Best Albums of 2025: #30-16

2nd post of three

Also read:
Best of 2025: #45-31
Best of 2025: #16-1

Here is the second installment of my three-part best albums of 2025 post. The first post is here if you missed it; third one will be up sometime this week. Hope you find something here you hadn’t heard and find enjoyable/surprising/bizarre!

Again, feel free to put your own best albums of 2025 in comments! And if you enjoy this post, consider becoming a paid subscriber; it’s $5/month, $50/year.

30.
Poor Creature
All Smiles Tonight

Post-Sinead Irish goth folk, unearthing the dread and sorrow at the heart of the tradition.

29.
Annahstasia
Tether

Laurel Canyon/coffee house folk by a singer with an operatic, sensuous alto that would do Odetta proud.

28.
mei ehara
All About McGuffin

Just funky enough city pop wallpaper to decorate the lounge—though the designs fuzz out and writhe oddly when you get up close. (review)

27.
DJ K
Radio Libertadora!

Assaultive Brazilian baile funk which hits like a jackhammer unleashed on an air raid siren.

26.
Xerobot
Xerobot

No-wave hardcore punk spasms, delivered at maximum helium-fueled dork. (review)

25.
Mon Laferte
Femme Fatale

The Chilean singer channels classic torch songs, jazz and Latin, with a sultry purr to rival Julie London and some hog-calling lung power to challenge Celia Cruz.

24.
Various Artists
Blue Note: Alts N’ Outs

Alternative takes from six classic Blue Note albums. Bop heaven.

23.
Pupil Slicer
Fleshwork

Proggy, grimy death/thrash math rock, with throat-shredding vocals and the occasional pause for draggy sludge so you feel it fully when they put your face in the ceiling fan.

22.
Tyler the Creator
Don’t Tap The Glass

Tyler sort of goes pop, sort of blows up, and sort of channels George Clinton on this exuberantly weird hip hop herky-jerk to the dance floor.

21.
Brian Eno & Beatie Wolfe
Lateral

Wolfe helps Eno recapture the magic with an album of gentle ambient synth swell and sustain and fade.

20.
Makaya McCraven
The People’s Mixtape

Jazz drummer McCraven released a slew of excellent EPs this year, but this is the most excellentish of them all. Surging, buzzing, boiling Hancockesque funky fusion.

19.
Ganavya
Nilam

Ganavya weds South Asian folk and classical traditions with spiritual jazz into seamless floating perfection.

18.
Various Artists
You’re No Big Deal: Grunge, The U.S. Underground and Beyond 1984-1994

Great comp of classic 80s and 90s grunge and punk rock from the 80s and 90s, from well known acts like Dinosaur, Jr. to more obscure gems from feedtime, Girl Trouble, and Tree People.

17.
Elmoe
Battle Zone

A pioneering footwork producer finally gets his debut; profane repetitive catch-phrases and rapid-fire beats spattering against dreamy water-logged samples. (review)

16.
Horse Lords & Arnold Dreyblatt
Extended Field

Oddball art rockers team up with the oddball minimalist composer who influenced them for an album of gorgeously, hypnotically repetitively numbing droning.

—

Also read:
Best of 2025: #45-31
Best of 2025: #16-1