Good morning, hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving! It\u2019s a shorter week in the music world, not too many albums are out this week, and not too many more albums are coming out for the rest of 2025 in general. Next week marks the start of December and that probably means we\u2019ll start seeing an influx of major year-end lists next week too.<\/p>\n
That said, there are a handful of new records out this week and I highlight seven of them below. First, a few honorable mentions: Josh Freese, Hit-Boy x Spank Nitti James, Equipment Pointed Ankh (mem Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band), Ikonika, Ronnie D\u2019Addario (The Lemon Twigs\u2019 dad), Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter\u2019s Forever, the Nine Inch Nails tribute comp from Magnetic Eye Records, the Dream Theater live album, the 40th anniversary edition of The Pogues\u2019 The Pogues\u2019 Rum, Sodomy & The Lash<\/i>, the 50th anniversary edition of Neil Young\u2019s Tonight\u2019s the Night<\/i>, and Madonna\u2019s EP of bonus material from 1994\u2019s Bedtime Stories<\/i>.<\/p>\n
And, as you\u2019re gearing up to make your own \u2018best of 2025\u2019 lists, Dave and I made a list of 10 albums from this year to make sure you\u2019ve heard and we go through that on the new episode of BV Weekly<\/a>. It\u2019s not necessarily a list of \u201coverlooked\u201d albums, but it is a list of albums that flew a little under the radar compared to the Geeses and Wednesdays and Turnstiles of the world, so we thought it\u2019d be worth giving them all one more push before year-end list season fully begins. Look up \u2018BV Weekly\u2019 wherever you listen to podcasts to stream that.<\/p>\n Read on for this week\u2019s Notable Releases. What\u2019s your favorite release of the week?<\/p>\n MAVI \u2013 The Pilot<\/i><\/b> (Loma Vista)<\/p>\n North Carolina indie-rapper MAVI transcended the \u201cabstract rap\u201d label on his devastating 2024 album Shadowbox<\/i><\/a>, and now he\u2019s back with a 10-song mixtape that finds him with an even greater sense of clarity. Shadowbox<\/i> was partially informed by MAVI\u2019s struggles with alcohol, and as he raps on track 1 of The Pilot<\/i>, he made this new project after getting sober. The Pilot<\/i> is short but sweet, with 10 songs and only one track that reaches the three-minute mark. It\u2019s got four perfectly-matched guests (Earl Sweatshirt, MIKE, Smino, Kenny Mason), and some nice variety in the production, which ranges from chilled-out jazz to orchestral swells to the delightfully dancey outlier \u201cSilent Film.\u201d The short runtime and the Thanksgiving week release date makes it feel more like a stop-gap release than a proper new album, but regardless, MAVI\u2019s on such a roll right now that everything he touches is worth hearing.<\/p>\n![\"MAVI](\"https:\/\/media.brooklynvegan.com\/xxrzsfjkyw\/uploads\/2025\/11\/25\/MAVI-Pilot.jpg\")
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