The Best Albums for Old Heads of 2025, Pt. 3

Who said there have to be 10 albums in a top 10 list? (Everyone. Literally everyone.) Don't miss the record giveaway in this post!

Now You Can Start to Sweat a Little

You’ve had two doses of this series already and you might be starting to get a little nervous. You may be asking yourself:

“Is she purposefully excluding my favorite records?”

Or perhaps,

“Why are there as many albums in her top 10 as in her top 50?”

And critically,

“Is she confused?”

I am confused, reader. Truly. But I have also devised a very stupid system for tracking the best albums of the year, I’m sticking to that system stubbornly, and these are the results we’re all going to have to accept now.

Just remind yourself that you can find a standard Top 10/50/100/etc. literally anywhere else. Right? Right. Onwards and upwards.

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New Bands for Old Heads makes a great last minute holiday gift! “What a clever and thoughtful gift,” your friend and/or family member will definitely say. How nice of you!

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How NBfOH End-of-Year Lists Work

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 (a.k.a, why some of your favorites are missing):

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

• I sometimes leave out overly hyped artists, even if I loved the record.¹

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

P.S. Scroll down to the bottom for a giveaway of the new Gelli Haha record that I featured in last week’s post!

Curation over Criticism with Gabbie

The Best Albums of 2025, Pt. 3 - Fifteen Albums Worthy of a Top 10 List

Fifteen worthy of a top fifty? Acceptable. Fifteen for a top ten?! Greedy! Indecisive!

Oh well 🙃 Good thing I make the rules.

Reminder - the numbers are just for your convenience. These are in alphabetical order (by first name, because I’m a ding dong).

1. Anna von Hausswolff - ICONOCLASTS

It’s around this part of my end of year shenanigans that I dispense with the notion that I’m required to choose accessible records in order to appeal to the mythical collective nostalgia, and just start featuring those records that most surprised, delighted, and inspired me personally. Iggy Pop and Ethel Cain are just a few of the cameos that appear on this astonishing, chaotic, painful, difficult, beautiful record. Lock in for eleven minute art-pop sound collages. Leave shaken and confused. RIYL: psychotic Kate Bush, I guess? I don’t know. (Standout track: Stardust)

2. CHIME OBLIVION - CHIME OBLIVION

Can you even begin to conceive of the sonic turbulence that would unfold if you asked Bow Wow Wow and Osees to make music together? I know, it seems absurd. But that’s literally what CHIME OBLIVION is: David Barbarossa, John Dwyer, and a full cast of supporting characters to round out a no wave frenzy. RIYL: The Slits (is everything I recommend just The Slits?), Adam and the Ants, Poly Styrene (Standout track: THE UNINVITED GUEST)

3. clipping. - Dead Channel Sky

Raise your hand if you didn’t realize either that famous Hollywood actor Daveed Diggs is also an incredibly talented hip hop artist. How embarrassing for the three of us! He’s a third of clipping., who just released their sixth (!) record. Time to catch up, especially if your idea of a good time is deciphering 200wpm bars in the middle of a rave. RIYL: Outkast, EDM, industrial (Standout track: Change the Channel)

4. Daughter of Swords - Alex

I’ve heard very little about this charming little record since its release, but its plunky, unpredictable, playground pop has stuck with me. This is far less lo-fi, but I’m still reminded very strongly of mid 2000s arts & crafts indie pop made (not so) famous by Khaela Maricich, Merrill Garbus, or maybe Thao Nguyen. RIYL: The Blow, Tune-Yards (Standout track: Vacation)

5. Deep Sea Diver - Billboard Heart

One of the things that keeps me coming back to this gorgeous art pop album is how much forward momentum it has. I don’t know how else to describe it. It’s also one of the most well crafted and perfectly paced records of the year, so listen to this if you need a push to get back into full album listening. RIYL: St. Vincent, PJ Harvey (Standout track: What Do I Know)

6. doseone & Steel Tipped Dove - All Portrait, No Chorus

A third of the legendary cLOUDDEAD is back with NYC beatmaker for the likes of billy woods and ELUCID to answer the question we’ve all been dying to know: What would happen if Tom Waits and Smeagol decided to team up and start a hip hop career? RIYL: slight but constant dread (Standout track: Wasteland Embrace)

7. GANS - GOOD FOR THE SOUL

“WHEN WILL SHE STOP RECOMMENDING BANDS THAT ARE JUST MEN SHOUTING AT US?” MAYBE SOMEDAY, BUT NOT TODAY. I PROMISE THIS ONE IS A LITTLE DIFFERENT FROM ALL THE OTHER POST-PUNK ALBUMS I RECOMMEND. FIRST, IT IS SUPER FUNKY AND ELECTRONIC ON TOP OF ALL THE SHOUTING. SECOND, IT IS INFECTIOUSLY FUN AND ENERGETIC. I BET THESE GUYS RIP LIVE. RIYL: LCD SOUNDSYSTEM, FAT DOG, OTHER BLACK COUNTRY POST-PUNK LIKE BIG SPECIAL, DANCING A LOT EVEN THOUGH YOU SUCK AT IT (Standout track: Nightwalking)

8. Hilary Woods - Night CRIÚ

The literal opposite of GANS in every way. This record feels like sleep paralysis striking at the most intangible, inscrutable part of a dream. It is eerie and strange. It is shimmering and intoxicating. Quite appropriate for a Halloween release, in fact.² RIYL: Enya, seasonal affective disorder, making friends with your sleep paralysis demon (Standout track: Gunslinger)

9. Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto - Electric War

I feel so legitimate recommending this record. What am I, NPR? Allow me to expand my own horizons as you watch listen read. You may already know Little Barrie as the guys behind the Better Call Saul theme, but throw in a prolific drummer and the trio is far stronger. The result is a beautiful blend of genres — funk, surf, psych (of course), jazz — fuzzed out but with enough breathing room to give each artist their turn to shine. RIYL: CAN, The Stone Roses, Led Zeppelin (Standout track: Zero Sun)

Pay what you can.

10. Natalie Bergman - My Home is Not in This World

Though I’ll admit to favoring Side A pretty heavily, this record is so beautifully steeped in vintage nostalgia that it’s well worth staying late just for the mood. Bergman takes the best of every ‘60s and ‘70s it-girl and makes them her own. In the video for my favorite track, you can see and hear nods to yet more iconic ‘60s music: yé-yé, Motown, spaghetti westerns, the Rolling Stones. RIYL: Nancy Sinatra, Etta James (Standout track: Gunslinger)

11. Nourished by Time - The Passionate Ones

For everyone who is cranky at me for excluding Blood Orange (it just didn’t hit for me) or Dijon (astonishingly good, but doesn’t need my added hype) from my list, consider Marcus Brown. This record is a whirlwind of early ‘90s R&B, ‘80s and 2000s dance pop, and fantastically catchy melodies. RIYL: Prince, Frank Ocean, The Avalanches (Standout track: Max Potential)

12. Open Mike Eagle - Neighborhood Gods Unlimited

How funny that I’d started out this EOY thinking that it was a very light year for hip hop, when in actual fact it turns out that it’s been such a strong year that all of it is clustered up at the very top. Where some of the more obvious picks (ones you’ll notice I’ve left out — Clipse, Tyler, the Creator) capitalize on bombast, Open Mike Eagle’s effort stands out in its subtlety, introspection, and laid back, gentle flow. RIYL: MF DOOM, El-P (Standout track: michigan j. wonder)

13. pôt-pot - Warsaw 480km

This Portuguese/Irish kosmiche band is positively hypnotic. If you’re wondering what music to put on at the soft opening of your new outer space themed West German saloon, I can scarcely think of better (though interestingly they name James Brown and Curtis Mayfield as their main influences). RIYL: The Velvet Underground & Nico (Standout track: Can’t Handle It)

14. shame - Cutthroat

Probably the best and most accessible yet from this post-punk powerhouse — I mean, fight me on this, but that opener is so catchy it’s like an aggressive, post-punk version of Robert Palmer’s “Bad Case of Loving You.” I’ve heard highly mixed opinions on this record³, and I’ve concluded that people have gotten used to the previously Deeply Serious Output™ from this admittedly very impressive, very prolific, very young band. But maybe post-punk can also be pop? RIYL: The Yeah Yeah Yeahs, The Cramps, The Gun Club, Depeche Mode (Standout track: Cutthroat, if only to force you to listen to the insane comparison I made)

15. Water From Your Eyes - It’s A Beautiful Place

I adored 2023’s Everyone’s Crushed but had a hard time recommending it to this crowd. Still, you've just endured an entire list full of “challenging” albums. What's one more? This insane and gorgeous album is comparatively easy to swallow, though you’ll have to tell me for yourself, as I'm losing my ability to discern. What I do know is that this album cannot sit still, that it veers from one genre to the next erratically, and that it’s so packed with talent, complexity, and ambition you’ll scarcely believe it clocks in under 30 minutes. I’m also going to have the hardest time coming up with a RIYL list, but here we go. RIYL: Smashing Pumpkins, Stereolab, Red Hot Chili Peppers. (Standout track: Life Signs)

A twist question this time: what albums do you think I’ll leave out of my final tier based on my (absurd??) rules, even though they probably deserve to be there?

The hint you already got in this post is that I excluded Dijon for being too big.

Ciao for niao.

xo

Gabbie

Win Gelli Haha on Vinyl!

Oh hey, we haven’t done a record giveaway in a while.

If you’re new here, I do record and concert ticket giveaways every once in a while for paid subscribers. This month, I have a copy of Gelli Haha’s Switcheroo up for grabs.

All you have to do is fill out this form to let me know you’re interested by December 15th. UK and EU subscribers especially encouraged, as this record is coming from overseas! (But all paid subs welcome). Good luck!

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

2. Just like Anna von Hausswolff, come to think of it.

3. Much as I’ve tried to avoid hearing any opinions at all on all records this year.