A curated selection of assistant editor Hazel Blacher’s personal favourites albums of 2025.

2025 has been quite a year for music; a year where we saw a massive resurgence in Trip Hop across a post-Brat landscape; where the Y2K revival expanded its pool of influence to the witchy electro-clash stylings of Crystal Castles with artists like Bassvictim and ear. 2025 saw the esoteric sounds of Copenhagen begin their ooze into a new generation of songwriters; it saw post ‘Getting Killed’ Cameron Winter ascend to fully-fledged underground deity status, worshipped by every arbiter of taste’s meme page to the point where the memes actually stopped being funny.

As a certified music nerd, one of my all-time favourite things to do as the end of the year looms is to look back on my most coveted musical discoveries from the last 12 months – like a ripe, vivid assortment of fruits that each serve to nourish a very specific segment of my soul. I remain totally in awe of the sheer scale of astonishing music that continues to reveal itself in tandem with my existence on this planet – thanks to all the people who keep making art for art’s sake despite capitalism making it really, really hard to do that. You’re all absolute legends.

Okay, on to the music now!

Erika De Casier – ‘Lifetime’

On her fourth album ‘Lifetime’, Copenhagen’s Erika De Casier renders some of her most accomplished work yet, floating the unctuous, sultry R&B textures that she has come to be known for through the airy upper reaches of gravity-defying trip-hop. A surprise release through her own label Independent Jeep, ‘Lifetime’ summons the sensory intimacies that tenderise human experience at a near spiritual level; the feel of cool satin over warm, dewy skin; the low, gravitating flicker of candlelight; the aromatic coalition of sandalwood and vanilla wafting through the temperate midnight air. What set this album apart from her previous works is her ability to pair this with a near meditative quality, a patient, featherlight ambience that elevates her sound to new levels of celestial subtlety and sophistication. I can confidently say that no album has instantly lowered my cortisol levels in the same way that ‘Lifetime’ has this year. Gorgeous.

Gelli Haha – ‘Switcheroo’

Gelli Haha’s debut album ‘Switcheroo’ is a strong contender for the top spot this year, a whimsical cosmic voyage of sparkling dance pop escapism, released via LA-based indie Innovative Leisure in June. Catapulting the listener out of their prosaic everyday woes and into the trippy visuals and wild costumery of Haha’s self-coined ‘Gelli-verse’, you would be hard pressed to find a song on this album that isn’t a some level of heavy-rotation banger. Whether delighting in the dazzling alt-pop stylings of lead single ‘Bounce House’ – set to perhaps one of the most visually striking accompanying videos of 2025 featuring trampolines, glitter, toys and wacky fish-eye camera work – getting your groove on to the snappy, squelchy, distorted grooves of ‘Tiramisu’, or reaching deep into the hedonistic recesses of ‘Piss Artist’ – with its out of pocket, stream of consciousness lyricism – there’s no room for doom and gloom in Gelli Haha’s fizzing, kaleidoscopic dimensions. Bursting with off-kilter pop hooks and vintage synth colour, ‘Switcheroo’ is an album cast through a lens of unfettered childlike wonder that lays its roots in the irresistible pulse of the dancefloor, and it is unequivocally all killer, no filler.

Sharp Pins – ‘Radio DDR’

The first of three(!) records in 2025 that Chicago’s Kai Slater either wholly or partially crafted – which at the fledgling age of 20 years old rivals the likes of Cameron Winter for sheer prolificacy & flair (if Winter was a die-hard mod with pipes like Marc Bolan, that is) – ‘Radio DDR’ is a treasure trove of retro-inspired composition stirred with a rich melodic sensitivity way beyond its years. So much so in fact, that it feels like I’ve been encountering the songs on this album all my life. I could’ve been toddling around my parents living room with ‘Sycophant’ humming in the background, or riding to school with ‘You Have A Way’ blasting from the tinny car radio. An album schooled on the timeless songwriting dexterity of 20^th century greats – The Beatles, The Kinks, Cleaners From Venus, to name a few – and wrapped in a warm, cushy blanket of lo-fi production, the record is an evocative haven of jangly power-pop excellence from Slater’s solo moniker Sharp Pins (though he’s also known for his work with DIY Chicago garage trio Lifeguard). Triggering the same flavour of awe and yearning that Cindy Lee’s ‘Diamond Jubilee’ did last year, ‘Radio DDR’ is a masterclass in nostalgia, and as such has remained a top listening choice to accompany any activity that involves romanticising the fuck out of my life.

Juana Molina – ‘DOGA’

I must admit that I’ve been sleeping on Argentinian legend Juana Molina, an artist with over a quarter of a century of experimental pop artistry under her belt. My oversight was fully realised when I discovered ‘DOGA’, Molina’s first album in eight years, released in November this year via own label Sonamos. Said to have taken 6 years to complete, Molina’s sound is so beautifully singular and strange on this record, drawing on the textures of hypnagogic pop and psychedelia but pared back with a filmically incidental subtlety and grainy, earthy quality. If I found a tiny, ornate door in the trunk of a tree, ‘DOGA’ is what I would expect to hear when I climbed inside, as I embarked on a dizzying, hallucinogenic trip into Juana Molina’s weird and wonderful world.

Panda Bear – ‘Sinister Grift’

‘Sinister Grift’ is an album that I’ve found myself coming back to repeatedly this year. On his first fully solo release since 2019’s ‘Buoys’, Panda Bear – aka Noah Lennox of Animal Collective – demonstrates more starkly than ever his aptitude as a songwriter on this collection of scrupulously crafted, leisurely psych pop treasures. Cast in a halcyon oasis of still, buttery light – both figuratively and literally given that Lennox recorded it at his home studio in sunny Portugal –  ‘Sinister Grift’ is a world away from the biting winter gloom, and it sits in his solo discography as his most clear-cut, pop leaning work to date. For those in search of a failsafe SAD remedy as the days mercilessly shorten, I’d prescribe a couple of spins of ‘Sinister Grift’ alongside your vitamin D supplements this winter for a fast hit of joy.

Other albums that I loved this year that you should definitely check out (if you haven’t already):

• Hannah Frances – ‘Nested In Tangles’ – A sprawling, intricate oeuvre of avant-folk excellence from the Vermont based virtuoso, vitalised by Grizzly Bear’s Daniel Rossen.

• YHWH Nailgun – ‘45 Pounds’ – An all-out guttural assault of fleshy, idiosyncratic experimental rock – one of those records you will probably look back on in 10 years and realise how seminal it really was.

• Water From Your Eyes – ‘It’s a Beautiful Place’ – Knotty, complex guitar weirdness that gets better with every listen.

• James K – ‘Friend’ – Possibly the essential trip-hop revival record from 2025 – immaculate, otherworldly dream pop / shoegaze textures that will lull you into a seamless state of tranquil delectation.

• thredd –  ‘It’s Lovely, Come On In’ – Gorgeously intimate, clean and concise debut offering from London’s thredd – a self-coined ‘cold pop’ record.