What a year for music. As 2025 comes to a close, we’re counting down the 25 albums that defined it—bold reinventions, stunning debuts, and records we couldn’t stop spinning. Stream the complete collection on Spotify and let us know your favorites.
25. Backxwash – Only Dust Remains
Backxwash’s fifth album expands her sound into harsher, broader territory while turning identity, faith, and oppression into raw catharsis—songs she describes as coming from “a person who was brought back to life but is now haunted by death itself.” – 8.5
24. Youth Lagoon – Rarely Do I Dream
Youth Lagoon’s Rarely Do I Dream transforms a stash of old home videos into expansive, cinematic songwriting, blending gothic Americana, post-punk, and electronic textures into what Trevor Powers calls “musical cinematography.” Crafted with co-producer Rodaidh McDonald, it’s a blurred collage of past and future—an album Powers says he wanted to “feel like life itself.” – 8.5
23. Field Medic – Surrender Instead
On Surrender Instead, Field Medic’s Kevin Patrick Sullivan turns years of sobriety and self-reflection into his most grounded work, shifting between bedroom pop and stripped-back confessionals. Stepping away from the touring grind, he uses the self-released album as both a creative reset and a search for a healthier way to exist beyond the Field Medic persona. – 8.5
22. Deftones – Private Music
Deftones’ 10th album Private Music blends intimacy and heaviness, crafted over two and a half years across Nashville, Joshua Tree, and Shangri-La with producer Nick Raskulinecz. From the head-nodding opener to thunderous and reflective moments alike, the album distills the band’s signature mix of force, atmosphere, and emotional pull. – 8.5
21. FKA twigs – Eusexua
FKA twigs returns with Eusexua, her first album in five years, blending techno-leaning soundscapes with euphoric, transcendent themes she describes as “deep but not sad.” Influenced by time in Prague and collaborations with Two Shell and Koreless, Eusexua explores alternative cultures through singles like the title track, ‘Perfect Stranger,’ and ‘Drums of Death.’ – 8.5
20. bdrmm – Microtonic
Microtonic marks a bold evolution for bdrmm, blending their post-shoegaze roots with electronic textures, pulsing synths, and Krautrock-leaning rhythms. With guest vocals from Olivesque and Working Men’s Club’s Syd Minsky-Sargeant, the album explores the liminal space between shoegaze and dance, feeling both introspective and forward-looking. – 8.6
19. Heartworms – Glutton For Punishment
Heartworms’ debut Glutton For Punishment finds Jojo Orme fully stepping into her own sound, blending gothic rhythms, sharp lyricism, and unconventional structures with producer Dan Carey. Released via Speedy Wunderground, Glutton For Punishment pushes far beyond post-punk—“I can do that, but I can also do way more,” she says—marking a bold and surprising first album. – 8.6
18. Maruja – Pain To Power
Produced by Samuel W. Jones, the eight-track collection captures Maruja’s explosive sound—a fierce collision of noise rock, punk, industrial textures, and squawking sax that recalls the intensity of black midi, Squid, Slint, and Swans. – 8.6
16. Lambrini Girls – Who Let The Dogs Out
Lambrini Girls’ debut Who Let The Dogs Out is a fearless noise-punk blast, mixing pop-punk hooks, grunge grit, and post-punk chaos to tackle modern social ills with humor and fury. Recorded with Daniel Fox and mixed by Seth Manchester, it’s a raw, high-energy statement that cements the Brighton duo as one of the UK’s boldest new bands. – 8.6
15. JJJJJerome Ellis – Vesper Sparrow
Black disabled Grenadian-Jamaican-American artist JJJJJerome Ellis returns with Vesper Sparrow, a profound and experimental new album produced by JJJJJerome Ellis with additional production by Graham Duncan on ‘Vesper Sparrow.’ – 8.6
17. Sueño Púrpura – Souvenir
Lima-based shoegaze band Sueño Púrpura unveil their debut Souvenir, a textured, mood-rich album out via Buh Records. With it, they deliver a commanding first statement and firmly establish themselves as one of Peru’s most distinctive new independent acts. – 8.7
14. Talk To Her – Pleasure Loss Desire
Italian post-punk band Talk To Her return with Pleasure Loss Desire (out October 30, 2025, via Shyrec/Icy Cold Records), a sharper, more abrasive descent into detachment and emotional fragility. Co-produced by Maurizio Baggio, the album blends their wave roots with late-’90s and early-2000s post- and alternative rock urgency. – 8.7
13. RORO and Snapir – Colors Left
Finnish producers RORO and Snapir deliver a groundbreaking fusion of dark electro, ambient, and glitch textures on Colors Left, their first collaborative LP, out via Booa Music Collective. – 8.7
12. Benefits – Constant Noise
Constant Noise marks a vivid evolution for Benefits, now a duo of Kingsley Hall and electronic producer Robbie Major, shifting their fury into a more technicolor, genre-blurring sound. With collaborators including Peter Doherty, Zera Tønin, Neil Cooper, and Shakk—and production from James Welsh and James Adrian Brown—the album fuses punk intensity with electronic pulse, indie-sleaze energy, and bass-driven experimentation. – 8.7
11. clipping. – Dead Channel Sky
On Dead Channel Sky, clipping. merges hip-hop and cyberpunk into a dense, mixtape-like vision of an alternate present, where golden-age rap collides with electronic experimentation. With guests like Aesop Rock, Cartel Madras, and Tia Nomore, the trio crafts cinematic, layered soundscapes that imagine a “future past” where hip-hop and rave-era culture intertwine. – 8.7
10. Shunkan – Kamikaze Girl
Marina Sakimoto’s new album as Shunkan is a raw and resonant reflection on emotional endurance, identity, and the chaos of change. – 8.8
9. Perfume Genius – Glory
Perfume Genius’ seventh album Glory balances muscular, theatrical arrangements with newfound emotional restraint, expanding the gothic Americana of Set My Heart on Fire. While bold tracks stand out, its quieter moments reveal the album’s deepest vulnerability—a result of Hadreas’ increasingly collaborative, more exposed songwriting process. – 8.8
8. Runnner – A Welcome Kind Of Weakness
Runnner’s A Welcome Kind of Weakness turns Noah Weinman’s achilles injury and a breakup into his most expansive work yet, trading homespun intimacy for a full-band, studio-built sound that recalls early-2000s indie rock. Balancing raw self-reflection with soaring arrangements, the album embraces uncertainty to create his most present and powerful statement—proof that even in stillness, momentum returns. – 8.8
7. Geese – Getting Killed
Geese’s fourth album, Getting Killed (Sept. 26, 2025), is their first as a quartet and blends art rock, indie, experimental, and no wave, featuring Cameron Winter’s expressive vocals over dense, cyclical rhythms. Produced with Kenny Beats, the album—including singles ‘Taxes,’ ‘Trinidad,’ and ‘100 Horses’—was recorded in ten intense days in Los Angeles and has received widespread critical acclaim. – 8.8
6. Friendship – Caveman Wakes Up
On Caveman Wakes Up, Philadelphia’s Friendship stretches country rock into dreamy, uncanny territory, blending shambolic guitars, soft synths, woodwinds, and Motown-tinged grooves. Anchored by Dan Wriggins’ baritone and poetic lyrics, the album—produced with Jeff Zeigler—crafts a ragged yet tender sound that transforms everyday moments into liminal, immersive experiences. – 8.8
5. La Dispute – No One Was Driving the Car
La Dispute returns after six years with No One Was Driving the Car (Epitaph Records), a 14-track, self-produced post-hardcore exploration of technology, societal pressure, and existential uncertainty. Inspired in part by a 2021 self-driving car crash, the album features Jordan Dreyer’s introspective narratives, with early singles like ‘I Shaved My Head’ and ‘Autofiction Detail’ highlighting its raw, personal tone. – 9.1
4. Huremic (Parannoul) – Seeking Darkness
The Korean musician behind Parannoul returns as Huremic with Seeking Darkness, a five-part, hard-hitting shoegaze odyssey blending epic noise, relentless repetition, and virtual instruments from Korean traditional music. Premiered on NTS and now on Bandcamp, the album pushes into darker territory while retaining the raw emotional intensity of his earlier work. – 9.2
3. For Those I Love – Carving the Stone
With Carving the Stone, David Balfe—who records as For Those I Love—has created a dense and emotionally raw second album that digs deeper into the political and personal weight of life in contemporary Ireland. Out via September Recordings, the follow-up to his critically acclaimed debut expands the project’s scope from one of intimate mourning to collective reckoning, without losing its poetic intensity. – 9.3
2. Keep – Almost Static
Richmond’s Keep return with Almost Static, their most cohesive album to date, distilling over a decade of shoegaze and alternative rock influences into 11 seamless, anthemic tracks. Self-released on May 30, the record embodies years of growth and endurance, pulling the band’s diverse sounds into sharper focus than ever. – 9.4
1. Rosalía – Lux
Rosalía returns with LUX, her ambitious fourth album and follow-up to MOTOMAMI, blending classical, experimental pop, and flamenco across four movements and fourteen languages. Recorded with the London Symphony Orchestra and featuring guests like Björk and Yves Tumor, the album is a maximalist meditation on faith, transformation, and the feminine divine, from the operatic ‘Mio Cristo Piange Diamanti’ to the dark pulse of ‘Berghain.’ – 9.6