It’s hard to pinpoint a single sound that defines Melt Records, the Cebu-based independent label representing dreamy indie-pop acts like Chelsea Dawn, Modern Cassette, and Peregrine, whose songs are steeped in calm acoustics, wandering rhythms, and a touch of melancholy. On the flip side, Melt Records also represents experimental or hardcore bands like Turnpike, The Rising Tide, and Dymphna, all of whom launch into searing guitar riffs and pack their fury into a deafening soundbite. To Melt Records’ co-founder Dexter Sy, the closest approximation of the label’s taste is “eclectic.”
Around 2009, Sy and a group of close friends took to experimenting with guitars and synths, recording music under the moniker Psychomonkey. To give the project an air of legitimacy (“Whatever that means,” jokes Sy), he established the record label arm of Bomba Press, a local independent zine. For Sy, what had started as a “vanity label” that allowed him to slap a glossy logo onto his band’s CDs turned into a full-fledged business, growing to represent more and more acts from the Visayas and Mindanao regions of the Philippines. In 2018, Sy — along with founding members PJ Ong, Debb Acebu, and Mic Pacalioga — ventured forth and formed Melt Records.
“If you’re starting off [as a musician], I think you have very low expectations of yourself,” says Sy when explaining why he saw the need to create the label. “I think that’s something we try to change.” Pausing for a moment, Sy quickly adds, “Of course, we don’t want them to feel like rock stars from the get-go. But we also want them to have a bit more ambition. Sometimes it works out, and we love having those success stories. I just hope people know that it is actually possible to do more with what you have.”
On Trying To Not Be the Biggest Label
There is something so sincere about the way the label’s founding members talk about music and the artists they represent. Acebu first met Sy as the lead vocalist of indie-pop band Honeydrop. Similarly, Pacalioga first signed onto Bomba Press with his alternative rock band Loop. Ong was deeply immersed in Cebu’s punk, hardcore, and extreme metal scene during the ‘90s. All four founding members have a deep love for their respective genres, and are fiercely committed to paving the way for the next generation of artists.
“Nagstart lang ko nga murag nag-college band rako,” says Acebu on how Bomba Press helped her band find its footing. “But in 2013 [when we signed], suddenly naana koy band, murag ‘What? Tinuod ba ni?’ Ingana gani! So murag bitaw for me, nakita sad ko ang importance na I have to help [musicians] who are still trying out the scene.”
(“When I started, [Honeydrop] was just a college band. But in 2013 [when we signed], I suddenly had a real band. I was like, ‘What? Is this real?’ Like that! So it’s like for me, I see the importance of helping [musicians] who are still trying out the scene.”)
“We want [Melt Records] to be a community first. We want to give them a transparent platform that can distribute their music throughout the Philippines and the world,” says Pacalioga. He pauses, as if to take in the scope of his own words, then bursts out laughing. “Wow, char! ‘Throughout the world’! Ha! Maona ‘to.” It’s this blend of ambition and self-awareness that shapes the label’s level-headed, yet hopeful approach to catering to their artists.
“We don’t want to be the biggest label,” says Sy. “That’s not the goal. The goal is a more vibrant music community, something sustainable.”
Navigating Hurdles

Now representing artists from across the Philippines, mainly from Visayas and Mindanao, along with acts from Southeast Asia, Melt Records has learned how to adapt to an ever-changing indie music landscape.
“Karon kay mas diverse jyud kaayo ang music scene,” says Acebu. “Sa una, at least ako na abtan sa Cebu, na kay puro ug banda. Karon, naay daghan ug variety na rock.”
(“The music scene now is so much more diverse. Before, or at least what I noticed in Cebu, there were just bands. But now, there are so many varieties of rock.”)
With so many different acts, a new wave of independent labels competing with Melt Records has also cropped up. “Karon man gud,” says Pacalioga, “daghang na pud kaayo mga independent labels like us all over the Philippines, so syempre, how do we convince [musicians] to sign with us? And there are so many artists that would prefer to sign with labels na wala diri, na nasa Manila.”
(“Now there are so many independent labels like us all over the Philippines, so obviously, how do we convince [musicians] to sign with us? And there are so many artists that would prefer to sign with labels that aren’t here, that are in Manila.”)
As a Cebu-based label, Melt Records has faced the challenges of operating outside the country’s capital. “With businesses like ours, the money is in Manila or even outside the Philippines,” explains Sy. “The big brands are there… so we don’t have the same kind of opportunities. I don’t want to gripe about it because it’s the reality. Sige lang, hurdle: it’s really hard and I don’t want to complain about it.”
“I think the problem is less of people actually fighting you, and more of the things that aren’t available to you,” continues Sy. “Most music conferences and concerts happen in Manila so then we have to spend quite a bit more just to be able to participate in those. I think people are always praising us, even in Manila, and people are very supportive — but to what extent can they really support us?”
Making Waves In Their Own Way

Despite the pushback and hurdles along the way, Melt Records has steadily grown into a key player in the country’s music scene. Although all four founding members emphasize how Melt Records was never intended to focus solely on Visayas and Mindanao, the label has become a platform for artists from these regions, offering a space where their unique sounds can thrive.
Starting 2025 strong, Melt Records has already released Dumaguete-born Chelsea Dawn’s single “Another Story,” Cebu-based Vincent Eco’s EP Sa May Baybayon, and organized the streaming release of Cebuano rock band Dymphna’s 2015 album Meggido.
“Murag bitaw naay [It’s like there’s a] part of me na excited to see what Melt can do,” says Acuba on the future of the label. “We already have so many connections and it’s sort of cliché… but we’re making waves in our own way, ‘di ba?”
Sy, never one to remain stagnant, notes how he is constantly looking for ways to improve the label he built from the ground up, all the way back in 2009. “These days, it’s about finding how we need to evolve,” says Sy. “Who do the artists actually need at this point? What are the gaps that are still there? Do we still need to exist? That’s always a question I ask myself.”