The Best Albums for Old Heads of 2025, Pt. 1

I want to make the world of new music less overwhelming for you.

Music Curation As the Deliberate De-whelming of the New Music Deluge

I’ve been writing about new music off and on for more than twenty years.

But I have never listened to so much new music as I did in 2025.

Having gleefully given up on assigning ratings to albums years ago, I no longer keep spreadsheets of every new listen. But based on my monthly Best Of playlists alone¹, I’d underestimate my new record intake this year at somewhere around 500.

This will either sound like child’s play or psychopath behavior to you, depending on your own listening habits. For me it’s closer to the latter.

Either way, I think we can all agree on one thing, something I repeat ad nauseam:

There is so much new music coming out that it’s impossible to keep track of all of it.

When I listen to new music, I’m already picking out albums that were recommended to me in one way or another. Which means that the likelihood of me enjoying the vast majority of what I hear is very high.

Here’s the thing, though. I’m not going to turn around and recommend every single record I like right back to you. I don’t think that’s what music curation should be.

What I want to do is make the world of new music less overwhelming for you.

Music curation is as much about deliberate listening as general music consumption is. I can’t simply be another source of overwhelm.

Last week, we started talking about how to deepen our appreciation of new music by making the world of new music just a little bit smaller.

The Music That Belongs Where You Are

There are many ways to do this, and we’ll keep exploring those methods in 2026.

For now, and throughout my End-of-Year list, here’s how I’ll be handling it.

How NBfOH End-of-Year Lists Works

📍Week of November 24th: Noteworthy Releases
Week of December 1st: Albums Worthy of a Top 50 List
Week of December 8th: Albums Worthy of a Top 10 List
Week of December 15th: Albums Worthy of a #1 Slot

📍You are here

My not so hard and fast rules:

• In every one of these “tiers,” I gave strong preference to newer artists and artists with under 1 million monthly listeners (and especially those under 100,000).

• I sometimes leave out artists I think have already gotten a lot of hype, even if I loved the record.²

• All killer, no filler (lol)

• I do not rank! Everyone is listed in alphabetical order.

There are more, but perhaps we’ll explore the greater philosophy of how to select albums for these lists in future posts. I know you’re skipping this to get to the actual list, anyway!

P.S. If you actually do feel like being a little bit overwhelmed, scroll down to the bottom for a playlist borne out of the New Bands for Old Heads hive mind.

The Best Albums of 2025, Pt. 1 - Twenty Noteworthy Releases

Reminder - the numbers are just for your convenience. These are in alphabetical order³.

1. Artificial Go - Musical Chairs

“Whatever wave,” a.k.a. jangly twee with sparse post-punk nonchalance. RIYL: Suburban Lawns, The Raincoats

2. Automatic - Is It Now?

Follow the bass on this “deviant pop” record wherever it wants to go. RIYL: The Slits, Suicide, disco

3. Blanco Teta - La Debacle de las Divas

Chaotic experimental trash noise (with cello!) from Argentina. RIYL: Lightning Bolt, Melt Banana

4. Cleo Reed - Cuntry

Self styled “folk rap” features hauntingly gorgeous harmonies. RIYL: Lauryn Hill, trip hop, gothic romance

5. Dez Dare - CHERYL! Your Love Shines Down Like A Supernova’s Death

Aussie garage-punk. A spiritual successor to chaotic early aughts scuzz. RIYL: Har Mar Superstar, ‘80s video game credits

6. The Discussion - All the Pretty Flowers

Cold wave maximalism is best when you can dance to it. RIYL: The Cure, Siouxsie and the Banshees

7. La Dispute - No One Was Driving the Car

Emo revival, huge vowels and all (you’ll know it when you hear it.) RIYL: At the Drive-In, Thursday

8. Lael Neale - Altogether Stranger

“Drone pop” takes cues from krautrock and ‘60s proto-punk. RIYL: John Lennon, Lou Reed

9. Lake Ruth - Hawking Radiation

A groovy trip through the stratosphere with ethereal vocals. RIYL: Stereolab

10. Lucy Gooch - Desert Window

A stirring debut from this experimental artist is almost visually evocative. RIYL: ethereal wave, trip hop, meditation

Your mom wants you to subscribe to New Bands for Old Heads.
Pay what you can!

11. Maiya Blaney - A Room With a Door That Closes

So much about this record revives disparate ‘90s elements: grunge, alt, R&B, DnB. Very cool. RIYL: Fiona Apple, Björk, Squarepusher

12. Marie Davidson

Oh no, what are you going to do with even more electro? I guess you’ll have to dance. RIYL: italo disco, Peaches, Kraftwerk

13. Maura Weaver - Strange Devotion

Catchy, indie/power pop, but a touch softer. Like if Liz Phair popped a few Xanax. RIYL: The Feelies, The Cars

14. Ninajirachi - I Love My Computer

There are a lot of Australians on this list I can neither take seriously nor ignore. RIYL: your computer… like,a lot.

15. Peki Momés - Peki Momés

The debut from this Turkish artist is straight from the Anatolian disco. RIYL: city pop, funk, jazz

16. Phoebe Rings - Aseurai

Another debut with Japanese city pop influences, this time from New Zealand, takes it into dream pop territory. RIYL: space age pop

17. Shepparton Airplane - Forecast

Australian (!) post-punk full of driving rhythms and danceable hooks start to finish. RIYL: The Gun Club, Sonic Youth

18. TVOD - Party Time

Scorching guitar solos, over the top orchestration, and some surprising synth-y new wave influences. RIYL: Devo, Gang of Four

19. twen - Fate Euphoric

Dream pop, but with anxious, jittery, technicolor energy. RIYL: The Pretenders, ‘80s college rock

20. Upchuck - I’m Nice Now

Ty Segall produced this multilingual debut from the Georgia punk rockers, who blend elements of cumbia in to their DIY sound. RIYL: The Stooges, Black Flag

Which of these records have you heard?

Which are new to you?

Which are you adding to your “to listen” pile?

Are you feeling even more overwhelmed now?? (Probably!)

I’m excited to hear about your own EOY lists!

Ciao for niao.

xo

Gabbie

The best albums of 2025, as chosen by YOU!

A few weeks ago I asked New Bands for Old Heads subscribers to add one song per each of your favorite 2025 album to a collective playlist. This is the 17 hour result. If you actually DO want to be overwhelmed by new music, here’s your chance.

1. No song goes on a playlist unless I’ve listened to the entire album, and for every album that is represented in a curated list, there are at least two that didn’t make the cut. So the total number is probably much higher than 500, indeed.

2. These exclusions may become more obvious in later weeks.

3. By first name, I think. Because I’m a ding dong.