I find its best to wait until the actual end of the year to create these lists. So many good releases are put out right until the last minute. Although, this is one of those shining examples of the New Year being an arbitrary time stamp - it's always a good time great music.
Out of resolve to share more of the greatness abound from the region through Peace Portal though, this a non-exhaustive list of albums, EPs, and compilations that stood out this year - in no particular order.
Wuji - Earth Amulets V/A
Earth Amulets is the first offering from Wuji Records, a new label curated by Seattle-based multidisciplinary artist Enereph. The compilation is a collection of organic downtempo and ambient electroacoustic diadems aimed at creating a channel of aid to Gazans with all proceeds going towards two organizations: Beirut Synth Center and Tunefork Studios, and Gaza Mutual Aid Solidarity.
Through the process of feeling and creation, it links together the artists -- to the people who will be listening to this album -- to the people who will be contributing money to the project -- to the recipients of the funds in Palestine and Lebanon -- to everyone else who is touched by the project -- and so on.
Lending themselves to the cause are PNW mainstays such as Tondiue, August V.M., Production Unit Xero, and Seelene. However, each producer on the compilation has something unique and mystifying to offer, setting this apart from other benefits compiled as a means to a similar end, but with a fraction of the thoughtfulness.
Be sure the check out the A/V pieces composed to accompany a selection of tracks from the compilation, performed as a part of a set by ephemeral objects on Acceleration Radio:
Fields of Mist - Secrets of the Nebula (Ilian Tape)
Marin-based Jahandar Hamidieh shared his third EP via Ilian Tape early in 2025. Often times, Jahandar immerses himself in an imagined, alternate future, using his studio as a sonic conduit for traveling to these potential timelines. The 5-tracks make up a diverse yet interdependent aural solar system, where lifeforms existing within each rely upon one another to demystify the surrounding cosmos.
Besides his otherworldly releases on Ilian Tape, of which this is the third (with a fourth on the way), Fields of Mist shared two all-original live sets of exclusively unreleased music this month; one for Peace Portal, and another recorded at the Endzeit x Parameter weekender last November. And that's all in addition to his self-released collections available on Bandcamp.
Through these offerings, Fields of Mist has quickly become a must-watch artist from the West Coast.
Brown Angel - Pure Brown Energy (Dark Entries Records)
Nuanced in expression, but sultry in swagger, Pure Brown Energy is the successful attempt of a singular artist in sharing all sides of themself.
In their own words this record showcases “my gay tío side, my Latin goth side, my cruising down the boulevard side, and most of all my soft vulnerable side.”
The Bay-based queer/trans Chicanx DJ & Producer pulls it all off, exemplifying why they've become such a well respected name in the scene, while using the record as a means of working through grief in the midst of personal tragedy. Tracks channel the classic sounds of Kevin Saunderson, Afrikaa Bambaataa, and Masters at Work through a Roland 808 they were gifted, adding their unique flairs of cumbia, reggaeton, and goth that the aforementioned never would have.
Maude Vôs - Astral Intervals (Delusional Records)
Picking up where she left off with her 5th Generation Angel EP, Astral Intervals explores what Maude refers to as "musical metaphysics" - a topic she has painstakingly researched over the last several years, rooted in the ancient theories of cosmic harmonies amongst celestial bodies. Referencing the works of Pythagoras, Kepler, and Copernicus, Maude converts planetary ratios, gravitational pull, and orbital motion into musical notation.
And if we are truly made of star stuff, as Sagan said, then this record serves as a conversation amongst varying embodiments of cosmic dust; mystical, scientific, calculated, and yet organic.
254 Renegade Science & Research - Renegade Science
This crew has been running their experiments in the Portland underground for a couple of years now, and it's refreshing to have this as a report to document their studies. This first compilation is a centrifuge of up and coming talent, distilling old school rave influences before altering their frequencies into new forms.
Mirin Doja, who is featured on this comp, introduced me to the lead scientist behind 254, xBulletNymphx, about a year ago before booking her for the Peace Portal & Turbo party at Process. And I've gotta say, whether it's DJing, producing, or throwing parties, no one does it like xBulletNymphx and her cohort of rave researchers.
Production Unit Xero - Between the Glaciers and the Bay (Heterodox Records)
50 radiant minutes of symphonic synthesis that evokes blissful immersion in the natural world. When I listen to this record I imagine the glaciers resonating as they carve the landscape of the ancient Pacific Northwest - but that's just me. A considerable departure from the typical breakbeat cyberpunk frenzy of Heterodox Records, this records is certainly a landmark amongst their catalog.
That's what struck me in particular with this record. After meeting Ramon, aka Production Unit Xero, recently and diving deep on his label, I quickly found he is pushing every boundary there is with his sonic world building. With the label celebrating 20 years in 2026, I'm a little late to the game on this realization though.
Lemurian Time Warriors - Hyperstition (Disguise Records)
Hyperstition is a soundtrack for the collapse. A furious scream in the face of crumbling systems built to exploit and imprison rather than serve the common good.
Frontwarrior Eris Nyx draws on her experience providing radical addiction treatment services in Vancouver B.C. through DULF amidst an evergrowing crisis, for which she now faces charges potentially resulting in multiple life sentences. ZDBT provides the artillery for the counterattack, melting down EBM, old school breaks, and dark psychedelics and forming them into a sonic weapon.
It's a critical hit, but the fight's long from over. Will it ever be? More importantly, have you found your role in the resistance?
Ommaya Records - V/A Vol. 3
Seattle b2b NYC label Ommaya started 2025 off with serious percussive sound system pressure on this one. It's almost wrong to listen to them through headphones. Bassy, progressive club breaks for peak hours through and through.
Those of you who attended this year's Peace Portal anniversary party know that we've got more than a soft spot for this crew. Objectively quite a few stellar releases in 2025, but this third volume of their compilation series really set the pace. In particular, that can be seen in their inclusion of incredible underground talent less exclusively from the West Coast and Bay Area. Folks like Ōtone, Mulholland, and Insomniast. However, the PNW and West Coast representation remains as strong as ever here as well.
Hindsight Recordings - FORMS001
An anomalous new label from L.A. emerges with a collection of minimal house dubs from various artists. Each groove is in perfect alignment with the last, while traveling at their own pace. Throughout, percussion shuffles in quick orbit about pulsing low frequencies, with harmonic emissions resonating into spatial atmospheres.
Stumbled across this one Bandcamp Friday, and couldn't have been more pleased. Seeing OGs Seafoam and Pheek on the front end was enough for me stop and listen, but the home based artists throughout the rest drive it home.
NO BIAS - Bay Area Renegade Trax Vol. 2
Whether the forest rave or the club, there's a little ear candy for everyone on the second volume of the Bay Area focused compilation series from a crew that needs little introduction.
I feel like a West Coast list wouldn't be complete without recognizing NO BIAS. Forward thinking bass and rhythmic pressure abound with each release, and of course any of their EPs this year would have done as well. But with over 31 tracks from nearly as many artists, each worth adding to your stick in their own respect, BART V2 had to be the one.
Slow Riffs - Simulacra (Mood Hut)
Mood Hut co-founder Ian Wyatt returns as Slow Riffs with a transcendental journey inward. An instant modern new age classic with additions of jazz and global rhythms, Simulacra is a luminous expression of being through aural means. Props to Ian and Mood Hut for remaining thoughtful with their continued creation.
Turn volume up loud before playing for proper ego dissipation.
IMU reveal The Ultra Hidden (Cryptic) Doctrine
Last but certainly not least is the collaborative album by Jack J and © Linda Fox. Expanding upon the sound explored in Closing the Door and Blue Desert, The Ultra Hidden (Cryptic) Doctrine is an enigmatic, baggy downtempo record, drenched in nostalgia for late 90's/early 2000's breakbeat.
Lyrics wrestle between succumbing to the plights of millennial life while chasing the extemporaneous bliss of living in the moment, resulting in a record that speaks to being caught in the margins of modernity.
More features like this to come in 2026. Join Peace Portal's mailing list for the next update.
See you on the other side... 🌀
Curated by Feu du Camp