We here at ZachHaught.com would like to proactively acknowledge—at scale—that we hear you. Candidness is crucial to building trust with our audience—so we’re demonstrating some radical transparency. Despite its paradigm-shifting presence across the digital landscape, we regrettably did not leverage the assistance of artificial intelligence in developing this list. Here’s the thing—you come to us for revolutionary innovation. You expect cutting-edge insights, and we’re here to deliver. As we look forward to 2026, we promise not only AI-generated lists about AI-generated music—but it will all be crucially streamlined for seamless ChatGPT integration for AI readers. Authentic expression is a thing of the past—and ZachHaught.com is proudly looking toward the unprecedented future.
In the meantime, though, artistry still matters. Cohesive, defining works still matter. Curation and personal taste still matter. Challenging yourself still matters. Failing still matters. Opportunities created by limitations still matter. Happy accidents still matter. The high of finding the perfect flow of words still matters. The process still matters. Regardless of your medium, the imperfections of your process are what shape our connection to that work.
That process bore fruit for the artists below, and in turn, impacted the process of creating this list. As I build my annual year-end roundup, I set out to answer a few questions. What was just an enjoyable, fleeting moment? What joins my pantheon of personal classics, or at the very least, will tempt me to play in full for years to come? What inspires my Patrick Bateman-like monologues for anyone who will listen?
Read below to see which spark that same excitement for you. Browse each project’s entry points by saving the sampler playlist on Apple Music, Spotify, or YouTube. If you find something you enjoy, support the artist by seeing a show, purchasing merch, patronizing your local record store, and staying up to date with union causes.
These are the projects that defined my 2025 and deserve a place in your 2026.
Benjamin Booker — LOWER
Benjamin Booker — Released January 24
Back for the first time in eight years, Benjamin Booker has no interest in rekindling fans’ nostalgia. “I wanted to make music that people couldn’t have made 10 years before,” Booker told Paste earlier this year. It’s an ironic choice given his two previous albums. His self-titled debut evoked 60s garage rock, while 2017’s Witness trended closer to 70s soul. LOWER, meanwhile, is firmly a 2020s blues album with no mid-century aspirations. Alongside underground rap producer Kenny Segal, Booker recontextualizes Mobb Deep’s boom-bap with the guitar distortion of The Jesus and Mary Chain, creating a blues and noise-pop hybrid. His deep rasp and sharp wit make wall-of-sound guitars that much more combative, and sparse ballads infinitely more heartbreaking. LOWER is an unheard mixture of sounds as beautiful as they are disorienting.
Selected cuts: “BLACK OPPS,” “POMPEII STATUES,” “SAME KIND OF LONELY”
Pink Siifu — BLACK’!ANTIQUE
Pink Siifu — Released January 27
From channeling Sun Ra to Kanye West, George Clinton to Missy Elliott, and Grace Jones to Kendrick Lamar, any given album by the ambitious Pink Siifu explores nearly every parameter of Black music. BLACK’!ANTIQUE is an amalgamation of his journey thus far. It’s an exhilarating front-to-back listen that’s equal parts post-Yeezus industrial rap, jazzy boom-bap, ghettotech, and Memphis-indebted trap. Siifu makes no effort to hide his influences. Instead, this sub-genre auteur’s palate serves as a patchwork repurposed for something entirely new. It’s this understanding of hip-hop’s past and present that allows him to trailblaze its left-field future in a way that only Siifu can.
Selected cuts: “V12’!HML’! (feat. Conquest Tony Phillips & Liv.e),” “SCREW4LIFE’! RIPJALEN’!,” “LAST ONE ALIVE’!”
Larry June, 2 Chainz & The Alchemist — Life Is Beautiful
Larry June, 2 Chainz & The Alchemist — Released February 7
Larry June’s raps walk a tightrope between tiresome corporate jargon, wellness influencerisms, and celebratory joint rolling. Yes, Larry – we can circle back on how leveraging a green juice bar is low-hanging fruit for our portfolio’s KPIs. However, The Alchemist’s jazz-tinged production on 2023’s The Great Escape highlighted his most charming, stoner rap attributes. Trap legend 2 Chainz joins the fold on Life Is Beautiful, and it’s thankfully not just for the sake of corporate synergy. 2 Chainz brings the exact slick charisma you’re hoping for to soulful production that’s not typically in his wheelhouse – although brief forays in the past indicated just how much promise is there. His presence demotes June to “friend of a friend who maybe interjects too much,” but with another batch of lavish Alchemist beats setting the scene, it’s an imperfect but worthy group hang.
Selected cuts: “Munyon Canyon,” “LLC,” “Life Is Beautiful”
Horsegirl — Phonetics On and On
Horsegirl — Released February 14
Horsegirl’s debut album, Versions of Modern Performance, took the indie world by storm in 2022 – partially off the raucous energy of their 90s indie-indebted sound, partially off the novelty of it coming from three high schoolers. Their talent was apparent, and the highs were incredibly high, but Modern Performance often leaned too hard on their influences and hid songwriting inconsistency behind big sounds. Enter indie super-producer Cate Le Bon. Under her guidance, Horsegirl takes that same sense for song structures and melodies and refracts them into a new sound that still nods to the past without roleplaying their idols. The trio also has a newfound comfort in simplicity. From parsing down compositions without losing grit or quirkiness, to every “la” and “da” that the title implies, Phonetics On and On finds success in the basics as Horsegirl establishes their voice.
Selected cuts: “Rock City,” “2468,” “Switch Over”
Saya Gray — SAYA
Saya Gray — Released February 21
Fresh off her pair of erratic QWERTY EPs, rising Canadian pop artist Saya Gray corrals her disparate tastes into a deceptively simple second LP. Gray roadtripped across Japan and the United States to recalibrate from a breakup; SAYA is that forlorn roadtrip album of the digital age. Slide guitars and acoustic strumming are contrasted with fluttering synthesizers and programmed beats. It’s a sonic balance of countryside self-discovery motifs with a modern reality of never being fully unplugged. You’re followed by a phantom appendage full of memories you’re trying to escape. Whether through QWERTY’s haywire experimentation or SAYA’s subdued folk-pop/electronica hybrid, Gray’s pairing of the organic and mechanical aids a pop sensibility that is all her own.
Selected cuts: “..THUS IS WHY ( I DON’T SPRING 4 LOVE ),” “SHELL ( OF A MAN ),” “PUDDLE ( OF ME )”
Youth Lagoon — Rarely Do I Dream
Youth Lagoon — Released February 21
For the first time in his career as Youth Lagoon, Trevor Powers is content in his surroundings. Powers historically reinvents himself from one project to the next. However, the near-death/near-mute experience that inspired 2023’s Heaven Is a Junkyard, coupled with stumbling upon a box of childhood family videos, influenced his latest effort’s further exploration of primarily piano-driven balladry. Rarely Do I Dream samples these home movies for an emotionally complex glimpse into the past. It’s a love letter to a complicated home that the highlights never capture, blending documented reality with misremembered fantasy. It’s remembering the off-camera fights that occurred just after you open your new walkie-talkies. It’s squaring your parents’ opposing beliefs with the love they have for you. Above all, it’s finding peace in the full breadth of what shapes you.
Selected cuts: “Lucy Takes a Picture,” “Canary,” “Saturday Cowboy Matinee”
Panda Bear — Sinister Grift
Panda Bear — Released February 28
For all of their pop-adjacent brilliance in the past quarter-century, “accessible” is rarely a word that shares a sentence with “Animal Collective.” These indie legends and their respective solo works toy with the outer limits of pop music, alternating between grating and surprisingly catchy results. Noah Lennox’s seventh solo album as Panda Bear holds the distinct honor of being the most straightforward album in the AnCo canon. Sinister Grift sources inspiration from the rock ‘n’ roll, country, and doo-wop samples that producer Sonic Boom brought to their Reset sessions. Lennox’s Beach Boys worship has long been a prominent mirror in his kaleidoscope of influences, but Brian Wilson’s ear for melody has never loomed larger than it does here. Fictional tales are built on Lennox’s very real pain of divorce, so while previous records were more autobiographical, its simpler sounds present Sinister Grift as his most honest yet.
Selected cuts: “Praise,” “Ends Meet,” “Defense (feat. Cindy Lee)”
Saba & No ID — From The Private Collection of Saba and No ID
Saba & No ID — Released March 18
Saba has a discography of circumstance. The Chicago emcee sets out to create a collection of songs, but life has other plans. With two gripping albums directly tackling the separate deaths of close friends and the implications of generational poverty, discussing his work inherently invites a dissection of trauma. From The Private Collection begs a significant question of its own: what if Saba rapped really, really well over fun, summertime Chicago production? Despite being co-produced by hip-hop legend No ID, Saba’s fourth album has lower stakes in its absence of overt grief. It’s the kind of barbecue and block party record his breezier singles long flirted with. It still finds depth in its extended photography metaphor, presenting both a confident self-portrait and an optimistic landscape of Chicago’s West Side. An expert photographer knows it’s all about framing.
Selected cuts: “Breakdown,” “head.rap (feat. Madison McFerrin, Ogi & Jordan Ward),” “a FEW songs (feat. Love Mansuy, Ogi & Smino)”
Japanese Breakfast — For Melancholy Brunettes (& sad women)
Japanese Breakfast — Released March 21
What’s worse: being haunted by what could have been, or discovering that no achievement can quell your longing? Japanese Breakfast’s Michelle Zauner finds herself in the latter’s dilemma. Her fourth album follows the breakthrough success of 2021’s Grammy-nominated Jubilee, her New York Times’ #1 bestseller memoir Crying in H Mart, and being named one of TIME’s most influential people in 2022. Rather than chase that next level of fame and influence, Zauner steps back from the upbeat glossiness of this record’s predecessor for a ghostly, orchestral examination of desire itself. From her own celebrity to angry incels, and parental fallouts to romantic entanglements, For Melancholy Brunettes attempts to resolve misplaced yearning – all without losing the vivid imagery and pop sensibilities that brought her to the award shows to begin with.
Selected cuts: “Orlando in Love,” “Honey Water,” “Picture Window”
Destroyer — Dan’s Boogie
Destroyer — Released March 28
There’s an irony to our great songwriters. They spend years of painstaking labor to unearth their artistic voice, only to spend most of their subsequent careers trying their hardest not to sound like themselves. That itch to constantly break new ground is laudable, but occasionally, as a fan, you just want to hear them do what they do best. For the first time in his 30-year career, Destroyer’s Dan Bejar isn’t second-guessing his inclination to sound like himself. On his “most Destroyer-y record” yet, Dan materializes like a mythical troubadour from the Vancouver mist to haunt his own compositions. These dense, largely piano-driven tracks are bursting with as many essential Bejar-isms as ever; there’s zero possibility these words have been sequenced in this peculiar order before. This rambling poet’s delivery might have arrived several generations past his jazz vocalist heroes, but he’s still crafting timeless art rock three decades deep.
Selected cuts: “Hydroplaning Off the Edge of the World,” “Bologna (feat. Fiver),” “Sun Meet Snow”
Florist — Jellywish
Florist — Released April 4
Emily Sprague of Florist knows some questions don’t have answers; true tranquility is in how you navigate the question. The tender-hearted indie-folk band’s fifth album sets its sights on humanity’s most meaningful challenges and fears, from death to the random injustices of life. Jellywish is grand in scope, perhaps, but interior in its execution. Sprague never wallows in despair nor minimizes the general malaise of being alive. Her remedy lies in self-acceptance for collective change and a deep reverence for the little joys. In the face of mortality, time spent with your partner and dog in the yard is regarded as the absolute zenith of the human experience. If you press pause the next time you’re outside, you might just find it is.
Selected cuts: “Have Heaven,” “Jellyfish,” “This Was A Gift”
Mamalarky — Hex Key
Mamalarky — Released April 11
Fantasy isn’t always escapism. Mamalarky has a knack for tapping into your childhood imagination, where your Trader Joe’s run suddenly involves chance encounters with quicksand, Tarzan-style tree surfing, and your everyday patches of floor lava. Yet for every attempt to capture “underwater level music,” their frenetic, off-center dream-pop is grounded by the same troubles that pester you on your morning commute. The difference is the band’s ability to heighten the stakes. Heartache is lore-building. Vanquishing your inner critic requires pulling a mystical sword from a stone. Every intricate melody, bombastic rhythm, and delicate tone adds to the adventure Hex Key finds in daily life.
Selected cuts: “Anhedonia,” “Blush,” “Feels So Wrong”
Fly Anakin — (The) Forever Dream
Fly Anakin — Released April 25
In an iconic scene of meta television, George Costanza sold Jerry Seinfeld on the concept of a show about nothing. Richmond rapper Fly Anakin tackles a beat with the same energy. Non-sequiters of substance are present, but Anakin is more interested in where style and raw ability intersect in creating a feeling. Indie rap veteran Quelle Chris is a testament to the power of a great executive producer on (The) Forever Dream, guiding Anakin towards his best instincts for his strongest effort to date. By pushing Anakin just outside his comfort zone, assisting with song selection, and allowing him to be vulnerable, Chris provides structure and fosters artistic growth for the long-underrated MC. Not to mention, the most immaculate soul sampling you’ll hear all year leaves you hanging on his every word. It’s less about what’s being said and more about how it’s said, and Fly Anakin’s ability to convey has never sounded better.
Selected cuts: “Good Clothes (feat. Demae),” “My N***a (feat. Quelle Chris, $ilkmoney & Big Kahuna OG),” “The Times”
PinkPantheress — Fancy That
PinkPantheress — Released May 9
You’re forgiven if you haven’t bought in on the PinkPantheress hype yet. The singer-producer rose to viral fame in 2020 and subsequently capitalized on the hype with a mixtape just as bite-sized as the TikToks that made her famous. She spoke about how songs don’t “need to be longer than two minutes-30” and not listening to albums (gulp). The music reflected that. Her brand of pop-inflected drum and bass yielded impressive highs but failed to stand as a complete artistic statement. Whether your grievance was in artistry, TikTokability, or pop music hang-ups, Fancy That is here to proselytize. The mixtape’s 20-minute runtime is overstuffed with her most instantly memorable hooks and Y2K electronic samples, resulting in a consistently infectious batch of dance songs that could even get the biggest cynic moving.
Selected cuts: “Illegal,” “Girl Like Me,” “Stateside”
Stereolab — Instant Holograms on Metal Film
Stereolab — Released May 23
After 15 years of studio inactivity, Stereolab has fully thawed from their cryogenically frozen state, still belonging to no particular time period. These French indie legends made their name oscillating between jazzy lounge music with psychedelic synthesizers and krautrock for an unparalleled take on retrofuturistic pop. The Groop’s 11th proper album picks right back up without losing a step, slotting comfortably into the middle of their discography. It’s a dystopian dance party in The Jetsons’ extended universe, and we’re all invited. Each song is an expertly structured framework for coalescing every conceivable idea. Beneath the mercurial funk, Stereolab is just as explicitly political as they ever were. Whether time-jumping with lessons from the future or past, the band offers hope that our world’s course correction is still within grasp.
Selected cuts: “Aerial Troubles,” “Melodie Is a Wound,” “Immortal Hands”
Ovrkast. — While The Iron Is Hot
Ovrkast. — Released May 30
Skill keeps providing opportunities that force Ovrkast.’s hand. The Oakland rapper-producer’s 2020 debut, Try Again, was released to capitalize on his initial buzz after producing an Earl Sweatshirt and MAVI collaboration. Now having produced a pair of tracks for Drake (“Red Button,” “The Shoe Fits”), Kast is once again in the position to do just what the title states. His style has its feet planted firmly in both worlds – an ear to the underground with star-making, crossover potential. It’s Knxwledge-influenced sample flips with the bass knock of hitmaker and collaborator Cardo Got Wings. By no means a slouch on the mic, Ovrkast.’s fiery delivery isn’t quite matched with the lyrical ingenuity or vulnerability of his collaborators. However, with undeniable production chops, song structuring, and album sequencing skills already going for him, it’s only a matter of time before his next big break forces that level up from “solid mixtape” to impeccable album.
Selected cuts: “Small Talk (feat. Samara Cyn),” “MAVKAST! (feat. MAVI),” “NEW ERA”
Little Simz — Lotus
Little Simz — Released June 6
If film tropes have taught me anything, it’s that a slap to the face reroutes hysteria into a deathly calm fight-or-flight. London rapper Little Simz was in a crisis of confidence, scrapping four albums in two years before the impetus of Lotus relit her fire. Simz filed a lawsuit against Inflo, childhood friend and co-writer/producer of her most acclaimed work, over £1.7m in unpaid loans. A scorched-earth album opener, a dramatic sibling back-and-forth, and narrations of creative blocks reveal a wounded but proud Simz analyzing her relationships with loved ones, her art, and an industry that doesn’t love her back. Simultaneously, surrounded by collaborators new and old, the record’s Afrobeats, rock, and hip-hop fusion is just as much a celebration of her remaining community. Named after “one of the only flowers that thrive in muddy waters,” Lotus overcomes through equal parts reflection, pettiness, and grace.
Selected cuts: “Thief,” “Free,” “Lion (feat. Obongjayar)”
McKinley Dixon — Magic, Alive!
McKinley Dixon — Released June 6
Richmond jazz-rapper McKinley Dixon finds magic in knowledge, intentionality, and luck. That particular type of magic is embedded in the DNA of his fifth album. Author Toni Morrison is a frequent reference point for the English B.A., and the record’s meticulous lyricism and production are laced with rewards for repeated listens. But it explores a magic much more literal: what if three boys could cast a spell to resurrect their dead friend? The album marries childlike wonder with generational traumas, constructing tales that are just as human as they are supernatural. Dixon’s theatrics are aided by live musicianship, giving his tales the energy of the most electric hip-hop show you’ve seen in years. Describing jazz as “a conversation,” Dixon’s incantations inform the constant swelling and contracting of his beats. Magic, Alive! sounds like a living, breathing organism demanding your belief.
Selected cuts: “Recitatif (feat. Teller Bank$),” “We’re Outside, Rejoice!,” “Could’ve Been Different (feat. Blu & Shamir)”
Nicholas Craven & Boldy James — Late to My Own Funeral
Nicholas Craven & Boldy James — Released July 11
Three things are certain in this life: death, taxes, and Boldy James dropping. The prolific Detroit rapper has released 12 projects in just as many months, and if there isn’t another within a week of this list’s published date, someone should conduct a wellness check. Dropping at such a frequency has its pitfalls. James can be reliable to a fault; he can feel more formula than expression. He mainly sticks to the same flows and subject matter, so if you miss a cool dozen, you’ve likely heard some iteration of its verses before. The proper production, however, highlights the husky-voiced James’ street recountings as some of the most gripping in modern rap. Fortunately, frequent collaborator Nicholas Craven brings his best batch of soul samples in years. If you have a half hour to catch up on your Boldy, Late to My Own Funeral is that album.
Selected cuts: “Spider Webbing Windshields,” “Trapezoid,” “Cordon Bleu (feat. David Wesson)”
Clipse — Let God Sort Em Out
Clipse — Released July 11
The Clipse’s fourth proper album arrives after 15 years of inactivity and nearly 20 years since their last quintessential work. In that time, Malice left the music industry to pursue a life as a holy man, occasionally dropping Christian rap mixtapes. Pusha T established himself as an elite solo artist with several classic albums, collaborations, and diss tracks. Despite the hiatus and different life trajectories, there’s not a single cobweb to dust off. Push continues to deliver coke rap at a high caliber, while Malice reminds us why, for many, he was the preferred Thornton brother. Pharrell Williams drives that classic Neptunes production sound to a stadium level, Graduation grandiosity as the duo brings a Hell Hath No Fury fire to more mature issues like miscarriages and parental death, while still reveling in some good, old-fashioned kilo trafficking. Make no mistake: this isn’t some big-budget reboot to maximize old IP. The Clipse are back because they have something to say.
Selected cuts: “P.O.V. (feat. Tyler, The Creator),” “So Be It,” “M.T.B.T.T.F.”
Wet Leg — moisturizer
Wet Leg — Released July 11
Wet Leg’s debut single, 2021’s “Chaise Longue,” was an omen for everything delightfully unserious to follow for the English post-punk duo. Even though love songs are the heart of their sophomore record, Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers tap into the sillier, playful side of sex and romance. An album like moisturizer could easily sound guarded or cringeworthy in the hands of less capable performers. The jokes occasionally wear thin, but their commitment self-assuredness bolster nearly every gag – be it lyric, vocal inflection, or melody. Matters of the heart don’t always have to be laudatory or melancholic. Sometimes love is just fun.
Selected cuts: “CPR,” “davina mccall,” “mangetout”
Tyler, The Creator — DON’T TAP THE GLASS
Tyler, The Creator — Released July 22
Ever the worldbuilder, each Tyler, The Creator release comes with its own alter egos and visual identity across artwork and videos. Nine months after the expansive, deeply personal CHROMOKOPIA, Tyler takes listeners to his most intimate setting yet: a sweaty Los Angeles nightclub. His previous record wrestled with how his upbringing impacts his commitment issues and prospective fatherhood, but 2025 Tyler just wants you to dance. Funk samples, bounce music, and traditional West Coast synthesizers all bend around Tyler’s signature sound. For perhaps the first time, he’s not angling for his definitive artistic statement. It just is what it is: a fun, low-stakes palate cleanser to blast at full volume.
Selected cuts: “Sugar on My Tongue,” “Sucka Free,” “Ring Ring Ring”
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist — Alfredo 2
Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist — Released July 25
Look: I’m a simple man. I see “produced by The Alchemist,” I add to heavy rotation. Alfredo 2 follows the rapper-producer duo’s 2020 instant classic, trading its mafioso iconography for ramen and a yakuza slant on Gibbs’ penchant for drug-dealing, sexual escapades, and airing out all of his many beefs and rap game grievances. The album strikes a perfect balance between being the predictable Freddie x Alchemist collaboration you hope for without being a carbon copy of the original. Al’s sample loops and traditional boom-bap drums are less pristine and often serve to double down on Gibbs’ gruffness, rather than accentuate it. Meanwhile, Freddie’s decade-long run of exalted work has done nothing to reduce the urgency behind his penmanship and delivery. In a fickle industry where you’re as good as your last hit, Freddie Gibbs is intent on owning property in your Top 5.
Selected cuts: “1995,” “Lemon Pepper Steppers,” “Ensalada (feat. Anderson .Paak)”
Tyler Childers — Snipe Hunter
Tyler Childers — Released July 25
Tyler Childers has come a long way from that Lawrence County, KY holler. The unlikely country superstar’s music has placed him on stadium stages worldwide, all without the Nashville music machine’s support. Snipe Hunter, a reference to fooling a newcomer into hunting nonexistent prey, recounts his journeys that culminate in the current man’s determination to stay grounded. We see Childers’ transition from late-night debauchery to current sobriety, hunting allegories, and his own Christianity meshed with Hinduism. It’s not all weighty life changes, though; there’s koalas with STDs, rabies-induced revenge, and eating the rich knowing full well he might be on the menu. His take on traditional country music is further emphasized through production by Rick Rubin and Sylvan Esso’s Nick Sanborn. It’s a riotous, psychedelic Frankenstein’s monster of country-adjacent genres; an inventive perspective that took him global, rather than the other way around.
Selected cuts: “Eatin’ Big Time,” “Bitin’ List,” “Nose on the Grindstone”
Dijon — Baby
Dijon — Released August 15
A Paul Thomas Anderson movie, shaping major releases for everyone from Justin Vernon to Justin Bieber – Dijon’s remarkable 2025 is a continued ripple from his quietly influential Absolutely record released four years ago. This is the opposite of a “perils of fame” album, though; his rapidly changing homelife fully occupies his attention. Baby is overjoyed in his new marriage and fatherhood while still grappling with his codependency and self-destructive tendencies. It’s also super horny. Like, “Prince in the 80s” levels of horny. Dijon emulates that same synth-funk and soulful balladry that Prince innovated but trades his coolness for a groggy earnestness. Clipping audio, slightly mismatched backing vocals, and dogs barking make for a deliberately glitchy mess that captures the essence of being lost in a feeling. If it wasn’t evident already, Baby affirms Dijon as a singular voice in popular music.
Selected cuts: “Another Baby!,” “Yamaha,” “Automatic”
Nourished By Time — The Passionate Ones
Nourished By Time — Released August 22
They say it takes ten years to become an overnight success. Singer/producer Marcus Brown graduated from Berklee, had stints in Los Angeles and the U.K., and multiple other aliases before his debut album as Nourished By Time caught fire in 2023. Brown moved back into his parents’ basement and was working dead-end jobs when he channeled a breakup into Erotic Probiotic 2. His now trademark synth-heavy production and 90s R&B-in-a-funhouse-mirror delivery received instant mainstream critical acclaim, and he was hitting the road with artists like Panda Bear and Toro y Moi. The Passionate Ones is an ode to that perseverance – a blend of heartache, leftist politics, and an appreciation for the grind. This meta-career commentary is never self-indulgent. It’s a reminder that whatever your passion is, all of that energy is worth it.
Selected cuts: “Max Potential,” “9 2 5,” “Tossed Away”
Water From Your Eyes — It’s a Beautiful Place
Water From Your Eyes — Released August 22
Water From Your Eyes’ Nate Amos and Rachel Brown are never ones to pass up a bit. Even when coping with existential dread, you can practically hear the stoned smile creep across Brown’s face as she drops an inside joke only Amos will get. Amos, on the other hand, finds silliness in the very idea of performing a guitar solo. It all feels post-ironic in a way. What may start tongue-in-cheek goes on to reveal untold truths and spark brilliant ideas in a way that’s only possible when riffing with a friend. Thrashing guitars in chaotic time signatures give way to cheap, bedroom recording dance hits. Perhaps Amos and Brown put more value in the creative process than the output, but the unpredictable output is all the better for it.
Selected cuts: “Life Signs,” “Nights in Armor,” “Playing Classics”
Wolf Alice — The Clearing
Wolf Alice — Released August 22
There’s more than one showgirl in the spotlight this year. Singer Ellie Rowsell and Wolf Alice at large turned the volume down on their dream-pop and shoegaze signifiers while cranking the theatrics up. Rowsell wanted to explore the phenomenon of some of their live sets’ softest moments being the most high-energy. Nodding to the era’s soft rock and baroque pop, the band performs the quasi-cheesy glamour and grandeur of an expensive 1970s rock record to perfection – the good old days when Fleetwood Mac was running up a tab on the record label’s dime. For all its cinematic moments, The Clearing works because its spectacle is built upon great songwriting rather than in lieu of it.
Selected cuts: “Thorns,” “Passenger Seat,” “White Horses”
Blood Orange — Essex Honey
Blood Orange — Released August 29
It’s been six years since the last Blood Orange project, but Dev Hynes’ fingerprints have been all over the 2020s. His film scores, production credits, and stylistic offspring maintained a presence in that time, even if we weren’t directly hearing from the man himself. In that time, and most crucially to this record, Hynes was processing his mother’s death, the thought of never releasing another album, and leaving his native London for the countryside. These contemplations manifest in some of his most organic and naturalistic compositions to date, set over his traditional dance and hip-hop rhythms. As Hynes detoxes from his city’s distractions, Essex Honey finds solace in nature and traverses what new life lies ahead.
Selected cuts: “Thinking Clean,” “Somewhere In Between,” “The Field (feat. The Durutti Column, Tariq Al-Sabir, Caroline Polachek & Daniel Caesar)”
Wednesday — Bleeds
Wednesday — Released September 19
Sometimes a memory taints a song. In Wednesday frontwoman Karly Hartzman’s case, she finally recorded her affectionate lyrics written across two years about bandmate and now-ex-boyfriend MJ Lenderman just one month after their breakup, mere feet away from him. That prodding of a fresh wound might not be in the lyrics, but it was bound to seep into the recording. Bleeds is a feat in raw catharsis rarely found in country music. Thunderous riffs and guttural screams are as imperative as intimate yearning and hometown nostalgia. This record is more than a soured love letter; Hartzman’s hyper-descriptive songwriting is like an old Appalachian quilting tradition. She weaves together dozens of stories from friends, neighbors, and small-town gossip into a collective experience without compromising her unique perspective.
Selected cuts: “Townies,” “Elderberry Wine,” “Pick Up That Knife”
Cate Le Bon — Michelangelo Dying
Cate Le Bon — Released September 26
Once one to never stay in a single place too long, Cate Le Bon’s seventh album nestles further into the rich world of sonics initially explored on 2019’s Reward. Each flanged guitar and saxophone note, oblique, reverb-laced vocal melody, and creeping rhythm has built Le Bon a subgenre of her own at this point. It’s like finding beauty in your favorite 80s new wave tape slowly melting in the cassette deck. Despite the mystique of its aura, Michelangelo Dying is Le Bon’s most direct writing yet. It’s a breakup album that has no revelations or conclusions, just hypnotic ruminations on moments of grief and rebirth.
Selected cuts: “Mothers of Riches,” “Is It Worth It (Happy Birthday)?,” “Heaven Is No Feeling”
Geese — Getting Killed
Geese — Released September 26
Ron Swanson once described his lovemaking as “doing peyote and sneezing slowly for six hours.” Indie’s newest buzz band, Geese, homes in on that exact spirit throughout Getting Killed. Alternating between euphoric highs and paranoid lows, each composition feels built around the extended outro of a live recording – a crescendo that never ends. Producer Kenny Beats helps the NYC ensemble tap back into the classic rock pastiche of 2023 standout 3D Country while dialing its eccentricities up to 11. There’s a laundry list of touchpoints, but Getting Killed remarkably contorts them into something nearly unrecognizable. The hype surrounding Geese is justified, and they’re just getting started.
Selected cuts: “Husbands,” “100 Horses,” “Taxes”
Neko Case — Neon Grey Midnight Green
Neko Case — Released September 26
It’s all about connection for Neko Case. Her symbiotic relationship with nature, homages to friends recently passed, and the recruitment of a swath of musicians for a built-in community on her first self-produced album are all instincts hardwired in us. Neon Grey Midnight Green’s compositions speak to that primitive understanding that everything we do is nature. The once alt-country icon burrows further into chamber pop – a suitable, monumental backdrop for one of the most striking voices of the last 25 years. Beyond being one of her most musically engrossing records, Case continues her run as a generational lyricist. Her evocative imagery and observations cut right through even the most layered, earthy orchestrations. It’s a starlit conversation with a loved one. It’s stopping to watch a hummingbird. It’s a primal yell into the gorge below.
Selected cuts: “Wreck,” “Winchester Mansion of Sound,” “Neon Grey Midnight Green”
Lily Allen — West End Girl
Lily Allen — Released October 24
Lily Allen has long been the north star for “we should all know less about each other.” Whereas the English pop singer’s chronic oversharing felt insufferable in interviews and social media, it’s West End Girl’s superpower. Written about her separation with Stranger Things actor David Harbour following his alleged affair, there’s a specificity to Allen’s lyrics that lends itself to the album’s heartache. Absolutely no one needs to know about Harbour’s, again, alleged butt plug collection. Yet Allen’s witty, poignant perception elevates this work from parasocial tabloid fodder to a devastating, insanely catchy diary entry.
Selected cuts: “Sleepwalking,” “Tennis,” “Pussy Palace”
Snocaps — Snocaps
Snocaps — Released October 31
Before Waxahatchee’s Katie Crutchfield helped popularize the indie-to-country crossovers with Saint Cloud, and before Katie went solo in her own right, there was P.S. Eliot. Twin sisters Allison and Katie’s southern-fried punk band only lasted for two albums before the pair took on other endeavors. Fourteen years removed from their last collaboration, the Crutchfield sisters once again found themselves in the same creative space. Snocaps, a supergroup featuring MJ Lenderman and producer Brad Cook, was born out of creative frustration and a need for collaboration. The songwriting pair shares a Venn diagram of confessional, DIY influences, but their individual tastes unlock nuances impossible without the other. Snocaps melds their separate identities for something that fits comfortably within the Crutchfield canon while remaining wholly unexpected.
Selected cuts: “Coast,” “Heathcliff,” “Cherry Hard Candy”
De La Soul — Cabin In The Sky
De La Soul — Released November 21
Cabin In The Sky arrives as a tale of resilience for one of hip-hop’s greatest groups. Since the last time we heard from them, the Long Island trio was embroiled in a years-long battle for ownership of their music rights and fought for streaming clearances on their discography’s sample-heavy production. They won on both counts, but unexpectedly lost member Dave “Trugoy the Dove” Jolicoeur in 2023. This record serves as a Dave posthumous release and homage from the surviving Posdnuos and Maseo. It avoids the standard trappings of a eulogy album; there’s no shoehorned verses on beats he never heard or forced postmortem collaborations. Instead, the remaining duo and an all-star cast of peers diligently recorded new material to build around the work the trio started. What’s a better tribute to Dave, De La Soul’s legacy, and a bygone hip-hop era than a joyous 70-minute cypher?
Selected cuts: “YUHDONTSTOP,” “The Package,” “Cabin In The Sky”
Sharp Pins — Balloon Balloon Balloon
Sharp Pins — Released November 21
You’d be hard-pressed to name a more vital creative force emerging out of Chicago’s indie scene than Kai Slater. Balloon Balloon Balloon closes a landmark year that kicked off with the rerelease of the equally impressive Radio DDR, followed by the notable debut of his punk outfit Lifeguard, and he produced the debut solo album of Stranger Things’ Finn Wolfhard. As Sharp Pins, Slater’s flair for sugary, psychedelic power-pop meets analog recording purism. His 1960s cosplay is sometimes too on the nose, but the 21-year-old has enough home studio aptitude and songwriting charm to suggest an even brighter future ahead.
Selected cuts: “Gonna Learn to Crawl,” “Talking In Your Sleep,” “Stop to Say Hello”
redveil — sankofa
redveil — Released December 4
Marcus “redveil” Morton has grown up in the public eye. The Maryland rapper-producer was 15 when his early material first went viral. Still only 21, sankofa is the sound of the young artist filling his own shoes. You can rattle off his most obvious influences – Tyler, The Creator’s lush musicality, Kendrick Lamar and Earl Sweatshirt’s bar-heavy confessionality, Denzel Curry’s intensity – but this is perhaps the best he’s done at bending their skillsets into a sound that’s all his own. His production skills continue to evolve as he applies his distinct sample-flipping from 2022’s learn 2 swim to full-on live instrument arrangements. As he draws inspiration from his inherited mental health struggles, its eclectic, jazz-based orchestration bears capricious swings that can only come from someone who’s lived it. redveil’s young wisdom will be a guiding hip-hop force in the years to come.
Selected cuts: “history,” “mini me,” “buzzerbeater / black christmas”