Welcome to Songs You Need to Know, our weekly rundown of the best music right now. The Rolling Stone Philippines team is constantly sharing things to listen to, and each week, we compile a ragtag playlist of songs that we believe every music fan today needs to know. Whether it’s the hottest new single or an old track that captures the state of the present, our hope is that you discover something for your musical canon.
This week’s list of songs cuts through the noise of constant releases to spotlight artists pushing sound and story in unexpected directions. From Malibu’s cinematic ambient drift in “Spicy City” to Elmer Fudge’s organic, sweat-slicked techno cut “Space Gravy,” these tracks prove that atmosphere and rhythm can say more than words. Mother Soki turns viral momentum into emotional clarity with “Joneses,” while Wednesday crashes distortion into heartbreak on “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On).” Together, these tracks show how modern artists continue to bend genre, channel vulnerability, and remind listeners that forgetting the rules still makes for the most compelling kind of pop.
Groovy Filipino techno that breathes like a living organism
On September 30, Manila-based DJ and producer Elmer Fudge released his peak-time dancefloor heater “Space Gravy.” Clocking in at around 138 beats per minute, the track’s polyrhythmic drum pattern has a magical way of making a beat feel like it’s breathing. It achieves this by stripping away melody and harmony in place of organic elements like the bright, crispy rattle of ganzás and metallic sample textures, drawing focus on groove and texture instead.
Featured on the sixth compilation EP from Osaka-based Aum Recordings, “Space Gravy” illustrates how Filipino techno is at an opportune moment to find new audiences here, near, and far. This track isn’t on Spotify, so go listen to it on Bandcamp. —Sai Versailles
A soft, shimmering step beyond viral success
Released on September 24, “Joneses” shimmers with a gossamer quality, its soft-focus production and ethereal vocals revealing American musician Mother Soki as a clear student of Ethel Cain and ML Buch.
The track follows “Rivet Gun,” her April 2025 viral breakout that fused trip-hop and rock into a sleek, guitar-driven fever dream reminiscent of Mk.gee. Behind the alias is Annie Tammearu, an artist proving she’s no one-hit wonder. With “Joneses” and her forthcoming debut album, Mother Soki looks poised to move beyond TikTok virality and into the ranks of independent label Mom+Pop’s most exciting names, alongside Magdalena Bay, MGMT, and Courtney Barnett. —Pie Gonzaga
A gritty rock departure for the internet pop princess
Following a recent uptick in the demand for showgirls in pop music, American singer Slayyyter is finally getting attention for her latest single, “CANNIBALISM!”, the music video of which shows the blonde dancing in a DIY sequined bikini. The mid-tempo track released on September 12 is the follow-up to her earlier skull-shattering “BEAT UP CHANEL$,” which will also be part of her first project under a major record label.
In “CANNIBALISM!”, the internet darling trades the first single’s club-ready dance pop for something more akin to post-punk. But Slayyyter holds on to the dirty quality of “BEAT UP CHANEL$” and other previous work, taking the grittiness of the thumping synthetic bass and smothering it on electric guitars. With another certified rager of a single coming out soon and an album on the way, Slayyyter should be on everyone’s radar. —Pie Gonzaga
Quiet on the ambient set, please
Characterized by quiet yet sweeping melodies and distant chorals wrapped in ringing synths, “Spicy City” is Malibu’s glimmering take on the pulse of a utopian city at the dead of night.
The track captures the paradox of motion and stillness that defines the French ambient producer’s world — music that feels like movement through fog, always searching but never hurried. Pulled from her debut album Vanities, it reflects Malibu’s ability to make minimalism feel cinematic, trading volume for texture and momentum for presence. Each note unfolds with purpose, like headlights on an empty highway after the afterparty, where the real comedown begins.
“Spicy City” feels both vast and intimate, meditative and quietly euphoric; an example of how the ambient can still find new ways to stir emotion without reaching for spectacle. —Elijah Pareño
Chugging to some Americana flavored distortion
Alternative country doesn’t always mean cowboy hats and beer-stained bars. Sometimes it’s just fuzz pedals, feedback, and heartbreak. In “Wound Up Here (By Holdin On),” Wednesday returns with a storm of distortion and vivid storytelling, a song that sounds like country music caught in a tornado of guitars.
Karly Hartzman’s voice cuts through the mix like a memory you can’t shake, turning worn-out phrases of love and loss into something gritty and alive. Each riff feels like an argument mid-apology, every drum hit like a door slam. It’s loud, cathartic, and weirdly tender. This track proves that Wednesday are as much a rock band as they are country revivalists. “Wound Up Here” carries the spirit of late nights, cheap beer, and emotional fallout, standing as one of the band’s most powerful testaments to southern heartbreak in chaos. —Elijah Pareño
Ice-cool production but hot as a newborn star
“Sayang U Wasted My Time” opens with a delicate, descending harp glissando before plunging into motion, its droning bass and minimalist 808s setting a hypnotic pulse.
In the track released in 2024, Nouvul, the longtime electronic R&B project of music producer Jorge Wieneke, departs from the laid-back sound of their earlier work for something made for the dance floor. The track pairs Nouvul’s sleek, restrained production with the airy vocals of BABY FREEZE, the artist name of newcomer Sammi Borro.
With Nouvul already a fixture in the local experimental music scene as obese.dogma777, it’s BABY FREEZE’s rising star status that makes her work one to watch. —Pie Gonzaga
Two icons of 2016 sad rap music
Sad boy rap gets a heartfelt revival in “Pwedeng Ayusin Natin ‘To?,” the long-overlooked collaboration between Skusta Clee and Because from Heartbreak SZN 2.
Five years after the album’s release, the track has aged into a standout: an emotional high point where regret meets melodic finesse. Skusta Clee’s runs glide over the beat with instinctive precision, turning vulnerability into something addictive. Meanwhile, Because refines his signature croon into something grounded and soulful, proving how far his hook game has come since the first Heartbreak SZN.
Together, they find chemistry in pain, trading verses that sound more like late-night texts than rap bars. “Pwedeng Ayusin Natin ‘To?” is a reminder that even the hardest hearts know how to break beautifully. —Elijah Pareño
