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Clipse, Let God Sort ‘Em Out

I can’t tell you why I like some hip-hop albums more than others because I just don’t have the subject matter expertise. I just know there’s some genuine pain that comes through on this album, which puts it at odds with the bravado inherent in hip-hop. Clipse navigates that tension like the masters they are.

Tyler Childers, Snipe Hunter

Remember Sturgill Simpson’s A Soldier’s Guide to the Earth from nearly a decade back? This album might be Tyler Childers’ Soldier’s Guide.

Amanda Shires, Nobody’s Girl

I’m calling it now — Amanda Shires has released the better divorce album of 2025, but Jason Isbell’s fame all but guarantees Foxes in the Snow will occupy the discourse. And I can’t say I liked that album.

Kathleen Edwards, Billionaire

I like Kathleen Edwards, but I don’t buy enough of her albums to consider myself a fan. Billionaire, though, is the most confident work I’ve heard from her. Gena Johnson and Jason Isbell co-produced the album, and they coaxed some beefy performances from Edwards.

Patty Griffin, Crown of Roses

This album is haunting. It’s Patty Griffin spliced with the sonic DNA of Mazzy Star’s She Hangs Brightly.

Ringdown, Lady on the Bike

I just like the idea that a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer (Caroline Shaw) formed a pop duo and made an album that could dug by music composition majors and electronic dance fans.

Julia Fordham, Julia Fordham

I remember music magazines trying to lump Julia Fordham with Edie Brickell, Sinéad O’Connor and Tracy Chapman. She’s more similar to Basia and Swing Out Sister but with a deeper jazz vocabulary.

Davóne Tines and The Truth, Robeson

This theater piece based on the life of Paul Robeson takes a lot musical twists and turns, but it never loses its throughline. It’s essentially a sonic time machine traveling through American music history.

Caroline Shaw and Sō Percussion, Rectangles and Circumstance

Is this an indie rock album? You could be forgiven for mistaking it as one. Shaw and Sō Percussion give enough of a veneer to make the case, but their modern classical expertise is never far away.

Turnstile, NEVER ENOUGH

I like this album a lot, but when I look up the definition of hardcore, it’s usually next to a picture of Hüsker Dü.

John Zorn, Prolegomena

Not much different from his string quartets, but still thrilling to hear.

Tags: amanda shires, caroline shaw, clipse, davone tines, john zorn, julia fordham, kathleen edwards, patty griffin, picks, purchase log, ringdown, so percussion, turnstile, tyler childers