In all honestly, 2025 has not been a vintage year for new recorded music and there certainly seems to have been a significant paucity of high-profile album releases that are likely to be viewed as stone-cold classics in years to come. Nevertheless, there has been gold for those prepared to look hard enough.
Swiss electro-rock veterans, the Young Gods unleashed a techno-metal monster, Appear Disappear, that dug deep into an intoxicating malevolence with their muscular, sample-heavy electronics and live percussion. Soulwax brought us the gritty electro-pop flavoured All Systems Are Lying. While an early 1990s live set by Butthole Surfers was released as Live at the Leather Fly and the Sabres of Paradise’s Sabresonic received a well-deserved reissue, five years after the passing of the great Andrew Weatherall.
Primary among the strange but satisfying records of 2025, however, was Greentea Peng’s sophomore album, Tell Dem It’s Sunny. Sometimes political, sometimes spiritual and sometimes totally off the wall, Peng’s loops and basslines were relaxed and spaced out, giving off a distinctly smoky atmosphere. In places, it conjured up the best of Mary J Blige, Ms Dynamite and Lauren Hill but also took cues from Dälek, Portishead and Neneh Cherry to create a very tasty melting pot of sound to swing hips while staying distinctly cool.
Three More Essential Albums of 2025
The Young Gods – Appear Disappear
Soulwax – All Systems Are Lying
Butthole Surfers – Live at the Leather Fly
Musical Experiences of the Year
2025 has really been about the live music experience for me, and I’ve seen some truly fine shows by the likes of Wardruna, Primal Scream, Songhoy Blues, Mermaid Chunky, Pop Will Eat Itself, Cabaret Voltaire and Kneecap, just to name a few. However, my most memorable gig was Norwegian black metal feminists, Witch Club Satan’s transgressive performance at the Supersonic Festival.
Frequently near naked but lathered in corpse paint, Johanna Holt Kleive, Nikoline Spjelkavik and the heavily pregnant Victoria Røising blew away a rapt Birmingham audience with brutal guitar riffage, howling vocals and a barrage of thumping percussion on tunes like “Black Metal is Krig” and “You Wildflower”. This monumental gig was something of an extreme reminder of the primal and elemental power that live rock’n’roll can deliver - and is unlikely to be bettered for a good while in that respect.
Track of the Year
Mermaid Chunky – céilí (Justin Strauss La Piscina Remix)
