Benjamin Judge's judgements

These are the ten albums I listened to the most in 2025. I didn’t want to pick a favourite so I have put them in that sort-of alphabetical order most places use now. You know, the alphabetical order that ignores surnames.

Agathe Cipres – El Gran Vacío

How do people find new music nowadays? Probably a tiktok or something. I have found the transition from traditional media to algorithms difficult but not impossible. I find a lot of new stuff by typing ‘best albums of the year’ and the name of a country into Google Translate then doing a search with the translated phrase. Four years ago, the Argentina search (los mejores álbumes argentinos de…) brought up a website that recommended Los Límites by Agathe Cipres. I liked it. I put it on one of my playlists.

Four years later, she has a new album out. That’s what the playlist is for. Checking. Part of me thinks it was easier when Melody Maker or Select would just recommend a band, but then I remember Britpop, and the money I wasted on two-part cd singles, and I head back to Google Translate.

El Gran Vacío is both small and big, arthouse-cinematic. Songs are often reduced to just a voice and a piano but then they grow again, or turn in a different direction, take tangents. Cipres grew up in France before moving to Argentina and the songs span the classical and pop cultures of both countries, but in a fun way. Joyful.

CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY

CMAT was absolutely robbed at the Mercury Prize this year, which is to say, I prefer this album to the one that won. You probably don’t need me tell you about it. It’s very good.

Coline Rio – Maison

The first of three French albums on my list. Maison is quiet and beautiful, you know, like a house.

You’ll quickly discover that I’m very bad at describing music. It’s not a huge list though is it? Ten albums. And we’ve already established that you’ve heard the CMAT one. Just take my word for it that they are all excellent and make yourself a playlist or something. I’d do it myself but I’m not your mom.

Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek – Yarın Yoksa

This album is a spell, conjuring up a mid-70s mediterranean island full of beautifully dressed artists and novelists, possibly in the process of overthrowing something or other, probably in a really stylish way, but mostly just being cool and drinking Campari in those little metal chairs you get at cafes.

Geese – Getting Killed

I had sort of given up on the idea of ever liking a new ‘rock’ album made by boys ever again. The whole endeavour seemed pretty much done. There’s seventy-odd years worth of stuff already, and a lot of it is great, but every year seemed to bring less and less stuff that didn’t make me just think, yeah, but, so what? Getting Killed made me think again. It convinced me that there was life left in boys/guitars. Although not all of Geese are men, so I could still be right.

There is a moment in Long Island City Here I Come when you realise Max Bassin has grown a couple of extra limbs and is frantically finding new drums to hit them with. It is my song of the year. I am in love with its rattling madness spiralling toward the pay off, ‘Like Charlemagne on the midnight bus / I have no idea where I’m going / Here I come’. It’s fucking glorious, mate.

Laura Cahen -De l’autre côté

Another album by a French singer-songwriter, but this one is slightly less electronic and slightly more acoustic than the Coline Rio album. Not massively so though. If you like one, you will probably like the other.

Léonie Pernet – Poèmes Pulvérisés

An album inspired in part by time spent in Niger meeting her father’s family for the first time, and drawing from French, African, and Arabic musical traditions and, you know what, I’m just cribbing this off a press release. It’s a really good electronic pop album that you will probably enjoy listening to.

Meral Polat – Meydan

Like, Yarın Yoksa, Meydan is an album with its origins in the Turkish diaspora, that draws from the classics of Turkish psychedelia, but combines those influences with contemporary sounds to create something new. Meydan has more of a supporting-Led-Zepplin-in-Istanbul vibe than a 70s-island vibe though, if that helps.

Mogwai – The Bad Fire

Mogwai and I have both come a long way since I saw them at a festival in the 90s and thought they were shit. Well, they have anyway. The Bad Fire is lovely.

Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias

Musically, more upbeat than her debut [Marchita, which is one of the best albums of the last decade, in my opinion]. Lyrically, I couldn’t say, as I don’t speak Spanish. Blimey, these reviews have been garbage haven’t they? Just me saying stuff. This album is a good and this album is a good. Blah blah blah. The main photo I used isn’t even of any of these bands/artists.

HOWEVER…

SERIOUS POINT COMING UP…

If you have heard some of these albums (and I suspect a lot of you will be familiar with some or all of CMAT, Geese and Mogwai) then I reckon you will probably like the other ones too. They are all exceptional albums. Give them a listen. Treat yourself.