TFword Staff Picks: Favorite EPs and Albums of 2025
The staff at TFword have, yet again, answered the most difficult question: “What were your favorite EPs or albums released in 2025?”
The staff at TFword have, yet again, answered the most difficult question: “What were your favorite EPs or albums released in 2025?” Browsing through drum & bass, garage, alt-rock, pop and other genres, here are our top selections from another eventful year for music!
SAGAR DESHMUKH
VISAGES – ‘AMOR FATI’
Released in April 2025 on Alix Perez’s genre-defying 1985 Music imprint, French quartet Visages’ debut album ‘Amor Fati’ has, by far, stood out as one of the most compelling long players of 2025. By leaning into the philosophical concept of ‘loving one’s fate,’ Visages have brought their life and sonic experiences in drum & bass, dubstep, grime, and beyond into a cohesive narrative that has managed to bridge the often-fragmented worlds of surgical precision.
What further elevates Amor Fati is the breadth of collaboration and stylistic diversity that Visages have dished out in the album. The 13-track release features a host of respected voices from across the scene, like 1985 Music head honcho Alex Perez himself, Strategy, Chimpo, Monty, Verbz, Snowy, Trail, and more, bringing their own flavor while still feeling fully integrated into Visages’ sonic world. These collaborations enrich the album’s texture, giving each track a distinct identity while contributing to the larger thematic arc of the album, which is the Latin concept of loving one’s fate, the embrace of all that has been and all that will be, something that reflects Visages’ own artistic evolution and uncompromising vision. With Amor Fati, Visages have set a solid example for how electronic artists can translate complex human philosophies into a visceral, sonic experience.
HAAi – ‘Can’t Stand To Lose (ATRIP Remix)’
ATRIP is one of the rare artists who can make emotionally rich music feel genuinely playful to consume. This trait of his has been on full display in 2025 and with his remix of HAAi’s ‘Can’t Stand To Lose,’ ATRIP has delivered the clearest example of just how refined his trademark rhythmic sensibility has become.
ATRIP’s strength lies in his ability to blend club-forward sonics with strong melodic depth, and with his rework for HAAi, he transforms the original into something heavier, more direct, and rhythmically expansive without ever losing its emotional weight. Progressive house foundations, Eurodance energy, tech house groove, and a UK Garage swing; it’s a track that fully encapsulates the genre-bending direction dance music is heading into come 2026.
What truly elevates the remix, though, is how ATRIP breathes new life into HAAi’s angelic vocals, giving them space to soar while wrapping them in a powerful groove that is engineered for euphoric dancefloor impact.
AAKANKSHA PATEL
Sleep Token – ‘Even in Arcadia’
Sleep Token’s fourth studio album, ‘Even in Arcadia,’ is an exciting listen that showcases the anonymous English rock band’s growing catalog of genre-bending hits.
‘Even in Arcadia’ was first teased through a series of cryptic messages across the band’s social media accounts, revealing the album’s release date using the numbers 72, 13 and 3—March 13, 2025, the 72nd day of the year. Listeners were treated to three singles off the album, ‘Emergence’ (track 6 on the album), ‘Caramel’ (track 5) and ‘Damocles’ (track 8), before the album’s release on RCA Records.
The 10-track album marks Sleep Token’s position as a rising name in the global music industry, with their previous album, ‘Take Me Back To Eden,’ finding a widespread fanbase after gaining social media virality. Described as rock, metalcore, pop, rap and djent, ‘Even in Arcadia’ offers serious experimentation, while it cements lead singer Vessel’s multi-genre talents. The album also expands on the band’s lore, namely Vessel’s connection with an otherworldly deity the band calls ‘Sleep.’ However, the genre-defying, Billboard Top 100 charting track, ‘Caramel,’ breaks the mould and sees Vessel address the band’s recent and rising fame, and his struggles with ‘hiding in the limelight.’
‘Even in Arcadia’ is set to be an album to take into the new year, but all eyes are on Sleep Token as we enter 2026.
LAVANYA THANKAPPAN
Nadi – ‘Sugar Peak’
Bristol-based music producer, DJ, broadcaster and creative producer Nadi’s debut solo three-track EP, ‘Sugar Peak,’ takes you on a gripping journey that traverses through South Asian-inspired tunes and club-driven genres of UK funk, breaks, Jersey, house and more.
The percussive heavy ‘Table Juice’ kicks off ‘Sugar Peak’ with notable beats of Tabla splashed across, which even sets the stage for the intro to track two, ‘Ghazal Theme.’ Keeping percussion at the forefront, the culminating track, ‘Veena,’ steers into a mellow house beat, complete with pluckings of the Indian string instrument veena and a distinct traditional vocal chop.
Hayley Williams – ‘Ego Death At A Bachelorette Party’
Yearning and heartbreak go hand in hand in Hayley Williams’ newest Grammy-nominated record, ‘Ego Death At A Bachelor Party.’ It isn’t an unfamiliar territory for Hayley, who has valiantly displayed the vast range of these emotions in her previous two solo albums, as well as in her work with Paramore. “When you’re grieving, I think there’s a version of us when we’re grieving that is the realest,” she said in an interview with Paste Magazine.
Set against a swatch of alt-rock productions and veering just a tad to weave in motifs of R&B and indie pop, the record also spotlights the onset of Hayley’s journey as an independent artist, the political climate in the Southern region of America, and self-realizations across twenty tracks. You won’t find any words minced in ‘Ego Death At A Bachelor Party,’ be it facing the loneliness in ‘Glum,’ a love letter to an antidepressant pill in ‘Mirtazapine,’ or unmooring her grief in ‘Whim.’
DENVER CARDOZ
Anyasa – ‘Flectere’
Truly carrying listeners on a journey of “introspection and evolution” is sonic alchemist Anyasa’s March 2025 EP, ‘Flectere.’ Named after the Latin term for “to bend” or “to reflect,” this fourth EP shows him drifting from his Indian classical-steeped productions and driving toward indie house and melodic techno flavors.
It also marked the first time he brought his own vocals into a track, heard on the opener ‘Only You.’ ‘Healing‘ landed two weeks ahead of the five-track EP and grouped Anyasa with producer Parallel Voices and Grammy-nominated songwriter Lake Silver on a piano-scented deep house groove. ‘Feel The Silence’ closes the record with bright, euphoric energy.
Talking about ‘Flectere,’ Anish Sood aka Anyasa posted to social media, “Writing this EP has been a beautiful ride, and playing it out on dance floors around the world has been even more fulfilling. I hope it brings you as much joy as it’s brought me.”
Kaytranada – ‘AIN’T NO DAMN WAY!’
A year out from his two-disc adventure ‘TIMELESS,’ Haitian-Canadian music producer Kaytranada dropped his surprise fifth album titled ‘AIN’T NO DAMN WAY!’ via RCA Records in August 2025. The Montreal-bred producer called this collection of twelve tracks an album “strictly for workouts, dancing, and studying for my people who love beats.”
Spanning just 34 minutes, the opening number ‘SPACE INVADER’ discharges disco flares and retro tones over a house foundation. ‘HOME’ offers a throwback soundscape swirled with upbeat percussion and wavy synth patches. ‘TARGET JOINT’ layers brass over a magnetic slow-burn dance beat, while album closer ‘DO IT! (AGAIN!)’ radiates soul energy and shines with a sample from legendary all-female hip-hop/R&B trio TLC’s 1994 classic ‘CrazySexyCool.’
IVANOVA D’SILVA
Zara Larsson – ‘Midnight Sun’
Zara Larsson’s ‘Midnight Sun’ comes as a dream record for fans of Y2K aesthetic and high-energy dance-pop. As the title suggests, no matter what season you’re in, the album takes you back to summer for its duration of thirty-two minutes. The Swedish singer takes a person through the different emotions and phases they go through in the summer. Wearing stunning outfits, dressing up, drinking on the beach, letting loose, having crushes, and enjoying the warmth, positivity and bright energy of summer are the themes most songs follow. However, just like in life, not everything is sunshine and roses; a summer also sees a few cloudy days.
Zara lets her guard down on ‘Ambition’ about never feeling enough in this cutthroat music industry, singing, “But that’s the thing with the ambition (Want it so much) / Everything’s a competition (So out of touch) / Yeah, it got me a lot, but that’s not good enough / I wanna be lo-lo-loved / I live and learn the hard way (Want it so much) / Yeah, it’s a chronic heartbreak (So out of touch) / No, it never stops, I wanna be your star” in the chorus. The Stockholm-born artist’s popular tracks ‘Lush Life’ and ‘Never Forget You’ have received over a billion plays on digital music-streaming platforms. She was about 17/18 at the time of their release and when the tracks made it to the Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Zara also talks about uncertainty, how she attempted to control everything but eventually came to the conclusion and realized it’s okay to feel this way and even embraced it. She wraps up the bridge singing: “Ain’t the concept of time so crazy / We were just kids, now my friends are having babies / Got me thinking like, I want that too / Damn, that’s new.”
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