Tag: Best music of 2025

Top 25 albums of 2025: #’s 10 – 6

Here we are at the top ten albums I reviewed last year. The choices get tougher as the numbers get lower. Let’s get to it.

#10: The Limiñanas – Faded

A salute to forgotten models, actresses, singers, and to lost friends, Faded is another solid album from the French psych-rock duo. It has all the elements you want from The Limiñanas – wild guitars, heartbeat drums, smoky vocals, and a sense that they’re re-creating something you’ve forgotten.

#9: Blackwater Holylight – If You Only Knew

It was great to get a new recording from Blackwater Holylight last year (and a new full-length album is already on the way), and If You Only Knew marked a turn toward shoegaze for them. I’m all for it. The heavy guitars and deep, often sad lyrics are still there. Perhaps doom-gaze is a better description of it. Then again, why bother describing it? Just let overwhelm you.

#8: Frankie and The Witch Fingers – Live at KEXP

I’ve been waiting for a live Frankie and The Witch Fingers album for a little while, and this recording of a raw, raucous show for KEXP didn’t disappoint. It’s difficult to capture their live show energy, but they did it. The fact that they open the show with “Brain Telephone” (an oldie) makes it even better.

#7: Roi Turbo – Bazooka EP

This, simply put, is the best house music record I heard all last year. It makes you crave a longer record. These guys are having a lot of fun and thankfully they invited us to the party.

#6: Joe Alterman & Mocean Worker – Keep the Line Open

This jazz-funk-trip-hop record is a delight from start to finish as pianist Joe Alterman and producer / DJ Mocean Worker pay tribute to funky legend Les McCann. Every song is highly danceable and will brighten any time of day.

Up next, the top five, which includes two welcome returns, another legend, electro upstarts, and brash post-punks!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2025: #’s 15 – 11

We’re now halfway through my list of favorite albums from last year. Who’s here? Read on!

#15: Lammping – Never Never

Take a trip-hop duo (Lammping) and combine them with a Canadian rockabilly one-man-band who was described by John Waters as “Roy Orbison with a head injury” (Bloodshot Bill), and you get the neat Never Never EP. It sounds like something you’d find in a dusty record bin among “2000s Music – Misc.”, and is well-worth seeking out. It’s the first of four EPs from Lammping, so they’re off to a good start.

#14: King Gizzard and The Lizard Wizard – Phantom Island

Would it be a “best of” year list without a King Gizz album by now, since they release at least one album a year? Phantom Island combines the Aussie psych-rock / thrash metal / rave music giants with an orchestra because…why not? It’s a lush album with as much mystery as its cover.

#13: pôt-pot – Warsaw 480km

Here’s a post-punk band that emerged from seemingly nowhere to knock me back into my chair. “Damn, that’s good,” was my first thought after hearing it. I’m delighted that so many good post-punk bands are still appearing, and this is one of them.

#12: John Also Bennett – Ston Elaióna

This is a lovely ambient record mostly made of synths and field recordings John Also Bennett made around Greece. One song is inspired by the oldest known written song found on a stone pillar.

#11: Paddang – Lost in Lizardland

It’s a French psych-rock concept album about a future world dominated by evil lizard people and a lone heroine in the wasteland trying to defeat them. What more do you need to know?

Come back tomorrow to see who made the top ten!

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2025: #’s 20 – 16

It’s time for the top twenty of the 40+ albums I reviewed last year. Who’s in the top half?

#20: The Quality of Mercury – The Voyager

This one came out of nowhere and landed much like the alien craft on the cover. It’s a sharp mix of electro, prog-rock, and shoegaze…all done by one guy riffing on the idea of lonely spade travel.

#19: Fugue State – In the Lurch

Wild garage punk that will leave your stereo system feeling like the wreckage on the album cover. This is another band who came out of nowhere for me that I was glad to find.

#18: Dog Lips – Danger Forward

Loud, brash, and energetic post-punk here that stresses the punk more than the post. This was another band that came out of nowhere. Good stuff lies ahead for them, and for you if you snag this record.

#17: Birds of Nazca – Pangaea

Two Frenchmen making cosmic rock that sounds like it was made by at least a quartet because it’s so damn heavy and loud. It’s all instrumentals, too, which I love.

#16: Anika – Abyss

It’s always good to hear Anika, who returned in 2025 with another sultry and spooky record. Anika has a voice that can instantly hypnotize you, and her dark electro music is always alluring. I still need to catch her live one of these days.

Who’s in the top fifteen? You’ll have to come back tomorrow to learn that.

Keep your mind open.

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Top 25 albums of 2025: #’s 25 – 21

It’s time for my annual review of my favorite albums of the previous year. Who made the top 25 (or 40+) albums I reviewed? Read on!

#25: GoGo Penguin – Necessary Fictions

This is a solid jazz / prog album full of great beats and slick piano work. It was a pleasant surprise to discover it and this band last year.

#24: Beta Voids – Scrape It Off EP

This is a wonderfully nuts punk EP with songs about women kicking ass, people named Alan, and how much toxic masculinity sucks. A full LP from Beta Voids is in the works, so watch out before they run you over and laugh on the way out of town.

#23: Ric Wilson – America Runs on Disco EP

Speaking of good EPs that came out last year, here’s another. Ric Wilson is still somehow a secret force despite being a top-notch producer, songwriter, rapper, and cheerleader for the overly maligned city Chicago (Don’t believe what you hear. Go spend a couple days there, especially in the summer.). This EP is funky and joyful, which was exactly what we needed when it was released and still need right now.

#22: Bonnie Trash – Mourning You

On the opposite side of the spectrum, here’s an album about grief that’s one of the heaviest records of the year. The lyrics cut deep if you’ve lost a loved one, or even witnessed someone’s grief from afar.

#21: Dusty Rose Gang – A-One from Day One

Just when you thought rock might be taking a vacation for a little while, along comes this quartet to deliver one of the best straight-up rock records of 2025.

Who makes the top twenty? Tune in tomorrow, gang!

Keep your mind open.

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