JP ALT’s Seb, Emily and Cam pick their favorite releases of 2025. This list is not ranked, and exists to showcase the best projects released in the past year, spanning from mellow indie rock to wildly experimental noise.
Seb’s picks
The Dresscodes- †
For me, the current musical landscape lacks bands like the great 90s acts with unpolished sound, loud guitars, all the dramatics… The Dresscodes bring all of that to the table. To my knowledge, this band is purely Ryohei Shima’s brainchild; the members of the band fluctuate between releases. Shima’s unique look mirrors how the music sounds-—chaotic and dramatic. And all that drama is the driving force behind †. This album really reminds me of older releases. Despite being far from it, it has a… visual kei spirit mixed with smokey garage rock. Shima’s high-pitched voice works for †, as it contributes to the chaos and drama of the record. His outfit, mannerisms, characterization also play a big part in why I adore this record so much. It has so much soul.
Favourite tracks:
ヴィシャス- Vicious
キラー・タンゴ- Killer Tango
betcover!!- 勇気 (Courage)
betcover!!’s 6th studio album is completely different from its predecessors, but if you know a bit about the band, you know that’s a given. They always change their style, and somehow, they always pull it off. This time, Yanase Jiro and the gang decided to go full jazz rock, and with the help of Jim O’Rourke, created an incredibly complex and interesting piece of art. The genre shift was not entirely unexpected, since it was foreshadowed by the recent Uma Tour shows, where betcover!! were delving more and more into jazz arrangements. Hence, 勇気, came out as a brand new jazzy beast. Some songs have this cabaret vibe, some could be played in a smoky lounge attended by fancy people in fancy suits. And it works so well. The album title is really fitting the band. They keep doing their own thing unapologetically, and it must take tremendous courage.
Favourite tracks:
野猿- Wild Monkey
忘れる女- A Woman Who Forgets
Kaku P-Model- unZIP
Unzip, the newest project from the great Susumu Hirasawa, in its entirety is full of beautiful callbacks to his career. Many song titles are modelled after motifs that have appeared previously in his career; the Phase songs obviously make you think about Town 0 Phase 5, Bye Bye Halycon references the character of Halycon (Go For It Halycon! from Gipnoza), and Timelineの始まり (The Beginning of Timeline) continues the series of songs with Timeline in their title (East of Timeline from Gipnoza and The End of Timeline from Beacon). The album cover as well is a reference to the first P-Model album. Thanks to this, Unzip feels like one big tribute to Hirasawa-san’s discography. The album cover, despite being monochrome, hides an incredibly colourful and bright album. One has to wonder how Unzip’s interactive live show will look like. The vivid landscape of this project is supported by songs such as the opener, the single Parthenon (which didn’t really click with me on release but sounds amazing in the context of the album), Bye Bye Halycon (a track that I suspected to be sad, and while it’s true that it made me produce a tear or two, it’s incredibly uplifting) or 幻想鉄道. unZIP is incredibly hopeful, and even after 50 years of making music, we can say with confidence: gramps still got it.
Favourite tracks:
幻想鉄道- Delusion Railway
Phase-0
Khaki- Hakko
An incredibly tight album full of left-turns and serene melodies. The band matured from their previous album, solidifying themselves as one of the most exciting acts of the alternative scene in Japan. The album starts with a hard-hitting single ‘裸、道すがら’, full of abstract lyrics, a prelude to things to come. The atmosphere gets cooled off later, but the surreal vibe stays, especially with the lyrics. There are no weak tracks on the record, everything flows really smoothly, and the album pinnacles with the band’s magnum opus, and perhaps the best song of 2025, a near 10 minute long ‘文明児’. Hakko is an experience that cannot be overlooked. If you like betcover!!, this is an album you have to listen to.
Fav tracks:
裸、道すがら- Naked, on the Road
文明児- Civilized Child
Emily’s picks
Yamazaki — 施設散歩の果てに (After Wandering Around the Facility)
Yamazaki released 施設散歩の果てに, his second full album towards the end of December, and it certainly seems like his most self-assured and impressive release so far. From the Spring EP until now, Yamazaki’s sound has transformed into an even fuller version of his previous releases we’ve kept up with for the last few years. Maintaining the same distorted, grungy, self-produced sound, while offering an ironically bittersweet and punkishly upbeat experience, this album is essential for lovers of home-recording. Soft and atmospheric at times and abrasive and noisy at others, and yet completely consistent in its delivery, Yamazaki has thrown in every aspect of his previous sound and turned it up to 11. JP ALT is looking forward to future releases, especially if it follows the quality of 施設散歩の果てに .
Favourite tracks:
集団催眠 – group hypnosis
ラウニ丼 – rauni boul
幽冥学級 Yumei Class — 集団統行・集団解行 (Going to School and Going Home in Groups)
If you’ve ever sat and thought “I really need to listen to an album that has a Russian Hardstyle break, walls of noise that sound like I’m trapped in the third layer of hell, maybe Hatsune Miku can feature on it, I also want to be really scared, then I want to dance, and maybe we can top it off with a Skype ringtone,” then 集団統行・集団解行 (Going to School and Going Home in Groups) is the perfect album for you. It’s hard to outline the complete digital chaos of Yumei Class’s debut album, but that is what makes it as remarkable as it is. The insane range of elements and genres shoved into seven tracks makes listening to this album a truly bizarre, shocking and awesome experience. TAIHUMAN, the creator of Yumei Class has orchestrated a truly unique style, and it really fucking rules. He’s created visuals for his tracks that are highly recommended to watch alongside the album, which can only be described as a very welcome assault to the senses (unless you have epilepsy).
Favourite tracks:
ポッケからチャーシュー – Pork from the pocket
集団行動 – Collective Action
HASAMI GROUP – MESSAGE FROM 2025
You either get it or you don’t. If you don’t, you need to leave this website immediately. There are no words in the English language to describe anything Hasami Group does, nor in Japanese either. Hasami Group’s sound can only be described as: Hasami Group. Their main genre is also, simply, Hasami Group. Hasami Group did what they did best by creating an album that sounds like Hasami Group. Just listen to it. FIVE STARS FOREVER.
Favourite tracks:
東京都に表彰状あげよう- Let’s Give a Certificate of Commendation to Tokyo
Discord & Hiss Noise 2025
Ass_atte- May 2025: Night Meeting / Lester
Following his 2024 debut release To Be in Hell is to Drift, to be in Heaven is to Steer, ass_atte has dedicated 2025 to the era of singles. JP ALT ig highlighting our two favourites:
May 2025: Night Meeting
‘May 2025: Night Meeting’ came as a shock to the artist’s listeners for the shoegazey and grungey tone to the piece. A stark contrast to his previous releases, which mainly consisted of an aggressive splash of genres carefully placed together in a chaotic way that can only be described as: music-want-to-kill-your-boss-to-and-maybe-eat-some-ramen-after. Even with the intense guitar solo that spanned until the peak of the track, ‘May 2025: Night Meeting’ is ass_atte’s most formulaically accessible song in his discography. The song title is a reference to Ray Bradbury’s 2002/2033: Night Meeting. It follows a construction worker on Mars, who meets a martian who appears to him like a phantom. The lyrics of the song reflect the curious and poignant tone of the story, in which the martian and the worker meet each other briefly, say their goodbyes and regard each other as a dream.
Rated: 5,130/5,130 stars (5,130 miles away).
Lester
On the other end of the spectrum, we have ‘Lester’. And while ‘May 2025: Night Meeting’ was sentimental and bittersweet, something new for ass_atte’s discography, ‘Lester’ follows the good old formula: noise, guitars and yelling. The song is disjointed, contains many threads and points of interest, and despite its 3 minute runtime, it offers an intense experience that feels more like 3 hours. The song itself starts with a ‘’ahhh shit!’’ shouted on the backdrop of distorted grunge guitars, and evolves into a cathartic spoken (or rather, frustratedly rambelled) verse, culminating into a catchy chorus. The middle part of the song gets completely deconstructed, and one can only wonder, how the hell did this guy put so many different elements into a 3 minute song? It is an insane experience, and if you like noisier music, do not sleep on ass_atte.
doer- Decline
Doer debuted in 2023 with Suppression, immediately gained cult following, and his 2025 album showcases his growing musical maturity. This year was a big one for the Sapporo native, as he contributed to The Otals’ annual And the Rules of Summer mixtape (which we recommend checking out as well). So, how does Decline fare in contrast to his debut? It still is recorded in the same style which underlines the intense atmosphere of doer’s world, the hazy quality complimenting the depressive lyrics, creating a feeling of a self-loathing vertigo. The fusion of shoegaze, bedroom pop and slacker melodies create an immersive experience of an album.
Favourite tracks:
ノストラダムス – Nostradamus
なにもしたくない- I Don’t Want To Do Anything
Cam’s picks
Kanekoayano- Thread of Stone
Thread of Stone is songwriter Ayano Kaneko’s debut album under her new band, Kanekoayano. The music is a breezy, catchy guitar pop/rock. The writing is the real strength here, with 10 tracks totaling under 40 minutes. If you like female-fronted indie, you’ll love this.
Favourite tracks:
日の出 – Sunrise
石と蝶 – Stone and Butterfly
佐藤優介 (Yusuke Sato) – 物語を終わりにしよう (Let’s End the Story)
One of 2025’s densest, most layered, and sonically diverse electronic releases. Sato produces a mix of glitch, art pop, and synthpop to make something fresh and exciting. Yet it manages to feel much more melodic and structured, rather than pure noise chaos. Both an accessible and rewarding listen. A pure joy on the ear. Part of the Extended Moonriders Universe. Listen with a good pair of headphones, loud.
Favourite tracks:
UTOPIA(異議申し立て) – UTOPIA (Objection)
反時代ゲーム Il Conformista – Anti-era Game Il Conformista
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