Nearing the end of 2025, it’s time to look back at the whole year of music. We saw albums from already established musicians and some interesting stuff from up and coming ones. From Lady Gaga and Sabrina Carpenter, to Wednesday and Tortoise a lot has been released, but I’d hesitate to say if a lot of it was great. There were some pretty big disappointments this year like Tortoise’s new album “Touch.” I’m a big fan of their early work like “Millions Now Living Will Never Die” and “TNT,” but this new album was almost completely unrecognizable. I was also looking forward to Deftones’ “Private Music,” but unfortunately I was let down by completely sterile and uninspired alternative metal, every track seeming to sound the same.
New releases in pop included nothing interesting, like Taylor Swift’s “The Life of a Showgirl,” Bad Bunny’s “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS,” and Addison Rae’s “Addison.” I tried listening to these albums, but didn’t find anything of value. While I don’t enjoy this kind of music at all, they definitely attract an audience and many tracks have made their way to the top of the charts. Many fans agree this is one of Taylor Swift’s worst albums yet, and Bad Bunny’s new release isn’t anything to write home about.
I didn’t enjoy many new releases this year, but there were a handful of gems. My favorite by far was “Birthing” by Swans. This album, especially the first half, was absolutely phenomenal and included some jaw-dropping instrumentation, heavy themes of death, re-birth, and the lack of parental love. Along with an incredible vocal performance by Micheal Gira. Gira stated this would be the last “epic” that Swans will ever release. At just under 2 hours long, the album is completely immersive, a trait that Swans has always perfected. We’ll have to see how future releases stray from this signature feel.
Some great ambient and experimental releases were Brian Eno and Beatie Wolfe’s set of three albums: “Luminal”, “Lateral”, and “Liminal.” Though Eno reached his peak somewhere in the 70s or 80s, he is still impressing me with his new work. Ellen Arkbro’s “Nightclouds” is another great album in the same vein. Arkbro works with finely tuned harmony and mostly composes instrumental movements for the pipe organ. All of her work is absolutely incredible and is some of the most beautiful and thought-provoking music in recent years. One last ambient release that I adored this year was Celer’s “You and I Can’t Ever Change.” The way he portrays loss, longing, and overall emotion in his work is completely beyond me; and how he stretches albums up to 9 hours long and still encapsulates the listener is just pure mastery of the art of ambient music.
The only other releases I loved this year were Deafheaven’s “Lonely People With Power” and Jeff Tweedy’s “Twilight Override.” Deafheaven has been making some of the most brutal and emotional metal ever since they burst onto the scene in 2011. “Lonely People With Power” might be one of their best yet and just awestruck me during my first listen. This album draws inspiration from shoegaze, screamo, post-rock, black metal, and hardcore, and they just continue to push the boundaries of what metal can be. George Clark’s vocals are jawdropping and the way he screams is just simply insane. And as for “Twilight Override” I was amazed at what Jeff Tweedy has been up to. He’s my absolute favorite songwriter of all time and he still continues to release absolute gold even after over 40 years of writing music. The album is a triple album, and every minute felt intentional and just preaches how much of a talent Tweedy really is. The opening track, “One Tiny Flower,” is on par with his early 2000’s work (my favorite era) with Wilco and is probably my favorite song of 2025.
2025 was also a remarkable year for album anniversaries. Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here,” Led Zeppelin’s “Physical Graffiti,” Bob Dylan’s “Blood on the Tracks,” and Brian Eno’s “Another Green World” all turned 50 this year and it’s been cool to see the reissues and anniversary editions of these classics. Also, if we take a look at 30 years ago, we see significant anniversaries of “Symbolic” by Death, the self-titled albums from Alice in Chains and Elliot Smith, “The Bends” by Radiohead, “The Future of What” by Unwound, “Long Division” by Low, and Hum’s “You’d Prefer an Astronaut.”
Although 2025 wasn’t the greatest year (which is quite an understatement) you can still find great music; and of all sorts. I’m starting to finally see more value put into passion and music and I hope that those things continue to thrive. Hope shouldn’t be lost for young and aspiring musicians because great music will always be thriving; you just have to dig deep enough.
