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Ludwig Göransson ~ Sinners (Sony)
Sinners is not just the best film score of 2025, but one of the best of all time, centered on the blues of the Jim Crow era. But neither film nor score are content to remain in that era, as demonstrated in a phantasmagorical sequence that merges past, present and future. At first, while listening to the score without the visuals, one recalls the movie; but on repeated listens it becomes its own animal, a testament to the power of Black culture and the enduring legacy of its under-appreciated pioneers.

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BRUIT≤ ~ The Age of Ephemerality (Pelagic)
“The Intoxication of Power” may be the defining post-rock track of 2025, a whirlpool of brass, strings, guitars and drums. At the end of the 13:13 piece, George Orwell’s words sound a solemn warning. The resistance did not start here, but coalesces, gathering the energy needed for the fight.

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Gwenifer Raymond ~ Last Night I Heard the Dog Star Bark (We Are Busy Bodies)
When Raymond was a baby, woodland sprites snuck into her room at night, replaced the bars of her crib with strings, and taught her how to play. When she was older, she showed bears how to avoid traps, and in return, they taught her the language of the forest. Whenever she plays guitar, foxes are so mesmerized that they stand next to rabbits without harming them; the rabbits run when they think that a song is ending. The album is an amalgamation of folk tales, sci-fi and video game energy, a new hybrid for a modern age.

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Penelope Trappes ~ A Requiem (One Little Independent)
The combination of heavenly voice and horror video strikes at the balance between light and dark, with no clear winner emerging until the end. When it does, in the incandescent “Thou Art Mortal,” the results are transportive, channeling the spirit of Lisa Gerrard. Trappes is poised to become a new gothic icon.

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Jake Muir ~ Campana Sonans (enmossed)
Enchanted by the sound of church bells in Germany, Jake Muir traveled across Europe to capture their sounds. For centuries, church bells marked the time; they warned of invasion; they rang as memorials and as celebrations. Placing them in new frameworks, Muir restores their immediacy. Markers of time disintegrate into the eternal; the Divine is given an invitation to enter, to travel through peal and reverberation, to rest in tongues of flame. In the end, even the ordinary seems hallowed.

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Tunnel ~ Personas (We Build Machines)
Industrial instrumental music is rare, which makes Personas, an exemplary entry into the canon, an even greater rarity. The energy level remains high throughout, bolstered by an array of well-chosen samples.

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Lyra Pramuk ~ Hymnal (!K7) .
Hymnals are many things: holy, traditional and revered; but hymnals are only exciting when they are new. Lyra Pramuk’s Hymnal, recorded in a Venetian cathedral and a cabin beneath the stars, restores the sense of wonder that follows an encounter one cannot explain.

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Katarina Gryvul ~ SPOMYN (Subtext) .
The title means recollection, while the album addresses the rewriting of history by the victors, who bury truths in mass graves and leave only palimpsests. The music is as dark as a Ukrainian blackout; Gryvul growls and sings her indignation over industrial beats and churning textures.

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Of Monsters and Men ~ All Is Love and Pain in the Mouse Parade (Virgin)
The pop album of the year marks a triumphant return for the Icelandic band after nearly a decade away. Nearly every track could become a single, and many have; “Fruit Bat” turns into a brilliant instrumental halfway through, as the keyboard continues to play. The album is filled with emotion, riding on brilliant turns of phrase and sing-a-long lines that rest pleasantly in the mind.

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Yoichi Kamimura ~ ryūhyō (forms of minutiae) .
Five albums were released as part of forms of minutiae’s Ice Series this year, honoring the UN’s Year of Glacial Preservation. ryūhyō, which captures the sound of (modern) drift ice, is the coldest and most wintry. Residents claim that the original sounds of the ice have already been lost; one day these sounds too will become extinct.

Tracks ~ Instrumental/Choral
BRUIT≤ ~ The Intoxication of Power
Penelope Trappes ~ Thou Art Mortal
Jessica Moss ~ until all are free
NYX ~ Undercurrent
Zoe Mc Pherson ~ Is This Real

Tracks ~ Vocal
Of Monsters and Men ~ Ordinary Creature
Cageless Birds ~ Baptize
The Cure ~ All I Ever Am (65daysofstatic Remix)
Of Monsters and Men ~ Fruit Bat
Motylki ~ You Make Me Happy

Music Videos (in recommended viewing order)
Ludwig Berger, Crying Glacier
Andrzej Pietrewicz, Separated
Penelope Trappes, Sleep
Emil Friis, Five Corners of Blue
Takahiro Kido, Insomnia
Max Cooper & Aneek Thapar, I Exist Inside This Machine
Rival Consoles, Soft Gradient Beckons
Ben Chatwin, Caldera
Matmos, The Rust Belt
Felsmann + Tiley, Warnung

Books
Omar El Akkad, One Day Everyone Will Have Always Been Against This
Kevin Sack, Mother Emmanuel
Ada Limon, Startlement
Simon Boas, A Beginner’s Guide to Dying
Dorian Lynskey, Everything Must Go

Movies
Sinners
K-Pop Demon Hunters
Ballerina
The Gorge

TV
The Pitt Season One
Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man Season One
Alien: Earth Season One
Daredevil Season Four
Last Samurai Standing Season One
On Call Season One