Two things hit every December that remind us that our Boston music scene is far more diverse, varied, and prolific than whatever cliques and circles we currently roll with. One is the Boston Music Awards, arriving next week; and the other is Nick Minieri’s annual HOMETOWN mix, a deep-dive playlist and artist showcase from the veteran DJ, MC, and beat maker that offers up the latest n’ greatest to emerge out of New England in the past year.
As we roll out Year in ReView coverage all week, Vanyaland is proud to present Minieri’s HOMETOWN mix for 2025. It’s a 65-track, 122-minute beast featuring nearly 100 artists, centered around house, hip-hop, jungle, techno, and bass. It features names both fresh and tested, with artists like ToriTori, Billy Dean Thomas, STL GLD, SeeFour, Oompa, Saucy Lady, Colin Domigan, and Luke Bar$, alongside several potential new faves.
“I was so happy with how last year’s HOMETOWN mix flowed together that I decided to follow the same format this year and used pretty much the same techniques to find stuff,” Minieri tells Vanyaland. “Dug through basically everything that came out on Bandcamp that had ‘Boston’ tagged in it, went through a bunch of curated Spotify playlists, and actively bookmarked loads of releases throughout the year that I saw on Instagram. Ended up with a folder of about 500 tracks which I whittled down to 100, and then painstakingly down to the final 65 to keep it under 2 hours.”
Fire it up below, scan the track list after the embed jump, and peep this year’s artwork, inspired by The Enormous Room, the influential Cambridge music lounge that shuttered in 2011.
HOMETOWN 2025 track list:
misha, cocabona, toritori + latrell james: ‘long way from home’
jo_nm: “berklee beat battle s2 ep10′
seefour: “make a way’
aniyé music: “20 somethings’
99 neighbors, maari, wahid + anteneh: ‘whatchu waitin 4?’
farewell: ‘patience’
luke bar$ + meech: ‘changing’
stu bangas, a-f-r-o + 4-ize: ‘no regrets’
magno garcia + king author: ‘fly paper skyscraper’
abbotjackson: ‘back 2 back’
pileofbones: ‘cycles’
1st official: ‘indy’
kwami-soul: ‘2 dollar schemes’
nick shea: ‘engine number nine’
stl gld: ’80s babies’
rtb3000: ‘hope is a discipline_88’
saucy lady + chaos in the cbd: ‘tears’
oompa + lily rayne: ‘better’
toritori: ‘you don’t know’
ellisar: ‘anymore’
maarten goji + gabriela riley: ‘there’s something in the mood’
hear and there: ‘golden dream’
barbwalters: ‘stay’
live a little, latrell james + caserta: ‘ggg’
escape sequence: ‘startled to life’
jonny fallout: ‘hello goodbye’
wiersma: ‘once around vega’
dj bookum: ‘see the colours’
susan esthera: ‘orion’
vanta: ‘careless’
weso: ‘miss fortune’
zunzarren: ‘strange flights’
devon james: ‘no boyfriend (gettoblaster remix)’
twism, b3rao + glitch: ‘need somebody’
lee wilson + re-tide: ‘dippin’ and doin’’
felix! + buddy: ‘margiela madman!’
dru-boy: ‘all glocks down’
fibonacci: ‘lost’
g notorious: ‘you’
colin domigan + sankta t: ‘back 2 da 90s’
mantra sounds + glass arrowhead: ‘bite back vip’
zebbler encanti experience: ‘oxo’
vector u: ‘chrono trigger’
sereni: ‘babe’
louie lanka: ‘chamber of reflection’
2xya: ‘quick snack (american dave remix)’
ketzaal: ‘cellular chain (raw mix)’
threshold: ‘bound’
colomboi: ‘lucky 7’
chelita: ‘rat city’
atura: ‘like this’
dj killscreen: ‘newports!!!!!!’
brianna paon + roiju: ‘pressure (sohn jamal’s high pressure remix)’
rilla force + maka 3.0: ‘mte’
bstep: ‘skyscraper’
elzwerth: ‘box of dots’
dj trace: ‘lost entity (dev/null’s po-33 mix)’
mizeyesis: ‘ease up junglist’
larry luxe: ‘higher (furious remix)’
r4ns0m: ‘metropolitan hill’
jmod: ‘2 crazy 4 u’
billy dean thomas: ‘mx speed’
ryst: ‘get2it’
dreamcorp + forum303: ‘forum303’
lil kevo 303: ‘sunken egg 175iv’
