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Most Enjoyed Albums of 2025

Another year, another bazillion new albums released in the world. That’s too many for me to digest, though I did sample a few and listen to a lot more than my streamlined selection of favourites below. These are the albums that were played again and again, stuck in my head and reached into my soul, the real ones.

KOKOROKO – Tuff Times Never Last (Brownswood)

Youth Lagoon – Rarely Do I Dream (Fat Possum)

Credit Electric – Salvation (Self Released)

Paul Coleman – The Weather Man (Athens Of The North)

Ryan Sambol – Friend Of The Show (Self Released/Abrahamic Music BMI)

Salty Miller – Album 1 (Miles Away Records)

Nourished By Time – The Passionate Ones (XL)

Trystero – Humming Fuzz (Knekelhuis)

Golomb – The Beat Goes On (No Quarter)

J Mahon – Begin Again, Again (Unique Records)

Joanne Robertson – Blurrr (AD 93)

Smerz – Big city life (Escho)

Sharp Pins – Radio DDR (Perennial Death)

Sharp Pins – Balloon Balloon Balloon (Perennial Death)

Headache – Thank You For Almost Everything (PLZ Make It Ruins)

IE – Reverse Earth (Quindi Records)

Geese – Getting Killed (Partisan/Play It Again Sam)

Tobacco City – Horses (Scissor Tail Records)

EsDeeKid – Rebel (XV Records/Lizzy Records)

https://embed.music.apple.com/gb/album/rebel/1818817424

And finally, just released this month in December 2025 and already picking up repeat listens is the new one by The Roves, who have expanded their sound just enough to make this release one of their best yet, while keeping it raw and tuneful as ever!

The Roves – Pope & The Computer (Discotif)

LYLO’s TON Remixed

The final instalment of LYLO’s ‘Thoughts of Never’ project brings three contemporaries into the (re) mix to spin their magic on the magic of three TON album tracks. Check them out below.

Premiere: ‘Downtown’ by LYLO

El Rancho is proud to premier the brand new music video for LYLO’s ‘Downtown’. This final single beautifully closes the Thoughts of Never chapter. Like the album itself, it’s patient and subtle – a song whose grace and beauty seep out slowly, much like the cityscapes it evokes.

Filmed live on the 13th of November 2024 at Silent Green, Berlin by Neelam Khan Vela, the video captures the style and silky feel of the track exquisitely. While on tour with Cassandra Jenkins (who lends her signature hushed vocals as a backing on the track) last November, friend and renowned music photographer Neelam, now based in Berlin, took a brief moment and turned it into something incredible – Her live take of Downtown has been synched with the original album audio to striking effect.

Speaking about the track, Justin from LYLO shared: “Downtown is about running away from something. We weren’t quite running, but briskly moving away from some of the previous musical associations we’d grown into. I would say it’s one of the more composed and patient tracks on TON – skills we developed while previously performing with Cassandra – being confident to sit more in the calm and motionless moments”.

Tune in at 9am on Friday 17th January for the world premiere!