Here it is. Yet again, we’ve done the impossible and ill-advised, narrowing down our favorite Bay Area releases of 2025—across indie rock, ambient explorations, hip hop hilarity, emo punk explosions, country twangers, and beyond—into one list of our absolute favorites. We recognize that many amazing releases didn’t make this list, so please humbly accept this as just some of our staff favorites, not an end-all-be-all of the best of the Bay. Much love to all of these artists and everyone creating and facilitating the creation of music in the Bay!
Astronauts, etc. — Professional Void (review)
Celestial Trails — Observation of Transcendence (review)
Cole Pulice — Land’s End Eternal (review)
Family Not A Group — Family Not A Album
Josiah Flores — Doin’ Fine (review)
Kathryn Mohr — Waiting Room (review)
gloomy june — S/T (review)
Headnodic + Jazz Mafia — S/T
Hectorine — Arrow of Love
LaRussell — Make Hip-Hop Fun Again! (review)
Madeline Kenney — Kiss From the Balcony (review)
Mae Powell — Making Room for the Light (review)
Milk for the Angry — Powder Trails on Fire (review)
Miss Hits — Miss Hits
Pacing — Pl*net F*tness (review)
Pink Breath of Heaven — Colors Make a Sound (review)
RAVEN — GNOSIS (review)
Samplelov — The Look of Adoration (review)
Space Ghost & Teddy Bryant — Majestic Fantasies
SPELLLING — Portrait of My Heart
The Telephone Numbers — Scarecrow II (review)
The Ugly — One More Couple of Beers (review)
Whine — Guns on Television (review)
3kelves & Dylan C. Greene — They’re Not Gonna Know (review)
Various — No Bias Renegade Trax Vol 2 (review)
