Danny Neill’s 2025 selection celebrates a year of overwhelming musical depth, favouring passionate artistry over cold analytics. Eschewing traditional rankings, Neill highlights ten standout records—from the “mesmerising” folk-rock of Hannah Frances to Kathryn Williams’ most personal collection to date and the “outsider genius” of Richard Dawson to the pure vocals of Josienne Clarke. It serves as a vital compass for those seeking authentic, enduring sounds in an ever-crowded musical landscape.

Listen to Part Two of our End-of-Year Mixtape Series, which includes tracks from our 2025 Albums of the Year. There’s a broad mix of genres from folk and jazz to experimental and ambient. It includes Alex Rex, Jim Ghedi, SML, Chris Brain, David Grubbs, Jim White, Eiko Ishibashi & Jim O’Rourke, Emily A. Sprague, Eli Winter, Fuubutsushi, Cameron Knowler, Glenn Kimpton, Bridget Hayden, Buck Curran and lots more.

Expertly curated by Nyahh Records, An Irish Almanac is a sprawling 32-track survey of Ireland’s avant-garde. Spanning two discs, it treats “noise” as a broad umbrella for everything from dark drones and “occult freak-folk” to playful vocal experiments. While no compilation of this kind could ever claim to be complete, this detailed panorama offers a transformative map of a shifting underground scene, bursting with grit, mystery, and playfulness.

Bill Callahan arrives with the new single, “Lonely City,” from his upcoming album, My Days of 58. A profound meditation on the familiar, ever-changing relationship we have with our cities. The stunning music video showcases over 15 years of photography by street photographer Daniel Arnold.

Welcome to another Monday Morning Brew Playlist. This selection leans heavily into UK and US folk traditions, featuring artists like Steeleye Span, Lal Waterson, John Jacob Niles, and contemporary torchbearers such as Jake Blount and Lisa O’Neill. There’s a nice emotional resonance between some of those featured, including Nick Drake, Bert Jansch, and Sufjan Stevens, as well as some newer inclusions from the likes of Ganavya & Sam Amidon.

It’s that time of year again: Our End-of-Year Album longlist is finally here. 100 meticulously selected top albums that shaped the year, covering a vast sonic landscape—from intimate folk and boundary-pushing jazz to the dense topography of ambient and experimental works. Dive in now, read the essential review highlights, and listen to the music that made 2025 unforgettable.

Acclaimed artists ganavya and Sam Amidon share two new songs, “Would Be Better” and “Willow Street (feat Sam Gendel),” recorded at LEITER’s Funkhaus Studio. The double single traces a tender dialogue between distance and belonging, finding a way home through chosen siblinghood. Amidon’s experimental folk meets ganavya’s devotional depth, joined by Sam Gendel’s distinct ambient jazz.

It’s that tough time of the year again, when music writers feel like they’re throwing some of their favourite artists under the bus by not including them in their annual Top 10. But here are the ten albums that made it. From Shabason, Krgovich, Tenniscoats’ feather-light pop to Milkweed’s eerie folk and Ben Lamar Gay’s thrilling jazz, 2025 delivered essential, fearless, and deeply distinctive records.

Erlend Apneseth Trio and writer Erlend O. Nødtvedt collaborate on Black Hauge, an album that expertly fuses experimental Norwegian folk with the poetry of Olav H. Hauge. Using samples of the poet reciting his own work, the music employs techniques from plunderphonics and musique concrète to create stunningly original and often uncanny tracks. It’s an exploratory, free-folk journey. A stunningly original album that combines elements rarely seen together.

Glenn Kimpton looks back at the year and selects his Top Ten Albums of 2025. As he says, “This year really feels like a real banger in terms of fascinating and exciting album releases… I’m sure I say that every year, but that’s no bad thing. It was tricky choosing just ten, but each of the works…have really resonated.”

Open Guitar (Volume One) marks a return of sorts to a simpler sound for D.C Cross, celebrating peace through acoustic mastery. Blending improvisation with composition, the album offers spacious, meditative soundscapes. From the urban nature-infused Antwerp Kangaroo to the epic NEVER GIVE UP OR IN., Cross displays a lightness of touch that proves calm can be found within chaos. A welcome, honest gesture.

French-Algerian icon Souad Massi returns with “Samt” (Silence), the hypnotic first single from her upcoming album Zagate, out March 6, 2026. Produced by Justin Adams, this Afrobeat-infused track redefines silence as a spiritual refuge rather than resignation. Accompanied by a video from Yann Orhan, “Samt” paves the way for Massi’s most liberated and outspoken work to date.