fifteen albums you loved this year

A 2025 AOTY List curated by you lovely listeners 💗

Dec 10, 2025

Hello, lovely listeners!

While I’ve been lucky enough to do a ton of my own personal discovery in music this past year, none of it compares to the incredible album and artist recommendations you all have gifted me.

I wanted to show my appreciation by writing up a list of the Greatest 2025 albums, as recommended by you—this rich and varied music community. These are not ranked in any way. I just adore these albums and their generous hosts too much not to include them :) Following Gabbie’s lead, they will be in alphabetical order.

Join me on Sunday for my personal list of favorite albums from 2025 in no particular order but alphabetical :D It’ll be a doozy!

1991 by Drop Nineteens

Recommended by Lacey Cohen

A couple of weeks ago, I sent out an SOS call to all you lovely listeners asking for your favorite albums of the year. One of the best recommendations of the bunch was from none other than Lacey Cohen with this new Drop Nineteens release. This was a great and surprising listen, especially since I did not know much about the Drop Nineteens before hearing it (#notarealshoegazer). This is slightly embarrassing to admit, considering their early 90s album Delaware is a shoegaze genre classic™️.

At the same time, I can’t find it within myself to feel too ashamed. In a way, listening to 1991 is like going back in time. It contains their original demo sessions from the titular year, which have been remastered and sound utterly divine. My only wish is they’d released a limited run of janky cassettes to go along with it for the full DIY effect.

All Smiles Tonight by Poor Creature

Recommended by Howard Salmon

Howard Salmon is the kind of reader and supporter every writer deserves. I’ve been more than fortunate enough to have him share a few of my albums newsletters, as well as my poetry, over the last few months He is also an incredible writer and reviewer in his own right. I had the pleasure to listen to All Smiles Tonight over the Thanksgiving Break after reading one of Howard’s music essays from November.

All Smiles Tonight is, by all accounts, a deliciously slow album. I never thought I’d hear a blend of industrial music with traditional Irish folk, yet, Poor Creature makes it work in a way you have to hear to believe. The fusion of these seemingly diametrically opposed genres scratches the exact right brain itch. It borders on the lightness of trip-hop but doesn’t drop too far into our warped understandings of modernity. I never thought this kind of album would come across my path, but boy, am I glad it did.

Bite Down by Ribbon Skirt

Recommended by Billie Shafran of FLYOVER

Bite Down is a masterclass in alternative rock with a bite—literally. This album explores the Anishinaabe way of life in the wake of settler colonialism and parses through the anger, grief, and joy that exists in modern Indigenous communities surrounding the Great Lakes region. As someone who studied Indigenous history and the effects of settler colonialism in North America extensively in undergrad, I found this album to be one of the best to ever broach the topic. Sonically, it grooves and pushes with a disarming rhythm that makes you crave more of it. Then, of course, the subject matter forces you awake with the singular notion that, yes, you too exist because of and benefit from this generations-wide colonialist hellscape known as the United States and Canada. It’s a nasty and deeply transformational history that still lives with and among us to this day. Bite Down is bon-a-fide proof of that.

Who else could recommend such a fantastic and brutally honest album than the one and only Billie Shafran? Exactly. If you ever want to know what’s happening in the Midwest DIY space or want to learn more about great hardcore music, give Billie’s zine FLYOVER a read one of these days. You will not be disappointed.

Francis Aquarius by Noah Floersch

Recommended by Sarah March

Okay—this album is F. U. N. FUN!

Is it the kind of thing I typically reach for? No, but I love a drastically upbeat pop album about heartbreak once in a blue moon with great hooks and funny lyrics. I listened to this on a truly hellish morning commute, and it made all the difference. In Francis Aquarius, Floersch dabbles in the finer genres—funk, indie pop, and even a little dance music, whilst also poking fun at his guilt-tripping soft boy persona. His voice flutters and soars, especially in the outro track, “Airway.”

Francis Aquarius is short, groovy, self-aware, and just what a 2025 debut pop album should be.

Getting Killed by Geese

Recommended by Literally Everyone Ever

I’m only including this here because, well, it IS a great album you all loved this year. I’m sure you’ve heard of it already, and if you haven’t, trust me. You will. Might as well go ahead and give it a listen all the way through 😉

Ill at ease by Preoccupations

Recommended by Kevin Alexander

Kevin really is the New Wave Expert. This year, he’s been a sort of spirit guide for me as I’ve traversed the lapping waves of the ocean that is this genre and its related brothers and sisters. Speaking of—his New Order obsession inspired my new wave deep dive, starting with a listen to Brotherhood (1986) way back in February. It has since become a personal favorite album of mine from the 80s.

Ill at ease is no exception. While it leans a little post-punk, the new wave influences sing loud and clear right from the first track and on through the last. If you’re a new wave fan and haven’t given this truly impressive album a listen yet, I recommend you do that as soon as you can. It will be well-worth your time.

Lucius by Lucius

Recommended by Henry Beguiristain

This album impressed me. You know who else is impressive? That’s right. Henry Beguiristain and Aloud, easily my favorite Substack artist find of the year. Like Aloud, Lucius is one of those groups I wish I’d had the pleasure to know before the ripe old year of 2025. I feel about ten years too late. I never gave their music a real shot until Henry spread the gospel in a comment in response to one of my newsletters. Boy, was he right!

Do yourselves a huge favor and take a listen to this record the next time you’re taking a drive along a scenic highway.

moisturizer by Wet Leg

Recommended by Gabbie

Gabbie and I both talked about Wet Leg’s moisturizer upon its release, so to save some space, I will link to those articles here and here. If you don’t already subscribe to Gabbie, please rectify that as soon as possible. You’re clearly missing out if you’re not following her year-end lists and monthly recommendations of new music for old heads.

Wet Leg is fucking great, plain and simple. Now, go! Listen!

Natural Pleasure by Broncho

Recommended by Adam Voith

Adam Voith was right about this album—it’s a criminally underrated 2025 release. It’s more than just a psychedelic trip perfect for a night in with the strain of your choice. It’s practically cinematic. It reminded me greatly of being a teenager and listening to such dreamy indie gems as Beach House, Turnover, The War on Drugs, and Her’s.

It’s weird to admit that music like this has reached its age for nostalgia now, and yet, it so clearly has. I guess you could call it zillennial psychedelia with its hazy vocals, heavy bass, and decadent, layered guitars. All its listeners are approaching 30, if they haven’t already gotten there yet. Glad to see it’s still kicking :D

SALVATION by Rebecca Black

Recommended by JustSomeMustard

I think this furious release speaks for itself, but in the case you need a push, here is Mustard‘s quick little review of it from earlier this year. I also wrote a little something about it, and you can find that newsletter here.

She Comes From Nowhere by Neggy Gemmy

Recommended by Assorted Tapes & Michael Stutz

I have a confession to make. I love—no, need— a nourishing trip-hop album to break up the punk, new wave, and indie rock noise from time to time. Thankfully, my friends from Assorted Tapes and THE CURRENT YEAR were more than gracious to recommend this masterful new work from Neggy Gemmy.

This is trip-hop with a face-lift, so to speak, not that it ever needed it. It’s a fresh take on a beloved genre, with tastes well and beyond anything you can imagine. As Michael so rightfully pointed out, Neggy Gemmy’s etheral vocals call back to a time in the 1990s when vocalists like Harriet Wheeler and Elizabeth Fraser reigned supreme. This was such a welcome surprise to groove to this past year, and likely, a album I will return to anytime I need a bass-heavy pick-me-up.

System by Prewn

Recommended by Thomas Morra

I count myself among the luckiest of music junkies to have been sought out by Thomas Morra back in January of 2025. From this special Substack connection has come the greatest discoveries of the year—including sister, Robber Robber, Dead Gowns, Hiding Places, Lily Seabird, and of course, Prewn.

Thomas has a great post about seeing Prewn live that you all should check out as soon as possible. It’s the perfect encapsulation of how disarming seeing Prewn live for the first time can be. Just this line from the piece says it all:

“She’s got a demeanor about her that’s sort of spooky-chic, and she takes you as her captive passenger for a bewitching ride in the Prewnmobile until she says it’s over.”

I was a little late to the Prewn party but once I hopped aboard the Prewnmobile, I knew there was no going back. This album is likely to age like fine wine, alongside its underrated compatriots.

These Days by Emily Hines

Recommended by Robert C. Gilbert

Before Substack, I was well-known throughout the land as a listener of sad girl acoustic music. Since starting this newsletter, I’ve tried my best to step away from that persona and enjoy music of the happier persuasion. To some extent, I’ve been successful in this stretch towards the proverbial Sun. Did I manage it? I did :D

But this Emily Hines album brought me right on back to my roots. I am the Certified Sad Girl™️especially after listening to this little album about forty times in a row. It’s gotten to this point where I wish I could inscribe this album on my bones.

There are too many lines I love, but one little verse in particular sits right with me.

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I’ve been thinkin’ ‘bout calling ya/
Been wondering where you’ve laid your head these days/
It’s crazy how things keep changing/
And that I thought that you and I could stay the same.

This is such a simple expression. It’s practically a tale as old as time, and yet, it says absolutely everything. I think this is why this genre speaks so deeply to me. It’s something I chase in my own work, though I’m not nearly adept as Hines at capturing it. She manages to distill so much feeling into just a few motifs, all of which blend into larger story about grief and missing something you can’t ever get back to.

I sincerely hope you all will consider this sacred album in your next rotation.

Woman of Faces by Celeste

Recommended by wordsworthesq

This album was brand new to me in the best way. I was casually scrolling my feed two weeks ago when I noticed the cover under the name we all know is primed to give us the goods, alongside a glowing recommendation.

Part-soul/part-jazz record, this fantastic album packs a punch, both lyrically and sonically. Not to compare artists, but this album contains what I wished The Life of a Showgirl captured—a sultry look at the life of a performer in flux with romantic woes and a distinct voice. It’s dark, jazzy, and easily my pick if I were to buy any of these albums on vinyl.

Worldwide by Snõõper

Recommended by Andy’s Weird Ohio

For someone who claims to know close to nothing about new music, Andy certainly knows his shit when it comes to discovering great music the old-fashioned way, that is—by college radio. A few weeks ago, Andy sent me this truly immersive album after he heard a song from it on a radio station in Northeast Ohio. At first, I was kind of like, “Uh...are you sure?’ He simply replied, “Trust me.”

Well, trust and believe, Snõõper is incredible. Once you get past the initial abruptness of their frenzied rhythms, you start to realize you’re listening to something truly unique, or at least in the vein of Shudder To Think and Jawbox, which is to say—what the fuck is this, and where can I find more of it?

Can’t wait to ring in the new year with this strange beaut 🎉🎊🪅👯‍♀💗🩷

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