I’ve been wary about writing my list of albums this year. I made my list last year and within a week I realised I’d completely missed my best album of last year. It should have been Diamond Jubilee by Cindy Lee but I didn’t hear it until I’d finished my list. So, LISTS WORK. That’s the important lesson.
After this failure I went into a period of introspection to consider how I got it so wrong. You’ll be pleased to know I’ve thought about it and come to the conclusion it wasn’t my fault.
Here we go, my top ten albums of 2025 in reverse order.
10) Satellites – Hot Jazz – Anatolian psych rock from Tel Aviv. These are not words I’ve previously put together in that order. They describe themselves as recreating the sounds of Istanbul in the 70s. I’ve no idea what Istanbul sounded like in the 70s, maybe it sounds like this.
09) Snapped Ankles – Hard Times Furious Dancing – This album was, apparently, a reaction to a diet of fractured narratives, meme culture, viral moments and the very worst of human impulses. You have to stay motivated and if it works…. I love the combination of stuff in this.
08) Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Carpe Diem, Moonman – My ongoing obsession with Australian psych rock has this year turned up in the Psychedelic Porn Crumpets. In line with the ridiculous work ethic of Australian psych bands they’ve released a lot of stuff. This is my favourite thing they did this year.
07) Sudan Archives – The BPM – Her album is packed with non-stop classics. A great mixture of the old drum machines that everyone uses these days with a cheeky bit of violin sneaking in. Relentless dance music.
06) KeiyA – Hooke’s Law -The first time I listened to this I thought “that’s quirky”. I stand by that. There are lots of bits in this that shouldn’t work but absolutely do. Electronica with nice bits of jazz vocal.
05) Sulk Room – Rewilding – I’ve spent entirely too much time listening to ambient electronica this year and that’s been reflected in the albums I’ve bought. Rewilding is a beautiful example of soundscapes with the drone of guitar behind them. Although I describe this as ambient. It’s not. There is a surprising amount of energy in this.
04) FKA Twigs – Eusexua – From right back at the beginning of 2025. The first time I listened to this I knew it would be in my top ten. Even now I find surprising things in it Tahliah Barnett is easily one of the best producers in the world at the moment and probably deserves a bit more recognition.
03) Geese – Getting Killed – I’ll admit this took a bit of time to grow on me but when it did…. Recorded in ten days from start to finish and it sounds rough in places. But that’s what makes it work. Most things I listen to are too polished but this is just people banging out stuff that they like.
02) Alfa Mist – Roulette – This could have easily been my favourite album. This is an epic jazz album that demonstrates everything that is amazing about UK (I really mean London) jazz at the moment. It’s got variety throughout it but all of it still holds together coherently.
01) Emma Jean-Thackery – Weirdo – Seeing Emma Jean-Thackery earlier this year is the thing that tipped this into being my favourite album of the year. Her Mercury nomination might have helped her to sell out a venue but she was still not scared to break out a ten minute trumpet solo to people who’d largely heard her on six music. Whilst watching her I realised I knew almost every word to every song on the album.
All of these are great albums and there were loads more which I could have easily added in there.
