The best music of 2025
From new releases to rediscovered treasures, the past year has been filled with innovative, exciting and emotive work by artists of Muslim heritage and beyond
From extended drum odysseys to rediscovered disco from the British Asian diaspora, thunderous club-focused experimentation and achingly beautiful folksong, 2025 delivered a bumper crop of new releases and previously buried musical treasures. Away from the mainstream charts and big names often pushed by streaming algorithms, artists from across the globe — including Negros Tou Moria, Sarathy Korwar and Yasmine Hamdan — delivered beautiful works of intimate self-expression. Here is a selection of our favourite releases from the Muslim world and beyond in 2025.
L’Antidote — L’Antidote
Arabic maqam, Indian classical music, western classical arrangements and jazz improvisation all combine on this engrossing self-titled debut album from trio L’Antidote. Formed of Albanian cellist and composer Redi Hasa, Iranian percussionist Bijan Chemirani and Lebanese pianist Rami Khalifé, L’Antidote present nine tracks revelling in poignant melody, especially the meandering yet menacing rhythms of The Orchard and the finger-picked oud and piano interplay of Rosée. Equally at home in the uptempo syncopation of Pomegranate and the konnakol-inspired beats of Na Na Na, this album delivers a virtuosic first outing.
Nabeel — Ghayoom
Combining Arabic-language lyrics with the distorted fuzz of shoegaze-influenced guitars, Iraqi-American artist Yasir Razak’s latest EP Ghayoom is a deeply personal journey into identity and belonging. Darker and heavier than his previous three releases, its eight songs encompass the grunge references of the opening resala to the wonky, pitch-bent melodics of khatil and the hazy lassitude of the title track. Inspired by a homecoming trip to Iraq and Razak’s ensuing feelings of dislocation, the universal challenges of the diaspora experience resonate throughout.
Sarathy Korwar — There Is Beauty, There Already
A 40-minute suite of continuous drumming might not sound like easy music but South Asian percussionist and producer Sarathy Korwar’s latest album, There Is Beauty, There Already, turns this concept of insistent rhythm into alluring work. Leading an ensemble of three drummers, Korwar develops a dense percussive language throughout the record’s 10 movements, channelling Steve Reich’s phasing motifs as well as Indian classical phrasing and anchoring each in the repetition of a continual, thrumming refrain. As the album continues, the refrain begins to emulate the hypnotic repetition of ceremonial rhythm, drawing us further into Korwar’s percussive world the longer we listen.
Yasmine Hamdan — I Remember I Forget
Following an eight-year break, Lebanese singer-songwriter Yasmine Hamdan returns with a contemplative and minimalist collection of songs expanding on the Arabic-language, dub-influenced sound that has made her a staple of the region’s indie music scene since the 1990s. Hamdan’s voice is quiet and ruminative, singing tender melodies over the bowed strings of Hon and the rumbling trip-hop groove of Vows, while livelier tracks like Shadia and Abyss see her employ a wavering, yearning vibrato over synth lines and rattling electronic percussion. The production is sparse and understated, that pared-back approach providing the perfect setting for Hamdan’s emotive songwriting to shine through.
Mohinder Kaur Bhamra — Punjabi Disco
Sikh devotional singer Mohinder Kaur Bhamra’s 1982 album of disco music and Punjabi folk melodies is a rediscovered gem. Recorded by her music producer son Kuljit, Punjabi Disco’s 10 tracks deliver an unusually engaging combination of metallic synthesisers and drum machines with Mohinder’s melismastic Indian classical vocal technique. Electronic percussion emulates the undulating tones of the tabla and synthesiser melodies stand in for the traditional sound of the harmonium on Pyar Mainu Kar, while bossa nova rhythm comes to the fore on Soniya Mukh Tera and Nainan Da Pyar De Gaya deploys a supple walking bassline. Dancefloor fusion delivered more than a decade before the Asian Underground explosion.
Derya Yıldırım & Grup Şimşek — Yarin Yoksa
Drawing on the legacy of 1960s Turkish psychedelia, German-Turkish singer Derya Yıldırım’s third record with Grup Şimşek blends the metallic twang of the electrified saz with woozy Mellotron and classic soul melodies. It’s a throwback sound anchored in Yıldırım’s powerful falsetto and influenced by producer Leon Michels’ analogue tape aesthetic. Yet, on Turkish standards such as the nursery rhyme Hop Bico and the 1960s standard Ceylan, the group reaches lively new territory, developing slinking, downtempo grooves and soaring vocals that lend a new, off-kilter twist to a storied musical genre.
Negros Tou Moria — Mavri Ellada
Over the past decade, Athenian rapper Negros Tou Moria has made his name by establishing the genre of trabetiko – a blend of the Greek working-class folk music rebetiko and trap beats. On his latest album, Mavri Ellada, he supplants folk melodies with a more hard-hitting sound, rolling through the sub-bass and baritone verses of Samatas to the afrobeats-influenced groove of An Einai Dinaton and the bouzouki motifs of the title track. Armed with a dextrous flow, an ear for unusual production and fierce lyrics on his country’s response to immigration, NTM establishes himself as a rap talent moving far beyond the national scene.
Jacob Alon — In Limerence
Scottish folk singer-songwriter Jacob Alon’s debut album In Limerence marks the arrival of a generational voice. Lyrically deft in the unpicking of queer identity, while musically drawing on the finger-picked guitar stylings of Sufjan Stevens and tender vocals of Laura Marling, Alon’s 12-track album is a masterwork of quiet confidence. Tracks such as Liquid Gold 25 pay playful homage to a bottle of poppers, while Confession details a harrowing coming of age and August Moon tells of nature’s indifference to human struggle. A remarkably mature debut that contains multitudes.
Makaya McCraven — Off the Record
Powerhouse drummer Makaya McCraven has spent the past decade developing a distinct sonic language. Sampling live improvised shows to create new, intuitive compositions, his energetic and unpredictable work sits somewhere between hip-hop beatmaking and spontaneous creation. His latest album, Off the Record, plays like a love letter to his process, comprising 20 tracks spliced together from sessions dating from 2015 to 2025. McCraven’s thumping beats anchor the bass weight of British tuba player Theon Cross, the meditative tones of guitarist Jeff Parker and the blipping electronics of multi-instrumentalist Ben LaMar Gay, creating a seamlessly stitched record.
Djrum — Under Tangled Silence
To encounter a DJ set by producer Djrum, aka Felix Manuel, is to experience a wizard at work. Often cutting three or four vinyl records together at lightning speed while switching genres and tempos at will, his is a sound that celebrates the unexpected. It’s a freewheeling ethos that translates into his unruly latest album Under Tangled Silence. Across the record’s 11 tracks Manuel veers from classical piano phrases to intricate breakbeat drum programming, record scratches, eerie bass tones and whispers of sampled vocals. A beguiling and wildly creative mix.
