2025 In Review (Also Cool's Top Albums)

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Listen along with the official Sounds Cool 2025 playlist!

Available on YouTube and Spotify below.

1tbsp - Hotel Living (sumoclic)

Australian producer and DJ 1tbsp has taken over just about every DJ’s USB this year. With easy bangers like “Rush (Missing Out On Me)” featuring cherry chola and Purient, or freaky genre-blurring tracks like “Isso” featuring MC Pânico, the EP firmly takes its place at the function. 

— Malaika Astorga 

Bassvictim - Forever (VOTB)

​A euphoric crystallisation of friendship, Bassvictim’s Forever expands the duo’s sonic world in tandem with this year’s breakout success. “27a Pitfield” takes you by the hand, running through a field of someone else’s memories, leading you into a stubborn reflection on friendship and time passing with “Grow Up!!!”. If the 2010s flavour of electroclash is truly back, “Final Song” encapsulates it, with an anthemic feeling that can only be compared to rubbing a sugar cube on your tongue. 

— Malaika Astorga

BENEE - Ur an Angel I’m Just Particles (Republic Records)

BENEE’s long-anticipated Ur an Angel I’m Just Particles feels like a collection of thoughts, drifting in with a bouncy, alt-pop sparkle before settling into moments of deeper introspection. True to the nature of a sophomore album, however, the core of BENEE’s identity is unmistakably present. There is a cinematic quality to the record, the kind that feels like a coming-of-age soundtrack, with “Doomsday” filling the slot for the scene when the main character is forced to confront themselves. “Cinnamon” and “Sad Boii” have that classic pop lightness BENEE does best. Even while the album as a whole resists a perfectly linear flow, BENEE’s voice remains a steady through-line. Her vocals make the songs less fragmented and more like emotional snapshots, written across the three-year period it took to create and release Ur an Angel I’m Just Particles. The result is an album that mirrors looking at your own memories, perhaps something you want to keep coming back to with a soft sense of fondness.

— Minou de Lang

cootie catcher - Shy at first (Cooked Raw) 

“Proficient in the realm of smart pop akin to The Moldy Peaches and (Sandy) Alex G, Toronto’s cootie catcher [shares] Shy at First, a melange of earnest deadpan vocals, college rock instrumentation, crochet tutorial samples and field recordings finessed with a melancholic indietronica flare.” 

— Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter, Playlist Refresh, March 21st, 2025 

Das Beat - Frau Fatal (Arbutus Records)

Our favourite Berlin duo released their first full-length album Frau Fatal this year. Veering from dance bangers to emotional ballads, the album keeps us dancing from start to finish. Theatrical, steeped in mystery and mischief, the album merges contemporary pop with nods to new wave, EBM, indie rock, and Italo disco. Burning and brazenly dramatic, it dances on the edge of the timeline, laying its emotions bare as it explores themes of romance, depression, casual dating, and fast-paced city life. 

— Malaika Astorga

Deftones - private music (Reprise Records)

Ten albums deep, Deftones delivered yet another masterpiece in 2025. Sometimes when bands blow up on TikTok years after their initial burst of fame, it’s hard to know how they’ll ride the wave. Despite the obnoxious “Deftones used to be for dudes who love shoegaze, not alt teenage girls on TikTok,” rhetoric, it’s undeniable that the band has been launched into what might be the height of their popularity – 25 years after the release of their best-selling album. Deeply emotional, droning and concise, private music plugs us all back into their gorgeous abyss of sound.

— Malaika Astorga

Florence Adooni - A.O.E.I.U. (Philophon)

On her debut album A.O.E.I.U., Florence Adooni moves graciously through Ghanaian highlife, jazz, funk, and spiritual expression, grounding it all in the energy of live performance. Rather than pushing across a message, Adooni invites you in. This feeling is captured perfectly with the line “just listen up and close your eyes,” which feels less like instruction, and more like a natural instinct. The music arrives with warmth, and a general sense of open-hearted joy. “Otoma da naba,” meaning “The creator has done well,” sits at the center of the record, combining a powerful, immense groove with subtly futuristic touches, carried forward by a funky bassline. It’s here that the spirit of the album comes together in its full celebratory nature. For anyone drawn to spiritual music, or Ghanaian highlife specifically, A.O.E.I.U. offers an inviting and accessible entry point.

— Minou de Lang 

Geese - Getting Killed (Partisan Records) 

Everyone is talking about this record. Your favourite college radio DJ, your best friend… Admittedly, a guy has probably talked at you about it on a first date… The point is, we have all been united by the ubiquity that is 2025’s most compelling “rock” record, Getting Killed by Brooklyn’s Geese. Though at its worst being described as Gen-Z Phish, and at its best comparing frontman Cameron Winter to Bob Dylan, what remains clear is that the reverence for the jam band has made an unexpected comeback in the year 2025, with a totally disarming, fascinating sound. Our heartstrings have been mangled by a lyricist younger than our younger brothers. The future is bright. 

— Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter

Ivri - The Theory of You (ivsounds)

Clocking in at just under thirty minutes, this album slips in quietly and unfolds like a night spent inside someone else’s dream, disappearing just as fast. The songs move quickly from start to finish, creating a flip-book effect that feels fleeting in the moment, but strangely permanent once it's over. The recording feels deeply personal, almost private, close and unguarded. Ivri has a rare ability to build soft, magical worlds out of intimate ideas and transport us into a dream space that feels both fragile and unforgettable. By the time it ends, it’s already gone, but the feeling lingers and settles somewhere familiar.

— Minou de Lang

Jane Remover - Revengeseekerz (deadAir Records)

Revengeseekerz digs its hands into a world of chopped up digital noise, pulling out an earnest embodiment of growing up online and deep nostalgia as a defence against the world. The album feels like a corecore edit of samples and chronically online music knowledge, with Jane Remover kicking and screaming their way into the music scene. Despite the chaos, there are moments of vulnerability, with themes of personal expansion and a desire to be loved scattered throughout the tracks.

— Malaika Astorga

Maria Somerville - Luster (4AD)

“Its lyrical imagery is viscous, and at times nebulous—harkening back to natural wonders at every scale—but Somerville cleverly adapts these narratives. “This world will break your heart / I know not to know now,” she sagely opines on the hushed “Corrib” (named for County Galway’s freshwater lake). Somerville sinks into “Violet” with another limber tableau: ‘Hearts and mind, the sea of change / Veils of vision, offshore birds.’ Though thematically anchored to the musician’s surroundings, the album breathes musings fit for any terrain.”

— Rebecca Judd, Maria Somerville Conjures Echoes to Shore with "Luster,” May 1st, 2025

Oklou - choke enough (True Panther Sounds)

While early reviews of choke enough have alluded to monotony, French art-pop artist Oklou’s restraint reads instead as elegance – an intentional chapter sealed within its own breath. choke enough marks a sterling debut from a storied talent, a narrative that sands itself down until spectre remains. The musing of “blade bird” arrests listeners as they peer through a fogged peephole at love being given space to expand on its own terms. And though “viscus (feat. FKA twigs)” waited to emerge until the deluxe version, its quiet destruction delivers a kind of symmetry – pittering synths like darting eyes recount anxiety rendered corporeal, as two voices breathe into each other before twigs takes the floor. In lineage with artists like Caroline Polachek, Oklou offers hermetic poetry – water that rests at the edge of the glass, its fractal grace suggesting marked evolution.

— Rebecca Judd

Pearly Drops - The Voices Are Coming Back (Music Website)

“Across the album’s eleven tracks, Pearly Drops build an impressionistic pop realm steeped in their delicate yet slightly macabre tradition. Tervonen’s marbled cooing swells and tenses, ruminating with an air that is equal parts anguished and curious. The songs move with the steady pulse of alternative rock, lit from within by an almost-sacred electronic glow. Described by the band as a piece of ‘autofiction,’ The Voices Are Coming Back braids idealism with the mundane, folding the Hollywood dream into something more psychological – the narrative becomes less about a destination than an emotional mirage, its story shaped by a tormented exchange of fantasy and fear.”

— Rebecca Judd, interview: Pearly Drops Trace the Glitches of Perfection on "The Voices Are Coming Back,” December 6th, 2025

PinkPantheress - Fancy That (Warner Records)

Unapologetically lusty, Fancy That sees PinkPantheress’ trademark concision induce the most pleasant kind of whiplash. The UKG-forward mixtape drags the Y2K microtrend by its extension-clad wig and somehow keeps things feeling fresh, stitching Panic! At The Disco, Basement Jaxx and assorted pop ephemera together with youthful curiosity. “Tonight” is the tape’s flashpoint – synthetic, bold, and giggly, with Pink throttling toward desire like she’s two steps ahead. Although the companion release Fancy Some More? landed with a bit less clarity, Zara Larsson’s “Stateside” remix worked like a midnight sun, keeping Fancy That on everyone’s lips into Q4.

— Rebecca Judd

Ribbon Skirt - Bite Down (Mint Records) 

2025 is the year of Ribbon Skirt: two albums, one Polaris Prize short-list nomination, an extensive North American tour and a KEXP special. Reemerging under a new name—signalling a shift in approach, sound and spirit—the Montreal band released their debut long-player Bite Down and follow-up EP PENSACOLA this year on Vancouver label Mint Records. The former, produced by Scott “Monty” Monroe (Preoccupations) and Marlaena Moore, is a striking collection of urgent, raw and poetic reflections on identity, grief, tokenism and survival from lead singer, guitarist and songwriter Tashiina Buswa’s Anishinaabe perspective. Co-written with Buswa’s long-time creative partner Billy Riley, Bite Down resonates for its sonic and lyrical agility, cascading between engrossing noise and prickly stillness. 

— Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter

Sam Gellaitry - ANYWHERE HERE IS PERFECT (Major Recordings/Warner Records)

Colourful and euphoric, ANYWHERE HERE IS PERFECT finds Sam Gellaitry pushing his synesthesia-fuelled electronics to fully funkified heights. Opener “LIGHTNING” lands with orchestral urgency, snapping the listener into shape before the record melts into futuristic disco grooves. “CURIOUS,” the coy, eyelash-batting duet with Toro y Moi, sees the pair spin their softer touches into something weightless – letting ease become the flex. Gellaitry’s layered vocals carry a buttery R&B swagger, especially on slow burns like “RESTORE MY FAITH,” where sultriness gives way to something more reflective. With one foot in bass-heavy ’70s slickness and the other in gleaming digital futurism, Gellaitry turns Uber lingo into something surprisingly loaded with feeling.

— Rebecca Judd

Scarlet Rae - No Heavy Goodbyes (Bayonet Records)

An EP born out of grief, an exploration of life after death – No Heavy Goodbyes is NYC-based artist Scarlet Rae’s ode to her late sister Lucy, offering a contemplation on how to keep moving ahead through a fog of spiritual confusion. This collection is highly recommended for fans of Elliot Smith, My Bloody Valentine, and anyone dealing with loss. 

— Malaika Astorga 

Smerz - Big city life (Escho) 

Norwegian duo Catharina Stoltenberg and Henriette Motzfeldt, AKA Smerz, are at the forefront of cool girl Scandi avant-pop. The pair’s sophomore album Big city life is a post-modern hopscotch game of downtempo annotations on the Zillenial lifestyle. With its diary entry cadence, Stoltenberg and Motzfeldt share stoic, yet sincere, tales of post-20s malaise, lacklustre encounters, bitter fizzlings out and the dizziness of a crush becoming more. While the album conceptually draws from the hum of the concrete jungle, Big city life doesn’t get bogged down by the platitudes of the city grind. Rather, Stoltenberg and Motzfeldt’s chunky, saturated synths and slinky, effortless electro frill make for an innovative and contemporary portrait of a girl in the city. 

— Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter

Tony Price - Street Theatre (Maximum Exposure Inc.) 

“Alongside an ensemble of various equipment, from synthesizers and mixers to a trusty Ableton Push, Price takes cues from the monolithic influences of midwestern house and Motor City techno to interlace metallic beatwork and shadowy rhythms with the whispers and sweet nothings from his Street Theatre cast of acapella vocal samples.” 

— Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter, Meet Tony Price: Nighttime Connoisseur, Greektown Businessman and Media Archivist, May 22nd, 2025

Turnstile - NEVER ENOUGH (Roadrunner Records)

Sometimes, the right hardcore bands get the budget they deserve. This album, both visually and sonically, redefines what a rollout for a hardcore indie band should be. NEVER ENOUGH is accompanied by an hour-long movie, showcasing each of the album’s songs in gorgeous cinematic detail. We’re carried from Holy Mountain-inspired dream sequences of hardcore shows, to the streets of Baltimore, by anthems of self-determination:“There is no authority but yourself.”

— Malaika Astorga

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Meet Tony Price: Nighttime Connoisseur, Greektown Businessman and Media Archivist

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Tony Price via Streets of Toronto

Toronto producer, engineer and DJ Tony Price conjures a steamy dancefloor on his album Street Theatre. Supporting Montreal’s Marie Davidson launching her City of Clowns record, Price’s recent Street Theatre micro tour unveiled his 6th long-player to audiences in Ottawa and Toronto. 

In one act, the performance of Street Theatre at Ottawa’s Club SAW starred Tony Price as the enigmatic nightclub switchboard operator. Alongside an ensemble of various equipment, from synthesizers and mixers to a trusty Ableton Push, Price takes cues from the monolithic influences of midwestern house and Motor City techno to interlace metallic beatwork and shadowy rhythms with the whispers and sweet nothings from his Street Theatre cast of acapella vocal samples. For a moment onstage, the contour of Price’s concentrated expression was illuminated by the beaming reflection of a silver boombox, much like the abstract figure on the Street Theatre album cover. With this image etched into my mind, I approached Price in Club SAW’s courtyard after his set to set up an interview. 

Street Theatre album cover via Maximum Exposure Bandcamp

Released earlier this spring on Price’s own label Maximum Exposure Inc., Street Theatre evokes the atmosphere of a leather upholstered basement dive, featuring a revolving door of charismatic and browbeating clientele in hushed conversation under red lights. Price explains this pairing of sexy and sinister is by design: “I envisioned creating a type of performance that could lend itself to dancefloors and theatres, incorporating elements of the record, production and remixing on the fly.” In an effort to challenge the reflexes that come with being a seasoned DJ, Price says realizing Street Theatre in a live context tows a line between curating and improvising, with the ability to respond to the heat of an audience—much like a traditional DJ—with a myriad of endlessly interchangeable sonic elements. “DJing is more like journalism than literature. You’re taking sources and you’re stitching them together to make an argument, as opposed to taking these abstract visions that you have in your head and turning them into words,” he muses.  

Tony Price performing at Club SAW, photo by Ming Wu

Much of Street Theatre’s personality reminisces and reinvents Price’s urban surroundings. As a third-generation resident and small business owner of Toronto’s Greektown neighborhood, Price’s childhood stomping grounds have an everlasting influence on his sound. 

“Growing up in a metropolis—being downtown, riding the subway as a child—you meet characters. There’s an intrigue with the darkness of city life—the bizarre interactions, underground casinos, feelings of fear. I don’t know why, but I associate these experiences with house music. I try to capture that essence in my work, while also paying homage to a specific era of music coming out of midwestern America where post-punk met synthesizers in a way that reshaped how you could use technology in music. It almost reminds me of neon spray paint—it has a highly toxic, almost nuclear energy. [With Street Theatre] I was trying to tap into that, or rather, it was trying to tap into me.” 

While Price recognizes that the Toronto he grew up in was “a very different place than it is now,” he attributes coming of age in the wake of the city’s underground dance music culture to his everlasting fascination with summoning a “nighttime atmosphere.” He recalls how Toronto’s proximity to New York, Detroit and Chicago—and thus its tastemakers—undoubtedly influenced the nightclub scene in the 80s, and had a profound impact on the generations that followed. In parallel to this, Price says that his family’s tapes of radio shows from disk jockeys hailing as far as Florida had an enormous influence on his musical and aesthetic palate. 

“My aunts and uncle would drive down to Florida to visit my grandmother often and tape the radio down there. I grew up listening to tapes upon tapes of freestyle music from a station called Power 96. The cartoonish, or ridiculous, DJ voiceovers were mesmerizing to me as a kid, and I’ve found myself revisiting these radio shows taped by my family, as well as archives of other stations from Chicago, Detroit and so on. These recordings are the most astounding, mysterious cultural artifacts that I think need to be preserved for the aliens that find us,” laughs Price. 

Tony Price for East Room by Dani Aphrodite

It may be surprising that Price cut his teeth playing Band Music™ in his teens and 20s considering his dark, danceable discography and accompanying NTS radio show. A self-taught guitarist, Price was a fixture in the Toronto music scene as the vocalist and rhythm guitarist of garage rock band Actual Water. Likewise, Price says he “has been lucky enough to have [artists] trust [him] as a producer since [he] was quite young.” His musical resume, from performance to technical production, includes collaborations with fellow Toronto artists U.S. Girls, Jane Inc., and Tess Parks, among others. 

Though Price has cited “falling out of love” with playing guitar, it has remained integral to his craft: “My guitar is my musical GPS system, my map. When it comes to trying to figure out where I’m going in terms of finding scales, chords and melodies, I always use it, even when I’m making dance music.” 

Price’s attachment to his guitar comes from his infatuation with 1960s rock n’ roll and its volatile energy. The “bizarre edginess” preserved on the  earliest rock n’ roll recordings is a spirit that Price strives to emulate through his artistic output: “No matter what it is that I’m doing, if I’m involved with music-making, I’m always going to try and reduce things down to their core essence and inflate it,” says Price. “I'm spellbound and mesmerized by record production, and how ideas can be solidified into pieces of wax or digital code that stick with people throughout their entire lives because of how they feel to listen to it over and over. And that’s something that will never change when it comes to this format or this art form, you know? I’ve always understood that is what I want to do, or what I have to do in this life,” he adds.

This mentality gave rise to Maximum Exposure Inc., Price’s music-focused production company, record label, and consulting agency, in 2017. Frustrated with the pressures to market his music in the same digital landscapes responsible for the “death of music journalism” and the “atomization of discourse”, Maximum Exposure is an aesthetic universe created to situate Tony Price, without him having to become a so-called influencer, for more than what he considers as “part of the job.” 

Via Maximum Exposure Inc.

At the end of our conversation, I revisited my memory of Price’s show at Club SAW, now making sense of his observer-like behaviour; hand on chin, meandering backward from his rig. Unlike other players—DJs if you will—Price chooses not to indulge in the limelight. Whether in a live context, on the NTS e-waves, or through his records, Tony Price is the conduit for all that embodies the nucleus of the Maximum Exposure universe. He isn’t a rockstar. He isn’t an artistic director. I’m now beginning to wonder if we are all merely a part of his unfolding rhythmic experiment. 

Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain. 

Tony Price

Website | Instagram | NTS Radio Show

Zoë Argiropulos-Hunter (she/her) is the Co-Founder and Managing Editor of Also Cool Mag. Aside from the mag, she is a music promoter & booker, and a radio host & DJ.

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