Category: Music

Albums of the Year 2025

2025 was another year that saw the return of bands I did not think I would be writing about again. A new Cardiacs album is always something to praise loudly, and this one in particular is one that very few people though would ever see the light of day. But it’s here, it’s great, and it’s what I’ve listened to more than anything during the second half of this year. I’ve also bought less vinyl, and less new music in general, but as a result have rediscovered a lot of older things by people on this list and other adjacent artists.

I have also not been to a concert that wasn’t streamed on the internet for the 5th year running. Maybe 2026 will be the year that changes.

In all cases the links below are to somewhere you can listen to and/or buy the record in question (Bandcamp or the artist’s own website). For things you can’t buy anymore I’ve linked to a description. All quotes are from the same page as the link unless otherwise mentioned.

Albums

The Bad Fire by Mogwai

The arrival of a new Mogwai album – their eleventh – is cause for great celebration. The album’s title, The Bad Fire, is a working-class Glaswegian term for Hell. It reflects the difficult time that members of the band were going through. New to the studio was American producer John Congleton, known for his work with Explosions In The Sky, Sigur Rós, John Grant and pretty much everyone in between. Congleton’s work can be heard on the album’s three singles. The album opener “God Gets You Back” sounds like Daft Punk being hunted by My Bloody Valentine, while “Fanzine Made Of Flesh” sounds like a victory parade for a baby yeti; and “Lion Rumpus” does actually sound like a lion rumpus. The music of Mogwai is a difficult thing to describe, but an easy thing to experience. At punishing volume, it can annihilate your body, leaving you as little more than a head which should by rights fall helplessly to the ground. Yet the music contains an updraft, a sense of beauty encased in the onslaught. This holds you up, suspended and empowered, reminding you that paradise is your birthright. This is especially true of The Bad Fire. It may have been created in dark conditions, but all that is transcended by the act of four musicians working together here, now, in the moment – the only place where Mogwai exist.

I mentioned this at the end of last year’s list, and it didn’t disappoint. I’m not sure it’s their best album, but it’s certainly up there with them, and it’s something that I have found myself returning to at various points in the year.

Reservoir of Love by Shannon Wright

Shannon Wright is an utterly distinctive songwriter coated in raw, indelible fury. Wright’s songwriting hypnotizes, whether she’s igniting her ravenous guitar, or swirling her remarkable trance-inducing piano, Wright’s intensity draws you in and refuses to let up, therein lies the real beauty of her music.

The quote above was from the Bandcamp blurb from a previous album, but applies very much to this one. This was my first foray into the world of Shannon Wright, but it definitely won’t be my last as I’ve loved everything I’ve heard. Each song could have been recorded 20 years ago or last week, but it’s a timeless quality I love, and an album where the songs just speak for themselves.

End of the Middle by Richard Dawson

The title of Richard Dawson’s new album End of the Middle is a suitably slippery contradiction, one that invites multiple interpretations: Middle-aging? Middle-class? The middle-point of Dawson’s career? The centre of a record? Centrism in general? Polarisation? The possibility of having a balanced discussion about anything? Stuck in the middle with you? Middle England? Middling songwriting?

Another artist who never fails to deliver. I wasn’t sure about this when I heard the concept, but of course when I heard the songs I understood. These are no ordinary kitchen-sink dramas, and whilst it might not be as epic as some of his recent records it is still well worth a few listens. I suspect there are a few people who will start with this, work backwards, and wonder what they have got themselves into, but I think very few of them will stop until they have heard everything this truly unique artist has ever recorded. It might only be my third favourite Richard Dawson record, but it’s still better than most of the rest of this list.

Four Five by Sweet Williams

45 songs to commemorate 45 years of Sweet Williams aka Thomas House. Patchwork quilt or collaged map, this is his weirdest, funniest and darkest record to date.

This was not the Sweet Williams record I expected. Bundled with 2024’s eponymous album was a CD of demos, which claimed to be for his next album. But then instead we get 45 different songs, none of which were on that demo, and all of which contribute to making a record that demands time, but is then time well spent. Not everyone has time for triple albums in 2025, but there are three of them on this list (and a true double), which to be fair I only really made time for by listening to them during the endless dog walks and occasional train commutes that gave this year some structure and meaning.

Crooked Wing by These New Puritans

Crooked Wing is These New Puritans’ long-awaited fifth album—their first in six years. Produced by Bark Psychosis pioneer Graham Sutton and Jack Barnett, and executive produced by George Barnett, it features an unpredictable lineup of collaborators, from Caroline Polachek to veteran jazz bassist Chris Laurence. The cult duo returns with one of 2025’s boldest and most immersive records, shifting from the brutal to the beautiful. Crooked Wing cements TNP’s status as visionaries—defying genre, rejecting convention, and delivering their most moving, powerful work yet.

I feel like These New Puritans are the closest we have today to the musical vibe of late Talk Talk and Bark Psychosis. I’ve been a fan for a while, and have listened to this album a lot this year. It’s shorter than a lot of my other choices, and so fits more easily into the time slots I have to listen to music rather than just hear it. It’s also made me revisit some of their older albums, with Field of Reeds in particular getting a lot of plays this year.

Skylarks by HARESS

Third album from acclaimed Shropshire collective and the much-anticipated follow-up to 2022’s Ghosts. Dark, traditional and magically cosmic sounds from deep within Rural Britain. With 2022’s critically acclaimed album Ghosts, enigmatic Shropshire group HARESS marked out their own place in a growing landscape of artists navigating the worlds of the traditional and the rural in new ways.

“Far above the skylark sings
And beats the air with joyful wings
Till all the sky with music rings
At high noon of the day”

A worthy successor to Ghosts, and one of a number of albums on this list that has almost no lyrics.

We Invented Work For The Common Good by AAA Gripper

AAA Gripper have seemingly dropped out of nowhere but the story goes back. The idea was conjured in the summer of 2023 at the first Wrong Speed Records festival in the town of Glastonbury. Recording hours and hours of bass and drums in deep Somerset then editing it down to a sharp and concise 32 minutes… Wild guitar strafe and precise hyper vocal added. We Invented Work For The Common Good is a deep dive into the world of the working person—how we end up, why we climb onto the conveyor belt and never get off.

Can we call them a supergroup? Another Wrong Speed Records collaboration that have made a fantastic debut album that is another of those modern classics that very few people outside a very small circle have heard of, let alone heard. If you like guitar music it’s worth a listen, and if you love Joeyfat (see further down for some links to their music) then the two bands share a singer, and a general vibe.

GOLLIWOG by billy woods

GOLLIWOG is billy woods’ first album in two years, preceded by 2023’s Maps. GOLLIWOG is a haunting collection that weaves horror, humor, surrealism and Afropessimism into a cinematic tapestry, aided and abetted by a murderer’s row of producers. African zombies, time traveling trap cars, malevolent ragdolls and a dying Frantz Fanon are just a few of the revelers in woods’ danse macabre. GOLLIWOG is another triumph in the woods oeuvre, as layered and compelling as anything he has ever done.

My hip-hop discovery of the year, and a really inventive piece of music. Hearing this for the first time sent me into his back catalogue, and also into the other things he’s released this year which are also fantastic:

  • gowillog by August Fanon & billy woods
  • Mercy by Armand Hammer & The Alchemist

I know very little about this kind of music, but I want to know more.

Instant Holograms On Metal Film by Stereolab

One of my all time favourite bands, who I never thought would record together again. This picks up where all their other records left off, and just sounds so familiar but also so new at the same time. I’m hopeful that this is the start of something new rather than just a coda.

LSD by Cardiacs

Once again sweet listener it falls upon The Alphabet Business Concern to magnanimously spurn all praise and self-congratulation for bringing into existence yet another wondrous creation such as this splendid recording that you hold in your sweating, clasping hands and indeed, to mete out both thanks and appreciation to some distinguished associates for their help and talents that were so cunningly used in the process to varying degrees and with debatable effect.

Earlier this year I watched a Cardiacs gig from 1988 on the internet. It was a great blast from the past, and I definitely recognised a few people in the chat. The day after I pre-ordered LSD, their new album. I never thought this record would be finished, but now it is. This band are so important to me, and I really thought the story was over when Tim died. But I loved the first single and the album itself was even better; a mix of the old and familiar with a new line up that may even have the potential to make more new music in the future.

It’s probably my album of the year, of the decade so far, and something I think I’ll keep coming back to in the way I do with many of their other albums (some of which have been with me over 30 years).

And lest we forget, our fallen comrades, Tim Smith and Tim Quy, sorely missed.

RUN AWAY WITH A WILD AND A RARE ONE by WAVE GENERATORS

Described as the Fugazi of hip-hop, which is a phrase that is always gong to make me listen, as I like both of these things. This record makes me feel how I felt when I heard the first Rage Against The Machine album, and it’s a perfect mix of genres that ends up being much more than the sum of its’ parts. This is their second album, but both fit easily together on one CD, and this is very much music that should be burned on CD and listened to as a body of work. It won’t take long, and it’s very much worth it.

Yoo II avec Nolan Potter by Yoo Doo Right, Population II & Nolan Potter

Experimental rockers Yoo Doo Right team up with multi-instrumentalist virtuoso Nolan Potter and psychedelic rock trio Population II to record a one-of-a-kind long-player meshing elements from krautrock, free jazz, and noise.

This is definitely head music. I got into Yoo Doo Right at the end of last year, and this record builds on what has gone before but adds a shot of jazz and krautrock from their collaborators. It’s perfect music for doing something else to, but also good to just listen and be.

Unfolding by Jessica Moss

Unfolding is Jessica Moss’s most meditative and plaintive solo album… Layers of violin melody, electroacoustic processing, intermittent voice, and percussion from The Necks drummer Tony Buck yield deeply emotive genre-defying compositions, guided by a spirit of searching and summoning that unfolds in a prevailing atmosphere of incantation and mournful restraint.

Another album with very few words, and something else that I’ve spent a lot of time working to. Definitely something that demands being listened to all in one go, and it’s short enough to do so.

Touch by Tortoise

The Cardiacs and Stereolab albums were a genuine surprise, but this isn’t actually far behind. It’s been a while since Tortoise released an album, and even longer since there was one this good (Probably Standards by my reckoning). I’m not sure this will win them many new fans, but it also won’t lose them any old ones.

Implosion by The Bug vs Ghost Dubs

When Chuck D proclaimed “Bass, how low can you go?” on Public Enemy’s anthemic ‘Bring the Noise,’ maybe he was pre-empting or inciting the 10,000 fathoms-deep, spine-bending basslines and sub-quake tremors of ‘Implosion.’

Implosion is a crushing split album, appropriately released on The Bug’s own PRESSURE label. Mapping out a new form of spectral dub, the sound is deliberately immersive, introverted, and yes, definitely implosive. In pursuit of heavy lids, blurred vision, and merciless bass bin punishment, it’s one part meditation, two parts low-end theory, and essentially a confession of devoted sound system addiction.

I have no other words, but these words do it justice. I’ve listened to this and the Necks album on repeat for most of December so far and after a few listens it all starts to make perfect sense.

Disquiet by The Necks

On Disquiet, The Necks stretch their immersive, shape-shifting sound across three discs and more than three hours of labyrinthine, patient intensity. This is their twentieth studio recording and it marks the 39th year of the band’s existence.

Meticulously recorded and sculpted, the four extended pieces on Disquiet see Tony Buck, Chris Abrahams, and Lloyd Swanton pushing at the outer edges of their collective intuition, building and unraveling hypnotic structures with microscopic focus. Present is the usual arsenal of piano, double bass, and drums, and all the in-between of sounds undefined and sources obscured.

Another musical discovery from last year, delivering a triple album this time (including the longest pieced of music in my collection, at over 70 minutes just for that one track). This has been the album I’ve turned to a lot during the last couple of months of the year, and I’ve somehow found the time to listen to it more times than you would expect for something that’s over 3 hours long and not available on Spotify. It’s probably not the most accessible introduction, but definitely representative of the kind of music they have been making for the last few years. I also think this is a band I could see live, because I think they would suit the kind of venue that I like best (places that don’t feel like they were designed for rock concerts, but that have great acoustics anyway).

You Heartbreaker, You by Jehnny Beth

Talking of concerts, Jhenny Beth played at the last two I went to (the 2020 6 Music festival, and a warm up show the night before). This record builds on her solo debut, and is nothing like her collaboration with Bobby Gillespie (which I also love). I suspect these songs sound amazing live, and she’s definitely another artist I would consider going back to concerts for.

Mr. Luck And Ms. Doom by The Delines

Country soul from Portland, Oregon. The Delines return with their new album featuring Amy Boone’s vocals, Cory Gray’s keyboards and trumpet, and Willy Vlautin’s storytelling songs about characters on the margins—featuring tales of people struggling with their pasts, bad luck, and the search for redemption.

I’ve loved them since their debut, and this latest release doesn’t disappoint. I didn’t buy many things on vinyl this year, but this was one I pre-ordered without too much thought as music like this just sounds better that way.

Wasteland by Jim Ghedi

On his new album Wasteland, Jim Ghedi has created something huge. Intense, brooding, bold, at times apocalyptic, and remarkably vast. A profoundly bold sonic statement that is some of the most rich, far-reaching and ambitious work that Ghedi has created to date – pushing the boundaries of what folk music can be in 2025. Wasteland is a record that is unafraid to plunge into the darkness of the modern world and embrace the weirder, edgier and more unnerving moments that come from doing so. It is an album that captures all the enormity of life from the micro to the macro, zooming in on the personal as well reflecting on broader societal issues.

This was something I found on one of Bandcamp’s lists of new music, and it immediately made me want to check out his other work (which is different, but also great). It’s folk music, but also something that sounds like it could be made in any year where it was possible to record music, and a good few years before. I think we need songs like these at the moment.

Twilight Override by Jeff Tweedy

Another triple album, and a collection of songs that stands up to the last few Wilco albums, but also sounds like it was a lot more fun to make. This is what I’ve been listening to when I just want to experience great songs, sung well.

That’s What the Music Is For by The Apartments

Another album that celebrates the simple art of songwriting. I will definitely explore their large back catalogue soon.

Singles and EPs

Reissues and compilations

The Rest

Cardiacs Live

Last weekend I watched a Cardiacs gig from 1988 on the internet. It was a great blast from the past, and I definitely recognised a few people in the chat.

Today I pre-ordered LSD, their new album. I never thought this record would be finished, but it’s out in a few weeks, and as there is a new singer I suppose it’s possible that this lineup could even tour if they wanted to. I think they are still the band I have seen live the most anyway, but it would be good to get the opportunity again.

This band are so important to me, and I really thought the story was over when Tim died. But I love the new single and have high hopes for the album as well.

I also bought the reissue of On Land and in the Sea this week, and it was great to get post that had a very familiar flower on a sticker on the front. Next time this happens it will be something new, which hasn’t happened for a long time.

Albums of the year 2024

2024 is a year I will not forget in a hurry, and has definitely seen a change to the way I buy and consume music. It’s been less about vinyl, more about CDs, and has also seen a shift to rediscovering old favourites rather than hunting down new music every week. Some of this is likely to do with the fact that a few very old favourites have released great music this year, but maybe it’s also just down to the fact that as I get older my musical taste has just settled. There is still a lot of new music here though, and quite a few artists I’d not heard of a year ago as I continue to discover some of the newer punk/hardcore releases that sit nicely beside artists I was listening to decades ago.

Last year was the year of loud and angry music, and this year started off the same way. But after the first few months of the year I found a lot of comfort in music without words, which has always been a thing for me, but never more so than now. I think this is reflected in some of my choices, but also by the fact that most of what I played that was not from this year was largely wordless as well. The Post Rock Classics playlist that started off as a minidisc 24 years ago is now a Spotify playlist that still soundtracks most of my working days, and I spent a portion of the summer tracking down Godspeed and Mogwai CDs on Ebay to try and complete collections that were started around the same time.

Here is my list for 2024, starting with my top 20 which are in no particular order apart from maybe the first 2:

Albums

In all cases the links below are to somewhere you can listen to and/or buy the record in question (Bandcamp or the artist’s own website). For things you can’t buy anymore I’ve linked to a description. All quotes are from the same page as the link.

Songs of a Lost World by The Cure

This record came out at a time when I was definitely grieving, but also about to give a talk at a conference about the last time I was grieving. It hits that emotional resonance perfectly, but I think I would still love it if I had been in a happier place at the time. Themes of growing older and being older permeate, and I think this is the perfect record for people who have followed the band over the last 40 years.

I keep trying to compare it to other Cure albums, and the best that I can do is that it’s a bit like the best parts of Disintegration and Bloodflowers. There isn’t a bad song on it, and I think it’s something I’ll come back to for many years in the way that I still do with Seventeen Seconds, Faith and Pornography decades later.

Seeing the live stream of the launch concert reminded me how important this band were to me when I was growing up, and how much time I have spent listening to their music. I think this lineup is probably the best ever; although it’s not too different to who was on the stage in 1989 when I last saw them play live.

Everyone looks older, but they still sound great, and I think these new these songs definitely stand the test of time. I remain hopeful that the rumours of at least one more album before they retire are true.

“NO​ ​TITLE AS OF 13 FEBRUARY 2024 28​,​340 DEAD” by Godspeed You! Black Emperor

THE PLAIN TRUTH==
we drifted through it, arguing.
every day a new war crime, every day a flower bloom.
we sat down together and wrote it in one room,
and then sat down in a different room, recording.
NO TITLE= what gestures make sense while tiny bodies fall? what context? what broken melody?
and then a tally and a date to mark a point on the line, the negative process, the growing pile.
the sun setting above beds of ash
while we sat together, arguing.
the old world order barely pretended to care.
this new century will be crueler still.
war is coming.
don’t give up.
pick a side.
hang on.
love.
GY!BE

Another band that have been very important to me over the years, from buying their second album at the start of the century, to subscribing to the Constellation Records Bandcamp earlier this year because the amount of new music they were playing at concerts made it seem like an album was imminent. I love everything they have made, and this one doesn’t disappoint at all. I listen to a lot of this type of music when I’m working, and this is one that I have been coming back to over and over again. It’s also made me dip back into their back catalogue, and discover a load of other great records by related artists that I missed the first time around.

Cutouts by The Smile

I missed their first two records, but picked this up on a whim after hearing a couple of songs on Spotify. They don’t sound that much like Radiohead (the band 2/3 of them are also in), but it does tap into a lot of different types of music that I really like, and is basically just a collection of great songs played very well. Sometimes that’s exactly what I want, and this is one album that works as well shuffled with a load of other things as it does on its own.

The New Sound by Geordie Greep

I didn’t really discover Black Midi until just before they imploded, but after hearing the lead track from this I was definitely looking forward to hearing more of Geordie Greep’s first solo offering. It reminds me in places of the great crooners (Sinatra, Scott Walker, David Sylvian and David Bowie), and I very much look forward to what he does next.

A few words from the artist on this one:

“Music can be so much more than learning to play the same as everybody else. It can be anything you want. With recording The New Sound, it was the first time I have had no one to answer to. Being in a band (black midi), we often have this ‘we can do everything’ feeling, but you are also kind of limited in that approach, and sometimes it’s good to do something else, to let go of things.”

Absolute Elsewhere by Blood Incantation

Blood Incantation’s Absolute Elsewhere is unlike anything you’ve ever heard before. At roughly 45 minutes, the two compositions that make up this album are as confounding as they are engaging in their scope, melding the 70’s prog leanings of Tangerine Dream (whose Thorsten Quaesching appears on „The Stargate [Tablet II]”) with the deathly intent of Morbid Angel. Absolute Elsewhere, which takes its title from the mid-70’s prog collective (best known as a celestial stopover for King Crimson drummer, Bill Bruford), Blood Incantation are leaving the notion of genre behind and writing a new language for extreme music itself.

I didn’t realise ambient death metal was a thing until I heard this. Now I want to hear more ambient death metal. I don’t feel qualified to write much about this music because it’s not something I feel like I have any background or expertise in, but I love it, and I’ve listened to it a lot during the second half of this year.

Delights of my Life by Eric Chenaux Trio

Chenaux’s tunes have the uncanny ability to sound like jazz standards; songs you feel you’ve heard before, though certainly never quite like this. Yet these are of course all originals, compositionally and interpretively, bent through an inimitable avant/out-music lens. Delights Of My Life conveys warm familiarity, shot through with the exuberantly experimental subversion and playful, even mischievous, iconoclasm that continues to mark Chenaux as defiantly, virtuosically, and genially one-of-kind.

My discovery of the year, not so much this particular record, but a rich back catalogue that I have been familiarising myself with over the last few months. I got this as part of my Constellation subscription, although it doesn’t have much in common with most other artists on the label, tapping instead into the world of the crooners, but also of jazz instrumentalists. I really like the combination of clean vocals and minimalistic, but complex, instrumentation, and don’t think I’ve heard anything else quite like this before.

This album as good a place to start as any, but I suspect this is an artist I’ll keep coming back to, and definitely a name I’ll be looking out for on lists of upcoming records and live performances.

“NO MORE APOCALYPSE FATHER” by WE ARE WINTER’S BLUE AND RADIANT CHILDREN

WE ARE WINTER’S BLUE AND RADIANT CHILDREN (WAWBARC) is the new quartet of Mat Ball (Big Brave), Efrim Manuel Menuck (Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Thee Silver Mt. Zion), and Jonathan Downs and Patch One (both Ada). On “NO MORE APOCALYPSE FATHER” they present six modal lullabies drenched in seared distortion, slathered across striding electronic pulses. Ball and Menuck began creating music in and for the bleakest moments of Montréal winters: “We’re honoring that idea of winter, when you come inside and your house is warm, a place that only exists because of how cold it is outside,” says Menuck. They later recruited Downs and Patch to flesh out their initial ideas.

Another Constellation release, and one that acts as an interesting counterpoint to the Godspeed record.

Red Will by Joy Dimmers

One of the few records I’ve bought on vinyl this year, and a definite highlight from the Wrong Speed Records catalogue. For me this hits the same kind of vibe as All Structures Align, who have probably been my favourite band of the last couple of years. I also agree with the label that this is likely to become a cult classic at some point.

Dead Centre by Reigns

Four years in the making, DEAD CENTRE is both a mindbending horror novel by musician TIM FARTHING (Hey Colossus, Henry Blacker, PJ Harvey) and the seventh album by enigmatic electronic duo REIGNS. The hardback book comes complete with a CD soundtrack and is illustrated by the author.

Dead Centre by Tim Farthing is one of my favourite books of this year. The fact that it comes packaged with the new Reigns album is a nice bonus. Does the album act as a soundtrack to the book? Or is the book an attempt to add some context to the music? I don’t know, but it may be a bit of both. I love this band, and whilst an almost wholly instrumental album might not be for everyone, it’s something I keep coming back to, even without the book to keep it company.

Optimistic Sizing by Objections

Another Wrong Speed release, and another instant classic. I loved the 7″ single from last year, and this picks up where that left off. Hopefully we will be hearing more from them next year.

Ensoulment by The The

This band have been important to me for as long as music has, but I was not expecting this album to ever be made, let alone for it to be so good. It stands up to the 80s classics, and like all good The The records soundtracks the times we are living in now, but also quite likely shows us some glimpses of what the future may be like if the world continues the current direction of travel.

As with The Cure, I am hopeful there is more music to come, but if there isn’t then this is a very strong swansong.

Friar Tuck by Julian Cope

And so the adventures of Robin H. Hood continue! The Prince of Fried has brung forth 12 brand new humdingers: all hummable and lyrically compelling and replete with wah-acoustic guitars and beautiful orchestrations of Mellotron 400 from Liverpool’s Blondest. So inhale the garage fuzz dub of ‘R in the Hood’; the mantric powerdrive of ‘Four Jehovahs in a Volvo Estate’; the sentimental Pete Burns lamentations of ‘In Spungent Mansions’… and who could resist the affectionate micro-trolling of ‘Will Sergeant’s Blues’?

Someone else I have listened to since before I was an adult. He’s releasing albums quite frequently again, and this is one of the better recent ones. I buy them on CD as soon as they come out to prevent more gaps in my collection, and is one that I bought without listening to any of it first (which is of course how we always used to buy albums before streaming was a thing).

Darning Woman by Anastasia Coope

The feeling that Anastasia Coope’s music transmits seems to emanate from a precipice beyond the material world, like a void or memory pressing up against the veil. It’s exacting and enveloping, but unmoored in space and time: ghostly, spectral, far-out folk. Darning Woman, her debut album, feels like a dispatch from another past. Akin to lullabies or nursery rhymes, its minimal folk instrumentation contorts into something staccato and strange led by Coope’s expressive, stratified vocals.

Short, weird, and otherworldly. I liked this as soon as I heard it on Spotify, and kept coming back to it.

Lives Outgrown by Beth Gibbons

One of the most beautiful records of the year, from someone who has never made a musical wrong move. This is one of those timeless albums that is just ten very good songs, five per side, lasting around 45 minutes. That’s how albums used to be when I was first getting into music, and I think this is the kind of thing I would have loved even then. This is the record that should have won this year’s Mercury Music Prize, and one that I think I will keep coming back to.

Forgiveness is Yours by Fat White Family

Fat White Family are back with the most sophisticated, vital and flamboyant creation of their career. The cult south-London band’s resplendent fourth album Forgiveness Is Yours, like everything they’ve done, has pushed them to the limits not only of their creative talent, but of their health, their sanity, their very existence.

Sounds like hyperbole, but I think the description matches the record quite well. These songs kept cropping up on Spotify, but were nothing like I expected the band to sound. Once I started actually playing it as an album it clicked for me, and I think there are parts of this that wouldn’t sound out of place on the radio, but also some great spoken word/experimental tracks that I love even more.

Wild God by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds

I had a huge Nick Cave rediscovery last year, and this record came out at exactly the right time for me. He’s not made any bad records, but I think for me this is a highlight of his later years (not quite up there with Ghosteen, but as good as anything else from this century), and one that I think I will keep coming back to in the same way I do to Tender Prey and Let Love In.

Critterland by Willi Carlisle

For folk singer Willi Carlisle, singing is healing. And by singing together, he believes we can begin to reckon with the inevitability of human suffering and grow in love. On his latest album, Critterland, Carlisle invites audiences to join him: “If we allow ourselves to sing together, there’s a release of sadness, maybe even a communal one. And so for me personally, singing, like the literal act of thinking through suffering, is really freeing,” he says.

I had a tough start to 2024, and these songs helped a lot. It’s nothing like anything else on this list, but was always going to be on this list from the first time I heard it.

Katabasis into the Abaton / Abstieg in die Traumkammer by Grendel’s Sister

I love how this album is in two languages; the German that the band speak, and the English that allows me to better understand these fantastic and very unusual songs. It’s one of the few debuts on this year’s list, and I will definitely be listening out for what they do next.

Rack by The Jesus Lizard

Another totally unexpected comeback record, and one that sounds like it could have been made at any time during their history. The Jesus Lizard still rock, and this may be their best album ever. All of their albums have one-world titles, and there are still a lot of words they have not used yet, so hopefully this is the start of something rather than the end.

From the Heights of our Pastureland by Yoo Doo Right

Whilst writing this third opus, Yoo Doo Right drew inspiration from patience, the commodification of art, AI and algorithmic music/art, as well as musical influences ranging from Wes Montgomery and Sergei Rachmaninoff all the way to Neurosis and Russian Circles, wanting to create something to sit and grow with, celebrating the saving grace and driving force of unconditional love for all living things.

A very recent discovery, but one that nicely compliments a lot of the other Post Rock I’ve been listening to this year. I definitely want to check out their other records in 2025, and this is easily what I have listened to the most whilst writing this list.

I think they could easily become one of my favourite bands if they keep releasing records like this.

Other stuff

Live albums, reissues, and things that were definitely available in some format before this year.

The rest

Other things I’ve listened to this year that I enjoyed.

Something for next year

How I Buy Music in 2024

Earlier this year I ran out of space to store records. I could ship a load of old ones to our storage unit, but I really do like having my music around me so that didn’t feel like a good idea. I was also noticing the the already high price of records was creeping up, from £20 to well over £25 in most cases. So apart from a few new releases from Wrong Speed Records, I’ve not bought vinyl at all this year, and have instead reverted to either digital music or CDs.

Both of those formats provided challenges for me though. Digital music is great, but it means I have to think about backups, and having multiple copies in case of disk failure. I largely solved that by saving all new music to Dropbox, and then making it available on all my computers that way. I also back up to a large hard drive in my main computer that contains everything I have ever downloaded since 2021. The challenge with CDs was that the 20+ year old machine I used to play them on died over a year ago, so I was just ripping them to MP3 and playing them that way.

That wasn’t too much of a problem to start off with, as two of my main sources of music was the albums I get as part of my subscription to The Quietus magazine, and a Bandcamp subscription to the music of Constellation Records. In both cases new music arrives every few weeks, and I download it and play it on my computer. My computer is plugged into an amp, which is connected to the speakers from my old CD player, so the sound is pretty decent.

In the end I did buy a CD player, and another cheap amp to connect it to some other vintage speakers I have. So now I have my record player and CD player routing to one sound system, and my home and work computers to the other. That way I can play any music I own in my home office without too much effort with cables and switches. It also means I spend a lot less money on music because CDs are under half the price of records, and digital music is cheaper still.

After doing this for a few months, I can’t say I notice a huge difference in sound quality between anything I listen to, and I’ve enjoyed the subscription music a lot, whilst also spending far too much time on Ebay tracking down things I want to own on CD that other people are getting rid of. That’s where the real cost saving happens, and I’m operating on an average of about £3 per CD right now.

We are also setting up a media swap scheme at work, so I can take in any CDs I don’t want anymore, and hopefully pick up a few things from other people.

So that’s how I’m consuming music in 2024. I still have Spotify for when I’m walking the dog or on my work computer, but my default is still very much an ownership model, with a strong preference to buy directly from the artist or the record company. That way money goes to the people who make the music, and should hopefully support them sufficiently to make more.

New Music

I’ve worked for my current employer for 24 years. On the day I had my interview, I bought two albums on the way home. Once was Kid A by Radiohead, the other was Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas To Heaven by Godspeed You Black Emperor!. It amuses me that this week I’m writing about two records that are made by some of the same people, and then one that definitely wasn’t.

My three records for 4th October are:

I think I know what I’ll be listening to on Friday.

Albums of the year 2023

These are the records that have been the soundtrack to my 2023. If 2022 was a bad year for the world, then 2023 was more of the same, with a side-dose of personal horror. I did the exact same job for a whole year for the first time in a while, but everything around me seemed more chaotic, with ill health and general disruption not too far away. I suspect my musical choices have been influenced by that, although it certainly hasn’t been consciously.

I’m sitting writing this on a wet and blustery evening in the Isle of Wight (for the second year running). I think the amount of time I’ve spent here over the last two years has definitely influenced some of my choices, but only in a good way. There is some music that just makes more sense in a rural location, and many of these records are definitely not particularly influenced by cities or suburbia. But also this is a list that pays a lot more homage to louder and faster music than previous years. There are less melodically beautiful records (especially outside the top 25), and more that channel the anger that so many people feel towards the world and some of the people in it.

Albums

In all cases the links below are to somewhere you can listen to and/or buy the record in question (Bandcamp or the artist’s own website). For things you can’t buy anymore I’ve linked to a description.

Singles

All of these are either one long song, or a 7″.

Other stuff

Live albums, reissues, and things that were definitely available in some format before this year.

The rest

Other things I’ve listened to this year that I enjoyed.

Pay What You Want

I often download albums that have been made freely available, and then end up buying the record anyway. It’s definitely a way I have discovered new music for a while, and very rarely leads to me not giving the artist money for something, even if it is not that particular record.

Here is list of music currently available on a pay-what-you-want basis. It’s accurate as of 30th September 2023, but I do intend on trying to keep this as up to date as possible. For the first three sections it’s worth looking directly on their Bandcamp pages, and even if things change, then there is always something on offer.

Wrong Speed Records

This is my favourite record label right now, and I own a fair few of these on vinyl or cassette. If you don’t care about having a physical copy then you can pay whatever you want for these.

Gizeh Records

Another favourite that I own a fair few records from.

The band that started me on this quest often add/remove things from they pay-what-you-want list, but these are the ones that seem to be on it the most. If you do find physical copies of this music then just buy it, because they don’t stick around for long.

Everything else

A selection of other things that I have enjoyed and would definitely like to own on vinyl at some point.

Albums of the year 2022

These are the records that have been the soundtrack to my 2022. It’s been a good year for music, but a bad year for the world. There have been positive changes in my personal and professional life, but otherwise this is likely to be a year that is remembered for all the wrong reasons.

I’m sitting writing this on a wet and blustery evening in the Isle of Wight. I think the amount of time I’ve spent here this year has definitely influenced some of my choices, but only in a good way. There is some music that just makes more sense in a rural location, and many of these records are definitely not particularly influenced by cities or suburbia, so probably have a slightly different feel to my previous lists.

Albums

In all cases the links below are to somewhere you can listen to and/or buy the record in question (Bandcamp or the artist’s own website). For things you can’t buy anymore I’ve linked to a description.

Singles

All of these are either one long song, or a 7″ with at least three songs. They are all also part of my Quietus subscription or very limited edition pressings, so there are some things here that people can’t actually go and listen to, which is a shame as they are all great.

Albums of the year 2021

What can I say about 2021 that has not already been said? It has been another very challenging year; both for the world in general but also for the world of music. I have not experienced live music at all this year, but made up for it by buying a lot of records (and tried to buy them directly from the artists where possible, because people need to make a living). Music has always been very important to me, but never more so than now. These are the records that made this year better, or at least acted as a soundtrack to the bad bits.

Top 20

In all cases the links below are to somewhere you can listen to and/or buy the record in question (Bandcamp, Rough Trade or the artist’s own website).

Arab Strap – As Days Get Dark

This is a record I never expected to be made, and it’s been a real treat to listen to. It might even be my favourite Arab Strap record now. If you’ve not heard them before then you’re in for a treat; if you’ve not heard them for ages then you won’t be disappointed.

Black Country, New Road – For the First Time

February saw the very welcome arrival of For The First Time by Black Country, New Road. I had already played a lot of these songs to death, but getting them all in one place was exactly what I needed to shed some truth and light on the cold winter days. I think this is probably my record of the year, and it was always going to take something really special to dislodge it. It also came with a badge (more records should come with badges).

Bobby Gillespie & Jehnny Beth – Utopian Ashes

I’ve loved this record since the first time I heard it. It’s got the emotional vibe of The National’s Trouble Will Find Me, but also reminds me a lot of the Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan records. One I think I will keep coming back to. Some of these songs are uncomfortable, but it’s because they stir the emotions in the way that all good songs should. For a record released in 2021 it sounds remarkably timeless.

Desire Marea – Desire

I am not even sure how to describe this record, but it’s right up there with anything else released this year. If you’re in the Rough Trade Club you will know this, for everyone else it may be a new treat.

Dry Cleaning – New Long Leg

April bought with it the excellent New Long Leg by Dry Cleaning. It reminds me a bit of a cross between The Blue Aeroplanes and Arab Strap, but with female vocals. If that sounds intriguing then you should definitely give it a listen. The songs on the bonus CD are very good as well.

Edward Ka-Spel – Prints of Darkness

Edward Ka-Spel has released a lot of music this year. This one is probably the highlight (although I love them all, and they are all in my long-list). If you are not already bought into the Legendary Pink Dots ecosystem then this is as good a place as any to start, although it is one of the few records from this year’s batch that isn’t pay-what-you-want.

Field Music – Flat White Moon

Field Music never fail to deliver, and this record is no exception. Once more they manage to create a sound that is unmistakeably them, and that is very difficult to describe or assign a genre to. If you know their work then you know what I mean. If you don’t then this is as good a place as any to start.

Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders & The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises

This is the soundtrack to many hours of work this year, and a record I don’t think I’ll ever tire of. It’s not a combination I would have expected to make a record, but it works really well and hits the same emotional resonance as Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock.

For Those I Love – For Those I Love

A really unique record that builds well on the mixtape from last year (which would have been in my list if I had discovered it in time). I’m not sure I’m brave enough to try and match this to a genre, but if you take a leap of faith then you may find yourself spending many hours with this record.

Gazelle Twin & NYX – Deep England

I’m not sure how to describe this record by Gazelle Twin & NYX, but I’ve played it a lot this year, and it’s definitely a contender. I would really love to hear this live in a candlelit church; it’s the kind of music that would work so well in that kind of environment.

Geese – Projector

A last minute entry that I have largely listened to as I am compiling this list. I discovered Geese via a Rough Trade 7″ single, and was very happy to receive this earlier this month. It is definitely a grower, but one that will stay with me well into 2022.

Jane Weaver – Flock

Many people may not have heard of Jane Weaver, but this record is a joyous pop masterpiece that I think anyone who appreciates good music would enjoy. This is what pop music should sound like in 2021.

Maximo Park – Nature Always Wins

I was going to say that this is surprisingly good, but it’s not really a surprise any more. Definitely their strongest record for a while, and one that I keep coming back to.

Mogwai – As the Love Continues

Mogwai are a really important band for me, and have been one of the main soundtracks of my year of working from home. I often listen to them when I’m working. The tracks with obvious vocals are when I take a break and just listen to the words for a few minutes. Richie Sacramento is my “take a break” track, and it’s amusing that it is also one of my most played songs of this year (maybe I took too many breaks?).

At the time I said “I think if this gets to number 1 tomorrow then it’s the first time since Kid A that something that completely represents my musical taste at the time does that.” It did get to number one, and it was a very satisfying feeling.

Penfriend – Exotic Monsters

I used to be the kind of person who thought that title tracks should go at the end (I blame Robert Smith for this). Here we have a title track that belongs at the start, followed by a collection of songs that I’ve been lucky enough to hear as they have been evolving, and also now they have been released.

One of the many things I love about Penfriend is the quality of the things I get through the post. Coloured vinyl, postcards, badges, stickers; all the things I loved about collecting records as a teenager. This record really is the complete package, and highlights some of the brilliant work Laura has been doing over the last couple of years (along with the podcast, the YouTube channel and everything else).

Richard Dawson & Circle – Henki

Richard Dawson does it again. A fantastic and flawless concept album that I love more each time I listen to it. It snuck into the list right at the end of the year, but it’s something I suspect will be listened to a lot during the first few months of 2022.

Snapped Ankles – Forest of Your Problems

One step on from their last record. I love it. I also really wish I could see them play live again, because my first experience was absolutely mind-blowing.

Squid – Bright Green Field

May’s Rough Trade album of the month was Bright Green Field by Squid. A new name for me, but one that reminds me a little of Black Country, New Road and a lot of other things that I really like. It’s not an easy first listen, but it soon makes itself indispensable and is another one that was always going to feature on my end of year list.

The Stranglers – Dark Matters

I did not expect this record to be so good, and it’s a fitting tribute to Dave Greenfield who we lost this year. I think it’s probably their best since their heyday.

Wolf Alice – Blue Weekend

Maybe a predictable choice, but I do really love this record, and I think it will stand the test of time. This sounds the way I expect number one records in 2021 to sound like.

Everything Else

Rough Trade Club 2021

I’ve been subscribed to the Rough Trade Club for a few years now, and receive a monthly record with a few other interesting bits of paraphernalia thrown in. The records I get are rarely bad, and many of them are things I would buy anyway, but the selection this year has been particularly strong, and If I had to only listen to these records for a whole year then I think I would be OK.

January’s selection was Welfare Jazz by Viagra Boys. I loved their last record and this one is also very strong. It fuses together quite a few genres of music, but it’s also immediately accessible and a lot of fun as well.

February saw the very welcome arrival of For The First Time by Black Country, New Road. I had already played a lot of these songs to death, but getting them all in one place was exactly what I needed to shed some truth and light on the cold winter days. I think this is still my record of the year (so far), and it will take something really special to dislodge it. It also came with a badge (more records should come with badges).

March’s record was Flock by Jane Weaver. An artist I already own music by, and another record that was already on my list to buy. Many people may not have heard of Jane Weaver, but this record is a joyous pop masterpiece that I think anyone who appreciates good music would enjoy. It was also the subject of a really entertaining listening party.

April bought with it the excellent New Long Leg by Dry Cleaning. It reminds me a bit of a cross between The Blue Aeroplanes and Arab Strap, but with female vocals. If that sounds intriguing then you should definitely give it a listen. The songs on the bonus CD are very good as well.

May’s record was Bright Green Field by Squid. A new name for me, but one that reminds me a little of Black Country, New Road and a lot of other things that I really like. It’s not an easy first listen, but it soon makes itself indispensable and is another one that will definitely feature on my end of year list.

I’ve also chosen to buy music by Arab Strap, Mogwai, Maximo Park and Field Music, all of which I’ve very much recommend, but it is the Rough Trade selection that I think best represent the musical journey I’ve been on so far this year.