Best Albums of 2025

Festive greetings to all you musos, funk junkies, jazz headz and discerning audiophiles. Welcome back around to that time of year, it’s time for the first of this year’s annual roundups with, in Tracksuite’s humble opinion, the Best Albums of 2025. Usual rules apply; to make it on to the list they’ve got to be all killer, complete albums of quality, no room for frolic or filler. Last year produced a bumper crop of 15 albums but this year, not so much. This year gave us 8 works of premium perfection. Discussed below for you to agree or rail against, followed by some ‘not quite list worthy but worth a mentions’ to bring things to a close.

Lets go…

clipping - Dead Channel Sky

Los Angeles experimental hip hop trio clipping dropped the first taste of their fifth album in September 2024 with the intense ‘Run It’, then the full release on 14 March titled 'Dead Channel Sky’ on Sub Pop, the band’s label home since 2014. Producers William Hutson and Jonathan Snipes and rapper Daveed Diggs have moved slightly away from the horrorcore influenced sound of previously acclaimed albums, into a more digital retro-futuristic blast bringing all the pseudo science of 90s Hollywood, laying all terrifying prophesy at the door of 2025 reality. The sound is sparse, stripped and haunting. It brings to mind the endless, empty chambers of immense movie spacecraft and the constant threat of predatory alien lifeforms on just the other side of the next airlock. The rapid fire lyrics then spit as if produced at high speed on screen in green font by the omnipotent intelligence of the android. The discomforting nature derives mostly from the self imposed stylistic rules that the band adhere to, using the preference of real world samples like smashing glass and breaking stone instead of traditional instrumentation. Diggs producing raps in the third person like the alien trying to pass itself off as a human. Art’s fight against AI production is foremost in much expression right now and this feels like a hearty battle cry.

Lead release ‘Run It’ you’ll find on Tracksuite’s upcoming Top 50 Tracks of 2025 playlist but other highlights are ‘Change The Channel’ and ‘Dodger’.

Valerie June - Owls, Omens and Oracles

Grammy nominated American singer songwriter and multi instrumentalist Valerie June Hockett, known as Valerie June, released her sixth studio album ‘Owls, Omens and Oracles’ on April 11th via a return to Californian label Concord Records. In Tracksuite’s opinion, it’s her finest work yet. June has always drawn influences across many styles like, blues, folk, jazz, country, rock and soul and this carries that same weight. It is an impressively expansive display showcasing an experienced musician’s understanding of a variety of musical genres, and her ability to hone that knowledge into what can be argued as probably her poppiest work. More so that, it’s a collection of brilliantly catchy singalong songs that appear simple but, from what we know of her work to date, are clearly far from it.

Her previous album ‘Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers’ had heavy melancholic undertones throughout, in heart breaking soulful blues. Prior to that ‘The Order of Time’ leaned into alt. country crooning, still unquestionably beautiful. 2025 rejoins June in fine fettle with an air of contemplative optimism shining through her work. From the off, the album bounces into life with the aptly named ‘Joy Joy’, feeling it so much she proclaims it twice. You can easily picture her beaming smile and feel the warmth of her emotion coming through. This continues on to the stunning ‘Endless Tree’, a genuine ‘sound of music dancing with abandon on the top of a mountain, loving life and singing it to the world’ type of song, one with such an infectious strength of spirit that it simply had to be the choice from this album for Tracksuite’s Top 50 playlist. ‘Love Me Any Ole Way’ channels classic New Orleans rhythm and blues in a languid tipsy bar style. June may have come down a notch from earlier songs but she’s definitely still smiling, and the glow is from more than just whisky maybe. ‘Sweet Things Just For You’ and ‘My Life Is A Country Song’ are raw emotive gems of almost unbearable sweetness begging you to recognise this spirit reaching out and to join the collective joyousness.

Big Special - National Average

Without any preamble or lead up or pre release, Birmingham’s Big Special went very Big Special indeed and surprise dropped ‘National Average’ on 4 July. Their follow up album to last year’s brilliant debut ‘Post-Industrial Hometown Blues’ was released the same day the first single from it, ‘God Save The Pony’. Usually you might see this sort of move as a label’s way to slide in a difficult second album that’s not expected to live up to the success of the first, lest it suffer from its own hype. If that was their plan, they got it very wrong, as this is a mighty show of form from the acclaimed duo. Admittedly, there’s nothing notably new here to tempt in anyone not convinced by the debut, and it’s the assumed collective opinion that those people are just plain wrong, and we can continue to gorge happily on more Big Special sounds. The general consensus seems to be that it's not just more of the same. Although it feels similar, it packs much more of a punch. It’s more than the sum of its parts. In a way that only these guys can deliver, these songs have managed to get both angrier and yet still funnier at the same time, darker and yet more absurdist, overwhelming and yet more fulfilling. There’s altogether more weight to this than might first appear, as if their big break and critical acclaim has not lifted them up as you would expect but instead sits heavy on their typically morose midlands shoulders. Not unwelcome, but accepted, carried and used as fuel for the fire at the heart of their creative bile.

The opener ‘The Mess’ couldn’t deliver the spirit of what we love about Big Special more accurately if it tried. A prowling, threatening, bass heavy maddening number over a slow tribal rhythm instantly sates the anticipation left when the first album finished. It’s the selected track for Tracksuite’s Top 50 playlist. ‘Shop Music’ is a bit of rare beast for these guys, a tubthumper with an infectious groove and a shouty chorus. Not their usual fare but it fits them well. ‘YESBOSS’ kicks like a beast. ‘The Beast’ is utter boss and the whole thing listened to as a whole is as rewarding as it is exhausting.

Tami Neilson - Neon Cowgirl

On 11th July, the multi award winning Canadian-born New Zealand country & soul singer/songwriter Tamara "Tami" Neilson, released her 10th studio album, Neon Cowgirl via Outside Music. Returning after the brilliant Kingmaker (one of the best albums from 2022) and a lovely sojourn into Willie Nelson covers with Neilson Sings Nelson from last year. Tami’s been through some tough times since we last checked in with her. At the start of 2023, she underwent multiple surgeries after a gallbladder removal turned into abdominal sepsis and a collapsed lung. Then her brother, and co-writer on this album, Jay Neilson, had to have major surgery following seizures. But it's testament to the power of this incredible artist that she continued to produce, to the exceptionally high standards she has set with past work. It’s another quality collection of typically Tami tunes and now she’s got a veritable who’s who of country royalty clambering to work with her. The title track serves up a delightful duet with Crowded House frontman Neil Finn. The ass kicking ‘Borrow My Boots’ features no less than Ashley McBryde, Grace Bowers and Shelly Fairchild. The haunting and beautiful ballad ‘Keep On’ features the vocal talents of The Secret Sisters. The pick of the bunch and the pick for the Tracksuite top 50 is ‘You’re Gonna Fall’ featuring another Tracksuite favourite JD McPherson. With strong echoes of the great partnership of Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra, it's a smooth and dusty, desert western style tapalong with scene setting twang and hooks that’ll knock you off your horse. Legend tells the album came to be after a road trip Tami and her family took across America seeking out the country and western holy lands, to give her kids from New Zealand a taste of the culture that feeds their mother’s soul. What this Noth American odyssey has produced is a powerful and poignant love letter to her dearest Nashville, encompassing sincerest storytelling and wrenching heartache in salute to the genres’ greats, with the extra Tami topping of atomic power vocals.

Tyler Childers - Snipe Hunter

Kentucky born alt country singer songwriter Tyler Childers released his seventh album ’Snipe Hunter’ on 25th July through his Hickman Holler label and RCA records. He continues thematically from his 2023 release Rustin’ in the Rain with his evolving interest in Eastern spirituality, legendary producer Rick Rubin encouraging an experimental approach. A comparison is easy to make with friend and fellow Kentuckian Sturgill Simpson. Both artists happy to stand on the shoulders of the giants of country music while pushing to progress the genre creatively, welcoming swathes of new fans in the process. No small feat considering some of those giants hailing from the same neck of the woods include Loretta Lynn, Crystal Gayle and Chris Stapleton. There’s no question of both getting the alumni seal of approval as all, including this album, are highly accomplished collections of great work.

He comes out punching with the opener ‘Eatin Big Time’, a big beat honky tonker with funk and chop that snarls and swaggers with an attitude not heard much from Childers. A lot of the album is reflective and philosophical, at times coated in pathos. Sometimes that results in him kicking out and it's a welcome turn. The groove trots on through the sweetly brilliant ‘Cuttin Teeth’ and ‘Getting To The Bottom’, Childers in top form with perfect song craft and earworms driven direct to your brain. Pick of the bunch is the sublime ‘Nose on the Grindstone’, a haunting statement of intent, that talks of lessons hard learned and that appears to mark a line in the sand for both the artist and the person as an acknowledgment of the past and a hard focus on the future. This depth and intensity mirrors the themes of introspection and self discovery found throughout the work. With this also comes the welcome release of an awakening and the (almost) title track ‘Snipe Hunt’ serving this need with a joyous surge of full tilt, all out country rock and rolling. This album really has it all.

The Wood Brothers - Puff of Smoke

American roots trio The Wood Brothers released their 9th studio album on 1st August, Puff of Smoke on Thirty Tigers imprint Honey Jar Records. Brothers Chris and Oliver Wood, from Boulder Colorado, originally went in very separate musical directions. Oliver gigged his way up the ranks via the Tinsley Ellis touring band and then spent 12 years and 6 albums with blues rock band King Johnson. Chris studied jazz at the New England Conservatory of Music and founded the innovative jazz fusion group Medeski, Martin and Wood in 1992 who have released over 2 dozen albums to date. They formed this brotherly duo in 2004, releasing a couple of albums laced with a signature quirk of clever humour before multi instrumentalist Jano Rix made the band a trio in 2011 and a brilliantly distinctive blend of folk, country and jazz was born.

As with all the albums that find their way on to this list, Puff of Smoke is a collection of songs meant to be listened to the old fashioned way, from start to finish, preferably on spinning vinyl with no distractions in a location of traditional comforts. There’s a lovely lo-fi skiffling, porch swing feel in the first listen textures of the music this band makes, and it’s the reassuring sound of a group of established musicians comfortable with each other returning to a seemingly easy aesthetic as a bed to simply high quality songs that, pleasingly in todays foreboding climate, ring with positivity that feels lived in and real instead of served as unfelt platitude. Of course, when you delve deeper into the clever techniques and ideas used by Rix, you realise that there is nothing back to basics here at all, but brilliance in every detail. Truly distilled genius. Paul McCartney once described The Beatles as ‘the biggest little band in the world’, it could be said that The Wood Brothers are the cleverest simple music in the world.

If you don’t have time to listen to this work in full, I’d warn you against the surefire earwormery of ‘Pray God Listens’ and title track ‘Puff of Smoke’. ‘The Trick’ is a also a foot tapper and ‘Slow Rise (to the middle)’ shows the capabilities of these guys in full colour.

Kerala Dust - An Echo of Love

Berlin based, London band Kerala Dust released their debut album Light, West amongst the hellish everything that was 2020. Such is the dualistic nature of their output that the music had the ability to be both representative of those unified feelings of desolation, while simultaneously acting as a salve for it. Their heady blend of Americana desert blues, Krautrock and minimalist techno introduced them as music makers with a particular handle on the collective human psyche of that time. This continued into their 2023 album Violet Drive and is arguably better than ever on their new album, An Echo of Love released this year on 22nd August. Still feeling utterly relevant, as I think there’s not many of us can say they’re entirely free of the psychological tremors of the pandemic still rippling some years later. In fact the appetite for this sort of hybrid art rock is greater than ever, and when it’s performed and produced with this level of crispness and precision, then it's easy to see why Kerela Dust are getting the attention they deserve. The lineup has slightly shifted, with longtime members Edmund Kenny and Lawrence Howarth now joined by keyboardist Tim Gardner and drummer Pascal Karier, with quality sustained.

They cite their inpiration as Can, Velvet Underground and Tom Waits, wearing those influences on their proverbial sleeve. Opener ‘Echoes of Grace’ picks up exactly where those others left off, still riding a stolen car through the hazy dawn light in some cinematic post modern cityscape. Kenny’s Lou Reed-esque vocals mesmerise over a pulsing groove and the repetitive twang of a synth like guitar inducing the trance like familiarity they are loved for. This then rolls seamlessly into ‘How The Light Gets In’, the epitome of their sound, encapsulated in a stunning slice of hypnotic, mellow, rhythm backed soul. It’s the track that’s made it to the Tracksuite top 50 playlist although that really could have been any number of tracks from here, such as brilliant lead single ‘Bell’, solid feet shifting squelcher ‘The Orb, TX’ or the haunting gem ‘Beyond the Pale’. If you’re looking for the perfect post club soundtrack, something expansive and reflective but with a touch of disconcerting edge, then you’ve found it.

Weval - Chorophobia

On 5th September Dutch electronic duo Harm Coolen and Merijn Scholte-Abers, known as Weval, released their fourth album via Ninja Tune. Known for more cerebral cinematic soundscapes since their 2012 debut, the release of 2024’s ‘Night Versions’ EP shifted to lean into a more dancefloor focus. After pushing against the collective music press’s willingness to lump their music in with other generic dance acts over the years, they have faced the fear, swum with the tide and produced a beautifully crafted dance album called Chorophobia, a tongue in cheek title which means ‘fear of dancing’.

Known throughout their careers as artists who have determinedly chosen to use analogue equipment, their last album ‘Remember’ from 2023 was a typically richly textured gem. They have stayed with this aesthetic once again and with the new direction, the results are specific and stunning. It is impossible to deny the characteristic depth this gives to the sound, referencing classic elements of dance production craftsmanship and giving these tracks an individual quality that allows them to shine through the veritable sea of bog standard dance music releases out there in 2025.

The album is constructed like a DJ Set, although possibly short for one, with a running time of 33 minutes. Forgive the timescale, and it's a particularly sublime example. The scene is set with 1970s cinematic undertones in the opening builder and title track. The aptly named ‘Moving On’ follows in swiftly, dropping in with some playful acid tweaking before settling amongst satisfying synth strikes. Right when you want them to, the beats break and the brilliant single ‘Movement’ slides in and while the vocal ‘I need to move’ repeats, you may find yourself almost unexpectedly doing just that. You’ll find that one in the Tracksuite Top 50 playlist. The consistency of each consecutive tune to progress the mood and drive the rhythm on is so perfectly pitched, it’s difficult to pick out any one stand out tune. Pushing though, ‘Head First’ and ‘Dopamine’ are absolute treats that pulse and blast with peak time big room energy and more than a few underlying classic breakbeats to please an old raver too. An extremely exciting new chapter in the story of Weval.

Some more albums worthy of your time.