You’ve made it through another year! This one may have been a doozy, but we've fortunately had a stellar selection of music to see us through. Take a look at the albums KALW Music loved in 2025.

1. Sessa “Pequena Vertigem de Amor” (Mexican Summer)
2. Rosalía “Lux” (Columbia)
3. Mohinder Kaur Bhamra “Punjabi Disco” (Naya Beat)
4. John Glacier “Like A Ribbon” (Young)
5. Annahstasia “Tether” (drink sum wtr)
6. Jim Legxacy  “black british music” (XL)
7. Derya Yוldוrוm & Grup Şimşek “Yarın Yoksa” (Big Crown)
8. Geese “Getting Killed” (Partisan)
9. Soulwax “All Systems Are Lying” (Because Music)
10. WITCH “SOGOLO” (Partisan)

1. Aki Kumar, “God Bless The USA” (Self Released)
2. Bob Dylan “Through the Open Window: The Bootleg Series Vol.18” (Columbia)
3. Trombone Shorty & New Breed Brass Band “Second Line Sunday” (Treme)
4. The California Honeydrops “Redwood Highway” (Tubtone)
5. Buddy Guy “Ain't Done With The Blues” (RCA)
6. The Lucky Losers “Arrival” (Self Released)
7. Mavis Staples “Sad And Beautiful World” (Anti-)
8. Taj Mahal,Keb' Mo’ “Room on the Porch” (Concord)
9. The Gold Souls “Something in the Air” (Self Released)
10. Charlie Musselwhite “Look Out Highway” (Forty Below)

1. Justin Adams, Mauro Durante  "Sweet Release" (Ponderosa Music) 
2. Ambrose Akinmusire  "honey from a winter stone" (Nonesuch)
3. Kinan Azmeh, CityBand "Live in Berlin" ( Kinan Azmeh & Dreyer Gaido Musikproduktionen)
4. Piers Faccini, Ballaké Sissoko "Our Calling" (NØ FØRMAT!)
5. L’Antidote "L’Antidote" (Ponderosa)
6. Nesrine "Kan Ya Makan (Once Upon A Time)” (ACT Music)
7. Meral Polat "Meydan" (W.E.R.F.)
8. Saha Gnawa "Saha Gnawa" (Pique-nique Recordings)
9. Aboubakar Traoré & Balima "Sababu" (Zephyrus)
10. Dhafer Youssef "Shiraz" (ACT) 

1. Amadou & Mariam “L’Amour à la folie” (Because Music)
2. Femi Kuti “Journey Through Life” (Partisan)
3. Amira Kheir “Black Diamonds” (Contro Cultura Music)
4. Salif Keïta “So Kono” (Nø Førmat! / KYOTOPHONIE)
5. Abel Selaocoe “Hymns of Bantu” (Parlophone Limited)
6. Youssou Ndour “Éclairer le Monde” (Self Released & TBI Publishing S.A)
7. Black Sherif “IRON BOY” (EMPIRE)
8. Various Artists “The Original Sound of Mali” (Mr Bongo)
9. Tony Allen, La BOA “LA BOA MEETS TONY ALLEN” (Planet Woo / Comet)
10. Burna Boy “No Sign of Weakness” (Atlantic)

1. Kali Uchis “Sincerely” (Capitol)
2. Cochemea “Vol. III: Ancestros Futuros” (Daptone)
3. Dijon “Baby” (R&R / Warner)
4. Fuerza Regida “111XPANTIA (DELUXE)” (Rancho Humilde / Streetmob)
5. Charley Crockett “Dollar a Day” (Lone Star Rider)
6. Grateful Dead “The Music Never Stopped (Live)” (Rhino)
7. Bad Bunny “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” (Rimas)
8. East Forest “Lovingly - Guided” (Long Lost Tricks Music)
9. Phi-Psonics “Expanding To One” (Gondwana)
10. Larry June, Cardo Got Wings “Until Night Comes” (The Freeminded / EMPIRE)

1. KAYTRANADA “AIN’T NO DAMN WAY!” (KAYTRANADA)
2. Aminé  “13 Months of Sunshine” (CLBN)
3. RIO KOSTA “Unicorn” (Verdigris)
4. Pachyman “Another Place” (ATO)
5. Natalie Bergman “My Home is Not In This World” (Third Man)
6. Durand Jones & The Indications “Flowers” (Dead Oceans)
7. Surprise Chef “Superb” (Big Crown)
8. Bad Colours, Jarv Dee “BLAKHOUSE 2: TRIAL BY FIRE” (MOOR COLOURS)
9. TOKiMONSTA “Eternal Reverie” (Young Art)
10. Evil Needle & Misha “The Groove Chronicles” (Self Released)

1. Muireann Bradley “I Kept These Old Blues” (Tompkins Square)
2. Tim Grimm “Bones of Trees” (Self Released)
3. Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson “What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow” (Nonesuch)
4. The Accidentals “TIME OUT 3” (Self Released)
5. Tom Prasada-Rao “Beautiful You: The Songs of Tom Prasada-Rao” (Simple Gift) 
6. Cindy Kallet “Ride in the Light” (Sleepy Creek Music)
7. C. Daniel Boling featuring Tom Paxton “It Matters” (Perfectly Stable Music)
8. Kemp Harris “The America Chronicles” (Self Released)
9. Steve Gillette “Best of Steve Gillette” (Self Released)
10. Jerron Paxton “Things Done Changed” (Smithsonian Folkways Recordings)

1. Isaiah Sharkey “Red” (Rizqman Music)
2. Ian Kelley DJ DSharp “Ocean” (Table 5 Music Group)
3. SiR “Heavy Deluxe: THE LIGHT” (Top Dawg Entertainment)
4. Butcher Brown “Letters from the Atlantic” (Concord Jazz)
5. The Budos Band “VII” ( Diamond West)
6. Greentea Peng “TELL DEM IT’S SUNNY” (Greentea Peng/AWAL Recordings Ltd.)
7. Ebo Taylor, Adrian Younge, Ali Shaheed Muhammad “Ebo Taylor JID022” (Jazz is Dead) 
8. Clipse “Let God Sort Em Out” (Roc Nation) 
9. Karizma “Can’t Call It” (R2 Records)
10. Men I Trust “Equus Caballus” (2025 Independent)

1. Guedra Guedra “MUTANT” (Smugglers Way)
2. Zeitgeist Freedom Energy Exchange “INSPIRE//RADICALISE” (Energy Exchange)
3. Djrum “Under Tangled Silence” (Houndstooth)
4. Mei Semones “Animaru” (Bayonet)
5. Peki Momés “Peki Momés” (Mocambo)
6. Derya Yוldוrוm & Grup Şimşek “Yarın Yoksa” (Big Crown)
7. Stereolab “Instant Holograms On Metal Film” (Duophonic UHF Disks)
8. Cola Boyy “Quit to Play Chess” (Record Makers)
9. Dana and Alden “Speedo” (Concord Jazz)
10. Phoebe Rings “Aseurai” (Carpark)

1. Lael Neale “Altogether Stranger” (Sub Pop)
2. Masma Dream World “PLEASE COME TO ME” (Valley of Search)
3. Joni Void “Every Life Is A Light” (Constellation)
4. Various Artists “Volcanic Tongue – A Time-Travelling Evangelist’s Guide to Late 20th Century Underground Music” (Dash The Henge) 
5. Katsy Pline “Live at the Three Teardrops” (Paisley Shirt)
6. IE “Reverse Earth” (Quindi)
7. Ryli “Come and Get Me” (Dandy Boy)
8. Stereolab “Instant Holograms on Metal Film” (Duophonic  UHF Disks/ Warp)
9. Agnes Martian “Elsewhere” (Centripetal Force)
10. Sumac, Moor Mother “The Film” (Thrill Jockey)

1. Bad Bunny “DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS” (Rimas)
2. Chance the Rapper “STAR LINE” (Self released)
3. Cochemea “Vol. III: Ancestros Futuros” (Daptone)
4. CA7RIEL y Paco Amoroso “PAPOTA” (5020)
5. Pachyman “Another Place” (ATO Records)
6. Madison McFerrin “Scorpio” (MadMcFerrin Music)
7. Lupe Fiasco “Samurai” (1st & 15th Too/ Thirty Tigers)
8. Choses Sauvages “Choses Sauvages III” (Self Released)
9. CARRTOONS “Space Cadet” (+1)
10. Surprise Chef “Superb” (Big Crown)

1. Leon Thomas "MUTT" (EZMNY/Motown)
2. Lord Finesse "The SP-1200 Project: Sounds and Frequencies in Technicolor" (Underworld Label Group)
3. Gelli Haha "Switcheroo" (Innovative Leisure)
4. El Michels Affair "24 Hour Sports" (Big Crown)
5. Mobb Deep "Infinite" (Mass Appeal)
6. Chaos In The CBD "A Deeper Life" (In Dust We Trust)
7. Butcher Brown "Letters From The Atlantic" (Concord Jazz)
8. De La Soul "Clear Lake Auditorium" (Chrysalis)
9. Automatic "Is It Now?" (Stones Throw)
10. Madison McFerrin "SCORPIO" (MadMcferrin Music)

1. The Onlies “You Climb The Mountain” (Self Released)
2. Big Country Bluegrass “Carry Me Back To The Bluegrass” (Rebel)
3. Danny Paisley “Bluegrass State Of Mind” (Pinecastle)
4. The Lonesome Ace Stringband “Big Wing” (Self Released)
5. Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson “What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow” (Nonesuch)
6. Larry Sparks “Way Back When” (Rebel)
7. Various Artists “Julia Belle: The John Hartford Fiddle Tune Project Volume 2” (Self Released)
8. Red Wine “New Night Dawning” (Self Released)
9. Laurie Lewis “O California!” (Spruce and Maple)
10. AJ Lee & Blue Summit “Cover To Cover V1” (Self Released)

1. Gabriela Ortiz, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Gustavo Dudamel, Maria Duenas, & Los Angeles Master Chorale “Gabriela Ortiz: Revolución Diamantina” (Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra)
2. Dima Slobodeniouk, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Edward Gardner, & Karina Canellakis “Tania León: Horizons, Raíces, Stride, Pasajes” (London Philharmonic Orchestra)
3. Theresa Wong “Journey to the Cave of Guanyin” (Room40)
4. Apollo Chamber Players “Ban: Stories of Censorship” (Azica)
5. Kaija Saariaho, Fleur Barron, Axelle Fanyo, Nicholas Phan, Christopher Purves, San Francisco Symphony Chorus, San Francisco Symphony, & Esa-Pekka Salonen “Kaija Saariaho: Adriana Mater” (San Francisco Symphony)
6. Exaudi Vocal Ensemble “Lasso, Vicentino, Rore, Lusitano, Marenzio, Luzzaschi: Chromatic Renaissance” (Winter & Winter GmbH)
7. Meredith Monk “Cellular Songs” (ECM)
8. Víkingur Ólafsson “Orbiting Around Opus 109” (Deutsch Grammophon)
9. Pamela Z “Simultaneous” (Other Minds)
10. Claire Chase, Cory Smythe, Katinka Kleijn, Seth Parker Woods, & Anna Thorvalsdóttir “Anna Thorvalsdóttir: Ubique” (Sono Luminus)

1. Geese “Getting Killed” (Partisan)
2. Lambrini Girls “Who Let the Dogs Out” (City Slang) 
3. Natalie Bergman “My Home is Not in This World” (Third Man) 
4. Everything is Recorded “Temporary” (XL)
5. Cate Le Bon “Michelangelo Dying” (Mexican Summer)
6. Ami Taf Ra “The Prophet and The Madman” (Brainfeeder) 
7. Nourished By Time “The Passionate Ones” (XL) 
8. Adrian Younge “Something About April III” (Linear Labs) 
9. Antony Szmierek “Service Station at The End of The Universe” (Mushroom Music)
10. Haley Heynderickx, Max Garcia Conover “What of Our Nature” (Fat Possum) 

1. Matthew Herbert & Momoko Gill “Clay” (Strut)
2. Emma-Jean Thackray “Weirdo” (Brownswood)
3. SOYUZ “KROK” (Mr. Bongo)
4. Automatic “Is It Now?” (Stones Throw)
5. Chip Wickham “The Eternal Now” (Gondwana)
6. featherload  “A Hue of Meaning” (Self Released)
7. Adrian Quesada “Boleros Psicodélicos II” (ATO)
8. De La Soul "Cabin In The Sky" (Mass Appeal)
9. Orchestra Gold “Dakan” (Self Released)
10. El Michels Affair “24 Hr Sports” (Big Crown)