Best Music šŸŽµ of 2025!

Rip_City said:
Q1 Update

Total 2025 releases (albums/EPs/mixtapes) listened to as of May 1: 77

As I mentioned before, I'm set for listening to around 200-250 new releases this year, and I'm ahead of pace.

I have a fair quantity of favorites from Q1 already. I already see more to look forward to in the coming months. Saw four of these in concert this year already. Japanese artists comprise an unsurprising portion of the collage, with the newest from Ichiko Aoba (青葉åø‚子) making a strong argument for my fave of 2025 crown.

Entries are alphabetized by band name/artist last name.

View attachment 233286

Ichiko Aoba (青葉åø‚子) - Luminescent Creatures [ambient folk, chamber folk]
Circuit Des Yeux - Halo on the Inside [post-industrial, art pop, post-punk]
Marie Davidson - City of Clowns [industrial techno, electroclash, acid techno]
Deafheaven - Lonely People With Power [blackgaze, post-metal]
Ethel Cain - Perverts [dark ambient, slowcore, drone]

Chihei Hatakeyama (ē• å±±ę²»å¹³) - Lucid Dreams [ambient, drone]
Heartworms - Glutton For Punishment [post-punk, dance-punk, gothic rock]
Eiko Ishibashi (ēŸ³ę©‹č‹±å­) - Antigone [ambient pop, art pop, post-rock]
Ocean Moon - Ways to the Deep Meadow [new age, ambient]
Takuro Okada (å²”ē”°ę‹“郎) - The Near End, The Dark Night, The County Line [chamber jazz, ambient]

Oklou - choke enough [alt-pop, ambient pop, ambient trance]
Saor - Amidst the Ruins [atmospheric black metal, Celtic metal]
Laurie Torres - AprĆØs coup [modern classical, ambient]
Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory - Sharon Van Etten & The Attachement Theory [indie rock]
The Weather Station - Humanhood [art pop]
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Love seeing the Heartworms and Saor love!
 
chart - 2025-05-03T224019.310.png

ALBUMS:
BRUIT ā‰¤ ā€“ The Age Of Ephemerality
Dead Pioneers ā€“ PO$T AMERICAN
Flying Vipers ā€“ Off World
Chat Pile ā€“ Live At Roadburn 2023
duendita ā€“ a strong desire to survive
SUMAC & Moor Mother ā€“ The Film
Tunde Adebimpe ā€“ The Black Boltz
Web Web ā€“ Plexus Plexus
The Waterboys ā€“ Life, Death and Dennis Hopper
EPs:
Del The Funky Homosapien & thegoodnews. ā€“ This Just In!
Elori Saxl ā€“ Texada Original Score
Khotin ā€“ Peace Portal
 
avecigrec said:
For the past two or three years now, I have been sending a handful of friends a monthly 10 song playlist of odds and ends that caught my ear over the preceding month, and usually got played a lot while I was streaming. There's no set metric for what makes it and what doesn'tā€”sometimes something quirky and whimsical slips in, and sometimes my choices may be a bit predictable ("ooooh, another month with a Moor Mother track or collaboration, how shocking!") The most important thing is I very much enjoy the songs, and I really love putting the playlist together. Some months it's hard to whittle the accumulated tracks down to 10* and others it can be pretty easy.

Anyhow, I figured this year I'd share here for kicks in case any of y'all are interested:



*while there is no set metric in place, often songs that appear in my top 9 for a given month are some of the first to get whittled away from the playlist, which is why, for instance, "****ology 101" by Lambrini Girls didn't make this edition of the playlist, despite being an absolute jam that I definitely played a LOT.
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Aprilā€™s Most Listened

  1. Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton - Live at the Legion
  2. Alison Krauss & Union Station - Arcadia
  3. Daughter of Swords - Alex
  4. Neil Young - Coastal
  5. Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - What Did The Blackbird Say to the Crow?
  6. Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World
  7. Tunde Adebimpe - Thee Black Boltz
  8. Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE
  9. Elton John & Brandi Carlile - Who Believes in Angels?
  10. Quartetto Vanvetelli - Se in fiorito ameno prato. Handel: Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo
 
Nee Lewman said:
Aprilā€™s Most Listened

  1. Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton - Live at the Legion
  2. Alison Krauss & Union Station - Arcadia
  3. Daughter of Swords - Alex
  4. Neil Young - Coastal
  5. Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - What Did The Blackbird Say to the Crow?
  6. Willie Nelson - Oh What a Beautiful World
  7. Tunde Adebimpe - Thee Black Boltz
  8. Bon Iver - SABLE, fABLE
  9. Elton John & Brandi Carlile - Who Believes in Angels?
  10. Quartetto Vanvetelli - Se in fiorito ameno prato. Handel: Sonatas for Violin and Basso Continuo
Click to expand...
How does your April most-listened equate to your April favorites?
 
April Best Ofā€¦

  1. Billy Strings & Bryan Sutton - Live at the Legion
  2. Alison Krauss & Union Station - Arcadia
  3. Daughter of Swords - Alex
  4. Tunde Adebimpe - Thee Black Boltz
  5. Valerie June - Owls, Omens, and Oracles
  6. Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson - What Did The Blackbird Say to the Crow?
  7. Galactic and Irma Thomas - Audience with the Queen
  8. Kamasi Washington - Lazarus
  9. Neil Young - Coastal
  10. Black Country, New Road - Forever Howlong
 
As of right now, my top three albums of the year are all bluegrass or bluegrass adjacent. Billy Strings/Bryan Sutton being the favorite. I think Iā€™m With Her edges out Alison Krauss because it is just a tad more adventurous. Just need Punch Brothers to release a new album and knock it out of the park. Watchhouse is always a favorite too.
 
musicjunkiegreg said:
A question just for the sake of the year end points allocation lists - isn't this a live album?
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Yes. Itā€™s also (mostly?) covers (quite a few things Doc Watson used to do) and not stuff on their albums (at least not Billyā€™s - I really donā€™t know much about Sutton). They met and got along and jammed for a like week or so and then did the show. It wasnā€™t even a tour. Itā€™s also my favorite thing Iā€™ve ever heard from either of them.
 
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Nee Lewman said:
Yes. Itā€™s also (mostly?) covers (quite a few things Doc Watson used to do) and not stuff on their albums (at least not Billyā€™s - I really donā€™t know much about Sutton). They met and got along and jammed for a like week or so and then did the show. It wasnā€™t even a tour. Itā€™s also my favorite thing Iā€™ve ever heard from either of them.
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Hell yeah! Glad you're enjoying it.

Though bluegrass isn't my cup o tea, maybe I'll give it a go.
 
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