As the year's major music lists dominate headlines, a wealth of exceptional albums risk slipping through the cracks. Beyond the chart-toppers and critical darlings lie records of profound depth, innovation, and emotional power. Here, we spotlight five such masterpieces from 2025 that deserve your immediate attention, spanning soul-baring folk, alt-rock fury, Afrobeats curation, and neon-lit techno.
Annahstasia's Vindication and Valentina Magaletti's Percussive Thrills
Annahstasia's debut album, 'Tether', stands as a powerful artistic statement. Having been signed at 17 and pushed towards mainstream pop, the singer-songwriter walked away to forge her own path. The album is the triumphant result, showcasing her extraordinary, husky vocals and deft songwriting. It moves from the seductive soul of 'Slow' to the raging alt-rock of 'Believer', each track imprinted with her unique character. Songs like 'Silk and Velvet' grapple with themes of artistic integrity, making for an intimate and remarkably moving listen that feels less like a passive experience and more like entering a relationship.
Meanwhile, Italian drummer Valentina Magaletti continues her prolific streak with the wildly exhilarating 'Kansai Bruises', a collaboration with Japanese musician Koshiro Hino (YPY). Far from a dry percussion exercise, the 37-minute album is a textural delight and a virtuosic high-wire act. Tracks like 'One Hour Visa' induce a synaptic overload, while the title track sees Magaletti's yelps punctuate a thrilling run from tuneful patter to rumbling drones. The album's gleeful aggression is so overwhelming it becomes paradoxically relaxing, a testament to Magaletti's preternatural talent.
Madison Cunningham's Stormy Rebirth and Sarz's Diasporic Sounds
For her third album, 'Ace', Madison Cunningham shifts focus from her celebrated guitar work to explore the terrifying, breathless possibilities of starting over. The Californian folk musician uses haunting metaphors to dissect a love that began at 17 and ended in divorce by 27. Described as a record about 'dying in reverse', it harnesses elemental power from vast woodwind arrangements and slicing strings. On piano ballad 'Take Two', she sings with steely new self-knowledge. Named for 'the strongest and the weakest card in the pack', 'Ace' compellingly argues that truth is slippery and contradictory, marking a career-best, stormy achievement.
Nigerian producer Sarz, long an architect of iconic Afrobeats sounds, makes a monumental statement with his debut album, 'Protect Sarz at All Costs'. The project solidifies his claim as one of Nigeria's most deft curators, expertly getting hips swinging across the diaspora. Featuring collaborators from Asake and Lojay to South Africa's Ndlovu Youth Choir and French-Congolese singer Theodora, the album is genre-fluid. It spans amapiano, hip-hop, 90s R&B, and alté, with orchestral flourishes and futuristic production. From the sensual 'African Barbie' to the luxury rap-inflected 'Getting Paid', the album is less an arrival and more an assertive display of prodigious, globe-filling talent.
Daniel Avery's Brooding Electronica and Anthony Naples' Steady Evolution
Daniel Avery's 'Tremor' is an album that feels furtive and brooding, like 'the thin, constricting sensation of nylons pulled tight over my face'. A far cry from his accessible early techno, it gathers a community of understated voices to create a seething, serpentine listen. With droning guitars, clipped live drums, and breathy lyrics, it slinks through dark, industrial alleyways. The result is a deconstructed, post-techno record that seeps into your consciousness, goading you into imagined mischief with its immersive, atmospheric pressure.
Finally, Anthony Naples continues his steady evolution with 'Scanners'. Emerging in the mid-2010s lo-fi house scene, his work has matured into richer, more populist territories. The album features vocal samples, higher tempos, and playful details like discordant jazz piano on 'Somebody'. It ranges from classic Basic Channel-style dub techno on 'Hi Lo' to the early-90s nostalgia of 'Mushy'. The highlight, 'Night', feels like shards of digital light hurtling past at 134bpm. In a dance scene often focused on legends and hype, Naples' consistent iteration and improvement of his craft is a quiet triumph.
A Posthumous Revelation
In a special category is 'Radu Lupu: The Unreleased Recordings'. Released to mark what would have been the legendary pianist's 80th birthday, this six-disc set is a wonderful surprise. It compiles studio sessions and radio tapes from 1970 to 2002, featuring works the Romanian maestro did not otherwise record. Alongside expected Lupu territory like Mozart and Schubert are thrillingly vivid performances of Chopin's B minor Scherzo, a fierce Copland Sonata from Aldeburgh 1971, and a rare venture into Russian repertoire with Mussorgsky's 'Pictures at an Exhibition'. Every track is a treat, serving as a profound reminder of Lupu's penetrating musical intelligence and beguiling sound world.
