zjsm's top 25 albums of 2025

As per tradition, I love to list my top 25 albums of the year. I’m not interested in ‘ranked’ lists, though I seriously respect people who are capable of making them. I find myself too indecisive or dictated by moods to ever do them! Anyway, here are my top 25 albums and EPs released this year.

Note: those marked with (*) are live albums.

1. I Love My Computer - Ninajirachi

2. Soft Error - Yves

3. Only Cry In The Rain - Chuu

4. Eusexua - FKA Twigs

5. In The Blue Light - Kelela (*)

6. viagr aboys - Viagra Boys

7. In This Together - oqbqbo, Scandinavian Star

8. Never Enough - Turnstile

9. Iucre - Dean Blunt, Elias Ronnenfelt

10. EVE: Romance - BIBI

11. A Flower Bookmark, Pt. 3 - IU

12. We Always Had Tomorrow - Miami Horror

13. Fancy That - Pinkpantheress

14. Club Icarus - ARTMS

15. Glory - Perfume Genius

16. All Worlds - Lust For Youth

17. The Clearing - Wolf Alice

18. Moments - Cut Copy

19. Melt - Not For Radio

20. choke enough - Oklou

21. Sincerely: P.S - Kali Uchis

22. Blue Planet Eyes...Live! - The Preatures (*)

23. Jan 30, First Ave - Hüsker Dü (*)

24. Fugazi Live at First Avenue Minneapolis MN USA 10/15/95_FLS0736 - Fugazi (*)

25. Never Give Up, Pt. 1: Puer Aeternus - Croatian Amor

Some thoughts...

2025 was one of the more 'slower' years for me in terms of discovering new music. I don't know if it is because 2024 saw some of the biggest music releases in a long time, including the cultural sensation that was Charli XCX's Brat, which in turn made this year feel relatively...fine?

I'm also unsure if there simply wasn't much that caught my ear, or if my ability to discover more music was hindered by several lifestyle changes which altered my listening habits, as well as the time I could allocate towards it per day. I would've loved to say I listened to a lot more music this year, but I didn't. There's plenty of time to catch up later though!

As always, there was no shortage of new music from any of the former artists from my favourite record label Posh Isolation and their close circle of friends continue as normal with their frequent collaborations. They have always possessed a sense of creative freedom, but now the world is their oyster. Croatian Amor, Lust For Youth, Scandnavian Star and oqbqbo...all wonderful releases and my go-to recommendations for anyone looking to pick something up from bandcamp.

While I'm on the topic of that particular tight-knit Copenhagen music scene, I'm glad we got to hear more solo work from Elias Ronnenfelt. His collaboration with Dean Blunt collaboration feels so new and fresh for him, and as someone that has followed Iceage since their first ever show, hearing his wailing vocals in a H&M of all places is something I never thought I'd ever experience. Most surreal polyster induced haze of my life. Thank you, Sydney.

For the most part, though, I absolutely loved most of what I discovered this year, and anything I listed above was listened to multiple times. There's even a few releases that just narrowly missed the cut and still worthy of honorable mentions: Chainmail Commandos by STERÖID, This Is For by Twice, and Blue Valentine by NMIXX.

Interestingly, this year was rather stacked in terms of live albums and archival material finally seeing the light of day. Between the surprising discovery of long lost Hüsker Dü recordings, and select recordings from Fugazi's extensive archival project being released to Bandcamp, this year was exciting for me as a collector.

Though I normally wouldn't include live albums, this year, I felt like those listed above were deserving of a mention even if the original matieral was not recorded in 2025, based on how much I listened to them. Kelela's In The Blue Light is deserving of that live album hall of fame to me. It's phenomenal.

https://www.youtube.com/embed/87SSDIEQoO8?rel=0

I'm planning on writing a little more about it, as well as my love of live albums and bootlegs sometime next month, so stay tuned if that sounds like something you might enjoy!

That's all I have for now. Wishing everyone a safe and wonderful New Year's Eve!