Across genres, and over 500 albums listened to, 2025 delivered a slate of music that refused to play it safe.
Last year proved itself a dynamic year for music. Many artists pushed boundaries and redefined expectations. From avant-garde rock to electronic, these four albums stood out as some of the strongest releases of the past year.
Getting Killed – Geese
Geese’s third record and by far their most popular, Getting Killed finds the Brooklyn outfit fully embracing the absurd. What once leaned toward post-punk now unsettles at every turn, pairing unpredictable song structures with bursts of wonky rhythms and jagged guitar lines. The album opens like a beautiful mess, with “Trinidad,” an emotional and immediate standout.
Frontman Cameron Winter’s vocals are weary yet determined and spontaneous. This isn’t an easy album to listen to, but that challenge is part of its charm. Tracks loop into themselves, refusing neat hooks in favour of uneasy repetition. The ambition on display is impossible to ignore and has rightfully catapulted the ensemble to new heights this year.
Forever Howlong – Black Country, New Road
Black Country, New Road entered 2025 facing a defining moment: the departure of key vocalist and songwriter Isaac Wood. Rather than crumbling, the group reinvented themselves from their previous effort, Ants from Up There. Forever Howlong is an album brimming with warmth and collective spirit.
Gone are the spiky post-punk edges that defined their earlier work. In their place is an orchestral folk-pop palette, marked by lush instrumentation, hand-clap rhythms, and communal vocals shared between Georgia Ellery, Tyler Hyde, and May Kershaw. The result is an album rooted in connection. Standout tracks like “Besties” capture this shift, feeling melancholic while still carrying an undercurrent of warmth and joy.
Revengeseekerz – Jane Remover
In contrast to its peers, Revengeseekerz is a whirlwind of electronic mayhem and emotional sincerity. Jane Remover fully embraces the energy of the internet era, fusing hyperpop, digicore, EDM, and rap into a challenging yet electrifying sonic experience.
The album moves at a breakneck pace, a dizzying sequence of pitched vocals, glitchy synths, and hard-hitting production. But beneath the technical spectacle lies deeply personal lyricism. It feels like an unfiltered broadcast of emotions too big to stay contained.
DON’T TAP THE GLASS – Tyler, the Creator
Tyler, the Creator tops this list with DON’T TAP THE GLASS, an album that’s as exuberant as it is meticulously crafted. Here, Tyler shifts away from his recent run of introspective concept albums toward a project rooted in movement and rhythm, drawing on house, funk, and techno while retaining his signature playful lyricism and whimsical production.
The album feels designed for fun. Guest producers like Pharrell Williams add texture, but it’s Tyler’s exuberant confidence that keeps the record continually engaging. This is the sound of an artist with nothing left to prove. Rather than chasing trends or revisiting the emotional palette of Call Me If You Get Lost or Igor, Tyler is pursuing something fresh, stretching his musical muscles in new directions.
Whether through Geese’s anxious art rock, Black Country, New Road’s communal warmth, Jane Remover’s digital chaos, or Tyler, the Creator’s kinetic confidence, each album pushes against expectation in its own amazing way. In doing so, they don’t just reflect on where music was in 2025, but also where it’s daring to go next.
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Album review, Artist, Genre, Music
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