There’s a chill in the air, Spotify is preparing its unwrapping, and York Calling’s album of the year has returned.

By Graeme Smith

Feature photo: Linebug

In 2024, eight albums made the shortlist for album of the year. I, despite myself, decided to rank them in a numbered list.

This year, the shortlist is longer, and I am determined again to set them in some kind of order. Of course, usual caveats apply. Art is subjective, and the albums that follow rarely compare directly with each other. These are just my opinions, based on what I’ve heard as Editor-in-Chief of York Calling.

So, without further ado…

The audacity of Otillie Wallace made her album Throughout The Day an early stand out in the year. At fourteen years old, Wallace proves a defiant figure, dismissing the haters with a collection that’s a torchbearer for classic punk.

The album perhaps lacks some polish, but I think that’s why I love it. It undeniably deserves a place on this list.

A couple of Danish expats, Linebug are old favourites of ours and it was their highly anticipated journey through the forgotten towns and places of eastern Germany, Portraits of Invisible Places, which get them on this list.

The album scores top marks for concept and ambition but perhaps didn’t have as much impact as others on this list.

San Diego, USA-based Eric Schroeder holds the unique position of making it to both the 2024 and 2025 albums of the year list. Cat’s Game is an improvement on last year’s Turned on the Stereo yet scores him the same position.

The album has an indie rock sound that’s easy to love, and Shroeder seems to create his introverted songs with ease.

Morten Alsinger is a seasoned veteran of the Danish music scene, but it was only this year that we discovered his music under his newest performing name, Tralalas.

The project dropped its debut only this month, but I knew with it that I had the surprise late entry to this year’s list.

Ornament has a classic, gritty sound, reminiscent of Lou Reed, Chris Isaak, and Leonard Cohen. It’s a thoughtfully curated collection, and one that’s easy to get lost in.

Lithuania’s Alina Orlova’s album Nakties Atvirukai at once stood out to me when I first heard it, yet the subtle variety of it makes it difficult to place on this list. It really stands out on its own against everything else. I can hardly draw a fair comparison.

Copping out, I’ve put it near the middle. It proved a captivating discovery but didn’t quite stick with me as much as those that follow.

2025 saw American rockers Aluminum Boys release their debut, Collected Pieces. It proved a striking effort full of nostalgia and wordplay wrapped in a fuzzy blanket of good old anthemic rock in the kin of Springsteen and The Killers.

With lots of replay value, it hit as hard on my most recent listen as it did originally, hence why it has scored so highly here.

Berlin, Germany-based Andi Fins has proven master of the hook; you know an Andi Fins song when you hear it. Cooking, Puzzling, Working was our first chance to hear a full collection of his music, and it didn’t disappoint. Channelling classic soul and Talking Heads’ quirkiness, it hits the spot.

It was genuinely the catchiest album this year, and a testament to the uniqueness of the top three that it didn’t score higher.

Seattle, USA’s Lily Minke Tahar, aka YEARN, stormed our radar in June 2025 with her single Shapeshifter. The track was one of the highlights of her album of the same name, a fun, flirty collection with a distinct point of view and plenty of heart.

It simply oozes with hedonism and escape as it challenges conventional wisdom. Tahar demanded attention with it, and she got it from me.

What can I say? I wear my love of The Loud Bangs firmly on my sleeve and have done since discovering their music in 2022.

Yet, their 2025 album Mexican Astronomy is a cut above even their own high standards. Before releasing it, they took a break from their punishing release schedule, and I think they were better for it.

The album feels polished without losing their signature looseness of composition. It’s a delight, and one I’ve returned to repeatedly since it came out in April.

And the winner is…

Caleb L’Etoile – American Death

Based on my gushing about The Loud Bangs, it would take something incredible to top them on this list, right? That incredible thing is Caleb L’Etoile’s American Death.

Eagle-eyed readers will know I already gave the game away in my initial review of this album. Its relevance hits hard, but there’s more to it than that. L’Etoile has always been a strong songwriter, and he’s applied it well in this most important album of the year.

American Death is an anti-fascist ‘living’ album, innovatively created open-ended so that it could document a unique time in American history after Trump won his second term. That’s why it tops this list.