Hey Young World,
This month, instead of a Record Report, we’re once again (can you believe we have been doing this for 10 years?) sharing our 25 favorite albums of the year with you. Marius was even inspired to write some blurbs for the top 10 this time.
25. Ruston Kelly – Pale, Through The Window (Indie/Country)
24. Dave – The Boy Who Played The Harp (Rap)
23. Cho – GIOAVANNI I / GIOVANNI II (Rap, Netherlands)
22. Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman (Country)
21. Ele A – Pixel (Rap, Switzerland)
20. Samy Deluxe & Conductor Williams – SAMY & CONDUCTOR (Rap, Germany)
19. Dijon – Baby (R&B)
18. Blu – Forty (Rap)
17. Marshal Allen – New Dawn (Jazz)
16. Döll – weg vom Weg (Rap, Germany)
15. Intuition & Equalibrum – Leave A Mark (Rap)
14. Good Charlotte – Motel Du Cap (Pop-Punk)
13. Charley Crockett – Lonesome Drifter / Dollar A Day (Country)
12. Mariah Carey – Here For It All (R&B)
11. President – King Of Terrors (Metalcore?)
10. Fred Hersch – The Surrounding Green (Jazz)
I have listened to a lot of Jazz this year. A LOT. Most of it has been from the 50s, 60s and 70s. Consequently, in this year’s Wrapped, Spotify assigned me a listening age of 83. I have however also listened to plenty of new Jazz albums, and this one stood out the most. A beautiful, intimate, understated record.
9. De La Soul – Cabin In The Sky (Rap)
In 2023, Andre 3000 said that, with 48 years, he might be too old to rap. Since then, rappers in their 50s - last year, among others, Common & Pete Rock and LL Cool J & Q-Tip, and this year De La Soul - have been putting out some of the best, if not the best rap albums of their respective years. Could this partly be because rap music is having a crisis of creativity this decade? Maybe, but even if that is the case, this album - both a celebration of life and a loving remembrance of Trugoy the Dove - is still another truly great rap album by these Native Tongue legends.
8. Pachyman – Another Place (Dub/Reggae)
Pachyman, the Puerto Rico-born, Los Angeles-based dub/reggae producer not only looks a little like Bill Evans, but, much like Bill Evans did, also puts out incredibly smooth instrumental records. I needed all the relaxation I could get this year, so it is no wonder that I gravitated towards this album.
7. Less Than Jake – Uncharted (2024) (Pop-Punk/Ska)
At this point, close to 30 years after Hell Rockview, this veteran ska punk band still does not miss. It is hard to imagine that they will ever be too old to do this. I’ll certainly never be too old to listen. “It's been a lifetime since I felt stable”. Same.
6. Vel Nine – A Beautiful Day To Die (Rap)
If I would tell you that Vel Nine (previously known as Vel the Wonder, which was a better name, but she did not ask me), an underground rapper from California with around 69,000 monthly listeners on Spotify put out the illest rap album of 2025, you would probably, maybe justifiably, not believe me, but as usual when it comes to Hip Hop, I know better than you.
5. Luke Bell – The King Is Back (Country)
Luke Bell tragically took his own life in 2022, leaving behind a small but remarkable discography of three albums. Whatever else remained has now been gathered on The King Is Back, a bittersweet reminder of what made him so special. A final classic country record from someone who understood the motto “three chords and the truth” instinctively.
4. Haim – I Quit (Indie)
I never really gave Haim a chance because the whole thing seemed gimmicky to me. For some reason I tuned in this time though, only to find out I was very wrong. I was especially taken by the 90s Janet Jackson vibes that are present on this album. Why did nobody tell me Danielle Haim could sing like that?
3. verifiziert – bulletholes (2024) / arizona 2012 (Indie Pop/Rap, Austria)
When I listen to verifiziert - the Austrian artist whose music hovers somewhere between indie pop and soundcloud rap, peak-Tumblr and Wiener Schmäh - I am stuck between two thoughts: that me liking this as much as I do shows how cool I still am… or maybe that I was never cool enough for this. Either way, I know it is, well, really fucking cool.
2. Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky (Indie)
I only found this band recently, and was immediately attracted by the combination of sweet, slightly bored-sounding bedroom-pop vocals and absolutely gnarly guitars. Their new album did not disappoint. Listening to it for the first time while driving around with my wife on one of the year’s first warm-ish days was one of my highlights of the year.
1. Rosalía – LUX (Art Pop)
Before LUX, the Barcelonan singer Rosalía had put out three wildly different albums, all of which would be at home on any list of the greatest albums of the last 25 years.
Although her first album - an acoustic alt-Flamenco album - was great, I became a fan when she released her second album, El Mal Querer. On that album, she takes her Flamenco influences and unleashes them onto R&B. It’s an album that takes something global and makes it local. It’s a beautiful record and exactly my niche, as someone who loves European Hip Hop and R&B.
The third album, Motomami, on the other hand is a quintessential global record, not as in lowest common denominator, but as in broadly influenced and sourced. Although rooted in reggaeton, it’s a musical mosaic, in the lineage of Paul’s Boutique and - to keep it European - peak M.I.A.
Expectations for LUX thus were high. When she put out the first single, I was impressed by the ambition, but also worried that, this time, she sacrificed listenability. I was so wrong that, if I were as Catholic as her, I would go to confession. LUX is an enveloping classical music–inspired (and London Symphony Orchestra-assisted), multilingual art pop album inspired by, among other things, Hildegard von Bingen, that somehow still goes down like crema catalana. It’s a triumph. She remains so far ahead of everyone else that when she says - as she did in a recent interview with the New York Times - that she is just a vessel for divine intervention (insert Tupac reference here), I am inclined to believe her.
One Love & Happy Holidays,
Marius | 1520