2025: so, so alive
Obviously the objectively best albums of the year (to me)
My top 10, with equally excellent and related records under each entry, and 15 runners-up at the end.
And yes, I’ve heard the Geese and Rosália records. They’re not here. Not trying to be obscurist or populist or anything but who I am — and where I live, at the age I am. I hope you find something new here.
If you want to track critical consensus without visiting dozens of websites, try this.
TOP 10+ ALBUMS
I couldn’t decide which generation made my #1 record of the year:
Saya Gray – Saya (she’s 30);
Art d’Ecco – Serene Demon (he’s 40ish);
Tunde Adebimpe – Thee Black Boltz (he’s 50);
Robert Plant – Saving Grace (he’s 77).
If don’t have time or interest to read any further, those are the four records I demand you listen to before you flip the calendar.
Especially because I didn’t see the Tunde Adebimpe record on any other list, anywhere; and I think we’re unlikely to see underdog Art d’Ecco on any Canadian list. Nice to see lots of international love for Torontonian Saya Gray, however.
The other six, in alphabetical order, are:
Cochemea – Vol. III: Ancestros Futuros. Not seeing this anywhere else!
Cold Specks – Light for the Midnight. Not seeing this anywhere else!
Brian Dunne – Clams Casino
Bill Fox – Resonance
Kin’Gongolo Kiniata – Kiniata. Not seeing this anywhere else!
Little Simz – Lotus
Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles – s/t
Last year’s list is here. Those all still sound good to me, especially the Arab Strab record that’s likely to be a perennial November favourite. The 2023 list is here.
Here’s why it felt good to be so alive in 2025 (paid subscribers got a preview of the rest of the riches, now unpaywalled):
Tunde Adebimpe – Thee Black Boltz
(Sub Pop)
Reviewed the solo debut by the TV on the Radio singer here:
Adebimpe’s approach to his first solo album seems to be a 50-year-old’s midlife reflection on all the music that made him. Shocker: he has excellent taste in music … This album is a top-to-bottom stunner. Adebimpe’s status as one of the great rock singers of his generation still holds true; not just as lead, but as a self-layering vocal arranger. That part’s not new.
It’s the musical breadth here that really sets this apart from his band and his peers: yes, you can hear plenty of TV on the Radio’s slightly gothy art-rock here, but there’s a broader electronic template, a nod to Motown on “Pinstack,” some Nine Inch Nails on “Ate the Moon,” some XX on “Drop,” and a sweet acoustic pop ballad on “ILY,” some sleng teng riddim in “The Most,” and the dance single “Something New,” which could be a Robyn song. Meanwhile, “Magnetic” could be Le Tigre backing up Sam & Dave:
Related records:
Choses Sauvages – III. Québécois post-punk dance party reviewed here.
The Dears – Life is Beautiful! Life is Beautiful! Life is Beautiful! Montreal anthemic art-rock comes back strong. #HeartsOnFire. I reviewed it here.
Art d’Ecco – Serene Demon
(Paper Bag)
I reviewed this Victoria new-wave long-hauler here:
Every single song here sounds like a hit—from 1981, in the best possible way: the tail end of glam mixed with disco and burgeoning new wave and just before synths replaced actual horn sections … He wrote Serene Demon in the fall of 2022, while renting an apartment in NYC and walking around listening to John Barry soundtracks in art galleries, which is evident on the instrumental “Meursault’s Walk” (named after the main character in Camus’s The Stranger.) “Tree of Life” sounds like Gang of Four with Pigbag’s horn section. “Honeycomb” sounds like Jay Ferguson of Sloan snuck a solo track in here. The slinky “Shell Shock” could be Controversy-era Prince … “Gonna make you my true believer,” he promises on the opening track. Mission accomplished.
Good interview with Art d’Ecco in Get Alternative.
Related records:
More anthemic ’80s-adjacent pop music: Goldie Boutilier Presents Goldie Montana; the Beaches’ No Hard Feelings; both reviewed here.
Cochemea – Vol. III: Ancestros Futuros
(Daptone)
Reviewed it here:
Cochemea Gastelum is a saxophonist who’s toured with many of that label’s acts and played with the likes of Jon Batiste and David Byrne. On his own, he often likes to run his sax through a wah-pedal while riding Latin grooves heavy with hand percussion, occasionally drawing more directly from his Yaqui heritage, the Indigenous people of northwestern Mexico / southwestern U.S.
Once again produced by Daptone’s Gabe Roth, Vol. III is melodically strong (heavy on the minor keys) and rhythmically even stronger, with a psychedelic haze hanging over everything like a Mexican take on Dr. John’s Gris Gris, or Esquivel and Ray Baretto tripping out on the banks of the Sonora River.
Related records:
Budos Band – VII, reviewed here. Incredibly horn-y ’70s-soundtrack funk strut.
Los Pirañas – Una Opportunidad más de triunfar en la vida. Wildly oddball space-age Colombian cumbia weirdos, reviewed here.
Cold Specks – Light for the Midnight
(Secret City)
Reviewed this Toronto woman’s long-awaited new record here:
“The world keeps burning,” sings Ladan Hussein on her comeback record. “And I’m still here.” Thank God.
Light for the Midnight sounds like a survivor’s record, anchored by Hussein’s majestic, gospel-inflected voice, ravaged slightly by time and circumstance—not exactly on the level of Marianne Faithfull’s Broken English, but definitely with a confident I’m-still-here defiance. The music is largely stately Nick Cave-ish piano ballads, brooding downtempo rock songs, and two songs that could even be called pop (“Venus in Pisces,” “Cold Goodbye”). The sparser the arrangements, the stronger her voice sounds.
Related records
S.G. Goodman – Planting by the Signs. Haunting Kentucky singer-songwriter in a subdued mood, reviewed here
Samantha Crain – Gumshoe. Intriguing Oklahoma singer-songwriter with some huge pop hooks. Reviewed live show here.
Tami Neilson – Neon Cowgirl. Kiwi-Canadian country singer with superstar wattage goes full Orbison on the opening track, as she inches closer to Nashville. Reviewed here.
Brian Dunne – Clams Casino
(Missing Piece)
Reviewed this New Jersey power-popper here:
This is damn near a perfect album, 10 songs filled with melancholy short stories set to hooks galore. Every song is so goddam good and it only takes 32 minutes to listen to the entire record, so what are you waiting for? Press play … There’s a strong whiff of earnest ’80s AM-radio songwriters, like Jackson Browne circa “Somebody’s Baby,” the Billy Joel of Glass Houses, or very early John Mellencamp, or the Replacements’ quieter moments. (It’s also a sound heard on my favourite Ryan Adams album, 2017’s Prisoner; others might hear War on Drugs, or Wussy.) But nothing about Clams Casino sounds dusty, or at least, no dustier than Wilco at their most direct—guess you had to Being There.
Related records
Absolute Losers – In the Crowd. PEI power pop par excellence, ready to be the new Sloan. Reviewed here.
Bill Fox – Resonance
(Eleventh Hour)
Save any money you might have spent on the Nebraska box set and spend it on obscure Ohioan Bill Fox instead. Reviewed here:
Fox’s appeal is fourfold: his slightly husky, well-worn voice; his 12-string rhythm guitar playing, which doesn’t require a rhythm section; his recording technique, which sounds like he’s still working with a 1980 Tascam 4-track, in the best possible way. After seeing him live, it was the slightly dusty recordings that drew me deeper into Shelter from the Smoke, an aesthetic that remains remarkably consistent here on Resonance, a record made 25 years later.
Finally: Fox writes insanely good songs. I mean, who on Earth writes a catchy pop tune called “Meat Factory”?
Related records
The Cords – s/t. Just like the Fox record, this record by Scottish sisters is tailor-made for aging campus radio people of the ’90s. Reviewed here.
Saya Gray – Saya
(Dirty Hit)
Reviewed this Torontonians’ (kind of) debut album here:
Saya Gray is poised to be the It Girl of Canadian music in 2025 (although she has lots of competition.) Saya is Polaris-bait if I’ve ever heard any: rooted in pop with off-kilter arrangements that have space for glitchy electronics, acoustic guitar, modern alt-R&B rhythms, and an unusual amount of pedal steel guitar — plus an irresistible backstory ... One can hear in her music Mk.Gee, Tegan & Sara, Erykah Badu, Lykke Li and, of course, a dab of Kate Bush and Sinead O’Connor with a wee bit of Art of Noise. Put all that in your pipe and smoke it! With your children, even!
Related records
More inventive art rock:
Perfume Genius – Glory, reviewed here.
Sharon Van Etten & the Attachment Theory, first album of hers I’ve loved. Reviewed here.
Kin’Gongolo Kiniata – Kiniata
Post-modern, trance-like, raw Congolese rumba played on instruments constructed from upcycled materials, delivered with both intensity and some soothing moments of more subtlety. In the same lineage as Konono No. 1, Mbongwana Star and Fulu Miziki, central African acts making perhaps the most exciting music on the massive continent. Mentioned it here.
Related records
Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Trash Classic. Devo-licious psychedelic thrash that totally grooves. Reviewed it here.
Little Simz – Lotus
(independent)
A triumphant statement of independence from the eclectic U.K. rapper who has charisma to burn, after a litigious split from a former producer. Reviewed the live show here:
Most of her tracks revolve around bass lines and live instrumentation, and she tours with a four-piece band to bring that all to vivid life. They’re funky and flexible enough to take jazzy detours, turn up the rock (“Young”), slink into slow jams (“Free”), travel to West Africa (“Point and Kill”), or dip into bossa-nova (“Only”). In their hands, “Enough” sounds like a mash-up of ESG’s “Erase You” and the Roots’ “The Seed.” She also wasn’t afraid to mix up her tempos, allowing for much quieter, contemplative moments on “Hollow” and “Lonely.”
Related records
Mourning a Blkstar – Flowers for the Living. Resilient soul music from the Rust Belt, by a multi-generational Cleveland collective. Reviewed here.
Deradoorian – Ready for Heaven. Shroom-pop seeking spiritual sustenance, reviewed here.
Irma Thomas & Galactic – Audience With the Queen. Reviewed the latest from the 84-year-old New Orleans legend here. Here’s a 2025 song for anyone who doesn’t think these kinds of songs are still being written:
Robert Plant feat. Suzy Dian – Saving Grace
(Nonesuch)
Alan Sparhawk with Trampled by Turtles
(Sub Pop)
Both records are by veterans who keep getting better with age, both with new collaborators who bring out the best in them.
I don’t have to explain this guy to you, and I’ve talked before about how he covers Sparhawk often, which he does again in this set:
Wrote about Plant here and reviewed his band’s Massey Hall show here:
Plant tells us he met his new band at a local pub near his home by the Welsh border. I refuse to believe this, because they’re too fucking good. Every member is exceptional, but there’s a reason why Suzy Dian gets co-billing: she’s a luminous presence who, like Allison Krauss, melds beautifully with Plant’s voice, while taking strong leads of her own and occasionally playing bass and accordion.
Wrote here about the Sparhawk album, his second since the death of Mimi Parker, his wife and creative partner in Low:
There are two key tracks here that almost overshadow the rest of this excellent album. In “Screaming Song,” a cathartic capture of anguish, Sparhawk’s straightforward vocal sings lines like “Thought I would never stop screaming your name,” offset by the screeching of Ryan David Young’s violin, which achieves acoustically what Low once would have achieved with distorted electronics. On “Not Broken,” Sparhawk and Parker’s daughter, Hollis, sings a part that her mother would normally have, singing, “It’s not broken / I’m not angry.”
It’s beautiful. And crushing.
Related records
Gwenifer Raymond – Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark. Welsh finger-picker excels at solo instrumental music; but I do wonder what she’d do with Robert Plant. Reviewed here.
Mavis Staples – Sad and Beautiful World. An absolute highlight of her late-career comeback. Reviewed here.
Thank you for reading this far! You deserve a deal:
15 MORE:
Brandi Carlile – Returning to Myself. Didn’t review this, but you don’t need me to explain her to you.
Change of Heart – In the Wreckage. Toronto rock comeback I was not expecting! Reviewed here.
Antoine Corriveau – Oiseau de Nuit. An eclectic Québécois Gainsbourg. Reviewed here.
Empanadas Ilegales – Sancocho Trifásico. Vancouver cumbia band. Reviewed here.
Yasmine Hamdan – I Remember I Forget. I didn’t review the long-delayed new album from this enchanting Lebanese Parisian, but Will Hermes did.
Lady Gaga – Mayhem. As a fairweather fan, I’d say this is her best album in years.
Langendorf United – Undercover Beast. Cross-cultural Swedish jazz via both west and east Africa. Reviewed here.
James Brandon Lewis – Apple Cores. Modern saxophone colossus. Reviewed here.
Lael Neale – Altogether Stranger. For those late-night walks home in the rain. Reviewed here.
Margo Price – Hard-Headed Woman. The bravest woman in mainstream Nashville. Reviewed here.
Sababa 5 – Nadir. Tel Aviv psychedelic lounge-groove band, in the same ballpark as Khruangbin, but with organ.
Leanne Betasamosake Simpson – Live Like the Sky. It’s practically a new Jane Siberry album. Reviewed here.
Suzie Ungerleider – Among the Evergreens. Vancouver veteran keeps getting better. Reviewed here.
Anne Waldman and Andrew Whiteman – Your Devotee in Rags. 80-year-old NYC poet rages against dying lights, with assist from Broken Social Scene guitarist. Reviewed here.
W.I.T.C.H. – Sogolo. Zambian rock revival continues its second chapter. Reviewed here.
Coming soon: 20 singles from 2025 that aren’t on any of the above albums, and my favourite 10 live shows of the year.
Coming soon for paid subscribers: Playlists for Tidal, Spotify and Apple.
No shortage of great new music out there. Go find it!