Northern Transmissions sees itself as a hub for discovery. Since we focus mainly on covering independent artists, highlighting what we think is worth discussing, we’ve spent the past year voraciously sorting through new release piles to write about the ever-evolving world of music. And while we’re always listening, we might not have had the space or time to talk about everything we wanted to…Until today.

Before we get into our staff’s official favorite records of the year, we wanted to take a moment to appreciate some fantastic underground albums of 2025. Featuring artists we reviewed, singles and music videos we spotlighted, or music we ourselves took some time to discover, this list compiles ten releases critics and listeners alike may have overlooked. No stone goes unturned here!

words by Victoria Borlando

Alien Boy, You Wanna Fade?

In 2025, a whole slew of artists wanted to be a shoegaze-y alt band, trading comprehensible guitar riffs for feedback loops, stacks of amps, and ambient noise sections. Rising above the catalogue was Alien Boy’s You Wanna Fade?, a light, semi-retro album that makes music from decay. In an early 2000s emo twang, the guitar band channels disorientation in the breakup tune “Changes”, layering their noise in drum machines and jangled loops. “Rhythm of Control” adds an acoustic guitar into the mix before blocking it with a haunting, Twin Peaks-esque electric strum, and it wades in the darkness of heartbreak. Like a bad dream buried in one’s REM cycle, the sadness in You Wanna Fade? Passes by like a blinding projection of images, flashing until one gets a migraine, shakes awake, and then drifts back into a melancholic sleep.

Order You Wanna Fade? by Alien Boy HERE

Computer, Station On The Hill

Stick a wire in a wooden block; run an electric current and see if it makes a buzz. If it does, then it’ll probably sound like Computer’s Station On The Hill, a post-punk record that thrashes through each track until the drawn-out, impressionistic titular track. We apologize for not getting to this album in October, but we’d be remiss not to discuss such a peculiar piece of music. Each note feels impulsive: the drums in “Now In A Vacuum” clatter around until vocalist Ben Locke whips into a frenzy with a singular exhale. “Concrete Vehicles” starts with a free jazz saxophone solo that can knock a tree down with its force, and “Weird New Vocation” bends its shape with each twist of the synth’s knob. Overall, Station On The Hill is an interesting (and crazy) experiment in blending live with synthesized instruments, and it shows a lot of promise and energy for this emerging Vancouver band.

Order Station On The Hill by Computer HERE

Cornelia Murr, Run to the Center

Run to the Center is a hidden gem in the world of folk rock. Breathy vocals, dreamy bass and piano sections, a lo-fi glimmer, and Murr’s smokey, alto crooning make this album feel like a sunset, or a cozy night in a candlelit room. Her lyrics are rich and poetic, tackling the desire for intimacy and understanding without ever demanding it. On the contrary, she dots all her prose with images of spirals, waves, loops — perpetual chases for something she yearns to grasp in her hand. (“Run to the Center”, “Spiral of Beauty”, “Pushing East”, etc.) The band is also a phenomenal support, matching her suave energy with smooth composition that makes each track feel like running water. Murr has been active in the music scene for a while, and though we’ve been catching her for live performances and new tracks, it’s time more people recognize the sheer beauty of her work.

Order Run to the Center HERE

Ela Minus, DÍA

Ela Minus’ DÍA was one of the first albums to come out this year, and rarely has a January release left such a positive impression. Carrying so much heart, wisdom, and relatability, the Colombian electronic artist’s second record transformed a storm cloud of hopelessness, misdirection, and fear into a cohesive, linear, and beautiful saga. Minus is a wicked DJ and producer, breaking her own lo-fi mold established on 2020’s ‘acts of rebellion’ to commit to a fuller, louder, and more ethereal electronic pop sound. In “ABRIR MONTE”, the artist forces her hands through her droning beats, cracking open the record to a flutter of electrical pulses, synths, and lasers. Then, the album latches onto Minus’ emotional rollercoaster, unraveling into harsh static and industrial clanks, spinning in hypnotic loops, and finally cleaning up its sound for the cathartic and hopeful finale, “COMBAT.” DÍA subverts the form of the dance pop record to dramatize her emotional turbulence. The album beams with youth and courage, embracing that we often never have all the answers to our existential questions, and that we need to feel lost before certain.

Order DÍA by Ela Minus HERE

Folk Bitch Trio, Now Would Be A Good Time

The Australian/Naarm band Folk Bitch Trio made their debut earlier this year with Now Would Be A Good Time, a Southern gothic tale of breakups, disenchantment, and haunting memories. Painting detailed yet desaturated portraits of failed relationships, the members achieve perfect synchronicity, setting their otherworldly vocals to a dreamy, Southern gothic folk guitar. “Hotel TV” and “The Moth” sound like dust settling on a windowsill, letting each note float in the air before collapsing into a static puddle, mimicking the motion of falling out of love with one, big sigh. “I’ll Find A Way (To Carry It All)” cuts the record in half with a solemn prayer: the members become a choir manifesting inner strength and resilience despite their despair. Now Would Be A Good Time indulges in its sadness, but it knows it’s time to cut off the rotting branches.

Order Now Would Be A Good Time by Folk Bitch Trio HERE

Jenny Hval, Iris Silver Mist

An album that activates all the senses, Jenny Hval’s Iris Silver Mist, named after a perfume, bottles sensuality into a breathy, misty, and  electronic pop album. There’s a steeliness to the humming, muted beats: the smokey synths of “To be a rose” sneak around the artist’s semi-monotone vocals, putting the listener on edge as she evokes the dreamy imagery of bloominginto a flower. Likewise, the interlude “Spirit mist”  created a rich soundscape that softens the electronic whirring of fans with faint remnants of humanity: crackling footsteps, murmurs, and Hval’s soft humming. Each song feels like entering a concert hall, occupying its cold solitude with warm bodies, fizzy beer, and Hval’s tender, dazzling voice.

Order Iris Silver Mist by Jenny Hval HERE

Just Mustard, WE WERE JUST HERE

TV static doesn’t just adorn the cover of Just Mustard’s WE WERE JUST HERE. Guitar feedback loops commence the Irish quintet’s introductory track, “POLYANNA”, which turns into a fizzy tune with vocals that drizzle down from the ceiling. The whole record is like a Joan Miró dream painting, with lyrics that bury a growing sense of hopelessness and insecurity under impressionistic visual imagery and lush noise. “SILVER” hyper-concentrates on the flickering of light, distorting vocalists David Noonan and Katie Ball’s mourning for a moment about to end in droning guitars, incessant drums, and a drunken tempo that lets every syllable and sound linger in space. This album is nothing like Just Mustard’s previous post-punk repertoire, but their pivot to a blurrier, more freeform structure shows that the Irish band’s panache for experimentation will never go stale.

Order WE WERE JUST HERE by Just Mustard HERE

Lambrini Girls, Who Let The Dogs Out?

Punk can be both poignant and fun, and Brighton’s breakout duo Lambrini Girls channel their anger toward the injustice of the world into a witty, irreverent, and personal manifesto. “Cuntology 101” might be the song critics single out first, as its Bikini Kill-eqsue litany of things that are “cunty”—now reclaimed as a positive synonym for “badass”—thrash to an invigorating and obnoxiously loud drums. The girls aren’t afraid to lose their breath to get their point across: “Bad Apple”, for instance, has Phoebe Lunny out-screaming a police siren to candidly critique police violence and the institutional racism in Britain. “Company Culture” runs at full-force into the glass door of sexual harassment culture, with a focal guitar riff that could slice a man’s grabby hand clean off his arm. Before the duo makes their rounds in several festivals across the world next year, make sure to turn your speakers up, get loose and messy, and rock TF out if you haven’t already.

Order Who Let The Dogs Out? by Lambrini Girls HERE

Pearly Drops, The Voices Are Coming Back

“I just need to be weird for the next few years,” Pearly Drops vocalist Sandra Tervonen sings above a whisper in “Mermaid”, the third track off the duo’s third album, The Voices Are Coming Back. Dealing with writer’s block, a creative drain, and the pressure to create when artistry has become a chore, the song is only part of a whole record that’s the equivalent of melting into emotional goo. While Pearly Drops are primarily an electronic pop duo, this album finds them embracing a melancholic indie rock, swaying to a simple guitar embellished with lo-fi drum loops, some synths, and the occasional EDM progression. Songs like “Shallow” and “Cocoon & Tatiana’s Lament”, capped off with earnest yet gutting voice-notes from guest collaborator illuminati, are blunt in their emotional turmoil, literally scraping for things to talk about when nothing sparks inspiration. “Ratgirl” and “Pillow Face” fight off the jaded feelings with poppy, bubbly electronic beats and quirky lyrics about shapeshifting, but the rest just take things slow and let the wave of non-productivity pass.

Order The Voices Are Coming Back by Pearly Drops HERE

Squid, Cowards

One of the only records of 2025 we gave a 10 out of 10, Squid’s Cowards has the UK post-punk band turn bright, chirpy, and whimsical sounds into a horrifying freakshow. Nothing is sacred here: “Fieldworks” disregards time codes and spills over the entire middle section of the record, the distinct guitar riff in “Building 650” wobbles in dizzy circles, a bunch of synths dogpile the rock band in the progression of “Showtime!”, and everything is left sounding prickly, uncanny,and dystopian. Ollie Judge stains all his lyrics — inspired by sci-fi novels imagining society’s descent to authoritarian barbarism — in thick globs of blood, contrasting the sweeter, hoarser backup vocals of the band with guttural yells. (This all makes the swan song-like finale, “Well Met (Fingers Through The Fence)”, all the more depressing, toning down the volume and density to mourn an imminent, barren future.) When so many albums this year tackled the themes of chaos, stress, evil, and oppression, Cowards stood out by diving headfirst into the bizarre, holding up a carnival mirror to our faces to spook us back to normalcy.

Order Cowards by Squid HERE