Music / new releases
The year in music: Bristol’s releases in 2025
In response to threats from all angles, the grassroots music scene reared its head and roared in defiance in 2025. Bands of all genres excelled themselves, with stellar releases across folk, punk, metal, dance and experimental sounds.
Here are Bristol’s underground releases through the year. Stick them on your Christmas playlist, and find a new local favourite to follow in 2026.
Waldo’s Gift, Malcolm’s Law
January 24, Severn Songs
A “sizzling, maximalist, impossibly complex guitar record” that captures the story of the trio’s unusual beginnings at the Gallimaufry via a clutch of one-take live performances. Illustrated by RUFFMERCY, released on Ishmael Ensemble’s label: most Bristol release of the year?
August, In Motion
February 7, independent
Dubstep, trip hop and d’n’b flavours overlaid with dreamy pop vocals.
Ishmael Ensemble, Severn Sessions
February 28, Severn Songs
An experimental take on four tracks from 2024’s psychedelic dance record Rituals, embracing new instrumentation including modular synths and a 60s-era organ. “Stripped back, intimate and quiet…a kind of antithesis to the studio album” they said.
A.D. Scruffs, A.D. Scruffs
March 5, independent
Endearingly down-homey Americana-shaped roots revival with violin AND banjo.
Phonseca, Everything Lasts Forever
March 21, Old Bad Habits
Second full length record release from keys player Matthew O’Connor’s project that takes in indie synthpop, electronica and ambient sounds.
Grandmas House, Anything For You
April 11, Duchess Box Records
The first release as a four-piece from the “sweaty, frantic, raw” alt-rock group is, they say, their best music yet. Covering themes of grief and loss, breakups and illness, it’s fierce, brooding and unapologetically passionate.
Earl Sixteen & the Cooperators, Concrete Rockers
April 25, Waggle Dance Records
Prolific Bristol producer Eeyun, aka the Cooperators, in a huge collaboration with the legendary vocalist. Not to be missed.
Mumble Tide, Might As Well Play Another One
May 1, Breakfast Records
The self-declared “sad-bop” album originated from the duo’s romantic breakup, but it’s so much more than a pain record. Produced by the Massive Attack clan’s Stew Jackson and with more than a hint of Mazzy Star, it’s got raw vocals, ruminations on selfhood and the power of music, and just the right amount of silly saxophone.
madnomad, tamper-evident
May 2, Sugarshack Records
Re-release of the only album produced by the notorious merchants of chaos known for one season of wild performances involving pig masks, burning keyboards and full frontal nudity.
boci, scenes from uniXia
May 31, Tree Being Records
For this record the alt-folk violinist created an entire imaginary world that exists between colliding atoms in the centre of the sun. Then, reportedly, used it to explore her own emotional landscape. Expect ethereal vocals and depth of feeling on themes of nature, love, connection and loss.
Sheelanagig, St Congar’s Walking Stick
June 2, independent
Bristol’s finest purveyors of Balkan-spiced folk mayhem celebrate 20 years in the game with their sixth album which, they say, embraces “folk-rock flavours, break-neck bangers, thoughtful takes on the traditional and a raucous array of original material”.
Emily Breeze, Rats in Paradise
July 11, Sugar Shack Records
Glam pop with a side of sleaze and sarcasm from the ‘poet laureate of glamorous wastrels’. Released after 25 years in the game, her fourth album is, she says, “low art, literary glitterball influenced by Pulp, Lou Reed and Patti Smith”.
Icho Candy and Friends, Pressure Them
July 18, Poor Man’s Friend Records
The Hartcliffe reggae revival imprint is recreating history on disc with the help of the connections they’ve made in Jamaica. Of Icho Candy: “He has a bizarre singing style, a Nat King Cole-esque vibrato, very old world,” said label co-founder Jed O’Connell. “Alot of the songs he wrote were visionary – prophetic. He’s considering what the future might look like, from a Rasta or religious perspective.” The album, recorded with the Viceroys in Kingston, is “an eclectic mix of jazz, world music and reggae…fairly unique!”
Pocket Sun, Mirror in Blue Light
August 28, independent
Another dreamy, world-building slice of jazz-inspired synth-pop with crystalline vocals, a sprinkly of stardust and more than a hint of woozy psychedelia.
NGAIO, Four Quarters Remixed
September 4, independent
The booty bass founder reinvents her debut solo EP for the dancefloor. Embracing reggaeton, Afro-trance and carnival energy, it’s “built for movement, sweat and sonic release,” she says.
Âellin, Constellations
September 5, Severn Songs
It’s been a long time coming but the debut from ‘little whirlwind’ Siân Magill was worth the wait. Each track sonically explores a philosophical idea or piece of writing, while the overarching concept is of “finding yourself, but within a context of everything.” Best strap in for this one.
Ushti, Flora, Fauna, Fight and Feast
October 17, independent
Bristol’s Celtic folk-rave stalwarts have thrown everything at their second full length release, with fresh takes, intricate arrangements and reflective moments sitting happily alongside protest bangers and euphoric ‘lose yourself’ breaks.
The Flag Fen Project, Vol. 2
The latest in the philosophically esoteric and musically eclectic duo’s efforts to unlock the secrets of a lost village and its ancient evil is a formidably brooding beast with an undercurrent of tension snapping in and out of desperate urgency.
Adult Leisure, The Things You Don’t Know Yet
October 3, independent
Oswald Slain, Bucky
October 24, independent
Formerly Little Thief, the alt-rock outfit reemerged with a debut album fusing Americana with grit, fuzz and bombast.
Charlie Hooper-Williams, The Book of Fixed Stars
November 5, The Way Beyond Music
Hooper-Williams’ career has been nothing short of wild, from winning a music scholarship via the International Shostakovich Piano Competition to developing tune-ID app ‘Shazam’ to coding visuals that respond in real time to his playing to launching premier event series Postclassical Assembly.
His first label LP, on a new postclassical imprint from the team behind Freshly Squeezed, features collaborations with international bestselling author and violist Emma Hooper and award-winning screen composer Jim Cornick.
Freddie Lewis, Kiss and Run
November 12, independent
The latest from the indie-soul artist tenderly explores the romance of endings: “It posits that not all endings are bad, that often, saying goodbye at the right time is the kindest thing to do… Often, in a kiss and run, you leave someone a little better off” he says.
Run Logan Run, LV:HRD
November 21, Ankh Sanctuary
The second instalment of a trilogy of EPs that signals the return of acclaimed experimental saxophonist Andrew Neil Hayes is a surprisingly accessible affair – given his inspiration was “a conversation with machines” – with industrial foundations and sublime vocal meanderings. Big recommend.
Soma Soma, Nem Toda Flor
November 21, independent
An uplifting selection of horns, rhythms and sun-washed vocals from top tier Anglo-Brazilian groovers that have received support from BBC 6 Music. One to watch.
Elly Hopkins, Animal
November 21, independent
It’s been a year for Americana in the city. Hopkins’s big voice soars over a vintage alt-country sound. FFO Sharon Van Etten / First Aid Kit / PJ Harvey / The Last Dinner Party / Big Thief.
No Violet, No Violet
November 28, Totality
A noisy offering released on a new Bristol imprint from the grunge outfit that lives up to their self-identified genre of ‘discontent’. A refreshing take on a classic alt-rock sound that has you coming back for more. Ellie Godwin’s vocal can, according to one critic, “weave a soulful caterwaul with butterfly wings”.
Various, Something in the Water
November 28, Severn Songs
Ishmael Ensemble and the Gallimaufry join forces to produce a compilation showcasing the best of Bristol’s fertile jazz-leaning grassroots scene. Featuring saxophonist James Storm, rapper MĀDŁY, live jungle trio RWKUS, the Tryani Collective, bass-playing band leader Stevie Toddler and more.
Louis Alberry, Milk Teeth
December 5, Cuculi Records
The first solo release from the BigByrd / Good Beast instrumentalist is a haunting, folk-ish delve into loss of innocence, doubt, confusion and acceptance, viewed through a tangle of guitars and a psychedelic haze. “The title comes from the somewhat odd phenomenon that I never lost most of my baby teeth,” Alberry revealed.
Grove, Hydra
December 10, Memorials of Distinction x Spinny Nights
“Galvanising sonic odysseys that open the next chapter. It’s time for us to tap into the Herculean – to get uncomfortable, to get moving and to start swinging,” says a newly creatively-energised Grove whose punk-infused industrial EP is designed to dispel apathy and instil hope.
Vulture God, No Easy Answer
December 15, independent
The progressive death metal quintet’s debut is unashamedly hard-hitting – unsurprisingly, given they name Gojira, Opeth, Cult of Luna, Blood Incantation, Conjurer and Mastodon as key influences.
Main image: Pocket Sun
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