Albums That Saved Our 2025
Originally Published: 4 Jan, 2026 for Boise Underground Media
2025 was a difficult year for a lot of people and a lot of different reasons. While I don’t believe an article like this is the place to discuss the specifics, and while the reasons may differ for everyone, I do think BUM is the perfect venue to discuss music as a way to cope and keep yourself going in tough times. Music (and art generally) can be a very important force in the lives of the people it touches. It can be a temporary distraction, sure, but it can also act as a heavily impactful, resonant, and transformative force in our lives. Despite its flaws, 2025 was also a great year for music. Countless fantastic projects came out this year from known and new bands, and we wanted to highlight that. We asked musicians from around the Boise music scene to tell us their favorite albums this year (although not necessarily new releases), why they like them, and anything else they wanted to tell us about their year in music.
Clementine's Pick
When I first decided to write this article, winnowing was my immediate pick. Although Moon Owl’s Mages are dear friends of mine and released an album I think can rival almost anything released in the 21st century, no piece of art this year has been as important to me as this sophomore project from Forest Spirit, Sun On Your Back. The artist describing their music as “music for long drives, short walks, and medium-length public transit trips” is certainly an apt observation, as I first listened to winnowing in full on an hours-long drive through the heart of Tennessee. Since then, it’s accompanied me on dozens of long drives, countless short walks, and many a medium-length bus and train ride. It’s hard to overstate how much this album has meant to me since its release. I’ve listened to it probably over a dozen times in full, and multiple tracks appeared on my year-end lists for streaming.
The sound is hard to describe; it’s at times soothing, chilling, manic, relaxing, and capable of profound emotional impact, all packed into a pretty standard 42-minute runtime. The genres range from post-emo, indie rock, acoustic indie-folk, and even granular, ambient soundscapes. I could nerd out over the instrumentation and composition forever. The electric guitar riffs are sublime, and the tones are so creative (ranging nearly into chiptune at times) that I think about them in my sleep. Despite their strength, the acoustic compositions are somehow even better. Look no further than the intro track, nothing, for an example. The chord progressions throughout the record, but especially on the acoustic tracks, carry with them an amazing range of emotions, even while they may occasionally be superficially simple. The chord voicings are beautiful and intentional throughout, and the different layers in each song show impressive chops in orchestration, which makes me wonder – why can’t this be up for a million awards this year?
winnowing is one of the few new releases from the past few years I’ve genuinely cried with at times. To be entirely honest, 2025 has been incredibly taxing on me, as it has for many of my peers and loved-ones. One of the greatest pleasures in my life is listening to music, and Forespi (the artist behind winnowing) has been key to those moments. Although much of the songwriting is abstract and esoteric, it’s all written like poetry that seems as if it was made for me personally. Despite being hard to understand at times, I find their words deeply meaningful and relatable to my experience, and I think that’s why this album has been so important to me. This album is beautiful in so many ways, but not an exercise in emotional masturbation. There’s a delicate balance of cool and exciting, sad and joyful, and it makes it a wonder to listen through. Where some artists might have occasionally phoned it in and given 50%, Forespi went all out, and made a no-skip sophomore masterpiece fit for any season of the year. If there’s one thing for me to be excited for, it’s another Forest Spirit record.
Favorite track: mandy says
Community Picks
Deftones - private music“Dude, I’m gonna have to go with the new Deftones record. I’d say it’s one of those bands that at this point in time you don’t expect to put out a good record in 2025, but they put out something fresh and non-derivative while also somehow maintaining that unique sound that they’ve built throughout their career. It’s one of those records that genuinely made me go back and do a deep dive on their entire discography, since I had only heard maybe two of their records before it was released. I’ve only liked them more since.”
– Carsen
pigbaby - i don’t care if anyone listens to this shit once you do“Here’s a record from 2024: i don’t care if anyone listens to this shit once you do by pigbaby. It’s an indie movie about loneliness, a liminal diary entry in the shape of sound design. It feels like pigbaby chooses to show you a picture of a dream he had. The commute home at 1:30am in the pouring rain will feel like you’re riding with a new friend you just met in the ether. Bonus points if, like me, he finds you through a radio station with lots and lots of static.”
– Kat
Snarky Puppy & The Metropole Orkest - Somni“I really like this album because it combines two of the most interesting parts of the music industry for me, jazz fusion collective and classical orchestral music, and the result can’t help but be pretty neat, I’d say! I actually had the pleasure of attending a couple of the sessions for this album recording (you can see me in some of the videos!) and it was a truly inspiring experience.”
– Simeon
John Martyn - Solid Air“An album that has stood out to me in my listening experience this year has been Solid Air by John Martyn. I find that music I love, I try to draw inspiration from in my own writing and creative exploration. I do this constantly. Everything I watch, or hear, or hear about, I look for inspiration through my own outlet. John Martyn has a quality that is hard to control into my own work and recreate in a way. There’s a beauty in the simplicity of it, that cannot be captured.
I have learned to let things be the way they are, their individuality, and to not try to conform them to fit the mold I am searching for them to fit into. It’s nice to find space to truly appreciate music as a listener, and to admire it, without distraction of my personal desire of seeking a sort of product out of it.”
– Sam
Men I Trust - Equus Asinus“Few artists immediately transport my mind to the spirit plane like MIT, and this album, Equus (part one of a two part double LP release), is a testament to the band’s spiritual and musical strengths. Men I Trust has always set the bar high for modern day indie-psychedelia, and this stripped down folky approach satisfies everything my ears want to hear – deep pocket, tight Paul McCartney bass lines, jangly acoustic prowess with a nice touch of other analog sounds like piano and percussion, all the while beautiful, sweeping, whispery vocals to bring it all home. Truly a great band and a really nice, ear catching, very intentionally placed grooving record.
Honorable mentions: Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo 2, Acacia Strain – You Are Safe From God Here, Waylon Jennings – Songbird”
– Cam
Hayley Williams - Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party“My favorite album this year is Hayley Williams’ Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party. It’s sprawling, and maybe a liiiiiittle too long, sure, but that’s kind of the charm of it. Twenty amazing 3-minute pop songs from one of the best singers in the game, with the lyrical chops to back it up. True Believer alone is worth AOTY for me. For real, what more can you ask for???”
– David
Oneohtrix Point Never - Tranquilizer“With every year that passes, I find it harder and harder to stray further from my cave of comfortable music listening that I built over time. I like what I like, sue me. This year has been no exception to this trend. When considering my favorite albums from the last year, I realized that my list is almost exclusively artists that I in one way or another already love their continually growing body of work. Sometimes a rare exception will occur where a new act or album from a smaller group blazes to the top of my listening pile, but I keep to the ol’ reliables for the most part.
My favorite album this year is Tranquilizer by Oneohtrix Point Never. I’m no stranger to Daniel Lopatin’s body of work. I’ve been a fan since R Plus Seven and Garden of Delete, but haven’t clicked as much with his more recent synth heavy albums like Age of and Again. My favorite soundscapes he builds are those from samples, and Tranquilizer is a nice return to form of his run of albums in the early 2010’s. Playing off the sound styles of library, collage, and sample music, the album turns old into new in a way that only Mr. Point Never could do. Lopatin is always on the cutting edge of what’s new and possible in the world of electronic music and this album is no exception. Highlights on the album for me include Lifeworld, Petro, and the closing track Waterfalls.
Maybe next year I’ll crawl out of my cave.”
– Wyatt
Mac DeMarco - Guitar“I was enthralled by Mac DeMarco’s new album, Guitar, that came out in August of this year! The album is raw and captures what I think is arguably one of his most intimate records yet. It feels like he is progressing into a new era and I am all here for it! I saw him for the first time at his recent show in Seattle, and that was all the proof a fella needs to assure me he is one cool cat.”
– Rhodes
Mercy Ties - Reflections and Criticisms“From the opening seconds, Mercy Ties launches into a furious, uncompromising attack. There’s no easing into this record—it arrives fully formed and confrontational. That immediacy becomes one of its greatest strengths: the album demands presence, not passive listening.
Mike and Trevor’s guitar work is both catchy and in its own way, deeply unsettling. The riffs lodge themselves in your head, but the guitar’s language feels claustrophobic—like being trapped in a dungeon that’s constantly narrowing in on itself. There’s an eerie, oppressive quality to the, building tension before detonating into something equally explosive and cathartic.
The rhythm section—Millie and Chris—anchor the chaos with remarkable precision. They operate with the methodical playing that reminds me of jazz musicians, yet channel a violent physicality and aggression of ’90s hardcore. It’s the kind of playing that feels calculated without ever sounding restrained, driving the songs forward with a force that makes you want to run through a wall.
Andres’ vocals are instantly recognizable, relentlessly pissed off. There’s a raw sincerity in the delivery that cuts through the density of the record. It’s the kind of performance that invites participation—I found myself screaming along to this record at least twice a week since it came out, regardless of where I was. That emotional accessibility, paired with such intensity is special to me in music.
Having had the honor of touring with Mercy Ties in May, I was able to experience this album in its purest form: live, front to back, night after night. What stood out most was their consistency. Every performance delivered the same level of musicianship and the same ferocity, never feeling routine or watered down. Their energy remained exciting, volatile, and deeply engaging, making their set something I looked forward to every single day.
Ultimately, Mercy Ties pulls from the best elements of punk rock, metalcore, and unfiltered chaos to create something comforting. In an often fractured and broken world, this album feels relatable—not despite its anger, but because of it.”
– Liam