shelter 2025 best projects

Music released in the middle of a decade has a special place in the ever-shifting style cycle. I usually think the most emblematic works of a decade's music, the stuff that feels like it can represent an entire 10-year period, releases around the 4th to 6th years. The experimentation and rebellion of the early years of a decade begin to give way to polish and refinement. The new tools that definitive artists turn into their cohort's hallmarks are already understood: the question becomes who can wield them in ways that create art that is truly special.

Anyone can make music from their bedrooms now, and it isn't nearly as scary as it used to be to get started. Everyone is listening more eclectically as a result of the internet: subcultures mishmashing, splitting, and cross-pollinating. Music has never been more global and accessible, but it has also never been less "valuable" under capitalism — streaming has made access to any song you could possibly want to hear a trivial matter, easily taken for granted.

2025 is right smack in the middle of the 2020s, the decade most of our staff ended/are ending/will end their adolescence in... many of us are going through periods of upheaval, self-discovery, and change. These are some of the projects (albums/EPs/mixtapes/whatever) that made this crazy year more fulfilling to get through. We hope you check some of them out if you haven't already; and if you have, we hope you find something new to take away from our thoughts on them.

Music is awesome, these projects are awesome, and I hope we all have an awesome 2026.

- Tonchi / PK Shellboy

LOCAL

5 Waiian - BACKSHOTS - tonchi

Waiian completely discards the notion of having to posture as “hard” on BACKSHOTS. He’s satisfied purely with being authentic: the now-proven skater-rapper turned independent label head is undoubtedly proof that goofy and cool are not mutually exclusive, even within a genre as dominated by machismo as hip-hop. This authenticity is backed up by a production masterclass by the DAW wizards at Kashira, paying clear and loving homage to a grab bag of hip-hop subgenres: from a brighter take on the bounce of the South on “ASAN NA SI…” to the classic radio slow jam on “SOFTIE”, to the new jack-esque “SI LODS NA BAHALA”. The album closes, however, on the most Filipino track of all of them. “BOUNCE NA KO MAN” evokes dance-rap FlipMusic produced classics like “Biglang Liko” wholeheartedly and genuinely. Waiian shows throughout BACKSHOTS that he’s an artist that loves “pinoy hip-hop”: each word in that phrase individually as well as combined.

4 The Purest Blue - You Can Be Free - stella

Parang slingshot yung EP na to. May mabigat na pwersang hihila sayo papunta sa nakaraan—sa 2000s playlist nung nakatatanda mong kapatid, nintendo bossa nova, meeting old pets, realizing may crush ka sa crush mo. Maya maya makikita mo na lang na dinala ka na pala niya papunta sa kasalukuyan. Mahihismasan ka tapos maiiisip mo okay… nakakatakot yung kondisyon ng buhay at parang walang sasalba sakin pero MERON! MERON! Malapit sa puso ko yung pag acknowledge nung EP na to sa kapitalismo at iba pang patibong na kaya nating takasan ng magkakasama. Grabe yung boosegumps ko sa dulo ng You Can Be Free.

what a year for pop! ٩(ˊᗜˋ*)و ♡

3 emma bot - radio emma - inigo

The word that comes to mind when I think about the emma bot album is “willpower”. The best part of this record to my senses as well as to those with the heart to sense it, is the massive wave of sincerity that comes across you as you listen to its runtime. Radio Emma is tender moment after tender moment served in hardshell pop-punk; sabby’s always dissing himself as often as he does gas himself up in these songs but it is never in a manner where there’s a need to either crucify himself or keep himself going… like other art that I enjoy, it comes across as effortless as breathing like this sentiment HAD to be expressed. This is the sort of emo that doesn’t concern itself with looking particularly cool or adhering to the cruel juxtaposition of trendiness. It’s a deft demonstration of the self despite everything in the contrary saying otherwise: a consideration to tune the noise out and get over yourself, and the fact that what’s true to the self usually isn’t concerned with fashionability. Writing an easycore breakdown to be released in 2025 is an AMAZING exercise of free will and self-liberation. Not even joking.

2 aunt robert - goodbyes forever - aj

There's this specific kind of bliss in unmasking and allowing yourself vulnerability, and no other album I've listened to last 2025 embodies that kind of unapologetic sincerity more than aunt robert's Goodbyes Forever. In one moment, I'm tired and worn out, navigating through all my worries and anxieties as an adult; then, in sudden waves of fuzz throughout this album's runtime, I'm a kid again, jamming out to songs that I pirated off Limewire blasting on my dad's old MP3 player. The music embraces you in a warmth that feels like hearing a sprawling collection of things left unsaid finally being voiced out in one big euphoric release. Each song smoothly transitions into the next, radiating a certain intimacy that is never overbearing, yet so entwined with a kind of sincerity that feels like an organized chaos that just seems to make sense. All at once, as soon as the album ends and all the noise settles, you realize that these past and present states of yourself are still you. Wholly you. You just suddenly realize that, sometimes, all you need is to shed your facade, wear your heart on your sleeve, and allow yourself to be seen in all your glory. (Also, can I just say that the transition from "Frount Robert" to "Mad" is so damn smooth?? I can't get enough of it!).

1 Man Made Evil - s/t - kim

Pinarinig ko ang album na ito sa isa kong kasama ang isa kong kaguro (shoutout Ser Pao, hehe), at ang una niyang sinabi sa akin ay: “Para akong nasa gig.” Totoo naman, pinaparamdam ng album na ito sa bawat tagapakinig ang isang tila totoong pagtatanghal. Sapat na ang pagkukulang sa produksiyon para iparamdam sa iyo ang tunay. Hindi naman kasi natin talaga kailangan ng grandyosong paglalatag ng mga epekto at sampol para iparamdam na maraming pagkukulang ang mundo sa atin. Mapangahas na ipinamalas ng Man Made Evil na kahit sa kakaunti, maraming maaaring masabi—o dapat. Kung iisipin, ang mundo ba ang nagkulang sa atin o tayo-tayo lang din? Pinagmumunihan ng album na ito ang huli, at pinagpala tayong bigyan ng isang field trip na kailangang sakyan ng lahat. Isang Grand Eyebol nga naman talaga ang buhay: mata sa mata dapat harapin ang mga kahayupan at kabutihang pinanghahawakan ng bawat isa sa atin.

GLOBAL

5 Oklou - choke enough - stella

Pagtitimpi ang tema ng 2025. Yung album na to yung pinaka banayad na leksyon. Malambot at mahangin. Thank you oklou… Nagka panahon na wala akong pinakinggan kundi blade bird nung may pinagdadaanan ako. Wag masyado mahigpit yung kapit, baka bumaon kuko mo sabi ni Mayniel. Ang dami niya pang gustong sabihin at naparating niya kahit hindi pa siya gumamit ng salita. Masakit sa puso yung tulin ng choke enough at nakakahilo yung katahimikan. Sana mapakinggan niyo to at sabay sabay tayong magiyakan when the beat drops at the renaissance fair rave.

4 They Are Gutting A Body Of Water - LOTTO - inigo

TAGABOW’s been frontlining this current wave of shoegaze (the non-Whirr worship wave, at least), being able to eschew this very distinct druggy sound signature through harsh fuzz, cheap-sounding pitch-shifted lead guitar sounds (a calling card for the band), and Quite Literally turning their back on the audience during live performances. What really impresses me about this band is their willingness to stray free from general genre conventions of the territory they’re in with brazenness; trading in token ethereality for an edged mix of tin-can distorted sampling and guitar work. Honestly, I wasn't super sold on this band until this album came out, and what they're trying to do is clear as day to me now. We need more shoegaze like this!! MORE druggy psychedelic vulnerable revealing disjointed scattershot LESS heavy-for-the-sake-of-heavy fleeting everything-fitting-too-well breathy… what does The Heft even mean anymore?

3 f5ve - SEQUENCE 01 - tonchi

Though f5ve are, in some ways, a reaction to the growing berth K-pop has over the rest of the world’s girl and boy groups as well as the growing resurgence of club dance music culture and “hyperpop”, there’s something about them that’s just special. They have a visual strength of direction more typical of the high-flash stylings of their Korean girl group counterparts: the music video for “Magic Clock” is clearly a riff on the formula for classic vids like SNSD’s “Gee”. The lessons they masterfully apply from pop music elsewhere on the planet aren’t what make them special however: that honor goes to their perfectly solid pop songwriting throughout. The sultry dark-room bounce of the Kesha-featuring “Sugar Free Venom” and “Television” are pulled off better than anyone else in the girl group space right now. In the end, the album’s most magical moments belong to the most deliberately Japanese-sounding tracks, which also happen to be the most outright emotional: “リア女 (Real Girl)”, the repackage’s closer “I Choose You”, and of course breakout hit and top 10 pop song of the Decade so far “Underground”.

2 Geese - Getting Killed - kim

Hindi maikakaila ang pagsikat ng Geese ngayong taon na ito kung sila ba naman ang naging mabangis sa paglalahad ng oxymoron sa “wala akong ginagawa.” May ginagawa sila, sa mismong pagpili pa lang ng isang pasibong tono sa pagpangalan ng kanilang album na “Getting Killed”. Pinapaisip nila sa atin kung magpapapatay ba tayo kung alam na nating mamamatay tayo? Hindi lang tayo binahiran ng dahas ng kanilang dinamiko, sinaksak nila sa mga lalamunan natin na kaya nilang paglaruan ang mga tambalang oposisyon sa tunog sa paraang hindi nakaririndi. Kadalasan, papunta ito sa isang nakatatarantang emosyon (ang bangis ng drums sa koro ng “Trinidad”), pananaghoy (na maririnig sa mangiyak-ngiyak na gitara ni Emily Green at pagkanta ni Cameron Winter sa “Au Pays de Cocaine”), pero malinaw na malinaw na papunta talaga sa isang destinasyon.

Saan? Pwede namang ang mga ginagawa natin ay papunta sa Kanya, pero hindi puwedeng pigilan ang sarili na ang paggawa (kahit ng wala) ay may epekto pa rin sa iba. Isa lang naman ang pupuntahan natin, kaya kahit hindi natin alam kung paano, sama-sama na tayong pumunta roon.

1 Shallowater - God's Gonna Give You A Million Dollars - inigo

Good music should feel somewhat encyclopedic. Not necessarily all-encompassing, but comprehensive (maybe even polar) in a certain manner. It should make enough sense for you to want to do something after the initial impact. God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars does this to me. The noise of LED light and frontier silence. Full extended barres and panic chords. Shitty city blocks and pastures as far as the eye can see. Going backwards with express intent to reflect in contrast of what’s new collapsing in on itself is the move for 2026. To rediscover and reinterpret what’s happened before to make more sense and to make better what lies ahead. Feels very much like a manifestation of these sorts of things, which I think is its best asset. Even better, a manifestation of many possible things for different people. I urge you to listen to this and find these things for yourselves; to reflect on the harmony that comes from life's many contradictions.