The 2025 End of Year music lists thread

So it has started:

Rough Trade - Albums of the Year 2025
https://blog.roughtrade.com/gb/albums-of-the-year-2025/

Also

The Uncut and Mojo Albums of the Year Lists have been published. Both magazines have selected Pulp - More - as the their album of the year

Rough Trade -

Browse the top 100

https://www.roughtrade.com/collection/albums-of-the-year-2025

Uncut’s Top 80 Albums of 2025
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/uncuts-top-80-albums-of-2025/

only the Top 20 listed

UNCUT MAGAZINE – TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2025
20) Foxes in the Snow – Jason Isbell
19) Allbarone – Baxter Dury
18) Strawberries – Robert Forster
17) Double Infinity – Big Thief
16) Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles – Alan Sparhawk and Trampled by Turtles
15) The Heat Warps – Modern Nature
14) Caroline 2 – caroline
13) Time Indefinite – William Tyler
12) Planting by the Signs – S.G. Goodman
11) Lotus – Little Simz
10) Saving Grace – Robert Plant with Suzi Dian
9) Sable, Fable – Bon Iver
8) Twilight Override – Jeff Tweedy
7) Interior Live Oak – Cass McCombs
6) New Threats from the Soul – Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band
5) End of the Middle – Richard Dawson
4) Bleeds – Wednesday
3) Antidepressants – Suede
2) Instant Holograms on Metal Film – Stereolab
1) More – Pulp

DJ Mag Best of British awards 2025: voting is now open
https://djmag.com/news/dj-mag-best-of-british-awards-2025-voting-now-open

Best DJ
Interplanetary Criminal
LTJ Bukem
Mandidextrous
Neffa-T
Shanti Celeste

Breakthrough DJ
ALISHA
Amaliah
Paige Tomlinson
Silva Bumpa
sim0ne

Best Producer
Champion
Flava D
Hannah Holland
Prospa
Sammy Virji

Breakthrough Producer
Anish Kumar
La La
MPH
SHERELLE
The Trip

Best MC/Vocalist
George Riley
James Massiah
Micofcourse
Sox
Window Kid

Breakthrough MC/Vocalist
JayaHadADream
Kasst 8
Kibo
Nicole Blakk
Pozzy

Best Label
Pineapple Records
Semi Delicious
Tempa
Timedance
White Peach Records

Breakthrough Label
Basics Records
Dimeshift
Method 808
MINDHELMET
ROSSI.HOME//GRXWN.

Best Album
aya ‘hexed!’ [Hyperdub]
Blawan ‘SickElixir’ [XL Recordings]
Djrum ‘Under Tangled Silence’ [Houndstooth]
Goldie Presents Rufige Kru ‘Alpha Omega’ [London Records]
Maribou State ‘Hallucinating Love’ [Ninja Tune]

Best Compilation
Moxie ‘The Sound of Love International #007’ [Love International Recordings]
V/A ‘Annotations’ [footnotes]
V/A ‘Ping Volume One’ [Different Circles]
V/A ‘Synergy Vol. 3’ [Black Artist Database]
V/A ‘Tectonic Sound’ [Tectonic Recordings]

Best Track
CHRYSTAL ‘The Days (NOTION Remix)’ [Chaos]
Max Dean, Locky & Luke Dean ‘Can't Decide’ [NeXup Recz / Warner]
PinkPantheress ‘Illegal’ [Warner]
Sir Spyro & Killa P ‘Start & Stop’ [Neighbourhood Recordings]
Sub Focus & bbyclose ‘On & On’ [Positiva]

Best Rap Album/Mixtape
Asco ‘Perfect Timing’ [Mulli Music Group]
EsDeeKid ‘Rebel’ [XV Records / Lizzy Records]
Jim Legxacy ‘black british music’ [XL Recordings]
John Glacier ‘Like A Ribbon’ [Young]
Kamakaze & WIZE ‘It’s About Time’ [AHEAR Records]

Best Rap Track
Chaos & Scorcher ‘Champion’s League’ [Self-released]
Crafty 893 ‘Step 1’ [Tru Thoughts]
Joy Orbison & Joe James ‘bastard’ [XL Recordings]
namesbliss x BexBlu ‘premium wear’ [Self-released]
Wohdee ‘My Shayla’ [Self-released]

Best Club
Amber’s, Manchester
District, Cardiff
The Berkeley Suite, Glasgow
The Cause, London
The Loft, Manchester

Best Club Event
Cartulis
Dankie Sounds
FUSE
SHINE
Teletech

Best Festival
Body Movements Festival
Doof In The Park
Hide & Seek Festival
Hospitality Weekender
Watching Trees

MOJO's Top 75 Albums of 2025
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/mojos-top-75-albums-of-2025/

the top 25:

25. Van Morrison – Remembering Now
24. Mogwai – The Bad Fire
23. Midlake – A Bridge to Far
22. Eddie Chacon – Lay Low
21. Baxter Dury – Albarone
20. Cass McCombs -Interior Live Oak
18. Mark Pritchard / Thom Yorke – Tall Tales
17. Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override
16. Robert Plant w/ Suzi Dian – Saving Grace
15. Mavis Staples – Sad and Beautiful World
14. Richard Dawson – End of the Middle
13. Little Simz – Lotus
12. Alan Sparhawk w/ Trampled by Turtles – S/T
11. Paul Weller – Find El Dorado
10. Wet Leg – Moisturizer
9. Adrian Sherwood – The Collapse of Everything
8. The Tubs – Cotton Crown
7. Robert Forster – Strawberries
6. Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film
5. Annie & the Caldwells – Can’t Lose My (Soul)
4. Big Thief – Double Infinity
3. CMAT – Euro – Country
2. Suede – Antidepressants
1. Pulp – More

Decibel's Top 40 Albums of 2025
https://www.brooklynvegan.com/decibels-top-40-albums-of-2025/

Decibel‘s Top 40 Albums of 2025
40. Sodom – The Arsonist
39. Ossuary – Abhorrent Worship
38. Nyredolk – Barndommens Hjem
37. Dead Heat – Process of Elimination
36. Biohazard – Divided We Fall
35. Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath
34. In The Company Of Serpents – A Crack In Everything
33. Morbikon – Lost Within Astral Crypts
32. Agriculture – The Spiritual Sound
31. Wode – Uncrossing The Keys
30. Havukruunu – Tavastland
29. Shearling – Motherfucker, I Am Both: Amen and Hallelujah
28. Testament – Para Bellum
27. Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments Of Obscuration
26. Nite – Cult Of The Serpent Sun
25. Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons
24. Terror Corpse – Ash Eclipses Flesh
23. Coroner – Dissonance Theory
22. (16) – Guides For The Misguided
21. Species – Changelings
20. Blackbraid – Blackbraid III
19. Castle Rat – The Bestiary
18. Haggus – Destination Extinction
17. Volahn – Popol Vuh
16. Decrepisy – Deific Mourning
15. Eternal Darkness – Eternal Darkness
14. Teitanblood – From the Visceral Abyss
13. Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar
12. One Of Nine – Dawn Of The Iron Shadow
11. Tribunal – In Penitence And Ruin
10. Lamp Of Murmuur – The Dreaming Prince In Ecstasy
09. Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power
08. Tower – Let There Be Dark
07. Cryptopsy – An Insatiable Violence
06. Evoken – Mendacium
05. Rwake – The Return Of Magik
04. Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution
03. Paradise Lost – Ascension
02. Messa – The Spin
01. Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services

Ancient Death! Messa! Ossuary! Coroner! Species!

That's a good list.

Has anything been in the rough trade top ten in the last 5 years where they don't have an exclusive variant to sell...

Nothing says 2025 like a new Pulp album! I imagine that it won't necessarily have been many people's number one, but won out due to appearing on plenty of ballots. Ok, it's Mojo and Uncut so go figure, but it is quite depressing that with so much interesting stuff out there, a substantial number of writers chose an "it's fine I suppose" comeback album from a 90s indie band.

it's a lot better than "it's fine I suppose"

Each to their own, but everything I've heard from it went in one ear, out the other. Just a bland retread of past glories. It offers nothing new, which should surely be a consideration in AOTY polls.

Uncut Magazine: 80 Best Albums of 2025
https://www.yearendlists.com/2025/uncut-80-best-albums-of-2025

Full list provided.

xp disagree, Slow Jam is absolutely something new

Maybe for Pulp, but not for music.

Jarvis singing about threesomes over slap bass is giving me the boak.

Note: with Acclaimed Music you may need to sign up to view content, (probably to keep those AI search engine scrapers out)

EOY 2025 - MOJO (UK)
http://www.acclaimedmusic.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=214376&sid=b482b0ae151b819748cd921efbceb716#p214376

75. James Brandon & Lewis Quartet - Abstraction is Deliverance
74. MF Tomlinson - Die to Wake Up from a Dream
73. Sharp Pins - Radio DDR
72. Billy Woods - Golliwog
71. Brad Mehldau - Ride Into the Sun
70. Heartworms - Glutton for Punishment
69. Suzanne Vega - Flying with Angels
68. John Fogerty - Legacy
67. Lael Neale Altogether Stranger
66. William Tyler - Time Indefinite
65. Gruff Rhys - Dim Probs
64. Cymande - Renascence
63. Annahstasia - Tether
62. Brian D'Addario - Till the Morning
61. Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong
60. Tortoise - Touch
59. Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts - Talkin To The Trees
58. Hannah Cohen - Earthstar Mountain
57. Holden & Zimpel - The Universe Will Take Care of You
56. Haim - I Quit
55. Tav Falco - Desire on Ice
54. The Weather Station - Humanhood
53. Ty Segall - Possession
52. Brian Eno & Beatie Wolfe - Luminal
51. King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard - Phantom Island
50. Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman
49. Salif Keita - So Kono
48. The Lemonheads - Love Chant
47. Greentea Peng - Tell Dem It's Sunny
46. Cameron Winter - Heavy Metal
45. Billy Nomates - Metalhorse
44. Sven Wunder - Daybreak
43. BC Camplight - A Sober Conversation
42. Steven Wilson - The Overview
41. Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory
40. Panda Bear - Sinister Grift
39. Jonathan Richman - Only Frozen Sky Anyway
38. Loaded Honey - Love Made Trees
37. Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas - Totality
36. Emma Pollock - Begging The Night To Take Hold
35. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - The Purple Bird
34. Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE
33. Jason Isbell - Foxes in the Snow
32. Geese - Getting Killed
31. Manic Street Preachers - Critical Thinking
30. Jacob Alon - In Limerence
29. Saint Etienne - International
28. Cate Le Bon - Michelangelo Dying
27. David Byrne & Ghost Train Orchestra - Who Is The Sky?
26. Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On
25. Van Morrison - Remembering Now
24. Mogwai - The Bad Fire
23. Midlake - A Bridge to Far
22. Eddie Chacon - Lay Low
21. Baxter Dury - Allbarone
20. Cass McCombs - Interior Live Oak
19. Mark Pritchard & Thom Yorke - Tall Tales
18. Emma-Jean Thackray - Weirdo
17. Jeff Tweedy - Twilight Override
16. Robert Plant - Saving Grace
15. Mavis Staples - Sad and Beautiful World
14. Richard Dawson - End of the Middle
13. Little Simz - Lotus
12. Alan Sparhawk & Trampled By Turtles - Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles
11. Paul Weller - Find El Dorado
10. Wet Leg - moisturizer
09. Adrian Sherwood - The Collapse of Everything
08. The Tubs - Cotton Crown
07. Robert Forster - Strawberries
06. Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film
05. Annie & the Caldwells - Can't Lose My (Soul)
04. Big Thief - Double Infinity
03. CMAT- EURO-COUNTRY
02. Suede - Antidepressants
01. Pulp - More

The amount of publications that focus on guitar and bands that are condemned to live off festivals blows my mind. I guess that's where the real market is.

how else is baxter dury going to pay his rent?

I don't think any of the albums are bad, but if your three favourite new albums of a year is Pulp, Suede and Stereolab, wouldn't it be depressing? Like, why even do that, just stay with old music, nothing wrong with that.

not sure we should be looking to dying print media for cutting-edge music takes. they know who their market is.

these Euro mags that haven't put The Tubs at #1 should be shuttered

Love the Tubs. But I prefer his other band, the now broken-up Ex-Void. Either way, Owen Williams is writing more great rock songs than anyone on the planet right now.

Multixp been a long term Baxter Dury sceptic but new album is great.

40 Best New Artists of 2025
https://stereogum.com/2476155/the-40-best-new-artists-of-2025/lists/best-new-artists

Summary provided by Perplexity:
https://www.perplexity.ai/search/https-stereogum-com-2476155-th-lv.DF9odR1CSmN.geJWuUA#0

Ami Taf Ra
Asher White
Audrey Hobert
BabyChiefDoIt
Bedridden
bloodsports
Brògeal
Cootie Catcher
Cardinals
crushed
Die Spitz
Dove Ellis
fakemink
Febuary
Fib
Fine
Glixen
Golomb
Hemlocke Springs
High.
Humour
Intermission
james k
Jawnino
JJ & The A’s
Junior Varsity
Legss
Los Thuthanaka
Macie Stewart
Nick León
ninajirachi
Prewn
Prostitute
Racing Mount Pleasant
Ribbon Skirt
TTSSFU
Um, Jennifer?
Upchuck
Vacuous
Westside Cowboy

I thought I was pretty good at keeping up with new stuff, but looking at that list, nah.

I didn’t write any of the blurbs for that list, but Ami Taf Ra and Macie Stewart were my suggestions.

Had never heard of Dove Ellis, but saw them open for someone last night. They sounded like an indie-folky all male Big Thief meets the National with a bit of Radiohead's Thom Yorke on vocals. Some people were impressed, but they weren't exactly my thing.

Huh, I have not knowingly heard one note of any of these hot new artists

Oh no wait I have heard (and really dig Upchuck)

Cootie Catcher and JJ and the A's are great. That's ... all I got.

I recognize James K and Macie Stewart. Both did great records in 2025. Drawing blank stares with the other names

february is an excellent post-hardcore band from las vegas

los thuthanaka are not technically new (elysia crampton/e+e/chuquimamani-condori project)

I will probably vote for the ninajirachi album in the ilx poll. the nick león album is good too although "bikini" kinda towers over the rest of it for me

You've all heard Fine. She's a Danish singer in the bliss/RMC mold, but she co-wrote several NewJeans songs with Erika de Casier, and she was sampled by Two Shell on Home.

weird that Upchuck are on there given they've been around 5 years and just released third album; but whatever its cool to include them.
Vacuous are an excellent grimy UK death metal band with same superb drummer as Hellripper.

when i saw grimy i mean filthy, not Grime-y

Fine are not 2025 though, they released a great 2024 album that was featured on several eoy lists iirc.

yeah that is mentioned in the article but not in the ai-generated (??) list

Asher White is pretty great, have seen them a couple times. Don't want to embed a video, but check out Why I Bought the House

(playing a free show at Rough Trade on the 18th for anyone in NY)

had the privilege of seeing Prostitute twice this year - incredible band, incredible live band

if you have the opportunity to see them, go

the ai-generated (??) list

The list wasn't AI-generated; it was proposed and compiled by people (like me!) who write for the website. DJmartian's summary of it was AI-generated.

are fans of Prostitute known as Johns?

xp
yes sorry that is what I meant. imho people should visit websites whose EOY lists they think are worth commenting on

BBC Radio 6 Music reveals its Albums of the Year 2025
https://www.bbc.co.uk/mediacentre/2025/bbc-radio-6-music-albums-of-the-year-2025

Today, BBC Radio 6 Music, the UK’s biggest digital-only radio station with 2.7 million listeners (RAJAR, Q3 2025), revealed its Albums of the Year 2025.

The albums will all be celebrated over the coming five weeks, within Albums of the Year special editions of Matt Everitt’s weekly New Album Fix show (which drops on BBC Sounds every Friday morning). Each of the albums will be explored across the five episodes, which will feature words from 6 Music presenters about why they’ve chosen their particular album.

Cam Pia, 6 Music’s Music Editor says: “I love hearing what our presenters have picked for 6 Music's annual Albums of the Year celebration - and 2025's list yet again showcases the incredible depth and breadth of music we play across the network as well as championing some truly outstanding bodies of work from some of our favourite artists. Over the next five weeks, we'll be digging into these picks via special programming as well as adding tracks from each album to our weekly new music playlist."

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 1
On BBC Sounds from Friday 21 November

• EURO-COUNTRY by CMAT (selected by Chris Hawkins)

• Glory by Perfume Genius (selected by Huw Stephens)

• Lifetime by Erika de Casier (selected by SHERELLE)

• LSD by Cardiacs (selected by Marc Riley)

• Warsaw 480km by pôt-pot (selected by Deb Grant)

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 2
On BBC Sounds from Friday 28 November

• Canticle Hardposte by Proc Fiskal (selected by AFRODEUTSCHE)

• Devotion & The Black Divine by anaiis (selected by Zakia)

• In Limerence by Jacob Alon (selected by Guy Garvey)

• Private Music by Deftones (selected by Huey Morgan)

• viagr aboys by Viagra Boys (selected by Nathan Shepherd)

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 3
On BBC Sounds from Friday 5 December

• Last Night I Heard The Dog Star Bark by Gwenifer Raymond (selected by Gideon Coe)

• Joseph, What Have You Done? by Rainy Miller (selected by Mary Anne Hobbs)

• People Watching by Sam Fender (selected by Stuart Maconie)

• Teeth of Time by Joshua Burnside (selected by Emily Pilbeam)

• The Bad Fire by Mogwai (selected by Iggy Pop)

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 4
On BBC Sounds from Friday 12 December:

• Crooked Wing by These New Puritans (selected by Mark Radcliffe)

• LUX by Rosalía (selected by Nick Grimshaw)

• Map of a Blue City by Marc Ribot (selected by Cerys Matthews)

• Tether by Annahstasia (selected by Jamz Supernova)

• we’re having a barn dance by lavender (selected by Don Letts)

New Music Fix: Albums of the Year – Episode 5
On BBC Sounds from Friday 19 December

• A Complicated Woman by Self Esteem (selected by Steve Lamacq)

• A.O.E.I.U. by Florence Adooni (selected by Gilles Peterson)

• Getting Killed by Geese (selected by Lauren Laverne)

• Sad and Beautiful World by Mavis Staples (selected by Beth Ditto)

• Teal Dreams by Yazmin Lacey (selected by Craig Charles)

• Who Let the Dogs Out by Lambrini Girls (selected by Amy Lamé)

One track from each of these albums will be added to the 6 Music playlist for one week between Monday 17 November – Sunday 21 December.

high five gilles peterson

Canticle Hardposte by Proc Fiskal (selected by AFRODEUTSCHE)

This one is v cool.

i definitely need to hear that, have loved various things by them in the past

Resident (Brighton Based Music Retailer) - The Resident Annual 2025 Booklet

has been published, can be viewed online: (with reviews)
https://www.resident-music.com/mid-year-picks-booklet

1: CMAT - Euro-Country

The Kerrang! staff’s top albums of 2025
https://www.kerrang.com/staff-albums-of-2025-turnstile-deftones-ghost-twenty-one-pilots-spiritbox-hayley-williams

individual Top 10 lists.

Swim Into The Sound’s 13 Favorite Albums of 2025
https://swimintothesound.com/blog/2025/12/22/swim-into-the-sounds-13-favorite-albums-of-2025

1 | Caroline Rose – year of the slug

The Guardian - The best songs of 2025 … you may not have heard
https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2025/dec/27/best-2025-hidden-gem-underrated-songs

Guardian writers pick their favourite lesser-heard tracks of the year

The i Paper - The 10 best albums of 2025 – and the worst
https://inews.co.uk/culture/music/10-best-albums-2025-4083939

by
Emily Bootle
Commissioning Editor, Culture

(For non-UK readers of this thread, the i Paper is national UK newspaper printed and published 6 days a week)

10. PinkPantheress – Fancy That
9. Olivia Dean – The Art of Loving
8. Geese – Getting Killed
7. Blood Orange – Essex Honey
6. Lily Allen – West End Girl
5. FKA Twigs – Eusexua
4. Rosalia – Lux
3. Dave – The Boy Who Played the Harp
2. Sam Fender – People Watching
1. CMAT – Euro-Country

Best of 2025: 100 UK and Irish songs
https://musictodiefor.wordpress.com/best-of-2025-100-uk-and-irish-songs/

a unique list.

includes YouTube / Bandcamp links

1 Butler, Blake & Grant – The 90s (Butler, Blake & Grant)

Arctic Drones - The 20 Best Electronic Albums of 2025
https://arcticdrones.net/2025/12/27/the-20-best-electronic-albums-of-2025/

Just scrolled through this thread from my last read in early December. A lot of great stuff, and a lot of crap. I guess I should listen to Geese, huh?

I guess I should listen to Geese, huh?

They're awful. The best thing I can say about them is "Timothee Chalamet starring in The Thom Yorke Story". And they have no drummer as far as I can tell.

Epic list from Thurston Moore. Lots of great stuff here.

https://72558.substack.com/p/350-best-records-of-2025-by-thurston

xpost “no drummer” lol — not sure what that’s supposed to mean, but the dude’s a monster behind the kit.

Agree, he's great, but I didn't really notice it until watching a few live clips.

They’re competent musicians, but it sounds very much like well executed record collection rock, designed to appeal to millennials and kids alike. No real character of its own, unless the strangulated vocals are meant to do that work.
The hype band that most got on my wick this year is the unbearably precious Caroline, who manage to rip off the dislocated rhythms of the brilliant Still House Plants and apply them to painfully sincere indie folk that makes Neutral Milk Hotel sound like Burzum.

god caroline is so fucking awesome wtf

finally someone made a new you forgot it in people

I never saw the appeal of BSC and all that singalong maximalist indie the first time round, this is just the latest iteration, with a very twee British middle class vibe.

BSS even!

singalong? maximalist? idk that i’ve seen you describe music correctly yet

FWIW, on a related note, apparently there's a new/upcoming Broken Social Scene where they're once again working with producer Dave Newfeld, who was on board for both You Forgot In People as well as the self-titled 2005 follow-up.

finally someone made a new you forgot it in people

― ivy.

lol haven't spent much time with it but it was the first thing I thought about. Sounds more like sequel to YFIIP than the actual BSS albums that came after it.

Singalong? I mean Caroline might not be Oasis, but a number of their tunes are designed to be indie anthems. And quite successfully, even if it’s not my thing. Maximalist? It’s not Jim Steinman, but there’s plenty going on once they build it. Definitely reminds me of BSS, Elephant 6, even stuff like I’m From Barcelona. As a pal once said to me at the Magnum ATO, it’s all a bit Bible camp. There’s a performance of sensitivity/ sincerity to it that I find really off-putting - guess my 20s in the Glasgow indie scene still haunts me. These kids need the Henry Rollins bootcamp!

Burning Ambulance lists:

Half-Year Roundup (50 best albums of January-June 2025)

Year-End Roundup (50 best albums of July-December 2025)

Unranked, alphabetical.

From what I recall none of the lyrics on YFIP would be appropriate for Bible camp.

and many of the lyrics are genuinely hard to discern

stew's talking about them like every song is arcade fire "wake up"

and there's a fragmented/collagist aspect to bss songs that i think successfully evades the anthemic. and re: maximalism, their most popular song ("anthems" in the title) sounds like it was made in a bedroom. i guess they have a lot of band members, it's maximal in that way, but basically not in any other way. elephant six is practically an entirely different soundworld (proggish power-pop)

Bible Camp in vibe, not lyrics. By indie folk anthems I don’t mean it’s as bombastic as Arcade Fire, just that the first track is going for a stirring chorus thing between the quieter bits. Anyway, my main beef with their music is the preciousness it shares with a lot of posh kid indie music.

it sounds pretty sincere to me, i think it has more in common with midwestern emo than anything you’re talking about. it’s a great record and you’re wrong

honestly it’s gotten into my top five of the year in the past few weeks

(most of my other picks are electronic- adjacent

I get the mid-western emo thing for sure, plus UK folk and the far superior Still House Plants’ dislocated rhythms. I appreciate I’m lumping a few different things together but it’s not so much about sound as a bourgeois indie sensibility (there’s plenty of bourgeois jazz and avant-garde music too).

British middle class vibe

preciousness it shares with a lot of posh kid indie music

bourgeois indie sensibility

mm-hmm

what the fuck are you two talking about? as if Still House Plants and their faux experimental schtick is any less precious and calculated? get bent

“this isn’t as experimental thus it is posho indie kid music” while extolling the virtues of some of yhe most annoying “experimental “ music being made is a choice

i guess i have just been actively moved by the caroline record, so the dismissals of it feel dismissive of my emotions. i would rather have a root canal than listen to SHP, i find the vocals make the group entirely unlistenable

I can’t speak for the members of Caroline but I can appreciate they’re experimental in their own way. I respect the ambition - at least it’s not landfill indie. I’ve know SHP for years and appreciate they’re not everyone’s cup of tea, but they are the real deal. It’s funny, I thought Jess’s vocals were the one thing people who otherwise couldn’t get with them liked. Ah well!

yeah, sorry i got shitty, just felt a bit miffed. fwiw i actually quite like everything else about SHP— i just can’t with the vocals. it’s also the reason (tho for different reasons qualities) that i gave up on trying to like Fievel is Glauque— with the exception of a song or two, i just can’t with her affectless vocals riding above music that can basically be summed up by “wow all those chord and rhythm changes, i am so impressed.” in many ways Caroline seem more indebted to more mainstream sounds, and i am fine with that. i actively listen to a lot of weird and out there music, so caroline feels like a good meeting place for me

Yeah, the vocals really are the worst part of Still House Plants. I still like em tho

All good! I’m all for mainstream engagement with out sounds - I think the trick is to fully integrate it into your process and sound rather than just throw in some funny noises.
I know what you mean about affectless vocals (which are often highly affected) but I don’t get that from Jess at all. Plenty of emotion and skill there.

Anyway, I wonder what folks’ thoughts on the Thurston list are? I’ve seen a lot of snarky comments as well as disbelief he could listen to all that stuff. It’s an album a day, no biggie. Full disclosure, I’ve got an interview with him coming up and my wife’s band and some other friends are on there, but this not the kind of list someone does to show off. He’s still clearly excited by new music and is using his platform to boost the underground, which can only be a good thing.

what the fuck are you two talking about?

you misinterpreted my "mm-hmm" ... i am *not* agreeing w/ Stew — quite the opposite. I stopped myself from writing something shittier about their preoccupation with class.

you won't find me getting sidetracked on things like preciousness and calculation and what school the singer went to and all that. i like to focus on the music and whether i like it or not.

Oh: generally I don’t like to yuck anyone’s yum when the music is obviously good but there is something that keeps me personally from loving it— but Still House Plants mostly made me appreciate Al Johnson more as a singer (and I already appreciated him)

Fievel Is Glauque can do no wrong with me, but I’ve been steeped in this style of sweaty gospel chord changes + Sade-inspired disaffectedness + white girls thing for fifteen plus years now just by being in Toronto that I’m already gonna love it

I am excited to listen to this Caroline band and will do so today.

I haven’t decided I need to actually start paying for Hearing Things but I did see they put that fake-Grouper album on their “most overrated albums” in a headline I was emailed (or it popped up on my feed idr) and it made me feel sad-vindicated bc the album is totally fine but when I saw it getting hard-sold I thought “damn this is gonna backfire”

Feeo was one of my faves of the year and I wish it had popped even bigger

Craig D. I feel like you and I are the only people who both “like weird music” and “are enormous fans of BSS”

fgti, i LOVE BSS

So, there's three of us.

fwiw, Stew, I am also a yank (which is perhaps obvious), so my preoccupations with class are different than those in the UK...

the other thing is that i work with people (at my job as assistant manager of a gym) who are incurious about music or like the most basic stuff one can imagine. one of my co-workers, whom i otherwise love, has the combined taste of a late 90s skaterat and a 2010s era suburban wine mom, and his playlist (which he puts on all the time) literally makes me want to scream.

which is to say: most people are utterly incurious about music, so i tend to be a little forgiving of myself if some of my own predilections are "posho indie experimentalism" or whatever. at least i'm not a huge fan of Kim Petras.

Well, we’re doing a full listen-through of BSS catalog this NYE and so far it’s YFIIP > HOT > FGL = FRR > s/t and it’s all good

this convo is reminding me how fuckin great hugs of thunder is

Voting is open for our own EOY poll: ILM's 2025 End of Year Tracks & Albums Poll / VOTING & CAMPAIGNING THREAD

From the top of Chuck Eddy's list of his fave 150 albums of 2025 in his substack

Los Thuthanaka Los Thuthanaka (Los Thuthanaka)

Não Estragou Nada (Príncipe Portugal)

Digital Ngoma Vol. 2 (Kayamba Mayotte/Réunion)

DJ Joecel New Tiktok Disco Remix 2025 Vol 1 (DJ Joecel Exclusive Philippines EP)

ALT BLK ERA Rave Immortal (Earache UK)

Melvin Gibbs Amasia: Anamibia Sessions 2 (Hausu Mountain)

Weed420 Amor De Encava (Deprerreo Spain)

Prolapse I Wonder When They’re Going to Destroy Your Face (Tappet Europe)

Kahil El’Zabar’s Ethnic Heritage Ensemble Let the Spirit Out: Live at ‘Mu’ London (Spiritmuse UK)

Hieroglyphic Being Dance Music 4 Bad People (Smalltown Supersound Norway)

Budots World: 3-Hit Combo! (Eastern Margins UK)

Saint Abdullah/Jason Nazary Wiretaps for Oral (Disciples UK)

Ben LaMar Gay Yowzers (International Anthem Recording Company

DJ K Radio Libertadora! (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda)

Panic Shack Panic Shack (Brace Yourself UK)

Kilynn Lunsford Promiscuous Genes (Feel It)

The Ex If Your Mirror Breaks (Ex Netherlands)

Neba Solo Tuma Duma (Blanc Manioc Mali/France)

Francesca Marongiu Still Forms in Air (Umor Rex Mexico)

Jako Maron Mahavélouz (Nyege Nyege Tapes Uganda)

Checking out some albums from Eddy’s list that I missed. Wish I had listened to Neba Solo 2025 album earlier as it’s great I have now discovered but it’s not nominated on ilm music poll.

The 20th Annual Frances Davis Jazz Critics Poll
https://hullworks.net/jazzpoll/25/

New Albums
1. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) 90.5 (53)
2. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) 89.6 (50)
3. Ambrose Akinmusire, Honey From a Winter Stone (Nonesuch) 71 (41)
4. Linda May Han Oh, Strange Heavens (Biophilia) 64.3 (41)
5. Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) 63.4 (36)
6. Steve Lehman Trio + Mark Turner, The Music of Anthony Braxton (Pi) 53.5 (31)
7. Fieldwork, Thereupon (Pi) 47.6 (28)
8. Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith, Defiant Life (ECM) 38.5 (26)
9. James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction Is Deliverance (Intakt) 44 (25)
10. Nels Cline, Consentrik Quartet (Blue Note) 34.2 (24)

Rara Avis (Reissues/Archival)
1. Charles Mingus, Mingus in Argentina: The Buenos Aires Concerts (1977, Resonance) 38.8 (28)
2. Horace Silver, Silver in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse (1965, Blue Note) 34 (27)
3. Freddie Hubbard, On Fire: Live From the Blue Morocco (1967, Resonance) 36.2 (25)
4. Anthony Braxton, Quartet (England) 1985 (Burning Ambulance) 38.6 (23)
5. Kenny Dorham, Blue Bossa in the Bronx: Live From the Blue Morocco (1957, Resonance) 29 (21)
6. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Vibrations in the Village: Live at the Village Gate (1963, Resonance) 26.2 (17)
7. Stanley Cowell, Musa: Ancestral Streams (1974, Strata-East/Mack Avenue) 24.4 (17)
8. Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Seek & Listen: Live at the Penthouse (1967, Resonance) 22 (16)
9. Cecil Taylor & Tony Oxley, Flashing Spirits (1988, Burning Ambulance) 19.8 (14)
10. Irène Schweizer - Rüdiger Carl - Johnny Dyani - Han Bennink, Irène's Hot Four (1981, Intakt) 18.4 (13)

Vocal Jazz
1. Cécile McLorin Salvant, Oh Snap (Nonesuch) 34
2. Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) 17
3. Sara Serpa & Matt Mitchell, End of Something (Obliquity) 14
4. Tessa Souter, Shadows and Silence: The Erik Satie Project (Noanara Music) 10
5. Kenny Barron, Songbook (Artwork) 9
6 (tie). Theo Bleckmann, Love and Anger (Sunnyside) 8
Dee Dee Bridgewater + Bill Charlap, Elemental (Mack Avenue) 8
8. Terri Lyne Carrington & Christie Dashiell, We Insist 2025! (Candid) 7
9 (tie). Lena Bloch & Kyoko Kitamura, Marina (Fresh Sound New Talent) 4
Sarah Elizabeth Charles, Dawn (Stretch) 4
Kurt Elling & Christian Sands, Wildflowers Vol. 3 (Big Shoulders) 4
Nnenna Freelon, Beneath the Skin (Origin) 4
Sheila Jordan With Roni Ben-Hur & Harvie S, Portrait Now (Dot Time) 4
Ingrid Laubrock, Purposing the Air (Pyroclastic) 4
Amina Claudine Myers, Solace of the Mind (Red Hook) 4

Latin Jazz
1. Miguel Zenón Quartet, Vanguardia Subterranea: Live at the Village Vanguard (Miel Music) 38
2. Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, Mundoagua: Celebrating Carla Bley (Zoho) 28
3. Aruán Ortiz, Créole Renaissance (Intakt) 11
4. Conrad Herwig, Reflections - Facing South (Savant) 8
5. Harold López-Nussa, Nueva Timba (Blue Note) 7
6. Paquito D'Rivera & Madrid-New York Connection Band, La Fleur De Cayenne (Sunnyside) 6
7 (tie). Roxana Amed, Todos Los Fuegos (Sony) 4
Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) 4
Eddie Daniels, To Milton With Love (Resonance) 4
Irving Flores Afro-Cuban Sextet, Armando Mi Conga (Amor De Flores Productions) 4
Roger Glenn, My Latin Heart (Patois) 4
Arturo O'Farrill & the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra, The Original Influencers: Dizzy, Chano & Chico [Live at Town Hall] (Tiger Turn) 4
Salsa de la Bahia Vol. 3: A Collection of SF Bay Area Salsa and Latin Jazz: Renegade Queens (1991-2025, Patois) 4

Debut Albums
1. Paul Cornish, You're Exaggerating! (Blue Note) 23
2. Thomas Morgan, Around You Is a Forest (Loveland Music) 17
3 (tie). Tyreek McDole, Open Up Your Senses (Artworks) 14
Brandon Woody, For the Love of It All (Blue Note) 14
5. Marcus Gilmore, Journey to the New: Live at the Village Vanguard (Drummerslams) 9
6. Lex Korten, Canopy (Sounderscore) 6
7. Rin Seo Collective, City Suite (Cellar Music) 5
8 (tie). Caelan Cardello, Chapter One (Jazz Bird) 4
Milena Casado, Reflection of Another Self (Candid) 4
10 (tie). Leandro Cardenas, Against the Jazz Police (577) 3
Juan Chiavassa, Fourth Generation (Whirlwind) 3
Laura Ann Singh, Mean Reds (Out of Your Head) 3
Inés Velasco, A Flash of Cobalt Blue (self-released) 3