It’s been a year with so much to choose from. 2025 was packed with some cracking albums, from artists old and new. Until the very end of the year, I was struggling to pick a clear winner, and then an album of pure brilliance emerged and made the decision easy for me. Starting with the album of the year…
De La Soul – Cabin in the Sky
An album of pure, heartfelt positivity, in spite of literally everything. From the Giancarlo Esposito-fronted intro, it’s clear you’re in for a ride. A roll call of the contributors, ‘is there a Killer of Mikes here, or is it Killer Mike…’ and ‘I see we have royalty with us… Slick Rick’ gives way to a moment of poignant reflection as the departed Dave is called for. It’s a sign of things to come, as for De La Soul, the magic number is most definitely still three. Dave is here. He’s present throughout. And it packs a punch.
So yes, this is an album which acknowledges pain, speaks to the harshness of the world, yet focuses on what we can do as individuals to stay positive. It speaks to harmony. It speaks to the future. Here we are, over 35 years since the dawn of the DAISY Age, and De La Soul have never sounded better.
And so to the rest, in no particular order…
Pulp – ‘More’
Talking of unexpected gems late in a career, there’s no way I would have put money on Pulp putting out a collection this timely, this consistent and this sharp. With a couple of lead singles that could each make a solid claim to song of the summer, ‘Spike Island’ and ‘Got To Have Love’, it’s an album which transports Pulp to the very forefront of bands that we should be wrapping in cotton wool to preserve. Beyond the album, they nailed the live shows in 2025 (Patchwork were an absolute Glastonbury highlight), and have cemented themselves even more as national treasures.
Wet Leg – ‘moisturizer’
And here’s a national treasure we’re seeing developing before our very eyes. Difficult second album be damned. Instead, Wet Leg decided to turn the swagger up to eleven, and laid down an album that stakes a claim for their increasing status as one of the very best bands out there. A popular group with the cheek, the subversion and the downright confidence to headline any stage in the world. It’s chuffing brilliant.
Blood Orange – ‘Essex Honey’
Why did it take ‘The Field’ for me to come across Blood Orange? I feel like I’ve missed out on an entire chapter of ‘music’. ‘Essex Honey’ manages to pull off the unthinkable – it’s raw, honest and an absolute thrill. As a route into the album, ‘The Field’ is astonishing in serving as a loving homage to a tune that it samples, The Durutti Column’s ‘Sing to Me’. If you like your music grown up, thoughtful and layered, this is for you.
Wolf Alice – ‘The Clearing’
I’ll admit it. I’d written them off. And then a few singles got under my skin. It would be churlish to overlook the infectious ‘Bloom Baby Bloom’. By the time ‘The Sofa’ and ‘Just Two Girls’ landed, I found myself realising that I had pre-judged a band that really knew what they were doing. ‘The Clearing’ captures a band that can tip their head towards Fleetwood Mac and even The B52s (I maintain the ‘White Horses’ wouldn’t be out of place next to ‘Roam’) in equal measure. It’s fantastic.
Ellen Beth Abdi – ‘Ellen Beth Abdi’
It’s exciting to witness the unstoppable rise of Ellen Beth Abdi. A vocalist and multi-instrumentalist who has been developing a name in her native Manchester for a few years. She’s a sometime collaborator with A Certain Ratio, has now started to take the stage with 808 State, and in 2025 stepped out of the shadows to release her own debut album. It’s a wonderful blend of downbeat, jazz-influenced electronica… and only fans the flames of expectation of where Ellen’s career trajectory could and should take her. As debut albums go, this is right up there.
Yukimi – ‘For You’
Yukimi is the voice behind Little Dragon, and here she demonstrates an effortless cool. ‘Sad Makeup’ may well actually be my song of the year. It’s an album which feels a long way from the route one charms of Little Dragon – ‘For You’ feels like something that Bjork could have conjured up in her ‘Post’ of ‘Homegenic’ years. It’s a delight.
Billy Nomates – ‘Metal Horse’
It’s a concept album. Stop, come back! It’s one that works! Inspired by a defunct fairground, Billy Nomates has stepped up through the gearbox, here capturing a sound that is laden with pop hooks, yet very, very grown up. A significant development is that addition of live instrumentation – and by god it works. Tor is now fronting a band – and her sneer carries even more weight as a result. How she is not already a name on everyone’s lips is beyond me.
Soulwax – ‘All Systems Are Lying’
If LCD Soundsystem, Kraftwerk and Daft Punk had a fight, the result might sound like this. It’s bags of fun. It’s an album of instantly accessible delights. The Dewaele brothers succeed in conjuring pure adrenaline out of bleeps and beats – and not once does it sound like a machine-driven exercise. It’s all human, even if a bunch of the tools need to be plugged in.
Mark William Lewis – ‘Mark William Lewis’
An album that took me by complete shock, thanks to a chance hearing of standout track, ‘Skeletons Coupling’, just before its’ release. With vocals that are so deep they feel like they are emerging from underground (think Tindersticks’ Stuart Staples), and a guitar that has been plucked from the hands of Vini Reilly, it’s an album that wouldn’t feel out of place filed next to The The. Get involved.