Category: Various

A GUEST POSTING by MARTIN ELLIOT

(Our Swedish Correspondent)

An introduction from JC……..

I’ve checked the archives, and this is the ninth time that Martin has offered up a January post looking back over the previous year in Swedish music.  It’s always a treat, and particularly so this time around.   I’ll let him explain.

Hi Jim,

It’s the time of the year, isn’t it, to hand over my as usual incomplete summary of new Swedish music from last year. About a year ago I confessed to have dived more into electronic music and then divided the compilation into an indie side and an electronic side. Well 2025 saw me get stuck in the podcast Blå Måndag (Blue Monday), basically about new Swedish electronic music which means this year there are even more electronic releases I discovered. So this time I start with the electronic side and it kind of slips into the second side as well as there are too many tracks for just one album side (I’m imagining an old-fashioned vinyl album as you might have guessed).

Let’s get to it then.

The A-Side (Swedes are electric!)

A1. The Brides Of The Black Room – One Of Flash Of Light (From the album Commander)

Dark, swirling, synthpop verging on darkwave from this Stockholm based artistic collective. Would fair well on the dance floor of a goth club. Frankly quite excellent if you ask me.

A2. D4rkstar – Becomes Venom (From the EP Dawns)

Gothenburg based one man electronic/post-punk project, with a similar mood as The Brides Of The Black Room just slightly more post-punk. Becomes Venom draws influences from early New Order, somewhere between Movement and Brotherhood.

A3. EMMON – Shades Of Blue (From the album Icon)

EMMON is officially the solo moniker of Emma Nylén, however producer, mixer, and partner Jimmy Monell (EMMON = EMma + MONell) is every bit as important for the music. While Icon many a times borders on EBM and harder electronic stuff, Shades Of Blue has Construction Time Again poured all over it. Which isn’t a bad thing at all, or all that strange either, as Emma also provides vocals for the DM tribute band Paris. Both EMMON and Paris are great live acts, as electronic as they are.
(Shout out to SWC over at the equally excellent blog No Badger Required, to pay some attention at least for the use of only capital letters.)

A4. Lizette Lizette – No Turning Back (From the album LaQueer)

Lizette is a Swedish-Peruvian (queer) artist, and since their debut in 2016 have been cherished by Swedish music press and people in the know, but never really managed to break through to the mainstream audience. Which is a shame since this is really great danceable synthpop, albeit mostly with a message. Visually potentially challenging for the Smiths or the Joneses but we know better.

A5. White Birches – A New Reign (From the album A New Reign)

Stockholm based darkwave duo consisting of singer and guitarist Jenny Gabrielsson Mare and knob-tweaker Fredrik Jonasson. The title track is the most uplifting song, even though with a slightly darker message, on an album mostly painted in black and gray filled with loss and sadness. Dark, moody, at times low-key brooding, the album is not always an easy listening- but rewarding.

A6. Twice A Man – Second Field (From the album The Coloured Breeze Is A New Dimension)

Electronic veterans Twice A Man continues to churn out quality music. They started already in 1978 as Cosmic Overdose, in front of a short tour in the UK they were told the name wouldn’t fly and were given a list of proposals from the British arranger. They choose Twice A Man, and following good reviews in UK press after the shows they decided to stick with the name. For the most part during 1990 to 2010 they focused on music for theatres and art exhibitions, but with Icicles released in 2010 they returned to more (well) commercial music. Last year’s album is centred around nature, environment, and what we’re doing to this planet. As usual melodic tunes over a driving beat, I feel there is some kind of connection to the sea, the feeling of slow waves rolling. As they hail from Gothenburg on the west coast potentially not so strange.

The B-Side (Some Swedes are more indie than others)

B1. Henric De La Cour – Hey You, Hell No (From the album Your Bones, Your Ashes)

Henric has a history in indie bands Yvonne and Strip Music, since 2011 solo artist turning more electronic, darker, with slices of post-punk and goth in the mix. This track’s dark electronics has somewhat of an analogue feel to it which leads us on to the more guitar based tracks.

B2. Dag Och Natt – See-Through (From the album Years And Years)

Stockholm based dream-pop, shoegaze, outfit, delivered what I consider to be the best Swedish album of 2025. Would mid-80’s have been a perfect fit on the 4AD label. Mix some reverb with soaring angelic vocals floating over the melody, what not to love?

B3. Beverly Kills – Paloma Breath (From the album Wishing Well)

Hailing from Gothenburg, Beverly Kills are back with their sophomore album Wishing Well, their post-punk infused indie is very out of the Swedish west coast, just a tad more synths added and the odd mixture of almost euphoric music and rather bleak and sad lyrics. In all honesty they should have been included already last year as the first excellent single from the album, Sunset Drive, was released almost a year ahead.

B4. Honungsvägen – Ta Emot Mig (From the album Vet Du, Jag Älskar Dig. Kvar Här Med Dig, Kan Det Gå In?)

Winner of the first prize for longest album title… – and the only band on the compilation not based in Stockholm or Gothenburg, kind of sad. Umeå “supergroup” formed by Henrik Oja (also in Unroyal, and playing with Annika Norlin/Säkert!) with Christina Karlsson (also in INVSN) and Daniel Berglund (also in Isolation Years) released they eponymous debut in 2019 (easily one of the best Swedish debut albums ever) and last year finally saw a follow-up. In addition to the trio lyrics are also written with and by Annika Norlin and Mattias Alkberg, all Swedish indie royalty. Very Scandinavian melancholic, slightly folky, indie pop, sung in Swedish (sorry).

B5. Dag Och Natt – Årstaberg (From the album Years And Years)

I know, this is not supposed to be allowed, two tracks from the same album. But, as it happens to be my fave Swedish album of last year, and with a track named after a part of Stockholm where as it happens a certain, very important, person who came into my life last year, lives – it’s the given album closer. This is for you, P.

And as a bonus, from the most (on my part) overlooked Swedish album released in 2024.

It’s For Us – Sandy Beaches (From the album Out Of Time)

Hopefully something to enjoy!

All the best.

Martin

 

A guest posting by flimflamfan

Songs for Psychosis is intended as a mechanism that gets one through the day – gorgeous, uplifting, heartbreaking music.

These songs can be supplanted by oh so many other songs, so many bands but for now this selection serves its purpose.

Think of it as a compilation rather than an ICA.

Cranes – Driving in the Sun
Bowie  – Silly Boy Blue
Jesus Loves You – Bow Down Mister
Yazoo – Too Pieces
This Mortal Coil – Song to the Siren
Janis Joplin –  Little Girl Blue
Humdrum – Superbloom
Dead Can Dance  – Saldek
Cocteau Twins – Sugar Hiccup
Gene – Speak To Me Someone
Breakfast Muff – R U A Feminist
Sonics  – Psycho
The Seekers – I’ll Never Find Another You
Blancmange – Sad Day
Kate Bush – Moments of Pleasure
Just Joans – No Longer Young Enough
Associates – Party Fears Two
Alvvays – Forget About Life

flimflamfan

 

JC adds…….

FFF is not only one of the most active supporters of this blog  – he holds a record that will unlikely ever be surpassed, namely the number of comments he has submitted over the years – but he has, in recent years become a close and dear friend following our introduction via someone we both knew.

There was an email attached to this guest posting, one that made me feel quite sad and quite worried about my friend. He’s going through a very tough time just now, and I want to wish him well.  I hope the fact I’ve been able to get this post up so quickly after it came in can be of some help to him today.  Take good care, amigo…..and stay strong.

A guest posting by swc

JC adds……………………………..

I don’t normally feature two ICAs in the same week, never mind on consecutive days, but this one, which arrived unexpectedly just a few days ago, given that the author was no doubt dealing with the after-effects of a particularly violent snowstorm, does have degree of urgency about it, given what it is covering.   And with that, I hand over to our correspondent from the south-west of England.

An ICA of Top Musical Tips for 2026.

Many years ago (ok it was 2008), the parents of a friend mine rented a big old house on the edge of Exmoor for a fortnight over the Christmas period. It was a lovely place, six bedrooms spread across two floors, a huge kitchen, triple glazed fire and bomb proof windows and on the top floor (the third) was something called the ‘Party Zone’.
In that ‘Party Zone’ we partied, sort of. We played some old records from our time at university and watched some football on the massive television whilst gorging ourselves on Doritos and a delightful home-made guacamole. As we tired of that, my friend, lets called him Matthew, largely because it’s his name, asked me, what my top musical recommendation for the coming year was, and I said with barely a moment’s pause to actually think about it,

“Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong. They will be the biggest band in the land this time next year”

Which on reflection was a terrible answer (trust me if you’ve never heard Joe Lean and his sodding Jing Jang Jong, you really aren’t missing much) because Joe Lean and his sodding Jing Jang Jong faded into obscurity faster than the person who came 12th on X Factor in 2008.

Ever since that moment, I have run away as fast as possible when people ask me for my Musical Tips for the year ahead.

Welcome then, to an ICA made up of ten bands and acts that I think will probably be (some of) the biggest bands in the land this time next year. Or ten bands and acts that (some of) will be as famous as Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong are this time next year – if they become world-famous and change your lives for the good, you can credit me accordingly but if their next album or single or whatever stinks the place out then I will deny that I ever said anything.

Oh, by the way, this document is officially the most times that Joe Lean and the Jing Jang Jong have ever been mentioned in any document anywhere and that includes the NME written guide “A Short guide to the brilliant whizz pop world of Joe Lean and his Jing Jang Jong”.

Side One

MORN – Modern Man (2025, Speedy Wunderground, Single)

Regular readers to my so-called music blog No Badger Required will know that I go a bit giddy when bands appear and insist on using capital letters in their name. So, I have to start side one of this ICA with MORN. MORN are from Wales and ‘Modern Man’ is so far their only release. They make a sort of punky and jagged sound that is full of massive guitar hooks and dynamic vocals and they are a very exciting prospect.

Shaking Hand – Over The Coals (2025, Melodic Records, Single)

The music of Shaking Hand is mostly steeped in that post rock world, where songs slowly build before exploding like a musical firework that takes them off in different directions. Shaking Hand do this very well indeed, their bass lines are tight but grow into a many tentacled beasts, whilst their guitars chime but only when they absolutely have to.

Night Swimming – Freight Train (2025, Venn Records, Single)

If I was writing this in 1985, and I’d just heard Night Swimming for this first time I would have run straight down to my local turf accountants and bet the entire pension on Night Swimming being signed to 4AD Records. They make music that is a whirl of reverb, shivery vocals, tinkling cymbals and waves of gentle feedback. It’s not quite Cocteau Twins, but it would definitely dress up as one of them should the opportunity arise. File under very good.

She’s In Parties – Same Old Story (2025, Submarine Cat Records taken from ‘Are You Dreaming? EP)

Hot on the heels of Night Swimming (see above) come She’s In Parties. They are also named after a song but also make music that sounds like they should have been signed to 4AD Records thirty-seven years ago, and again this is no bad thing at all. Musically, She’s In Parties are all dreamy soundscapes, vocal reverb and guitars that will almost certainly sound better when accompanied by an overactive smoke machine.

Vegas Water Taxi – Brat Summer (2025, PNKSLM Records, Single)

There is something rather special about London’s alt country slacker rock band Vegas Water Taxi. For a start there is the way in which singer Ben Hambro croons in a way that sounds like he has gone to confession but ended up turning it into a total bitching session. Then you have Ben’s lyrics, which are self mocking, funny, occasionally filthy but nearly always warm-hearted. Set amongst all that you have the music, which lurches between post punk and alt country slacker rock that reminds me of Pavement if they were fronted by Dan Treacy from the Television Personalities.

Side Two

The Pill – Money Mullet (2025, Lilot Records, Single)

The Pill are great. Their songs are sharp, loud and swagger with the knowledge that they possess something that will smack you in the face with the power of a bull who has been mainlining amphetamines. That sharpness and swaggering brilliance has seen the band grow amidst a swirl of hype and expectations.

SILVERWINGKILLER – Hold Up (All Firearms in the United Kingdom) (2025, 1000% Triad Funded Records, taken from ‘Triad Funded’ EP)

Manchester’s SILVERWINGKILLER (again, note the capitals folks) merge the chaos of punk rock with the precision of electronica. At the same time they fuse Chinese mythology with pure adrenaline, which gives their music an edge that hasn’t been since Richard James took a drill into his studio. ‘Hold Up (All Firearms in the United Kingdom)’ is rather splendid, if trying to reintroduce a new generation to the wonders of Gabba Techno can ever be described as splendid.

Formal Sppeedwear – Hit N Run (2025, Melodic Records, taken from ‘Single’)

The only remotely new thing about Formal Sppeedwear (apart from perhaps the way the spell ‘Speedwear’) is the wave that they attach to their musical genre of choice. The only problem is that they exist in a world where new wave has because distinctly old wave and so those in the press have coined phrases like post post punk to describe new bands making old new wave music. If that makes sense. Regardless, Formal Sppeedwear sound like Talking Heads and A Certain Ratio at the same time and that makes them great.

Crimewave – Haemoglobin (2025, Fool’s Gold Records, taken from ‘Scenes’)

‘Scenes’ the debut album from Crimewave is quite extraordinary. It’s also quite unbelievable – because it is apparently an electronica album that has been recorded using only guitars and drums, and when you listen to it for the first time (and I recommend you do that, because it’s all kinds of excellent) you’ll sit there, scratch your head and wonder how on earth it can be true and then after all that you’ll play it again and marvel at its brilliance.

Mumble Tide – Pea Soup (2025, Breakfast Records, Single)

Bristol’s Mumble Tide are a very lovely thing. Their music is a hazy, dreamy pop that deserves to be listened to as you walk through some woods in the early autumn as the leaves flutter to the ground. The vocals (courtesy of Gina Leonard) are lush and that fits perfectly with the gentle squall of electronic and the occasional wail of a countrified acoustic guitar.

Thank you for reading, take care out there

SWC

 

 

mp3: Various – I Give You Things You Don’t Need?

Ballboy – Welcome To The New Year
Malcolm Middleton – Happy Medium
Pet Shop Boys – Too Many People
Elvis Costello & The Attractions – High Fidelity
Bar Italia – Eyepatch
Echo and The Bunnymen – All My Colours (Peel Session)
The Libertines – Can’t Stand Me Now
Win – Super Popoid Groove
Follytechnic Music Library – Vanished
Working Men’s Club – John Cooper Clarke
Sea Power – No Lucifer
The Walkmen – The Rat
Shop Assistants – Safety Net
Blondie – Denis
Yard Act – Dead Horse
The Specials – Friday Night, Saturday Morning
The Wedding Present – Once More

 

JC

 

I thought I’d end this short series with a look at what I reckon could be as fine a free CD giveaway as there’s ever been.  It came with the October 2012 edition of MOJO magazine.

1982: It was the year marked by UK unemployment topping three million…the Falklands War between Britain and Argentina…the sale of over 400,000 council houses under the right to buy scheme…the IRA bombings of Hyde Park and Regents Park…the collapse of Laker Airways…and the privatisation of the British National Oil Company.

Meanwhile, in Manchester, May of that year saw two major events: the launch of the Hacienda Club and the meeting of Morrissey and Johnny Marr. In the five years that followed, the pair would lead The Smiths with a sense of fierce ambition. Joined initially by Andy Rourke and Mike Joyce, their uniquely British sound – a mixture of forward-looking musical dexterity and mordant lyricism – also established them as the standard-bearers for the independent music scene. This compilation brings together a number of The Smiths’ contemporaries and provides a snapshot of the scene they dominated during their brief five-year tenure.

From the glorious jangle-pop of Felt through to the post-Velvets vibes of The Weather Prophets and on to the insurrectionary spirit of Billy Bragg and Television Personalities, this collection recalls a period in indie rock when the intentions were pure and the music mattered.

We invite you to enjoy 15 tracks whose spirit remains intact. The light shines on…

mp3: Felt – Sunlight Bathed The Golden Glow
mp3: The Weather Prophets – Almost Prayed
mp3: Hurrah! – Sweet Sanity
mp3: The Woodentops – Well Well Well
mp3: Close Lobsters – Nature Thing
mp3: The Nightingales – Crafty Fag
mp3: The Flatmates – I Could Be In Heaven
mp3: The Go-Betweens – Cattle and Cane
mp3: Billy Bragg – Levi Stubbs’ Tears
mp3: Martin Stephenson and The Daintees – Crocodile Cryer
mp3: Television Personalities – How I Learned To Love The…Bomb
mp3: The La’s – Open Your Heart
mp3: The Blue Aeroplanes – Action Painting
mp3: The Dentists – Strawberries Are Growing In My Garden (And It’s Wintertime)
mp3: The Chesterfields – Completely and Utterly

The CD can be had for 95p plus P&P over at Discogs.  An absolute bargain.

 

JC

I’ll let this article from The Skinny magazine, back on 13 December 2017, provide the background.

‘With Christmas just around the corner, Glasgow’s Olive Grove Records have put together a lovely wee Christmas compilation record. From Olive Us to Olive You features olive (geddit?) your favourite Olive Grove artists, performing their own original Christmas songs, and it’s all for a good cause as well. Every single penny of profit will be donated to CDH UK, a leading UK charity who support and advise families who are affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia. To tell us more about the record, we hand over to Olive Grove head honcho, Lloyd Meredith.

“The album came by chance – back in September we did a wee showcase gig at St Luke’s, at which my friend Jon who does all of the mixing and mastering, had planted the idea of doing another Christmas EP… We’d done an EP a few years back with Jo Mango, the Son(s), The State Broadcasters and Randolph’s Leap, which I really loved. Since then I’d started working with Carla Easton, who seems to love Christmas songs even more than I do. Plus she’s a hell of a lot better at writing them than than I am!

“So in my usual over-excited state I found myself bounding [around] the venue trying to talk all of the bands playing at the showcase into writing and recording a Christmas song for me. Surprisingly pretty much all of them were up for the challenge of coming up with a festive tune in such a short space of time. More scheming was to follow, as text messages and emails were fired to other artists on the label to see if they were game too. Before I knew it, an EP had turned into an album! Given the limited amount of time we had to pull it all together, I really was flying by the seat of my pants.

“The last song to be completed was only finished a few days before the album was announced! Plus it wasn’t just the recording that needed to be done, we had Jon from Smallfish Recordings, who instigated this whole idea, working flat out to mix and master the songs. I had the amazing Craig Rorrison do the artwork in just under a week. He even managed to rise to the challenge of incorporating a snowman picture that my daughter drew into the back cover. Oh, and I should mention the good folk at EmuBands who very kindly arranged the digital distribution of the album for free.

“All of the profits that are made from the album are going to be donated to CDH UK, a charity who support and advise families who are affected by Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernia (CDH). My son Luke was born with CDH three years ago this month, so it means a lot to me to be able to give something back to families who might not have been as lucky as ours.

“I’m really excited about this album, as I always try to treat Olive Grove as being like my other family. That and I have a lot of love for alternative Christmas songs; When I Get Home For Christmas by Snow Patrol sparked my passion for alternative festive tunes, many many moons ago. So to be able to release my own Christmas album which has such a diverse range of talent on it, really means a lot.

“We have Carla J. Easton (TeenCanteen / Ette) and Eugene Kelly (The Vaselines), doing not one, but two duets. Both of which are future Christmas classics in my ears; there’s Randolph’s Leap‘s Warm Outside, a beautiful song about Santa getting older, [and] there’s some more tender moments from The State Broadcasters and Henry & Fleetwood, alongside some festive tunes that we’ve revisited from Jo Mango, Woodenbox, The Son(s) and a personal old favourite from Campfires in Winter.

“We also have an utterly amazing song about Jesus being a stereotypical Capricorn, from Pocket Knife, a new addition to the Olive Grove family. It’s every bit as good as it sounds and I can’t wait for folk to hear it!”

JC adds……

The CD is long sold out, and as I type this up, there are no copies available via Discogs.  If anyone listening to the tunes decides that they’ll download and hang on to them, it would be nice if you could do some sort of charitable act over the coming days as a way of payment.

mp3: Carla J. Easton & Eugene Kelly – Christmas Eve Alone
mp3: Randolph’s Leap – Warm Outside
mp3: Pocket Knife – Half The Presents
mp3: Henry & Fleetwood – Winter Photographs
mp3: State Broadcasters – All Our Christmas Days
mp3: Woodenbox – The Christmas Song
mp3: Carla J. Easton – Spending Every Christmas Day With My Boy
mp3: Jo Mango – As A Child I Awoke
mp3: The Son(s) – Johnny Mathis, 1976
mp3: Carla J. Easton & Eugene Kelly – When It’s Starting To Snow (Please Be Mine)
mp3: Campfires in Winter – Christmas Song

Merry Christmas, one and all,

 

JC

Round these parts, it’s normally an hour-long mix of all sorts to bring in a new month.  This time, however, it’s a mix consisting almost exclusively of songs released in 2025 taken almost exclusively from my favourite 25 albums that had been released by the end of October, which was when I began pulling the piece together.

The ‘almost exclusively’ explanations?  One of the songs was on an album originally given a digital release in 2024 before the vinyl appeared this year. Another is taken from an album which dates from in 1992 but that I only had on CD until it was given an update and a vinyl re-release more than thirty years later. I’ve also taken the  liberty of calling a five-track EP while one song is lifted from a 7″ single. Oh, and one of the songs is from an album that I’m still undecided about, but in years to come I’ll loook back and probably conclude it was one of the best of the year.

I should point out that the mix isn’t full of what are necessarily my favourite songs from the albums, but has been curated in a way to make what I think works best as a something to listen to from start to end.

mp3: Various – 25 tracks from 2025

1. Jim Bob – A Song By Me (from Stick – Cherry Red Records)  starts at 0:00 on the mix

Jim Bob released two new albums, Stick and Automatic, on the same day back in August.  These were the 11th and 12th studio solo albums from the man who first came to fame via Carter USM.  He’s still got it…….

2. Dancer – Baby Blue (from More Or Less – Meritorio Records) starts at 2:35

Glasgow-based band who I finally got to see when they supported The Bug Club back in February, and so enjoyed their performance that I went straight out to buy their 2024 debut 10 Songs I Hate About You and then eagerly picked up its follow-up when it was released in September.

3. The Bug Club – Twisting In The Middle (from Very Human Features – Sub Pop Records) starts at 05:23

The gig by The Bug Club mentioned above was part of a tour promoting the 2024 album On The Intricate Workings Of The System, which had been their fifth release since 2021 but their first for Sub Pop.  It was The Robster who brought this lot to my attention, thanks to this ICA, during which he pointed out that the duo were very prolific and always seemingly on the road or in the studio.  The latest album hit the shops in June and there was a further live gig in Glasgow in October.

4. Edwyn Collins – Knowledge (from Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation – AED Records) starts at 09:06

Edwyn‘s tenth studio album was preceded by this track as an advance single.  If you haven’t already seen the video, then head over to YouTube or the likes.  It’s an incredibly moving but uplifting piece of film.

5. Kendrick Lamar – Squabble Up (from GNX – Interscope Records) starts at 12:18

The sixth studio album from the LA rapper was very unexpectedly given a digital release on 22 November 2024 on the back of what had been a months-long feud with Canadian rapper Drake.  If you’re not aware of what that was all about and what songs were released while it was all kicking off, then it’s best you use a search engine of your choice rather than me trying to offer a ham-fisted explanation.  GNX eventually appeared on vinyl last February.

6. Wet Leg – Mangetout (from Moisturizer – Domino Records) starts at 14:55

In the TikTok world of instant gratification, three years is a dangerously long time to wait for the follow-up to a debut album which taken much of the world by storm.  I really felt that the critics would have it in for Wet Leg and that the fan base would have largely moved on, but the fact that Mositurizer proved to be something which in many places gave nods to many of the best female-fronted 90s alt/indie rock bands (hello to Belly, The Breeders, Elastica and Throwing Muses), then I was always going to be a sucker for its tunes.

7. Warren McIntyre & James Kirk – Miss Green Tea (7″ single) starts at 18:19

Glas-Goes-Pop has, in just four years, established itself as one of the very best weekend events in my home city.  An annual two-day festival of indie-pop magic that takes place indoors in early August at the Glasgow University Union.  This year saw the release of the first ever single on the Glas-Goes-Pop label, consisting of a collabortion between two veterans of the local scene, albeit from different generations.  This is one side of that single and features James’s dictinctive and charming vocals, as first enjoyed more than four decades ago when Orange Juice began making music.

8. The Secret Goldfish – Moscow (from Empty Holster – Creeping Bent Records/Last Night From Glasgow) starts at 23:15

Douglas MacIntyre‘s Creeping Bent Records is now winding down after 30 years.  A number of releases and events have been held or are in place to mark the occasion, including a final album by The Secret Goldfish, issued in June, and which consists of 11 cover songs and 1 brand-new composition.  And yes, this is a take on the b-side of the debut Orange Juice single, one on which the above mentioned James Kirk played back in 1980.

9. Sydney Minsky Sargeant – I Don’t Wanna (from Lunga – Domino Records) starts at 25:15

The music to be found on the debut solo album from the frontman of Working Men’s Club must be the most surprising and unexpected of 2025. Melodies and acoutsic guitars abound, about as far away as can be imagined from the frantic upbeat post-punk electronica with which he has been associated these past few years.

10. Robert Forster – Tell It Back To Me (from Strawberries – Tapete Records) starts at 28:30

The opening track of Robert‘s 9th studio album, as our friend Chaval pointed out in a comment after I’d reviewed a live show, is Dylanesque, complete with the judicious use of a harmonica.   Eight studio albums before now and no ICA?  Hmmm……………..

11. Brian – Understand (from Understood – Needle Mythology Records) starts at 32:00

For those of you who don’t know, this is the label run by the wonderfully talented writer Pete Paphides.  It specialises, but not exclusively, on reissuing albums which came out in that period in the 90s/00s when CD was king and which had either a very limited vinyl pressing or none at all.  Brian is the recording name used by Dublin-born singer/songwriter Ken Sweeney, and his charning debut album Understand was released on Setanta Records in 1992.  This reissue has slightly amended the title of the album and added on the four songs which formed the Planes EP in 1993 along with one previously unreleased track from the era.

12. Pearl Charles – Does This Song Sound Familiar?  (from Desert Queen – Last Night From Glasgow Records) starts at 37:54

Pearl Charles been releasing music for a decade now, but 2025 marked my introduction to this Californian singer-songwriter courtesy of her third album being released by a label with which I have a subscription.  There is something very appealling about her voice while the tunes kind of defy any easy definition, with all sorts of influences to the fore – rock, pop, country and soul among them.  The album also contains a co-vocal with Tim Burgess…..

13. Half Man Half Biscuit – Record Store Day (from All Asimov And No Fresh Air – RM Qualtrough Records) starts at 42:42

40 years after the debut and I think it’s fair to say that Half Man Half Biscuit can truly be anointed as national treasures.   The latest album, their 17th all told, has all the usual things we’ve come to expect – great tunes and lyrics that will very often out a smile on your face.  Nigel Blackwell has, with this particular song, nailed exactly what so many of us feel about an event that has moved a long way from its original intentions, having been increasingly hijacked by major labels, their executives and their marketing gurus. The perfect way to mark the halfway point of this mix.

14. Bar Italia – Cowbella (from Some Like It Hot – Matador Records) starts at 46:00

There have been a number of horrifically scathing reviews written about the third Bar Italia studio album.  They are all well wide of the mark.  The critics who worship at the altar of the hipster scene simply get upset when one of their favourites have the nerve to make a record which has some mainstream sounding tunes.

15. The Sexual Objects – Here Come The Rubber Cops (from Orangutan – Creeping Bent Records) starts at 50:20

As mentioned earlier, Creeping Bent Records will cease operations in a few weeks time. One of the parting gifts is this compilation album, which brings together some hard-to-find singles and album tracks from a band that has been described as a Scottish T-Rex for the 21st Century, fronted by Davy Henderson whose work with Fire Engines, Win and Nectarine No.9 has long been highlighted on this blog.

16. Quad 90 – Le Blank (from Quad 90 – Last Night From Glasgow/Creeping Bent Records) starts at 55:39

The duo of Amelia Lironi and Naomi Mackay met a few years ago while attending a Glasgow college which offers courses in music production and performance.  It was back in 2023 when they released Le Blank as a 12″ limited edition single, but I was too slow to pick up a copy. This was followed up by a number of digital releases at regular intervals before, at long last, the debut album was released in September, and I could finally play this wonderful piece of dance floor funk that makes me wish I was forty years younger.

17. Say Sue Me – Time Is Not Yours (from Time Is Not Yours – Damnably Records) starts at 60:31

This is the one from the five-track EP referred to in the introduction.  It came out in April as a picture disc, and I picked up a copy a short while later when the band played their latest show in Glasgow (it’s long been one of thir favourite stopping places).  It’s K-Pop, but not as the kids know it – and it’s a great example of how fine guitar-led songs with an indie bent will never truly go out of fashion.

18. The Cords – Fabulist (from The Cords – Skep Wax/Slumberland Records) starts at 64:20

This is from the album that, right now, I’m not too sure about. The duo of sisters Eva and Grace Tedeschi have been making a great deal of noise across the Glasgow scene these past couple of years.  I should, by nature, love everything about them thanks to them channelling so much that is wonderful about 80s and 90s indiepop into their 13 songs on a debut that races by in just 31 minutes. But, for now at least, on a couple of initial listens, it feels a tad one-dimensional….but then again I came to it with high and probably unrealistic expectations.

19. Richard Norris – Brave Raver (from Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Volume 2 – Golden Lion Sounds) starts at 67:11

As found on a compilation lovingly compiled by a group of people dedicated to the works of Andrew Weatherall…..and, of course, our dear friend Adam from Bagging Area is very much involved.  Thanks mate.

20. Sprints – Descartes (from All That Is Over – City Slang Records) starts at 73:36

The music of the Dublin post-punk band has moved a long way from the indie-style sounds of the early singles back in 2020/2021.  The increasing move to a heavier and more explosively angry style really manifests itself on this their second album, and while I remain a big fan of all they are doing, the fact All That Is Over peaked at #50 where debut Letter To Self reached #20 perhaps indicates they are losing folk along the way.  It’s a pity.

21. Emma Pollock – Future Tree (from Begging The Night To Take Hold – Chemikal Underground Records) starts at 76:48

An album that’s been a long time in the making and post-production process for all sorts of reasons.  It is Emma‘s first since 2016 but has proven to be well worth the wait. It is a remarkable record which reflects on what has been a period of personal disruption for Emma in so many ways.

22. Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires – Might Have. Might Not Have (from Sounds Made By Humans – Skep Wax Records) starts at 80:23

Released last May, this album is a wonderful collaboration between a rather wonderful poet and a rather wonderful indie-pop band in which the band came up with melodies and arrangements for thirteen poems to create, and I’m quoting the PR blurb as it’s not hyperbole, ‘a pop album where the poetry and the music are equal partners: sounds made by humans in perfect artistic alignment.’

23. The Loft – Feel Good Now (from Everything Changes Everything Stays The Same – Tapete Records) starts at 82:39

The Loft released just two singles and a compilation album on Creation Records back in the mid 80s before splintering into various pieces.  It has taken an agonisingly  long time for the debut album to be recorded and then released via the Hamburg-based Tapete Records. To quote an online review, it’s an old-fashioned sounding record made by grey-haired veterans.

24. F.O. Machete – Kids Of The Summer (from Mother Of A Thousand – Last Night From Glasgow) starts at 86:02

25. Davey Woodward – Don’t Phone Me (from Mumbo In The Jumbo – Last Night From Glasgow) starts at 90:16 ends at 92:33

Last Night From Glasgow has issued dozens of albums in 2025, and the subscription membership I have with the label means I get them all.  I’m not going to claim that everything I’ve picked up from LNFG’s headquarters, which is located in an increasingly hipster part of the city between the centre and the west end, makes for essential listening but they do quite often hit the mark spectacularly.

Track 24 is courtesy of a Glasgow duo whose debut recordings go back to the early 2000s, but who went on a long hiatus from 2011 until 2024.  I’ll hold my hands up and admit I knew nothing of them until being handed this album back in February. It’s since been on heavy rotation.

Track 25 is courtesy of a veteran of the indie-pop scene who first came to prominence with The Brilliant Corners.  He’s continued to make music, on-and-off, throughout the years as a member of various other acts such as The Experimental Pop Band and Karen, while 2018 saw Tapete Records issue an album credited to Davey Woodward and The Winter Orphans, before that act signed to LNFG and released an album in 2023.  Mumbo In The Jumbo is the first record credited solely as a solo performer and with Don’t Phone Me being its closing track, it made sense to end this mix with it.

I really hope there’s something today that has grabbed your attention and perhaps encouraged you to either buy the album now or add it to the wishlist you’ve prepared for Santa Claus.

 

JC