Best of 2025 – Johan Carlsson

Here is the Best of 2025 picks and a Spotify playlist from Johan Carlsson, Release Magazine.

Album

Emmon: “Icon”
With a sound reminiscent of “Black Celebration” era Depeche Mode, Emmon goes from strength to strength. Awesome album.

Kim Wilde: “Closer”
A very nice return for Kim – this album contains pop gem after pop gem. All wrapped in a quite electronic package.

Lucifer’s Aid: “Enter and Exit”
Calle Nilsson does it again. This album is filled with dance floor tracks,  although my favourite song is the slower, more contemplative “The Pleasure”.

Marina: “Princess of Power”
Ultra melodic, electronic power pop with a feminist touch. Her strongest album to date.

Nektar: “Om du behöver mig”
Do you miss Kent? Specifically their early days? Then check out Nektar, a very young Swedish band that draws a lot of inspiration from the legendary band. But they do it with a certain style, and they have great songs.

Omen Code: “Alpha State”
I can’t remember a single song from this album, even at gun point. But the overall atmosphere and sound design from this British electro industrial band makes it a great listen anyway.

Rhys Fulber: “Memory Impulse Autonomy”
Rhys went really old school on this one, far from his industrial techno of later releases. This is more reminiscent of 80:s industrial, with lots of old gear by the sounds of it. I miss some of his atmospheres here, but there are some fantastic tracks to be found.

Rupesh Cartel: “Residual Light”
This Swedish synthpop band went away without a trace after some really strong albums. But now they’ve come back again, and show that they still know their way around a synthesizer. Great synthpop.

Röyksopp: “True Electric”
Maybe this is cheating, but I always want to include Röyksopp if I can. This is an album with clubbier reinterpretations of older songs, mainly from their landmark triple album “Profound Mysteries”.

The Tear Garden: “Astral Elevator”
This band has often eluded me, and I don’t know their discography as intimately as for example Skinny Puppy’s. “Astral Elevator” however, connected with me. Very atmospheric, and filled with quirky electronic melodies.

Songs

The Sound Veil Society: “The River”
Insanely strong debut track from this new band.

Rhys Fulber: “Baaderzeit”
My favourite track off this album. It mixes old school beats with analogue synthesizers and cool vocal samples.

Nektar: “November”
Emotional indie rock with strong 90:s vibes.

Marina: “Cuntissimo”
A fast, smattering bass line, strings, and Marina’s vocals on top. Nice to hear her venture into new sounds after the disbandment of her band Marina and The Diamonds..

Kosmonaute: “Spaceman”
The best track on the charity record “#fuckcancerband”, with a whole bunch of Kraftwerk-esque and electro styled songs.

Depeche Mode: “Give Yourself to Me”
The new batch of songs on the “M” live album were recorded during the “Memento Mori” sessions, which shows. I would gladly remove crappy tracks like “Caroline’s Monkey” or “People Are Good” and put a few of these in instead.

Centravibe: “Access One”
While we’re waiting for the long gestating new album from Echo Image, another Norwegian synthpop band brings us this gem.

Bill Leeb: “Fireshow”
Bill released his first solo album last year, to great acclaim. This year we got a remix EP, with this epic track hidden at the end. And don’t miss the excellent remixes by Rhys.

Alison Goldfrapp: “Sound & Light”
Alison’s new album is extremely uneven. Some tracks barely go anywhere at all, while others such as this are excellent electronic pop. Pick out the best and forget the rest.

Ugress: “The Ghost you Choose to Be”
Speaking of Norwegians, Ugress continues to rule. Several new tracks were released in 2025, and he also featured them on a new “Director’s Cut” version of the “Retropia” album I featured on last year’s list.

Emmon: “Speak to Me”
Monotone, cold and relentless. Fantastic track from Emmon.

Kim Wilde: “Stones and Bones”
My favourite track on the album, coming towards the end of it. Melancholic and epic at the same time.

Lucifer’s Aid: “The Pleasure”
This excellent little ditty shows another side to Lucifer’s Aid’s craft. A more sensitive approach, a song that wraps you in a warm blanket and keeps you mesmerized.

Röyksopp: “Here She Comes Again (Feat. Jamie Irrepressible) (True Electric)”
A great rework of a great song.

Rupesh Cartel: “Rewards”
Just one of the examples of the band’s excellence from the new album. Check out the other songs as well.