The Best Compilations of 2025 So Far (Bandcamp Friday Edition!)
Let's give it up to the curators and tastemakers for today's Bandcamp Friday.
Today is Bandcamp Friday, the day your money bypasses the algorithms and tech middlemen and goes straight to the artists and labels who make the music. Radical concept, I know.
This is the third of six Bandcamp Fridays this year. For the last two, I spotlighted my five favorite indie labels and 48 new albums worth your time.
This time, I’m tipping my hat to the curators and tastemakers who assemble the best compilations. Please enjoy my favorites of the year so far, each one a testament to the art of crate-digging and playlist-building.
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Roots Rocking Zimbabwe - The Modern Sound of Harare' Townships 1975-1980
Get Vinyl: Black
Salute to Analog Africa for Roots Rocking Zimbabwe, an essential document of the genre-bending sounds that rose from Harare’s townships between 1975 and 1980. These 25 tracks capture a thrilling era when Rhodesian musicians fused rock, rumba, mbaqanga, soul, and traditional rhythms into something wholly new.
Against the backdrop of colonial rule and an escalating liberation war, these artists lit up the underground scene, packing clubs, drawing crowds, and rattling the establishment.
Trust me on this one; there’s so many “oh!” moments scattered across this set, you’ll lose count.
Sequoia
Get Vinyl: 25 7-inch Box Set
This is an absolutely unreal release from the crate-digging legends at Numero Group. Sequoia is a 25x 7-inch box set chronicling the roots of '90s emo — a 77-track time capsule and thesis statement. Each single is housed in chipboard sleeves just like the originals, and accompanied by a 136-page hardcover book packed with flyers, photos, and deeply researched liner notes that map the scene from D.C. basements to San Diego garages.
If you're overwhelmed by where to start, I recommend dropping the needle on Chicago four-piece The Lazarus Plot (tracks 63 to 68).
We Love It Here
Get Vinyl: Orange | Black
Asheville feels like a second home to me, and God willing, I’ll retire to the Smokies one day. It's also the spiritual center of so much new music I love. Drop of Sun Studios sits at the heart of it all, run by local legend Alex Farrar and home to Wax Museum mainstays like MJ Lenderman, Animal Collective, Runnner, and Fust. All of them appear on We Love It Here, an 11-track compilation benefiting artists impacted by Hurricane Helene. Proceeds go directly to the rebuild effort through Asheville nonprofit Lamplight AVL. Great music. Great cause. Grab it.
Only Sounds That Tremble Through Us
Get Vinyl: Violet and Magenta | Purple and Blue | Black
Only Sounds That Tremble Through Us is a compilation that doubles as cultural preservation and resistance. Conceived by artists Basel Abbas and Ruanne Abou-Rahme and released on the Palestinian label Bilna’es, the 18-track double LP pulls from online videos — weddings, street performances, living room dances — recorded by ordinary people across Palestine, Iraq, and Syria. Many of these clips vanished shortly after they were posted. The tracks here resurrect them through sampling and reinterpretation. This is protest music, and proof that the voice endures in the face of erasure.
Additionally, did a deep dive on this stunning collection that’s well worth your time.
Eccentric Modern Soul
Get Vinyl: Modern Maroon | Black
Our second entry from Numero Group is a groover and mover. Eccentric Modern Soul is an 11-track deep dive into the Chicago label’s crates. The soulful mix is tailor-made for dimly lit dance floors. If you were into Eccentric Northern Soul, (which made my Best Compilations of 2023 list), this is its funkier, clubbier cousin.
ANTHEMS: A Celebration Of Broken Social Scene's You Forgot It In People
Get Vinyl: Pink
Last month, Broken Social Scene dropped ANTHEMS, a covers album honoring their 2003 classic You Forgot It in People — a record that helped define indie rock’s golden era and remains one of my all-time favorites. This tribute brings together a stacked lineup, including Toro y Moi, Sylvan Esso, Maggie Rogers, The Weather Station, Mdou Moctar and Hovvdy, each reimagining a track from the original. My favorite cut is Middle Kids’ gorgeous take on “Cause = Time.” What’s yours?
Strobes in Space (Indie Sleaze, Nu Rave & Future Disco 2000-2009)
Get Vinyl: Neon Pink, Purple, Petrol | Orbit Silver
I adore Brighton’s Two-Piers, a label “born in lockdown by four people who forgot to get a proper job.” Pretty sure I own everything they’ve put out (quit bragging!). Their latest comp, Strobes in Space, is extremely my shit — a sweaty flashback to the early 2000s when indie kids hit the dancefloor in a haze of nu-rave and future disco. Spread across 30 tracks and three LPs, it captures the global surge of the era: Bloc Party and Klaxons in the UK, LCD Soundsystem and Yeah Yeah Yeahs in NYC, Cut Copy in Australia, Digitalism in Germany, CSS in Brazil. Throw on some neon and cheap sunglasses before hitting play.
Jugoton Bossa Nova - Brazilian Wave in Yugoslavia 1963-1983
Get Vinyl: Black
Jugoton Bossa Nova is a sun-drenched time capsule that captures the unexpected Brazilian wave that swept through Yugoslavia between 1963 and 1983. As jazz, samba, and bossa nova made their way from Rio to the Adriatic, local musicians embraced the sound with open arms and homemade guitars. This compilation is a charming and stylish era where Yugoslav artists reimagined Joao Gilberto and Jobim through their own lens. And if that’s not enough to scratch your Eastern Bloc crate-digging itch, don’t miss Jugoton Funk Vol. 2 — a follow-up packed with more rare grooves and disco-folk oddities.
Hey friends, thanks for tuning in! I’ll be back next week with a brand-new deep dive. To get in the mood, I’ve pulled two previous essays from behind the paywall:
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Digging that Modern Soul comp! Thanks for getting it on my radar!