un poco fría (Yakima)
The name of the game for un poco fría is abundance—of quality, of quantity, of diversity. Despite only having been in operation since September of last year, the catalog has already swelled to a whopping thirty-six tapes, with no repeated artists other than owner/operator Ķæ P. Rujhaan. I mentioned upf in the previous list because of its association with fellow Washington state dilettantes Yeast Culture, and that influence certainly shows through in Rujhaan’s work and many of the releases, but a wide curatorial net extends to noise and power electronics both stateside and beyond (Dead Door Unit, Woods Mattress, Awenydd), formal field recording and sound art (Éric La Casa), improvised music (Ted Byrnes, P Wits), and things even less classifiable (Ezio Piermattei, Chana Levanah). Rujhaan also pays homage to the greats beyond just YC, reissuing material by Jeph Jerman and Francisco López. It’s hard to keep up with everything, but that’s far from the worst problem to have.
Head Meat (unknown location)
On the surface, Head Meat might seem like a rehash of tired trends in classic US noise: anonymous operations (though if you follow the clues, it’s not hard to identify the culprit), high-contrast xerox layouts, blown-out deck-minced masters, etc. There’s some truth to that observation, and it might be more of a downside if every single one of these tapes weren’t absolute fire—the Ants in the Afterbirth self-titled, Outdoor Horse Shrine’s Water Course, and the Executionists’ The Gerry Commission are handily some of the best harsh of the decade so far—but this most recent batch makes clear there’s more at play than just nostalgia-bait rippage. I still haven’t gotten my hands on the Erik Nystrand tape, but the Ants follow-up Privy to a Great Becoming and the Agitant Group C30 are both excellent. I’ll have more to say about the latter in a forthcoming list, so stay tuned.
ETAT (Vienna)
Running a digital-only label is ostensibly easier than a physical one because you don’t have to deal with the headache of duplication, printing, shipping, etc. But it also presents unique challenges, one of which is the struggle of making file downloads feel as distinct and special as tangible objects. Thanks to a beautiful website and thoughtful liner notes, each of ETAT’s releases is indisputably an event. The imprint is curated by Austrian composer Stefan Juster and is perhaps best known for their presentation of Florian Hecker’s 51-hour Syn As Tex [AC] back in 2021, they had a modest but fruitful 2025, with works by both new and established figures in process/computer music: Two Weeks, a collaboration between Juster and RM Francis (see my review), Stefan Maier, and Ryu Hankil.
presses précaires (Montréal)
Run by sound artist Anne-F Jacques, presses précaires has been a reliable source for forward-thinking abstract music on cassette for half a decade now, with a varied output that straddles the border between the DIY and academic spheres. 2025’s showing was particularly strong, with impressive tapes by Bárbara González, Sun Yizhou and Tom Soloveitzik, Gudinni Cortina, and W K Werkowicz and Zheng Hao, as well as a.hop, a remote correspondence ensemble project led by Jacques herself. All releases from this year are available from Tobira.
Clangor Tapes (Cincinnati)
For those who may not know, I grew up in Cincinnati. It was where I first got into noise, so even though I’m elsewhere now it’s great to see new things happening in the scene I still have so much love for. Clangor is run by Black Corolla members Zach Collins and Lauryn Jones, originally an outlet for their own projects (Apple Cottage, Gangstalker, Otra Vez) but now expanded beyond that with a tape by the superb NYC project Mouths Agape. The Black Corolla / Slacking Lonely God C30 was my favorite split of the year (see my review). Several releases are available direct as well as from Torn Light, another Cincy-area institution now based in Chicago.
Discreet Archive (Wales)
The house style for Discreet Archive releases is simple: artist name and album title, recording date and locations, equipment used, all listed out in basic sans-serif type on a grey background. This is not to indicate homogeneity of the material (in any case the exact opposite is true), but rather to emphasize the neutrality of the platform and let the sounds speak for themselves. Following a modest schedule since opening in 2022 until 2024, the Wales initiative kicked into high gear this year. My personal highlights were the documents by Narval and Hello Spiral. In addition to music, they also sell custom instruments and specialized microphones such as the friction idiophone and the earthphone.
Malevolent Relics (Albuquerque)
In ABQ it seems that the noise, metal, and dungeon synth scenes form a loose triple Venn diagram, and right at the center of it is Malevolent Relics, a label/distro that produces and stocks the best of each. Though ops are currently on pause, 2025 saw the release of the Skafrenningur 3xCS box (see my review), V/A compilation Upon the Return of All Radiant Creatures (which features a wide range of artists, from forest droner Desiccated Hemlock to neighboring noise maniac Ineffable Slime), and two raw black metal demos by Vuajtje and Mazeofith. MRR also produces their own slim zine and stocks issues of others, including Untitled and Mortar.
Pube Provisional Society (Calgary)
Pube Provisional (don’t ask) is dedicated to the symbiotic faiths of green hue (I said don’t ask) and good old fashioned harsh noise. Home to Kale Van Reekum’s flagship moniker Met Glas and his duo with cofounder Jack Sinclaire, Pube, the Society plucks the best and brightest from around the globe: Peking Crash Team, Gemengung, Vincent Dallas. Though they only dropped one three tape batch this year, it was a heater, with top-shelf stuff from Snake Oil Merchants (international triple threat of Dallas+Geseling+Sisto Rossi), Outdoor Horse Shrine, and fellow Great White Norther Wasauksing Sniper. Also of note are the one-of-a-kind editions they hand-craft for the artists.
Noise Not Music 