The Top Kansas City Albums of 2025
1. Mister Water Wet- Things Gone and Things Here Still
Astounding.
2. Carl Allen- Tippin’
Plastic Sax review.
3. Brittany Davis- Black Thunder
Plastic Sax review.
4. Emily D’Angelo, Ben Bliss, Yannick Nézet-Séguin and The Metropolitan Opera- Tesori: Grounded
Ben Bliss’ breakout performance.
5. Joyce DiDonato and Il Pomo d’Oro- Purcell: Dido & Aeneas
Rapturous.
6. Hermon Mehari and Tony Tixier- Soul Song
Plastic Sax review.
7. Pete Fucinaro- Little Window
Plastic Sax review.
8. Snocaps- Snocaps
Jangly.
9. Idle Heirs- Life is Violence and Life is Violence: The Instrumentals
Metallic crunch.
10. Tech N9ne- 5816 Forest
There Stands the Glass review.
11. Sandbox Percussion- Cerrone: Don’t Look Down
The only way is up.
12. Seth Andrew Davis and Krista Kopper- Popular Mechanics
Plastic Sax review.
13. Stik Figa- A Small Fortune
Buried treasure.
14. Henry Scamurra- Urban Forum
Plastic Sax review.
15. Kansas City Chorale- The Mirage Calls
Stellar suite.
16. Drew Williams- Demons Hate Fresh Air
Dank.
17. Samantha Fish- Paper Doll
Tougher than leather.
18. RMW- The King of Kansas City
There Stands the Glass review.
19. TheBabeGabe- Honeypop and Honeypop: Reloaded
Delicious.
20. Jackie Myers- What About the Butterfly
In full flight.
21. Gerald Spaits- Sunday Night Live at Green Lady Lounge
Bass sophistication.
22. Shiner- Beliveyoume
Truth.
23. Eddie Moore- What Makes Us
Plastic Sax review.
24. Shawn Edward Hansen- Radio Price Tower
Bartlesville ambience.
25. The Freedom Affair- The Freedom Affair
Elite retro-soul.
26. Ty Faizon- Until the War Is Won…
Rap battles.
27. Jake Wesley Rogers- In the Key of Love
In tune.
28. Brian Baggett Trio- Nothing Left to Lose; Live at Green Lady Lounge, Volume 2
Plastic Sax review.
29. Nathan Granner and the Barbary Coast Orchestra - Gordon Getty: Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Nathan Granner shines.
30. Drifter- Grigori
Doom.
The Top Kansas City EPs of 2025
1. Prism Quartet- El Eco de un Tambor
Plastic Sax review.
2. Stakes Is High- Stakes Is High
Frenetic.
3. Matt Pryor- The Salton Sea and The Salton Sea Demos
Middle-aged emo.
4. Flooding- object 1
Slowcore.
5. Lorna Kay- Lorna Kay
Burn another honky tonk down.
6. Rich the Factor- NFT Scritch 3
KC currency.
7. Greg LaFollette- Liturgical Songs, Volume One
Holy, holy, holy.
8. Flora From Kansas- Homesick
There’s no place like home.
9. The Almighty Trouble Brothers- A History of Poor Decisions
Up to no good.
10. Radkey- Victory
For the win.
Explanatory note: Each artist was limited to one release to prevent multiple recordings by the prolific Seth Davis, Greg LaFollette, Hermon Mehari, Rich Tha Factor, RMW, Stik Figa and Drew Williams from dominating the rankings. Last year’s tabulation is here.