And so we enter the homestretch with the conclusion to the best new releases of 2025. (Part one is here.) As another year wraps up, the struggle continues, and music has helped us get through it. Have a safe and happy holiday, everybody.
10. Jeanines, How Long Can It Last (Slumberland) Indie pop continues to inspire a high number of outfits to write songs and practice them, then record them and release them to a public that’s ever hungry for jangling and chiming guitar melodicism. It’s a genre with an unusually high percentage of success, likely because the bands are doing it out of love and not for fame. Jeanines are clearly smitten as they add some gorgeous ache to their sharp, ’60s-influenced songs. Repeated spins haven’t revealed a flaw in the construction. This here’s the indie pop record of the year.
9. Nadah El Shazly, Laini Tani (One Little Independent) This is Egyptian-born Montreal-based El Shazly’s second album, which she wrote and produced, contributing her voice, piano, additional keyboards, and electronics to the instrumental weave. Welcoming Sarah Pagé into the scheme on harp and electronics and Patrick Graham on percussion and hydraulophone (Jonah Fortune plays upright bass on the title track), El Shazly blends experimentation and traditional Arabic sounds in a manner that’s striking and unique.
8. Deradoorian, Ready for Heaven (Fire) Angel Deradoorian was a contributor to a number of key recordings by Dirty Projectors and has also taken part in Decisive Pink’s reality (it’s a side project with Kate NV), but far more relevant to the here and now is this stellar third solo album, which offers Downtown NYC dance grooves, Krautrock-tinged art-pop, Silver Apples-flavored electro-psych, a solemn neo-baroque processional, post-punky collage spillage, diva soul synth-pop, and more. Giving this the clear edge over similar albums in the same zone is that Deradoorian recorded the whole shebang herself.
7. Noura Mint Seymali, Yenbett (Glitterbeat) Mauritanian vocalist Seymali is a griot who also plays the ardine (a harp-like instrument similar to the kora). On this, her third album, she extends the Moorish griot tradition in bold fashion with the contributions of guitarist Jeiche Ould Chighaly, bassist Ousmane Touré, and drummer Matthew C. Tinari. Produced by Mikey Coltun, who has also worked with Mdou Moctar, this is a robust and thorough contemporizing by Seymali and company, resonant and lacking in any false notes. Desert Blues fans should not flake.
6. Patricia Brennan, Of the Near and Far (Pyroclastic) For this set, Brennan, whose brilliance on vibraphone and marimba is second to none on the contemporary scene, gathered pitch and numerical data from five constellations, which she then overlaid on the musical circle of fifths in hopes of discovering some symmetry. Having found more than she’d hoped, Brennan used the material in composing the pieces performed here, roping in a jazz quintet, string quartet, and an electronic musician, plus conductor. The finished album is surprising and delightful and so damn beautiful.
5. Matmos, Metallic Life Review (Thrill Jockey) Like Patricia Brennan, Drew Daniel, and M.C. Schmidt, the duo who comprise Matmos, are relentlessly curious. This album is a fascinating and engaging answer to a question. That is, what would a Matmos album made up of the sounds of metal objects (and only metal objects) sound like? Field recordings of the sound of metal objects are part of the album’s construction, building in life experience for its makers and dimension for the listener. Side two was recorded live in the studio. If made only with metal, the finished album is startlingly human.
4. Trio of Bloom (Craig Taborn, Nels Cline & Marcus Gilmore), S/T (Pyroclastic) and Nels Cline Consentrik Quartet (Ingrid Laubrock, Chris Lightcap, Tom Rainey), S/T (Blue Note) Trio of Bloom is a leaderless session inspired by the classic Bill Frisell, Melvin Gibbs, Ronald Shannon Jackson album Power Tools. Produced by David Breskin, a whole lot of prep went into the album’s recording. Along with choosing a composition to cover each, everyone brought their own songs to a recording that’s built upon sincere collaboration and the true spirit of curiosity.
Cline is clearly the leader of the Consentrik Quartet, but everybody in the group was easily chosen for their improvisational and interactive abilities. Really, the leadership designation comes down to the pieces all being composed by Cline. While the selections have a built-in level of accessibility, there are moments of surprise in every piece, and Cline’s soloing gets deliciously wild at times.
3. Ivo Perelman & Matthew Shipp String Trio, Armageddon Flower (Tao Forms) Saxophonist Perelman and pianist Shipp have a long history of collaboration, so this album’s foundation is experience. Shipp’s trio features Mat Maneri on viola and William Parker on bass, so there are nothing but titanium-strong links in this scenario. As Perelman and Shipp know each other well, it’s worth noting that there is no other iteration of the Shipp String Trio. The foundation is firm for some of the finest spontaneous compositions to hit the bins in a long time.
2. James Brandon Lewis, Apple Cores (ANTI) + James Brandon Lewis Quartet, Abstraction is Deliverance (Intakt) With his versatility and passion, saxophonist Lewis continues to astound. Apple Cores is a trio of Lewis, Chad Taylor on drums and mbira, and Josh Warner on bass and guitar. Guilherme Monteiro and Stephane San Juan add guitar and percussion, respectively, to four tracks. A tidy set made up of succinct pieces where Lewis flies high atop grooves that can travel into street-festival funk territory, there is also an atmospheric stretch and a sweet version of Ornette’s “Broken Shadows.”
Abstraction is Deliverance features Lewis on tenor, Aruán Ortiz on piano, Brad Jones on bass, and Taylor behind the kit. Launching from the Classic Coltrane Quartet zone in the opening compositional tribute to David S. Ware, Lewis gives us some of his warmest playing on a set of originals save for a version of “Left Alone” by Mal Waldron.
1. Mary Halvorson, About Ghosts (Nonesuch) + Sylvie Courvoisier and Mary Halvorson, Bone Bells (Pyroclastic) Produced by John Dieterich of Deerhoof, About Ghosts features guitarist-composer Halvorson’s Amaryllis sextet with Patricia Brennan on vibes, Jacob Garchik on trombone, Adam O’Farrill on trumpet, Nick Dunston on bass, and Halverson’s Thumbscrew bandmate Thomas Fujiwara on drums, with saxophonists Immanuel Wilkins (alto) and Brian Settles (tenor) augmenting the group on four tracks. Halvorson’s guitar is certainly present, but About Ghosts is really about her growing brilliance as a composer. She orchestrates a sublime collective statement.
Bone Bells brings Halvorson’s distinctive approach to the guitar right up close in a series of striking duo excursions with the pianist Courvoisier. It’s their third release as a duo after 2017’s Crop Circles. In 2021, Searching for the Disappeared Hour followed. Halvorson brings the odd-number compositions, while Courvoisier is responsible for the evens, as her playing ranges from contemplative to fleet to thunderous. Throughout the eight pieces, Courvoisier and Halvorson complement each other perfectly as an already rich collaboration rises to new heights.
