album of the year 2025
another full rotation around the sun; another album of the year list. released, characteristically, much later than every other publication. some things are worth waiting for.
want to know more about how we selected album of the year? view our spreadsheets in all their glorious beauty here.
50. Root Systems by History Dog
Instruments, voices, samples, and noise interact organically, reaching consensus and reacting to the environment without any verbal debate, written doctrine, or tallied vote.
49. Sugar & Plastic Plates by Tickles
For fans of Idles, Viagra Boys, Guck, sludge metal, and forgetting exactly how old you are when you’re asked because those birthdays stopped being exciting years ago, Sugar & Plastic Plates by Tickles bemoans the cruelty of the passage of time through their surprisingly accessible brand of noise rock.
48. Plan 75 by The Orchestra (For Now)
Costs rise, wages fall, the drugs get cheaper yet more dangerous, the houses get costlier yet more flammable, and every day the cliff of insecurity inches closer to us, swallowing up those we love on its relentless path. London post rockers The Orchestra (For Now) pick up on this pandemic of anxiety on their explosive debut EP Plan 75, a dense, orchestral work with an extreme emotional range.
47. Temple Of Hope by Saba Alizadeh
Every revolution needs a soundtrack, and the pensive, dramatic ambient music of Temple of Hope by Saba Alizadeh provides such a retrospective backdrop for the women’s rights movement in Iran. Of course, no regime change would come to pass, and the sounds of Temple of Hope reflect this simultaneous recognition of civilian power and acknowledgement of the long road ahead towards change.
46. Bhelize Don’t Cry by Uzi Freyja
For fans of BbyMutha, Junglepussy, and Backxwash, Bhelize Don’t Cry by Uzi Freyja is a bombastic debut from the Cameroon-born artist, delivering softness and severity in equal measure. Pushing boundaries with experimental beats and confessional lyricism,
45. Object 1 by Flooding
When relationships don’t end with one singular, traumatic explosion, contempt instead seeps in through the cracks in the walls, suffocating us over time in a stew of malaise that boils over into inexplicable rage. This sort of omnibus discontent animates the new EP Object 1 by Flooding, a post-indie-rock experiment in darkness, discord, and despair.
44. So, Ho Hum by Moribet
At the core of the whimsical experimentation of So, Ho Hum, Moribet sits effortlessly compelling songs in the folksy singer-songwriter tradition, fighting desperately to shine their human radiance through a suffocating film of lo fi electronica. The result bends chiptune into the shape of Elliot Smith, taking the brilliant melodies of Sufjan Stevens, making a run for the edgy electronic sounds of Jockstrap, and blowing straight past anything that has touched the mainstream before.
43. Porcelain Shield, Paper Sword by Mary Sue and the Clementi Sound Appreciation Clubout
A vacuum of meaning calls out to wisdom from the past, prompting a growing wave of young people to revert to ancient dogmas in a ravenous search for truth. The new album Porcelain Shield, Paper Sword by Mary Sue and the Clementi Sound Appreciation Club takes this desire seriously. This experimental hip hop record expands its quest for intellectual diversity into its pool of sonic influences, generally residing in the space of improvised jazz fusion while also incorporating elements of post and psychedelic rock, along with a heaping helping of traditional folk music from East and Southeast Asia to set up a refreshingly contemporary yet undoubtedly well-read aesthetic.
42. Hagen by Titanic
For fans of Bjork, Beach House, and Black Country, New Road, Hagen by Titanic immerses us in the apocalypse with their impossibly polished brand of neoclassical, experimental pop music. Flashes of 80s synth pop appear alongside moments of pure orchestral deconstruction, with intermittent moments of kraut rock, glitch hop, and other influences giving each track its unique character.
41. Hell 2 by Blank Hellscape
Hell is empty and all the devils are here. In Hell 2 by Blank Hellscape, harsh noise, disco, and EBM form a chaotic soundtrack to a rapid descent into madness.
40. Gem of the West by Sentries
Incessantly catchy yet endlessly creative guitar work pilots Gem of the West through diverse influences and wide dynamics, alternately pulling from western swing, emotional hardcore, garage rock, and post rock to outline the violent, unstable emotions unleashed by a drive through your hometown.
39. Did You Enjoy Your Time Here…? by PremRock
Abstract hip hop artist PremRock forces us to ask hard questions on his new record Did You Enjoy Your Time Here…?, an album pointed not towards those whose will has been forcibly compromised, but instead towards those who seemingly possess no will at all. Free associated lyrics provoke several angles on the titular question, forcing us to ask ourselves what kind of country, what kind of family, what kind of profession, or what kind of community we want to live in.
38. Ring of Fire by Molasses
The cyclical nature of folk tradition re-emerges on Ring of Fire by Molasses, a manically experimental rendition of timeless traditional tunes. By rescuing these ancient sounds from this nebulous mess, Molasses shows us both how far we’ve traveled and how little we’ve changed, picking up these cyclical songs right where they left off even if a cloud must now hang over the proceedings.
37. Hyper Vigilance by Ramleh
Hunger divides the locust from the grasshopper, lacerating these harmless common insects into warped, ferocious, all-consuming machines, looting the desert for all its struggling life in the midst of the deepest droughts. Experimental rock legends Ramleh observe the same gruesome transformation in their follow man on their new record Hyper Vigilance, a genre-defying testament to misanthropy and its origins deep within ourselves.
36. A Body Like a Home by Alejandra Cardenas
For fans of Tim Hecker, Talk Talk, Old Saw, spoken word post rock, and the mundane horror of Adam Curtis documentaries, A Body Like a Home by Alejandra Cardenas uses an experimental ambient musical approach to reveal a life permanently altered by the inhumanity of authoritarianism. Field recordings place this album firmly within the context of the artist’s childhood in Peru, a country which has long struggled under successive governments which thrive on corruption, ethnic division, and militaristic violence. Within this broader historical context, however, Cardenas also tells more intimate stories of interpersonal abuse, the two themes weaving together and congealing at the hand of an intensely psychedelic and absurd use of diverse instrumentation
35. Shooting Star by Golden Apples
For fans of Built To Spill, 13th Floor Elevators, early Flaming Lips, and sweaty basement shows, Shooting Star by Golden Apples delivers equally far-out and down to earth psychedelic sounds with a grungy patina.
34. Mr Beast Death 2030 by Mr Beast Death 2030
For fans of early Black Country, New Road, Unwound, the absolute deconstruction of shoegaze, and the thrill of a super villain origin story, the prophetically titled Mr Beast Death 2030 by the artist of the same name uses dissonant post hardcore to tell the story of slowly giving in to the cruelty of our environment.
33. Land Back by The Myrrors
For fans of Stereolab, Orchestre Tout Puissant Marcel Duchamp, anticolonial action, and the use of joyous celebration to resist oppression, Land Back by The Myrrors deploys their blisteringly heavy brand of krautrock to rally us to the dance floor of liberation.
32. LSD by Cardiacs
Continuing this British prog legend’s tradition of psychedelic, maximalist rock with a punk energy, LSD takes a baby step back in raw intensity while dialing up the theatrics. Never has a band so thoroughly photocopied such a wild, vibrant imagination onto tape, realizing every twist and turn of late band leader Tim Smith’s mental symphonies.
31. Kneeling by Dan Meyer
Agriculture has taken the extreme metal scene by storm in the past couple of years, and every fan needs to know about the new side project from guitarist and vocalist Dan Meyer, Kneeling. Best conceptualized as two distinct musical statements released concurrently, this record uses two clearly demarcated styles to tell two separate stories. Both stories push us into ourselves, yearning for communion while finding none but with the gentle glow of the universe.
30. Los Thuthanaka by Los Thuthanaka
Psychedelic yet energetic, noisy yet pointed, anxiety-inducing yet endlessly fun, the experimental Latin grooves on the self-titled LP by Los Thuthanaka convert sounds in our everyday lives into a sonic funhouse. From heavily processed vocal samples to tiny, mundane snippets of music, each of Los Thuthanaka’s source materials assumes wild new shapes, twisting and repeating in an eerie, fuzzy, aggressive instrumental environment as any of our original familiarity fully disintegrates.
29. Only Dust Remains by Backxwash
A stunning variety of live instrumentation breathes life into every second of this record, from dark, metallic riffs to sweeping orchestral melodies all backed by organic percussion that solidifies this record’s presence in the real world. Combative lyrics and firm delivery conduct an all-out assault on the life-negating systems that control our political, economic, and cultural reality, drawing a through line between genocidal imperialism, rampant addiction, and personal despair.
28. Quitters by Lydia Roberts
For all the data we can use to understand the state of the world and everyone in it, we have extreme difficulty counting the subset of people who have just given up. Lydia Roberts captures this widespread helpless stagnation on Quitters, a harsh noise record with a fleshy human core.
27. Thauma by Big Hands
Song, dance, and conversation of every culture and language echo off the cobbled streets of a bustling Mediterranean port city, reaching our ears as a joyously chaotic sonic parade while we glide through the scene unnoticed. Suddenly, we wonder how and why we got here, and we realize with a jolt we’ve been sucked into the beautiful dream world of Thauma by Big Hands.
26. Diamond Grove by Weirs
What does “The South” mean to you? This corner of the United States inspires so much passion for so many people in so many directions, and Diamond Grove by Weirs captures that ambiguity perfectly with its experimental take on old time music. A haunted tone and morbid storytelling throughout the record draws us into the concept of the old South as a cultural ghost, haunting our America in the way that the knights and lords will always haunt Europe.
25. Rhizome by Cistern
For fans of Talking Heads, Devo, The Smiths, garage rock revival, and the non-heirarchical organization of information, Rhizome by Cistern crowns the peak of the current post punk trend with their boundary-breaking approach and impactful storytelling. Where much of the post punk genre presents a wall of mechanical percussion and chirping guitars which slows down for no one, Cistern instead subtly, gradually, and thoughtfully adjusts every aspect of the composition to allow for a much wider breadth of emotion.
24. Camgirl by Crippling Alcoholism
For fans of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, Chelsea Wolfe, Touche Amore, and the subversion of presently popular aesthetics in alternative rock radio, Camgirl by Crippling Alcoholism illuminates the unresolved trauma pulling the strings of our deeply sick culture. Where goth rock subverted the earliest reaches towards synthetic pop music by creating something self-consciously undead and anticommercial, Crippling Alcoholism identifies the already soulless interior of contemporary loud rock, parading around its empty body while mocking its supposed purpose.
23. Forever Howlong by Black Country, New Road
Back with a new lineup, fresh sound, new writers, and new influences, Black Country, New Road marks their triumphant return to the studio with Forever Howlong, a simultaneously natural progression and radical departure from the band’s beloved past work. These tender, flowing, shimmery pieces follow narrators whose emotional vulnerability and curious open-mindedness leaves them badly burned by the world and its many scheming opportunists, an extravagant, tragic, vivid display of the loss of innocence that proves this band’s penchant for storytelling has remained despite all the changes.
22. Gucked Up by Guck
For fans of YHWH Nailgun, Chat Pile, hardcore punk energy in strange packaging, and a noisy aesthetic sensibility to meet a noisy moment, Gucked Up by Guck crafts a mosaic of heavy music to vent an extreme level of frustration. Riffs which could easily fit into the metallic-tinged hardcore of the 90s coexist with more contemporary elements of dissonance bordering on pure noise, forming a unique sound which nonetheless feels familiar.
21. Gift Horse by Swelle
This record’s folk rock sound takes heavy inspiration from the noisier elements of shoegaze, utilizing a grungy songwriting style with choruses that soar on the wings of noisy guitars and melodic basslines. Counterpoint verses feature charming banjos, acoustic guitars, delicate synths, and soft vocals, completing the grunge dichotomy with an equally emotive Americana style.
20. Apiary by Gingerbee
For fans of Asher White, Willy Rodriguez, Car Seat Headrest, bedroom pop, skramz, and sappy romance under the sunset, the new album Apiary by Gingerbee will melt your heart with its wildly maximalist yet touchingly personal sound. Unlike so many other records in this bedroom scene, this brief musical snapshot keeps us in the most euphoric moments of a passionate romance, focusing exclusively on that tender comfort that we’ll chase for the rest of our lives.
19. Seeking Darkness by Huremic
Fans of Parannoul may be excited to hear that this beloved anonymous indie artist has a new record out, but its sound may not be what you expect. Seeking Darkness by Huremic, a separate alias designated for more experimental releases that don’t gel perfectly with the Parannoul brand, takes the most abstract, post-rock-influenced moments of a record like To See the Next Part of the Dream and expands them to the extreme.
18. Songs for Lost Travellers by Confucius MC & Bastien Keb
In some ways, Songs for Lost Travellers by Confucius MC and Bastien Keb fulfills our core expectations of an introspective experimental rap album, using free-association lyrics and irregular song structures to communicate an existential crisis. No matter what baggage you bring into this record, you will experience a message that feels hand-crafted just for you, a wide-reaching, horizontally-expanding narrative that encourages us to seek acceptance as an ultimate life goal
17. [angry noises] by Ciśnienie
For fans of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Maruja, contemporary experimental jazz, and the processing of childhood trauma into something stunningly beautiful, [angry noises] by Ciśnienie unleashes an explosive onslaught of post rock magic to rival the greatness of any traditional symphony. In its determination to chase dynamic swells to absurd heights, however, Ciśnienie far outruns many bands of that original post rock era, constantly inventing new harmonic, rhythmic, and instrumental methods to continue the climb even after our imaginations have far run out of room to envision a higher peak.
16. The Big E by Editrix
For fans of Minutemen, Hella, technical death metal, and the deconstruction of traditional americana, The Big E by Editrix strikes right at the heart of our deepening distrust, dwelling in the uncertainty that follows the collapse of institutional credibility. We’re held in this state of nihilistic disbelief by viciously unresolved melodies, eerily looping basslines, and mind-melting meter changes, locked in self-exile as traditional sources of truth and trust look increasingly ridiculous.
15. Tell Me Life’s Funny by Evangelism
For fans of Manaleek, War Room, post punk revival, and that magical mix of sincerity and surrealism that only an experimental punk project could provide, Tell Me Life’s Funny by Evangelism puts an expansive instrumental lineup to work by inviting us into a passionate, flamboyant, yet fundamentally stagnant world not too dissimilar from our own.
14. You Left Us in the Spring by Vangas
For fans of Dazzling Killmen, Swans, Shearling, post rock, and emotional explosion that detonates as shock turns to grief, You Left Us in the Spring by Vangas speaks in a breathtakingly subtle, relentlessly tense aesthetic voice to shout tales of deep, dark, empty loss. Through this masterful composition and excellent partition of stereo space, Vangas achieves a cinematic atmosphere while avoiding the bombastic excesses common to other cinematic music, drawing us into a world we find both completely believable and utterly horrifying.
13. The Spiritual Sound by Agriculture
For fans of Liturgy, Deafheaven, Sigur Ros, post metal, and the persistence of the human spirit in spite of the encroaching artificial intelligence armageddon, The Spiritual Sound by Agriculture implores us to remain present in the world around us, staring the blossoming horrors of the future directly in the eyes and boldly marching on.
12. La Debacle de las Divas by Blanco Teta
If capitalism ever feels impossible to appease, that its demands make a mockery of our human nature and capabilities, you’ve felt the rage animating the inventive new punk record La Debacle de las Divas by Blanco Teta. The album documents a narrator frantically treading water amid consumer culture’s absurd prioritization of youth and novelty, with a wide variety of sung, spoken, yelled, and screamed vocals dangling our character over an angsty abyss.
11. 45 Pounds by YHWH Nailgun
While experimental rock continues down its trend of increasingly dark, dissonant sounds inspired by no wave, New York noise rock outfit YHWH Nailgun counter with their own brand of chaos, a sound no less experimental yet decidedly unafraid of the light. Industrial foundations underpin the record, with dazzlingly complex percussion, cavernously deep bass, and mercilessly heavy riffs dominating each track.
10 A Harmony of Loss Has Been Sung by Tunic
Grief leads a parade of deeply uncomfortable emotions, feelings we struggle to express even to those closest to us as their contradictory, incindiary, or self-destructive nature only deepens our isolation. Canadian noise rock band Tunic gives this parade a megaphone and a pedestal on A Harmony of Loss Has Been Sung, a musical stream of consciousness based on the writer and his wife’s experience of a miscarriage delivered in brutal lyrical and tonal honesty.
9. Perverts by Ethel Cain
We knew to expect an experimental turn for the next Ethel Cain record, but nothing could have prepared us for Perverts, a dark ambient record that experiments thematically, sonically, vocally, and structurally to present a nuanced philosophical system that addresses some of the deepest, darkest emotional hollows. Any reading of Perverts that passes off the record as a mere deconstruction of traditional spirituality severely misses the point; Cain’s own spiritual system, founded upon art as a mechanism for transcendental closeness with God, wavers in and out of parallel with church orthodoxy as it charts its own path of morality and value.
8. God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars by Shallowater
For fans of American Football, Slint, Nick Drake, slowcore, and the tragic soul trapped inside an indifferent country music industry, God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars by Shallowater paints an eerily familiar, deeply depressive mosaic, capturing the zeitgeist in an unlikely union of traditional Americana and experimental rock. Shallowater feels like home in a way few bands ever could; every emotion leaps off the tape and into our hearts already full of the same thoughts, embracing us and joining in our sorrows as a real, breathing, essential companion.
7. McCartney, It’ll Be OK by UNIVERSITY
When someone in our life discards us, we immediately turn inwards, entering into some of the deepest states of depression imaginable. British emo noise rockers UNIVERSITY travel this dark road on McCartney, It’ll Be OK, writhing in the agony of utmost self-loathing through screamed vocals, distorted guitars, and frenzied riffs.
6. Manigote Cualquiera by Demencia Infantil
There’s something so eerily beautiful about radio waves, the fact that music, voices, stories, advertisements, and sermons zip through the air around us, waiting for us to tune in. Mexico City experimentalists Demencia Infantil capture an unusual sort of radio wave on their new record Manigote Cualquiera, tuning into frequencies more spiritual than electromagnetic. An absurd, jazzy, dark, noisy sound annihilates the artist’s ego, trading specific, pointed voice for the aimless emanation of energy.
5. Getting Killed by Geese
For fans of Radiohead, Modest Mouse, The Catcher in the Rye, and screaming your way through a brick wall, Getting Killed by Geese delivers yet another left hook in what has become one of the most impressive catalogues in rock music of this century. Taking a step back from their blues-inspired maximalist sound on their previous record 3D Country, Getting Killed exposes each of the musicians much more openly and leaves more room for fragile subtlety.
4. Black Noise by Quinton Barnes
Noise experiences a relationship to music analogous to the position of marginalized groups in society, always the excluded “other” for whom all systems fail and to whom all comparisons direct. This combination of Afropessimist thought with the aesthetics of noise music appears on Black Noise by Quinton Barnes, an outstanding piece of experimental hip hop which unites a delightfully unhinged, wildly creative live band with an insightful lyricist. From within this noise music framework and the marginalized black communities it represents, violence lingers on every horizon, promising to colonize, harass, and disturb with its imposed musical structure and competing countermelodies.
3. Yeah, I Bet by My Wife’s an Angel
Philadelphia no-wave outfit My Wife’s an Angel enters the studio for the first time with Yeah, I Bet, an angsty open letter dissecting our socially-conditioned sociopathy. Formidable walls of noisy, chaotic guitars sit atop a foundation of a jazzy, adaptable rhythm section, all of which allows the band to rapidly pivot between sections of tight, anthemic riffing and murky, unpredictable improvisation.
2. Motherfucker, I am Both: “Amen” and “Hallelujah”... by Shearling
Motherfucker, I am Both: “Amen” and “Hallelujah”... by Shearling rises out of the ashes of Sprain, continuing that band’s work of creating spiritually tortured noise rock characterized by extreme emotional ambiguity. We find here a narrative founded upon vice as an inescapable component of life, so intimately relatable and fundamentally human as to block out the light of any supposed perfect divine. Rather than chase down that elusive purity, Shearling embraces and elevates their animal nature, pulling sounds and themes from the American West in the worship of a familiar yet treacherous idol.
1. The New Eve Is Rising by The New Eves
For fans of Lingua Ignota, Me Lost Me, neofolk, and the reclamation of feminine archetypes from across history, The New Eve Is Rising by The New Eves strips folk history of its patriarchal trauma, forming new narratives that inspire hope and ambition. These messages of empowerment and boldness continue through the record’s stories of love, adventure, and tragedy, culminating in a passionate ode to Mary, the mother of Jesus. Deeply folksy sounds ruled by haunted vocals and dark, pulsing instrumental work set Mary into motion as a genuine, living, human person, disassembling the feminine ideal at the core of our culture and its traumatic implications.
