We’ve reached the end of another year, and for Real Gone, 2025 was a special one. Not only did we celebrate our sixteenth year online, but we gained a truckload of new and regular supporters – both from an industry perspective and in terms of regular readership. Our visitor stats have seen a huge increase on 2024, and the materials we’ve been sent for review have been more varied than ever.
We’ve heard a lot of enjoyable albums and EPs over the past twelve months, but as is traditional, we’ve whittled our favourites down to ten, and then given a well deserved shout out to a few titles we think are also worth checking out. As always, our picks for the best of the year are limited to releases we actually reviewed – it’s only fair. We hope you’ll check out some of the artists and releases featured below, if you’ve not already done so.
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STEPHEN McCAFFERTY – Monsters And Lullabies
Stephen disappeared from the music scene for a couple of years, but throughout 2025 he came through strongly with a run of brilliant digital singles, all of which are featured on this album. Taking in influences from folk, pop, indie and rock, the Scottish singer songwriter’s material can seem varied, but his best work centres around very clear narratives, and a couple of the songs here have the kind of big hooks that just won’t let go. Against some serious competition, this is our album of the year. [Read a full review of the album here.]
THE BLACK KEYS – No Rain, No Flowers
This Black Keys album from 2025 might be softer around the edges than some of their past work, but ‘No Rain…’ is full of sophisticated, retro sounding tracks that recall radio friendly fare of the 70s. With the help of various guesting songwriters – including the talented Daniel Tashian – the duo turn their hand to power pop and soul, melodic rock, blues and Americana with consistently impressive results, but closing number ‘Neon Moon’ with its nods to The Allman Brothers in ballad mode stole the show, turning a great LP into an essential one. [Read a full review of the album here.]
LÙLÙ – Lùlù
Towards the end of 2024, French power poppers Lùlù released their self-titled debut single. It immediately set them in place as a band to keep an ear for in future. Their self-titled debut album released in June 2025 was every bit as good as you’d hope for. Across ten punchy numbers, Lulu celebrate a very 90s sound, on tunes absolutely loaded with buoyant riffs. With a sound that takes influence from Fountains of Wayne, melodic punkers Klover and Franz Ferdinand – although perhaps never deliberately – ‘Lùlù’ lifts the mood instantly. [Read a full review of the album here.]
DOTSUN MOON – Tiger
This album saw Dotsun Moon making a long overdue return, but ten years on from that previous release, one man band Richard Fliel never sounded better. With strong influences from ‘Disintigration’ era Cure, a lot of 90s indie – particularly from the 4AD stable – and a cinematic approach to arrangement, Dotsun Moon’s best songs hark back to decades’ past, but somehow sound fresh and really strong in the present. [Read a full review of the album here.]
SUGAR BONES – Make Me Bad
Like the Stephen McCafferty album, this full length debut from Sugar Bones had a long gestation period. It includes tracks that were recorded as far back as 2023, but that doesn’t stop ‘Make Me Bad’ sounding like one of the most thrilling releases of the year. Taking a huge influence from funk, adding a dose of soul, a pinch of melodic rock and giving everything a great send off via a superb run of vocal performances, the US band sound like an absolute powerhouse on this disc. The material falls somewhere between Sass Jordan, Stevie Salas, Brand New Heavies, Lenny Kravitz and Sly Stone, with occasional nods to something rockier, playing brilliantly throughout. What makes this record really great, though, is the way the studio recording still gives the suggestion that Sugar Bones would be the ultimate party band when it comes to live performance. [Read a full review of the album here.]
SAM ROBBINS – So Much I Still Don’t See
On this, his third album, singer songwriter Sam Robbins blends folk and Americana in a way that feels utterly timeless. He really comes of age as both a songwriter and musician, and almost everything sounds like the work of someone whom has a veteran songwriter’s heart, and the melodic hooks are crafted with a real care. The material is very strong; the tones are often low-key and rather beautiful. With influences from James Taylor coming through strongly in places, and guitar playing worthy of Willy Porter and Bruce Cockburn, if you have any interest in acoustic sounds, whether approached as a fan of easy listening singer-songwriter material, through folk, Americana or even adult pop, you owe it to yourselves to give this album a listen at the earliest opportunity. [Read a full review of the album here.]
TOOTH GORE – For Losers, By Losers
One man band Kobi Joe – aka Tooth Gore – isn’t afraid of mixing things up. On his debut full length ‘For Losers, By Losers’ you’ll find huge, hooky tracks modelled from power pop, doo wop, surf rock and melodic punk, often with those influences blended into something sharper. Most of his songs could have been written at any point over the past thirty years, but there’s a brilliant youthfulness at play on this record that gives the familiar sounds a freshness that rewards the audience, listen after listen. [Read a full review of the album here.]
SHANNON SMITH – Out of The Shadows
Another album that felt as if it were a long time coming, Shannon Smith’s ‘Out of The Shadows’ isn’t always as upbeat as its lead single ‘Dance The Night Away’ suggested, but its collection of songs – written over the course of a few years – shows off a singer songwriter who’s unafraid of honesty, and capable of giving some hugely confessional material a brilliant send off. With material celebrating 70s pop, Americana and pop-rock, and a performer equally comfortable when it comes to helming a radio friendly pop tune and heartwrenching ballads, there’s something here for most people attuned to mature storytelling. [Read a full review of the album here.]
DAS KAPITANS – Get Up EP
In 2024, Das Kapitans released their self titled album (their seventeenth or eighteenth release since 2021). With its huge sound and sharp production, it was arguably the band’s most professional recording to date. In some ways, the tracks that make up this EP sound like left-overs, but they’re good enough to stand on their own. Four of the five tracks are top tier Das Kapitans, but it’s an essential listen for the semi-spoken word ‘Just A Dream’ which is one of 2025’s funniest songs. [Read a full review of the album here.]
CHARLIE NIELAND – Stories From The Borderlines
Best known for being a producer/engineer, Charlie Nieland occasionally records material under his own name. There were two releases from Charlie in 2025: an EP, ‘The Ocean Understands’ and the full length ‘Stories From The Borderlines’. Both are excellent, but ‘…Borderlines’ makes the cut due to reprising a couple of the EP’s greatest tracks, alongside the hazy, 70s sounding ‘Back To Life’ and the Roxy Music influenced, LGBTQ championing ‘Shame’, providing the backbone of a great listen. [Read a full review of the album here.]
In addition to those releases, there were a few others that really made an impression. On his solo debut, Max Rael blended synth pop and industrial music to create a constantly interesting backdrop for his spoken word performances; Boston “farm emo” band Tiberius served up a great blend of slacker rock and Americana on their debut album; Travels With Brindle covered the whole of Sparks’ ‘Number One In Heaven’ as a solo performer, stripping everything down to voice and ukulele, making something that shouldn’t work genuinely sparkle. On the heavier front, Sypha’s breakthrough EP mixed the strong vocal elements of Halestorm and the alternative elements of Linkin Park in a way that was perfect for their punchy songwriting. You mightn’t think a third release of improvised work would hold the audience’s attention, but Yawning Balch proved everyone wrong on their self-explanitory ‘Volume Three’ with its lengthy desert rock jams that showcased some superb interplay between Yawning Man/SoftSun guitarist Gary Arce and Fu Manchu legend Bob Balch, while the UK’s Dragon Welding shared a world of really exciting new wave influences on ‘The Naughty Step’, and dropped the year’s greatest single with ‘Up & Away’. [Full reviews can be found by clicking on the HTML links]
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We’re getting ready to wave goodbye to a great year, there’ll be a couple more articles coming up from Real Gone – one more review, and a New Year’s Eve special. Before we move on, we’d also like to thank the dozens and dozens of record labels, management teams and PR people who’ve sent material our way every week. We’d especially like to thank Jay @ Reaction, Shauna @ Shameless PR and Garry @ SaN PR: without you, the Singles Bar wouldn’t be the success it is, and certainly wouldn’t have the legs to be a weekly fixture. Above all, we’d like to thank our readers: you’ve come back to support us knowing that, every week, we’ll share opinions on some of the most cult of bands – and without you all, this would be pretty pointless.
Thank you everyone. Here’s to an equally successful ’26!
Lee Realgone,
December 2025
If you’ve enjoyed anything at Real Gone this year, please consider buying us a coffee at the below link. The cost of every cuppa will go towards the running costs for 2026. Thanks x