The Round-Up: Best Music of May and June 2025

The past few months have been the most exciting of the year so far. Here are just a handful of the best releases from May and June, exploring everywhere from the rap underground of New York to the most obscure electropop coming out of France.

billy woods – GOLLIWOG

(Credit: Backwoodz Studioz)

With decades of consistent output, billy woods has already proven himself one of the greatest rappers to ever bless hip hop. Even so, time and time again, he challenges himself in new ways, delivering exciting and conceptual projects that reaffirm his status as an underground legend.

GOLLIWOG is the latest in a long list of masterworks from the mysterious rapper. In contrast to the tight, tour-themed conceptuality of 2023’s Maps, the new LP is loose and unpredictable, but given cohesion by its unflinchingly dark tone. With production handled by everyone from Preservation to Kenny Segal, GOLLIWOG features an all-star cast of beatmakers whose respective talents add up to create a stark, chilling soundscape perfect for woods to spill his darkest thoughts.

On the mic, woods is as formidable as ever. His manic, rambling delivery works in contrast to his acute penmanship, weaving together symbols of horror and trauma with a cryptic flair that makes every listen more rewarding than the last. GOLLIWOG envelops the listener in darkness, and woods does not guide them out; he pulls them in deeper.

yeule – Evangelic Girl is a Gun

(Credit: Ninja Tune)

With every album, yeule reinvents themself. With 2023’s softscars, the singer stepped back from glitch-pop to deliver a full-on rock record, and Evangelic Girl is yet another sonic shift, drifting back towards electronica. Their vocals are silky and intimate, uttering dreamy passages over a splatter of synths, guitar, and bass.

In many ways, Evangelic Girl is a culmination of everything yeule has done up to this point: an eclectic collection of pop tunes lathered in electronica with an acoustic punch, filled front to back with dreamy, poetic passages reflecting the singer’s every idea and emotion. Up there with the best albums of 2025, the new LP has cemented yeule as one of the most exciting and consistent talents of the decade. Every album is an evolution, and knowing yeule, we may never hear a project like this from them again.

Various Artists – Trigger: Response

(Credit: Craquages Collectifs)

Curated by French DJ ergen101, Trigger-Response is a breathtaking compilation of club tunes from the CRAQUAGES collective. Though each artist involved has their own distinct flair, they share commonality in their seamless ability to craft a dark and foreboding atmosphere. Trigger-Response is club music in its darkest and most intense form. Deep bass rhythms, industrial percussion, and nightmarish vocal samples make up the foundation of this electronic odyssey. The compilation begins with “p0g0”, a thumping opener whose heavy bass and brutal drums prepare the listener for what is to come. In only 8 tracks, this compilation sums up the many talents of the CRAQUAGES collective – most notably, their talent for transporting the listener to another world.

Aesop Rock – Black Hole Superette

(Credit: Rhymesavers)

Parallel to billy woods, Aesop Rock is an underground MC who has never lost steam since his 2000s debut. Whether it be the sci-fi madness of Spirit World Field Guide or the Blockhead-fuelled abstractions of Garbology, Rock has been on an unprecedented run the past few years. Black Hole Superette is his latest project: a calmer, less extravagant work where the MC takes things back to Earth and focusses on the little things that make up our lives.

In classic Aesop fashion, Black Hole Superette sees the MC translate a seemingly simple concept into a mind-bending onslaught of rhymes. With one of the widest lexicons in rap history, Aesop makes his talents clear on every tune, packing each track with dozens of tongue-twisting rhymes and an endless slew of words. His approach to rhyme, bombarding the listener nonstop with words, would not work so well if not for the rapper’s knack for storytelling. From narrating the snails taking over his fishtank to the boxing documentary he discovered because of a dry lecture, Rock takes the mundane and makes it exciting, injecting heart, soul, and lyrical prowess into every bar.

xhef – HEART SHAPE WITH MY HANDS

(Credit: Feel Lo)

Though his name might not be as familiar as the other rappers listed, xhef is equally ambitious. A New Jersey MC who uses every project as a powerful artistic statement, he has slowly built a catalogue of enthralling concept records. Facing his fear of death on TERMINAL : TERMINAL and trapping the listener in his darkest thoughts on ADHD, HEART SHAPE WITH MY HANDS is a surprisingly light-hearted turn in the rapper’s work.

Rather than a collaboration with any one producer, HEART SHAPE sees xhef work with a score of formidable talents in the underground, flexing his lyrical muscle alongside MCs like Nonazz and Brent Bronze, performing over beats from Lil Figurative, pty, Millenium, and so many more. Lyrically, xhef is razor-sharp, sketching out his life and psyche in a series of smooth bars and clever metaphors. A master of storytelling and introspection, there is no better example of xhef’s ability than the eclectic highs of HEART SHAPE WITH MY HANDS.

Lorde – Virgin

(Credit: UMG)

Virgin is everything I could have wanted from a new Lorde album. The LP sees the singer abandon the indie folk intimacy of Solar Power in favour of a more bombastic, electronic sound, performing over a symphony of sizzling electric bass, pulsing synthesisers, and industrial drum patterns.

The record also harbours some of Lorde’s best writing to date. Harkening back to the themes of Melodrama, Virgin is the singer’s self-described “rebirth”, reflecting her turbulent journey with her health, her identity, and her romantic life. Likening herself to a shapeshifter and symbolising her struggle with an eating disorder through the urge to shatter a mirror, Lorde explores a range of dark and personal topics with grace and eloquence. Not only does Virgin offer the most compelling production of Lorde’s career, but it also features her writing at its sharpest.

samsraps  - The Moss & Me

(Credit: Nailed It!)

The Moss & Me is 14 minutes of jazz rap greatness. Far from your average collaboration, this quickfire project sees samsraps borrow a handful of instrumental tunes from producer UGGGY, reinventing them by injecting some hip hop. Laying down verses over every jazzy instrumental, The Moss & Me is a brief but intricate exploration of the rapper’s abilities, flexing his rhyme skills, sharp writing, and versatile delivery across eight colourful tracks. Although no song runs over two and a half minutes, each one feels complete, densely packed with thoughtful bars while a serene blend of horns and bass bubbles beneath his emphatic voice. Whether you keep in touch with the underground or feel clueless about the scene, The Moss & Me is too short to have any excuse not to listen.

Little Simz – Lotus

(Credit: Little Simz)

Despite having dropped just one EP in that time, the past three years have perhaps been the most turbulent of Little Simz’s career. Plagued with writer’s block, falling out with longtime collaborator Inflo, and losing £1.7m in loans her producer refused to pay back, it’s no surprise the wait for Lotus has been so long. That said, the new album was worth every minute. What appears on its surface as Simz’s angriest, most despairing work is actually her most hopeful, reflecting her perseverance in spite of everything working against her.

Lotus rivals SIMBI for the rapper’s best album to date. In just 13 tracks, Simz vividly illustrates her every struggle and thought over some expansive production from Miles Clinton James. “Only” captures the warm intimacy of a summer evening with a gorgeous feature from Jungle’s Lydia Kitto. By comparison, “Blood” washes the listener in its frigid atmosphere, supported on vocals by Wretch 32 and Cashh. Lotus is varied in its sound but cohesive in its themes, bringing together a range of talents but driven by the unparalleled passion and poetry from Simz herself.

XXXIII – :’)

(Credit: XXXIII)

Some of the most creative and infectious pop of the year. :’), or Les Vestiges du Présent (Remnants of the Present), follows the story of a smartphone given consciousness, navigating an isolated forest in search of safety, identity, and purpose.

XXXIII’s writing is playful and colourful, narrating the outlandish story with real sincerity and attention to detail, made even more remarkable by the stunning production on display. Blending pop grooves with intricate IDM techniques, the EP perfectly captures the serenity and grandiosity of the journey. Language barrier aside, on a purely sonic level, there are few pop projects this year as slick, glamorous, and enchanting as Les Vestiges du Présent.

McKinley Dixon – Magic, Alive!

(Credit: City Slang)

McKinley Dixon is one of the most exciting forces in hip hop today. Keeping the essence of jazz rap alive, his newest LP is a vibrant collection of tunes characterised by blossoming horns and ever-shifting percussion. Magic, Alive! follows the story of a group of boys who want to resurrect their friend, with Dixon using the fantastical narrative to explore themes of life, purpose, and magic, all filtered through the groovy lens of jazz rap. His verses are rich and layered, his mic presence animated and endlessly engaging. In a swift 35 minutes, McKinley Dixon achieves what many rappers would struggle to their whole careers. Magic, Alive! is a bold concept record defined by its exciting stories, nuanced subtext, and an undying love for jazz. Of all the rap records to release in 2025, Magic, Alive! is an absolute essential.

tau – Matters of Substance

(Credit: OUROBOROS)

An album from tau is an experience like no other. As soon as the album begins, the listener is drawn in by a discordant ringing and click-clack of distant percussion. The eerie mood is set from the first few seconds, then tau comes into the mix, laying down an abstract list of thoughts and images as hazy samples swirl around his voice. Matters of Substance is a dense and rewarding listen whose beats are as intricate as the rapper’s verses. The production is a mishmash of droning ambience and gritty abstract rap, taking the darkest parts of both genres and combining them into a harrowing and enveloping listen.

Addison Rae – Addison

(Credit: Columbia Records)

From Jake Paul to Dixie D’Amelio, it seems like influencers who pursue musical careers are destined to embarrass themselves. Addison Rae is a rare exception to that rule. Running in the same circles as Charli xcx, the influence of BRAT and albums like it is clear on Addison. The production is sprawling, decorated with enchanting vocal chops, glittering synths, and classic dance percussion. Addison tackles every tune with her signature breathy, whispered tone, fitting right in as elements of reverb and autotune blend her words into the haze of electronica.

From a writing perspective, Addison is nothing revolutionary, but it serves as a hypnotic debut album from an artist many considered destined to fail. Addison is a protest against those assumptions, solidifying Rae as an exciting new voice in the pop landscape with a knack for making hits and a natural talent for making earworms.