December 12, 2025 by A.S. Van Dorston

It’s that most wonderful time of the the year — lists, more lists and lists of lists!

At least once a year, usually in the dog days of summer, I suffer a bit of new music malaise when I don’t find a lot of albums that I connect with, even though I know they’re out there. It just takes a lot of work to dig them up, especially when many of the gems I feature here get zero love on the year-end lists, and sometimes not even a single online review to be found. This summer I even contemplated putting this site on hiatus. 30 years is time served, right? Am I allowed to retire?

After I stepped back and focused on fiction reading and writing, it turned out my thirst for new music did not die. Taking a break from the slog recharged me and I was enjoying discovery once again by October, just in time for the most wonderful time of year, list season! Despite all efforts to restrain myself from sampling albums I know are not for me, there’s still about a thousand albums in the full list this year.

I always maintain every year is a good year for music, though there weren’t quite as many highly anticipated high profile releases that served my own particular tastes this year.

Genre

“I am the only being whose DOOM
No tongue would ask, no eye would mourn”
— Emily Bronte

“A GAZE blank and pitiless as the sun”
— William Butler Yeats

Late last year Black Metal featured heavily on my playlist, but I can only listen to vocalists role playing as demons being tortured so long. If one must gaze into the downfall of democracy, the apocalypse, the abyss, etc. for the forseeable future, it might as well be kinda pretty, hence Doomgaze.

Faetooth, Remina, SOM, Cloakroom, baan, Soft Sun, Hangman’s Chair, Frayle, Cwfen, Planning for Burial, Shedfromthebody, and Karla Kvlt lead the pack in this subgenre.

Comeback

Before The Cure treated us to the first new album in sixteen years last year, many fans had given up on anything new of significance coming from them. Similarly, it was a fairly unexpected treat to get the first official studio album from the Chameleons twenty four years after the last one. While the band had been touring for a couple years, an album of this quality was a pleasant surprise.

Debut

There’s usually a lot more debuts, but this year, only Scimitar made the top 20, and that was moved up last minute. It took me a minute because it was labeled primarily as black metal, which I’m only in the mood for certain times. Yet this Danish band is so much more, which I’ll discuss further. Had I had more time with it, it would have likely snaked it’s way into the Lucky 13. The Miffs, The New Eves, Black Honey Cult, and Heartworms are in the top 50.

Memoriam

Much like David Bowie did in 2016, Ozzy Osbourne orchestrated a proper farewell with uncanny timing, with his final performance taking plafe at the day long Back to the Beginning concert in Birmingham on July 5, and his final memoir, Last Rites, published on October 7, was completed on July 20. He died just two days later. Pretty spooky, but fitting for the legend. I was too devastated to write a tribute at the time, so instead I wrote this short story dedicated to him.

Amdusias: A Horrific Short Story Treat

May they also rock in excelsis DIO and rest in pieces: Beej Channey (68, The Suburbs), Sam Moore (89, Sam & Dave), Garth Hudson (87, The Band), Marianne Faithfull (78), Mike Ratledge (81, Soft Machine), Rick Buckler (69, The Jam), Jerry Butler (85, The Impressions), Roberta Flack (88), David Johansen (75, New York Dolls), Angie Stone (63), Roy Ayers (84), Brian James (74, The Damned) Jess Colin Young (83, The Youngbloods), Rod Clark (82, The Moody Blues), Dave Allen (69, Gang of Four), Clem Burke (70, Blondie), David Thomas (71, Pere Ubu), Max Romeo (80), Mike Peters (66, The Alarm), James Baker (71, Scientists/Hoodoo Gurus/Beasts of Burden), Junior Byles (77), James Lowe (82, The Electric Prunes), Rick Derringer (77), Brian Wilson (82, Beach Boys), Sly Stone (82), Mick Ralphs (81, Mott the Hoople/Bad Company), Lalo Schifrin (93), Brent Hinds (51, Mastodon), Tim Cronin (63, Monster Magnet), Connie Francis (87), Paul Dianno (69, Iron Maiden), Terry Reid (75), Jim Kimball (59, Laughing Hyenas/Mule/The Jesus Lizard), Bruce Loose (66, Flipper), Viv Prince (84, Pretty Things/Jeff Beck Group), Danny Thompson (86, Pentangle), D’Angelo (51), Ace Frehley (74, KISS), Dave Burgess (90, The Champs), David Ball (66, Soft Cell), Jack DeJohnette (86), Joseph Byrd (87, The United States of America), Jimmy Cliff (81), Steve Cropper (84, Booker T & the M.G.’s).

Underrated

As usual, all of my Lucky 13, starting with Messa, which I really thought would see more crossover success. It’s hard to predict what people will latch on to, but it mostly wasn’t Messa. At least they got a mentioned in six year-end lists so far (Decibel #2, Metal Hammer #5, Metal Injection #5, Treble #22, Stereogum #49, Quietus #91), whereas Chameleons just got one (Louder Than War #62).

Disappointment

I didn’t love Tame Impala’s synthpop direction on the previous couple albums, but they grew on me enough that I was anticipating this one. Aside from a couple decent tracks, Kevin Parker dives deep into an electronic house K-hole. UGH!

Remember how great The Darkness were once? Things declined pretty quickly after Permission to Land (2003), but there’s been hints of greatness. Dreams on Toast is not one of them, particularly “Rock and Roll Party Cowboy,” possibly the worst song I’ve heard all year.

Also please do better: Arcade Fire.

Overrated

I like all of Geese’s albums, including Getting Killed, which made my top 100. But I’m bemused at how it’s become the go-to weird art rock album for hack critics spewing their half-assed lemming lists. Cameron Winter is not exactly an easy vocalist to love, sounding like David Byrne with the false confidence from a shroom trip that he could pull acrobatics of more accomplished singers like Rufus Wainwright. He can’t, and while that’s not a dealbreaker for me, I find it hard to believe that all these people truly have that album on heavy rotation as their favorite album of the year.

Also, in every era of rock and metal there have to be a handful of objectively awful bands that become inexplicably popular. Two of those are Sleep Token and Spirit Box.

Surprise

I totally didn’t expect a new Coroner album, thirty years after their last one. I didn’t even know I needed one, but here it is, and the Swiss band reminded me how much I loved their flavor of technical thrash metal. Also, I never could have predicted this, but I love the idea of The Lord Weird Slough Feg starting a series of EPs based on one of their most well loved albums, and my all-time favorite, Traveller (2003).

Fester’s Lucky 13 – Favorite Albums of 2025

1. Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade)

Italian scarlet doom/psych noir band draws blood from 80s goth for their darkest, and most accessible music so far.

Messa have distinctly evolved their sound with all of their first three albums. Clearly not a band looking to be pigeonholed in the long-suffering doom metal genre, from the beginning they incorporated many other sonic building blocks from drone metal, psych noir and art rock (Belfry, 2016), dark jazz and blues (Feast for Water, 2018) and stoner/psych prog, post-metal, black metal and folk (Close, 2022). The band clearly are striving to set them apart as their own distinct brand impossible to define by singular genre tags in the tradition of Led Zeppelin, Pink Floyd, Queen, etc. It seems to be working, as their fourth album has been one of the most highly anticipated for many this year so far.

On The Spin, we get a new infusion of influences from early post-punk/goth along the lines of Killing Joke, Virgin Prunes, Sisters of Mercy, and even my personal favorite, The Sound, all adding flavors and colors to the palate of their core sound which I consider psych noir, and the band calls scarlet doom. The band also mentions artists as diverse as Vangelis and Journey. They used all 80s era equipment to record the album. In keeping with that theme, Sara Bianchin’s vocals were moved up to the front of the mix for much of the album, and she delivered some of her most powerful performances, including a strait-up power ballad on “Immolation.” It’s well understood among fans that she’s one of the most accomplished vocalists in any rock related genre, but it must be mentioned here for newcomers. And man, the solos that Alberto Piccolo shreds out on the entire third quarter of the song! This is classic rock for the here and now.

There’s plenty of synths contributed by bassist Marco Zanin, especially effective at the beginning of “Fire on the Roof,” which transforms into a true stadium rocker. Piccolo’s guitar tones keep the attention balanced between Bianchin’s performance and the riffs. At times, like on the first couple tracks, they recall the reverbed death buzz guitar and bass from The Cure’s Pornography. Elsewhere, like “The Dress,” he channels Pink Floyd, before a muted trumpet a la Miles Davis via Talk Talk floats in like a Will-o’-the-wisp. So far, there are two singles represented in videos, “At Races” and “The Dress,” the latter stretching out the 8:14 song from the record to 9:47 on the video, an enthralling masterpiece. On the video’s release, the band said, “This song comes from the darkest place and the unfathomable void of oneself. Pain circles around, emerging violently and then drowning again in the depths. This is reflected in the riff: the descent scale keeps coming back and circles repetitively. The dress, in this case, is the gateway to a personal crucifix built with self-hatred and mirroring despair.” How’s that for passionate Italians?

In order to dig deep into raw core of misery and anguish, Sara said she “gave up parts of my own sanity” and reread Cormac McCarthy books during the songwriting process for inspiration. That sounds like it could be overbearingly heavy, but musically this is the most accessible the band has ever sounded, delivering their madness with heaping spoonfuls of beauty. In between the atmospheric bookends of “Void Meridian” and the majestic blues psych of the final and longest track (8:44) “Thicker Blood,” is an incredible run of five songs that are all candidates for singles. “Reveal” starts with some acoustic blues licks before engaging in a simple but effectively bludgeoning rifftastic groove, Sara’s voice soaring over the top.

I’m glad I got to see the band at the small 300 capacity venue The Lost Well (since closed) in 2022, but this album has got to see them graduate to larger venues. Like all great original bands of this type, they no doubt are doing just fine in Europe, playing large festivals. This album should secure their status as close to legends as any heavy band can get this far into the 21st century.

Doom Metal | Psych Prog | Psych Noir | Goth. RIYL SubRosa, Jess & the Ancient Ones, Mansion.

2. Chameleons – Arctic Moon (Metropolis)

You only die twice. Chameleons’ remarkable third act.

As a teen I’d fleetingly heard a few songs by The Chameleons, all of which were devastatingly awesome — “Don’t Fall,” “In Shreds,” “Nostalgia,” “Soul in Isolation.” But I didn’t get ahold of their first three albums until college, and learned they held up to the very best albums that formed the core of my post-punk radio show. How could such an amazing band stay so unknown? Well, Strange Times (1986) did reach #44 on the UK charts. They just didn’t connect to U.S. audiences at the time. Since then, they’ve toured the States many times, including multiple tours since 2021, gaining a new audience of young fans. But it was unclear if they had any new songs left in the tank, with their last official full-length being Why Call it Anything? (2001). After seeing them last year, and hearing their EPs Where Are You? (with three new songs) and Tomorrow Remember Today (archival 1981 songs re-recorded), it felt like they were ramping up to something special.

Mark Burgess renamed himself Vox and dropped the definite article from the band name, trimming down the fat, with guitarist Reg Smithies the only other original member, still peeling off sticky riffs and majestic soundscapes as breathtaking as four decades ago. His opening garage psych riff on “Where Are You?” was included in last year’s EP and was an enticing teaser of even better things to come. This comes to fruition immediately with the second track “Lady Strange.” Vox’s account of a sado-masochistic romance has enticingly gothy ambience, and even more importantly, Smithies’ solo at 3:44 gushes with exhuberance, as if still a young guitar slinger digesting the giddy excitement of hearing John McGeoch (Magazine, Siouxsie & the Banshees) and Will Sergeant (Echo & the Bunnymen) for the first time. The euphoria continues with the sweeping romanticism of “Feels Like the End of the World.” It sprawls to the seven minute mark with strings and chiming guitars, and sets the stage for probably the band’s highest potential for mainstream crossover appeal with “Free Me.” They ballad hard here, evoking not unpleasant flashes of Coldplay and Elbow, both of whom probably worshipped Chameleons as youngins. What comes around goes around.

“Magnolia” turns the settings to smoulder, culminating in the chorus “my soul is dead without you.” Yas Vox, I too would be dead inside without Chameleons in my life. The atmospherics get truly epic with the longest track at 8:36, “David Bowie Takes My Hand,” which masterfully pays tribute to the artist and his late period work on The Next Day (2013) and ★ Blackstar (2016). The album concludes with another highlight, the single “Saviours are a Dangerous Thing,” a pointed sentiment that should go without saying, but when wrapped up with such exquisite vocal melodies and guitar licks, we have the best Chameleons song in nearly 40 years. I could say I saw this coming, but I’d be lying if I said I expected their comeback album to be this great.

I relistened to their entire catalog, and while Why Call It Anything has some great moments, the strongest of which is opening track “Shades,” they got lost in the weeds more often than not. Arctic Moon is the album Chameleons fanatics have been waiting for since Strange Times (1986).

Post-Punk | Psych | Jangle Pop | Dream Pop. RIYL: Comsat Angels, The Sound, The Church

3. Lathe of Heaven – Aurora (Sacred Bones)

Brooklyn post-punk/goth band pay tribute to SF authors Le Guin, Clark, Butler and others on their brilliant second album

Through my summer reading binge, I cracked open short story collections by Philip K. Dick, Ted Chiang, William Gibson and Bruce Sterling in between novels, and thought about how more post-punk bands should take inspirations from speculative fiction (SF). It’s as if my subconscious manifested this album by Lathe of Heaven, named after Ursula K. Le Guin’s 1971 novel where dreams affect reality. On their second album, this Brooklyn post-punk band went all in with conceptualizing Aurora as one of those timeless SF short story anthologies, complete with references to Arthur C. Clark’s 1951 short story “If I Forget Thee, O Earth,” Octavia Butler’s anti-colonialism themes, Peter Watts (final track “Rorsachach” is named after the ship in 2006’s Blindsight) and Greg Egan, inspiring the hard sci fi ideas in “Infinity’s Kiss” (1992’s Permutation City is on my TBR list).

Filmmaker Devan Davies sticks with the theme on his video for the title track, which invokes Blade Runner, THX-1138, Chris Marker’s La Jetée and Tarkovsky’s visual space poetry in which singer Gage Allison experiences visions mixing memories and technological fabrication under surveillance from the rest of the band.

Songs like the title track and “Kaleidoscope” feature strong vocal melodies that like Chicago’s Brigitte Calls Me Baby, inhabit that blink-and-you-miss-it moment in 1986 where there was a juxtaposition of dark, gothy post-punk with chart pop, at least in the UK. “Portrait of a Scorched Earth” shares the breathless propulsion of prime Chameleons, while the thundering “Matrix of Control” and “Catatonia” harness the apocalytpic power and beauty of mid-80s Killing Joke.

Of course the band clearly didn’t set out to sound like a time capsule, and they most certainly include elements from the 90s and beyond like dream pop and jangle pop as well as more obscure Finnish bands like Musta Paraati. They’ve expanded the start deathrock/coldwave palate of their first album Bound by Naked Skies (2023) into something more multifaceted and alluring.

Post-Punk | Goth | Jangle Pop | Darkwave | Deathrock. RIYL: Musta Paraati, Killing Joke, Chameleons

4. Bambara – Birthmarks (Wharf Cat)

IFormed in Athens, GA in 2007, Bambara has been set to slow burn for a long while. Possibly too slow for too long. While their post-punk/garage noir intensity drew admiration from tourmates IDLES, who admitted Bambara were the better band, any forward momentum dissipated in the five years since fifth album Stray (2020). While the Love on My Mind EP (2022) gave a teaser as to the creative direction they were leaning toward — expanding their sound to more accessible art pop, bands like Fontaines D.C. went ahead and release several albums within that time frame and rose to commercial heights unheard of in a post-punk band. Whether they missed the bubble or not, their sixth full-length appears to successfully fulfill their creative path that went from David Lynchian surreal dive bar narratives and Nick Cave Southern gothic to a more glossy sounding mix that brings in 90s UK underground sounds of trip hop with the co-production assistance from Graham Sutton of post-rock pioneers Bark Psychosis. Without abandoning their noise rock and post-punk building blocks, they enhance the smoldering atmospherics and emotional drama of the songwriting, and Reid Bateh’s intense delivery. This album leads a pack of stellar garage punk/goth/noir releases in recent years by Protomartyr, The Buttertones, The Blinders, Thus Love and yes, Fontaines. D.C. Here’s hoping fickle fashion hasn’t completely left great music like this to wither on the vine.

Post-Punk | Goth | Garage Noir | Darkwave | Trip Hop. RIYL: Fontaines D.C., Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, The Buttertones, Thus Love

5. Motorpsycho – Motorpsycho (NFGS)

Despite scaling down to the two core members of Hans Magnus Ryan and Bent Sæther, with a couple drummers lending their sticks and longtime colleague Reine Fiske contributing guitar on two tracks, Motorpsycho are back to their old tricks with another grandiose, epic double album. After two relatively low key albums that the band qualify as “pandemic reaction” they mark this as a new era, their first release on their own label. Typically, their longest tracks are the most satisfying, including “Lucifer, Bringer og Light” (10:48), “Balthazaar” (11:29) and “Neotzar (The Second Coming)” (21:07). The first, kick-off track is a space truckin’ jammy jam that hearkens roughly back to the Heavy Metal Fruit (2010) era. What is Lucifer doing in space? Up to no good, no doubt — best to ask the owner of Space X. “Balthazaar” is a full on kosmische jam with circular guitar shapes and solos winding about a relentlessly chuggaluggin’ motorik groove. The duo + guests are sounding relaxed, something like a band who has 30-ish albums under their belts. The quality of the shorter songs also remain sky high, making this album a potential contender for their top, five, or uh, fifteeen, depending on what you like. “Stanley (Tonight’s the Night)” and “Core Memory Corrupt” are indie rockers anchored on vocal hooks as catchy as any of their best 90s tunes. That’s right, this band has been around last century, and they seem to be the kind of lifers who will rock until they’re dead, Lemmy style. Now, for the epic prog centerpiece, complete with mellotrons and a King Crimson style break, and theatrical guest vocals from Thea Grant (of jazz pop band Juno, and an experimental ambient pop solo album last year called Water and Dreams), has the band continuing to experiment while still sounding being Psychonaut-worthy. This unwieldy beast is unlikely to convince skeptics or those not open to this kind of ambitious psych prog music, and that’s okay. Motorpsycho has made it this far without their approval, and they are still celebrated throughout Europe. Long may they fly.

Psych Prog | Heavy Psych | Kosmische | Indie. RIYL: Elder, King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard, Mouth

6. Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic)

Stereolab rarely jumped about and demanded attention. Starting from when I first heard them on the Too Pure: The Peel Sessions (1991) with Th’ Faith Healers and PJ Harvey, they simply burrowed under my skin, established residence at the back of my brain and got on with trucking through the 90s and 00s with motorik choogles and the comforting hum of analog synths, seamlessly integrating new avant-pop influences (post-rock, ambient pop, downtempo electronic for example) with their massive menagerie of retrofuturist influences too numerous to tally. They were so prolific and omnipresent, I made the mistake of taking them for granted, despite adopting my former back yard (Chicago) as a second home, making use of the vanguard of local talent to produce their albums with John McEntire (The Sea and Cake, Tortoise) and Jim O’Rourke (Gastr del Sol, Sonic Youth and hundreds of other projects). With Mary Hanson’s sudden passing in 2002, the possibility of also losing Stereolab suddenly seemed a real possibility. Their spirit did seem to fade a bit on their last three albums, Fab Four Cuture (2006), Chemical Chords (2008) and Not Music (2010). It seemed like that might have been their last, which is why their first album in fifteen years is such a goddamn delightful surprise. Not only is it their best album since Sound-Dust (2001), but they sound completely contemporary. It shouldn’t be a surprise, given that Tim Gane maintained his chops in the Germany-based trio Cavern of Anti-Matter, and Stereolab had resumed touring in 2019 to promote reissues in their catalog, as well as two more massive Switched On Vol. 4 & 5 compilations Electrically Possessed (2021) and Pulse of the Early Brain (2022), just 3 hours 40 minutes worth of music to get through! But given their unsatisfying last couple official album releases, there was no guarantee that Stereolab would ever sound vital again.

It helps that they’ve employed a new generation of Chicago talent in producer Cooper Crain (Bitchin’ Bajas and Cave). Cave is the lesser known of his bands, but they are crucial in his ability to inject some grimy punk textures amidst the electronic motorik drones. And of course the band are still cerebral with their post-Marxist politics and French Situationist perspectives, and lyrics often veering into French. However, the way I listen to music, they might as well be singing in Minion, as the words generally glide right over the surface of the left hemisphere of my brain and settles into the right, where they absolutely invoke all kinds of feelings. So without getting too analytical of their intentions, my gut reactions and instincts tell me that the band has revived their mojo, their passion, their je nais se quois. No small feat in such a soul-crushingly dispiriting time, which makes this band all the more precious.

First single “Aerial Troubles” starts off with a keyboard melody that recalls the sunkissed melancholy of Syd Arthur’s Apricity (2016), an album I’ve been obsessed with for nine years. It quickly shifts to a frisky, percolating beat, and the album takes off. The longest track is the mostly instrumental 7:37 “Melodie is a Wound,” which evokes nostalgia with the lo-fi analog synth whooses not to childhood, but rather hanging out on the beach with friends playing Stereolab. Nostalgia for having time to do that. There’s been some criticism of the last part of the album, starting with “Esemplastic Creeping Eruption.” It sounds fantastic to me, with live drums locked in to an early Can style groove. “If You Remember I Forgot How to Dream, Pt. 1” features some elastic bass tones and lovely cornet playing from Chicago avant-jazz master Ben LaMar Gay. The album does stretch to nearly an hour, in line with their CD-era habit starting with Transient Random-Noise Bursts with Announcements (1993).

Seemingly tuned to harmonize with a symphony of air conditioners as you sit in your back yard, poolside, lakeside, or even on the bone-chilly coasts of England, Instant Holograms on Metal Film has immediately become the key soundtrack to kick off the summer.

Psych | Indie Pop | Ambient Pop | Indietronica | Kosmische. RIYL: Stereolab.

7. Civic – Chrome Dipped (ATO)

The cream of the Melbourne garage punk scene, Civic expand their palate on their third album for a more multifaceted production that still emphasizes their muscular sound, but buffed and polished to a cold gleam. While their Radio Birdman era proto-punk roots are still detectible, this has more in common with recent garage noir efforts from The Buttertones and The Blinders. Perhaps not a formula for lucrative crossover business, but I’m sold.

Garage Punk | Garage Noir | Post-Punk. RIYLRadio Birdman, The Buttertones, The Blinders.

8. The Belair Lip Bombs – Again (Third Man)

The Melbourne music scene feels the pain of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever three plus year absence, but has gifted us with The Belair Lip Bombs, who open up with the giddy, heart-swelling “Again and Again” that’s been on heavy rotation since it’s release. Maisie Everett’s charismatic vocals reminds me at times, like on “Hey You,” Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen Oh. Mike Bradvica’s well chosen guitar licks contributes the “no-skip” consistency of this album, such as the intro to “Smiling” that brings to mind Sleater-Kinney at their catchiest. This album makes me want to go hunting for more indie gems I’ve probably missed. I’d been leaning on the Vinyl Douche, who went on hiatus earlier in the year, and need another reliable source.

Indie | Power Pop. RIYL: Pavement, The Strokes, Waxahatchee, RBCF, White Denim, The Beths

9. Bask – The Turning (Season of Mist)

Bask’s third album III (2019) perked my ears with their potent mix of prog metal, heavy psych and Americana. I circled back to their first two albums and was so impressed by their progression, I was expecting them to keep the momentum up and do great things. Then six years of silence followed. So it goes. Not quite a leap forward, their fourth reprises the band’s strengths, the Western psych flavored lonesome wail vocal melodies bringing to mind Isaiah Mitchell’s short-lived project Golden Void. With only just a tiny taste of Appalacian folk, as well as contemporaries All Them Witches, My Morning Jacket and King Buffalo, the Asheville band’s influences stray out west, and they strike gold with the highlight “Dig My Heels,” driven by melodic guitar hook and potent vocals that could just break the band’s popularity through to a new level.

10. Custard Flux – Enter Xenon (Custard Flux)

Prolific when it’s unfashionable to do so, Curvey rebelled against anything fashionable from the beginning with his Custard Flux project — when modern prog tends to be densely produced within an inch of it’s life, Curvey went all acoustic for the first couple albums, gradually adding electric instruments until fifth album Eisenstein Delerium (2024) was fully electric. Yet somehow the distinctive sonic world Curvey created remains familiar throughout. This sixth album since 2018 is a kind of recap of musical accomplishments, particularly the epic length “The Floating Chamber.” King Crimson style mellotrons, Conterbury proggers Gong and Brian Eno are all subtly embedded into Custard Flux’s transgalactic world.

Psych Prog | Prog. RIYL: King Crimson, Gong, Brian Eno.

11. The Tubs – Cotton Crown (Trouble in Mind)

The Tubs’ debut album Dead Meat (2023) was so damn good it was almost too good to be true. Meaning there are a lot of jangle pop bands, but few can sustain exceptional runs. The Tubs may be an exception, and that’s including their Names EP (2021). Owen ‘O’ Williams, also in Joanna Gruesome and Ex-Vöid, started a novel based on his mother’s suicide a decade ago, hoping to benefit from the grief porn industry. Indeed, properly packaged, people are all too willing to drink your tears like emotional vampires. No one would publish it, however, so he repurposed it for lyrics on the second Tubs album. That’s her on the cover, breastfeeding baby O in a graveyard. The cognitive dissonance of tragedy mixed with uptempo grin-inducing jangle pop is a time-honored tradition going back past The Smiths to Big Star and The Velvet Underground. Add Bob Mould’s explosive miserabalism from Hüsker Dü, post-Fairport Convention folk rock of Richard Thompson, and references to Sonic Youth, you’ve got uplifting music with just as much depth as the lyrics.

Jangle Pop | Power Pop | Indie. RIYL Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever, The Smiths, Richard Thompson

12. Spidergawd – From Eight to Infinity (Crispin Glover)

What is it with these Norwegians that they’re able to make ass whippin’ hard rock better than everybody else? There’s no shortage of bands that draw from the likes of Thin Lizzy and NWOBHM, but somehow Spidergawd has managed to sound just exciting and fresh throughout eight albums without a misstep. They have the propulsion of Motörhead enhanced with a touch of Hawkwind style sax-laced space choogle, as well as vocal melodies worthy of 80s AOR hits. From 8 to ∞ could mean they plan to do this ’til they’re dead, or alternatively it could be their final album. If so, those looking to carry the Norse torch might want to try a routine of lefse, lutefisk and naked ice bath plunges for inspiration.

Psych | Stoner | Hard Rock. RIYL Motorpsycho, Monster Magnet, Thin Lizzy, UFO, Motörhead

13. Faetooth – Labyrinthine (The Flenser)

Since the early days of doomgaze with Jesu and Have a Nice Life, a lot of good bands have bubbled up, but Faetooth is just what I’d been looking for. A trio of women who can effortlessly shift between terrifying and beautiful (complete with haunting vocal harmonies) while subtly advancing production techniques without sounding overtly cluttered, and giving it all an eerie, magical aura. They do like to call their brand of music “fairy doom.” Fair enough, let’s see if that catches on as they inevitably inspire a coven of acolytes.

Doomgaze | Doom Metal | Sludge Metal | Ethereal Wave. RIYL Boris, Have a Nice Life, Remina, Brume.

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Favorite Albums of 2025

Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade) | Italy | Bandcamp
Chameleons – Arctic Moon (Metropolis) | UK | Bandcamp
Lathe of Heaven – Aurora (Sacred Bones) | USA | Bandcamp
Bambara – Birthmarks (Wharf Cat) | USA | Bandcamp
Motorpsycho – Motorpsycho (NFGS) | Norway | Bandcamp
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic) | UK | Bandcamp
Civic – Chrome Dipped (ATO) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Belair Lip Bombs – Again (Third Man) | Australia | Bandcamp
Bask – The Turning (Season of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Custard Flux – Enter Xenon (Custard Flux) | USA | Bandcamp
The Tubs – Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind) | UK | Bandcamp
Spidergawd – From Eight to Infinity (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
Faetooth – Labyrinthine (The Flenser) | USA | Bandcamp
Scimitar – Scimitarium I (Crypt of the Wizard) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Anna von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts (Year001) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Gaytheist – The Mustache Stays (Hex) | USA | Bandcamp
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Dune Sea – New Wave of Cosmic Heavy Metal (All Good Clean) | Norway | Buy
Remina – The Silver Sea (Avantgarde) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
SOM – Let the Light In (Pelagic) | USA | Bandcamp
Possible Humans – Standing Around Alive (Hobbies Galore) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Miffs – The Miffs (Miffs) | Australia | Bandcamp
Suncraft – Welcome to the Coven (All Good Clean) | Norway | Buy
Wet Leg – Moisturizer (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
The New Eves – The New Eve is Rising (Transgressive) | UK | Bandcamp
Black Honey Cult – Black Honey Cult (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Fuzzy Lights – Fen Creatures (Fuzzy Lights) | UK | Bandcamp
Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth (Wizard Tower) | Spain | Bandcamp
Floodlights – Underneath (PIAS) | Australia | Bandcamp
Amplifier – Gargantuan (Rockosmos) | UK | Bandcamp
Cloakroom – Last Leg of the Human Table (Closed Casket Activities) | USA | Bandcamp
baan – Neumann (Your Adorable Dog) | South Korea | Bandcamp
These New Puritans – Crooked Wing (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
Caroline – Caroline 2 (Rough Trade) | UK | Bandcamp
Greet Death – Die in Love (Deathwish Inc.) | USA | Bandcamp
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
GHOSTWOMAN® – Welcome to the Civilized World (Full Time Hobby) | USA | Bandcamp
Triptides – Shapeshifter (Label 51) | USA | Bandcamp
Magic Fig – Valerian Tea (Exploding in Sound) | USA | Bandcamp
Floral Image – Gone Down Meadowland (Fuzz Club) | UK | Bandcamp
Mean Mistreater – Do or Die (Dying Victims) | USA | Bandcamp
TOWER – Let There Be Dark (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Sprints – All That Is Over (City Slang) | UK | Bandcamp
Cold in Berlin – Wounds (New Heavy Sounds) | UK | Bandcamp
Dumb Things – Self Help (Coolin’ By Sound) | Australia | Bandcamp
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (King Volume) | USA | Bandcamp
Kuunatic – Wheels of Öon (Glitterbeat) | Japan | Bandcamp
Keys – Acid Communism (Libertino) | UK | Buy
Papir – Papir IX (Stickman) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Causa Sui – In Flux (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
Temple Fang – Lifted From the Wind (Stickman) | Netherlands | Bandcamp
IE – Reverse Earth (Quindi) | USA | Bandcamp
Heartworms – Glutton for Punishment (Speedy Wunderground) | UK | Buy
Tortoise – Touch (International Anthem) | USA | Bandcamp
Neko Case – Neon Grey Midnight Green (Anti-) | USA | Bandcamp
Blaze – Out Through the Door (No Remorse) | Japan | Buy
Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations (Bad Omen) | UK | Bandcamp
Teethe – Magic of the Sale (Winspear) | USA | Bandcamp
SoftSun – Eternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Maruja – Pain to Power (Music for Nations) | UK | Bandcamp
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun (Run For Cover) | USA | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Carpe Diem, Moonman (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp
Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
Go Kurosawa – Soft Shakes (Guruguru Brain) | Japan | Bandcamp
The Telephone Numbers – Scarecrow II (Slumberland) | USA | Bandcamp
Strange Passage – A Folded Sky EP (Meritorio) | USA | Bandcamp
Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Trash Classic (Reverberation) | USA | Bandcamp
Suede – Antidepressants (BMG) | UK
Sacred Paws – Jump Into Life (Merge) | USA | Bandcamp
Hilary Woods – Night CRIÚ (Sacred Bones) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Shallowater – God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars (Shallowater) | USA | Bandcamp
of Gods and Men – The Stare (Ogam) | UK | Bandcamp
Geese – Getting Killed (Partisan) | USA | Bandcamp
The Residents – Doctor Dark (Cryptic) | USA | Buy
The Necks – Disquiet (Northern Spy) | Australia | Bandcamp
Swans – Birthing (Young God) | USA | Bandcamp
Cardiacs – LSD (The Alphabet Business) | UK | Bandcamp
Circuit Des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
It’s Karma It’s Cool – One Million Suburban Sunsets (Martyn Bewick) | UK | Bandcamp
Bootblacks – Paradise (Artoffact) | USA | Bandcamp
Brown Spirits – Cosmic Seeds (Soul Jazz) | Australia | Buy
Little Barrie & Malcom Catto – Electric War (Easy Eye Sound) | UK | Bandcamp
Sharp Pins – Balloon Balloon Balloon (K) | USA | Bandcamp
Blackwater Holylight – If You Only Knew EP (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
Turtle Skull – Being Here (Art as Catharsis) | Australia | Bandcamp
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (Fuzz Club) | USA | Bandcamp
Christian Mistress – Children of the Earth (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Dryhouse Ruins – Dryhouse Ruins (Dryhouse Ruins) | USA | Bandcamp
Adwaith – Solas (Libertino) | UK | Bandcamp
Hangman’s Chair – Saddiction (Nuclear Blast) | France | Bandcamp
M(h)aol – Something Soft (Merge) | Ireland | Bandcamp
pôt-pot – Warsaw 480km (Felte) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Coroner – Dissonance Theory (Century Media) | Switzerland | Bandcamp
Stoned Jesus – Songs to Sun (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
Kal-El – Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (Majestic Mountain) | Norway | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Phantom Island (p(doom)) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Traveller Supplement 1: The Ephemeral Glades EP (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Kombynat Robotron – AANK (Fuzz Club) | Germany | Bandcamp
Witchcraft – Idag (Heavy Psych) | Sweden | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: See full list of 1,000+ albums here.

2025 Breakdown: Genre Lists

As always, you can deep dive any of these these genres with the list search. While previously I had limited an album to one genre list, it didn’t accurately reflect the multi-genre nature of many of these albums. So this year an album will show up in multiple lists. I have a widget that automatically pulls from the database, so as albums are added and moved around in the future, this will reflect it.

Psych

The debut album from this all-women Melbourne power trio has a nice raw, live in the studio feel, with the songs leaning toward a loose jam feel akin to early Colour Haze, with extra Eastern flavor added via sitar courtesy of singer/guitarist Erin Grace Donnarumma. The jazzy flow is alluringly hypnotic, until they change it up with some bluesy pscyh/grunge that bring back flashes of the Gits and early Smashing Pumpkins. This band is bursting with potential. | More

Chameleons – Arctic Moon (Metropolis) | UK | Bandcamp
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic) | UK | Bandcamp
Spidergawd – From Eight to Infinity (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
The Miffs – The Miffs (Miffs) | Australia | Bandcamp
Black Honey Cult – Black Honey Cult (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Amplifier – Gargantuan (Rockosmos) | UK | Bandcamp
Kuunatic – Wheels of Öon (Glitterbeat) | Japan | Bandcamp
Keys – Acid Communism (Libertino) | UK | Buy
Papir – Papir IX (Stickman) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Causa Sui – In Flux (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
IE – Reverse Earth (Quindi) | USA | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Carpe Diem, Moonman (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp
Go Kurosawa – Soft Shakes (Guruguru Brain) | Japan | Bandcamp

Psych Pop & Prog Pop

The tenth album from L.A. psych pop mainstays Triptides might be easy to take for granted. However, they’ve been featured heavily on my Psychedelic Psummer playlist, and with nothing new from Tame Impala in many years, it scratches that itch nicely. The album was recorded entirely by main man Glenn Brigman, who began the project with recent inspiration from Stones Throw Records, Stepkids and Toro Y Moi. Run through the Triptides dreamy psych pop filter, Shapeshifter is the summer sleeper, one of their best. | More

Triptides – Shapeshifter (Label 51) | USA | Bandcamp
Magic Fig – Valerian Tea (Exploding in Sound) | USA | Bandcamp
Floral Image – Gone Down Meadowland (Fuzz Club) | UK | Bandcamp
Cardiacs – LSD (The Alphabet Business) | UK | Bandcamp
It’s Karma It’s Cool – One Million Suburban Sunsets (Martyn Bewick) | UK | Bandcamp
Martin Dupont – You Smile When It Hurts (Caravan) | France | Bandcamp
Wippy Bonstack – Correct Irregulars (Wippy Bonstack) | USA | Bandcamp
Melin Melyn – Mill on the Hill (Blomonj Ltd) | UK | Bandcamp
Exploding Flowers – Watermelon / Peacock (Meritorio) | USA | Bandcamp
Spellling – Portrait of My Heart (Sacred Bones) | USA | Bandcamp
Peel Dream Magazine – Taurus (Topshelf) | USA | Bandcamp
Tchotchke – Playin’ Dumb (Tchotchke) | USA | Bandcamp
Jaco Jaco – Gremlin (Gremlin) | USA | Bandcamp

Kosmische & Space Rock

There are so many heavy psych and space rock bands that it’s easy to glaze over and ignore them all. Norwegian band Dune Sea have always stood out on their previous three albums by creating vivid imagery through dynamic, but always propulsive energy. I’ll call it Cosmic Norse Choogle, something fans of French band Slift, and a handful of KGLW albums can appreciate. | More

Motorpsycho – Motorpsycho (NFGS) | Norway | Bandcamp
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic) | UK | Bandcamp
Dune Sea – New Wave of Cosmic Heavy Metal (All Good Clean) | Norway | Buy
Black Honey Cult – Black Honey Cult (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Amplifier – Gargantuan (Rockosmos) | UK | Bandcamp
Floral Image – Gone Down Meadowland (Fuzz Club) | UK | Bandcamp
Papir – Papir IX (Stickman) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Temple Fang – Lifted From the Wind (Stickman) | Netherlands | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Carpe Diem, Moonman (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp
Go Kurosawa – Soft Shakes (Guruguru Brain) | Japan | Bandcamp
Brown Spirits – Cosmic Seeds (Soul Jazz) | Australia | Buy
Little Barrie & Malcom Catto – Electric War (Easy Eye Sound) | UK | Bandcamp
Dryhouse Ruins – Dryhouse Ruins (Dryhouse Ruins) | USA | Bandcamp

Jam

Last year I asked how much jammy psychedelic instrumental rock does one need? In the context of Danish band Causa Sui, the answer is all of it. The same goes for Papir, who on their ninth album, present one massive 75 minute long song, divided into seven parts. Anyone with experience with classical music or Ufomammut shouldn’t have a problem with this. As always, their tones and melodies are breathtakingly gorgeous.

Papir – Papir IX (Stickman) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Causa Sui – In Flux (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
Temple Fang – Lifted From the Wind (Stickman) | Netherlands | Bandcamp
Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 2 (El Paraiso) | USA | Buy
Naxatras – V (Naxatras) | Greece | Bandcamp
The Myrrors – Land Back (Myrrors) | USA | Bandcamp
Barry Walker Unit – At the 13th Moon Gravity Well (Jean Sandwich) | USA | Bandcamp
Orcutt Shelley Miller – Orcutt Shelley Miller (Silver Current) | USA | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Live in Lituania ’25 (KGLW) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Third Mind – Right Now! (Yep Roc) | USA | Bandcamp

Noir (Folk, Garage, Psych, Punk, Surf)

I’ve been following Ghost Woman (now apparently GHOSTWOMAN®) since their debut in 2022, and now already on their fourth album, they’re starting to sound worthy of the name with some appropriately haunting garage noir and psych. | More .

Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade) | Italy | Bandcamp
Bambara – Birthmarks (Wharf Cat) | USA | Bandcamp
Civic – Chrome Dipped (ATO) | Australia | Bandcamp
Scimitar – Scimitarium I (Crypt of the Wizard) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Floodlights – Underneath (PIAS) | Australia | Bandcamp
GHOSTWOMAN® – Welcome to the Civilized World (Full Time Hobby) | USA | Bandcamp
Blackwater Holylight – If You Only Knew EP (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
L.A. Witch – DOGGOD (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
Electric Citizen – EC4 (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders (Fat Possum) | USA | Bandcamp
Grinding Eyes – Out of Focus (Little Cloud) | Australia | Bandcamp
Crystal Jacqueline & Friends – Smoke Road (Fruits De Mer) | UK
Avatarium – Between You, God, The Devil and The Dead (AFM) | Sweden | Bandcamp

Psych Prog

Time and again music fans focus their attention so much on a high profile release like Steven Wilson’s latest that they let much better albums slip by unnoticed. Wilson’s solo albums, based on his history with the influential and popular prog band Porcupine Tree, are understandably events within the prog community. And as interesting as The Overview is, Amplifier offers what everyone seems to be missing from his work lately — exploratory psych prog that’s also packs a punch. Stripped down to the duo founding members of drummer Matt Brobin and Sel Belamir handling vocals, guitar and bass, they sound more immense on their eighth album than anything they’ve done since the epic double album The Octopus (2011). Gargantuan was originally planned to be released in two parts back in 2023, so it’s been a long wait for this. Technically only the special edition is double length at 75:18, but it’s what I’ve got, so I’m counting it. One of the few bands one could compare them with is one that also loves to make double albums, Norway’s Motorpsycho when they’re at their heaviest, though none of their rotating cast of drummers ever punished the traps as savagely as Brobin. Their single “Invader” ventures into heavy space rock that’s as darkly unsettling as the darkest bits of Radiohead’s OK Computer. At some point, the similar tempos and dynamics between tracks begin to bleed into each other. That can be a negative thing if you are distracted, or positive for a cohesive experience where the subtly varied textures and instrumentation, from mellotron to sparkling electronic sounds on “Long Road” reveal themselves. This cosmic trip might be too heavy for some, but many more will be kicking themselves for not jumping on the timeship sooner. | More.

Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade) | Italy | Bandcamp
Motorpsycho – Motorpsycho (NFGS) | Norway | Bandcamp
Bask – The Turning (Season of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Custard Flux – Enter Xenon (Custard Flux) | USA | Bandcamp
Fuzzy Lights – Fen Creatures (Fuzzy Lights) | UK | Bandcamp
Amplifier – Gargantuan (Rockosmos) | UK | Bandcamp
Magic Fig – Valerian Tea (Exploding in Sound) | USA | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Carpe Diem, Moonman (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp
Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
Stoned Jesus – Songs to Sun (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Phantom Island (p(doom)) | Australia | Bandcamp
Wucan – Axioms (Long Branch) | Germany | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Pogo Rodeo (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp

Prog & Prog Metal

This Spanish band’s second album fulfilled the potential hinted at their mix of prog and heavy metal on Immortal’s Requiem (2022), surpassed it and then some. Consider contemporaries Wytch Hazel were they to dig deeper than the Thin Lizzy/Ashbury guitar influences into Wishbone Ash, and even the early prog-era Styx, keyboards and all. One would think that would smell moldy, but in Phantom Spell’s bony hands it’s fresh as a daisy. | More.

Custard Flux – Enter Xenon (Custard Flux) | USA | Bandcamp
Scimitar – Scimitarium I (Crypt of the Wizard) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth (Wizard Tower) | Spain | Bandcamp
Amplifier – Gargantuan (Rockosmos) | UK | Bandcamp
Caroline – Caroline 2 (Rough Trade) | UK | Bandcamp
Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
Cardiacs – LSD (The Alphabet Business) | UK | Bandcamp
Coroner – Dissonance Theory (Century Media) | Switzerland | Bandcamp
Stoned Jesus – Songs to Sun (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
Seedy Jeezus – Damned to the Depths (Blown) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Vintage Caravan – Portals (Napalm) | Iceland | Bandcamp
Green Carnation – A Dark Room, Pt. I: The Shores of Melancholia (Season of Mist) | Norway | Bandcamp
Madison Cunningham – Ace (Verve) | USA

Punk & Post-Punk

With the deadpan vocals and lo-fi motorik jangle of early Stereolab and Raincoats, it seemed Horsegirl were created in a lab (a low budget one with secondhand equipment) specifically for blokes like me. They won over both Jim and Greg of Sound Opinions as superfans, but it’s took most of the year to grow on me, like mold. Full coverage achieved, I acknowledge they are almost overwhelmingly damn delightful. | More.

Chameleons – Arctic Moon (Metropolis) | UK | Bandcamp
Lathe of Heaven – Aurora (Sacred Bones) | USA | Bandcamp
Bambara – Birthmarks (Wharf Cat) | USA | Bandcamp
Civic – Chrome Dipped (ATO) | Australia | Bandcamp
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Possible Humans – Standing Around Alive (Hobbies Galore) | Australia | Bandcamp
The New Eves – The New Eve is Rising (Transgressive) | UK | Bandcamp
Floodlights – Underneath (PIAS) | Australia | Bandcamp
Sprints – All That Is Over (City Slang) | UK | Bandcamp
Cold in Berlin – Wounds (New Heavy Sounds) | UK | Bandcamp
Heartworms – Glutton for Punishment (Speedy Wunderground) | UK | Buy
Maruja – Pain to Power (Music for Nations) | UK | Bandcamp
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun (Run For Cover) | USA | Bandcamp

Goth, Goth Metal, Deathrock & Darkwave

Rosalía’s critical runaway favorite Lux reminds me with it’s fusion of art pop and symphonic strings, of Homogenic-era Björk. Sure enough, she and Yves Tumor guest on “Berghain.” It’s good, but the arty album that truly speaks to me this year is Anna von Hausswolff. Her own dabblings with classical over her six albums have been tagged neoclassical darkwave, and on this album she’s operating a peak creativity, incorporating post-rock atmospherics, but with more diverse, interesting sound designs than you hear from most artists. While in the past she could be intimidating, or even terrifying, here she’s a bit more emotionally vulnerable, contemplating aging and existential crisis. Plus, her star gues is Iggy Pop on “The Whole Woman,” so suckit Rosalía! | More.

Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade) | Italy | Bandcamp
Lathe of Heaven – Aurora (Sacred Bones) | USA | Bandcamp
Bambara – Birthmarks (Wharf Cat) | USA | Bandcamp
Anna von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts (Year001) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Remina – The Silver Sea (Avantgarde) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
These New Puritans – Crooked Wing (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
Cold in Berlin – Wounds (New Heavy Sounds) | UK | Bandcamp
Heartworms – Glutton for Punishment (Speedy Wunderground) | UK | Buy
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun (Run For Cover) | USA | Bandcamp
Suede – Antidepressants (BMG) | UK
Circuit Des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Bootblacks – Paradise (Artoffact) | USA | Bandcamp
Hangman’s Chair – Saddiction (Nuclear Blast) | France | Bandcamp

Hardcore Punk, Crust Punk, Crossover Thrash & Powerviolence

While Norway’s Suncraft were pretty bog standard stoner rock on their debut, their follow-up four years later shows a fantastic transformation into a slavering, piledriving unit who incorporates hardcore punk and black ‘n’ roll along the lines of countrymen Kvelertak, but with nearly pop melodies, like the vocal bridge on “Love’s Underrated.” Throughout the album there’s the kind of hooks worthy of Baroness, Torche, even QOTSA. | More.

Suncraft – Welcome to the Coven (All Good Clean) | Buy
Dead Heat – Process of Elimination (Metal Blade) | Bandcamp
Dead Pioneers – PO$T AMERICAN (Hassle) | Bandcamp
Citric Dummies – Split With Turnstile (Feel It) | Bandcamp
End It – Wrong Side of Heaven (Flatspot) | Bandcamp
Split Dogs – Here to Destroy (Venn) | Bandcamp
Turnstile – Never Enough (Roadrunner) | Buy
Conflict – This Much Remains (Mortarhate)
Propagandhi – At Peace (Epitaph) | Bandcamp
Upchuck – I’m Nice Now (Domino) | Bandcamp
Scowl – Are We All Angels (Dead Oceans) | Bandcamp
Drain – Is Your Friend (Epitaph) | Bandcamp
Destiny Bond – The Love (Convulse) | Bandcamp

Garage Rock

Black Honey Cult are certainly not the first band to mix the Velvet Underground and 13th Floor Elevators with kosmische, goth and post-punk (hello The Black Angels, Warlocks. A Place to Bury Strangers, Dead Skeletons, Sonic Jesus, The Janitors, Lucid Dream), but they’re the ones doing it now and doing it justice. | More.

Civic – Chrome Dipped (ATO) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Miffs – The Miffs (Miffs) | Australia | Bandcamp
Wet Leg – Moisturizer (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
Black Honey Cult – Black Honey Cult (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
GHOSTWOMAN® – Welcome to the Civilized World (Full Time Hobby) | USA | Bandcamp
Sprints – All That Is Over (City Slang) | UK | Bandcamp
Keys – Acid Communism (Libertino) | UK | Buy
Frankie and the Witch Fingers – Trash Classic (Reverberation) | USA | Bandcamp
Sex Scenes – Everything Makes Me Sick (Big Neck) | USA | Bandcamp
Preston Pfanz & the Seaton Sands – Return to Burnt Island (Spinout Nuggets) | UK | Bandcamp
Street Fruit – Strange Tanks (Slouch) | USA | Bandcamp
Lifeguard – Ripped and Torn (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp

Hard Rock

It’s been eighteen years since these Japanese hard rockers’ full-length debut Blaze, so long that I’d completely forgotten about them. They continue to delve in early NWOBHM, Scorpions, Heavy Load and UFO territory. Fantastic songs like “Let the Right One In” and “Rock and Roll Man” combined with their loose ‘n’ sleazy swing make this a keeper. | More.

Spidergawd – From Eight to Infinity (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth (Wizard Tower) | Spain | Bandcamp
Blaze – Out Through the Door (No Remorse) | Japan | Buy
Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations (Bad Omen) | UK | Bandcamp
Christian Mistress – Children of the Earth (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Witchcraft – Idag (Heavy Psych) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Wucan – Axioms (Long Branch) | Germany | Bandcamp
Kadavar – Kids Abandoning Destiny Among Vanity And Ruin (Clouds Hill) | Germany | Bandcamp
Moundrag – Deux (Spinda) | France | Bandcamp
Kryptograf – Kryptonomicon (Apollon) | Norway | Bandcamp
The Vintage Caravan – Portals (Napalm) | Iceland | Bandcamp
The Hellacopters – Overdriver (Nuclear Blast) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Electric Citizen – EC4 (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp

Stoner/Desert/Fuzz

There are now fourteen Causa Sui albums that might be hard to tell apart for both newcomers and even seasoned fans. I’ll interpret it as the band’s consistently high quality, and really, every release on El Paraiso is worth collecting if you can afford it and appreciate great cover art (see Futuropaco from earlier this year, and the fourth Edena Gardens album. | More

Bask – The Turning (Season of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Spidergawd – From Eight to Infinity (Crispin Glover) | Norway | Bandcamp
Dune Sea – New Wave of Cosmic Heavy Metal (All Good Clean) | Norway | Buy
The Miffs – The Miffs (Miffs) | Australia | Bandcamp
Suncraft – Welcome to the Coven (All Good Clean) | Norway | Buy
Causa Sui – In Flux (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Buy
Temple Fang – Lifted From the Wind (Stickman) | Netherlands | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Carpe Diem, Moonman (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp
Howling Giant – Crucible & Ruin (Magnetic Eye) | USA | Bandcamp
Blackwater Holylight – If You Only Knew EP (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
Turtle Skull – Being Here (Art as Catharsis) | Australia | Bandcamp
Stoned Jesus – Songs to Sun (Season of Mist) | Ukraine | Bandcamp
Kal-El – Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (Majestic Mountain) | Norway | Bandcamp

Heavy Metal

This album came out back in February, but it languished in my black metal to-be-heard bin most of the year. But once I gave it a close listen, I became obsessed. This is a debut, but the members are mostly veterans of Danish bands like Slægt. Their flavor has roots in old school black metal, but they’re so much more, thanks to the contribution of Swedish vocalist Shaam, who brings her black bag of occult psych noir and goth tricks from her previous band Shaam Larein. She channels Grace Slick filtered through Farida Lemouchi (The Devil’s Blood) and Jess and the Ancient Ones. The band expertly digests these styles like a pig in a python. Their musicianship is pretty jaw dropping, with nonstop sheets of amazing licks and riffery. I listened to a lot of metal albums this year that were impressive in various ways, but were always missing something. I found it with the glorious Scimitar.

Austin’s Mean Mistreater blew me away with their debut. While there’s no shortage of heavy metal bands drawing from NWOBHM and early speed metal, it’s pretty hard to find one with a truly great vocalist who can just friggin nail a tune to the wall. Janiece Gonzalez is one of the special few. The band keeps up with high quality riffs and plenty of solos, making for a nonstop adrenaline rush. Their secret is they don’t overextend themselves and pad the albums with filler, keeping them both at around 27 minutes. | More.

Scimitar – Scimitarium I (Crypt of the Wizard) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Phantom Spell – Heather & Hearth (Wizard Tower) | Spain | Bandcamp
Mean Mistreater – Do or Die (Dying Victims) | USA | Bandcamp
TOWER – Let There Be Dark (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (King Volume) | USA | Bandcamp
Blaze – Out Through the Door (No Remorse) | Japan | Buy
Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations (Bad Omen) | UK | Bandcamp
Christian Mistress – Children of the Earth (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
The Lord Weird Slough Feg – Traveller Supplement 1: The Ephemeral Glades EP (Cruz del Sur) | USA | Bandcamp
Creatures – Creatures II (High Roller) | Brazil | Bandcamp
NITE – Cult of the Serpent Sun (Season Of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Black Sword Thunder Attack – Black Sword Thunder Attack (No Remorse) | Greece | Buy
Crypt Sermon – Saturnian Appendices EP (Dark Descent) | USA | Bandcamp

Doom

The gothic doom force was strong with New Zealand band Remina right out the launchpad with their debut Strata (2022). The liquidy vocals of Heike Langhans interwoven with the band’s gleaming obsidian tones are enough to make this a must hear, even though the songs might not quite match their debut. | M ore.

Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade) | Italy | Bandcamp
Faetooth – Labyrinthine (The Flenser) | USA | Bandcamp
Remina – The Silver Sea (Avantgarde) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (King Volume) | USA | Bandcamp
Kal-El – Astral Voyager Vol. 1 (Majestic Mountain) | Norway | Bandcamp
Witchcraft – Idag (Heavy Psych) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Brimstone Coven – The Light Shines Not for Thee (Brimstone Coven) | USA | Bandcamp
Elder – Liminality EP (Stickman) | USA/Germany | Bandcamp
Kryptograf – Kryptonomicon (Apollon) | Norway | Bandcamp
Black Sword Thunder Attack – Black Sword Thunder Attack (No Remorse) | Greece | Buy
Crypt Sermon – Saturnian Appendices EP (Dark Descent) | USA | Bandcamp
Frayle – Heretics & Lullabies (Napalm) | USA | Bandcamp
Electric Citizen – EC4 (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp

Metal

Coroner were a standout Swiss technical thrash band that released albums from 1987 to 1995. Thirty years later they’re back to course correct the perceived misstep of their explorations of prog and groove metal on their last two albums. Here they simplify their sound, sounding like a plausible followup to Mental Vortex (1991) had they not been diverted by trends. I still like Grin (1993) and Coroner (1995), but am stoked to have this addition to the catalog. | More.

Coroner – Dissonance Theory (Century Media) | Switzerland | Bandcamp
Sanguisugabogg – Hideous Aftermath (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
Dead Heat – Process of Elimination (Metal Blade) | USA | Bandcamp
Frayle – Heretics & Lullabies (Napalm) | USA | Bandcamp
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
Hooded Menace – Lachrymose Monuments of Obscuration (Season of Mist) | Finland | Bandcamp
Gruesome – Silent Echoes (Relapse) | USA | Bandcamp
Blut Aus Nord – Ethereal Horizons (Debemur Morti) | France | Bandcamp
Blackbraid – Blackbraid III (Blackbraid) | USA | Bandcamp
Ancient Death – Ego Dissolution (Profound Lore) | USA | Bandcamp
Tribunal – In Penitence and Ruin (20 Buck Spin) | Canada | Bandcamp
Jade – Mysteries of a Flowery Dream (Pulverised) | Spain | Bandcamp
Hexvessel – Nocturne (Prophecy) | Finland | Bandcamp

Power Metal, Epic Adventure & Symphonic/Dark Romance Metal

Shadow of a Fallen Star Pt. 2 concludes a sprawling epic SF concept cycle begun back in 2021. Why the long gap? Kyle McNeill is a busy guy, spreading his talents to another project, Phantom Spell. A lot of modern power metal and prog metal is way to slick for my tastes, and while this is certainly far more polished than the aformentioned band, the production is never overblown, just as their influences Rush, Iron Maiden and Fates Warning never favored gloss over content. More.

Mean Mistreater – Do or Die (Dying Victims) | USA | Bandcamp
Black Sword Thunder Attack – Black Sword Thunder Attack (No Remorse) | Greece | Buy
Seven Sisters – Shadow of a Fallen Star Pt. 2 (Dissonance) | UK | Bandcamp
Vultures Vengeance – Dust Age (High Roller) | Italy | Bandcamp
Wings of Steel – Wings of Time (High Roller) | USA | Bandcamp
Venator – Psychodrome (Dying Victims) | Austria | Bandcamp
Ambush – Evil in All Dimensions (Napalm) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Helms Deep – Chasing the Dragon (Nameless Grave) | UK | Bandcamp
Serpent Rider – The Ichor of Chimaera (No Remorse) | USA | Bandcamp
Aephanemer – Utopie (Napalm) | France | Bandcamp
Amorphis – Borderland (Reigning Phoenix) | Finland
Scardust – Souls (Frontiers) | Israel
Epica – Aspiral (Nuclear Blast) | Netherlands

Experimental, Modern Classical, Drone

Cambridge’s Fuzzy Lights started as a straight-up post-rock band back in 2008, and have gradually evolved to envelop kosmische psych prog, and on their latest, psych folk. The biophysicist couple were inspired by the folklore and history of their native East Anglia, with Rachel Watkins’ droning violin lending eerie atmospherics, bringing fond recollections of fiery live shows with The Dirty Three. | More.

Anna von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts (Year001) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Fuzzy Lights – Fen Creatures (Fuzzy Lights) | UK | Bandcamp
Caroline – Caroline 2 (Rough Trade) | UK | Bandcamp
Swans – Birthing (Young God) | USA | Bandcamp
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (Fuzz Club) | USA | Bandcamp
Dryhouse Ruins – Dryhouse Ruins (Dryhouse Ruins) | USA | Bandcamp
Huremic – Seeking Darkness (Huremic) | South Korea | Bandcamp
Joe Harvey-Whyte & Bobby Lee – Last Ride (Curation) | USA | Bandcamp
Wippy Bonstack – Correct Irregulars (Wippy Bonstack) | USA | Bandcamp
Old Saw – The Wringing Cloth (Lobby Art) | USA | Bandcamp
I Like to Sleep – Spectral Vibes (All Good Clean) | Norway | Bandcamp
Black Eyes – Hostile Design (Dischord) | USA | Bandcamp
Gösta Berlings Saga – Forever Now (Pelagic) | Sweden | Bandcamp

Industrial & Noise

I came across Gaytheist around the time of their second full-length, Stealth Beats (2012) and have followed them ever since. I tagged them in a sub-category sludge pop due to their rumbling, overdriven low end, an aural space which is nearly exclusively made up of Floor and Torche albums. Over time, I’ve grown to appreciate them more and more, especially as the aforementioned bands stopped activity. They have developed their own unique flavor that includes post-hardcore, noise rock, alt metal and even power pop in the mix. Their lyrics a packed full of wickedly clever humor, Trojan horsin’ ferocity and fury, often in less than two minutes in hardcore punk tradition. One exception is a massive 7:45 cover of Smashing Pumpkins’ “Silverfuck.” It’s faithful to the original’s saturated power, while also sporting a live-in-the-studio looseness. I can just hear Billy Corgan sigh, as he probably spent weeks and a lot of his sanity achieving that sound decades ago, and now bands have inexpensive pedals and gear that can easily approximate it. Not that just anyone can pull that off — it goes to show that Gaytheist are a seasoned band, fourteen years in and at the peak of their gay, non-religious super powers. | More

Gaytheist – The Mustache Stays (Hex) | USA | Bandcamp
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
Sprints – All That Is Over (City Slang) | UK | Bandcamp
The Residents – Doctor Dark (Cryptic) | USA | Buy
Circuit Des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (Fuzz Club) | USA | Bandcamp
M(h)aol – Something Soft (Merge) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Kombynat Robotron – AANK (Fuzz Club) | Germany | Bandcamp
Witch Fever – Fevereaten (Music for Nations) | UK
Huremic – Seeking Darkness (Huremic) | South Korea | Bandcamp
Kills Birds – Crave EP (Lucky Number) | USA | Bandcamp
Lifeguard – Ripped and Torn (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Chat Pile & Hayden Pedigo – In the Earth Again (Computer Students) | USA | Bandcamp

Ambient, New Age & Post-Rock

London based caroline has progressed from the pastoral slowcore of their 2022 self-titled debut, venturing deeper into post-rock, avant-folk, and even some autotune. But even on one of the more accessible tracks like “Tell me I never knew that,” where they collaborate with Caroline Polachek, they maintain a pretty earthy texture with frayed edges. | More.

Bask – The Turning (Season of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
Anna von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts (Year001) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Fuzzy Lights – Fen Creatures (Fuzzy Lights) | UK | Bandcamp
These New Puritans – Crooked Wing (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
Caroline – Caroline 2 (Rough Trade) | UK | Bandcamp
IE – Reverse Earth (Quindi) | USA | Bandcamp
Tortoise – Touch (International Anthem) | USA | Bandcamp
SoftSun – Eternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Maruja – Pain to Power (Music for Nations) | UK | Bandcamp
The Necks – Disquiet (Northern Spy) | Australia | Bandcamp
Swans – Birthing (Young God) | USA | Bandcamp
Blackwater Holylight – If You Only Knew EP (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
Turtle Skull – Being Here (Art as Catharsis) | Australia | Bandcamp

Instrumental

Their first album in nine years, Tortoise reminds me why part of the Chicago music scene was so great, with members of different bands cross-pollinating, resulting in the loose communal structure like Tortoise, essentially a group of friends bouncing ideas off each other and chasing obsessions down rabbitholes. Into their fourth decade, things are a bit different now than some members of scattered to L.A. and Portland. This definitely slowed down the process, as their eighth album took four years to complete. But their chemistry has not faded, and in fact has them sounding at their most vital since Standards (2001). Favorite track, the noir closer “Night Gang,” with Douglas McCombs’ absolutely sick bass VI guitar tones. | More.

Papir – Papir IX (Stickman) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Tortoise – Touch (International Anthem) | USA | Bandcamp
Preston Pfanz & the Seaton Sands – Return to Burnt Island (Spinout Nuggets) | UK | Bandcamp
Futuropaco – Fortezza di Vetro Vol. 2 (El Paraiso) | USA | Buy
Edena Gardens – Dispossessed (El Paraiso) | Denmark | Bandcamp
Supersister – Nancy Never Knew (Soss) | Netherlands
Naxatras – V (Naxatras) | Greece | Bandcamp
Wippy Bonstack – Tactile Demons (Wippy Bonstack) | USA | Bandcamp
André Drage – Wolves (Drage) | Norway
Hedvig Mollestad Trio – Bees in the Bonnet (Rune Grammofon) | Norway | Bandcamp
Palooka 5 – MetroKino (Spinout Nuggets) | UK | Bandcamp
The Diasonics – Ornithology (Record Kicks) | Russia | Bandcamp
Blue Lake – Weft (Tonal Union) | Denmark | Bandcamp

Art Pop & Dream Pop

There’s so much shoegaze these days that sounds great, but is so homogenous it’s hard to tell songs apart. What drew me to Cloakroom on their third album, Dissolution Wave (2022), was they weren’t afraid to make a mess and mix colors that shouldn’t go together — post-hardcore and slowcore, jangle pop and doomgaze. The albums may be imperfect, but they’re getting better all the time. On their fourth album they acknowledge the influence of the late Jason Molina (Songs: Ohia, Magnolia Electric Co.) which can be heard in standout track “Bad Larry,” which has had surf/space ballad, Roy Orbison and Velvet Underground attributed to it, but at it’s core beats a country heart. “Unbelonging” sounds like a collaboration between Teenage Fanclub and Swervedriver, while “Ester Wind” starts out a bouncy power pop/punk tune, then dissolves into gaseous space debris. While they don’t really dole out doomgaze this time around, there’s still a couple bottom heavy shoegaze pounders, as well as some lovely ethereal dream pop. Focus is overrated, it’s the variety, and deftness at how well they master each style that keeps this album worth repeat listens. | More.

Chameleons – Arctic Moon (Metropolis) | UK | Bandcamp
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic) | UK | Bandcamp
Faetooth – Labyrinthine (The Flenser) | USA | Bandcamp
Remina – The Silver Sea (Avantgarde) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
Cloakroom – Last Leg of the Human Table (Closed Casket Activities) | USA | Bandcamp
These New Puritans – Crooked Wing (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
Greet Death – Die in Love (Deathwish Inc.) | USA | Bandcamp
Teethe – Magic of the Sale (Winspear) | USA | Bandcamp
Hilary Woods – Night CRIÚ (Sacred Bones) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Circuit Des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Blackwater Holylight – If You Only Knew EP (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
Adwaith – Solas (Libertino) | UK | Bandcamp
Rosa Anschütz – Sabbatical (Heartworm) | Germany | Bandcamp

Shoegaze & Noise Pop

On their third album, Minneapolis to NYC transplants Hotline TNT have shifted focus from shoegaze to noise pop and power pop, with some of their most effective tunes to day. The album kicks off with a bang with “Was I Wrong?,” a cracking goosebump inducing opener that is harder to come across these days.

SOM’s second album The Shape of Everything (2022) didn’t immediately jump to the front of the shoegaze pack, but I found myself returning to it more often than others because they nail that combination of heaviness (via their post-metal and doomgaze elements) and their dream pop infused ethereal melodicism. After releasing an EP of Depeche Mode covers, I feared they were going to go synthpop on us, as every other post-punk band tends to do. Fortunately that wasn’t the case, as they simply turned the heat up on both the hooks and the heavy, with lyrics that, per the title, are slightly less dark, and more introspective. Time will tell how things shake out by the end of the year, but right now their songs shake the room when they come up on the playlist pretty much every day. | More.

Faetooth – Labyrinthine (The Flenser) | USA | Bandcamp
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Remina – The Silver Sea (Avantgarde) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
SOM – Let the Light In (Pelagic) | USA | Bandcamp
Cloakroom – Last Leg of the Human Table (Closed Casket Activities) | USA | Bandcamp
baan – Neumann (Your Adorable Dog) | South Korea | Bandcamp
Greet Death – Die in Love (Deathwish Inc.) | USA | Bandcamp
SoftSun – Eternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Shallowater – God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars (Shallowater) | USA | Bandcamp
Blackwater Holylight – If You Only Knew EP (Suicide Squeeze) | USA | Bandcamp
Hangman’s Chair – Saddiction (Nuclear Blast) | France | Bandcamp
Croíthe – A Brief Respite EP (Collective) | Ireland | Bandcamp

Synthpop, New Wave, Coldwave, Minimal Synth

I had to check that this is Jojo Orme’s debut album, as I feel like I’d been a fan for a while. Heartworms did release the A Comforting Notion EP in 2023. It’s extremely promising that while Orme touches on a variety of styles, from goth and darkwave to dance-punk and synthpop, that she seems to already have formed a cohesive musical signature that could see her transcend genre on future albums. It’ll be fun to see what she does next. | More.

Heartworms – Glutton for Punishment (Speedy Wunderground) | UK | Buy
Bootblacks – Paradise (Artoffact) | USA | Bandcamp
Adwaith – Solas (Libertino) | UK | Bandcamp
Hangman’s Chair – Saddiction (Nuclear Blast) | France | Bandcamp
The Armoury Show – Dead Souls (Last Night from Glasgow) | UK | Bandcamp
Martin Dupont – You Smile When It Hurts (Caravan) | France | Bandcamp
Preoccupations – Ill at Ease (Born Losers) | Canada | Bandcamp
Silver Tears – Silver Tears (AVANT!) | Germany | Bandcamp
Ash Code – Synthome (SDN) | Italy | Bandcamp
Body Maintenance – Far From Here (Drunken Sailor) | Australia | Bandcamp
Seeming – The World (Artoffact) | USA | Bandcamp
Korine – A Flame in the Dark (Born Losers) | USA | Bandcamp
Tiffadelic – Retrosynthesis Vol. I (Darthpira) | USA | Bandcamp

Playlist: Tidal | Spotify

Indie Rock, Pop & Jangle Pop

Six years after their second album, Greet Death have lightened up their “gloomgaze” sound into a more diverse assortment of accessible indie, dream pop and slowcore. Like Swevedriver, Catherine Wheel, Smashing Pumpkins and Hum, they seem well on the way to developing an identity not tied to just shoegaze, while remaining adjacent to that style. | More.

Chameleons – Arctic Moon (Metropolis) | UK | Bandcamp
Lathe of Heaven – Aurora (Sacred Bones) | USA | Bandcamp
Motorpsycho – Motorpsycho (NFGS) | Norway | Bandcamp
Stereolab – Instant Holograms on Metal Film (Duophonic) | UK | Bandcamp
The Belair Lip Bombs – Again (Third Man) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Tubs – Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind) | UK | Bandcamp
Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
Possible Humans – Standing Around Alive (Hobbies Galore) | Australia | Bandcamp
Wet Leg – Moisturizer (Domino) | UK | Bandcamp
Floodlights – Underneath (PIAS) | Australia | Bandcamp
Greet Death – Die in Love (Deathwish Inc.) | USA | Bandcamp
Dumb Things – Self Help (Coolin’ By Sound) | Australia | Bandcamp

Playlist: Tidal | Spotify

Power Pop

I was chuffed and fluffed to get the sophomore album from The Telephone Numbers, fulfilling the promise of the debut The Ballad of Doug (2021). Their melodic jangle pop sound deceptively simple, yet the arrangements are fleshed out with violin, mellotron, trumpet and organ. Along with bands like The Umbrellas, The Reds, Pinks & Purples, and Tony Molina, it seems The Telephone Numbers are aiming to make San Francisco the go-to place for prime modern jangle. | M ore.

The Belair Lip Bombs – Again (Third Man) | Australia | Bandcamp
The Tubs – Cotton Crown (Trouble In Mind) | UK | Bandcamp
Gaytheist – The Mustache Stays (Hex) | USA | Bandcamp
Hotline TNT – Raspberry Moon (Third Man) | USA | Bandcamp
The Telephone Numbers – Scarecrow II (Slumberland) | USA | Bandcamp
It’s Karma It’s Cool – One Million Suburban Sunsets (Martyn Bewick) | UK | Bandcamp
Sharp Pins – Balloon Balloon Balloon (K) | USA | Bandcamp
The Beths – Straight Line Was a Lie (Anti-) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
Sloan – Based on the Best Seller (Yep Rock) | Canada
The Hellacopters – Overdriver (Nuclear Blast) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Tamar Berk – ocd (Tamar Berk) | USA | Bandcamp
The Airport 77s – Don’t Let Go (Jem) | USA | Bandcamp
Dom Mariani – Apple of Life (Alive Naturalsound) | Australia | Buy

Jazz

I like to think I seek out some of the more interesting jazz, fusion and jazz-rock in Scandinavia, yet this is the first time I’ve heard Trondheim, Norway’s I Like to Sleep, and they’re already on their fifth album. After a decade together they’ve developed a reputation as an incendiary unit playing powerjazz for the people. Spectral Vibes is jazz-rock avant-prog, which sounds like it could be difficult listening, but it all goes down easy as a slippery oyster. For every part of distorted fuzz guitar or industrial clanging, there’s rewards of melodic passages and beauty. They even have a harp (though it may just be that rascally mellotron). Two tracks included sax legend guest Mats Gustafsson, who also includes some killer flute licks. I’m no authority on all the current jazz, but I think it’s safe to say this band is well worth investigating. More.

I Like to Sleep – Spectral Vibes (All Good Clean) | Norway | Bandcamp
Yazz Ahmed – A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) | UK | Bandcamp
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar (Century Media) | USA | Bandcamp
Brad Mehldau – Ride into the Sun (Nonesuch) | USA | Bandcamp
Eli Winter – A Trick of the Light (Three Lobed) | USA | Bandcamp
Sarathy Korwar – There Is Beauty, There Already (Otherland) | UK | Bandcamp
Makaya McCraven – Off the Record (International Anthem) | USA
Natural Information Society – Perseverence Flow (Eremite) | USA | Bandcamp
Cochemea – Vol. III: Ancestros futuros (Daptone) | USA | Bandcamp
Cole Pulice – Land’s End Eternal (Leaving) | USA | Bandcamp
Mary Halvorson – About Ghosts (Nonesuch) | USA | Bandcamp
Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling & Andreas Werliin – Ghosted III (Drag City) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Gerald Clayton – Ones & Twos (Blue Note) | USA

Jazz Fusion & Jazz-Funk

Manchester’s Maruja has knocked out a half dozen EPs since 2016, and on their second full-length, they’ve come up with their most impressive work yet, a bold fusion of jazz-infused post-punk, post-rock, post-hardcore, noise, ambient and even some hip hop crumbs can be found under the console. If lazy critics actually listened to more music, this would probably be duking it out for a top five spot with Geese, Rosalía and Anna von Hausswolff. | More.

Maruja – Pain to Power (Music for Nations) | UK | Bandcamp
I Like to Sleep – Spectral Vibes (All Good Clean) | Norway | Bandcamp
Yazz Ahmed – A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) | UK | Bandcamp
Supersister – Nancy Never Knew (Soss) | Netherlands
Wippy Bonstack – Tactile Demons (Wippy Bonstack) | USA | Bandcamp
André Drage – Wolves (Drage) | Norway
Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut) | Ethiopia | Bandcamp
Monde UFO – Flamingo Tower (Fire) | USA | Bandcamp
Joe Armon-Jones – All the Quiet (Part II) (Aquarii) | UK | Bandcamp
Eli Winter – A Trick of the Light (Three Lobed) | USA | Bandcamp
Soft Ffog – Focus (Is It Jazz?) | Norway | Bandcamp
Ciśnienie – (angry noises) (Ciśnienie) | Poland | Bandcamp
Makaya McCraven – Off the Record (International Anthem) | USA

Global, Reggae, Dub & Afrobeat

Kosmische-Afrobeat fusion is a combo I fantasized about years ago, with Sweden’s Goat being the only source of this musical confection for a long time. Then we got Horse Lords, L’Eclair, and now Little Barrie & Malcom Catto and Brown Spirits. The latter Australian band have actually been active since 2017, with the Afrobeat element a more subtle part of a whole made of deep funk, space rock and motorik riddims. No complaints here, keep ’em coming. | More.

Kuunatic – Wheels of Öon (Glitterbeat) | Japan | Bandcamp
Brown Spirits – Cosmic Seeds (Soul Jazz) | Australia | Buy
Little Barrie & Malcom Catto – Electric War (Easy Eye Sound) | UK | Bandcamp
Yazz Ahmed – A Paradise in the Hold (Night Time Stories) | UK | Bandcamp
The Bug Vs. Ghost Dubs – Implosion (Pressure) | UK | Bandcamp
Los Thuthanaka – Los Thuthanaka (Los Thuthanaka) | USA/Chile | Bandcamp
Noura Mint Seymali – Yenbett (Glitterbeat) | Mauritania | Bandcamp
Geckøs – Geckøs (ORG) | USA | Bandcamp
Wardruna – Birna (Music for Nations) | Norway
Mulatu Astatke – Mulatu Plays Mulatu (Strut) | Ethiopia | Bandcamp
Joe Armon-Jones – All the Quiet (Part II) (Aquarii) | UK | Bandcamp
Panda Bear – Sinister Grift (Domino) | USA | Bandcamp
Amadou & Mariam – L’amour á la folie (Because) | Mali | Bandcamp

Electronic

This clash of dub/electronica legends Kevin Martin (The Bug) vs. Michael “Jah Schultz” Fiedler (Ghost Dubs) may take the old school format of those 70s dub battles, but this is part low end theory and deep tissue vibration massage, part bass bin punishment. They keep this affair cold and spare, slow and low, just so you know you’re in the wet bogs of England and snowy Germany. Be careful with the volume on those boom shots, or you just might get buried in an avalanche. | More.

Tortoise – Touch (International Anthem) | USA | Bandcamp
The Bug Vs. Ghost Dubs – Implosion (Pressure) | UK | Bandcamp
Los Thuthanaka – Los Thuthanaka (Los Thuthanaka) | USA/Chile | Bandcamp
Encephalon – Automation All Along (Artoffact) | Canada | Bandcamp
Comaduster – Memory Echoes (Comaduster) | Canada | Bandcamp
Perterbator – Age of Aquarius (Nuclear Blast) | France | Bandcamp
Oneohtrix Point Never – Tranquilizer (Warp) | USA | Bandcamp
Sextile – Yes, Please. (Sacred Bones) | USA | Bandcamp
The Utopia Strong – Doperider (Rocket) | UK | Bandcamp
Feeo – Goodness (AD 93) | UK | Bandcamp
Moon 17 – TX_1320 (Over-Pop) | USA | Bandcamp
Darkside – Nothing (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
Bitchin Bajas – Inland See (Drag City) | USA | Bandcamp

R&B, Soul & Funk

Anyone craving some psychedelic soul jazz can’t go wrong with Cleveland’s Mourning [A] BLKstar. Their latest joint is overflowing with passion, joy and rage, an Afrofuturist protest album for the most detestable times. “Lil’ Bobby Hutton” grieves the first member of Black Panthers to be murdered by the police even after surrending in 1968. This just scratches the surface of centuries of violence and injustice that Mourning [A] BLKstar takes note of, but offers not only outrage, but healing vibes. | More.

Mourning [A] BLKstar – Flowers for the Living (Don Giovanni) | USA | Bandcamp
Rosalía – Lux (Columbia) | Spain
SAULT – 10 (Forever Living Originals) | UK/USA | Bandcamp
Jaco Jaco – Gremlin (Gremlin) | USA | Bandcamp
St. Paul & The Broken Bones – St. Paul & The Broken Bones (Thirty Tigers) | USA | Bandcamp
Durand Jones & the Indications – Flowers (Dead Oceans) | USA | Bandcamp
Curtis Harding – Curtis Harding – Departures & Arrivals: Adventures of Captain Curt (Anti-) | USA | Bandcamp
Little Simz – Lotus (AWAL) | UK
The Milk – Borderlands (WLS) | UK | Bandcamp
Sudan Archives – The BPM (Stones Throw) | USA | Bandcamp
Holly Golightly – Look Like Trouble (Damaged Goods) | UK | Bandcamp
Nourished by Time – The Passionate Ones (XL) | USA | Bandcamp
Smerz – Big City Life (Escho) | Norway | Bandcamp

Hip Hop & Rap

The way De La Soul rallied and came back with such a strong album after the massive loss of Trugoy the Dove in 2023 makes this extra poignant. This year I’ve made progress, in that I at least enjoy critical faves Little Simz and billy woods. But still, De La Soul got the most playtime by far. Public Enemy’s latest was surprisingly good too. | More.

De La Soul – Cabin in the Sky (Mass Appeal) | USA
Backxwash – Only Dust Remains (Ugly Hag) | Canada | Bandcamp
Public Enemy – Black Sky Over the Projects: Apartment 2025 (Flavor Flav) | USA | Bandcamp
Aesop Rock – Black Hole Superette (Rhymesayers) | USA | Bandcamp
Little Simz – Lotus (AWAL) | UK
Aesop Rock – I Heard it’s a Mess There Too (Rhymesayers) | USA | Bandcamp
Navy Blue – The Sword & the Soaring (Freedom Sounds) | USA | Bandcamp
billy woods – Golliwog (Backwoodz) | USA | Bandcamp
Earl Sweatshirt – Live Laugh Love (Tan Cressida) | USA
Open Mike Eagle – Neighborhood Gods Unlimited (Auto Reverse) | USA | Bandcamp
Saba & No I.D. – From the Private Collection of Saba and No I.D. (Saba) | USA
Jim Legxacy – Black British Music (2025) (XL) | UK | Bandcamp
John Glacier – Like a Ribbon (Young) | UK | Bandcamp

Folk & Americana

I’ve always found Neko Case swoonworthy as a person, a performer and musician. Fresh off publishing her book The Harder I Fight the More I Love You: A Memoir early this year, her digging deep results in one of her most personal, powerfully emotional albums in at least 12 years. Her first try at self producing is a swimming success of baroque country and Americana, narrated by her personal stories and ruminations on nature and the cosmos. | More.

Bask – The Turning (Season of Mist) | USA | Bandcamp
The New Eves – The New Eve is Rising (Transgressive) | UK | Bandcamp
Fuzzy Lights – Fen Creatures (Fuzzy Lights) | UK | Bandcamp
Neko Case – Neon Grey Midnight Green (Anti-) | USA | Bandcamp
Teethe – Magic of the Sale (Winspear) | USA | Bandcamp
Shallowater – God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars (Shallowater) | USA | Bandcamp
The Hare and the Hoofe – Compasse (Hare Hoofe) | UK | Bandcamp
Joe Harvey-Whyte & Bobby Lee – Last Ride (Curation) | USA | Bandcamp
Klark Sound – This Is Music (Public Access Group) | USA | Bandcamp
Rose City Band – Sol y sombra (Thrill Jockey) | USA | Bandcamp
Lavinia Blackwall – The Making (Barne Society) | UK | Bandcamp
Derya Yildrim & Grup Simsek – Yann Yoksa (Big Crown) | Germany | Bandcamp
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders (Fat Possum) | USA | Bandcamp

Country, Country Blues/Psych/Rock/Soul

Teethe is just how I like my country, slow and woozy, bringing to mind memories of Cowboy Junkies had they collaborated with Low. This Texas band originally focused on dream pop infused slowcore on their self-titled debut in 2020, but the flavor of their cultural surroundings (Lubbock to Dallas) has seeped in to everyone’s benefit. Similarly, Shallowater (formed in Denton, based in Houston) also brings new sounds to country on their second album, though occasionally they set their pedals on stun for a full My Bloody Valentine level barrage of noise.

Known initially as a backup singer for Daniel Romano, Julianna Riolino has truly blossomed as a solo artist on her second album in a way we’ve seen with the likes of Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks and Neko Case. Her flavor of country rock and cosmic Americana includes potent doses of Muscle Shoals psychedelic soul (“Seed”), and straight on rock ‘n’ roll (“It’s A Shakedown!”). | More.

Teethe – Magic of the Sale (Winspear) | USA | Bandcamp
Shallowater – God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars (Shallowater) | USA | Bandcamp
Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – New Threats from the Soul (Sophomore Lounge) | USA | Bandcamp
Julianna Riolino – Echo in the Dust (Moonwhistel) | USA | Bandcamp
Pearl Charles – Desert Queen (Taurus Rising) | USA | Bandcamp
Wednesday – Bleeds (Dead Oceans) | USA | Bandcamp
Silver Synthetic – Rosalie (Curation) | USA | Bandcamp
The Devil Makes Three – Spirits (New West) | USA | Bandcamp
Labrador – My Version of Desire (NWK) | USA | Bandcamp
Tobacco City – Horses (Scissor Tail) | USA | Bandcamp
Winter McQuinn & Friends – Where Are We Now? (Third Eye Stimuli) | Australia | Bandcamp
Florry – Sounds Like (Dear Life) | USA | Bandcamp
Chris Eckman – The Land We Knew the Best (Glitterhouse) | USA | Bandcamp

Blues Rock

When Acid Bath destroyed the competition at the Levitation fest, showered from adoration from olderst down to tween girls, a lot of the audience probably didn’t know that while there may not be a new band record forthcoming, the singer’s fourth solo album was released earlier this year. Dax Riggs sounds more confident than ever, boiling down his flavor of swamp rock and garage noir down to it’s black, sticky essence. | More.

Geese – Getting Killed (Partisan) | USA | Bandcamp
Nephila – Nephila (The Sign) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders (Fat Possum) | USA | Bandcamp
Paralyzed – Rumble&Roar (Ripple) | Germany | Bandcamp
Mdou Moctar – Tears of Injustice (Matador) | Niger | Bandcamp
Glyders – Forever (Drag City) | USA | Bandcamp
Alice Cooper – The Revenge of Alice Cooper (Ear) | USA
The Third Mind – Right Now! (Yep Roc) | USA | Bandcamp
Dwellers – Corrupt Translation Machine (Small Stone) | USA | Bandcamp
Samantha Fish – Paper Doll (Rounder) | USA | Bandcamp
Joanne Shaw Taylor – Black & Gold (Journeyman) | USA
Dead Meadow – Voyager To Voyager (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Pretty Lightning – Night Wobble (Fuzz Club) | Germany | Bandcamp

Singer-Songwriters

After fronting British psych folk band Trembling Bells for ten years, Lavinia Blackwall is soaring to new heights as a solo artist, especially with her second album, a killer combo of weird British folk rock, psych and baroque pop, with distinct vocals worthy of the legacy of the likes of Sandy Denny and Annie Haslam (Rennaissance). | More.

Neko Case – Neon Grey Midnight Green (Anti-) | USA | Bandcamp
Klark Sound – This Is Music (Public Access Group) | USA | Bandcamp
Lavinia Blackwall – The Making (Barne Society) | UK | Bandcamp
Ethel Cain – Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You (Daughters of Cain) | USA | Buy
Madison Cunningham – Ace (Verve) | USA
Tamar Berk – ocd (Tamar Berk) | USA | Bandcamp
Brian D’Addario – Til the Morning (Headstack) | USA | Bandcamp
Jeff Tweedy – Twilight Override (dBpm) | USA | Bandcamp
Guitarricadelafuente – Spanish Leather (Sony) | Spain
Meric Long – Kablooey (Polyvinyl) | USA | Bandcamp
Julianna Riolino – Echo in the Dust (Moonwhistel) | USA | Bandcamp
Jerskin Fendrix – Once Upon a Time In Shropshire (Untitled) | UK | Bandcamp
Richard Dawson – End of the Middle (Weird World) | UK | Bandcamp

Dance-Pop

Looks like I’m not much a fan of dance-pop, given how massively disappointed I was with Tame Impala’s latest. Yeah, oof.

Safe Mind – Cutting the Stone (Nude Club) | USA | Bandcamp
Tame Impala – Deadbeat (Columbia) | Australia
Alison Goldfrapp – Flux (A.G) | UK
Lady Gaga – Mayhem (Interscope) | USA
YOLA – My Way EP (S-Curve) | USA
Miley Cyrus – Something Beautiful (Columbia) | USA
FKA twigs – Eusexua (Atlantic) | UK
FKA twigs – Eusexua Afterglow (Atlantic) | UK
Sophie Ellis-Bextor – Perimenopop (Decca) | UK
Ora the Molecule – Dance Therapy (Mute) | Norway | Bandcamp
Jane Inc. – A Rupture a Canyon a Birth (Telephone Explosion) | Canada | Bandcamp
Stealing Sheep – GLO (Girl Life Online) (Stealing Sheep) | UK
Taylor Swift – The Life of a Showgirl (Republic) | USA

Live Albums

Radiohead’s sixth album Hail to the Thief (2003) never quite got the love it deserved, even from the band. Yet over the years, Radiohead realized that the songs really stood up when they performed them live. Some performances definitely improve on the studio versions, while others are just a subtly different flavor. Rediscover the classic album with this live joint then circle back to the original.

Radiohead – Hail To The Thief (Capitol, 2003)

Radiohead – Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003-09) (XL) | UK | Bandcamp
Barry Walker Unit – At the 13th Moon Gravity Well (Jean Sandwich) | USA | Bandcamp
Chat Pile – Live at Roadburn 2023 (The Flenser) | USA | Bandcamp
Jim Jones All Stars – Get Down With It – Live (Assai) | UK | Bandcamp
Orcutt Shelley Miller – Orcutt Shelley Miller (Silver Current) | USA | Bandcamp
France – Destino Scifosi (Standard In-Fi) | France | Bandcamp
Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds – Live God (Bad Seed) | Australia
Makaya McCraven – Off the Record (International Anthem) | USA
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Live in Lituania ’25 (KGLW) | Australia | Bandcamp

Doomgaze

“Doom but not boring
Screamo but not crying
Hardcore but not macho
Shoegaze but not sucks”

The above descriptor is on baan’s Bandcamp page. What more is there to say?

Faetooth – Labyrinthine (The Flenser) | USA | Bandcamp
Remina – The Silver Sea (Avantgarde) | New Zealand | Bandcamp
SOM – Let the Light In (Pelagic) | USA | Bandcamp
Cloakroom – Last Leg of the Human Table (Closed Casket Activities) | USA | Bandcamp
baan – Neumann (Your Adorable Dog) | South Korea | Bandcamp
SoftSun – Eternal Sunrise (Heavy Psych) | USA | Bandcamp
Hangman’s Chair – Saddiction (Nuclear Blast) | France | Bandcamp
Frayle – Heretics & Lullabies (Napalm) | USA | Bandcamp
Coltaine – Brandung (recordJet) | Germany | Bandcamp
Cwfen – Sorrows (New Heavy Sounds) | UK | Bandcamp
Planning for Burial – It’s Closeness, It’s Easy (The Flenser) | USA | Bandcamp
Shedfromthebody – Whisper and Wane (Shedfromthebody) | Finland | Bandcamp
Shedfromthebody – Everything Out There Has Teeth (Shedfromthebody) | Finland | Bandcamp

AOR & Glam Metal

I’m glad that I added glam metal to this list, because I can illustrate how, despite how popular Ghost and Creeper were this year, Creatures, from Curitiba, Brazil wiped the floor with them with far more entertaining songs, along the lines of 80s Judas Priest, Dokken, Ratt and Whitesnake.

Creatures – Creatures II (High Roller) | Brazil | Bandcamp
Ghost – Skeletá (Loma Vista) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Creeper – Sanguivore II: Mistress of Death (Spinefarm) | UK
Crazy Lixx – Thrill of the Bite (Frontiers) | Sweden
W.E.T. – Apex (Frontiers) | Sweden
H.E.A.T. – Welcome to the Future (Earmusic) | Sweden
The Night Flight Orchestra – Give Us The Moon (Napalm) | Sweden | Bandcamp
Perfect Plan – Heart of a Lion (Frontiers) | Sweden
Ray of Light – Salute (Baysis) | Germany
Styx – Circling From Above (Ume) | USA
L.A. Guns – Leopard Skin (Cleopatra) | USA

The Golden Circle

The Golden Circle is the club for musicians and bands who have been in action for 40 years to over a half century. Not everyone peaks in their 20s or 30s, as some musicians have done their best work well into their 70s and 80s. To put this into perspective, . It was cool to hear a new Residents album in 2025, who have been together since 1971. One of the original masked bands that never officially revealed their identities, they could theoretically have replaced everyone with their children, or clones, or replicants, and no one would know. As long as they stay this subversively brilliant, I care not.

Chameleons – Arctic Moon (Metropolis) | Bandcamp
The Residents – Doctor Dark (Cryptic) | Buy
Swans – Birthing (Young God)
Martin Dupont – You Smile When it Hurts (Caravan) | Bandcamp
Wasted Youth – Neo Noir (WY) | Bandcamp
Supersister – Nancy Never Knew (Soss)
The Vapors – Wasp in a Jar (Red Chuck) | Bandcamp
Cardiacs – LSD (The Alphabet Business) | Bandcamp
Peter Murphy – Silver Shade (Metropolis) | Bandcamp
Melvins – Thunderball (Ipecac) | Bandcamp
Amadou & Mariam – L’amour à la folie (Because)
Pulp – More (Rough Trade) | Bandcamp
Cheap Trick – All Washed Up (MBG)

Bubbling under: Wino, The Apartments, Pagan Altar, Sparks, Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, Alice Cooper, Conflict, Ed Kuepper, The Saints, Jonathan Richman, Jethro Tull, Adrian Sherwood, Brian Eno, Nels Cline, Pentagram, Throwing Muses, Bob Mould, Helloween, Mekons, Dream Theater, Guided By Voices, Hawkwind, Robert Plant, Billy Idol, Robert Forster, The Waterboys, L.A. Guns, Paul Weller, Bryan Adams, Styx.

Non-Metal For Metalheads

Yeah I know, Deafheaven are metal. It’s just the limitations of the filters I have set up. Birthing is allegedly Swans’ swan song, har. Well, not quite, just the end of the “big sound” era with a large revolving cast of members and lengthy albums. I don’t blame Michael Gira, after the umpteenth massive triple album (this one is nearly two hours long), he must be exhausted. I imagine potential future projects will be closer to his folky Angels of Light project. | More.

baan – Neumann (Your Adorable Dog) | South Korea | Bandcamp
Caroline – Caroline 2 (Rough Trade) | UK | Bandcamp
The Residents – Doctor Dark (Cryptic) | USA | Buy
Swans – Birthing (Young God) | USA | Bandcamp
Circuit Des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (Matador) | USA | Bandcamp
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (Fuzz Club) | USA | Bandcamp
Dryhouse Ruins – Dryhouse Ruins (Dryhouse Ruins) | USA | Bandcamp
Huremic – Seeking Darkness (Huremic) | South Korea | Bandcamp
Neptunian Maximalism – Le sacre du soleil invaincu (I, Voidhanger) | Belgium | Bandcamp
Kauan – Wayhome (Artoffact) | Finland | Bandcamp
Chat Pile & Hayden Pedigo – In the Earth Again (Computer Students) | USA | Bandcamp
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (Roadrunner Records) | USA | Bandcamp
Black Eyes – Hostile Design (Dischord) | USA | Bandcamp

2025 AOTY Music Year End List Aggregate (with my rankings)

This is not to illustrate how lame the consensus opinion is (most of the albums are good in various ways), but how vast the music world is, and how much you miss by only looking at top ten lists, or considering the year done, dusted and shelved just because the calendar year is ending. What is it with the rampant use of all-cap album titles? There’s a half dozen just in the top 25. It’s bad grammer, and uncivilized.

Rosalía – Lux (191)
Geese – Getting Killed (90)
Wednesday – Bleeds (465)
Bad Bunny – DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS (NA)
FKA twigs – EUSEXUA (960)
CMAT – EURO-COUNTRY (750)
Oklou – choke enough (971)
Clipse – Let God Sort Em Out (918)
Hayley Williams – Ego Death at a Bachelorette Party (1017)
Turnstile – NEVER ENOUGH (411)
Dijon – Baby (727)
Lily Allen – West End Girl (982)
Addison Rae – Addison (NA)
billy woods – GOLLIWOG (516)
Blood Orange – Essex Honey (943)
PinkPantheress – Fancy That (NA)
Wet Leg – moisturizer (25)
Pulp – More (304)
Nourished by Time – The Passionate Ones (595)
Little Simz – Lotus (412)
Jim Legxacy – black british music (2025) (672)
Deftones – private music (285)
Lady Gaga – Mayhem (862)
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (57)
Olivia Deam – The Art of Loving (NA)

Water From Your Eyes (310), Horsegirl (17), Viagra Boys (213), Stereolab (6).

Reissues

It’s a good thing more reissues don’t come out in the hardcover bookback format, because I’d spend too much money collecting ’em. The only reissues I bought were the top four, including Stiff Little Fingers, Dream Syndicate and Talking Heads. They look great on the shelf and special attention is paid to the liner notes, which are much more easily accessible in these formats than flimsy inserts.

When Cherry Red released the 5CD compilation, To The Outside Of Everything – A Story Of UK Post-Punk 1977-1981 in 2017, I hesitated because I had over 90% of it already. However, when it was reprinted, the price was right and it was in my favorite bookback format. It would have been a boon if something like that came out in the late 80s when I was doing the Fester’s Bucket O’ Nasties post-punk radio show. All the Young Droids is also a gift to those interested in scratching the surface of the vast underground of synthpop.

Stiff Little Fingers – Inflammable Material (Parlophone, 1979) 4CD/Blu-Ray
Dream Syndicate – Medicine Show: 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition (Fire, 1984) 4CD
Talking Heads – More Songs About Buildings and Food (Rhino, 1978) 4CD/Blu-Ray
Various Artists: To The Outside Of Everything – A Story Of UK Post-Punk 1977-1981 (Cherry Red, 2025 Reissue) 5CD
Various Artists: All the Young Droids: Junkshop Synthpop 1978-1985 (Night School) | Bandcamp
Peter Hammill – The Charisma & Virgin Recordsings 1971-9186 (UMR/Virgin)
Patti Smith – Horses: 50th Anniversary Editon (Legacy, 1975)
XTC – Drums and Wires Dolby Atmos (Ape House, 1979)
Pete Shelley – Homosapien (Domino, 1981)
Nick Drake – The Making of Five Leaves Left (Island, 1969)
Bruce Springsteen – Nebraska ’82: Expanded Edition (Sony, 1982)
Small Faces – Autumn Stone (Immediate/Nice) 3CD
Hüsker Dü – 1985: The Miracle Year (Numero Group, 1985) 4CD

Bubbling under: William Basinski, The Beta Band, David Bowie, Brigitte Fontaine, Genesis, Kraftwerk, Jimi Hendrix, The Mighty Wah, Joni Mitchell, Laura Nyro, Pink Floyd, Queen, Skids, Swell Maps, Thin Lizzy, UK Subs, Wilco. Various: Sensitive: An Indie Pop Anthology, Electric Junk: Deutsche Rock, Psych and Kosmische 1970-1978, R oots Rocking Zimbabwe: The Modern Sound of Harare’ Townships 1975-1980.

Late Entries

Six years after their last album, Everybody Split (2019), I’d nearly forgotten about Possible Humans. Lucky for fans of their particular blend of American (Feelies, R.E.M.) and the Dunedin Sound (tagged Dolewave), they’re sounding better than ever, and can defnitely scratch that itch for those missing Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever.

Possible Humans – Standing Around Alive (Hobbies Galore) | Australia | Bandcamp
Floral Image – Gone Down Meadowland (Fuzz Club) | UK | Bandcamp
Keys – Acid Communism (Libertino) | Buy
Teethe – Magic of the Sale (Winspear) | Bandcamp
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… (Run For Cover) | Bandcamp
Strange Passage – A Folded Sky EP (Meritorio) | USA | Bandcamp
Hilary Woods – Night CRIÚ (Sacred Bones) | Ireland | Bandcamp
Shallowater – God’s Gonna Give You a Million Dollars | Bandcamp
Bootblacks – Paradise (Artoffact) | USA | Bandcamp
Psychedelic Porn Crumpets – Pogo Rodeo (What Reality?) | Australia | Bandcamp
Prolapse – I Wonder When They’re Going to Destroy Your Face (Tapete) | UK | Bandcamp
Adwaith – Solas (Libertino) | Bandcamp
Modele – Pleasure for the Holy (Modele) | Bandcamp

Bubbling under: The Armory Show, Rosa Anschütz, The Discussion, Silver Tears, Ash Code, Nyx Division, Street Fruit, Wasted Youth, Wippy Bonstack, Old Saw, Eel Men, Seeming, They Are Gutting a Body of Water, Korine, Supersister, Snapped Ankles, The Vapors,, Astronoid, A.M. Overcast, Peter Murphy, Los Thuthanaka, Diaz Brothers, Night Tapes, Bygone, Düül Suns, Mei Semones, Jaco Jaco, Encephalon, Comaduster, Consumables.

New Old Discoveries

I’ve been a fan of Roky Erickson and the 13th Floor Elevators forever, but somehow I never had The Evil One until this year. It’s freakin’ awesome! Marquis de Sade was the best of recent post-punk discoveries. There’s a whole load of stuff bubbling under, but it won’t be all that interesting to most.

Marquis de Sade – Rue de Siam (Pathé, 1981)
Roky Erickson And The Aliens – The Evil One (415, 1981)
Keith – The Adventures of Keith (RCA, 1969)
Marquis de Sade – Dantzig Twist (Pathe, 1979)
Ollie Nightingale – Sweet Surrender (Pride, 1973)
20/20 – 20/20 (Portrait, 1979)
Random Hold – The View From Here (Polydor, 1980)
The Room – Indoor Fireworks (Virgin, 1982)
The Lords of the New Church – The Lords of the New Church (Illegal, 1982)
Dancing Did – And Did Those Feet (Kamera, 1982)
Martin Dupont – Hot Paradox (Facteurs d’Ambiance, 1987)
Sumo – Llegando los monos (CBS, 1986)
Dicks – These People (Alternative Tentacles, 1985)

Bubbling under: The Bill Dixon Orchestra, Cold in Berlin, David Johansen, Aviary, Strange Passage, Shaam Larein, Fuzzy Lights, Phantom Spell, Musta Paraati, Features, Prolapse, Mystic Braves, The Apartments, Nick Riff, Blood & Roses,

Records

To account for my limited space and budget, I focused on records from mostly 1980-82. This tariff thing is killing me — I lost out on getting reasonably priced copies of Opposition’s Intimacy because they can’t ship to me from France or Canada.

The Birthday Party – The Birthday Party (1980) & Prayers on Fire (1981)
Opposition – Breaking the Silence (1981) & Promises (1984)
The Comsat Angels – Sleep No More (1981) & Fiction (1982)
Soft Boys – Underwater Moonlight (1980)
The Only Ones – Even Serpents Shine (1979)
The Raincoats – Odyshape (1981)
Japan – Tin Drum (1981)
Au Pairs – Playing with a Different Sex (1981)
Siouxsie & the Banshees – Juju (1981) & Kiss in the Dreamhouse (1982)
Simple Minds – Sons and Fascination/Sister Feelings Call (1981)
Small Faces – Ogden’s Nut Gone Flake (1968)
Grace Jones – Nightclubbing (1981)
CRASS – Penis Envy (1981)

The only 2025 vinyl album I have so far is Messa’s. Bubbling under: Custard Flux, Shriekback, The Zombies, Love, Rush, Styx.

Labels
Ripple returned to its usual dominance, tying Heavy Psych Sounds for first, which again makes their $5/mo subscription the most valuable of the year if you like what they put out. The top Ripple release was Godzillionaire’s Diminishing Returns, and Heavy Psych boasted the impressive debut from Black Honey Cult. Sub Pop dropped from 17 releases to 10 making thi list. Note that these labels released even more, but these are what grabbed my attention. Small metal indie label Dying Victims had a great year, keeping up with bigger labels Napalm and Nuclear Blast.

Heavy Psych (18)
Ripple (18)
Dying Victims (11)
Napalm (11)
Nuclear Blast (11)
Domino (10)
Sub Pop (10)
Drag City (9)
Matador (9)
Profound Lore (9)
Season of Mist (9)
Century Media (8)
Fire (8)
High Roller (8)

Singles

As usual, I’m waiting for my singles guru Toby to come up one of his rare, but essential postings on The Finest Kiss. He almost tempts me to start buying actual 7″ records again. Best selection of indie pop, jangle pop, dream pop, and soul that you won’t see on any other list. At the moment, it is not published yet, so here’s last year’s.

Videos

264 and counting!

YouTube Channels

The Sea Of Tranquility (110K Subscribers, 6.7K Videos)
The Outlaw Bookseller (16.3K, 697)
Rammel Broadcasting (29.9K, 356)
Banger TV (383K, 1.3K)
Bookpiled (56.3K, 135)
Robert Fithen (17.5K, 375)
Mike’s Book Reviews (144K, 1.3K)
The Metal Meltdown (25K, 1.3K)
Words in Time (17.7K, 239)
Nate Garrett’s Big Riff Energy (21.2K, 122)
Flick Connection (665K, 857)
The Vinyl Douche (2.1K, 301)
Ben Rankins (1.18K, 362)

Bonus Playlists

I’ve been making top 20 artist and year song mixes with my old friend Mike this year. Of course I can never keep it to 20… Coming soon, Neil Young.

Apple
1978-82 Choons

Shows

The biggest draw for me was a band I last saw play 30 years ago in a small room in Chicago with probably no more than 30 people. Back then, Acid Bath were just a hard rock band that played their own uniquely dark and filthy mix of grunge, noise rock and metal. It was only decades later that they were shoveled into the NOLA sludge metal category after the fact. Like Melvins and Kyuss, they simply had their own unique thing going, and those that followed them simply huffed at the fumes and boiled down one of their many aspects. Lately I’d probably listened to Dax Riggs’ psych noir solo albums more often, but wow, did their set sound fresh as a blackened daisy. They managed to get the best sound of all the bands that day, their set balanced between their two albums When the Kite String Pops (1994) and Paegan Terrorism Tactics (1996). In front of me there was a little tween girl mouthing the lyrics to every song, jumping up and down like she was at a Taylor Swift show. In fact, a lot of the audience were young, born after those albums came out. Best in fest!

Metal Day at Levitation 2025

Movies

It’s hard to do a full list of movies, as I have to be selective which ones I want to pay $20 to stream when I don’t even want to know how much I’m spending each month for the app subscriptions.

Just as John Hughes movies in the 80s were the perfect backdrop to my teen years, some early indie classics came out during college, like Steven Soderbergh’s uniquely quirky Sex, Lies and Videotape (1989), Whit Stillman’s erudite, loquacious Metropolitan (1990), and Gus Van Sant’s poetic My Own Private Idaho (1991). But my main man, my Jim Jamusch, my Jean-Luc Godard throughout the 90s, was Hal Hartley. His initial trio of movies, The Unbelievable Truth (1989), Sundance winner Trust (1990) and Surviving Desire (1991) introduced me to his philosophical deadpan style, where ordinary working class characters would ponder existentialism, literature and theology in the middle of their mundane routines, always in a stylized flat monotone. Kind of like Charles Schulze’s characters grown up. They’d also at times spontaneously break out into synchronized dance numbers. On paper that might sound cringeworthy, but in the trickster/magician hands of Hartley, who wrote, directed, and composed nearly all the music for his films, they conveyed an intense moral sincerity that was distinctly lacking from many of his peers.

As his influence started to show up in Todd Solondz, Kevin Smith and Alison Anders, Hartley evolved, tackling darker noir in Amateur (1994) and the sprawling, novelistic Henry Fool (1998), regarded by some as his career peak, winning the best screenplay award at Cannes International Film Festival. He continued to experiment in the 2000s with varied success, ending up with somewhat more difficult, convoluted storytelling, but compelling all the same. By 2019, he had slipped under many radars after Ned Rifle (2014) completed the Henry Fool trilogy without much critical fanfare. Focusing on his art rather than the Hollywood hustle (though he did direct seven episodes of the Red Oaks (2015-17) series on Amazon, and developed his own pilot, Our Lady of the Highway, which was published as a novel in 2022), he used Kickstarter to crowdfund his later movies, and when the project for Where to Land was announced in December 2019, I was all in. Here Hal, take our moneys. Within a month, 1,555 of his loyal fans raised over $370,000, and production was set to start in early 2020. Delayed by the pandemic, it finally was launched in a limited run of theaters in September 2025, and Blu-ray and streaming via Vimeo on November 28.

It includes familiar faces from his repertory stable, Bill Sage, Robert John Burke and Edie Falco, along with more freshly hatched younger faces (Kaitlyn Sparks as niece Veronica, Jeremy Hendrik as young filmmaker Mick), along with a standout from Kathleen Chalfant, who plays Elizabeth, a 100 year-old activist/writer friend who offers historical levity as she twirls a cigar between her fingers, expressing regret that she won’t be around to witness the “interesting” societal collapse from the impending climate crisis. Sage plays Joe Fulton, a semi-retired director of romantic comedies who, at 58, applies for a job as an assistant groundskeeper at the local cemetery. His niece, girlfriend and friends don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s also working on his will and testament, spreading the rumor that he’s dying. Even Muriel (Kim Taff), the annoyingly histrionic girlfriend who plays the superhero The Blue Blaze in a successful TV franchise, wins us over with her charming enthusiasm for a reboot in her career. It’s a proposed series about a convent of outlaw nuns in Williamsburg who form a microbrewery, which is the exact story of Hartley’s Our Lady of the Highway book.

In any other hands, Joe’s late-life contemplations could be dreary and bleak. But as usual, Hartley injects a lovely atmosphere of gentle whimsey and joy that elevates the movie above all others from 2025. Sure, it’s not an epic 2:42 long blockbuster that makes big statements with distinctly horrible characters. Instead, it offers healing, and dare I say hope, that amidst our current dumpster fire, there just might still be people who will continue to hold on to their idealism, empathy, and humanity. At 65, I hope this is just a start of a run of at least a few more fantastic late career movies from one of my all-time favorites.

Wow, what a rollercoaster! First of all, what a brilliantly reprehensible group of suspects we have here that is the congregation of Monsignor Jefferson Wicks. Such a great satire on social media influencers and those who use religion as a weapon for grooming and radicalizing constituents. Hoo boy, and misogyny so thick you need a scythe to saw through it. But mostly, it’s just a great mystery with some fine acting, especially with Glenn Close, who steals the show with Shakesperian level chops. Hard to say any more without flirting with spoilers, but possibly the best movie of the year.

I hesitated just a little bit before diving in to this movie. I kind of overdid spooky season, binging on far more horror movies and books in four weeks than I’d ever done before, including Mary Shelley’s original 1818 version of Frankenstein. I didn’t love the book, as there were lots of problems with the original story, where Victor was still an undergrad when he accomplished making his creature far too suddenly and unceremoniously. While the film is more true to the structure of the book than any other adaptation, it definitely fills in the gaps where needed, with Victor approaching middle age, and only succeeding after (literal) trials and tribulations. In the movie, he is far less whingeing and self-pitying, and more single-minded obsessive. Guillermo del Toro also takes the opportunity to feature a far stronger female character than Shelley could muster, with Mia Goth (what a perfect name) as the formidable Elizabeth. Sure, it was 1818, but Shelley’s mother, Mary Wollencraft, was a feminist who wrote the groundbreaking A Vindication of the Rights of Woman in 1792. I think she’d have been pleased by del Toro’s changes. The ending is also altered in a much more satisfying manner. del Toro’s storytelling and cinematography elevates the gothic source material into a new modern classic. A reminder that I really need to watch everything Guillermo del Toro has done.

Links to reviews on Letterboxd.

Decent: Paddington in Peru, The Thursday Murder Club, Black Bag, The Naked Gun, Play Dirty.

Haven’t seen yet: The Secret Agent, The Shrouds, Happyend, Blue Moon, If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, Marty Supreme, Springsteen: Deliver Me From Nowhere, It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley, Zootopia 2, The Bad Guys 2, Downton Abbey: The Grand Finale, Hamnet, KPop Demon Hunters.

Television

By far the best show I’ve seen is Slow Horses, which I binged all five seasons within a couple months. I mean, Gary frickin’ Oldman, come on! One of the best actors ever, slumming it on a TV show. He said that he plans to retire after the series ends. Here’s hoping it goes for 20 seasons!

Slow Horses S5 (Apple)
Stranger Things S5 (Netflix)
The White Lotus S3 (HBO)
The Sandman S2 (Netflix)
Hacks S4 (Max)
Elsbeth S3 (Paramount)
Loot S3 (Apple+)
A Man on the Inside S2 (Netflix)
Belgravia: The Next Chapter S2 (MGM/Hulu)
Maigret (Britbox)
Only Murders in the Building S4
Professor T S3
Van Der Valk

Bubbling under: Platonic, The Marlow Murder Club, The Bay, D.I. Ray, Father Brown, Grantchester, McDonald & Dodds, Miss Scarlet, The Nordic Murders, Quirke, Ridley, Shetland, Sister Boniface, The Tower.

Haven’t seen: Dr. Who, Dark Matter, Interview With the Vampire, Lord of the Rings, Pachinko, Time Bandits, Watchmen: Chapter 1, Dune: Prophecy,

Books

It feels like only yesterday that I read Chris Frantz’ Remain in Love: Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, Tina (2020), and wasn’t sure I was ready for more Talking Heads reading. There certainly isn’t a lack of coverage, with David Bowman’s This Must Be the Place: The Adventures of Talking Heads in the Twentieth Century (2001), Ian Gittins’ Talking Heads: Once in a Lifetime: The Stories Behind Every Song (2004), Jonathan Lethem’s Talking Heads’ Fear of Music (33 1/3 Book 86, 2012), Alan Bennett’s The Complete Talking Heads (2024), and David Starkey’s Talking Heads (On Track, 2025), among others. I may not know everything about the Talking Heads, but I know as much as I need to. However, Jonathan Gould has the greatest bonafides of any of the above writers, except for literary fiction star Lethem, having written Can’t Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America (2007) and Otis Redding: An Unfinished Life (2017), and despite note being granted interviews with any of the members, it was a safe assumption that this would be the definitive book.

It was good timing, sandwiched between the 40th Anniversary reissue of Jonathan Demme’s acclaimed concert film Stop Making Sense (1984) and Rhino’s deluxe bookback box set of More Songs About Buildings and Food (1978). Gould delivers, filling in the cultural backdrop of the Heads’ journey from RISD to the gritty Manhattan lofts of the mid-70s. However, I would note that “the New York Scene That Transformed Rock” part of the book’s title is somewhat of a misnomer, because he’s fairly dismissive of the importance of Patti Smith, the Ramones, Television, Blondie, Richard Hell & the Voidoids, Johnny Thunders & the Heartbreakers, The Feelies, saying they were the only band to “have a musical career.” After Frantz’s fawning portrayal of his wife Tina in his book, this book reminded me of the feeling I got that he was a bit afraid of her. Indeed, the monster in this story for the most part isn’t Byrne’s hogging the credits and spotlight, or Eno’s prima-donna behavior. It’s Tina Weymouth’s constant, endless bullying of Byrne in the press, talking about him as if he was her mentally deficient child, and one who’s (not officially diagnosed) Asperger’s spectrum behavior represented some kind of moral failure. Only the band knows for sure, but Weymouth could be the reason there was not a ninth studio album. Byrne presented songs to the group, but they wanted to return to the jamming approach they did in the beginning of the decade. His songs ended up on Rei Momo (1989), and Byrne never looked back. I could talk about why they were the greatest American band in 1979-1982 (Television were better in 77-78, R.E.M. in 1983-88), but the book covers it quite well.

Music Non-Fiction

Jonathan Gould – Burning Down the House: Talking Heads and the New York Scene That Transformed Rock (2025)
Peter Ames Carlin – The Name of This Band is R.E.M.: A Biography (2024)
Brian J, Kramp – This Band Has No Past: How Cheap Trick Became Cheap Trick (2022)
Pete & Louie Shelley – Ever Fallen in Love: The Lost Buzzcocks Tapes (2021)
Barney Hoskyns – Waiting for the Sun: A Rock & Roll History of Los Angeles (2009)
Robin Bell – The History of British Rock and Roll: The Psychedelic Years 1967 – 1969 (2017)
Mark Andrews – Paint My Name in Black and Gold: The Rise of the Sisters of Mercy
Robyn Hitchcock – 1967: How I Got There and Why I Never Left (2024)

New Fiction

Thomas Pynchon – Shadow Ticket (2025)

Thomas Pynchon – Shadow Ticket (2025)
Dave Hutchinson – The Essence (2025)
Haruki Murakami – The City and Its Uncertain Walls (2024)
Christopher Moore – Anima Rising (2025)
Neal Stephenson – Polostan (2024)
Percival Everett – James (2024)
Robert Jackson Bennett – The Tainted Cup (Shadow of the Leviathan Book 1, 2024)
Alan Moore – The Great When (2024)

TBR
C.D. Rose – We Live Here Now (2025)
Stephen Graham Jones – Buffalo Hunter Hunter (2025)
Solvej Balle – On the Calculation of Volume #1 (2025)
Daniel Kehlmann – The Director (2025)
Kate Folk – Sky Daddy (2025)
Riley August – The Last Gifts of the Universe (2024)
Nina Allan – A Granite Silence (2025)
Carl Hiassen – Fever Beach (2025)
Catherynne M. Valente – Space Oddity (2025)
Jason Pargin – I’m Starting to Worry About this Box of Doom (2024)
Craig DiLouise – My Ex the Antichrist (2025)
T. Kingfisher – Hemlock & Silver (2025)
Joe Hill – King Sorrow (2025)
Claire North – Slow Gods (2025)

Joe Abercrombie, Susan Choi, Nicole Galland, John Kenney, Charlott McConaghy, James Norbury, Jude Alec Owen, Taylor Jenkins Reid, Maggie Stiefvater, Richard Swan.

Old Fiction

Haruki Murakami – Kafka on the Shore (2002)

Tom Robbins – Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (2000)

“People of the wurl, relax.”

After reading the disappointing Villa Incognito (2005), I got a bit worried when this book’s hero Switters, a 36 year-old CIA agent and known loose cannon, obsesses over both his sixteen year-old step-sister and the notions of innocence. For several chapters. I wouldn’t have complained if some of that was trimmed from the lengthy novel. But once he’s visited a shaman in Peru’s Amazon rainforest named alternatively End of Time and Today is Tomorrow, things get rolling. His mission to release his grandmother’s beloved parrot Sailor Boy into the wild is foiled when on a drug-induced spirit journey, Switters unwittingly is fed the parrot. The price for the arcane knowledge is a curse that he is not to let his feet touch the ground again on penalty of death. His doubts are dissolved when British ethnographer, R. Potney Smithe, drops dead in front of him from a similar curse.

Switters makes do with a wheelchair and sometimes stilts, and ends up with a renegade order of nuns in a convent tucked away in the Syrian Desert. The nuns are the keeper of a prophecy, the Third Secret of Fatima, and during his lengthy stay with them, has extensive discussions about spirituality, the dogma of organized religion, the balance of good and evil, and the power of imagination and humor and how he incorporates it into his own paths informed by Zen, Taoism, Tantra, as well as pacifism and anarchy. The running gag of his obsession with James Joyce’s Finnegans Wake highlights the importance of language and the idea that the universe is a place of inherent paradox and cyclical mystery. It’s Switters’ bible of sorts, a manual to finding meaning in the irrational, embracing contradictions and chaos.

Robbins frequently crosses the line of good taste and restraint, partly because at that point, he’s 65 and has zero Fs left to give. This feels like a kind of magnum opus, a culmination of his previous work. If Switters seems an unlikely character in how extremely capable he is with his talents, and a bit smug in his intellect. His Bugs Bunny manner and some particularly obvious flaws make his ego forgivable as he does go through a character arc, slowly becoming at least somewhat worthy of the love of Sister Domino Thiry, who is much more age appropriate at 46.

Amidst the irreverent philosophizing and slapstick humor are some serious themes, as well as some prescient moments that are downright spooky in a book published on September 5, 2000:

“American foreign policy invites opposition. It invites terrorism.” Switters said, “Terrorism is the only imaginable logical response to America’s foreign policy, just as street crime is the only imaginable logical response to America’s drug policy.”

But mainly he leaves us with the wisdom to embrace contradictions with a mix of Zen detachment and irreverent wit, defeating melancholy by refusing to take things, and oneself, too seriously.

Haruki Murakami – Kafka on the Shore (2002)
Tom Robbins – Fierce Invalids Home from Hot Climates (2000)
Philip K. Dick – The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch (1964)
Philip K. Dick – Ubik (1969)
Ursula K. Le Guin – The Lathe of Heaven (1971)
Norman Spinrad – Little Heroes (1987)
T.R. Napper – 36 Streets (2022)
John Bellairs – The House with a Clock in Its Walls (1973)
Thomas Pynchon – Vineland (1990)
Kurt Vonnegut – Mother Night (1961)
William Gibson – Idoru (Bridge #2, 1996)
John Shirley – City Come A-Walkin’ (1980)
Michael Bishop – Count Geiger’s Blues (1992)

Bubbling under: Christopher Priest, Neal Stephenson, Terry Pratchett, Ted Chiang, Michael Moorcock, Lewis Shiner, Mick Farren.

Fester’s Favorite Things

Bearaby Weighted Blanket
Many people sleep better with a weighted pressure on top of you. If your cats or dog won’t stay put, this is the next best thing. I’m also hoping it’ll help stop me from turning on my side in my sleep, and finally get rid of the sore shoulder.

Pulsetto FIT vagus nerve stimulator
Another sleep health device, the vagus nerve is a very key part of the nervous system, and can be stimulated to help relieve stress and help prevent you from waking up numerous times in the night. It seems to work!

Serious Readers Lamps
I’d love one of these, but they are only in the UK and shipping is just not an affordable option right now. I can’t seem to find any equivalent in the U.S.

Krampus art from Etsy
Everyone here knows the most wonderful time of the year between Halloween and Xmas/Hanukkah/Kwanzaa is not Thanksgiving, but Krampusnacht on December 5. For the first time in a whiile the Fester’s Lucky 13 banner art doesn’t feature a Margaryta of RytasArtWorld‘s painting, but there’s still some choice ones I haven’t used yet, like this one. It’s kind of sad, Krampus disappearing into the woods.

For those who don’t mess with physical media, but at least still listen to music files, a Bandcamp gift card is pretty cool.

Posted in: Bandcamp, Books, Features, Film, Listicles, Lucky 13, News, Rants, Reissues, Reviews, TV, Videos/Singles

Other

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April 13, 2026

Spirit Adrift – Infinite Illumination (20 Buck Spin)

Truckfighters – Masterflow (Fuzzorama)

April 6, 2026

The Big Wave: Brigitte Calls Me Baby, Cardinals, The Twilight Sad, Bad//Dreems

Autumn Reading

Fester’s Lucky 13: 1966

Fester’s Lucky 13: 2025 Year-End Summary