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Guest “Best of 2025”: Scarboro

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Curious what notable personalities in the scene think was great this year? So is TGEFM! So we reached out to some of our favorite luminaries ranging from musicians, label personnel, and more for their “Best of 2025” lists. Now, listen: TGEFM is not a taskmistress. Contributors can write these out however they want. So if it doesn’t actually look or read like a list… and sometimes it really is just a list with no other observations! Who cares?

Scarboro’s Best of 2025 is exactly what you’d expect from a New York punk band riding out a chaotic year with creativity and community intact. With one foot planted firmly in hardcore and the other open to anything that hits hard or hits right this list moves easily between records, movies, live shows and the behind-the-scenes people who make it all work. It’s a totally subjective snapshot of the art that kept them inspired afloat and pushing forward through 2025.

Welcome to Scarboro’s totally random and subjective best of 2025 list! It’s been a crazy time in the real world, but the world of creatives has kept us afloat. From records to movies here’s a quick top ten best ofs for 2025:

  1. Best Punk/Hardcore Record: Scowl Are We All Angels? We’ve been longtime fans of these Santa Cruz hardcore hitters. Are We All Angels shows us the depth and range of modern hardcore in a way that no one else can. From the fierceness of “Cellophane” to the haunting and aptly named “Haunted” this record hit all the right notes.
  1. Best Non-Punk/Hardcore Record: Bad Bunny Debí Tirar Más Fotos You don’t need to listen to salsa music or reggaeton or hip-hop to appreciate the genius beyond Bad Bunny’s latest full-length. A blend of the old and new this record was a perfect mix of all worlds that found itself blaring through studio speakers during our recording sessions this year.
  1. Best Song : NOFX/Codefendants “What Are We Doing This For?” Something tells us we’re gonna get more post career releases from NOFX than we did from 2Pac and we’re here for it. This banger from two of our favorite artists needs no glazing.
  1. Best Hardcore Single: Murphy’s Law “Go Jimmy Go!” The first new song from Murphy’s Law in 24 years and it was worth the wait, easily the best hardcore single of ’25.
  1. Best Live Performance: Turnstile at the Mann Center, Philly. Got the pleasure of travelling down to Philly to catch Jane Remover, Speed, Mannequin Pussy and Turnstile this summer, but hands down the Never Enough tour delivered with Turnstile capping the night.
  1. Best Engineer/Producer: Will Yip. We wanted to recognize the unsung heroes behind the tunes we fuck with the most. From Turnstile’s Never Enough to the Bouncing Souls “Power” there’s nothing Will Yip touches that doesn’t touch you. (In full disclosure Will mastered our upcoming new record so we’re a wee bit biased haha)
  1. Best EP: The Iron Roses Agitpop. Resistance never sounded so good. These dark times need joy as much as resolve and anger. Agitpop delivers on the Joy and then some without losing sight of needing to stand together when our unity is being attacked.
  1. Best Documentary: “Age of Disclosure“. Tom DeLonge has been telling us we are not alone. We agree. Watch this doc and you will too.
  1. Best Movie: Good Fortune. We’re suckers for Keanu.
  1. Best SCARBORO moment: Tough one for us, we had a great year from recording a new full length to opening for Get Dead, but ultimately nothing could top our first ever Camp Punksylvania. From the camaraderie, amazing bill, even more amazing staff nothing could top this weekend for us. It’s one big happy dysfunctional family and we were glad to be a part of it  

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