I skipped doing an end of year music round up last year and the year before for various reasons but mostly because I'm not buying or listening to a hell of a lot of new music or newly re-released music any more. For what it's worth here's a couple of things I enjoyed in the last few years.
2023
Sepia Cat City - Moon Wiring Club
Holy Evil Sister - Controlled Death
2024
Road To Nowhere - CT57
Diamond Jubilee - Cindy Lee
Aeson Zervas - Aeson Zervas
Millbrook Memories - CT57
Distant Sounds Of Desolation - CT57
2025
Gruesome Shrewd/Grisly Exaggerated - Moon Wiring Club
With You Every Night - Ariel Pink
Danse Des Larmes - VÍZ
War Against The Lie - Susu Laroche
Per Tenebras Ad Motem - Controlled Death
Old cds, records & tapes on the stereo in 2025
Geogaddi/Campfire Headphase/Twoism - Boards Of Canada
Moons Milk In Four Phases/Black Antlers/The Ape Of Naples - Coil
Investigate Witch Cults Of The Radio Age - Broadcast & The Focus Group
Evol - Sonic Youth
Juju - Siouxsie & The Banshees
Maanam - Maanam
Nowa Alexandria - Siekiera
You're Living All Over Me/Hand It Over - Dinosaur Jr
Seventeen Seconds/Faith/Pornography/Head On The Door/Disintegration - The Cure
You Made Me Realise/Isn't Anything/Glider/Tremelo/Loveless - My Bloody Valentine
Treasure/Victorialand - Cocteau Twins
Mysterious Skin OST - Robin Guthrie & Harold Budd
Xuvetyn - LoveLiesCrushing
Boys And Girls - Bryan Ferry
Land Of The Lost/Follow Blind/Silver Sail - The Wipers
Emergency Third Power Trip - Rain Parade
Uninvited By The Clouds - The Church
Black Vinyl Shoes/Present Tense - Shoes
Black Sea/Skylarking - XTC
The Monkey Puzzle/Casablanca - The Saints
Automatic Midnight/Suicide Invoice/Audit In Progress - Hot Snakes
Songs About Leaving - Carissa's Weird
Last American Hero/Genie Head Gas In The Tower Of Dreams/KFC City 3099 PT. 1 Toxic Spill/Star Digital Theatre/Flushpipe/Gecko/Kava Jar Race/iAsia - James Ferraro
So it seems I've been mainly listening to music from the 80s and the 00s. Mostly all about the guitars whether that be jangly, dreamy, noisy, gloomy or gaze-y. Otherwise it was all about the haunted or hypnagogic psychedelic-electro-acoustic experiments.
After Resident Advisor did a thing on the best electronic albums of the century so far I pretty much decided that had to be Boards Of Canada's Geogaddi even though it didn't even get on their retarded top 100 list. As much as I love cds by The Caretaker, Philip Jeck, Burial, The Focus Group, Panda Bear, Daft Punk, Gas, Pole, Rustie etc. Geogaddi to me seems to be startlingly outstanding by a long way.
As far as the 80s go re-listening to Isn't Anything impressed me the most as I rarely revisit it unlike say Cocteau Twins' Treasure which I've never stopped playing for 35 years. Isn't Anything is surprisingly severely underrated by the new shoegaze kids who can't seem to get past Loveless even though Isn't Anything might be even more innovative and exciting.
The suave nocturnal atmospheres of Bryan Ferry's Boys & Girls was my second most played album this year after the new Moon Wiring Club epic. So smooth and sophisticated and Mark Knopfler makes an appearance.
Hadn't heard The Cure's Disintegration for 34 years and I was mighty impressed. I mean Robert Smith always impresses with his pop sensibilities and cold gloomy tones but Disintegration gets absolutely delirious in the best best possible way.
