2025: A year of playing fantastic music (we didn't make)

We did it! We made it all the way through 2025! It was an incredibly challenging year for us – our first year out of stealth mode, finally rolling out music – but also incredibly rewarding (largely thanks to your support)! I'm not here to talk about our releases though (you can read up on that roundup here).

I spent a lot more time DJing different functions this year, which led to a lot of time digging in the proverbial crates. It was a truly awesome year for music, and I wanted to share a few releases from some of our peers and the artists who inspire us. Maybe you enjoyed these too, but hopefully you'll discover something new as well!

Happy new year, and happy digging!

Lazarus (Original Series Soundtrack) - Kamasi Washington, Floating Points & Bonobo (Milan Records)

Famed anime auteur Shinichiro Watanabe made his grand return to the screen this year with his new series Lazarus. Watanabe, known for expressive action sequences set to phenomenal music, has a reputation for exceptional taste in music. His earlier works Cowboy Bebop and Samurai Champloo launched artists like Yoko Kanno & the Seatbelts and Nujabes into the public (anime-loving) consciousness, while Carole & Tuesday even went as far as to put performances by artists like Denzel Curry, Flying Lotus, Thundercat, Madison & Taylor McFerrin, and more directly into the narrative (sort of). In light of those expectations, the music of Lazarus does not fall short, tapping big band jazz lord Kamasi Washington, electronica scientist Floating Points, and trip-hop world music conductor Bonobo to compose THREE original soundtracks to the series!

If you're familiar with these artists, you can imagine how radically different their contributions are. But you can also hear how complimentary they might be as well, each composer putting forth their own vision of sonics to score the adventures of an unlikely team of misfits on a mission to stop the end-of-the-world.

SCORPIO - Madison McFerrin (self-released)

Friend-of-the-label Madison McFerrin released her second full-length album this year, channeling the emotional aftermath of her ended engagement into an unbelievable offering to the R&B gods. A woman on a mission, she also kicked this year off with an amazing Tiny Desk concert (which she booked herself), premiering two tracks from the album, following the first single. The behind the scenes lore is rich too: After said engagement fell apart, she took the money she'd been saving for the wedding, and put it into the recording and production of this album!

Animaru - Mei Semones (Bayonet Records)

I came to this album by Mei Semones later in the year, but the mood is pretty evergreen. Semones – a graduate of both Ann Arbor's Community High School and Berklee College of Music's esteemed jazz programs – is an incredibly gifted jazz guitarist, who pairs bilingual lyrics (English and Japanese) with musically lush backdrops rooted in bossa nova, orchestral chamber pop, and midwest alt/emo rock.

In speaking about the album, she's quoted as describing project's thesis as being about "trusting your instinct" (hence the title, アニマル or "Animal"). Her command of jazz foundations are on full display as he music warps through time, capturing the cocktail of confidence and anxiety that comes with youth. The songs are easy to listen to, but never betray their own depth.

SWEET TOOTH - Halima (drink sum wtr)

This new album by Halima is just fun. Given the artist's roots, being raised between Lagos and London, now living and working in New York City, it comes as no surprise that there's a rich afro-pop and R&B influence throughout the album. Still she gives the listener a full range of songs to journey from the club, to the afterparty, to the ride home.

I really loved how the production on this album was bold, but never overpowering. Most of the songs are shorter than I usually like, but I also think that, alongside the finely-tuned sequencing, contributes to the album's loopability. After a few listens, outside of a few standout tracks, it's quite easy to forget where exactly in the album you might be, once you've just let it go.

Daisy Cutter - ouri (self-released)

I've long argued that ouri is the single best, and most imaginative producer in Canada, and this album has done nothing to dissuade me. The alchemy she commands between the electronic and the organic is already impressive enough, and that's before you even take her vocals into account. I was lucky enough to catch her on tour for an intimate live band set, and I've never left a venue so completely awash with blissed-out neurotransmitters. As far as set-and-forget albums, this is one I found myself pressing play on by default, when tasked with choosing a soundtrack for any particular setting.

Grace - YonYon (Peace Tree)

This was my last big find of the year, but Korean-Japanese DJ and pop star YonYon dropped her debut full-length, and it's a super fresh collection of breakbeat, city pop, and R&B, sprinkled with a few touches of K-pop and amapiano here and there. The album contains a few tracks that she released as singles, including one from as far back as 2023, and her catalogue on Apple Music shows the artist and label-owner has been BUSY with collabs, so I'm inclined to believe that she's been working toward this project for a long time. Thankfully, the efforts have paid off. The music is beautiful, and apparently still coming as she just dropped a remix to "Orange", adding Korean producer and pianist Chill The World to the lineup.

Light-Years - Nas & DJ Premier (Mass Appeal)

Much has been made of the long-awaited Clipse reunion this year but, as far as hip-hop legends still recording in 2025, this late entry from Nas and Preemo actually stands out to me personally as more impactful! A reunion album is always exciting; everyone loves to see proven collaborators return to working together to enter a new era together, but I also think there's a beauty in teaming up with your homies to return to the spirit on your past (artistic) life.

Light-Years, at once, feels like the product of a true master flexing 30+ years of practice in a contemporary environment, and a 90s legend unearthing records that conceivably could have been shelved by his old labels. There's no confusion that both Nas and DJ Premier made this music in the 2020s, but something about their partnership clearly thrives by channelling the energy of their younger selves.