Happy New Year! Better late than never; I had a lot of material to cover before I could post this. I listened to a record 124 albums in 2025—79 were new albums from 2025, 20 were from 2024 (and 14 were the complete albums of Caspar Babypants, but maybe I will write about that journey another time). Here are my top 5 albums from 2025 in no particular order. Soon, I will post my favorite tracks of 2025.
Straight Line was a Lie by The Beths – Chiming, harmonic depression therapy – Start with the title track "Straight Line was a Lie". I feel like so much of influencing culture is about "try X and Y will happen" or "buy W and it will solve your problems." This song is about trying a bunch of things to improve your situation and getting nowhere, which is true to life and this year for me. The quiet line "I don't know if I can go round again," delivered in the middle of a raucous song, is deeply relatable. Also, I love how the song doesn't really have verses (it's all chorus, baby!) AND it starts off with a recorded mistake. If you are wondering if they all perform the recorder break in “No Joy” in their live show, the answer is yes.
Anything at All by Denison Whitmer – Elevated pedestrian – I did not know anything at all about Whitmer until I heard about this album, produced by Sufjan Stevens’ label Asthmatic Kitty, in February. You can hear Stevens’ influence; Stevens also plays and sings on most of the tracks. The palette Whitmer creates is lush and beautiful; also its optimism (and some soft-spoken depression) is a good counterpoint to everything else going on this year. This album has the best song about birds (and flowers and happiness) this year: “A House With”. Also, check out the pedestrian and delightful “Clockmaker”--which seems to exist to tell a ”dad joke”.
Tunnel Vision by Beach Bunny – Depressive, introspective mosh pit – Beach Bunny’s first album Honeymoon (2020) and second album Emotional Creature (2022) both made my best-of lists, and their third album doesn’t disappoint. I knew it was going to be on my best albums of 2025 list on first hearing. The lyrics are chock full of anxiety, self-doubt, and incisive social commentary, but the music is layered, varied, and full of hooks. Maybe start with “Big Pink Bubble” and if you don’t like it, you’ve only wasted two minutes.
Precipice by Indigo de Souza – Well-constructed slice-of-life synth bops – de Souza is a North Carolina artist who has recently relocated to Los Angeles after her home was destroyed in Hurricane Helene. With some experimental music bones, the strength of this album is in the production and the hooks. Try out “Crying Over Nothing” or “Pass It By”.
Flyway by Tern – Scottish/Nordic boundary pushing folk – The double bird reference made me (figuratively) pick up this album, but the combination Scottish and Nordic influences and the impeccable playing kept me listening to this album, the first for Shetland Islands-based group Tern. It is not a straight folk album—there is some classical treatment of folk melodies, for example in “Storpolksa.” Usually, piano in Celtic music is an automatic turn-off for me, but this group pulls it off somehow. “Living Stream” is a good example of Tern’s inventive approach to folk tune arranging.
