Monthly Picks | September 2025
Sining Shelter
INIGO'S PICKS
Still Way (Wave Notation 2)
ALBUM | Satoshi Ashikawa
Found this because of the connection to Hiroshi Yoshimura's Music for Nine Postcards, which is a personal favorite of mine. I find it difficult to write about ambient and just generally minimal music because of the Critic Reflex to attach adjectives like "sparse" or "reflective". That said, stillness is the move. Not a knock, but maybe I'm waiting for a click to happen.
Bleeds
ALBUM | Wednesday
kmoe throws everything at the wall and everything sticks. Blown-out and enveloping, yet polished and restrained; the fusion of virutoso producer electronic sensibilities with slow-shuffly guitar music is more fully realized on "K1" than any other project from the pandemic "hyperpop" cohort. Grappling with aimlessness and various types of emotional ennui, kmoe's lyrics are disarming in their uncanny framing: "And I woke up in a landfill, decided to stay / And lay down for old times' sake".
GABY'S PICKS
Just Two Girls
SINGLE | Wolf Alice
There is good music, and then there are good music videos. To know that Wolf Alice has married both well pleases me greatly. They make for an honest, inspiring testament to female friendship, complete with some Clairo Charm-isms and a bigger, rockier edge. Check the track out on YouTube right NEOWWW
Riot on An Empty Street
ALBUM | Kings of Convenience
Dunno if this is weirdly hyperspecific but this release felt just like a second baptism, something akin to having a warm, nutty cup of tea in the morning after a whole night of bawling your eyes out... The barest hints of instrumentation with Erlend Øye, Eirik Glambek Bøe, and Feist's voices leading the way masterfully eases the mind, and more importantly, soothes the soul. Glad to hear that the duo is somewhat active to this day.
Essex Honey
ALBUM | Blood Orange
Shoutout to my sister… It just feels wrong not to mention her when Blood Orange is her favorite artist. Anyways, while not as rich with heavy hitters, Mr. Hynes has once again triumphs, proving he is one of if not the most sonically interesting and capable multi-hyphenates we have the privilege of listening to today. Peers he has featured throughout his latest album are of great note and are for sure its defining strength. (While I'm at it, shoutout to my girl Caroline Polachek, as well.)
TONCHI'S PICKS
songs from a time
ALBUM | mako badco
Evoking digital photos from years past taken with phone cameras grainier than you'd like, the lo-fi MIDI-soaked textures of "songs from a time" feel distant yet melancholically cozy. Hearing the muted drum patterns on "offline", the unapologetically programmed guitars on the cover of Kero Kero Bonito's "flyway", and other digitally rotting bits of warmth were deeply comforting to me, especially as a lot of my amateur self-produced stuff outside of Fax Gang early on sounded a lot like this texturally. However, it's the moments where the haze and rot opens up to the sweeping wind of the sky that offer the most gorgeous awe throughout this album, though they work so well partially because of that confluence: the glistening synths in the middle of "three years", the lovestruck clarity of "jtm (i love you)", the rough yet gorgeous sprawl of "...my place in the world". That last phrase could be used to describe the entirety of the album: a rough yet gorgeous sprawl. Can't wait to hear where mako badco goes next.
Seikatsu
EP | libesh ramko
The slashes present between the two words in each song title make perfect sense for the intense juxtapositions offered throughout: soft pianos and childish videogamey bloops and woodwinds put right next to huge redline-worthy kicks and abrasive clang snares. The restraint expressed on both halves serves to intensify the wistful feeling throughout the project: like nostalgia screaming to be let out from within your doldrum daily-life-floating body.
RIANN'S PICKS
ANTAGONISMS
ALBUM | hazylazy
As a fan of Hazylazy since the pandemic, I’ve always been been eager to hear another full project from him again. It’s been five years since The Resentment Segment, and in that pause, Hazylazy used his time wisely—perfecting his craft and maturing as an artist. ANTAGONISMS is a beautifully produced, byte-sized album that cements why Hazylazy has always been one of my favorite artists.
AKO AT IKAW
SINGLE | MISTER MEYERS
Similar to my previous entry, another ALL CAPS project I’ve listened to is AKO AT IKAW from the ever-energetic MISTER MEYERS. Being his second release this year, MEYERS keeps up the pace and theatrically delivers a self-described FlipTop battle with himself—hard-hitting and sharp, setting itself up as an aggressive commentary on identity and self-reflection.
AJ'S PICKS
The Passionate Ones
ALBUM | Nourished by Time
One of the most attention grabbing Alt-R&B albums I've heard in a while. Across all its songs, the album flows with a dizzying variety, shifting from mood to mood while maintaining consistency thanks to some tight production and hypnagogic pop influences sprinkled throughout. I'm fully enamored by the raw and guttural (dare I say, "passionate") lyricism going on here that's accented perfectly by some expressive, almost desperate, vocal delveries as well.
Townes Van Zandt
ALBUM | Townes Van Zandt
Ah, yes, the "Troubadour's Troubadour"... the "Songwriter's Songwriter...
I adore this album so much and I can't sing enough praises for this seminal country album that so many others haven't said before. Still holds up after all these years and some of the best and most vulnerable songwriting that country has to offer. The unrestrained emotions and despair in full display all through this album really just makes you sit down, kick up your legs, pull out a cigarette, breathe out a big 'ol sigh, and say, "Kawawa talaga ang mga cowboy".
The Crying Out of Things
ALBUM | The Body
I honestly don't listen to enough noise and harsher genres to make a write-up that would give this album the praise it deserves. It's just a relentless barrage of never-ending waves of harsh noise, slamming percussions that feel like a crowbar to the back of the head, and ear-piercing wails; and just when you think you can come up for air, it just keeps the onslaught going and drowns you even further down below the depths. All I know is that I love and appreciate extremely dense and textured music, and this album just really does it for me.