As we head into the February, we wanted to look back at all the outstanding local music that blessed our ears in 2025. Athens and Atlanta artists alike broke boundaries and pushed their sounds to new limits, providing listeners with new and refreshing EPs and full length projects. While there were countless great projects from local artists in 2025, WUOG’s Local Music Staff gave their thoughts on a few of the standouts.
Atticus Roness – Power Pop World Domination
Power Pop World Domination is the latest album from Atlanta-based artist Atticus Roness. It has an upbeat vibe with catchy melodies that are sure to have you moving along. The album balances energetic sounds with smoother melodic voices. Being heavily influenced by classic rock, Roness’ vocal delivery is aggressive, raspy, full and melodic, similar to John Lennon and Jesus Jones with a raw and emotional feel.
Another prominent feature in his songs is the guitar, which drives the rhythm. Roness plays his guitar with passion, often incorporating distorted, fuzzy and energetic sounds. In other songs, the guitar is relaxed with a warm tone, using fingerpicking and broken chords.
His guitar solos are more melodic to compliment the vocals, which are comparable to The Beatles and Oasis. If you love the incorporation of rock and pop, the powerful guitar sound, vocal delivery, and harmonies in albums such as Abbey Road and (What’s The Story) Morning Glory?, then Power Pop World Domination might be up your alley.
Roness is very established in the Athens music scene, playing at many local venues and events, including Porchfest this past year. If you ever get the chance to see him, you will find yourself exhilarated from his all-out performances. Roness commits to his performances with high kicks, dancing and stepping down into the audience to shred solos. If you find yourself drawn to passionate delivery I highly recommend seeing Roness live or listening to his latest album.
– Sienna Simmonds-Moore
Organically Programmed – Organically Programmed
Organically Programmed has always been unique among Athens bands. The combination of funk, jazz, and psychedelia has always served in the creation of exciting and interesting live performances.
As such, their debut, self-titled, album had much to live up to. While the album does not quite reach the energy of hearing the music performed live, it instead creates a more in-depth sonic landscape. What has truly made Organically Programmed stand out is not just the unique genre make up for an Athens group, but the aesthetics of their music.
This album oscillates between two seemingly different aesthetics. Some tracks have a retro-futuristic feel, taking inspiration from early electronica, like the opening track Space Racer, while others take from Latin American music and exotica to craft an idealized tropical scene, such as the second track Afternoon in Rio. This dichotomy allows the album to continually feel fresh, as though you are being toured through many unique scenes.
Despite the seemingly disparate aesthetics of the album, there is no disjointed feeling due to the similar origin point of both exotica and retro-futurism. These aesthetics have their ancestry in mid-20th century American optimism.
There is a feeling that the future is bright and exciting and that distant lands are idyllic. Over time these beliefs have fallen out of favor, and the associated aesthetics went with them. Currently, sounds like those used in this album are most commonly found in works parodying or subverting them. What Organically Programmed does, is play them straight. There is innovation and modern sensibilities in this work to be sure, but it plays the aesthetic straight. This non-subversion, in our modern day, has become subversive.
– Kendrick Borst
Racecar 44 – Racecar 44
Racecar 44’s self-titled debut album is a noisy, emotionally charged post-rock pop record that balances fuzzed-out guitars with poetic introspection. The album was released June 20, 2025 on all streaming platforms (now removed from Spotify) and a limited pressing of CDRs.
The record itself showcases 7 songs written by Jim Bass, recorded by Charlie Enter, and mastered by Marcel Sletten. On the recording, you’ll hear Bass on rhythm guitar and vocals, Enter on lead guitar and bass and Ben Weatherly on the drums. Racecar 44 began in January 2023 after Bass and Weatherly’s band “Picture Show” disbanded.
The band and self-titled debut are named after Bass’s Uncle John, who drove the original Racecar 44 at his local raceway. This connection grounds the project in both family history and lifelong fascination. This fascination carries directly into the record’s themes and motifs as Bass reflects on his complicated relationship with racing culture itself.
“I’m a huge NASCAR fan, since I was three years old… songs like Raceway and Big Oil have that inspiration of racing, like my battle with its culture versus how I feel about it. Because I love racing, but I also know it’s not good for the environment,” said Bass.
Uncle John’s original car still lives in a barn on Bass’ parents’ property and Bass made sure to photograph it for the album cover, which was then edited by Enter, allowing it to live on as a permanent part of the record’s legacy.
This record holds its beauty in the careful layering of pedals, lyrics and drums. The sound created is intense, dynamic and heavy without becoming suffocating, allowing each instrument space to exist without losing its impact. Enter’s usage of reverb, overdrive, fuzz, and a looper pedal creates dense, shifting textures that feel both expansive and intimate.
Listening closely, the record unfolds as a series of interconnected stories backed by an elaborate conversation between the guitars and drums. Tension rises and releases with intention rather than force.
Experienced with headphones on, these elements fully come together, pulling the listener into an immersive, atmospheric space. The music moves in waves, crescendos that swell and recede, never harsh, but always emotionally charged.
Lyrically, the album captures the smog that lingers over everyday existence, living in a world that feels burning, powerless and full of poetic disapproval. These themes, especially the tension surrounding environmental collapse, give the record its emotional weight and cohesion, making Racecar 44 feel both deeply personal and urgently reflective of the world it inhabits. Highly recommend you check it out.
– E. Winter Nogin
Cartier God – Vartier
2025 was a big year for local artist Cartier God; not only did he pop out for Bladee’s Atlanta show in October to perform “Cartier’god Icedancer (Intermission)”, but he also met WUOG’s music director, Jonas Broom. This actually did happen and is the main reason I delved so deep into his catalogue this year, and I’ll just say he kept things wavy.
Vartier dropped May 9th, just as summer was getting started, and it is filled with Cartier’s iconic, ethereal, boppy, and captivating sound. Kicking things off with a feature from Lil Tracy in “Vamps In London”, we are warmly welcomed with that classic cloudrap sound that both artists have come to master during their time in the game.
The following track “V Ready” amps things up with a killer anthem as Cartier chants “V ready” continuously, accompanied with catchy refrains such as “I’m up spreading my wings” and “let’s fly”.
I can’t talk about this album without mentioning “Do U Want V”, a bouncy track that sounds like it comes straight from the clubs of Ibiza. It’s not a Cartier God album if there ain’t a song you can absolutely throw ass to.
Vartier is everything I could ask for from a Cartier God project: groovy sounds with fly raps, an airy bounce to feel like I’m floating, and that classy Ocean GANG sound. Ouu Cartier….
– Jonas Broom
Derby – Volume 1
For the longest Egg Punk would fill the void between sets at smaller venues or house shows, songs from artists like Snõõper, Prison Affair and other Egg Punk bands would fill the void, keeping the energy up while artists plugged in their pedal boards getting ready to perform.
Now finally, Egg Punk can be played in Athens on stage, rather than just in between sets, with Derby’s debut EP, Volume One. But what is Egg Punk? Egg Punk is a genre influenced heavily by early Devo, that consists of low-fidelity, fast beats, and generally wacky synths. And Derby fulfills all of these.
This EP’s art truly doesn’t lie with its hypnotizing groovy drum and bass beats layered beneath a repetitive low fidelity voice that whispers to you nonsense. This album truly feels like waking up from a weird dream.
As it starts off with “Intro” which provides a cacophony of noises: a phone ringing, cars driving by, and then slowly the calming drum and bass beat seemingly lifts you from the chaos. Then “Intro” ends with the variety of noises fading away then transitions to “Snake” where you are seemingly transported to a dreamworld with these low-fidelity voices telling you about an evil yet awesome snake.
At the end of the EP the final song, “Sunspot” after hearing about the dangers of looking at the sun, the track ends with the familiar sound of bustling streets and missed calls. Overall, this is frankly a wacky but very fun album that truly takes you on an adventure that can turn the most monotonous task, like sending emails, into an exhilarating fun beat, like in their song, “Suits.”
– William Sealy
Penny Loafer – Daily Deal
Released by local label service Indecent Artistry, Daily Deal is Penny Loafer’s debut EP. Only 5 tracks long, it’s angsty, it’s rock, it’s pop, it’s clever. Live, it’s even groovy.
The distorted guitars, melodic vocal layering, and tempo-changing drum beats create an enticing ambience that pulls you in. Although less than 20 minutes, the EP provides a consistent sound.
The guitars are distorted and scratchy, often falling into beat with the strong drums while allowing the vocal performances and harmonies to shine through. The lyrics explore an array of themes, such as neighborly relations in “Backyard,” love sickness in “Ugly,” and found in all the tracks, food and eating.
Perhaps one of the most engaging aspects of Daily Deal is how it embraces Athens’ influence on the EP. Many promotional photos for the album were taken at local grocery store, The Daily Coop, a possible allusion to the EP’s title and the food theme.
The third track, “Orange Peel,” opens with a train horn blowing. As many Athens residents may know, the many active train tracks that dissect the town are loud and present throughout daily life. Embracing an alternative rock sound while referencing Athens contributes cements the group in the local music scene.
One of my favorite local albums of the year, I highly suggest seeing Penny Loafer live. You will find yourself rocking to the drums and guitars while hypnotized by the vocals.
– Josie Tunis
Honeypuppy – Dirty TV
Local twee-grunge band Honeypuppy’s sophomore EP Dirty TV released in April of 2025 by local label Indecent Artistry.
The EP’s six tracks do little to advance Honeypuppy’s sound from earlier standout tracks like “Suck Up”, “Tannenbaum” and “Penny Press”, but the new songs do a lot to advance Honeypuppy’s identity as a band. Electric guitar with a twang runs through Dirty TV, lingering on slower mid-tempo tracks like “Cozy” and adding bounce to jumpy anthems like “I’ve Been Delayed”.
The real standout on Dirty TV is the increased emotional range in both songwriting and vocal delivery shown by lead singer Josie Callahan. On the titular track, Callahan declares she is “a dirty girl/I gotta have my TV on”, a lyric that hammers home a Honeypuppy narrative that is less restrained than the one on modern Athens classic Nymphet.
“Can’t Stand U” is a love song that captures the anguish of being with someone who you love but who also annoys you. Callahan takes a dig at the song’s subject, asking “does it really make you feel sad at all?/Or maybe that’s just what really gets you off?” questioning if they are capable of feeling the hurt she feels.
“I’ve Been Delayed” sounds like a rushed morning at the airport, or like throwing on your clothes when you have someplace to be. It leans into tongue-and-cheek talk singing, something I haven’t seen done in Athens very often.
Dirty TV commits to a fresh, but still on-brand, slovenly retro aesthetic throughout an EP that is a well-executed, naturally evolved installment to Honeypuppy’s discography. It is a satisfying recording, but excellent heard live, too.
– Arianna Flynn
Julia Barfield – Keep to Me
Julia Barfield’s Keep to Me comes with a level of confidence and craft that one would not expect from a debut EP. The Athens based singer delivers a fully formed indie-folk project, an excellent local addition to a booming genre.
Barfield draws inspiration from the spacey production of Phoebe Bridgers, the breathy vocals of Waxahatchee and many more icons of the genre to create a sound that is both well established and uniquely hers.
Throughout the album intimate guitar work is layered under spacey strings and soaring slide guitars. Album standout “Eveline” sees a slow crescendo, building and building until it is met with a somber cello, simulating an emotional release that never quite arrives. The closing track, “Lathemtown,” shows Barfield’s sound in its most raw form. As she sings alone, over nothing but a plucky acoustic guitar, Barfield’s prowess as a songwriter truly emerges.
The EP’s lyrics are somber and nostalgic, often looking back at the past to explain the present. On the titular track “Keep to Me,” Barfield says, “I don’t think I am nothin’ but the places that I’ve been,” while longing for a new place to belong. On “Altavista, VA” she reflects on a traumatic event, exploring the lasting effects left in its wake: “Those ghosts are just memories coming to you/So go on and haunt me all the days through.”
Keep to Me calls to mind a recent past, the kind that feels like just yesterday, yet gone forever. Listening to the EP it’s easy to imagine sitting on a porch somewhere, the grass green and the hills rolling, ruminating on this recent past while Barfield and her band play an intimate concert just for you.
– Nathan Stagliano
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