5:5:5: XIX: 2025-26 - A Lovingly Gathered Tapestry of 65 Standout Tracks...
5:5:5: XIX. 2025-26.
Here we are then, the annual celebration of dedicated listening and digging, 65 champion cuts from the hyper-attentive selectors below, a feast of tracks, chosen and cherished by label regulars and kin, a lovingly gathered tapestry of exploratory sounds and music.
Discovered and loved during 2025, 5 a-piece, by this wonderfully discerning lot. . .
|| Alphabets Heaven | Ring Modulator | Clas Tuuth ||| Damian Evans || Proprio || Readsy || Electric Ape || Scaramanga Silk ||| Aidan Maartens | zillagramwiches || | Branner Griswell || Ben Kubla Khan || Stephen Kin;aesthetic |
1.
Francis & The Lights
Knees To The Floor
[2010, Cantora Records]
On a brisk morning in the park* I was listening to Chance The Rapper’s Acid Rap and noticed that almost everyone who has featured on a track of his is amazing, this led me to this incredible Francis & The Lights album: It'll Be Better.
This album kind of exists in two worlds. There is a lot of early 80s DNA, but a lot of the production is extremely novel. Reminds me a lot of both Prince’s debut album and Bruce Springsteen’s Born In The USA. Luminescent funk synths. Stomping drum programming. Earnest and cutting vocals. Frankly I’m pretty annoyed at myself for not knowing about it when it came out 15 years ago.
* Unverified
2.
dreamcastmoe
feat. Nappynappa
Flowers
[2025, Rhythm Section International]
I first got to know Washington DC Dreamcastmoe from his occasional appearances and performances on NTS Radio, where it was very clear he was just hanging out all day at the studio making friends and improvising over whoever was DJing. His work always feels very effortless and heartfelt at the same time.
This year Lost Tapes Vol 3 came out on Rhythm Section. Beats are quite varied, from proto-trap to the more loop driven stuff you’d probably expect. All quite lo-fi and SP 404-esque. Flowers became a mini-anthem in my world.
3.
Los Pirañas
Despectiva Caridad
[2025, Glitterbeat]
There were two standout live performances for me this year. The first was seeing Los Pirañas at Café Oto in March.
Friends who knew about the group much before myself have informed me they are a punky 3 piece cumbia band from Columbia. All members of the group are excellent and unique musicians, and I’m happy to say a lot of what I loved about the group live comes through on their latest album Una Oportunidad Mas De Triunfar En La Vida.
For quite a few months I was obsessed with the guitar tones*. If you like anything vaguely related to psychedelic rock or cumbia I think this album is for you.
* An insane amount of chorus
4.
Tyler, The Creator
Sticky
[2025, Columbia]
The second standout performance for me this year was Tyler The Creator Chromakopia tour.
The energy, performances, outfits and stage design blew me away.
Chromakopia LP in a lot ways continues with where Igor left off.
Punk guitars, Stevie Wonder breakdowns and Neptune-esque sounds are everywhere. Additionally there is a lot of experimentation with drumline throughout, which I enjoyed a lot. Particularly how it affected the overall structure of some of the tracks, many are non-linear with some wild transitions.
5.
Kenny Burrel
Mark 1
[1964, Concord / Prestige]
The rest of this selection aside, this year I have been listening to a lot of jazz. I ended get up getting quite into Kenny Burrell. If you don’t know the name you would likely have heard him on a bunch of classic Blue Note LPs.
Kenny Burrell seems to have it all, and the album Soul Call/Here’s That Rainy Day demonstrates quite a lot of the all. Beautiful solo ballads, some larger group jams, and a really fun fast modal track called Mark 1.
1.
Coatshek
Slipping
[2025, Dark Entries]
From the 6 track Sound Bath EP, Sheki Cicelsky creates bathhouse sauna music to transport you through the steam into a slippery hole creating an addictive orgasm of beautifully programmed machine rhythm and heavenly synth pads.
Think Dub Techno inspired driving soundtracks with a heavy dose of anal lube. Honestly, since it's release, this has been getting a daily spin. IMO, my favourite release from Dark Entries this year and boy oh boy....there have been so many great ones.
Something to continually get lost in, every listen.
2.
Safe Mind
6' Pole
[2025, Nude Club]
Gus Muller (Boy Harsher) & Cooper B Handy (LUCY) create an unlikely but perfect duo in Safe Mind. As always Gus's programming is perfect and offsets Coopers off kilter vocals.....6' Pole works so well, the vocals give an attitude for an infectious slab of dance floor synth pop.
Mullers synth programming is stunning as usual with masses of Pulse Width Modulation on Bass offset by some catchy wooden pseudosynth plonk riff....it's in your head, it's not going to go, it's going to hit you hard and make you dance.
3.
Kompromat feat. Vimala Pons & Sonia DeVille
I Let Myself Go Blind
[2025, Warrior Records]
Kompromat is Vitalic and Rebeka Warrior.
This slams like Franco Cold Wave synth porn, it oozes something so oscillatingly hot and just as it breaks down...it comes back right at you ...grabs you by the throat and puts you right into the middle of mass of synthetic goodness..... that breakdown terminated into an endorphin explosion....
just perfect like the whole album.
4.
Lopezhouse feat. Lannakise
Scorpio Rising
[2020, Kompakt]
A late 60's early 70's Pop Psychedelia Vocal Hook meets an absolute corker.......
makes you warm inside, makes you happy, makes you smile whilst walking down the sunny side of the street....euphoria euphoria euphoria....and that's a vocal hook that's going to be an ear worm.
Everyone is smiling, as the sun is setting Scorpio is Rising.
5.
Hackney Electronica
H.E. Nuestro Circuito
[2025, Dark Entries]
From the Synaptic Shadows E.P., a brooding, moody, throbbing journey through dark city streets, mechanised, transistorised beats and oscillations with snatches of penta/hepatonic melodies reflecting the Japanese Analogue Hardware this sound was created on.......
think of the journey ending within the devices....
a bit like a Tron synopsis but inside a bunch of Retro Roland Gear.
1.
Whatever The Weather
15°C
[2025, Ghostly International]
I’ve been mainly listening to quieter, downtempo music this year, maybe I wanted to try and ignore world events a bit and relax a little?
Who knows why. Whatever the Weather is a pseudonym for Loraine James and this is the second album under the name, but the first I picked up on.
It’s total gem of an album and this is a highlight, but the whole thing is well worth your time.
2.
Namesbliss & Vagrant Real Estate
ADHD
[2025, Lively]
I’ve been loving UK rap’s sidestep into more mellow tempos over the last couple of years and there now seems to be so much good stuff within that bracket.
ADHD stood out in particular for me this year. Moving, clever and beautiful production.
What more could you want?
3.
La Reezy
I Look Good
[2025, La Reezy LLC]
I might be heavily leaning towards the UK these days, but US underground hip-hop is still going strong of course, and this La Reezy album/mixtape is a fantastic example of it.
There’s more than a hint of nineties hip hop to the production, but it feels very fresh and not at all reliant on nostalgia.
This is a stand out track and worth checking out the video.
4.
Bonobo
Angeles
[2025, Milan / Adult Swim]
When I found out that Bonobo was scoring the new series from Shin'ichirô Watanabe I was so over-excited to both watch the new show and hear the music I can’t tell you, impatiently checking release and broadcast months ahead.
As it turned out, the show was a bit of a disappointment sadly, but the score is not!
The press releases made more of the floating points contributions, which are on their own release, but I think I listened to this Bonobo score more than any other album this year.
It’s hard to pick a single track from it because it all works so well together, but I think Angeles just about stands out.
5.
Jorja Smith
The Way I Love You
[2025, FAMM]
Depressingly, Jorja Smith was probably spoken about more this year in discussions about using artist’s vocals without permission to feed AI, but what everyone should have been talking about was this absolute banger of a UKG track released in May.
She just goes from strength to strength in my eyes, what a class act.
Damian Evans
1.
Kae Tempest
Breathe
[2025, Island]
Featuring the excellent Young Fathers, this non-stop autobiographical gem from the great Kae Tempest builds throughout and never lets up in its four and a half minutes.
2.
Cate Le Bon
Jerome
[2025, Mexican Summer]
The opening track from one of the albums of the year follows a similar style to her previous album, Pompeii.
Effected saxophone, guitar and keyboards with a chorus that will stay in your ears for days.
3.
Baxter Dury feat. JGreey
Schadenfreude
[2025, Heavenly]
For me, Baxter's finest album to date.
A superb blend of house-influenced beats and samples with Baxter's unique delivery atop.
Banger after banger with this probably my favourite.
4.
Lael Neale
Come On
[2025, Sub Pop]
The great Virginian singer-songwriter delivered a more ambitious sound, overall, on her latest album, Altogether Stranger, while still keeping her DIY, minimalist and lo-fi ethos.
One of the albums of the year with this being my favourite track.
5.
Wet Leg
11:21
[2025, Domino]
As good a sophomore album as any of late, Wet Leg followed up their startling debut with such apparent ease, it was as if there was no pressure on them to produce the goods whatsoever.
This slow paced and stripped down slice of meloncholia showcases the broader array of sounds on Moisturizer.
Proprio
1.
Isabelle Mayereau
On A Trouvé...
[1980, Disc'Az]
Immersive minimal cold-wave electronics from the under-rep'd Isabelle Mayereau, taken from the 1980 LP, Des Mots Étranges...
Enjoyed exploring her early releases, and this highlight in particular, cool pulsing synth bass, gently charged snapping drums and icey ambient pockets laid bare for Isabelle's absorbing, warmly melodious vocals.
Completely entrancing.
2.
Elaine Howley
Live As I Saw It
[2023, Touch Sensitive]
Sparse, soporific, heart-beating ballad from the brilliant Elaine Howley, settled on her haunting 2023 soundtrack-only release here, but equally struck by 2022's To The Test and recent cocooning epic, Hold Me In A New Way via Modern Love / Boomkat, all 2025 listening highlights.
Howley's is an embracing, mesmerising, singular sound; fall into those heavy ambiences.
3.
Avôzinho
Mamã Mamã Divua Diame
[1975, Merengue]
Brilliant el niño vibes from Angola's Avôzinho aka José Francisco Portugal, the A-side of this solo 1975 7" present tender soperific guitar swells, bringing the 70s West Coast glory of Senegal's Orchestra Baobab to mind and ear, Avôzinho's soothing Portuguese tones add a cross-atlantic Brazilian breeze to the whole Afro-Caribbean radiating affair.
4.
Peter Tosh
You Can't Fool Me Again
(Straight To Rag - Jah - Rabbit Head)
[1998, Impact!]
Caught as part of a fine radio selection on BBC 6Music by Kae Tempest, this 7" only "Dub" of sorts hit me hard, standing proud against the straightup vocal flip - Released as part of a 7" Impact! reissue in 1998 but seemingly recorded as part of the '69 session.
Its grittier, rawer production style hard rides the mixer, contrasting so well with Tosh's delivery, version/vocals tough-cut so the sharp lyrics are starkly lit, there's just no hiding.
The buoyant rhythm bursting back through, simply brilliant soft dub gem, what a difference production technique can make.
5.
Magma
Üdü Wüdü
[1976/77, Utopia / Tomato / Seventh]
Explosive drum machine driven drama from 70s French Prog-Jazz collective Magma, Christian Vander leads the awe-inspiring eruption of Psych pyrotechnics, vocal gymnastics and heated jazz-phrasing, gloriously eccentric, quick moving hot jazz lava - a touchstone for the repeating,
roulé-looping, hypnotic French Filtered House?
1.
Sababa 5
VU
[2025, Batov Records]
Hailing from Tel Aviv, Sababa 5 blend psychedelic Middle Eastern influences with funk, Afro and jazz-inspired grooves. A twisting and turning instrumental style that’s both rich and danceable.
Their self-titled album is a melting pot from regional influences to a global groove-centric sound that instantly craves attention.
2.
YĪN YĪN
One Inch Punch
[2019, Bongo Joe]
Following on from the previous track, maintaining a similar vibe, although this is a more uptempo funktafied outing. Dutch outfit Yin Yin are known for their heady mix of psychedelia, funk, disco, and Southeast Asian textures.
One Inch Punch is taken from The Rabbit That Hunts Tigers album. The track upholds their energetic fusion of world-piercing melodies and groove-driven rhythms that define their unique sound.
3.
HENGE
DNA
[2023, Cosmic Dross]
A name that seems to be on many a music enthusiasts lips at the moment. Manchester’s HENGE describe their music as “Cosmic Dross” — an eclectic fusion of space-rock, electronic, and avant-pop theatrics. Taken from their album Alpha Test 4.
This track takes us on a quest of sci-fi-leaning atmosphere, along with surreal lyrics and expansive soundscapes. They are currently touring (including Brighton) and their mind blowing live performances are apparently a spectacle to behold!
4.
Blawan feat. Monstera Black
Rabbit Hole
[2025, XL Recordings]
Veteran techno producer Blawan (Jamie Roberts) teamed up with vocalist/producer Monstera Black for Rabbit Hole, a standout from the album SickElixir.
This track blends his signature cold industrial-edge electronica with more intimate, lyrical inflections, combining restless introspective intensity, creating a world that reflects his evolution beyond club minimalism.
5.
David Byrne
Feat. Ghost Train Orchestra
Everybody Laughs
[2025, Matador Records]
Finishing on a lighter note…
Byrne delivers a joyful pop prancer, that harks back to the black humour irony of early Talking Head hits such as Road to nowhere!
A buoyant blend of pop, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and wry lyricism. With the backdrop of the fantastic Ghost Train Orchestra , this ticks all the boxes of perfect feel good music. Setting the tone around daily human existence.
In current times this is a reminder, that laughter is the best cure for all the doom and gloom that seems to bombard us too often these days!
1.
Intrusion
Never Forget
(Remastered by POLE)
[2025, Echospace]
My continuing exploration and love of dub techno continues unabated into 2025.
Evocative, deep, timeless, glorious.
Stephen Hitchell is the man.
2.
Fuzzy Lights
Greenteeth
[2025, Meadows]
Saw this band live in Brighton as the very talented guitarist and producer Xavier also dabbles in modular music-making (which is how our paths crossed).
Fuzzy Lights blew me away with their English folk combined with psyche and post-rock elements. Their latest album shows them going from strength to strength.
Juxtaposition of delicate and powerful. Fantastic
3.
Pulp
After You
(Pulp Vs. Soulwax)
[2013, Rough Trade]
Picked this up in a charity shop, as the Soulwax guaranteed a quality release.
I wasn't disappointed.
Jarvis never sounded raunchier.
This was an RSD release and not available digitally (legally). Played this at Adam Ring Modulator's party and the room went crazy. Banger.
4.
Sandwell District
Citrinitas Acid
[2025, Point Of Departure]
And they're back!
The legendary moody techno artists themselves, after over a decade of silence.
Sadly without one of the founding members of the group (RIP Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant). Caught them on tour in London - fantastic set by Function and Regis.
5.
Djrum
Galaxy In Silence
[2025, Houndstooth]
2025 has certainly been Felix Manuel's year: from amazing DJ sets (gutted I've not been to yet) to incredible releases.
His taste is enormously broad, from broken beat to techno to glitch to jazz. Massively talented musician and DJ.
1.
Nowhere People
Magnificent Seven
[2025, Artisjok Records]
Tucked away at the end of an E.P but gems this good cannot be hidden.
Straddling genres with ease, Nowhere People serve up a glistening sci-fi hyperjazz techno twinkler that tickles the earbuds, shifts feet, and stirs the soul.
Reminiscent of UK Techno don, Ian O'Brien, and that is more than welcomed.
2.
Oli XL feat. Chanel Beads
LOVE & POP
[2025, Warp Records]
Ingredients:
1. The pop-dance sensibility of Basement Jaxx. 2. The glitch-wizardry of Funkstörung. 3. The experimental-accessibility of Aphex Twin's Windowlicker.
Instructions: Stir well and leave to simmer until the full funk flavours pour out.
Serves: 2025 (and beyond) extremely well. Class number reviving the glitch sound with swagger, style, and a smile.
3.
SHOLTO
feat. Phoebe Coco
Smooth Sailing
[2025, DeepMatter Records]
My deepest apologies to SHOLTO on this selection. Choosing only one track from his catalogue is an injustice.
Ever since bursting onto the scene in 2022, Oscar Robertson has released an unstoppable array of incredible music of the finest calibre. Every track oozes soul and cinematic mastery.
Smooth Sailing (Ft. Phoebe Coco) opens his recent album 'The Sirens' and this vocal delight feels like it has been beamed straight from the heavens with those cascading harps, floaty strings, and dreamlike vocals.
Apologies again SHOLTO but thank you for the dilemma (and your talents).
4.
Siriusmo
In Der Klemme
[2025, Monkeytown Records]
Yes!
The boy Siriusmo returns and he delivers yet again. On In Der Klemme he pushes the sonic boundaries with twisted experimentalism for testing sound systems to the max.
Feels like Mr Oizo in a tense arm wrestle with LFO, over a clippy-clappy rhythm track, as your dreams distort and disintegrate into gloop leftovers. Slam this one on 11.
5.
Skye Newman
Family Matters
[2025, Skye Newman / Columbia]
Once in a while an artist arrives who you know on first listen has the makings of someone special. Skye Newman is such a talent. After seeing that a friend had worked on some tracks for her, I was instantly blown away when hitting 'play'.
The soul is decades deep with this one. A voice that pierces the heartstrings as she takes you on her journey. The world is there for the taking - own it Skye.
Aidan Maartens
1.
Astrid Sonne
Give my all
[2024, Escho]
From the Danish Astrid Sonne, an artist who always releases interesting things and has a great nts show.
This one is a stripped down devotional. The successive synth, piano, bass and drums work really nicely together with the vocals. All round nice track.
2.
Oliver Coates
Ultra valid
[2024, RVNG Intl]
The first track on the intriguingly named album 'Thob, shiver, arrow of time' - maybe sounds his cello makes.
It earns its place in the 5 as it's one I returned to a lot this year when lost for what to listen to. I just love the soaring, killer riff - well, double cello riff I guess, with accompanying samples/electric sounds.
3.
Damien Jurado
Silver Joy
[2014, Secretly Canadian]
A classic case of recency bias, but last night we watched The Holdovers, a great film about three variously broken people thrown together over Christmas.
It had this gentle lovely thing as the opening track which has buried itself into my brain so deep that it makes the 5. '...lay your troubles on the ground, no need to worry about them now...' Yes please Damien.
4.
caroline and Caroline Polachek
Tell me I never knew that
[2025, Rough Trade]
I loved the whole album ('caroline 2' - guess what their first album was called?!), which felt deeply nostalgic for some reason - the kind of album I would have listened to over and over twenty years ago.
Maybe it's the non-standard song constructions, acoustic guitar, anthemic heart-wrenching vocals - each song a bit of a journey. And weirdly, some vocoders.
I love all the vocals on this one especially, from caroline and Caroline. Looking forward to seeing them live next year in Cambridge.
5.
Loscil
Arrhythmia
[2025, Kranky]
2025 was a rough year and there were certain sounds I returned to again and again - lots of classical music, some merry and nostalgic trips back to the 2000s and 2010s, and quite a lot of ambient/drone like this loscil song.
I could put on any loscil album and the frequencies seem to match what I needed. Static to match the mind static.
This one, from an album about forest fires, has a nice dub techno vibe to it, though not much percussion in sight.
Tune in, haze out....
1.
Arnaud Roy aka FlybyNo
Skulk Around
[2014, G4F Records]
I’ve recently been replaying Dungeon of the Endless, and this track really encapsulates the feel of the world. You're exploring the depths of an abandoned science facility.
You've crash landed many layers deep into the maze of rooms. You and your crew of misfit part alien beings have to carry the core of your ship out to survive. It really is a beautiful soundtrack I keep returning to for it's melancholy tones and atmosphere.
2.
Sega Sound Team
Theme of "E-102y"
[2011, SEGA Music]
This is the theme track for an unlikely friend you make in Sonic Adventure 1. He is one of Dr Robotniks robotic creations. In freeing him from the egg carrier on his campaign, he becomes friends with the small animals you rescue, which are used to power the androids robotnik creates. And as a final act of selflessness, he self destructs to free the bird encased inside him to reunite with its family.
And this song plays. It is magic to me.
3.
Liquid Mike
AT&T
[2025, Liquid Mike]
This band has taken me by surprise recently, modern retro similar to Sodistilled but in a different flavour.
Kind of has a teen movie from the 90's style. Prenostalgic.
That feeling of having heard it before but it's the first time you've listened to it.
4.
Coheed and Cambria
Welcome Home
[2005, Sony BMG]
2000's MMORPG PvP Music. Introduced by a PvP video on youtube that has since been taken down due to copyright issues from a game called RF Online. AbsentimentalSL. Striker PVP.
I miss the era of being able to use music for gaming videos without issue. I discovered many songs I love dearly from that genre of video.
5.
Disasterpiece
Beacon
[2012, infin et al.]
OST from the game Fez.
I have featured this guy in my 555 before. He is greatly talented and makes unbelievable OSTs for games. He made the Hyper Light Drifter OST. My all time favourite game soundtrack. Sadly they didn't commission him for the sequel. Big mistake I would say.
Check him out if you like orchestral arrangement with an electronic flair.
1.
Cole Pulice
Fragments of A Slipstream Dream
[2025, Leaving Records]
I was hoping to catch Cole Pulice at Brighton's A L P H a B E T bar for a performance a few months back, but it got cancelled. I presume it was from lack of ticket sales and this is quite disappointing since I think Land's End Eternal might be one of the better albums of the year.
Definitely a new-agey layered sax vibe with some Bill Orcutt guitar stylings. Sort of got an early Harold Budd, Pavilion of Dreams, vibe (see all the way back to 2017's 5:5:5 where I listed Harold Budd's - Bismillahi 'Rrahman 'Rrahim. Looking forward to some London sets next year.
2.
Emptyset
Penumbra
[2025, Thrill Jockey]
I don't know how to describe low end, rhythmic, slowly modulating, scratchy noise other than it feels like a cleansing brain scrub.
I imagine driving my skull bucket slowly up the metal guide ramp into the noggin wash, hearing its pre- warning beeps, then dousing my grey matter with udon noodle, mop fabric tendrils, soaping up my mind palace into a lather, then power washing it through a cleansing water spray.
About £12 for the full deluxe wash...
I recommend.
3.
Bob James
Angela (Theme From Taxi)
[1978, Tappan Zee]
Ah, nostalgia... Taxi, an American sitcom from the 70's starring none other than comedic pioneer Andy Kaufmann and of course now It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia's Danny Devito - was such an iconic NYC show. The opening credits driving over the Queensborough Bridge just feels like a warm blanket to me. This song hits the spot if I'm in a contemplative mood for reminiscing over a New York that formed some of my earliest memories, but is now just long gone... Even the label was named after a Dutch rooted Hudson River bridge that got politically renamed to ex governor "Mario Cuomo Bridge" that no one asked for.
You know, Bob James can really ham up the corny jazz of the time - Take Me to The Mardi Gras or Feel Like Making Love - case in point, and I suggest a play. They're something that would be spun at an Elk's Lodge Bingo Night after party. It was a close second choice here. I dream of being that DJ. You might recognize part of Take Me to the Mari Gras as the dopest drum break intro that Run DMC immortalized.
4.
Bruce Haack
Little Things
[2018 Re, Telephone Explosion]
They didn't play this Jesus diddy at my church growing up. There is a massive history on Bruce and how the hell he got to this point - having made his own synthesizers to create this aural oddity. This thing has just wormed its way into my brain - I love how each verse shifts the vocal style.
It's minimal but in a hypnotic way - parsing the riffs through delay from the left to the right speaker. Bruce Haack apparently composed many children's albums. He wasn't an outsider artist but sure feels like one, though obviously way ahead of his time. I assume this track is teaching Jesus to the young'ns and the message really is quite lovely. Not quite sure how it would have been received at the time, I can't imagine that commercially viable.
I can imagine that Boards of Canada kind of carried the torch with its visceral, shadowy undercurrents of Music Has the Right to Children.
5.
Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith
When I try, I'm Full
[2016, Western Vinyl]
I originally had Ruby (Are you Mad At Your Man) by the Osborne Brothers as my last pick since its an infectious document of the origins of speed metal. But I digress... I've been writing my PhD thesis during synaptic bursts after the caffeine has turned on the lights.
I've been focusing heavily on wordless, instrumental tracks. The algo is responsible for this last pick by Smith as I usually just create a radio play list while I hunt and peck away. Sax and synth seem to be a fixture for me this year.
This nicely combines Buchla (i think) arpeggiations with voice, flute, and other instruments.
1.
Logic 1000
Fused
[2025, !K7 Records]
I played this wonderful compilation, from start to finish, many times this year. I bought her first club focused 12-inch 5 years ago and found this mix, although comparatively more downbeat, perfectly balanced and quite beatific.
Hazy and spacious, her track Fused demonstrates sensitively rendered sound design, an almost elegiac production that hangs in the air.
2.
Eurythmics
This is the House
[1983, RCA]
Lifted from their storming Sweet dreams LP, this song represents a year long dive into a ridiculously fecund back catalogue.
Pitch it down -4 for the chuggy win, TIP!
3.
Mondo Bizarre
Calling You
[1984, Ariola]
Saâda Bonaire keyboardists' single release side project.
The discovery of this relatively rare 7” was inspired by Ring Modulator and a shared love for all things Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW).
4.
Aby Ngana Diop
Liital
[2014 Re, Awesome Tapes From Africa]
Aby Ngana Diop's album Liital was first released as a cassette in Senegal in 1994.
Reportedly, it was the first recording by a taasu, or Senegalese griot, in a mbalax style —incorporating synths and digital drum programming into the fast-paced sabar drumming.
Fiercely expressive and drawing on bruk up JA dancehall and US hip hop, I love the irrepressible and syncretic energy here. This numbers’ grimey synth work gives some tenacious Principe’- fueled welt.
5.
Vainqueur
Elevation (Version 3)
[1996, Chain Reaction]
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
Für immer und ewig.
1.
Alle
En Film
[2018, Olea Records]
Properly buoyant electronic pop from Danish producer Alle aka Natal Zaks, I stumbled upon the wonders of this irresistible opener from his 2018 LP, Dine Pæne Øjne.
Brimming with brilliant lo-fi character, elating scandipop with instant charm, a synth/bass combo that's unbelievably catching, intimate close-caught vocals, culminating in a kinda gloriously funky lullaby.
2.
María Lucía y
Jorge Juan
con Los Mitchels
Michelle
[1965?, Zeida/Codiscos/Suramericana de Seguros]
Wonderful swooning Peruvian or Colombian (?) version of Michelle by the somewhat mysterious María Lucía & Jorge Juan alongside Los Mitchels, there is something superlative about their take on the Beatles classic.
Discovered on an LP compilation oddity (possibly a promotional release), the duo's take drifts with a rich mid-60s surf-ish lilt, upfront piano and twanging bass, the tight Spanish harmonies backed by distant dusty reverbed refrains and an easy South American sway;
For me, it's a rarefied example of a truly outstanding Beatles cover.
3.
Oklou & Casey MQ
Lurk
[2017, Permalnk]
Glorious ear worm magic from Oklou & Casey MQ, grabbed my attention back in April as the soaring opening track on the all-round fantastic DJKicks mix from Logic1000.
Lurk pounces as a thrilling synth arpeggio wash, hyper-glowing luminescence ambient-pop with warped vox samples and harp-like synthetics, originally released back in 2017 via French imprint Permalnk.
On repeat for me in 2025!
4.
Kurt Vile
Palace of OKV in Reverse
[2022, Verve Forecast]
Totally fell for Kurt Vile this last year, devoured his albums and found a true love for Vile's unique stylings, tough to select a single track, but the 3min soft-alt hazy-psych of Palace of OKV in Reverse caught me first.
Dreamy reverse guitars and infectious synth lines, gently bearing Kurt's languid Philly tones and fascinating lyricism, a half-waking hypnotic reverie.
5.
Emmanuel Ezeagu
African Problem
[1992, Melody Records]
Unashamedly 90s digi funk from "Emma" Emmanuel Ezeagu, embracing the digital rhythm realm, on the apparently lone release from Ezeagu and band, the Sugar Daddy EP.
Bright upfront synthesised drums and horns, with super funky syncopated keys, a serious Nigerian groove, with pointed politicised call-response messaging, singing loud in that rich Nigerian Afrobeat tradition.
