Top Five 2025

The first part of this album is a stunning stripped down depressing folk album. The rest is a robust joyous love drenched album. The two pieces together make a stunning collection of all of Bon Iver's styles.

Was not expecting a Justin Bieber album to be in my top list this year, but this was on repeat from the second I pressed play on the first song. Shout out to Dijon for influencing and helping write songs here. A wonderful clash from a top tier pop artist and a rising DIY indie guy.

I learned to love Cameron Winters voice from his solo album "Heavy Metal". And this was a continuation of that love with an intricate tapestry of sound behind him. PLUS the album was produced by KennyBeats, so it sounds stellar and has slight hints of hip hop production.

Note: His voice is an acquired taste, but once it clicks IT CLICKS

At first I could not stomach this album. It came out around the same time as SWAG (See above) and that was much more palatable than this. So I was drawn to the sweet easy listening version of Dijon. But coming back to this thing has been a delight. Its full of clashing sounds and tempo changes, and yet sweet honey creeps through the cracks.

DERBY is a wonderful spice mix of Pinegrove, hyperpop and DIY indie rock. I started with the song Gold, and I was lucky to learn this album was following up that single shortly. I love adding new artists to my arsenal and Im excited to see what he does next.