51: The best music of 2025 so far

And they said music journalism was dead. It’s list time, losers!When it comes to round-up episodes we like to draft in No Tags’ very own fifth Beatle, Henry Bruce-Jones. Minimal intro required here: we discuss our favourite music of 2025 so far, from the new wave of weird UK rappers to the changing faces of mainstream pop – plus rap oldheads, surveillance electro, minimal techno reboots and more. We didn’t include any of the records already discussed on the pod this year – including aya’s hexed and FKA twigs’ Eusexua – but they’re all still in the running for AOTY, of course.Below is a time-stamped rundown of everything we discussed, so feel free to skip ahead if certain corners aren’t your bag. We like to see No Tags as a conversation between us and you, so let us know your own most loved (and most hated) releases and trends of the year in the comments below, or maybe drop us a reply on Insta or send an email?If you like what we’re doing on No Tags (over 50 episodes deep now!), a really helpful way to support is by leaving us a rating on your podcast app of choice, or leaving us a review over at Apple Podcasts. You can also like or share this post on Substack, which makes a big difference – and if you really love the pod, you can subscribe to our paid tier for £5 per month. Thanks to this month’s new subscribers!Running orderPop Corner (07:40)Rap Corner (38:25)The UK ‘Underground’ (1:05:22)Dance Music Corner (1:27:04)Percies (1:41:42) Get full access to No Tags at notagspodcast.substack.com/subscribe