‘Tellalt’ – Imarhan
For those of you who don’t know, Imarhan are a desert rock quintet from Algeria, and also, for those of you who don’t know, they’re a must listen. If you need an entry point into their music, any of their previous albums are of a high standard, but their most recent singles are some of the band’s best to date.
They recently announced they would be releasing an album in January 2026 (check back here in a year’s time, and you’ll probably see that on another end-of-year list), and to give fans a teaser, they dropped the track ‘Tellalt’. It’s a relatively simple tune, with a great, fuzzy guitar line, basic percussion, and vocals; however, when all of these elements come together, they create something which is borderline ritualistic in how enchanting it is. The way vocals are harmonised and how willingly they glide over the instrumentation shows that when something straightforward is done well, it can be some of the best music available. [Words by Dale Maplethorpe]
‘Sad and Beautiful World’ – Mavis Staples
Mavis Staples has had a beautiful but sad career, and she is a true wonder of our world. To spend time in her presence, in person or through her music, is to be lovingly rejuvenated, invigorated and spiritually fulfilled. It’s sad, though, that such a beautiful soul has had to fight so hard and for so long for what is obviously right and true.
Staples began walking the long road of despair towards equality and social justice a lifetime ago, and as she is now coming towards the end of her long life and career, which began in 1950, she is miraculously still fighting the good fight, and perhaps even more miraculously, is still performing and recording beautiful new music which stands up alongside her classic material, such as this gorgeous Sparklehorse cover ‘Sad and Beautiful World’. [Words: Matthew Ingate]
‘Racing Mount Pleasant’ – Racing Mount Pleasant
Michigan-based post-rock band Racing Mount Pleasant released one of the tightest, coherent yet intoxicatingly sprawling debuts of the year with their self-titled August full-length LP. No better was the self-titled eight-track, ‘Racing Mount Pleasant’, on which they throw the politeness of their usual slow-build out the window and pummel into a breathless, polyrhythmic concoction blasting with beautiful brass adornments.
Halfway through the shuddering soundscape, a thick blanket of voices sing honest, confessional lyrics like cheering on the sidelines at a high school football game until the song practically fizzes with the ecstatic admission, “I don’t know the reason why I can’t meet your eyes”, such that it’s no wonder the band have had major success opening for all-star post-rockers Geese on their North American tour this year. [Words by Rachael Pimblett]
‘When the Whole World Shook’ – Short Porch
The dead ones rise, the world is more desolate and despairing than Morrissey’s stag-do, but the poised riffs of Short Porch still boldly rumble on. The unsigned Brooklyn band are the perfect embodiment of ‘When the Whole World Shook’, a song about still rocking out in a safe pair of black jeans despite the unfurling apocalypse.
While it might not invoke zombies, an apocalypse of sorts has, indeed, visited the music industry, and Short Porch are the living DIY defiance of old school rock ‘n’ roll as played out by the quirky protagonist in this indie banger. It swells into a beery wail as Sean McNulty’s unique vocals begin to bellow, constructing a bone-shaking finale for an anthem that feels perfectly realised. [Words: Tom Taylor]
‘Little Black Bat’ – Jonathan Richman
The best song about a bat ever written, Jonathan Richman, the patron saint of expression, is, for reasons known only to his own curious mind, moved to be at his most expressive when he muses over a small, “sexy”, winged mammal. This sultry sense of flow gives rise to a quirky song that refuses to abide by typical compositional rules.
In this bilingual folk song, Richman summons samba, syncopated beats, and free-from lyricism to create a song that is unique in all the world. That originality proves instantly arresting, but it’s the catchiness that has you singing “fantatsico de elegante” two days later while you’re doing the dishes that really makes this ray of weird sunshine so warming. [Words by Tom Taylor]
‘Bookends’ – US Girls
“Riley was always goin’ on about the Cross and breaking it,” Meghan Remy croons in the opening notes of ‘Bookends’, the lead single from Remy’s project US Girls’ latest album, Scratch It. The song was written in tribute to the singer’s late friend, Power Trip frontman Riley Gale, resulting in a 12-minute reflection on loss that considers death’s many faces and its inevitability.
In the ‘Bookends’ music video, Remy poses as a 1960s pop star with a Dolly Parton-esque flair, performing for adoring fans on television, and a kaleidoscopic journey ensues, blending a lounge singer sheen with moments of body horror to channel a nightmarish psychedelia. Sonically, ‘Bookends’ similarly spirals from a country ballad to a grooving dance track, mirroring the spectrum of grief, and in Remy’s gorgeous portrayal, death becomes both an enveloping sorrow and a place of mysterious wonderment. [Words by Paulina Subia]
‘News’ – T Kotta Suite
Hailing from South Korea, the folktronica act T Kotta Suite have a canny knack for lulling you into a space of ambient reverie before shifting the tone from a becalmed Daphne Oram to a perked-up and summery Johnny Marr, and ‘News’ typifies this approach, slowly shifting from a mellow yawn to a beer garden in June without you barely even realising.
Little is known about T Kotta Suite, who keeps a profile about as low as Thomas Pynchon’s publicist, and that enigmatic nature imbues the shrouded duo of Moribet and Sham-Fu with a fitting air of enticing mystery. ‘News’ delves into that in the sweetest way, with Dongwhi Kim offering gentle, welcoming vocals as the song swells like a sunrise, shifting the tone from reflective dusk to burnt orange optimism. [Words by Tom Taylor]
‘Ghosts’ – Sunny War
There are a million ways for the folk music scene to get stale, for as much as people like the idea of speaking their truth with their instruments, that doesn’t always cut it when you get to knocking it out of the park. So when you hear something genuinely fresh like Sunny War out in the wild, you have to grasp it with both hands.
While there are a lot of subtle touches that make a song like ‘Ghosts’ so captivating, like the brilliant percussion in the background, hearing her sing about the spirits that continue to haunt people is downright mesmerising to listen to in real time. It might not beat you over the head like other pop songs, but like the ghosts she talks about, it’s that musical spirit that lingers on every time it leaves the speakers. [Words by Tim Coffman]
‘Drifting’ – ELLiS-D
Move over Christopher Nolan, the real odyssey of the year is this explosive seven-minute track by enigmatic Brighton-based musician ELLiS-D, an anxiety-induced, racing adventure into the murky glitz of underground rock. It slows around the three-minute mark in seductive mockery, before bursting with an unrelenting energy, making for a dance between evasion and pursuit, like a snake gorging on its own tail.
Played live, the track uproots and transforms into a beast with thousands of faces, while the recorded version captures that frenetic, exhilarating ELLiS-D sound. “Some fuckers say they’ll sleep when they’re dead / but the wolves are pounding at the doors in my head”, ELLiS’ serpentine tongue spits, haunted by his own shadow, and the voyage is uproarious and represents the very best of the huge alternative scene booming out of the shores of Brighton. [Words by Rachael Pimblett]
‘When I Make My First Million’ – BC Camplight
As far as sardonic yet bittersweet songwriting goes, there haven’t been many more consistently brilliant artists in recent years than BC Camplight. On his latest conceptual whirlwind ride, A Sober Conversation, Brian Christinzio grapples with childhood trauma and coming to terms with the reckless ways in which he’s attempted to process and confront these dark periods, but he’s never been one to deliver this in a typical sad-sack fashion.
The American-born, Manchester-based multi-instrumentalist knows how to turn the bleakest situations into black comedy, soundtracking them with often luscious compositions. ‘When I Make My First Million’ is the moment where he appears to promise himself that he’ll make something of the life he’s throwing away, but as he comes to a crushing realisation that there’s plenty of work to be done, the song’s mood shifts from optimistic to distraught in truly captivating fashion, making for an excellently crafted moment on an album designed to be heard as a whole. [Words by Reuben Cross]
‘La dueña’ – Titanic, I la Católica, Mabe Fratti
A cinematic grasp of intimate drama courses throughout Titanic’s mammoth ‘La Dueña’, a chamber-pop congregation shared by Venezuelan guitarist I la Católica and Guatemalan cellist Mabe Fratti, making for a thunderously grand blast of heaven-parted, fire and brimstone classical post-punk hammered as hard as Odin’s hammer across Hagen, amid excursions into industrial shoegaze or jangly avant-pop at its most serrated.
Yet, ‘La Dueña’ was the glowing jewel of the album: a romantic whirlwind of rich strings twisting and entwining around Fratti’s stunning vocal commands, the Titanic duo orchestrate a tragedy of betrayed love as captivating as any Shakespeare play, beating with blood red theatre and velutinous, passionate surge throughout its epic vignette. With ‘La Dueña’, Titanic seems to cast aside all of life’s superfluity and coax an inner essence all too real. [Words by Tom Phelan]
‘Lipstick’ – Luvcat
Trying to pick just one Luvcat track for this list feels impossible when the rollout of her debut album, Vicious Delicious, was basically a hit parade. ‘Love and Money’, ‘Vicious Delicious’, ‘Blushing’ and ‘Alien’, as well as several other album tracks, could all have a place here as the Liverpudlian rising star clearly has the golden recipe for an earworm.
But there’s magic in ‘Lipstick’, for the song that opens her live set, it had fans long before it hit Spotify, feeling like a sort of unofficial theme tune for the artist, perfectly capturing her playfully seductive, gothic-Barbie world that delivers darkness with a wink. If she had to be introduced with one song and one song only, this would be the one, and so in a year where she truly introduced herself as a new star to note, ‘Lipstick’ has to be on the list. [Words by Lucy Harbron]
‘Rat in Bin’ – Jim E Brown
Britain’s latest 19-year-old pop sensation, Jim E Brown, tackles existentialism in the same vein as Albert Camus, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Søren Kierkegaard before him, but none of those weepy clowns did it with a beautifully mournful synth beat, invoking the cursed disposition of a rat in a bin. Yet, you could also argue that none of these philosophers had quite as much lived experience as the hexed to hell Manc crooner.
He is a self-professed “alcoholic with various degenerative conditions”, he’s estranged from the bulk of his broken family, and “feels that he doesn’t deserve love”, and he sees himself as akin to a rat in a bin, as he puts it in this sobering song: “Rat in bin, can’t escape the rubbish bin, living is his only sin. If he can’t escape, he will meet an early fate, nobody will really care, sometimes life ain’t fair”. It’s beyond anything Nietzsche came up with, and he didn’t even have to deal with Britney and her issues to contend with. [Words by Tom Taylor]
‘Marble Arch’ – Erin LeCount
“It was a year and a half of trying to make it,” Erin LeCount told Far Out about the making of ‘Marble Arch’, adding, “I’d never had such a strong idea of what I wanted something to sound like.” The song in LeCount’s head was so vivid that she quite literally went off and had to learn how she would even begin to make it, pushing her self-production journey forward.
The product paid off in the form of this truly mesmerising track that brought her dream to life. It’s the ultimate example of how LeCount is solidifying herself as not just one of the most exciting new names in alt-pop but also as one of the most exciting new producers around, building a glorious nest of inventive layers to suit her sharp vision. [Words by Lucy Harbron]
‘Baby Baby’ – Nourished by Time
A magnetic tangle of mixed signals, this mid-year release from Nourished by Time is deeply evocative and atmospheric from head to toe; yet, it remains elusive for the most part because it’s tough to classify or attach a theme to. Somewhat like a breezy dream you drift in and out of, ‘Baby Baby’ relentlessly fluctuates between a haze of uneasy tension and sudden jolts of clarity, making for a surreal and just a tad off-kilter track, such that parts of it even read like a midnight Adult Swim theme since it is set at just the right temperature.
A touch of accelerated dream-pop smoothens its edges while retaining the gritty, shoegazey undercurrent that sets it apart, producing what sounds like a less-abrasive Death Grips seamlessly fused with Grimes processed through a lo-fi filter. This confusing yet riveting mess results in an immersive experience that works entirely in its favour: impossible to make sense of, but just as difficult to turn away. [Words by Karan Singh]
‘Hangman’ – Divorce
Debut records are often seen as a make-or-break moment for most artists, and for good reason; however, they’re rarely a signifier of a band’s true potential, usually a glimpse into the kind of artist they could be, once they’ve gotten past the trepidation of stepping out into the spotlight for the first time, ready for whatever reaction awaits.
Divorce’s debut record, Drive to Goldenhammer, seemingly holds everything they’re about, from folkish influences to the more atmospheric tones of shoegaze and grunge, but one of the record’s standout tracks, ‘Hangman’, proves their proficiency at shaping personal experience into lyrical genius, coming together one night after vocalist Felix Mackenzie-Barrow poured out his ruminations in under 20 minutes. [Words by Kelly Murphy]
‘David and Jayne’ – Studio Electrophonique
Picture a British seaside town, any of them will do (they’re much of mawkish muchness anyway), and let the seismic greyness of that image wash over you as you listen to ‘David and Jayne’, or at least that’s how Studio Electrophonique want this humble, literary ditty to be enjoyed.
You don’t get that imagery all that often these days, but with a meek whimper, like the out-of-place utterance of ‘I love you’ at a student house party, Studio Electrophonique use solemnity and sparsity to cut through the noise and deliver resonant scenes from the undramatic lives of workaday Englishmen. Chords are softly strummed, someone falls asleep leaning on a synthesiser, and the light electronic textures of what sounds like a sedated Richard Hawley combine for pillow-propped perfection, but it’s the words that are laid over that lead to cinematic comparisons to the likes of The End of the Fucking World and Graham Greene, more so than music. [Words by Tom Taylor]
‘For the Cold Country’ – Black Country, New Road
Cast your mind back to the early videos of Black Country, New Road performing songs from their first album at The Windmill, and you might recall seeing a nonplussed May Kershaw hunched over her miniature keyboard, looking as though she wanted to be anywhere other than on stage, such that, if I’d suggested at the time that within a mere six years she’d have asserted herself as the band’s secret weapon, many would have scoffed.
The transformation that Kershaw has helped BC, NR undergo from brooding post-punk upstarts to crafters of gorgeously ornate prog-folk is one thing to marvel at, but the combination of her exquisite vocal delivery and wildly ambitious arrangements on ‘For the Cold Country’ is perhaps the greatest example of how she’s stepped forward and ushered the band into a new chapter. A spellbinding six-minute opus, this gem of a song is a work of unfiltered genius and has the sextet demonstrating just how far they’re willing to take their craft. [Words by Reuben Cross]
‘Eden’ – Dead Finks
Borrowing their name from a Brian Eno track back when he was glam gives a clue to Berlin post-punks Dead Finks’ overall vibe. Never failing to be artful, a bit strange, but possessed with a garage hook so utterly thrilling you can feel yourself wanting to jump out of your skin, Dead Finks’ drop of ‘Eden’ ahead of an upcoming album was more of the same, chiefly a mammoth punk swagger and singalong chorus so hard it hurts.
Armed with their dependable melodic guitar strut and electronic scree, Dead Finks spun a perfect little indie stomper that’s just begging to be heard live, replete with many a plastic beer glass sloshed and flung around the room. Judging how strong ‘Eden’ seizes the senses, the punk underground and beyond looks set for a real treat by the ever dependable Dead Finks. [Words by Tom Phelan]
‘B Happy’ – Nadeem Din-Gabisi
Sometimes, when you listen to a song’s instrumentation, the lyrics which follow make perfect sense, and I don’t mean in terms of theme or narrative, but in the rhythm with which they’re sung. The one, two, three, four that follows are the only numbers that could possibly ride over the beat you’re hearing, and while it’s nice to hear something you recognise as familiar, even if it’s your first time listening, it’s always better to be surprised.
That element of surprise presents itself wonderfully on Nadeem Din-Gabisi’s ‘B Happy’, which has a beat that consists of sporadic percussion and a heavy bass run. They sound pleasant, but the real star of the show is the way Din-Gabisi tackles the vocals, and with a speed and cadence which pick up and slow down on different lines, it’s hard to predict what will come next, but that unpredictability adds to the song’s charm. [Words by Dale Maplethorpe]
‘Amal’ – Pyramid Blue, Habiba Chaouf
As far as independent labels go, it has been a very strong year for Barcelona’s Rocafort Records, and the ultimate highlight of its output arrived in March, in the form of ‘Amal’. A match made in heaven, uniting Spanish Ethio-jazz devotees Pyramid Blue with the beautifully ethereal voice of Arab vocalist Habiba Chaouf, the single moves gracefully across the worlds of cinematic funk, Afro jazz, old-school soul breaks, and even hints at the flamenco scene to which Chaouf is certainly no stranger.
‘Amal’ itself is the Arabic word for hope, and over the course of the song’s three-and-a-half-minute runtime, Chaouf’s voice fuses with the Afro-funk rhythms dished out by the surrounding band, evoking a deeply emotional sense of love and loss in a way that feels truly effortless. [Words by Ben Forrest]
‘It’s Amazing to be Young’ – Fontaines DC
Fontaines DC gained many of their flowers in 2024 with the release of their pièce de résistance, Romance, but when they followed that up in early 2025 with their single ‘It’s Amazing to be Young’, it felt like both the closing of a chapter and a hopeful look towards the bright horizon of the future, where they continue to beguile the youth of the day.
So much of Fontaines’ most recent years have rattled by at the breakneck speed that the hedonism of rock and roll so often involves, but ‘It’s Amazing to be Young’ feels like the train is finally pulling into the station, with the band looking back on the glorious youth that allowed them to take this wild ride. It’s a final salute of goodbye to the Romance era, while reminding us that the best is yet to come. [Words by Lauren Hunter]
‘Remember My Name’ – Sam Fender
It might seem a bit glib to pin the entirety of Sam Fender’s Mercury success on one song, but this is the power of which ‘Remember My Name’ is largely symbolic. Of course, the singer has made more than a name for himself by now through lamenting the pitfalls of his working-class roots, but this track truly feels like the pinnacle of everything he has ever worked towards.
As a simple lamentation towards life, love, and family through the ages, Fender masters the art here of polishing a gem without making it utterly blinding. In essence, ‘Remember My Name’ shines owing to its basic structure and straightforward but piercingly poetic lyrics, and the stunning addition of the Easington Colliery brass band is what proves, more than anything, that Fender will always be the king of the Geordies. [Words by Lauren Hunter]
‘Next to Die’ – Ugly (UK)
I can’t imagine the pressure that comes with being a band who generate a load of hype, while it’s all well and good experiencing word of mouth and having crowds pass on your name after seeing you live, taking that quality from a live show to the studio is incredibly tricky and has been the downfall for plenty of different bands in the past. Ugly have been on the go for a while, but it feels like the past couple of years have really been when their careers have started to take off.
Gracing the stages of festivals around the country and seemingly winning over fans with every note uttered, they don’t buckle under the pressure of hype when recording in the studio, and one of the best examples of this is their song ‘Next to Die’, an indie tune that feels like it was written with room for dancing and warm nights in mind. This is a song destined for sing-alongs, and it lands as something oddly nostalgic and modern in one fell swoop. Anyone looking to revisit the days of the indie boom but who is also open to hearing something new should look no further than Ugly. [Words by Dale Maplethorpe]
‘Afterlife’ – Alex G
Alex G’s 2025 release, Headlights, was heralded by the first single, ‘Afterlife’, which represented an interesting pivot in his career, as the seasoned artist revisited his reality-bending sonic terrain thus far. On ‘Afterlife’, a mandolin scratches out a surprisingly mid-west sound that expands upon his signature lo-fi, pushing it into a realm of higher production and optimism, albeit still resting on an experimental dose of nostalgia.
As always with the unassuming cultural figure, the lyricism is second-to-none: “A prayer was a baited hook / Scribbled in a history book / Let me run on / In between / Heaven and the TV screen”. Marrying these poetical musings is an itchy forward drive and a pleasantly surprising synth melody atop it all, making for a wink after a flirtatious joke. [Words by Rachael Pimblett]
‘No Front Teeth’ – Perfume Genius, Aldous Harding
Knowing there’s new music from Perfume Genius is always bound to drum up a sense of excitement in me, but to learn that the song title is followed by the phrase ‘featuring Aldous Harding’ is going to get me to drop everything in an instant and lock in for a heavenly offering. ‘No Front Teeth’, the collaboration in question, didn’t disappoint in the slightest, and ended up being one of the most fearsome tracks either artist has ever delivered.
Mike Hadreas’ voice has always had a gentle quality to it, so to hear it being punctuated by raw guitar riffs and a clatter of instruments when the second verse kicks in is a divine moment, and an inspired way to hammer home the song’s yearning perspective. The further things develop, and the more out of reach those “better days” that the pair sing about seem to be, the more unhinged and restless the musicianship becomes, with it all having completely unravelled by the song’s finale. [Words by Reuben Cross]
‘Mapambazuko’ – Ale Hop, Titi Bakorta
Whether you consider yourself to be an aficionado of Peruvian cumbia or a Congolese soukous head, a record that merges both is probably not going to be the chosen area of expertise for a large group of people, nor is it going to be easy to predict the end result of. Luckily, guitarists Ale Hop and Titi Bakorta have done their best to demonstrate that this combination not only works but has always seemingly been a perfect fit.
With both constituent parts serving up knotty guitar lines and then layering warped electronics over the top of them as they intertwine majestically, there aren’t many better tracks from this year that serve up a true cultural fusion better than ‘Mapambazuko’, the title track from the duo’s debut collaboration. Sure, it sounds utterly bonkers and madcap on paper, but the reality of it is, it’ll have you grooving to its alien concoction of African and South American dance music quicker than you spark a match. [Words by Reuben Cross]
‘At Hope’ – The None
Birmingham noise punks The None have been among the greatest musical revelations of the past year, and ‘At Hope’ more than justifies that claim. Released as a suitably DIY limited seven-inch back in the summer, the track captures the infectious fury and undying energy of resistance at the heart of the band, with Kai Whyte’s Brummie vocals acting as a kind of rallying cry to the audience.
Expectedly, for a group started by Bloc Party alum Gordon Moakes, the song boasts an unshakeable earworm of a bassline, too, completing the war-march feeling of The None’s rhythm section. There is no doubting that the band’s noise rock sound translates best in the confines of a grassroots gig venue, as anybody who has witnessed them in the flesh will be all too aware, but the grooves of this seven-inch seem pre-ingrained with mosh-pit fury. [Words by Ben Forrest]
‘Música Sexo’ – Donato Soto
You might envision a song called ‘Sex Music’ as a lush, intimate affair of stylish strings and hushed vocals, but Donato Soto takes the song in a distinctly different direction. On the stand-out effort from his five-track EP contra la nostalgia, released just as the summer sun was beginning to fade, the Chilean songwriter offers an endearingly lo-fi, stripped-back, and intimately honest atmosphere, occasionally drawing upon 1990s Pavement-esque slacker rock.
Despite having been around for a fair few years at this point, Soto remains a relative obscurity outside of his native Chile, and despite being performed in Spanish, there is a sense of universal appeal to ‘Música Sexo’ which elevates it beyond the boundaries of language or genre conventions, for the world it captures feels wholly familiar. [Words by Ben Forrest]
‘Fist of Flowers’ – Hamilton Leithauser
When you’ve written a song as powerful as ‘The Rat’ with The Walkmen, then it’s always going to be a bit of albatross, but with ‘Fist of Flowers’, Hamilton Leithauser rattles it loose, and that’s about as high a compliment as you can pay it. This anthem roars like a lion that has just lost its job, and that unabashed expression is what makes Leithauser a gift to 2025.
There is no irony or subversion with ‘Fist of Flowers’, just a fellow relishing in the liberation of rock ‘n’ roll, and while it’s earnest to an nth, that doesn’t make it simple. The staccato punchiness of the instrumentation gives the track a unique jazzy quality, where everything is both terse and energetic, creating an odd combination that results in a sense of potent, pent-up release. [Words by Tom Taylor]
‘The Scythe’ – The Last Dinner Party
The Last Dinner Party are no strangers to producing anthems, and on their debut, they delivered plenty of them, leading people to wonder how they could possibly follow it up. But when ‘The Scythe’ came out as the second single for their sophomore record, it was clear that the band had truly outdone themselves as they delivered another anthemic tune, with this one feeling timeless.
‘The Scythe’ feels tireless for no other reason than it is just so foolproofly great; it’s a relatively simple one for the band, veering the closest to a classic rock ballad they’ve ever got, but on every single level, the standard is golden, from Abigail Morris’ stunning vocal performance to the euphoric guitar solo delivered by Emily Roberts at the end, reminding the world why even Brian May is backing her as the UK’s newest hero. [Words by Lucy Harbron]
‘Sunshine Kiss’ – Sabine McCalla
It’s easy to deride the scourge of social media as a cancer on music, and it is, no doubt, however, it does have the odd bright moment, and one of those came to me in the form of Sabine McCalla’s magnetic Don’t Call Me Baby. First hearing title track ‘Sunshine Kisses’ as part of a reel, I was completely captivated from the moment the serenity of her lightly smoked vocals landed on the tiny speakers, convincing me to dive into everything McCalla released and had me ready and waiting for her 2025 record.
It turned out to be one of the best releases of the year, but it was bolstered by the simply killer opening tune, blending the casual bounce of folk in festival warmth with a tinge of indie rock funk after a few jars. Released after the sun had dropped into winter hibernation, it will be on constant rotation at every summer function I have in 2026 and beyond. [Words by Jack Whatley]
‘Amami’ – Yussef Dayes, Minami Kizuki
Whenever Yussef Dayes releases a new track, your ears flick into laser focus and pay special attention to the rhythm sections, for, after all, Dayes is one of the premier drummers in music right now. But with the help of Minami Kizuki, on ‘Amami’, he rightly recedes into a supporting player to provide an air-tight groove for a song eeking out a beautiful melody, fit for the late autumn air of East Asia.
The guitars, keys and woodwind instruments cascade on top of this song to create a calming yet hypnotic soundscape and challenge Dayes to keep them all in line, which he does with masterful control, staying firmly in the pocket for the entire track and doing so with precision, boldly holding down the fort and accepting the challenge posed to him by the melody. As thanks, the melody responds by indulging in experimental parts that you quite simply don’t want to stop, making for a delightful as well as an intriguing track that acts as a brilliant representative of the instrumental genre. [Words by Callum MacHattie]
‘Nettles’ – Ethel Cain
When we talk about the power of independence, ‘Nettles’ is a prime example. As Ethel Cain has remained on her own path, untethered to any label, her full freedom allows her to do stuff like releasing an eight-minute-long, country-twanged, soft storytelling tune as a single that in no way feels that long.
Swept up and carried away by the luscious instrumental built of emotive slide guitars and simple acoustic strums, and then hypnotised by the artist’s velvety voice walking you through a narrative tune about devotion and devastation, it seems to pass in an instant, leading you right back to the repeat button. As the song chosen to open up the world of Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You, this set the gold standard, and the rest of the record met it. [Words by Lucy Harbron]
‘Akhir Sarkha’ – Seera
Placing Saudi Arabia on the global music map, Riyadh psych-rock collective Seera summoned one of the most moving and evocative slices of desert lysergia heard in years. Arabic for ‘the last scream’, ‘Akhir Sarkha’ gave earthy voice to the natural world wrought by spiritual crisis, brewing a cosmic dusk of howling wildlife teeming and hissing amid the quartet’s alchemic synergy.
‘Akhir Sarkha’ twirled a myriad sensory planes amid their colourful plume, glittering epiphanies, seductive beckon, and political seethe wrestle and dance across Seera’s explosive single, revealing new sonic sides the more you listen. It is an extraordinary cut, and one that towers over so many in the supposed psych-rock world with a celestial gravitas pulled from somewhere deep beyond the veil. [Words by Tom Phelan]
‘Euro-Country’ – CMAT
The 2025 music canon being so focused on finding something fresh is no better exemplified by a song that opens with a verse sung entirely in Irish Gaelic. If CMAT was ever to make a statement for the ages, it was going to be through ‘Euro-Country’, but more than merely putting Ireland at the centre of the cultural stage, it also represents what is perhaps the most important political song of our times.
In CMAT’s typical way, the lyrics are simultaneously searing and witty; after all, no one would have had a comparison between Cú Chulainn and Kerry Katona on their bingo cards for this year. But underneath that veneer is a striking reality of poverty, mental health and issues endemic to a country that have never really been addressed, and that’s the art of a true head-turning song. [Words by Lauren Hunter]
‘Time is Not Yours’ – Say Sue Me
As the world moves away from the idea of genre, we are constantly hearing music which is a mix of different styles thrown into one. It can be pretty exciting at times, but this constant fluctuation in sounds means that often we are left pining for what can only be described as one specific genre. Yes, I love your new jazz-pop-rock-yacht-bingo combination, but can’t I just have some good indie music for once?
For those of you who think that good indie music only exists in the past, I have good news and bad news, the good news is you’re wrong, the bad news is you’re going to have to admit that you’re wrong. Championing good indie music and delivering it to the highest possible quality is Say Sue Me, whose 2025 EP Time is Not Yours was immediately recognised as a must listen. Realistically, this whole EP deserves a nod, but given we’re only picking songs for this list, it seems fitting to give the title track a mention, proving that indie music doesn’t just live in the past, but it’s alive and kicking in the form of Say Sue Me. [Words by Dale Maplethorpe]
‘Townies’ – Wednesday
On their 2025 album Bleeds, alt-country Asheville band Wednesday make sharp-tongued, headache-infused confessions that explode the uniquely personal into a chilling, yet comforting, universal reckoning. The album’s second track, ‘Townies’, takes us to a nondescript, mundane suburbia rotting in the heavy firmament of the past with sprite yet scuzzy guitars and bending melodies acting as a quiet foreboding until everything eventually bursts.
The track is unflinching, with Karly Hartzman’s sharp pen and crooning vocals no better than when she sings, the ghost of toothless Americana in her gums, “You sent my nudes around / I never yelled at you about it / Because you died”. The jagged edges and quietly complex sonic backing build insidiously into the perfect infusion of sexy slacker-rock and amorphous alt-country angst for a track deserving of its place on this list. [Words by Rachael Pimblett]
‘Berghain’ – Rosalía, Björk, Yves Tumor
Every now and then, an artist makes something different from anything they’ve ever done before, and for Rosalía, that’s every time she makes a new record. When she spoiled the release of her latest album, Lux, with its leading track ‘Berghain’, fans expected anything but what they heard.
Remove all thoughts of techno and darkness, insert the London Philharmonic Orchestra and the most immersive opening of any pop song this year, and with vocals from Björk, Yves Tumor, and a Catalan choir, Rosalía’s cinematic symphony takes us to her highest vocal range while exploring emotive themes in three languages. Potent percussion and sprawling strings accompany a solemn chant that reads more like a prayer than a song, making for a piece of art that attracted even the Vatican’s regard. [Words by Gaia Neiman]
‘Schadenfreude’ – Baxter Dury
You’re walking through a neon-lit hallway, in the depths of an unknown nightclub, confused and off-balance, bouncing from wall to wall, looking for anything to help you make sense of your reality. Baxter Dury arrives, uttering the line “I was in a hotel in Stockholm”, and suddenly, you’re in the world of his new dancefloor epic ‘Schadenfuener’, a space so fitting for the hypnosis of Dury’s voice that it’s almost a wonder it took him so long to get here.
He is the perfect orator for late-night distress, proving it on ‘Schadenfuener’ as his wicked tongue rides the rhythm of an unrelenting and pulsing rhythm section. On top sits a melody that at times rings like a siren call, thrusting the anxiety of Dury’s vocals into intense new depths that one this song is part comedy and part tragedy. That’s a line he always trodden so well, but on ‘Schadenfuener’, the strobe light of the late night club modernises it and gives life to a sonic formula that was in danger of growing tired. [Words by Callum MacHattie]
‘Bloom Baby Bloom’ – Wolf Alice
When Wolf Alice returned to announce their fourth album, they made their intentions known from the very first second: this would not be an era of messing about, but this time, the band were absolutely going for gold and were gunning for the recognition they’ve always deserved as one of Britain’s brightest rock talents.
Everything levelled up, with the song structures becoming more interesting, the builds bigger, and Ellie Rowsell’s voice sounding better and more powerful than ever as the pre-chorus sees her screaming with the most belt and yet the most control she’s ever harnessed. A song about blossoming, released by a band ready to finally and fully shine, we knew the second this opening single dropped that The Clearing was going to be something special. [Words by Lucy Harbron]
‘Being the Cause’ – Hirons
It’s no surprise that Hirons’ day job is in illustration, as beaming with a playful creativity, everything about her debut EP glows with the authority of a well-studied pop craftsperson, penning buoyantly reflective synth pieces all detailing their inner workings, artistic processes, and whirring mechanisms powering such infectious electro-marvels.
‘Being the Cause’ plumbed a gorgeous gel of percussive rhythms and shimmering melody lines, scoring Hirons’ idiosyncratic observations of capitalism with aptly teeming sonic reportage. Without mugging for attention, Hirons elevates the song with a boosted anthemic quirk of laser finesse without ever bloating into overt singalong bluster. It’s impossible to work out how she does it, but ‘Being the Cause’ is just another fantastic song off an astonishing debut, casting huge excitement for what is to come from Hirons’ unique song factory. [Words by Tom Phelan]
‘Melodie is a Wound’ – Stereolab
Kicking off teases of their Instant Holograms on Metal Film LP comeback 16 years to the date of their hiatus announcement, British-French avant-pop stalwarts Stereolab effortlessly waltzed back into everyone’s indie affections with another immaculate slice of fizzy psychedelia and synth-coated exotica just as captivating as when the charts were last treated to their spinning top surrealism.
Among a record of equally piquant cuts, second single ‘Melodie Is a Wound’ stands as the album’s majestic centrepiece, an utterly exquisite jaunt of bubbly Moogs and singing electronics, this frothy pop brew knows how good it is by pulling off a remarkable trick of skulking confidently along its seven minutes without ever overstaying its welcome, marking ‘Melodie Is a Wound’ as evidence of Stereolab’s undimmed ingenuity. [Words by Tom Phelan]
‘You Got Time and I Got Money’ – Smerz
One of the most universal truths in pop music is that you don’t have to make things complex in order for it to stand out, and as long as you’re able to polish all of the basic elements of a song, there’s absolutely no reason why it can’t become a runaway success. Throughout the course of Norwegian duo Smerz’s second album, Big City Life, there isn’t a whole lot going on to distract the listener, and therein lies its greatest strength.
The album’s centrepiece, ‘You Got Time and I Got Money’, is a pop song that has the power to be arresting without overloading the senses, and seems destined to be the duo’s defining moment. With a timelessness to its production, the no-frills vocal delivery of Catharina Stoltenberg that tickles out an easily memorable melody, and the evergreen themes of sparking romantic connection, they’ve shown just how effortless pop music can be in an age where hyperactivity has become more prevalent. [Words by Reuben Cross]
‘Cruise Ship Designer’ – Dry Cleaning
Spare a thought for the humble cruise ship designer, after all, few ever have; however, Florence Shaw doesn’t ponder platitudes and with this joyously bequirked Dry Cleaning single, instead, she ushers the band into uncharted waters within the world of indie. Throughout the song, she cleverly makes it clear that there is no grand allegory on display here either, insisting with all the sternness of a substitute teacher that this is genuinely a song about maritime architecture.
The music is similarly difficult to pin down; on the surface, it feels minimalist and repetitive, driven by a strange-sounding, cleanly arpeggiated riff, stabbed out by Tom Dowse with trademark angular yet melodic distinction. But there’s a depth of layers, a peculiar call-and-response, and an outro that descends into chaotic nonsense, punctuated by the cracking closing line, “Make sure there are hidden messages in my work”. [Words by Tom Taylor]
‘God Knows’ – Tunde Adebimpe
Without any new music from TV on the Radio since their 2014 album, Seeds, it was long questioned whether there would be any emergence of a solo album from frontman Tunde Adebimpe.
While a diversion into the world of film and television put doubts in the minds of many anticipating fans as to whether he’d lost interest in his original artistic outlet, his emphatic return on this year’s Thee Black Boltz proved that all he required was a decade to muster up the energy to deliver to his highest capacity.
‘God Knows’ may well be one of the softer cuts on his debut album, but it feels like a true vintage creation from one of the 21st century’s finest art rockers, with its brooding and soulful bassline propping up one of his most touching and earnest vocal performances.
His exploration of a troublesome relationship with substance abuse is among some of his finest lyrical work, and while there are times when it all feels crushingly hopeless, he manages to exude a sense that a positive change is around the corner. [Words by Reuben Cross]
‘Broken Ribs’ – Jehnny Beth
A fittingly abrasive starting pistol for Jehnny Beth’s You Heartbreaker, You, lead single and opening track ‘Broken Rib’ perfectly encapsulates the raw power and defiance at the heart of the album.
Drawing upon her everlasting appreciation for hardcore, this ode to corporate alienation and rallying cry for resistance feels like a rapid acceleration of Beth’s distinctive sound, driving her forward into new avenues of inspiration without losing her core essence.
‘Broken Rib’ manages to pull off the ever-elusive balancing act of forming an essential part of the album’s narrative, while also standing strong in isolation, packing the same amount of screaming punch in either form, whether you’re looking for an extended listening experience or simply a short, sharp outlet for your brooding anger on your morning commute to the office. [Words by Ben Forrest]
‘Cow Song’ – The New Eves
There’s a simplistic naïveté to what The New Eves have managed to deliver on their debut album, with its mixture of pastoral folk and primitive attitude, and in the midst of all the freewheeling chaos are moments of pure beauty from the Brighton band, with ‘Cow Song’ being a spiralling journey through every mood the record has to offer.
There are times where the genius appears to have fallen into place by sheer fortune, but then the clearly deliberate sections of harmonious ecstasy provide a beguiling contrast with the moments where it slips into ramshackle disarray.
From Nina Winder-Lind’s gutturally howled vocals to Ella Oona Russell’s thumping drums and the stunning interplay between cello and violin, it’s a true cacophony of sounds at certain points, yet there are moments of respite where things calm down to focus on a minimalist approach.
No other band at this current moment in time seems to be blending the distant past with modern perspectives quite as well as The New Eves, and this high point of their debut offering should exist as a promising sign of things to come. [Words by Reuben Cross]
Every era needs its heroes, and Geese look to be the latest lauded bunch to join the procession of pop culture’s idols who were picked last for sports.
Most of the time, these breakthroughs arise when someone seizes the zeitgeist, and with ‘Taxes’, the New Yorkers have done just that. The world is a whirlwind presently, where nothing holds salience for long. ‘Taxes’ matches that mood, but its rupture also offers hope once it’s grasped the lapels of these strange days.
The bulk of the rather slender lyric sheet for the song can, on the most obvious level, be interpreted simply as thus: the wealthiest men in the world right now view wealth tax as the gravest evil of all.
There’s even a maudlin quality to the music as Cameron Winter wades his way through this point in the pleading fashion of an oligarch on their way to HMRC, but then, things erupt into an evangelical wail of something that straddles the hitherto unknown boundary between gospel and 2000s indie. It’s hard to know what this eruption means, but it feels hopeful and healing, even whipping out the old “oooh ooohs” for a road trip crescendo. [Words by Tom Taylor]
‘Spike Island’ – Pulp
A Mercury nomination, a secret set at Glastonbury, and one of the greatest renaissance albums in recent memory, 2025 has been a particularly good year for Sheffield heroes Pulp, and ‘Spike Island’ was the song that kicked it all off.
An earworm retelling of The Stone Roses’ fateful visit to Widnes back in 1990, Cocker’s declaration that he was “born to perform” has never seemed quite so fitting as on this masterstroke of a track.
In the wake of the band’s not-so-secret appearance on the Pyramid Stage, ‘Spike Island’ became one of the defining sounds of summer 2025, and yet it is imbued with something of a timeless quality, as Pulp beautifully marry the anthemic atmosphere of their mid-1990s material with the kind of sonic maturity that has arrived with the intervening 30 years.
Cocker’s band have always been a little different, so it seems fitting that, with ‘Spike Island’, they have avoided the cash-grab reunion records which have befallen many of their Britpop comrades, and instead, the song has ushered in an entirely new age for Pulp, and one which will hopefully last for many years to come. [Words by Ben Forrest]