REVIEWS

ALBUM REVIEW: Darla Biana – Iridescent

Written by Noelle Alarcon House music is always a danceable delight; an air of familiarity is constantly present in the candy-colored soundscapes. It just invites your body to move and let the bouncing vibrations thud through your veins and lead you to the dance floor. A rapid attack on all your senses at once, the […]

EP REVIEW: Cream Flower – Orbital Wound

Written by Faye Allego There’s a certain adrenaline rush that emanates from the psyche whenever one is en route; it’s a rush that can capture anxiety, urgency, or even the sense of ‘gigil.’ Cream Flower’s ‘Orbital Wound’ EP is exactly what should be queued during moments of movement, whether it’s commuting, traveling, or simply walking […]

TRACK REVIEW: orteus – Deersong

Written by Louis Pelingen After their mixtape last year, orteus isn’t yet done crafting more music. “Deersong” lands on the very first day of January 2026, serving as the lead single for their upcoming debut album, which is charged with delightful experimentation. The drums gallop rhythmically over sweet vocals, soothing soundscapes, and rumbling bass notes […]

TRACK REVIEW: maki! – popout

Written by Elijah P. “Lahat sabog/ fuck it, we get lit,” maki! declares on “popout,” a year-opener single that wastes zero time pretending it’s anything deeper than adrenaline and appetite. But that’s the trick: what sounds like disposable turn-up rap is also a tight little mission statement. maki! opens the track greeting the listener like […]

SOUNDS OF THE SEA: Wisp (Thailand)

In the middle of the vast ethernet lies a genre that has been stretched, flattened, recycled, and reborn more times than anyone can reasonably count. Shoegaze, once tied to distortion pedals, rehearsal rooms, and subcultural isolation, has since found a second life online, where riffs circulate as presets, moods become templates, and entire scenes form […]

SOUNDS OF THE SEA: Asunojokei (Japan)

Within the populated stretches of Tokyo, Japan, lies the flood of acts and bands that start by crafting music, pursuing their own identity that continues to grow year by year. Coming from such a place is a band named Asunojokei, a four-piece blackgaze band that was formed back in 2014. Takuya Seki (bassist), Kei Toriki […]

THE BEST FILIPINO RELEASES OF 2025

Filipino music continues to show its range and resilience across scenes and cities, with bands like Linger Escape shedding light to Bicol’s shoegaze scene with ‘We All End In The Same Place’. Elsewhere, SOS settled into a more steady and mature ground in their craft with ‘It Was A Moment’, a record shaped by patience, […]

THE BEST FILIPINO SONGS OF 2025

As the year 2025 is soon closing its doors, there’s excitement in looking back on the songs that ripple across the scenes. For instance , Zaniel’s C2 NA RED! And Nateman & Lucky’s IMMA FLIRT has been in big rotation in the hip-hop scene, showcasing what it means to truly craft captivating earworms in the […]

SOUNDS OF THE SEA: Mary Sue (Singapore)

The hip-hop scene in Singapore only continues to grow with every passing moment. Groups such as Construction Sight, Triple Noize, and Urban Xchange marked their impact in the 90s and the 2000s, yet it took quite some time before the culture flourished throughout the country. In the 2010s, more artists such as Akeem Jahat, Yung […]