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.
![[Clipse - Let God Sort 'Em Out]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/ClipseLetGodSortEmOut354041_f.jpg)
![[Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/TurnstileNeverEnough2025356479_f.jpg)
![[Amanda Shires - Nobody's Girl]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/AmandaShiresNobodysGirl357059XBDD_f.jpg)
![[Kicell - Mado ni Chikyuu]](https://musicwhore.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/KicellMadoNiChikyuu.jpg)