Murn 2025: Get Off My Lawn

I don’t know if the busyness and pace of 2025 was at fault for my apathetic music discovery, or if it was a matter of familiar artists just putting out bland records… 

It’s funny that if you were to ask me to predict if the artists in my top two spots would fit in this category, I would have said absolutely. They would have probably been the most flagrant offenders. That wasn’t the case, so who the hell knows anymore.

15. Electric Guest – 10K

10K feels like an album that’s trying very hard to be effortless. Electric Guest still has their

breezy pop sound, but this time it sounds more generic than inspired. The songs are pleasant

enough in the background, yet very few of them stick. A couple of tracks show flashes of the

quirky charm the band used to have, but most of the album blends together into a forgettable

mid-tempo haze. For a band that once sounded fresh and distinctive, this ends up feeling pretty

ordinary.

14. St. Paul & The Broken Bones – St. Paul & The Broken Bones

Unfortunately, this is another album by an artist that I have enjoyed, but just didn’t love this go-

around. Everything is technically well played and tightly produced, yet it feels more like a

careful tribute to classic R&B rather than something with real substance. The songs blur

together with familiar grooves and predictable arrangements, leaving little that truly stands

out.

13. Night Moves – Double Life

Double Life is one of those albums that doesn’t try to reinvent anything, but ends up working

simply because it knows its lane. Night Moves lean comfortably into warm, slightly hazy indie

rock with touches of soft psychedelia, and the result is consistently pleasant. This was an easy

album to pop on at work and let it roll. Didn’t quite blow my socks off, but that seems to be the

gist this year for me.

12. Ghostface Killah – Supreme Clientele 2

To say you are making a volume 2 to one of the most influential and classic hip hop albums is

quite a statement. Although there are some great tracks on this album, it feels like a no-name

street DJ mix you would be handed at Times Square. Hip hop albums rarely have a cohesive

theme or overall feel, but come on, man. Clean this shit up! There is some nostalgia bias in this

ranking, as Ghostface is one of my favorite rappers.

11. Whitney – Small Talk

Unfortunately, I write another album review tinged with curmudgeonliness again. Another melodic easy

listen. But I’ve grown tired of the falsetto, stomped-testicle vocals. The songs feel slight, more

like sketches of ideas than fully baked moments, and the laid-back mood starts to blur together

before long. There’s nothing actively bad here, just a general sense that the band is coasting

rather than pushing themselves.

10. Bahamas – My Second Last Album

Ready? Prepare for a totally different take and album review tone… Bahamas leans into his

usual mellow breezy pop and understated folk-soul, delivering songs that are pleasant and

instantly likable. The problem is that most of them fade from memory almost as quickly as they

arrive. Afie’s relaxed vocals create a nice atmosphere, but the album rarely reaches beyond

surface level. Nothing feels out of place, yet nothing really demands me to replay either. It’s the

kind of record that works perfectly as background music on a lazy afternoon, period.

9. Nas & DJ Premier – Light-Years

Man, was I pumped for this album. The world was waiting for a dedicated album by these two.

Some of Nas’ most iconic songs have been at the production hands of DJ Premier. Nas has been

on fire for the last handful of years with his dedicated production partner Hitboy. He does his

best on this record, but the Premier beats sadly do nothing to help him out. Huge bummer.

These beats sound incomplete, simple, and C-grade. What is going on with the world???

Premier is almost 60 years old, so some empathy should be due, but these beats are turds.

Luckily, there are other hip hop albums on this list that do way better.

8. My Morning Jacket - is

Now we’re starting to turn a corner regarding the overall tone of these reviews. We’re

heating up. This album feels like a solid, workmanlike entry in the band’s long catalog. There is

nothing revelatory, but it’s far from a misstep. There are moments where the familiar magic

clicks, with a few tracks capturing the expansive, soulful energy the band does so well. Jim

James still sounds fantastic, and the songs open up a bit more than the previous self-titled

album. Yes, you could pop this on at work like the others, but I did find myself stopping and

taking the songs in more. One of my favorite groups.

7. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist – Alfredo 2

Good hip hop production makes its way to the 2025 list. Though The Alchemist may not be as

iconic as DJ Premier, I think he is the most consistent and inventive. Alc can adapt his

production for any rapper and make it fit them perfectly. This is exactly what he did on this part

two album with Freddie Gibbs. Gibbs writes rhymes that straddle the typical boastful, cocaine

laden, womanizing themes that we all know and love, with actual real emotion and some sense

of vulnerability. He’s stuck between worlds of grime and sophistication. Except that both sides can

shine without feeling fake or manufactured. There are 4-5 songs on here that are superb rap

tunes.

6. Conway the Machine – You Can’t Kill God with Bullets

No hip hop is better than well-done, gritty street rhymes over dark, simple yet complex beats. No

fluff, no filler. Conway reminds me of the old days, listening to Mobb Deep and M.O.P. These

were rough, ugly dudes with skill. Conway and other Griselda Records artists do put out a ton of

content. Some good, and some not so good. Conway has always been the most talented of the

bunch, and this time, he gets close to a complete album. An album where I like most of the

songs and can let it play. I don’t want to sound like a 50-year-old white NPR douche describing

how Megan Thee Stallion’s rhymes are groundbreaking and a real push forward for women, but

Conway does sound more mature and better focused on this album. There were a handful of

times when I was really impressed with the wordplay.

5. Khruangbin – The Universe Smiles Upon You

It should be tough for a three-piece instrumental band to stay new and relevant. But the ’bin

continues to do this. Seeing them play live was memorable and added to the respect I have for

them. You get the same funky psychedelic feel on this album, but the feel seems a bit more

polished. Making an instrumental album feel cohesive is a tough job, but this group continues

to pull it off.

4. De La Soul – Cabin In The Sky

What a huge bummer to hear about the passing of De La’s Trugoy the Dove. De La,

along with A Tribe Called Quest, were my intros into hip hop. When I wasn’t allowed to listen to

parental advisory records as a youngster, they gave me the foundation to appreciate good hip

hop before the heydays of Biggie and Tupac. I remember my parents taking me to buy Tribe

and De La Soul tapes in fourth grade (along with Snow’s Informer album, haha). It’s impressive to

hear positive uplifting hip hop still be relevant today. We’re lucky enough to get a few

posthumous tracks from Trugoy on this album. The production is on point, and the old feel is

there. Plug 1 and Maseo do a great job of continuing the name while paying respects to their

lost friend. If you are a De La fan, I highly recommend this one.

3. Lucius – Lucius

Lucius came to me via Sirius XM. I heard the catchy song "Gold Rush" on the radio and

immediately started tapping my toe. It's catchy pop with harmonizing women on vocals. I’m all

for that. I came to find out that the group has been around for 10+ years. I’ve yet to have time

to dig into the rest of their catalog, but I’m eager to. They have a Jenny Lewis and Feist feel on

the softer songs, a retro soul feel of a Lake Street Dive on up-tempo, all wrapped in the layered

melodic pop of The New Pornographers.

2. The Black Keys – No Rain, No Flowers

Man, what if you took the Keys and put them in a mixer with some 70s soft rock? Of course, this

would work. There really is no genre that these two wouldn’t be comfortable in. I really liked

this album. Maybe it's even up there in the top three Keys albums for me, period. It just feels

good. Polished yet not over-commercialized. These guys are aware of their sound evolution.

Every time I get the feeling that they are starting to sound slightly stagnant, they find the next

gear and pivot.

1. Tame Impala – Deadbeat

There is no real hazy psych rock guitar that dominated previous Tame Impala albums. Instead,

he pivots hard to dancey electronic energy. This album is a definite departure from the past, and I

love every bit of it. This record is playful and hypnotic. We popped this on while cooking dinner

one night, and I was dancing around like a goon. Especially to the last couple of minutes of the final

track, "End of Summer". I really didn’t expect to like this album this much. I was a fan of Tame

Impala, but I never fell head over heels. I’m thinking the updated nostalgic electronic music we all

used to dig was enough for me to get hooked. I really enjoyed this, and it was an easy number

one pick for 2025.