An odd category this, but one I’ve included for a very long time. Being excluded from my thoughts for EPs or Albums of the year can be for a variety of reasons, most of which I will address in the individual entry.

While they may not feature in the ‘main’ lists that does not mean that they are not worthy of your attention. Nor, I should add, will I reveal where they would place in the main list(s).

They might still not feature in the top lists or they might be in the highest reaches. I shall never say. Rest assured I choose to highlight them because I value them highly and as such they’re ordered here A-Z.

I think you’ll get a sense of my affection from each write-up anyway.

Alberto Juscamaita Gastelú – Reminiscences of Raktako: Huayno Guitar from Cuzco and Ayacucho
Extraordinary home recordings from between 1930 and 1940 of the renown Huayno guitarist. These recordings, shared with archivists and labels in 2022 and made with the sparsest of equipment, had never been published before and represent an invaluable cultural treasure. The guitarist, who lived for over 100 years and passed away in 2023, had been largely forgotten until recently, when the Ministry of Culture of Peru officially recognised him as Meritorious Personality of Culture. His legacy, which includes a profound influence on Peruvian music, especially the Ayacucho guitar tradition, is finally being acknowledged.
LISTEN HERE

Ancient Lights – Reclamation
I released the records of Fall of Efrafa – Alex’s legendary band – via my own label, and I am friends from back in my university days with guitarist Mark, so here Ancient Lights are. Their debut album, a fierce blend of anarcho-punk and death-rock is blistering, announcing them as a major new force in the UK punx scene. Vinyl is out now!
LISTEN HERE

Bag People – Bag People
Bag People were from Chicago, outgrew their home city, and became a harrowing part of the daunting, eyeopening post-punk / no-wave scene of the 80s New York City scene. They weren’t around long, but their compulsive noise-rock sound, unearthed from tapes lost for 40 years, looms large and stands tall next to the efforts of better-known contemporaries like Sonic Youth and SWANS. Garganutuan.
LISTEN HERE

billy woods & August Fanon – golliwog (alternative version)
I love the new album from billy woods – spoiler alert – but this radically alternative version in collaboration with August Fanon pushes the original hard as to which is my favourite. A mixture of remixes, reimagining, and wholly original songs, this version of golliwog also features new guests ranging from Aesop Rock to Moor Mother and consistent other collaborator ELUCID.
LISTEN HERE

Blood Vulture – Die Close
Perhaps a bit unfair to find itself here, but the project from the host of the ever entertaining ‘Two Minutes to Late Night’, Gwarsenio Hall (aka Jordan Olds) and featuring underground luminaries as guests is a fantastic, adept slab of rock & metal. With influences spanning from the golden 90s era of grunge to traditional death metal, Blood Vulture’s record is quite the ride, but you’ll be happy to be taking it.
LISTEN HERE

Botch – 061524 (live)
The band are an all time favourite of mine and I am so, so happy I got to finally see them live, not once but twice! This record can’t do justice to the sheer intensity and strange euphoria that those final run of Botch shows provided, but it gets closer than most live albums.
LISTEN HERE

Chuquimamani-Condori – Edits
The odd-ball DJ recuts many of his best tracks as well as mixes of other work, back into a different whole. Hypnotic, challenging stuff that is well worth your time. So changed is the music many might choose to classify this as deserving as being in a main listing (and it has been for a few publications), but it wasn’t for me. That said, if you like weird and wonderful electronic music, you ought to wrap your ears around this.
LISTEN HERE

Comme Un Rat – The Ratio of Being Lost to Being Found (EP)
I helped release this on my record label, as a limited edition cassette. Bas Huissen, ex-guitarist of Netherlands post-rock favourites All Shall Be Well (and All Shall Be Well and All Manner of Things Shall Be Well) reinvents himself and his sound, finding a raw approximation of what Elliot Smith and Have a Nice Life might come up with together. Playing guitar, singing for the first time and using found objects, this is beguiling early material. A second EP is reportedly in development…
LISTEN HERE

Converge / Coalesce – Live at CBGBs
Another special live recording and this time for two more incredible genre-influencing bands. It is what it is, but damn is it special. Converge are admittedly a favourite of mine, but I will never understand why Coalesce aren’t respected far more than they are. Perhaps hearing their live delivery will change that for some, albeit recent allegations may put pay to that…
LISTEN HERE

Devoid of Thought – Necrotic Surface Discarded
The Italian blackened death doom band have had some line-up changes of late. ‘Necrotic Surface Discarded’ was one of the first songs the band ever wrote and is regularly still played live. Post line-up change they chose to re-record it and name this compilation LP after it. As well as the re-recording, the release features remastered tracks from their earlier demos and a live version of ‘Effigies Of A Distant Planet’ from their debut LP.
LISTEN HERE

Emma Ruth Rundle – Music from the Bella Vista
Unlike any of her previous releases, this record is a collage of largely improvised piano pieces and field recordings captured during the creation of her debut poetry book, The Bella Vista. Emma seems incapable of recording anything that doesn’t take the breath away, but as this is inextricably tied to a book and feels a bit “non-canon”, I chose to represent it here.
LISTEN HERE

FKA twigs – EUSEXUA (alternative version)
Spoiler alert again, but you won’t find the ‘original version’ of EUSEXUA in my Albums of the Year list. I’m almost as surprised as you might be, but as time went on, I felt like there were some tracks that really didn’t hit the right vibe and weren’t of sufficient quality. Alas! Because if this version was the OG, it would have featured. She swaps out those aforementioned low(er) points for songs that are as good, if not better than others, and there’s some tweaks to the mix across the board that please me greatly.
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Frail – No Industry
Without wanting to open the can of worms that is defining a genre or sub-genre, the purest focused “real emo” (to me) only really consists of very specific geographical locations for emotional hardcore (DC and environs) and screamo (Delaware Valley). Frail were at the epicentre of it all for a very, very short amount of time. This is their one and only compilation of material. Essential listening.
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Godflesh – A World Lit Only in Dub
Justin Broadrick and B.C. Green may be inextricably linked with having forged industrial metal with Godflesh, but they are also musicians with close ties to the heavy electronic scene (that have very obvious crossovers). The pair reinvent their 2014 album, A World Lit Only by Fire into a furious dub sound. Of course it’s great.
LISTEN HERE

Goblin Ground Nautical – Wunderkammer (EP)
A new UK band have emerged to tell fantastical, off-kilter historical/mythological tales, with a goblin as mascot, member and guiding light. One of the members is a close friend, but that doesn’t stop GGN’s debut EP from being an impressive feat of progressive rock/metal wunder.
LISTEN HERE

Hemelbestormer – The Radiant Veil
This Belgian band still don’t get their flowers and I’m on a mission to change it. I originally started talking to them about releasing something on my label a million years ago, and we became pals (hence being here). This LP is their best yet and on Pelagic Records, no less. Not enough people are luxuriating in their monolithic doomy post-everything.
LISTEN HERE

IDLES – Caught Stealing (OST)
Despite being a band that I truly believe likely peaked creatively with their debut and sophomore LPs, IDLES have become a bigger entity upon each subsequent release. Such is their fame, they were asked to score an original soundtrack to the new film by Darren Aronofsky, Caught Stealing. I have been a big fan of Aronofsky in the past, but I can only assume the film is terrible, as it was relentlessly advertised even after release. The soundtrack is pretty good though, either way…
LISTEN HERE

Jessica Williams – Blue Abstraction: Prepared Piano Project 1985-1987
A pioneering trans jazz pianist and composer from Baltimore, Jessica Williams was respected by all her contemporaries, including greats like Dave Brubeck. Blue Abstraction compiles a selection of prepared piano recordings thought lost. These recordings document the beginning of a vital, solitary phase in her career: a period of intense sonic experimentation that began with physically altering a 6’4” grand piano—creating a new instrument, and from there, creating a new subtle melancholic music that errs deliciously into cacophony.
LISTEN HERE

JPEGMAFIA & Danny Brown – SCARING THE HOES: DIRECTOR’S CUT
This LP is here because it’s an extended edition, and not least due to it being an extended version of an album from before 2025. But what an odd release it is. Some tracks are great, others less so… but when released the original album was met with not only critical acclaim but so much intense focus from Peggy and Danny themselves and a usually excitable media. This just seemed to flop out with little to no fanfare. Strange.
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Kitsch – Something About You (EP)
A two track EP from another friend – a wild mix of dubstep and speed garage. There’s a woozy, dirty nostalgia to this, before some breaks hit you around the head like the hangover you’re sure to have the following day after dancing to these tracks.
LISTEN HERE

Kittie – Spit XXV (EP)
A re-recording of the famous and infamous debut EP from this institution of rock and metal, that increased female representation in the heavy music scene, this release felt like quite a moment. The new recordings hardly break new ground, but they’re not meant to. Instead they make sure that the new ground claimed all those years ago is still protected for current and future generations of women who love the heavy, too.
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Koenjihyakkei – Live at Club Goodman
Following the release of their album Dhorimviskha and during the height of the covid pandemic, Japan’s Koenjihyakkei played a rousing set to an empty Club Goodman and live-streamed their performance around the world. Drummer and vocalist Tatsuya Yoshida then returned to the original recordings a few years later and meticulously mixed & mastered them. Live at Club Goodman delivers a taser to the brain, blending progressive rock, jazz fusion, and neoclassicism with the energy of hardcore punk, the volume of metal and the attitude of rock in opposition.
LISTEN HERE

Lagrimas – Like When I Was a Kid (EP)
The Californian screamo punks released two EPs in September 2025. One was all original material and you’ll see that later on in my list season [more spoilers, soz…]. This EP is a re-recording of their original demo with all the tracks played a little faster than their earlier versions. Fantastic and an intriguing look at how older material can continue to be reinterpreted and evolve.
LISTEN HERE

Lástima – en vivo
Damn, this ‘Excluded’ list is replete with spoliers, but here again I have to say that Lástima will feature in my Albums of the Year list. This release is that album (A Pain Bloomed from My Lungs) played live on the roof of a building. Well worth listening to both, as they each have their own unique flavour.
LISTEN HERE

Local H – reFISTED
To celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of their seminal classic album Ham Fisted, Local H re-recorded the album. Not only is this a modern recording, but it’s a complete reimagining of those songs, treating the celebrated 1995 LP as a demo to guide, rather than a manual. Frontman Scott Lucas described his work on the new record as a “fistfight with my 24-year old self”. That sounds about right. Visceral punk-indebted garage rock of the highest order.
LISTEN HERE

Marshall Allen’s Ghost Horizons – Live in Philadelphia
Since the 1950s, Marshall Allen has been a vital member of the Sun Ra Arkestra and its leader since 1995. Founded in 2022, his Ghost Horizons ensemble features an all-star cast of rotating musicians including Immanuel Wilkins, Yo La Tengo’s James McNew, James Brandon Lewis, The War on Drugs’ Charlie Hall, Wolf Eyes, and many more. Lovingly culled, cut, and post-produced from nine live shows in Philadelphia, this record is quite the trip – all the way to the horizon and well beyond it.
LISTEN HERE

Masta Ace & Tom Caruana – Natural Forces
Hip-Hop legend Masta Ace gets the treatment by remix mastermind Tom Caruana (Wu-Tang vs The Beatles / Jimi Hendrix). As well as remixes from across Ace’s sprawling career the project gets a unique spin with the addition of two new tracks – ‘Freedom House’ & ‘Uncle Larry’ – both of which see the MC in a retrospective mood. The album flows like a live show with soundbites and skits from both Ace and Caruana.
LISTEN HERE

Mdou Moctar – Tears of Injustice
An acoustic version of 2024’s rapturously received LP Funeral for Justice, the Niger quartet bring new subtlety and perspective to the material. While I prefer the original versions, the 2025 edition does provide an intimacy the fully-mic’d record sometimes lacks, which makes this revisit well worth treasuring too.
LISTEN HERE

Miltown – Tales of Never Letting Go
Twenty-eight years is a long time to wait for a debut LP to finally be released, but that’s the case for Miltown’s Tales of Never Letting Go. Featuring Jonah Jenkins (Only Living Witness), Brian McTernan (Be Well, Battery, Ashes), Matt Squire (Ashes), Jay Cannava, and Rob Dulaney, these sessions were recorded at the legendary Long View Farm Studios (Bad Brains, Quicksand) in December ’97 and January ’98. The band broke up before the songs were mixed and the master tapes sat in a Southern California warehouse ever since. We can all be very grateful that Man Alive Records never did let go, finally securing a license to release it.
LISTEN HERE

Moor Mother, Wooden Elephant & Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, Dirk Kaftan – Analog Fluids of Sonic Black Holes
Another ‘reinterpretation’ album – this time being Moor Mother’s incredible 2019 LP by the same name, reborn as an audacious orchestral collaboration with Wooden Elephant and Beethoven Orchestra Bonn, led by conductor Dirk Kaftan. I might even prefer it, you know… A close run thing, anyway.
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Nadja – cut
I previously released a collaborative record with Nadja (with New Zealand’s Black Boned Angel), so consider the duo friends. That said their new record makes for absolutely essential listening and is one of my favourite things from them in years. Much like with Coalesce, I remain bemused why Nadja don’t get far, far, far, FAR more plaudits than they do. That needs to change ASAP!
LISTEN HERE

Newanddyke – Audio Archives 2002-2005
Mathgrind madness from Connecticut, this collection of tracks documents the band’s radical evolution from crazed mania to full-blown musical psychosis. Don’t worry, their new EP, Consequential Madness – their first new material for twenty years – will make an appearance later!
LISTEN HERE

Nine Inch Nails – TRON: ARES (OST)
I’m still unconvinced this should have been released under the Nine Inch Nails moniker, but who am I to argue with Reznor, Ross, et al? A strong original soundtrack with one or two standout highlights. The only silver lining to a truly wretched film.
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Orchid – Skull Sessions
The Amherst, Massachusetts screamo legends pressed this unique skull-shaped one-sided and screen-printed vinyl compiling together two different recording sessions from 2000 (tracks 1-6) and 1998 (tracks 7-13). Recorded pretty much live, remastered in 2024, and brought into physical realisty in 2025. One of the best bands to ever do it.
LISTEN HERE

Oscillotron – Sniezna
More lore from times of yore (aka my record label’s past) – this time in the form of David Johansson, vocalist & guitarist for Kongh, who started Oscillotron in 2012, moving to focus on electronics, ambient doom and soundscapes. With Tim Bertilsson from Switchblade now having joined as drummer (and appearing on here), this project continues to be productive and evolve quickly, in real time. [Kongh are now recording Album #4!]
LISTEN HERE

Penelope Trappes – A Requiem: Æternum
An artist who blew my mind both on record and live in 2025, Penelope Trappes will certainly feature again in this list bonanza (ahem), but I couldn’t neglect from including her here, with this additional material. Worthy in and of itself, the extra songs continue to world build and haunt the mind.
LISTEN HERE

Perennial – “A” is for Abstract: The Complete Art History
I admit to having sort of missed Perennial’s 2024 LP Art History. I think I gave it a cursory listen, was impressed, noted it down, and then didn’t find the time to revisit. I came across it again early in 2025 and was reminded of my initial response, only to find that that year would see a vastly expanded edition, with almost an extra album’s worth of songs added to the tracklist, entirely re-contextualising the album itself. I’m usually one advocating for culling (see Worst Albums of the Year post!), but there’s always an exception to the rule, and here it is.
LISTEN HERE

Q Lazzarus – Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus
What a fascinating and utterly tragic story Q Lazzarus’ (aka Diane Luckey) is. You will have heard her voice before. The track ‘Goodbye Horses’ became – and remains – iconic for its unheimlich inclusion in the 1991 film, The Silence of the Lambs. In conjunction with the release of Aridjis Fuentes’ documentary film on Luckey’s turbulent life, this compilation of material recorded largely between 1985 and 1995 is a portal into a singular, unique creative brain as well as a reminder that circumstance and bad luck can rob us of the geniuses that walk among us.
LISTEN HERE + WATCH TRAILER HERE

Red Fang – Deep Cuts
Celebrating twenty years as a formidable force in hard rock, Relapse and Red Fang have compiled together non-album tracks, stand-alone singles, B-sides, covers, and other rarities. Due to this and the fact the material comes from across their two decade career, the result is quite a choppy listen, despite a quality mix & master, but it’s a fun listen nonetheless.
LISTEN HERE

Salem 66 – SALT
Formed in Boston’s underground scene in 1981 by Judy Grunwald, Beth Kaplan, and Susan Merriam, and an unsung influence on later woman-led independent bands, Salem 66 created a trailblazing blend of post-punk, psychedelic pop, and experimental rock. From 1983 to 1988, the band recorded and toured relentlessly before disbanding. SALT collects ten songs chosen by the songwriters from across their cult discography.
LISTEN HERE

Shearling – OTHERS ONE
Early renditions, off-cuts, alternate versions, squalling noise, wild improvisation and more from the band, all of which was fashioned into their debut single-track album that I will write about some more later on. A fascinating dip into their unhinged yet also somehow studious creative process.
LISTEN HERE

Sigh – I Saw the World’s End (Hangman’s Hymn MMXXV Rerecorded)
I’ve seen this on a lot of year end lists and I can completely understand why. But as it’s a re-recording, I couldn’t quite bring myself to edge out other band’s purely original material. Still, it is magisterial in scope and execution by Sigh. Incredible.
LISTEN HERE

Steve Blanco – Imprints of Man
All the members of avant-garde 1920s and jazz-obsessed death metal band Imperial Triumphant are insanely talented, not least Steve Blanco, their bassist. Here the four string maestro swaps his bass for sitting at a piano, reinterpreting songs from the bands catalogue in a fluid, impressionistic way.
LISTEN HERE

Still in Love – Recovery Language
A huge breath of fresh air (albeit raging and somehow still released in a stuffy, sweaty dark room), this LP from Still in Love is an incredible record and cements them as in the upper echelons of the UK hardcore scene already. Featuring members from Dead Swans, Throats, Brutality Will Prevail, Last Witness, and Bring Me The Horizon, it’s perhaps unsurprising to hear maturity, know-how and a certain world-weariness in this debut. I’m friends with the bassist from our heady days working together in bookshops, but this is still not to be missed and very much recommended!
LISTEN HERE

SUTEKH HEXEN – Constellation Ritualistic Altars: Demo(n)s
Sutekh Hexen’s earliest tracks from their first three legendary demos (2010’s Constellation, Ritualistic and Altars), plus the ‘Order of Nine’ single, get finally mastered (courtesy of death industrial master Grant Richardson) together to form a somewhat cohesive whole. While I enjoyed 2025’s Primeval, the earlier material reminded me what initially drew me to the occult blackened audio nightmare group, which made the new LP somewhat pale in comparison unfortunately.
LISTEN HERE

The Grey – KODOK
It seems I largely only make friends with bassists, as it’s the case here, too. Andy has been (and is) in a lot of fantastic bands, The Grey now among them. This is album #3 for the band, but the first with Andy playing, and it’s a big step up compositionally, sonically, and emotionally. Charlie and Steve smash it out of the park too, with guest vocals from Grady Avenell of the legendary Will Haven as well as Ace Skunk Anansie and more. Devastating tracks, yet also beautiful behemoths, the band are also brilliant live.
LISTEN HERE

Various Artists – Music for Everyone Vol. 2
An amazing compilation, curated by John Nolan (Taking Back Sunday, Straylight Run) to support the efforts of the American Civil Liberties Union. The release features contributions from Sparta, L.S. Dunes, letlive., Jeff Rosenstock, Wax Jaw, and more!
LISTEN HERE

Various Artists – The Dogs of Hope
A powerful new compilation from Iodine Recordings and Tom Bejgrowicz, created to raise critical funds for the Randolph County Animal Shelter. The release features previously unreleased music from the likes of Killswitch Engage, Deadguy, Snapcase, Jeromes Dream, and more.
LISTEN HERE

Victor Jones – Zookeeper
This is the inclusion here that doesn’t make sense. I shouldn’t have excluded it, but I did, because I wanted to highlight it somehow, and it’s my list, so here we are. Victor Jones is a maverick who, like most of us, is depressed and likely going mad. This is gonzo no wave rock n roll nonsense – a concept album based on the escaped tigers from the zoos in Iraq during the illegal invasion by the USA and its allies.
LISTEN HERE
p.s. I love non-album song ‘I Get Hurt’ too, so listen to that HERE.

Waylon Jennings – Songbird
It was extremely uncanny to hear an unheard Waylon Jennings album in 2025 – not least previously unreleased songs that were written and recorded by Jennings and the Waylors at the very zenith of their powers, between 1973 and 1984. Gorgeous songs, obviously performed brilliantly and an incredibly sensitive digitisation, mix and master courtesy of his musician son, Shooter Jennings. Wow.
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