I’m not going to dissect what brought me back to this album again and again. I just don’t have the vocabulary to analyze hip-hop the way I do with rock or classical music. But I know there was an emotional core to Let God Sort ‘Em Out that transcended the swagger intrinsic to hip-hop. Also, I just like hearing, “This is culturally inappropriate.”
Kendrick Lamar, GNX
Why is this album showing up on a 2025 list when it was released in late 2024? Because I had already locked up my 2024 list, and the physical release of the album happened in 2025. The bona fides of this album have already been well-established, and I have little to add to what’s already been said.
Amanda Shires, Nobody’s Girl
We heard both sides of the split between Amanda Shires and Jason Isbell this year, and as far as a listening experience is concerned, I throw my hat in with Shires. “The Details” is uncomfortably honest, and the determination that comes through these songs leaves an impression long after the album ends.
Tyler Childers, Snipe Hunter
I just love the range of subject matter Childers tackles on this album.
Parlando / Ian Niederhoffer, Censored Anthems
Dmitri Shostakovich is the marquee composer in this collection, but he takes the least amount of running time. Rather, the focus centers on Mieczyslaw Weinberg’s Concertino for Violin and Edvard Mirzoyan’s Symphony for Strings. Paired with Shostakvoich’s Adagio from Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk, Censored Anthems would make for a fine evening at the concert hall.
SYML, Nobody Lives Here
“The White Light of the Morning” is magical realism rendered in song, and it pretty much epitomizes the album’s ethos.
Turnstile, NEVER ENOUGH
Yeah, I’m still a sucker for a good new wave beat, but I wouldn’t call this hardcore.
Dijon, Baby
I don’t think my teen-aged self would believe you if you told him one day, R&B artists would sound skronkier and noiser than your favorite downtown New York jazz artist.
Kathleen Edwards, Billionaire
Jason Isbell and Gena Johnson produced this album, and Isbell contributes some beefy guitar solos. Edwards descends from a line of singer-songwriters originated by Lucinda Williams, and Johnson and Isbell coaxed out some of Edwards’ strongest writing and singing to date.
Henki Skidu, Spring Water
Henki Skidu is the alias of Henry Koperski, a frequent collaborator of Las Culturistas’ Matt Rogers. He takes on the mic on this set of rustic folk-pop tunes. Like GNX, it was release a week before the end of 2024, so it was just easier to put this album on the 2025 list.
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.
This EP finds UA going back to a more pop sound, very reminiscent of HORIZON.
The Lindas Lindas, Growing Up, June 3
This album is already available on streaming services, and it’s a burner.
Patty Griffin, Tape, June 10
Patty Griffin’s debut album, Living With Ghosts, was pretty much her demo tape. I admit I haven’t followed Griffin since the mid-2000s, but I am curious to see more of her lo-fi side.
… And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, XI: BLEED HERE NOW, July 15
… Trail of Dead was the last rock show to which I attended before SARS-CoV2 slammed the world shut. It feels like yesterday.
Ty Herndon, Jacob, July 15
Ty Herndon has been talking up this album since before writing and recording had finished. He’s a mainstream singer at heart, so I’m not expecting a makeover on the level of Emmylou Harris’ Wrecking Ball. But he does seem to be swinging for the fences on this one.
Perfume, PLASMA, July 27
The pandemic has really messed up my sense of time. FUTURE POP was released in 2018, and I saw Perfume in concert the following year. Like the … Trail of Dead album, it doesn’t seem that long ago.
Vinyl
Cracker, Cracker, May 27
Cracker’s self-titled debut album turns 30 years old in 2022, and the album hasn’t see a vinyl reissue in all that time.
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
As much as I loved the ’80s, I can’t say the ’90s holds as much sentiment. I feel more affinity for the Aughts than I do the ’90s. That said, 1998 has proven to be rich with favorites, and I would consider it the pinnacle year in the decade. This list has gone through extensive revision from the original.
Neutral Milk Hotel, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea
Madonna, Ray of Light
Lauryn Hill, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill
Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
Fastball, All the Pain Money Can Buy
Patty Griffin, Flaming Red
SUPERCAR, Three Out Change
Various Artists, For the Masses: A Tribute to Depeche Mode
Bruce Robison, Wrapped
Cocco, Kumuiuta
Other favorites from the year:
Shakira, ¿Dónde Están Los Ladrones?
Wendy and Lisa, Girl Bros.
Midnight Oil, Redneck Wonderland
8 1/2 Souvenirs, Happy Feet
UA, Ametora
Kronos Quartet, Alfred Schnittke: The Complete String Quartets
the brilliant green, the brilliant green
Bang on a Can All-Stars, Music for Airports
Craig Armstrong, The Space Between Us
Julieta Venegas, Aquí
Aterciopelados, Caribe Atómico
Macha, Macha
Idlewild, Hope Is Important
Pansy Division, Absurd Pop Song Romance
Orgy, Candyass
A number of titles that held positions in the Favorite 10 switched places with ones in the extended list.
I didn’t give Fastball much credit 10 years ago because the album had been all over Austin at the time of its release. I got caught up in that hype, then dismissed it as such later. I was wrong. All the Pain Money Can Buy needs to be in the Favorite 10.
For the Masses actually turned me into a Depeche Mode fan. Some of the covers on the tribute album rival the originals. In the case of “Shake the Disease” and “Everything Counts”, they straight up improve them.
Madonna dominated the top position of this list for 10 years before Neutral Milk Hotel nudged her down a notch. SUPERCAR makes another revisionist ranking, pushing 8 1/2 Souvenirs off.
Idlewild makes an appearance with a debut album that’s at times bratty and tuneful. It’s a mess compared to its follow-up, 1000 Broken Windows. But it’s a riveting mess.
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
… And You Will Know Us by the Trail Of Dead, Source Code and Tags
Kronos Quartet, Nuevo
The Streets, Original Pirate Material
Hajime Chitose, Hainumikaze
NUMBER GIRL, NUM-HEAVYMETALLIC
Quruli, THE WORLD IS MINE
Zoobombs, love is funky
Hatakeyama Miyuki, Diving into your mind
Patty Griffin, 1,000 Kisses
Other favorites from the year:
UA, Dorobou
Queens of the Stone Age, Songs for the Deaf
Damien Jurado and Gathered In Song, I Break Chairs
Pedro the Lion, Control
Wilco, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot
Missy Elliott, Under Construction
The Decemberists, Castaways and Cutouts
Sonic Youth, Murray Street
Sleater-Kinney, One Beat
Kylie Minogue, Fever
The Roots, Phrenology
ISIS, Oceanic
The White Stripes, White Blood Cells
The Hives, Veni Vidi Vicious
Catilin Cary, While You Weren’t Looking
BUGY CRAXONE, Northern Hymns
N.E.R.D., In Search Of …
The Books, Thought for Food
Nappy Roots, Watermelon, Chicken & Gritz
Minako, Suck It till Your Life Ends mata wa Shine Made Sono Mama Yatte Iro
The Flaming Lips, Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robot
Shiratori Maika, Hanazono
The Back Horn, Shinzou Orchestra
Joan Jeanrenaud, Metamorphosis
I picked up Original Pirate Material for $1 at Lifelong Thrift Shop, and now I understand why it was all over the place in 2002. I couldn’t open a music magazine without seeing Mike Skinner mentioned in it. I’m pretty sure the sample of Dvorak’s Symphony No. 9 sealed my admiration for the album.
THE WORLD IS MINE is something of a mea culpa. At the time of its release, I recognized the album as being Quruli’s most complex, but I just couldn’t get into it. I probably felt that it didn’t go far enough if it was going to be ambitious.
Well, the joke’s on me. I listened to it again before its reissue on vinyl, and I really dug it, much more than Antenna, which I praised effusively at the time. So it knocked Minako’s one and only album off the Favorite 10. UA also had to make room for the Streets.
The extended list includes albums I originally dismissed: Murray Street by Sonic Youth and One Beat by Sleater-Kinney.
I remember stocking Nappy Roots during my shifts at Waterloo Records and wondering what the big deal was. A $1 copy from Lifelong Thrift Shop 16 years later educated me. I probably wouldn’t have been exposed to Nappy Roots, The Decemberists or ISIS without having worked at Waterloo.
A decade ago, I wrote a series of entries ranking my favorite albums from 1985 to 2004. My collection has expanded greatly since then, particularly in the last five years. So I wanted to see what has changed in 10 years.
I relaunched this site in early 2014 to focus more on discovering catalog music than newer artists. As a result, I didn’t get a chance to revise the Favorite Edition 2013 list after I discovered a number of critical favorites.
Jason Isbell, Southeastern
Jarell Perry, Simple Things
Patty Griffin, Silver Bell
Sam Amidon, Bright Sunny South
James Blake, Overgrown
Sigur Rós, Kveikur
Hem, Departure and Farewell
Blood Orange, Cupid Deluxe
Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, Old Yellow Moon
LEO Imai, Made from Nothing
Other favorites from the year:
Rhye, Woman
Kanye West, Yeezus
Johnny Hates Jazz, Magnetized
TV Mania, Bored with the Internet and Prozac?
Ty Herndon, Lies I Told Myself
Res, Refried Mac
Janelle Monáe, The Electric Lady
Jason Isbell had caught my eye with the stark but stunning cover of Southeastern, but I didn’t follow up on that fascination till well into 2014. Nor did I make the connection between Blood Orange and Solange till after 2013 had passed.
Isbell and Blood Orange bumped Johnny Hates Jazz and TV Mania, while Rhye and Kanye West nearly crack the Favorite 10.
I dug The College Dropout, but West can teach Billy Corgan lessons in being insufferable. Yeezus, though, sounded like an indie rock record, so I could overlook the man and focus on the art. I wouldn’t cut him that slack nowadays.
Ty Herndon came out of the closet in 2014, and he was cute enough for me to take a listen to his greatest hits collection, This Is Ty Herndon. I ended up liking it more than I expected, mostly because I really can’t stand country radio.
Lies I Told Myself shows up on this list because it sounds way more confident than anything on This Is Ty Herndon.
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