Adelaide’s best music of 2025
It’s been a great year for SA music and these are our team’s favourite tracks that’ll keep rotating on our playlists into 2026.
David Simmons’s picks
Ella Ion – ‘Blue Black Crows’
With all the swagger of classic Alex G and the delicious lyricism of Joni Mitchell, Adelaide singer-songwriter Ella Ion makes magic across the four minutes of one of her 2025 singles, ‘Blue Black Crows’. There’s something special embedded in the song – be it Ella’s gorgeous soprano, the laconic verses or the pained electric guitar – but it’s hard to pinpoint. It’s a strange love song, in which Ella imagines herself as a bird, feeding her paramour all the bugs from her nest. The track builds to a delirious high in the final minute: “I don’t want anything / For me” she admits under a cacophony of violin, guitar and drums. It’s hard to pin down just one Ella Ion release from the year that should be in this list, but this perfectly written song hits right at one’s heart in the best way possible.
Kurralta Park – ‘Into My Gums’
Of the many live music experiences I had this year, one stands out in my mind. Packed like sardines in the basement of Ancient World, I witnessed Kurralta Park launch their debut album: Powell Place. Ale in hand, I squeezed through the crush to catch a glimpse of Bindi, Madelaine and Zack tear up the stage of the cult DIY space, pressed up against the band’s ravenous superfans, of which there are now many in Adelaide. Hopefully, the rest of the country will be converted soon, too. They blitzed through track after track – Bindi’s larrikan charisma sending the vibes into sweet, sweaty heaven. When the single ‘Into My Gums’ started, the vibe shifted, the crowd inched forward, and finger guns were readied. “Clench my jaw / Push my teeth back / Back into my gums / Back where they belong”, we scream-sang alongside Bindi, who grinned at the crowd like a giddy schoolboy with total joy. No one deserves to be a rockstar more.
Lonelyspeck – ‘Fossil’
It was a six-year wait between Adelaide electronic maestro Lonelyspeck’s Abyssal Body EP and their debut album Crown of My Spirit, but good things take time. Great things take even longer – or so demonstrates the results from their record that’s without a single skip. Single ‘Fossil’ is particularly impressive, though we could’ve highlighted any number of songs on the album that sit, unusually, somewhere between Meshuggah and SOPHIE. The energy of ‘Fossil’ is nuclear fusion. If you could somehow convert the unrelenting beats into electricity, we’d never again have to dig an oil well. It also bridges a gap between Lonelyspeck’s earlier R&B-ish output and their more recent pop-experimentalism, and has enough of their in-your-face electric guitar to scratch that particular itch, too. Don’t go away for six years ever again, please, Lonelyspeck.
Helen Karakulak’s picks
Sunsick Daisy – ‘Pale Blue’
Way back in February, in the pages of our festival magazine, CityMag listed Sunsick Daisy in our Class of 2025 – a list of SA artists to watch. After each Sunsick Daisy release we heard and lineup announcement we’ve spotted their name on this year (hello Harvest Rock and BIGSOUND), I feel confident saying “we told you so”.
‘Pale Blue’ was the self-proclaimed “sour candy indie rock” band’s first release with bass player Ella Phillips joining the fold. The track quickly climbed to the band’s second most-streamed spot on Spotify. It’s about young love in the digital age: dizzying and addictive. The two-and-a-half-minute track sounds like how going on a successful third date on an overcast spring day feels, complete with saturated guitars and a dash of nostalgia.
The Tullamarines – ‘Gimmie Luv’
The Tullamarines are another Adelaide band who had a huge 2025, joining the lineup of BIGSOUND and Beyond the Valley. The indie pop band also earned themselves the 35th most played spot on TripleJ – beating bands like Amyl and the Sniffers, Chappell Roan and Charli XCX in the public broadcaster’s ranking.
One of my picks of the year has to go to ‘Gimmie Luv’ off their Sophomore EP Safety Blanket, which was released in September. The group veers into electro-pop territory in this lead single. From the first second the track fizzes like soda in a bottle, being shaken up by the band until the lid is twisted off in a euphoric release in the last 45 seconds.
Placement – ‘Intertia/Heavy Lids’
This track was released all the way back in January, but is still fresh in my memory and my playlist almost 12 months later, so it’s earned a spot in this list. ‘Inertia/Heavy Lids’ is the opening track of the band’s debut album Insect which the band told CityMag in 2024 they were taking their time to curate. Now, having heard it, we can say it was worth the wait.
‘Inertia/Heavy Lids’ still stands out to me from the much-anticipated album because it was such a strong opener. It has the raw punk energy we’ve come to expect from the band with an experimental spin that feels fresh and exciting. Vocalist and guitarist Malia Wearn’s stoic vocals are punchy, magnetic and open a formidable debut.
Charlie Gilchrist’s picks
The Exhibits – ‘Fomenting the Foaming’
This experimental jazz track from supergroup quartet The Exhibits is fusion at its best. ‘Fomenting The Foaming’ revolves around a wandering sax performed by Melbourne musician Tom Noonan. Noonan appears alongside James Muller on guitar, Lyndon Gray on double and electric bass and Josh Baldwin on drums. The tune also features complex tempo changes, a dynamic drum solo and a rapid sax and guitar run. “The album’s repertoire spans a range of moods and textures, reflecting the unique South Australian landscape that inspired the cover art – a stark depiction of the saltbush at Wonoka along the Heysen Trail,” explains the band. “Beneath its seemingly serene exterior lies and underlying intensity, mirrored by the music’s vibrant energy and darker, introspective corners”.
The Fuss – ‘Lay It Out’
As I’ve said before, when I saw THE FUSS perform one of their first shows at Arthur Art Bar, I was instantly hooked. The self-described “hot chip enthusiasts” playing on Kaurna Land consists of best friends Sammy, Liam, Oliver and Callum, who met while studying at the University of Adelaide in 2022 and bonded over their shared love of bands like Fontaines DC, Ballpark Music and The Cranberries. ‘Lay It Out’ has contrasting tender and heavy moments, and features effect-laden guitars and beautiful harmonies. Lyric-wise, the song appears to be about vulnerability, with Sammy’s catchy hook: “Tell me I look better than I feel/Tell me I’ll find a way to think clear/Tell me I’ll come round to the idea/Tell me something I could say sincere/Lay it out/Lay it out/Lay it out.”
Stream and buy the track here.
Jupiter Saloon – ‘Groove On’
Mixing blues with hard rock and heavy psych, this head-banging tune from self-described indie-soul act Jupiter Salon harks back to my favourite classic rock music from the ‘60s and ‘70s. The song begins with a simple yet effective piano riff by guitarist Nick Pipe, before lead singer Eloise Addams launches into her powerhouse vocal performance. ‘Grove On’ also features Conor Deery on drums, Matteo Grilli on bass, Jaime Willson on keys and Jordan Belperio on trumpet and trombone. A highlight of ‘Grove On’ is the epic guitar solo at the one-minute 45-second mark, which even Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page would be proud of. Unlike a lot of other songs on the list, this song is simply about having a good time. “It isn’t that deep – it’s about that fuzzy feeling when everything is going right, the sun is beaming down on you … You’re set to have a great night with your best mates and get your groove on,” explains Louise.
Helena Snelling’s picks
aleksiah – ‘Keep My Cool’
Indie pop icon aleksiah has well and truly hit her stride this year, releasing four singles and an EP in just nine months. Aleksiah’s Spotify bio, “really loves strawberry milk,” sums up her music perfectly; bright, bubbly and addictive, it will keep you coming back for more.
Keep My Cool’s playful melodies will have you singing along from wherever you’re listening. Don’t be fooled by the catchy tune though – you’ll find yourself singing about anything from love to loss and identity, and that sinking feeling that things are never going to go the way that you planned – “I wanted to be someone, now I’m a failure / Well in the end it still rhymes with fun”.
Strict Face – ‘Balmy Eternal’
Three years on from his last LP, DJ and producer Strict Face finally treated us to Severe Forward: nine tracks of glossy, bubbly, synth-driven goodness that nods to Strict Face’s previous work, but is uniquely different. Picking a single standout from Severe Forward feels almost unfair, but something about the quiet euphoria of Balmy Eternal won me over. The last track of the album, and just shy of six minutes, it distils the punchy, polished sound that runs through the record. Sitting perfectly in the Goldilocks zone between dance and pop production, the song captures the feeling of a “sunrise bathing a dimly-lit nightclub space”.
PINES – ‘If I Had To’
Trying to pin PINES to a single genre feels almost beside the point, and their latest single If I Had To is no exception. Composed and produced by electronic music duo Adam Dormand and James Kenneally, the track’s low atmospheric blend of synths pulls you into a feeling of sonic escapism. As the track quietly intensifies, prepare to get lost in their signature sound of pulsating beats and distorted basslines. If Balmy Eternal is for staying up until sunrise, If I Had To is for long summer afternoons spent on the sand or by the pool.
