic ending for a car that accompanied me through the most dramatic moments of my life. Wednesday’s BLEEDS reminds me of that car—they’re both raucous, emotional vehicles. When I was a teenager, that car held me through my most happy, most angry, most in-love, most anxious, and most heartbroken moments. BLEEDS has done the same for me this year, providing a soundtrack with a perfect selection for every possible feeling I could have. The melancholy of “Carolina Murder Suicide” and the saccharine sweetness of “The Way Love Goes” remind me of all the difficult conversations I had in that car, because we didn’t have to look at each other if I was driving.
I love this album because it also has texture. I hear “Townies” when I think of how that beat-up Volvo’s interior lining was fraying and falling, held up by whatever band’s buttons I had on hand to keep it up. The guitar’s edge of “Wasp” feels like the sonic embodiment of that long scratch down the driver’s side from who knows what. I took out the headlight once on the passenger’s side after grazing a cement pole, and the smack of the intro in “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On)” makes the same crunching noise my car did. Towards the end of this car’s time with me, it would spit out the key from the ignition while I drove it, somehow still going full speed ahead. BLEEDS doesn’t need a key in the ignition either. It is pure pedal to the metal. [Caro Alt]
1. Nourished by Time – THE PASSIONATE ONES
Genre: Bedroom Pop, Alternative R&B, Chillwave
Marcus Brown writes for workers and lovers. They are mostly one and the same: To brave through late-stage capitalism while unwillingly taking part in systems engineered to destroy you requires devotion, whether it’s towards your own art or another person. THE PASSIONATE ONES wears its heart on its sleeve, decrying modern life and all its horrors while being one of the year’s most outright fun albums. In “9 2 5” Marcus intones a blessing over a glittering house beat that sums everything up: “May you always have a fight”. [Jay Bracho]
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