Paranoia, pop-dubstep and perfectly odd gems: the best old music we discovered this year
Strange folk, lost pop, disco oddities and, um, Dido – here are the forgotten tracks that became this year’s most replayed revelations
‘It contains the greatest song ever about an ice cream truck’: readers’ favourite albums of 2025
The beautiful despair of Cameron Winter, the perfectly imperfect life of Lily Allen, the maximalist R&B of Dijon and more: here’s what our readers have had on heavy rotation
The 50 best albums of 2025: No 2 – CMAT: Euro-Country
Furiously angry and uproariously witty, the Irish singer’s third album was a high-water mark for pop, inspiring a TikTok dance craze and a triumphant set at Glastonbury
The 50 best albums of 2025: No 3 – Blood Orange: Essex Honey
Dev Hynes’ deeply personal response to his mother’s death embodied the many unexpected shades of grief in pastoral hymnals and post-punk
This Is Lorelei: Holo Boy review – sweet-sad songs from a new pearl of the US alt scene
One half of Water From Your Eyes re-records songs from the back catalogue of his other band, resulting in acoustic fare touched with regret and darkness
Dove Ellis: Blizzard review – Irish indie enigma’s glorious debut justifies the buzz
With shades of Jeff and Tim Buckley, the Galway-born artist writes tunes so strong they seem as familiar as old friends
The 20 best songs of 2025
This year’s outstanding tracks – from post-punk rap to indie-disco and operatic pop – as voted for by 30 Guardian music writers
Life in One Chord review – the Dunedin sound through the eyes of a music maverick
Based on a memoir by Straitjacket Fits frontman Shayne Carter, this documentary maps out the New Zealand town that birthed an indie movement
Cameron Winter review – Geese wunderkind whittles confident rearrangements in an intimate show
With two of the most-feted albums of the past 12 months under his belt, the New York singer-songwriter puts fresh spins on songs from his solo debut
Wolf Alice review – indie chameleons sparkle on a glam-rock bender
With 70s rock references, tinselly backdrop and some full-on cabaret-theatre vibes, the four-piece have undergone their most fun and complete reinvention yet
The Durutti Column: The Return of the Durutti Column review – fragile classic that echoes far beyond its time
The delicate experimentation of the band’s debut may not have chimed with the post-punk 1980s, but its durability makes this deluxe reissue thoroughly deserved
Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield obituary
Charismatic Stone Roses and Primal Scream musician acclaimed for some of the most memorable bass lines in indie music
‘We’ve got to release the dead hand of the past’: how Ireland created the world’s best alternative music scene
Irish indie acts used to be ignored, even on Irish radio. But songs confronting the Troubles, poverty and oppression are now going global – and changing how Ireland sees itself
Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield, the Stone Roses and Primal Scream bassist, dies aged 63
Ian Brown and Tim Burgess were among those to pay tribute to Mani, whose death was announced by his brother and nephew
Mani’s writhing, relentless bass was the Stone Roses’ secret sauce – it taught indie kids how to dance
His love of ‘good northern soul and funk’ was always in evidence and had a lasting impact on alternative music