My Favorite Albums of 2025 and Why

By Ryan O'Connell on 12/19/2025 • ( 0 )

As tends to happen this time of year, I was thinking about my favorite albums released over the past 12 months. However, as something that also tends to happen, regardless of the time of year, I began thinking about it more. Specifically, I started thinking about why these albums were my favorite, with the why being deeper than simply liking them or thinking they rocked. It’s been a long, weird, up-and-down kind of year, and when it came to my favorite albums of this long, weird, up-and-down year, they were my favorite because they served a specific purpose or delivered a particularly relevant message.

Or maybe they just rocked. Sometimes it’s just that simple.

Hey, and remember, you can find my favorite songs of the year here.

My Morning Jacket ‘is’

I feel like I had started to take My Morning Jacket for granted, and you know, I don’t feel great about that. I relied on them, trusted them, leaned on them when I needed some soaring alt-country rock or head-bobbing, foot stompin’ Kentucky goodness. But that’s no way to treat your friends. It’s bush league. I’ve been listening to My Morning Jacket for over 20 years, and yes, I took them for granted. I liked their last couple of albums, but truthfully, their most recent release I got really fired up about was MMJ Live Vol. 3: Bonnaroo 2004, and I don’t know, maybe I had hit that point with a band I had liked for a long time where the recent releases were fine, but I was in it for the way back machine, for the stuff that got me hooked initially. 2025 proved that it was not the case, thankfully, as is is a straight-up wonderful record that reinvigorated my love for the band. I’m still into the now with My Morning Jacket, and that’s a good feeling because if seeing them live in October proved anything, it’s that the now with My Morning Jacket still fucking rocks.

Galactic w/ Irma Thomas ‘Audience with the Queen’

Galactic, left to their own devices and out there doing their own thing, remain a groove monster. They roll through funk like no one’s business. But their secret weapon is that they’re also one of the best backing bands around, whether it’s backing a rapper, backing a young firecracker, or, in the case of Audience with the Queen, backing up a legend. Galactic’s collaboration with Irma Thomas is genuine and emotional. Funky at times and soulful throughout, it’s a great record, and ultimately, it made me just really appreciate Galactic, a band I have loved for years.

Mallett Brothers Band ‘Higher Up in the Hills’

Okay. So, The Mallett Brothers Band are from the great state of Maine, based in and around the greater Portland area, and as someone who was once part of that great music scene, I still ride with it and support the artists up there. Yet it’s fun when your support for something hits another gear. In this case, I would be supporting the Malletts regardless, because you know, a Maine kid is gonna do Maine things like be unflinchingly loyal. But their 2025 release, Higher Up in the Hills, was my favorite record of the year by a country mile. The band is in their bag and really hitting their stride, producing some high-quality alt-country, Americana, and in some sense, I’m just really proud of them, but in another sense, I’m in awe of them and what they continue to do.

Charley Crockett ‘Lonesome Drifter’

In the summer of 2025, I found myself on the move a lot, traveling quite a bit for work. When you find yourself in such a situation, the traveling can become monotonous but also isolating. Airports and hotels and Ubers all look and feel the same, and you miss home a lot. Lonesome Drifter, the first of two great releases from Charley Crockett, was in heavy rotation for me as I worked my way through these airports and hotels, and Ubers. It grounded me and calmed me. It’s an incredible travel record, perfect to listen to while mindlessly walking from point to point or while staring out a window, watching landscapes and the world drift by.

Surfing for Daisy ‘Surfing for Daisy’

I had missed having a local band I could get behind, and no, Bruce Springsteen doesn’t count, even if he does frequent various spots around this town of mine. No, I had missed having a young, local band to listen to, support, and root for, and along came Surfing for Daisy, from up the road in Asbury Park. Photographer Danny Clinch introduced me to them when he featured them on Instagram, and I was taken in by how real and pure their sound is. Then we saw them live in November, and they had such a great young spirit to them. It was fun seeing a band so fresh as daisy and hungry. I had missed that.

Turnstile ‘Never Enough’

The years have gone on, and as they have, I’ve gotten older. I’ve told myself that I’m a little wiser, and I’ve found that my tastes have changed. Musically, there have been some constants, but my preferences have kind of evolved as they are prone to do. Yet some things you just can’t change or shake, and for me personally, I’m still a grunge kid at heart. The right kind of heavy music will always hit home for me, and Turnstile is a bit of a kindred spirit to me in that respect. I was a little nervous when they first single they released off of Never Enough didn’t thrash, but me being a Nervous Nelly was short-sighted because sure enough, Turnstile still rocks. If the Mallet Brothers Band record was my favorite record of the year, Turnstile’s might have been the one I enjoyed the most and the one that fed the grunge kid that still lives inside of me.

Dispatch ‘Yellow Jacket’

Dispatch? Yeah, Dispatch. No, wait…Dispatch! Yeah, man, 2025 and Dispatch had one of my favorite records of the year. When they’re hitting, Dispatch has always made me feel at ease in some way, and Yellow Jacket was Dispatch hitting on all cylinders. Dispatch is like comfort food and these uncomfortable times, kid, so I personally am looking for all the comfort I can find.

Goose ‘Yer Dragon Must Go’

Goose released two studio albums this year. First, there was Everything Must Go. It was fine. A little hit or miss. Shortly after, they released Chain Yer Dragon, which was kind of fun because it featured some studio versions of songs that they’d been playing for a while, but again, it was also a little hit or miss. This tracks because, at least for me, when it comes to Goose, I’ve always been about 70% into them. That number has dipped occasionally, but the 70% has been their high-water mark. Luckily, we live in the future, and I didn’t have to live in a world where only those two records existed. I could make my own, which I did, and then called it Yer Dragon Must Go because it was comprised of songs from both albums, and I’m not saying I’m a genius or an expert mixologist, but I am saying this is what I did, and this record became regular listening for me because I like Goose. I just don’t like some of their decisions. So yeah, at least in this case, problem solved. But still, only 70% into Goose.