Loud And Quiet Albums of the Year 2025

Our top 30 records from what might prove to be the last year on earth, as voted for by our contributors

2025 has been the 20th year of Loud And Quiet and the first of us operating online, here on Substack, zipping articles directly into your inbox. It’s been an overwhelming positively experience, which started in late February when I posted this explainer about the highs and lows of funding a music magazine. Within that article I wrote: “It’s not going to be exactly the same, but that’s kind of the point too. Time for a change. For Loud And Quiet, and for music writing in general.” And the immortal promise: “It will be very clever and essential reading. And a bit of a laugh.”

And so it’s proven to be, in the former’s case, at least. Our album reviews became fewer but much more in depth; monthly columns arrived to round up the best debuts (First Base) and avant-garde releases (The Drift); our Roundtable podcast was introduced as a place to discuss the big releases from the previous 30 days or so.

I suppose I always knew that we’d find a way to tell our readers about the music that really…