Expansive in its vision, bold in its execution and jam packed with emotion all the way through: My Ghosts Go Ghost is the best rap album of the year so far, and the best release I've yet heard across all genres. It's hard to forget, and you won't want to forget it either.

Fav tracks:
Can I Have You For Myself?, In My Town, Zig Zag, Best Interest, And I Dance, GGG

The greatest of all time.

Trying Times is the James Blake album 2026 needed. It's a triumphant project, musically and from James' emotional performance. Every track is sonically fleshed out, drawing on some of the best electronic traits from 'Robots', and immersing them within some densely rich soundscapes. Every moment is considered, and its runtime is perfect. It's one of the year's best records and feels immediately repayable for many years to come.

Fav tracks: Death of Love, I Had a ... read more

BULLY is grossly bland and uninspiring. It's an attempt to capture the magic you've heard on your College Dropout's and your Yeezus', except without any of the bravado, performance or personality. We all know Kanye can produce good beats, and he continues to do it here, it's just hard to appreciate them when it feels so hollow, so detached from the artistry that has existed before. The songs being as short as they are, sometimes stretching to even get two hooks and a ... read more

IDK still hasn't fully engrossed me as an artist, however his rapping ability is at a high here. He bends and weaves to integrate around his featured artists, though it's hard to fully know whether or not some of these attempts feel derivative or not. Still, some great highlights.

Fav tracks: P.O, STiGMA, FLAKKA, MiSOGYNISTICAL, EVERYONE KNOWS :)

A handful of fun tracks that do what they're supposed to do, but they don't feel as cutting edge or even dangerous as I'd expect at this point from Denzel as a curator.

'Ca$ino' is Baby Keem's mature return to the rap game. It's short and sharp, with a great focus on his past and the people in his life that shaped his present, and who he has become. It features some of Keem's best ever rapping performances, and he uses this album to flex his unique cadences and different voices depending on what he is trying to achieve. You have his Andre 3000-esqe rapping on 'I am not a Lyricist' to enhance the storytelling and seriousness ... read more

I'll keep this short - this may be one of the first times in history a film soundtrack album is about 6 points about the score of the film... and for that, Charli xcx deserves a clap (however Fennell is a self-saboteur). There are great pop songs on here and this is an interesting path for Charli to go down after BRAT, but I don't think this album will retain a lot of replay value in years to come. Fun, but nothing extraordinary.

Fav tracks: House, Wall of Sound, Dying For You, ... read more

J. Cole's self-described "magnum opus", his defining record, his artistic journey conveyed through one album; 'The Fall Off' is a certainly a mixture of these things, an album he has stated is a decade in the making, and the grand conclusion to his artistic journey thus far. Clocking in at 101-minutes in length, 24 songs, 'The Fall Off' presents its two-disc concept as two different records, allegedly recorded at seperate times with separate intentions (one ... read more

Almost any of the good idea Joji has on 'Piss in the Wind' are severely undercut by his relentless desire to cut everything off at the neck. Tracks build steam, introduce interesting soundscapes, and peter out - or fall flat on their face - as he jumps ship to the next one. It is frustrating and makes much of the tracklist feel redundant in between moments of value. Joji is a decent writer and clearly a good record-maker, however here, he seems more interested in making as much he ... read more

Don't Be Dumb has to be categorically my most anticipated hip-hop album of the last five years. Rocky was one of my foundational artists when I started listening to rap music around the time of LONG.LIVE.A$AP's release, and I remember hearing 'Goldie' and 1Train and being fixated. To be honest, I had basically written this album off in 2025 - even the mention of "new A$AP Rocky album" warranted a dismissive wave because it just wasn't happening. I am someone ... read more

A pick from my backlog of missed 2025 albums, Navy Blue's most recent album may be his best yet - a delicate, beautiful meditation on life, grief, and the many things that come and go during our time on Earth. His rapping is as concise and controlled as you'd expect, and the instrumentals are getting more and more layered as he evolves. Each song feels so intentional, so considered. 'Illusions', which may be my favourite song on the tracklist feels like a cry from the ... read more

The smash hit of 2025 - 'Getting Killed' by Geese is an album that already has grown on me substantially, and will continue to do so. Unconventional in so many ways, vocally and structurally, there is something about G.K that is so hard to turn away from. Cameron Winter's earthy, raspy vocals add authenticity to every moment, switching between very nasal singing to quite delicate singing. There are so many instruments going on throughout this record, creating a symphony of sounds ... read more

A hidden gem of 2025, a debut record that shows all the markings of a very impressive career to come. John Michel has vocal flair and delivers engaging performances over some of the absolute best hip-hop production of the entire year. There is so much layering, so many elements at play under each track; if it isn't trained, its raw talent of the highest degree. There isn't a weak spot on the album, and the only critique I could really lobby toward it is that some of the production is ... read more

ICONOCLASTS is the first release I've heard from Anna von Hausswolff, a striking beautiful and sonically daring record jumping from alternative sounds to classical, ambient and jazzy without ever feeling contrived or forced. Anna's vocals are lush and delicate, and there is an effortless projection she has which contributes to the control she has over each song. What is most impressive about ICONOCLASTS is how well it flows; a 72-minute album with pop tracks and instrumental-only ... read more

A brilliant, exhilarating dance release that actually showcases the best that Australian house music has to offer. Consistently engaging hooks, great vocals, personal storytelling and insane instrumentals throughout make for one of the best records in this vein I've heard all year (and shoutout to the track sequencing and transitions).

Fav tracks: iPod touch, Fuck My Computer, CSIRAC, Delete, Infohazard, Battery Death, It's You

Least fav tracks: London Song

This duo continues to establish themselves as one of the most compelling acts in hip-hop right now. After dropping one of the best albums of the year, Billy Woods returns with ELUCID and Al' for a much more stripped back, lo-fi album compared to their previous release. As an overall experience, it isn't as boundary pushing or experimental as 'Diabetic Test Strips'... and on a song-to-song basis, the highest peaks on DTS are higher than here on Mercy; however, it doesn't ... read more

Yeat comes out of nowhere with a project I never expected to even like, let alone really like. His production has never been an issue, and I've frequently found his performances to be very lacklustre. On the DANGEROUS SUMMER EP, Yeat breaks out of the one-dimensional sound I've found tiring, with some different sounds packed into a short, concise project that showcases his greatest strengths without overstaying its welcome. Ironically, much of what Yeat does here heightens my ... read more

There's truly nothing more "Danny Brown" than 'Stardust'. There are many ways you could choose to unpack that statement; I'd like to simply state that Danny has been in a state of actualisation as of late which has been reinforced by the music he has been apart of, the artists he has propped up, and his unflinching desire to be an ally of everything positive. 'Stardust' takes that ethos to the next level, combining his affinity for experimental production ... read more

Joey Bada$$ is a more than talented enough rapper to release something inherently bad, but perhaps not enough to quite level up each time he releases something new. Despite his previous release, '2000' not reinventing the wheel, it never aspired to be, acting as a legacy sequel to one of hip-hop's most beloved mixtapes of all time, and very much honoured that legacy with great performances and classic instrumentals. Where his newest outing, 'Lonely At The Top' missteps ... read more