Amber Mark, “Pretty Idea” (2025) – Swirling vintage and cutting edge R&B together like chocolate and peanut butter, Amber’s streak of deserving to be mainstream-huge continues
Deru, “rhythm tapes” (2025) – Bangers that simply cannot be counted; I don’t know what combination of polyrhythms, generative sequencing, and just weirdness caused this, but I love it
De La Soul, “Cabin In The Sky” (2025) – A transmission from the heart of a better world we could be living in, if we got it together. Classic and futuristic at once
Deftones, “private music” (2025) – Some called it “their best since (whatever),” but I just call it superlative. There’s an immediacy and experimental edge that maybe wasn’t on “Gore” or “Ohms” (great records!), but ultimately it’s just that no one else goes this hard in this way
Stik Figa, “A Small Fortune” w DJ Sean P (2025) – In which Stik advances his mission to make saying the realest things possible sound as cool as possible. A gentleman, a scholar, a lover, a survivor
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