Month: December 2025

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

Vibe Coding a Crontab Builder

I made a few tweaks to my crontab builder yesterday. It’s one of a few vibe-coded applications I created just to see what’s possible, and it’s something that actually works quite well for someone who doesn’t use cron often, so needs to read the manual every time. This is exactly where generative AI is really useful; creating simple web applications that help people use their computer more effectively.

For creating things like this I use Github CoPilot within Visual Studio Code, and then Github pages to host the results. It’s all things that are either free or that I get for free because I work in education, so is a setup that many other people could put together easily. It doesn’t require a powerful computer or a fast internet connection, so if you can run Visual Studio Code then working in this way is definitely an option.

Self Publishing

It strikes me this morning that it’s now possible to self-publish almost anything, and that the tools to do so are getting easier to use every day. Creating ebooks is trivial using Pandoc, and they can be sold (or given away for free) on Amazon. Distributing music on Bandcamp is equally straightforward, with the ability to collect revenue via Paypal, and also set up a subscription, which is very basic crowd funding. WordPress has always been great for self-publishing writing, but now we also have things like Github Pages, where a whole source-controlled website can be hosted for free. I suspect if this technology had existed 20 years ago then I’d never have started using WordPress in the first place.

It’s 20 years since my oldest blog post was written, but not quite 20 years since I built the blog itself. In that time it’s moved from a box under my desk to a couple of different hosting providers, and it’s been a very interesting experiment to track certain aspects of my life over that time. I’m now also mirroring the whole thing on a Github Pages site, partly for resilience, but also as an interesting experiment to see if I can automate my content publishing pipeline with more than one end-point.

All of this would be possible with true self-hosting, but it would be a lot of work that I don’t have time for right now, and increased responsibility for security in a world where there are more threats that ever. I think the balance between having control over my content and having a straightforward way to publish it is right for me at the moment, but it’s good to be developing the skills to do it a different way if required at a later date.

Backing up part 2 : Using Linux as a Time Machine backup destination

While Time Machine is an excellent backup solution for macOS, external drives aren’t always the most convenient option—especially if (like me) you already have a Linux server with plenty of storage. By configuring Samba on your Linux server, you can use it as a network Time Machine destination, allowing automatic wireless backups without needing to plug in an external drive. Here’s how I set mine up (I used Ubuntu, but have put in commands for other distros as well).

On Linux

1. Install Samba on the Linux Server

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo apt update
sudo apt install samba avahi-daemon

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo dnf install samba avahi

2. Create a Directory for Time Machine Backups

sudo mkdir -p /mnt/timemachine
sudo chown your_username:your_username /mnt/timemachine
sudo chmod 755 /mnt/timemachine

3. Configure Samba

Edit the Samba configuration file:

sudo nano /etc/samba/smb.conf

Add this configuration at the end:

[TimeMachine]
   comment = Time Machine Backup
   path = /mnt/timemachine
   browseable = yes
   writable = yes
   valid users = your_username
   create mask = 0600
   directory mask = 0700
   spotlight = yes
   vfs objects = catia fruit streams_xattr
   fruit:aapl = yes
   fruit:time machine = yes

4. Set Up Samba User Password

sudo smbpasswd -a your_username

5. Restart Samba and Avahi

# Ubuntu/Debian
sudo systemctl restart smbd nmbd avahi-daemon
sudo systemctl enable smbd nmbd avahi-daemon

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora
sudo systemctl restart smb nmb avahi-daemon
sudo systemctl enable smb nmb avahi-daemon

6. Configure Firewall (if needed)

# Ubuntu/Debian with ufw
sudo ufw allow samba

# RHEL/CentOS/Fedora with firewalld
sudo firewall-cmd --permanent --add-service=samba
sudo firewall-cmd --reload

On the Mac

1. Connect to the Share

Open Finder and press Cmd + K, then enter:

smb://server_ip_or_hostname/TimeMachine

Enter your username and password when prompted.

2. Enable Time Machine to Use Network Drives

If the share doesn’t appear in Time Machine preferences, you may need to enable unsupported volumes:

sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/TimeMachine

Or directly set it:

sudo tmutil setdestination smb://username@server_ip/TimeMachine

3. Configure Time Machine

  1. Open System Settings → General → Time Machine
  2. Click the + button to add a backup disk
  3. Select your network share
  4. Start the backup

Tips and Considerations

  • Space Requirements: Ensure you have enough space on the Linux server (Time Machine typically uses 1-2x your Mac’s storage)
  • Performance: Network backups are slower than local ones, especially for the initial backup
  • Reliability: Use a wired connection for the first backup if possible
  • Size Limits: You can set a quota using Samba or filesystem quotas to prevent Time Machine from using all available space

Optional: Set a Size Limit for Time Machine

On your Mac, create a sparse bundle with a maximum size:

sudo tmutil setdestination /Volumes/TimeMachine
hdiutil create -size 500g -type SPARSEBUNDLE -fs "HFS+J" 
  -volname "Time Machine Backups" 
  ~/Desktop/TimeMachine.sparsebundle

Then move this to your network share and use it as the backup destination.

Backing up part 1 : Using SSH and rsync

I’m currently using a Mac as my main computer, but also have a Linux machine that I use for heavy lifting, but also for backups. Setting up SSH key-based authentication allows rsync to work seamlessly without password prompts, making backing up and file synchronisation much more convenient. This is particularly useful for automated scripts and frequent manual transfers. It’s what I use to ensure that I have a second copy of every file I download, and to keep my music collection in sync, and helps maintain that illusion that all my computers are actually one computer.

Configuration

1. Generate SSH Key on Mac (if you don’t have one)

First, check if you already have an SSH key:

ls -la ~/.ssh/id_*.pub

If you don’t have a key, generate one:

ssh-keygen -t ed25519 -C "your_email@example.com"

Press Enter to accept the default file location, and optionally set a passphrase (leave empty for truly passwordless, or use ssh-agent for security with convenience).

2. Copy Your Public Key to the Linux Server

Use ssh-copy-id to copy your public key to the server:

ssh-copy-id username@server_hostname_or_ip

You’ll need to enter your password one last time. This command copies your public key to ~/.ssh/authorized_keys on the server.

Alternative method (if ssh-copy-id isn’t available):

cat ~/.ssh/id_ed25519.pub | ssh username@server "mkdir -p ~/.ssh && chmod 700 ~/.ssh && cat >> ~/.ssh/authorized_keys && chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys"

3. Test the Connection

Try connecting via SSH without a password:

ssh username@server_hostname_or_ip

If it works without asking for a password, you’re all set.

4. Use rsync

Now you can use rsync without password prompts:

# Example: sync a local directory to remote server
rsync -avz /path/to/local/directory/ username@server:/path/to/remote/directory/

# Example: sync from remote server to local
rsync -avz username@server:/path/to/remote/directory/ /path/to/local/directory/

Common Options for rsync

  • -a : archive mode (preserves permissions, timestamps, etc.)
  • -v : verbose output
  • -z : compress data during transfer
  • -h : human-readable output
  • --delete : delete files in destination that don’t exist in source
  • --exclude='pattern' : exclude files matching pattern
  • -n or --dry-run : show what would be transferred without actually doing it

Troubleshooting

If you still get password prompts:

  1. Check permissions on the server:

    chmod 700 ~/.ssh
chmod 600 ~/.ssh/authorized_keys
  2. Verify SSH config allows key authentication (on server):
    Check sshd_config for:

    PubkeyAuthentication yes
  3. Check SELinux (if applicable on server):

    restorecon -R -v ~/.ssh