(「OTOTOY Editors’ Picks: Selected 2025 Releases and Short Reviews」から転載)

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‘STRANGE POP’ by 笹川真生 (Mao Sasagawa)

Mao Sasagawa returns with his first full-length album in nearly two years. True to its title, ‘STRANGE POP’ is undeniably pop, yet it glints, buckles, surges up and down, and constantly shifts color under pressure from within. It embodies an alternative in the sense of belonging nowhere else.

At the same time, the source of the album’s deep sense of embrace lies in its grounding as “song,” and in the sheer pleasure of rhythm. The grooves found in “美しい術 (Utsukushii sube)” and “溢れちゃった (Afure-chatta)” set both the heart and the body in motion.

This is an album best experienced by surrendering to its balance of constancy and fluctuation. Without question, it stands as my album of the year for 2025.

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‘Anthem 1.1’ by SYAYOS

The debut album from SYAYOS, a four-piece band based in Ina, Nagano Prefecture. Formed in July 2024, the eight tracks written within their first eight months are brimming with ideas and display a level of completeness, along with an unfathomable potential, that belies the fact that this is a first album.

From the opening track “Spaceboy,” the listener is struck by the band’s grand sense of scale and explosive power. As the album unfolds, SYAYOS’s ambition continually recalibrates and expands. Centered on the expansive vocals of Hina Suzuki, each instrument rises to meet that presence with equal intensity.

Rawness and refinement, as well as stylishness and nostalgia, coexist throughout the record. And while the album itself is powerful, SYAYOS’s live performances are even more overwhelming. In 2025, they stand out unmistakably as my Best New Artist.