A look at 2025’s most compelling albums so far, from overlooked gems to upcoming releases worth keeping an eye on. These are the records we keep returning to.

It’s that time of year again where we round up what we think are the best albums of 2025 so far. Admittedly, it hasn’t been a mind-blowing year for albums, but that might be down to just how strong last year was. A quick glance at other publications’ mid-year lists shows a lot of the same safe, uninspired picks cropping up again and again. We’ve tried to include a few names you might not have heard before, though yes, there are some bigger ones in there too. Maybe we’re just as guilty of falling into a limited pool. Honestly, thais was the first year where putting the list together actually felt like a challenge.

That said, there are some excellent releases on the horizon. The upcoming debut from Folk Bitch Trio is one of the strongest we’ve heard in years, their harmonies are Beach Boys-level good, and we can see them going far. The New Eves also have a brilliant record on the way, a gritty mix of avant-folk and punk with vocals that bite hard, the complete opposite of Folk Bitch Trio’s soft glow. Keep an eye out too for upcoming records from: Geese, Water From Your Eyes, Wednesday, Tchotchke, and Guerilla Toss.

Also, anyone else who’s made one of these lists, if you’re reading this: The Cameron Winter Albums came out LAST YEAR, not this year - so stop putting it in your lists. It wouldn’t even be on your list if Pitchfork hadn’t (late to the party) given it “Best New Music” two months after it came out.

Anyway, without further ado, here’s a list of 30 albums that we think are worth checking out from this year if you haven’t checked them out already!

Ada Rook - UNKILLABLE ANGEL

UNKILLABLE ANGEL is a furious, genre-hopping odyssey from Ada Rook, fusing industrial noise, metal, electronic chaos, and screamed vocals into a brutally cathartic whole. Drawing from aggrotech, hyperpop, nu-metal and internet-era aesthetics, the album captures the raw tension of feeling alien, too much or not enough, for any space. Beneath the distortion and intensity, there’s vulnerability and emotional honesty, as Rook navigates themes of social rejection, identity, and survival. It's an overwhelming listen at times, but that’s the point. UNKILLABLE ANGEL confronts pain with feral energy and refuses to flinch.

Alex G - Headlights

Ten albums in, Alex G sounds more expansive and assured than ever on Headlights. His first release on RCA, the record trades lo-fi experiments for something warmer and more spacious, without losing the surreal, inward energy that’s always defined his songwriting. Co-produced with Jacob Portrait and drawing on influences from Elliott Smith to Lucinda Williams, Headlights explores the spiritual and the strange with a quiet clarity. Banjo, mandolin, and strings sit beside spectral synths and elliptical lyrics, pulling familiar sounds into unfamiliar shapes. It’s Americana from another planet, and one of Alex G’s most quietly ambitious records yet.

aya - Hexed!

Where 2021’s im hole chased euphoria in chaos, hexed! stares down the come-down. aya’s latest is an unflinching study in the aftermath of addiction, of buried emotion, of the body’s limits. Leaning into jagged mathcore rhythms, murky drones and ruptured club textures, the London-based producer distorts the line between confession and exorcism. It’s a bold, dissonant record that refuses coherence, but in doing so, captures something painfully real: healing is rarely linear, and sometimes it sounds like this.

Backxwash - Only Dust Remains

On Only Dust Remains, Backxwash emerges from the scorched earth of her ferocious album trilogy with something quieter, but no less searing. Trading metal-inflected catharsis for poetic introspection, the Montreal-based rapper and producer weaves verses that are denser, more layered, and startlingly tender. The album grapples with mourning and rebirth, threading moments of melodic light into her darkest soundscapes yet. Even in its moments of restraint, Only Dust Remains feels colossal.

Bells Larsen - Blurring Time

Blurring Time is a meditation on change in all its mess and grace. Bells Larsen’s second album is deeply intimate yet structurally ambitious, folding time back on itself by harmonising his past and present voices - literally. With delicate instrumentation and lyrical precision, Larsen traces moments of transformation, queer becoming, and quiet reflection. It’s a record that moves like memory: lo-fi folk ballads bleed into 90s-indebted indie sketches, each one resonating with the weight of what was and the hope of what’s to come. Vulnerable, curious, and beautifully unresolved.

billy woods - GOLLIWOG

A slow, harrowing descent into personal and political dread, Golliwog sees billy woods fully embrace the nightmare. Abandoning his usual one-producer format, he draws from a wide range of collaborators to create an atmosphere of suffocating unease, from creaking boom-bap to noir-soaked sax and decaying synths. His lyrics blur the personal with the global, using horror imagery to explore colonial violence, societal collapse and emotional ruin. This isn’t traditional horrorcore. There is no thrill, just a cold reckoning with real-world terror. Golliwog is woods at his most bleak, most brilliant, and most brutally unflinching.

Black Moth Super Rainbow - Soft New Magic Dream

Seven years after the shadowy churn of Panic Blooms, Black Moth Super Rainbow return with Soft New Magic Dream, a woozy, sugar-drenched swirl of queasy romance, vocoder-laced confessions, and analogue psychedelia. Two decades into their kaleidoscopic career, BMSR sound more blissed-out than ever, delivering love songs that gurgle, wobble, and glide with warped tenderness. Tobacco’s mutant-pop production is still full of odd textures and sticky melodies, but there’s a softness to this record that feels earned, like the comedown from a long, glittering high. It’s freaky, yes, but gentle too: a marshmallow daydream dissolving slowly in your brain.

Car Seat Headrest - The Scholars

A bold and theatrical college rock opera, The Scholars is Car Seat Headrest at their most ambitious. Split into two acts, it begins with heartfelt college rock anthems before diving headfirst into chaotic, narratively dense rock theatre. Will Toledo’s emotionally raw vocals and cryptic lyrics lead a sprawling tale of grief, identity, and self-discovery set in a surreal academic world. While occasionally inconsistent, especially on the 19-minute closer, the album’s fearless blend of earnest storytelling and overblown theatrics makes for a strange but deeply compelling listen.

Clipse - Let God Sort Em Out

Fifteen years since their last album, Clipse return with Let God Sort 'Em Out, a focused and ferociously sharp project that blends their legacy of coke rap with deeper reflections on faith, guilt, and personal growth. Pharrell Williams handles all production, offering a backdrop that moves between icy minimalism and soulful intensity. Guest spots from Kendrick Lamar, Nas, Tyler, The Creator, and John Legend add texture to a record that never loses sight of its core.

FKA Twigs - EUSEXUA

A euphoric dive into club culture, Eusexua finds FKA twigs exploring the full spectrum of a night out, from pre-drinks to the comedown. Influenced by her love of techno and time spent in Prague, twigs weaves garage, drum and bass, IDM and trip hop into a deconstructed rave experience, all elevated by her signature ethereal vocals and Koreless’ intricate production. There are surprises too, North West rapping in Japanese on ‘Childlike Things’ is a curveball that somehow works. While not every track hits equally, standouts like ‘Drums of Death’ and ‘Room of Fools’ capture the spirit of the dancefloor with unmatched finesse. Vulnerable, bold and unpredictable, Eusexua is twigs at her most playful and visionary.

Forth Wanderers - The Longer This Goes On

Forth Wanderers reunite after a seven-year break with The Longer This Goes On, a beautifully understated and emotionally rich third album that leans into growth rather than nostalgia. The band insists it’s not a comeback, but the record tells its own story - ten intricate, genre-warped songs that find them looser, more collaborative, and more assured than ever. Vocalist Ava Trilling’s lyrics remain devastatingly sharp, while the band surrounds her with slow-burning grooves, warped pop structures, and unexpected turns. This is a band reconnecting not just with each other, but with the joy of creating something that’s messy, alive, and totally their own.

Friendship - Caveman Wakes Up

On Caveman Wakes Up, Philadelphia’s Friendship deliver a quietly affecting collection of songs that expand their country-rock roots into stranger, dreamier terrain. Shambling guitars, soft synths, and Motown-inflected grooves provide the backdrop for Dan Wriggins’ weary baritone, which treads the line between bleak humour and quiet revelation. The album captures the disorientation of adulthood in a fractured world, told with empathy, wit, and just enough hope to keep going. It’s unshowy but deeply resonant music, rooted in shared spaces and shaped by life’s contradictions.

Ghoulies - Shafted By The Algorithm

Ghoulies' debut Shafted By The Algorithm is a frenzied blast of synth-soaked punk mayhem that rages against the digital machine. Short, sharp, and hyperactive, the Australian outfit tear through glitchy garage riffs and warped synth lines like a band possessed. The vocals are wild and otherworldly, the drumming relentless, and the mood entirely unhinged. Beneath the chaos, there’s a pointed critique of life under algorithmic control, techno-dread delivered with a sneer and a strobe light. Fans of egg punk and bands like Snooper or Silicon Prairie will find plenty to latch onto, but Shafted carves out its own scorched lane with unapologetic mania.

Ichiko Aoba - Luminescent Creatures

Ichiko Aoba’s latest album is a rich, atmospheric journey through nature and sound. Building on the softness of Windswept Adan, Luminescent Creatures expands her world with lush instrumentation and intricate textures. Tracks like COLORATURA and mazamum introduce water, chimes and animal-like sounds, pulling the listener into a meditative underwater realm. Aoba’s signature fingerpicking and ethereal voice shine on Aurora, while Flag and Prisominia explore subtle shifts in tone and emotion. It's a tranquil and immersive record that rewards repeated listens, revealing new sonic layers with each return.

Jane Remover - Revengeseekerz

With Revengeseekerz, Jane Remover continues to shape-shift in thrilling, unpredictable ways. Their third album, released with no warning but plenty of cryptic build-up, fuses digicore roots with shoegaze textures, abrasive electronics and diaristic intensity. Written and produced entirely by Jane in Chicago over winter, the record leans into chaos without losing its emotional pull, featuring standout collaborations like the warped and wild ‘Psychoboost’ with Danny Brown. Tracks like ‘JRJRJR’ and ‘angels in camo’ feel like transmissions from a fractured inner world, dense, glitchy, and oddly beautiful. If Frailty introduced Jane as a voice of a new internet-born genre, Revengeseekerz confirms their position as one of its most fearless deconstructors.

Jim Legxacy - black british music (2025)

Jim Legxacy’s black british music (2025) is a bold and emotionally charged mixtape that captures the shape of UK music in 2025. Out via XL, the project threads together emo, grime, R&B, and pop, creating something that feels both deeply personal and culturally resonant. With tracks like ‘father’ and ‘stick’ Legxacy explores grief, identity, and memory, weaving in references to his sister’s passing and his mother’s health struggles. It’s raw, bright, and fearless, less about fitting into a genre than reshaping one. Part tribute, part reckoning, black british music is one of the year’s most vital and affecting British releases.

Lambrini Girls - Who Let The Dogs Out

Few debuts hit as hard, or as hilariously, as Who Let The Dogs Out. Brighton duo Lambrini Girls unleash a feral, foul-mouthed barrage of garage-punk that skewers everything from nepo babies to TERFs with wit, rage, and riotous energy. Produced by Gilla Band’s Daniel Fox, it’s raw, raucous, and politically razor-sharp, with standout track Cuntology 101 landing like a pop-punk Molotov. If it occasionally leans a little too familiar, its sheer force of personality more than makes up for it. Social critique has rarely sounded this fun or this furious.

Lifeguard - Ripped and Torn

Chicago trio Lifeguard come crashing in with Ripped and Torn, a debut that captures the electricity of DIY spaces and late-night basement shows. Produced by Randy Randall of No Age, the record channels punk, dub, and noise into something scrappy and sincere. Tracks like ‘It Will Get Worse’ and ‘Under Your Reach’ are all serrated edges and sharp turns, while experimental cuts like ‘Music for Three Drums’ hint at a broader vision. Lifeguard sound like they’re chasing something urgent and real, with a chemistry that could only come from growing up and playing together. This is underground rock that feels alive to the moment and ready to combust.

Little Simz - Lotus

Lotus finds Little Simz at her most direct and defiant. After a turbulent break with producer Inflo and several false starts on other projects, she returns with a focused, emotionally rich record that blends jazz, samba, rock and soul with effortless confidence. Simz pulls no punches, opening with ‘Thief’, a pointed address to betrayal, and continuing to peel back layers of personal and professional struggle with striking honesty. Standouts like ‘Only’ and ‘Blue’ showcase her gift for collaboration, pairing her verses with the airy vocals of Lydia Kitto and the understated emotion of Sampha. The result is a deeply personal but sonically adventurous album that confirms Simz is still one of the most compelling voices in UK rap.

Marie Davidson - City of Clowns

On City of Clowns, Marie Davidson returns to the dancefloor with sharper teeth and a broader grin. Merging the stern pulse of Working Class Woman with the melodic instincts of Renegade Breakdown, her sixth album is a warped collision of techno, synth-pop and scathing spoken word. Inspired by Shoshana Zuboff’s The Age of Surveillance Capitalism and shaped by her late-blooming obsession with stand-up comedy, Davidson casts the modern DJ as both misfit and mirror. Part truth-teller, part entertainer. Co-produced with Soulwax and Pierre Guerineau, this is her biggest, boldest work yet, pulsing with paranoia, humour and a deep need to connect. Even at its most conceptual, it never loses its footing on the dancefloor.

Men I Trust - Equus Asinus

The first in a two-part concept project, Equus Asinus finds Men I Trust drifting into more melancholic and meditative territory. Swapping the buoyant basslines of past records for softer, more acoustic textures, the Montreal group conjure an atmosphere of gentle introspection. Dream pop structures are coloured with jazz flourishes and baroque sensibilities, while songs like ‘I Come With Mud’ and ‘Heavenly Flow’ carry an emotional depth that lingers. Tied together by themes of nostalgia, emotional murk, and quiet observation, it’s a hazy, unhurried listen, one that invites stillness and reflection.

Miley Cyrus - Something Beautiful

On Something Beautiful, Miley Cyrus finally delivers the most focused and fully realised album of her career. Long known for her genre-hopping tendencies, Cyrus finds clarity and cohesion here without losing her experimental spirit. The album flows confidently between ballads, club tracks and psychedelic pop, with highlights like the title track, 'More to Lose,’ and ‘Walk of Fame’ showcasing her vocal range and emotional depth. There’s a strong sense of growth throughout, both in sound and songwriting, and the production (led by Shawn Everett) brings out the best in her. It’s a bold, heartfelt release that proves Cyrus isn’t just still evolving, but finally arriving.

Model/Actriz - Pirouette

Defiant, poetic and emotionally raw, Pirouette sees Model/Actriz push beyond post-punk convention to craft something deeply present. There’s an urgency to Cole Haden’s performance, shifting from high-register croons to cheeky rap verses, all while exploring dysphoria, desire and self-doubt with startling vulnerability. The band trades indie sleaze nostalgia for noise-drenched, dancefloor-adjacent guitars that pulse with intensity. It’s uncomfortable at times, but never for the sake of it. Instead, Pirouette is a bold statement of queer confidence and discomfort as power, and some of the most vital guitar music of the year.

Natalia Lafourcade - Cancionera

On Cancionera, her twelfth album, Natalia Lafourcade channels the spirit of the traditional Mexican songbook through a deeply personal lens. Working with producer Adan Jodorowsky and arranger Gordon Hamilton, she crafts lush orchestral settings that weave together bolero, son jarocho, and ranchera with poetic intimacy and cinematic flair. The record is guided by the figure of the ‘cancionera’ – part alter ego, part homage to generations of Mexican women who have carried stories through song. With visuals accompanying every track, Cancionera becomes not just an album but a full-bodied artistic statement that bridges individual memory and collective heritage.

Panda Bear - Sinister Grift

On Sinister Grift, Panda Bear (Noah Lennox) dives into grief, aging, and inner reckoning with a light touch and psychedelic warmth. His eighth solo album balances heavy themes with dreamy, sun-drenched sonics, blending contemplative lyrics with buoyant melodies. From the wistful optimism of ‘Anywhere but Here’ to the haunted reflections of ‘Elegy for Noah Lou’, Lennox explores shadow work through a lens of acceptance and curiosity. Tracks like ‘50mg’ and ‘Ferry Lady’ tap into a Beach Boys-meets-synth-rock haze, while closer ‘Defense’ offers a quietly uplifting exhale. It's a quietly daring album that feels both intimate and gently transformative.

Pulp - More

Pulp return with More, a lush, funny and unexpectedly moving comeback that reckons with time, memory and the awkward beauty of growing older. Jarvis Cocker’s writing is as sharp and self-aware as ever, dancing between disco highs and bittersweet ballads. Lead single ‘Spike Island’ sets the tone with a euphoric strut, while ‘Grown Ups’ delivers the emotional centre of the record, reflecting on youth, regret and the strange comfort of midlife. James Ford’s production gives the band’s nine-piece lineup space to breathe, blending strings, synths and guitars into a rich, cinematic sound. Not every track hits, but overall it’s a triumphant return that feels like a love letter to the past, present and future of pop’s greatest misfits.

Search Results - Go Mutant

On Go Mutant, Dublin trio Search Results channel a restless, off-kilter energy into their most immersive work yet. Drawing from post-punk, jangle-pop, and lo-fi experimentalism, the album careens between clarity and chaos, held together by deadpan humour, playful vocal weirdness, and a deep well of curious influences including Flannery O’Connor, Mike Leigh, Yo La Tengo, and Lou Reed. It’s a record full of personality and sly invention. For all its cryptic lyrics and genre mutations, Go Mutant is a joyfully human listen that feels both familiar and entirely their own.

Swans - Birthing

Swans return with another sprawling, brutal and deeply immersive album that pushes the limits of patience and sonic endurance. Michael Gira’s apocalyptic vision remains intact, with tracks like The Healers and Birthing offering unrelenting heaviness but few textural breaks, making the first hour feel overwhelming. The album really starts to shift with The Merge, where intense percussion and eerie textures breathe new life into the record. Closing track Rope (Away) is a haunting farewell, gently collapsing into whimsical horns and existential lyricism. While not as varied or dynamic as To Be Kind or Soundtracks for the Blind, this could be Swans’ final studio album, and it still manages to remind us why their towering sound remains so singular.

Viagra Boys - Viagr Aboys

On Viagr Aboys, Viagra Boys double down on the chaos, absurdity, and self-parody that define their sound, while peeling back the bravado to reveal something more vulnerable underneath. Sebastian Murphy’s grotesque, hilarious lyrics oscillate between surreal nonsense and gut-punch honesty, with highlights like ‘Medicine for Horses’ and ‘River King’ exposing real emotional weight. The band’s mix of punk, disco, noise and sharp electronics is more refined than ever, and while some ground feels familiar, the overall result is a dense, funny, and unexpectedly moving portrait of modern disillusionment.

Wet Leg - moisturizer

Wet Leg return with their second album moisturizer, an explosive and playful collection that channels the raw energy and sharp wit that made them breakout stars. Now a five-piece, the band deliver punchier, richer sounds that balance manic love songs with biting kiss-offs. Produced with the confidence of a group fully in sync, moisturizer moves effortlessly between rage and romance, lust and vulnerability. Tracks like ‘CPR’, ‘davina mccall’ and ‘catch these fists’ further showcase Wet Leg’s knack for catchy hooks wrapped in quirky, unpredictable songwriting.

The Best Albums Of 2025 (So Far)