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25 YEARS GONE: REMEMBERING LULU’S ROADHOUSE
It’s been 25 years since the final notes faded from Lulu’s Roadhouse, but for those who danced, sang, and lived through its heyday, the memories remain as vivid as ever. Once hailed as the world’s largest nightclub bar, Lulu’s wasn’t just a music venue—it was a rite of passage, a community hub and a temple to rock ‘n’ roll in the heart of Kitchener.
Opened in April 1984 by Toronto entrepreneur Karl Magid, Lulu’s transformed a former Kmart at 4263 King St. E., Kitchener into a 75,000-square-foot music venue. With a Guinness World Record-holding 340-foot bar and a capacity of 3,000, it quickly became a magnet for music lovers across Ontario.
From Chuck Berry to The Ramones, Lulu’s hosted a staggering range of acts, often well past their commercial prime but still capable of electrifying a crowd. Lulu’s featured a dance floor big enough to hold thousands and some idiosyncratic touches like “balloon girls” who sold balloons with meanings based on their colours—among others, red meant a woman who wanted to dance; blue was for men looking to show women a fun time; yellow meant shy; and purple simply meant horny.
Lulu’s played host to Canadian icons like Kim Mitchell, David Wilcox, Trooper and Colin James, as well as international legends and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers such as James Brown, Alice Cooper and The Everly Brothers. The venue’s eclectic bookings meant you could see Conway Twitty one week and Motörhead the next.
Behind the scenes, figures like Rob Cressman of Major Talent Agency worked tirelessly to bring big names to town, often booking regional tours to make Lulu’s a viable stop. Artists were paid in cash, and trust was everything—Del Shannon once asked Cressman to hold onto $30,000 until his next visit.
The venue’s charm wasn’t just in its headliners. The house band, featuring guitarist Peter Paladino, was a major draw, touring other cities and even traveling in their own bus. For many, the house band was the best show in town.
Bill Wiley, a DJ from FM 108 and frequent MC at Lulu’s, conducted over 350 interviews with artists during his time there. Though many of his recordings were tragically stolen 15 years ago, he fondly recalls his interview with James Brown as a career highlight. Among his favourite performances were Sam and Dave, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and The Crystals. Wiley remembers Dee Dee Kenniebrew of The Crystals taking a particular liking to him—a memory that still brings a smile.
Even chaos had its place. One night, during a Motörhead and Black Sabbath double bill, the crowd erupted into moshing and stage diving—not something you’d expect to see at a suburban night club. Between sets, a scuffle broke out, adding to the night’s wild lore.
Despite its popularity, Lulu’s could not escape the pressures of changing times. Ownership changes, economic downturns, and evolving musical tastes led to its bankruptcy in 1992. Though it was revived and continued to host major acts into the late ’90s, the club closed for good on April 8, 2000.
Angie Hill—now a popular DJ on Bounce 99.5 FM— was a host at Lulu’s in the late 1990’s until it closed in 2000. She remembers the people she worked with as a family and cherishes the lifelong friendships she made while working there. She remembers how she and other staff would “eat our shitty chicken fingers together … and make a plan of attack for the night.”
Kenny Hollis, who also worked as a host for many years at Lulu’s, reportedly had some of his ashes scattered on former site of Lulu’s.
Mike Harvey, who worked as the Lighting Director from 1993 to 1998, said working at Lulu’s was like being paid to work at a party.
“There will never, ever, be another place like it,” he said.
“The place was just magical, eh,” Robbie Hain, the former house manager, said.
Hain is also working on a book about Lulu’s.
Today, Lulu’s lives on in the hearts of those who experienced it. Ask any regular to name their favorite show, and you will likely get a wistful smile and a list too long to finish. Whether it was George Thorogood playing to an over-capacity crowd, James Brown for $2 on a Tuesday, or Stompin’ Tom Connors fuming over a canceled gig, every night at Lulu’s was a story waiting to be told.
And 25 years later, those stories still echo—loud, proud and unforgettable.
#chuckBerry #FionaMcAlister #georgeThorogood #guinnessWorldRecord #jamesBrown #karlMagid #localHistory #localMusic #localVenue #luluSRoadhouse #Ontario #theRamones #Toronto #torontoEntrepreneur
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25 YEARS GONE: REMEMBERING LULU’S ROADHOUSE
It’s been 25 years since the final notes faded from Lulu’s Roadhouse, but for those who danced, sang, and lived through its heyday, the memories remain as vivid as ever. Once hailed as the world’s largest nightclub bar, Lulu’s wasn’t just a music venue—it was a rite of passage, a community hub and a temple to rock ‘n’ roll in the heart of Kitchener.
Opened in April 1984 by Toronto entrepreneur Karl Magid, Lulu’s transformed a former Kmart at 4263 King St. E., Kitchener into a 75,000-square-foot music venue. With a Guinness World Record-holding 340-foot bar and a capacity of 3,000, it quickly became a magnet for music lovers across Ontario.
From Chuck Berry to The Ramones, Lulu’s hosted a staggering range of acts, often well past their commercial prime but still capable of electrifying a crowd. Lulu’s featured a dance floor big enough to hold thousands and some idiosyncratic touches like “balloon girls” who sold balloons with meanings based on their colours—among others, red meant a woman who wanted to dance; blue was for men looking to show women a fun time; yellow meant shy; and purple simply meant horny.
Lulu’s played host to Canadian icons like Kim Mitchell, David Wilcox, Trooper and Colin James, as well as international legends and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers such as James Brown, Alice Cooper and The Everly Brothers. The venue’s eclectic bookings meant you could see Conway Twitty one week and Motörhead the next.
Behind the scenes, figures like Rob Cressman of Major Talent Agency worked tirelessly to bring big names to town, often booking regional tours to make Lulu’s a viable stop. Artists were paid in cash, and trust was everything—Del Shannon once asked Cressman to hold onto $30,000 until his next visit.
The venue’s charm wasn’t just in its headliners. The house band, featuring guitarist Peter Paladino, was a major draw, touring other cities and even traveling in their own bus. For many, the house band was the best show in town.
Bill Wiley, a DJ from FM 108 and frequent MC at Lulu’s, conducted over 350 interviews with artists during his time there. Though many of his recordings were tragically stolen 15 years ago, he fondly recalls his interview with James Brown as a career highlight. Among his favourite performances were Sam and Dave, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and The Crystals. Wiley remembers Dee Dee Kenniebrew of The Crystals taking a particular liking to him—a memory that still brings a smile.
Even chaos had its place. One night, during a Motörhead and Black Sabbath double bill, the crowd erupted into moshing and stage diving—not something you’d expect to see at a suburban night club. Between sets, a scuffle broke out, adding to the night’s wild lore.
Despite its popularity, Lulu’s could not escape the pressures of changing times. Ownership changes, economic downturns, and evolving musical tastes led to its bankruptcy in 1992. Though it was revived and continued to host major acts into the late ’90s, the club closed for good on April 8, 2000.
Angie Hill—now a popular DJ on Bounce 99.5 FM— was a host at Lulu’s in the late 1990’s until it closed in 2000. She remembers the people she worked with as a family and cherishes the lifelong friendships she made while working there. She remembers how she and other staff would “eat our shitty chicken fingers together … and make a plan of attack for the night.”
Kenny Hollis, who also worked as a host for many years at Lulu’s, reportedly had some of his ashes scattered on former site of Lulu’s.
Mike Harvey, who worked as the Lighting Director from 1993 to 1998, said working at Lulu’s was like being paid to work at a party.
“There will never, ever, be another place like it,” he said.
“The place was just magical, eh,” Robbie Hain, the former house manager, said.
Hain is also working on a book about Lulu’s.
Today, Lulu’s lives on in the hearts of those who experienced it. Ask any regular to name their favorite show, and you will likely get a wistful smile and a list too long to finish. Whether it was George Thorogood playing to an over-capacity crowd, James Brown for $2 on a Tuesday, or Stompin’ Tom Connors fuming over a canceled gig, every night at Lulu’s was a story waiting to be told.
And 25 years later, those stories still echo—loud, proud and unforgettable.
#chuckBerry #FionaMcAlister #georgeThorogood #guinnessWorldRecord #jamesBrown #karlMagid #localHistory #localMusic #localVenue #luluSRoadhouse #Ontario #theRamones #Toronto #torontoEntrepreneur
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25 YEARS GONE: REMEMBERING LULU’S ROADHOUSE
It’s been 25 years since the final notes faded from Lulu’s Roadhouse, but for those who danced, sang, and lived through its heyday, the memories remain as vivid as ever. Once hailed as the world’s largest nightclub bar, Lulu’s wasn’t just a music venue—it was a rite of passage, a community hub and a temple to rock ‘n’ roll in the heart of Kitchener.
Opened in April 1984 by Toronto entrepreneur Karl Magid, Lulu’s transformed a former Kmart at 4263 King St. E., Kitchener into a 75,000-square-foot music venue. With a Guinness World Record-holding 340-foot bar and a capacity of 3,000, it quickly became a magnet for music lovers across Ontario.
From Chuck Berry to The Ramones, Lulu’s hosted a staggering range of acts, often well past their commercial prime but still capable of electrifying a crowd. Lulu’s featured a dance floor big enough to hold thousands and some idiosyncratic touches like “balloon girls” who sold balloons with meanings based on their colours—among others, red meant a woman who wanted to dance; blue was for men looking to show women a fun time; yellow meant shy; and purple simply meant horny.
Lulu’s played host to Canadian icons like Kim Mitchell, David Wilcox, Trooper and Colin James, as well as international legends and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers such as James Brown, Alice Cooper and The Everly Brothers. The venue’s eclectic bookings meant you could see Conway Twitty one week and Motörhead the next.
Behind the scenes, figures like Rob Cressman of Major Talent Agency worked tirelessly to bring big names to town, often booking regional tours to make Lulu’s a viable stop. Artists were paid in cash, and trust was everything—Del Shannon once asked Cressman to hold onto $30,000 until his next visit.
The venue’s charm wasn’t just in its headliners. The house band, featuring guitarist Peter Paladino, was a major draw, touring other cities and even traveling in their own bus. For many, the house band was the best show in town.
Bill Wiley, a DJ from FM 108 and frequent MC at Lulu’s, conducted over 350 interviews with artists during his time there. Though many of his recordings were tragically stolen 15 years ago, he fondly recalls his interview with James Brown as a career highlight. Among his favourite performances were Sam and Dave, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and The Crystals. Wiley remembers Dee Dee Kenniebrew of The Crystals taking a particular liking to him—a memory that still brings a smile.
Even chaos had its place. One night, during a Motörhead and Black Sabbath double bill, the crowd erupted into moshing and stage diving—not something you’d expect to see at a suburban night club. Between sets, a scuffle broke out, adding to the night’s wild lore.
Despite its popularity, Lulu’s could not escape the pressures of changing times. Ownership changes, economic downturns, and evolving musical tastes led to its bankruptcy in 1992. Though it was revived and continued to host major acts into the late ’90s, the club closed for good on April 8, 2000.
Angie Hill—now a popular DJ on Bounce 99.5 FM— was a host at Lulu’s in the late 1990’s until it closed in 2000. She remembers the people she worked with as a family and cherishes the lifelong friendships she made while working there. She remembers how she and other staff would “eat our shitty chicken fingers together … and make a plan of attack for the night.”
Kenny Hollis, who also worked as a host for many years at Lulu’s, reportedly had some of his ashes scattered on former site of Lulu’s.
Mike Harvey, who worked as the Lighting Director from 1993 to 1998, said working at Lulu’s was like being paid to work at a party.
“There will never, ever, be another place like it,” he said.
“The place was just magical, eh,” Robbie Hain, the former house manager, said.
Hain is also working on a book about Lulu’s.
Today, Lulu’s lives on in the hearts of those who experienced it. Ask any regular to name their favorite show, and you will likely get a wistful smile and a list too long to finish. Whether it was George Thorogood playing to an over-capacity crowd, James Brown for $2 on a Tuesday, or Stompin’ Tom Connors fuming over a canceled gig, every night at Lulu’s was a story waiting to be told.
And 25 years later, those stories still echo—loud, proud and unforgettable.
#chuckBerry #FionaMcAlister #georgeThorogood #guinnessWorldRecord #jamesBrown #karlMagid #localHistory #localMusic #localVenue #luluSRoadhouse #Ontario #theRamones #Toronto #torontoEntrepreneur
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25 YEARS GONE: REMEMBERING LULU’S ROADHOUSE
It’s been 25 years since the final notes faded from Lulu’s Roadhouse, but for those who danced, sang, and lived through its heyday, the memories remain as vivid as ever. Once hailed as the world’s largest nightclub bar, Lulu’s wasn’t just a music venue—it was a rite of passage, a community hub and a temple to rock ‘n’ roll in the heart of Kitchener.
Opened in April 1984 by Toronto entrepreneur Karl Magid, Lulu’s transformed a former Kmart at 4263 King St. E., Kitchener into a 75,000-square-foot music venue. With a Guinness World Record-holding 340-foot bar and a capacity of 3,000, it quickly became a magnet for music lovers across Ontario.
From Chuck Berry to The Ramones, Lulu’s hosted a staggering range of acts, often well past their commercial prime but still capable of electrifying a crowd. Lulu’s featured a dance floor big enough to hold thousands and some idiosyncratic touches like “balloon girls” who sold balloons with meanings based on their colours—among others, red meant a woman who wanted to dance; blue was for men looking to show women a fun time; yellow meant shy; and purple simply meant horny.
Lulu’s played host to Canadian icons like Kim Mitchell, David Wilcox, Trooper and Colin James, as well as international legends and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers such as James Brown, Alice Cooper and The Everly Brothers. The venue’s eclectic bookings meant you could see Conway Twitty one week and Motörhead the next.
Behind the scenes, figures like Rob Cressman of Major Talent Agency worked tirelessly to bring big names to town, often booking regional tours to make Lulu’s a viable stop. Artists were paid in cash, and trust was everything—Del Shannon once asked Cressman to hold onto $30,000 until his next visit.
The venue’s charm wasn’t just in its headliners. The house band, featuring guitarist Peter Paladino, was a major draw, touring other cities and even traveling in their own bus. For many, the house band was the best show in town.
Bill Wiley, a DJ from FM 108 and frequent MC at Lulu’s, conducted over 350 interviews with artists during his time there. Though many of his recordings were tragically stolen 15 years ago, he fondly recalls his interview with James Brown as a career highlight. Among his favourite performances were Sam and Dave, Gary Puckett and the Union Gap, Screamin’ Jay Hawkins, and The Crystals. Wiley remembers Dee Dee Kenniebrew of The Crystals taking a particular liking to him—a memory that still brings a smile.
Even chaos had its place. One night, during a Motörhead and Black Sabbath double bill, the crowd erupted into moshing and stage diving—not something you’d expect to see at a suburban night club. Between sets, a scuffle broke out, adding to the night’s wild lore.
Despite its popularity, Lulu’s could not escape the pressures of changing times. Ownership changes, economic downturns, and evolving musical tastes led to its bankruptcy in 1992. Though it was revived and continued to host major acts into the late ’90s, the club closed for good on April 8, 2000.
Angie Hill—now a popular DJ on Bounce 99.5 FM— was a host at Lulu’s in the late 1990’s until it closed in 2000. She remembers the people she worked with as a family and cherishes the lifelong friendships she made while working there. She remembers how she and other staff would “eat our shitty chicken fingers together … and make a plan of attack for the night.”
Kenny Hollis, who also worked as a host for many years at Lulu’s, reportedly had some of his ashes scattered on former site of Lulu’s.
Mike Harvey, who worked as the Lighting Director from 1993 to 1998, said working at Lulu’s was like being paid to work at a party.
“There will never, ever, be another place like it,” he said.
“The place was just magical, eh,” Robbie Hain, the former house manager, said.
Hain is also working on a book about Lulu’s.
Today, Lulu’s lives on in the hearts of those who experienced it. Ask any regular to name their favorite show, and you will likely get a wistful smile and a list too long to finish. Whether it was George Thorogood playing to an over-capacity crowd, James Brown for $2 on a Tuesday, or Stompin’ Tom Connors fuming over a canceled gig, every night at Lulu’s was a story waiting to be told.
And 25 years later, those stories still echo—loud, proud and unforgettable.
#chuckBerry #FionaMcAlister #georgeThorogood #guinnessWorldRecord #jamesBrown #karlMagid #localHistory #localMusic #localVenue #luluSRoadhouse #Ontario #theRamones #Toronto #torontoEntrepreneur
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Apple ma problem z linią klawiatur do iPadów – za dużo opcji, za mało sensu?
Wraz z wprowadzeniem w zeszłym miesiącu nowych produktów, w tym iPada Air z chipem M3, Apple zaprezentowało kolejną wersję klawiatury Magic Keyboard.
Choć dodanie klawiszy funkcyjnych do modelu dla iPada Air jest mile widzianym ulepszeniem, eksperci i użytkownicy zwracają uwagę na coraz bardziej skomplikowaną i nieprzemyślaną ofertę akcesoriów klawiaturowych firmy.
Według analizy opublikowanej na łamach 9to5Mac, Apple obecnie oferuje aż cztery różne modele klawiatur do iPadów, wszystkie w podobnym przedziale cenowym, co wprowadza zamieszanie wśród klientów. Na przykład Magic Keyboard Folio za 249 dolarów, dedykowana tańszemu iPadowi za 349 dolarów, wydaje się niepraktycznym wyborem, zwłaszcza że Logitech oferuje podobne rozwiązanie – Combo Touch – za jedyne 159 dolarów. Problem potęguje fakt, że różne modele iPadów (np. iPad 10 i 11) używają odmiennych złączy Smart Connector, co ogranicza kompatybilność między urządzeniami i akcesoriami.
Autorzy sugerują, że Apple mogłoby uprościć linię produktów do dwóch modeli: standardowego i „pro”, eliminując zbędne warianty. Dodatkowo zauważono, że ceny iPadów z klawiaturami – np. iPad Air z M3 i nową klawiaturą za 1218 dolarów – przewyższają koszt MacBooka Air z M4 (999 dolarów), co budzi pytania o sensowność takiej strategii cenowej.
W opinii komentatorów firma mogłaby obniżyć ceny i zwiększyć sprzedaż, zamiast utrzymywać wysokie marże na akcesoriach i tabletach. Eksperci z 9to5Mac podkreślają, że obecna oferta klawiatur przypomina chaos, jaki panował w linii Apple Pencil, i wzywają Apple do lepszego dopracowania strategii. Czy firma z Cupertino zdecyduje się na zmiany? Przekonamy się w najbliższych miesiącach.
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Apple ma problem z linią klawiatur do iPadów – za dużo opcji, za mało sensu?
Wraz z wprowadzeniem w zeszłym miesiącu nowych produktów, w tym iPada Air z chipem M3, Apple zaprezentowało kolejną wersję klawiatury Magic Keyboard.
Choć dodanie klawiszy funkcyjnych do modelu dla iPada Air jest mile widzianym ulepszeniem, eksperci i użytkownicy zwracają uwagę na coraz bardziej skomplikowaną i nieprzemyślaną ofertę akcesoriów klawiaturowych firmy.
Według analizy opublikowanej na łamach 9to5Mac, Apple obecnie oferuje aż cztery różne modele klawiatur do iPadów, wszystkie w podobnym przedziale cenowym, co wprowadza zamieszanie wśród klientów. Na przykład Magic Keyboard Folio za 249 dolarów, dedykowana tańszemu iPadowi za 349 dolarów, wydaje się niepraktycznym wyborem, zwłaszcza że Logitech oferuje podobne rozwiązanie – Combo Touch – za jedyne 159 dolarów. Problem potęguje fakt, że różne modele iPadów (np. iPad 10 i 11) używają odmiennych złączy Smart Connector, co ogranicza kompatybilność między urządzeniami i akcesoriami.
Autorzy sugerują, że Apple mogłoby uprościć linię produktów do dwóch modeli: standardowego i „pro”, eliminując zbędne warianty. Dodatkowo zauważono, że ceny iPadów z klawiaturami – np. iPad Air z M3 i nową klawiaturą za 1218 dolarów – przewyższają koszt MacBooka Air z M4 (999 dolarów), co budzi pytania o sensowność takiej strategii cenowej.
W opinii komentatorów firma mogłaby obniżyć ceny i zwiększyć sprzedaż, zamiast utrzymywać wysokie marże na akcesoriach i tabletach. Eksperci z 9to5Mac podkreślają, że obecna oferta klawiatur przypomina chaos, jaki panował w linii Apple Pencil, i wzywają Apple do lepszego dopracowania strategii. Czy firma z Cupertino zdecyduje się na zmiany? Przekonamy się w najbliższych miesiącach.
-
Apple ma problem z linią klawiatur do iPadów – za dużo opcji, za mało sensu?
Wraz z wprowadzeniem w zeszłym miesiącu nowych produktów, w tym iPada Air z chipem M3, Apple zaprezentowało kolejną wersję klawiatury Magic Keyboard.
Choć dodanie klawiszy funkcyjnych do modelu dla iPada Air jest mile widzianym ulepszeniem, eksperci i użytkownicy zwracają uwagę na coraz bardziej skomplikowaną i nieprzemyślaną ofertę akcesoriów klawiaturowych firmy.
Według analizy opublikowanej na łamach 9to5Mac, Apple obecnie oferuje aż cztery różne modele klawiatur do iPadów, wszystkie w podobnym przedziale cenowym, co wprowadza zamieszanie wśród klientów. Na przykład Magic Keyboard Folio za 249 dolarów, dedykowana tańszemu iPadowi za 349 dolarów, wydaje się niepraktycznym wyborem, zwłaszcza że Logitech oferuje podobne rozwiązanie – Combo Touch – za jedyne 159 dolarów. Problem potęguje fakt, że różne modele iPadów (np. iPad 10 i 11) używają odmiennych złączy Smart Connector, co ogranicza kompatybilność między urządzeniami i akcesoriami.
Autorzy sugerują, że Apple mogłoby uprościć linię produktów do dwóch modeli: standardowego i „pro”, eliminując zbędne warianty. Dodatkowo zauważono, że ceny iPadów z klawiaturami – np. iPad Air z M3 i nową klawiaturą za 1218 dolarów – przewyższają koszt MacBooka Air z M4 (999 dolarów), co budzi pytania o sensowność takiej strategii cenowej.
W opinii komentatorów firma mogłaby obniżyć ceny i zwiększyć sprzedaż, zamiast utrzymywać wysokie marże na akcesoriach i tabletach. Eksperci z 9to5Mac podkreślają, że obecna oferta klawiatur przypomina chaos, jaki panował w linii Apple Pencil, i wzywają Apple do lepszego dopracowania strategii. Czy firma z Cupertino zdecyduje się na zmiany? Przekonamy się w najbliższych miesiącach.
-
Apple ma problem z linią klawiatur do iPadów – za dużo opcji, za mało sensu?
Wraz z wprowadzeniem w zeszłym miesiącu nowych produktów, w tym iPada Air z chipem M3, Apple zaprezentowało kolejną wersję klawiatury Magic Keyboard.
Choć dodanie klawiszy funkcyjnych do modelu dla iPada Air jest mile widzianym ulepszeniem, eksperci i użytkownicy zwracają uwagę na coraz bardziej skomplikowaną i nieprzemyślaną ofertę akcesoriów klawiaturowych firmy.
Według analizy opublikowanej na łamach 9to5Mac, Apple obecnie oferuje aż cztery różne modele klawiatur do iPadów, wszystkie w podobnym przedziale cenowym, co wprowadza zamieszanie wśród klientów. Na przykład Magic Keyboard Folio za 249 dolarów, dedykowana tańszemu iPadowi za 349 dolarów, wydaje się niepraktycznym wyborem, zwłaszcza że Logitech oferuje podobne rozwiązanie – Combo Touch – za jedyne 159 dolarów. Problem potęguje fakt, że różne modele iPadów (np. iPad 10 i 11) używają odmiennych złączy Smart Connector, co ogranicza kompatybilność między urządzeniami i akcesoriami.
Autorzy sugerują, że Apple mogłoby uprościć linię produktów do dwóch modeli: standardowego i „pro”, eliminując zbędne warianty. Dodatkowo zauważono, że ceny iPadów z klawiaturami – np. iPad Air z M3 i nową klawiaturą za 1218 dolarów – przewyższają koszt MacBooka Air z M4 (999 dolarów), co budzi pytania o sensowność takiej strategii cenowej.
W opinii komentatorów firma mogłaby obniżyć ceny i zwiększyć sprzedaż, zamiast utrzymywać wysokie marże na akcesoriach i tabletach. Eksperci z 9to5Mac podkreślają, że obecna oferta klawiatur przypomina chaos, jaki panował w linii Apple Pencil, i wzywają Apple do lepszego dopracowania strategii. Czy firma z Cupertino zdecyduje się na zmiany? Przekonamy się w najbliższych miesiącach.
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Dynamite Entertainment and Humble Bundle are teaming up for one of the biggest comic book bundles ever, as the publisher celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2024! Fans are invited to check in on and secure this unbeatable deal, never to be repeated. It’s all presented in one single tier for just a $20 minimum purchase. Buyers walk away with a whopping 20,000-plus pages of storytelling across countless genres, from tons of top tier creators, starring beloved characters, and from multiple eras. It’s a truly a can’t-miss deal!
The likes of Red Sonja, Vampirella, Dejah Thoris, Army of Darkness, Project Superpowers, and so much more are represented here. Readers can whisk themselves away to worlds of fantasy, science fiction, horror, and super-heroics. All to celebrate two decades of Dynamite’s deluge of great releases. The publisher officially kicked off in 2004, debuting Army of Darkness comics, quickly followed by other early hits like Red Sonja, The Lone Ranger, and more making an immediate impact. Flash forward 20 years and Dynamite remains a formidable force with smash-hit licensing partnerships with Disney, Warner Bros. Discovery, and other chart-climbers.
The bundle is live right now, and it’s only available for a limited time, so jump in! Get yours and help support the Hero Initiative!
The contents of this bundle would typically cost a reader well over $1,650, but this incredible, historic bundle is serving it all up for an astounding $20. That’s savings of nearly 99%!
Bundle Contents:
Adolescent Radioactive Blackbelt Hamsters (2008) #1-4
Complete Alice in Wonderland #1-4
Army of Darkness Movie Adaptation
Army of Darkness: Ashes 2 Ashes #1-4
Army of Darkness: Shop ‘Till You Drop Dead #1-4
Army of Darkness vs. Reanimator #1-4
Army of Darkness (2006) #5-13
Army of Darkness (2007) #1-27
Ash vs. the Army of Darkness #1-6
Tales of Army of Darkness
Athena #1-4
Barbarella (2017) #1-4
The Black Bat #1-12
Blackbeard: Legend of the Pyrate King #1-6
Chaos! (2014) #1-6
Control #1-6
Dead Irons #1-4
Dejah Thoris (2016) #1-6
Dejah Thoris (2018) #0-10
Dejah Thoris (2019) #1-12
The Devilers #1-7
Devolution #1-6
DIE!namite #1-5
Complete Dracula #1-5
Ex-Con #1-5
Green Hornet (2010) #1-5
Jennifer Blood (2011) #1-36
Jennifer Blood: Born Again #1-5
Jennifer Blood: First Blood #1-6
The Ninjettes (2012) #1-6
John Carter: The End #1-5
Jungle Girl #0-5
Jungle Girl: Season 2 #1-5
Jungle Girl: Season 3 #1-4
Karma Original Graphic Novel
Legenderry Tailspinners #1-3
The Mocking Dead #1-5
Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt (2010) #1-10
Peter Cannon: Thunderbolt (2018) #1-5
The Precinct #1-5
Project Superpowers #0-7
Project Superpowers: Chapter Two #0-12
Prophecy #1-7
Raise the Dead #1-4
Raise the Dead 2 #1-4
Reanimator (2015) #1-4
Marvel Feature (1975) #1-7 – Starring Red Sonja
Red Sonja (1977) #1-15
Red Sonja (2006) #0-80
Red Sonja (2013) #0-18
Red Sonja (2016B) #0-20
Queen Sonja #1-35
Red Sonja: Unchained #1-4
Red Sonja: Wrath of the Gods #1-5
Red Sonja/Tarzan #1-6
Legends of Red Sonja #1-5
Red Sonja: Ballad of the Red Goddess Original Graphic Novel
Seduction of the Innocent #1-4
Sheena: Queen of the Jungle #0-10
Sherlock Holmes (2009) #1-5
Super Zombies #1-5
Lord of the Jungle (2011) #1-15
Lords of the Jungle #1-6
Terminal Hero #1-6
Thhun’Da #1-5
A Train Called Love #1-10
Vampirella (1969) #1-14
Vampirella (1997) #1-6
Vampirella (2010) #1-26
Vampirella Strikes (2013) #1-6
Vampirella (2017) #0-11
Vampirella (2019) #0-6
Weaver #1-6#charity #digitalComics #dynamiteEntertainment #heroInitiative #humbleBundle #theHeroInitiative
-
☝️ #mustread: All these various criminal projects aimed at destroying societies by destroying *trust* in them...
>> "...a systemic battle between autocratic and democratic countries"
...
"The effort was worth it for the cyber-mercenaries. Manipulating the truth has grown into a multi-billion-dollar business in which, according to experts, hundreds of service providers are active around the world alongside state actors."
...
"We provide tailor made services," Meidan says. Everywhere where governments are wobbling, where things could really explode if elections were to get out of hand. All the client has to do is define their goals or targets, and Team Jorge designs a suitable strategy and deploys the necessary resources and people, he says - veterans of intelligence and military services, specialists in psychological warfare, financial experts.
...
The fact that the leaders of Team Jorge were themselves formerly in the service of a democratically elected governments doesn't seem to bother them. There are only three rules at Team Jorge, emphasizes Nick: No assignments can be accepted in Israel or the United States, at least not in politics. And going up against Putin is off limits. <<Hostile #dictatorships need to be kept the hell out of "Free World townsquares" and all these sociopathic agents of manipulation given the full "crimes against humanity" treatment.
With all its warts, the modern civilization we're currently experiencing —esp. in open-minded and tolerant democracies — is the result of endless efforts of people trying to improve things in our societies, not sowing chaos and distrust in them.
And some #psychopaths go and make a *business* out of destroying our *civil* societies?
All these people are still walking free and enjoying the fruits of their crimes... Every single one.
@emmalbriant #disinformation #misinformation #electionmanipulation #maga #trump #democracy #hybridwarfare #autocracy #cambridgeanalytica #teamjorge #talhanan #nuremberg #interpol
-
☝️ #mustread: All these various criminal projects aimed at destroying societies by destroying *trust* in them...
>> "...a systemic battle between autocratic and democratic countries"
...
"The effort was worth it for the cyber-mercenaries. Manipulating the truth has grown into a multi-billion-dollar business in which, according to experts, hundreds of service providers are active around the world alongside state actors."
...
"We provide tailor made services," Meidan says. Everywhere where governments are wobbling, where things could really explode if elections were to get out of hand. All the client has to do is define their goals or targets, and Team Jorge designs a suitable strategy and deploys the necessary resources and people, he says - veterans of intelligence and military services, specialists in psychological warfare, financial experts.
...
The fact that the leaders of Team Jorge were themselves formerly in the service of a democratically elected governments doesn't seem to bother them. There are only three rules at Team Jorge, emphasizes Nick: No assignments can be accepted in Israel or the United States, at least not in politics. And going up against Putin is off limits. <<Hostile #dictatorships need to be kept the hell out of "Free World townsquares" and all these sociopathic agents of manipulation given the full "crimes against humanity" treatment.
With all its warts, the modern civilization we're currently experiencing —esp. in open-minded and tolerant democracies — is the result of endless efforts of people trying to improve things in our societies, not sowing chaos and distrust in them.
And some #psychopaths go and make a *business* out of destroying our *civil* societies?
All these people are still walking free and enjoying the fruits of their crimes... Every single one.
@emmalbriant #disinformation #misinformation #electionmanipulation #russia #putin #ccp #china #maga #trump #democracy #hybridwarfare #autocracy #cambridgeanalytica #teamjorge #talhanan #nuremberg #interpol
-
☝️ #mustread: All these various criminal projects aimed at destroying societies by destroying *trust* in them...
>> "...a systemic battle between autocratic and democratic countries"
...
"The effort was worth it for the cyber-mercenaries. Manipulating the truth has grown into a multi-billion-dollar business in which, according to experts, hundreds of service providers are active around the world alongside state actors."
...
"We provide tailor made services," Meidan says. Everywhere where governments are wobbling, where things could really explode if elections were to get out of hand. All the client has to do is define their goals or targets, and Team Jorge designs a suitable strategy and deploys the necessary resources and people, he says - veterans of intelligence and military services, specialists in psychological warfare, financial experts.
...
The fact that the leaders of Team Jorge were themselves formerly in the service of a democratically elected governments doesn't seem to bother them. There are only three rules at Team Jorge, emphasizes Nick: No assignments can be accepted in Israel or the United States, at least not in politics. And going up against Putin is off limits. <<Hostile #dictatorships need to be kept the hell out of "Free World townsquares" and all these sociopathic agents of manipulation given the full "crimes against humanity" treatment.
With all its warts, the modern civilization we're currently experiencing —esp. in open-minded and tolerant democracies — is the result of endless efforts of people trying to improve things in our societies, not sowing chaos and distrust in them.
And some #psychopaths go and make a *business* out of destroying our *civil* societies?
All these people are still walking free and enjoying the fruits of their crimes... Every single one.
@emmalbriant #disinformation #misinformation #electionmanipulation #russia #putin #ccp #china #maga #trump #democracy #hybridwarfare #autocracy #cambridgeanalytica #teamjorge #talhanan #nuremberg #interpol
-
☝️ #mustread: All these various criminal projects aimed at destroying societies by destroying *trust* in them...
>> "...a systemic battle between autocratic and democratic countries"
...
"The effort was worth it for the cyber-mercenaries. Manipulating the truth has grown into a multi-billion-dollar business in which, according to experts, hundreds of service providers are active around the world alongside state actors."
...
"We provide tailor made services," Meidan says. Everywhere where governments are wobbling, where things could really explode if elections were to get out of hand. All the client has to do is define their goals or targets, and Team Jorge designs a suitable strategy and deploys the necessary resources and people, he says - veterans of intelligence and military services, specialists in psychological warfare, financial experts.
...
The fact that the leaders of Team Jorge were themselves formerly in the service of a democratically elected governments doesn't seem to bother them. There are only three rules at Team Jorge, emphasizes Nick: No assignments can be accepted in Israel or the United States, at least not in politics. And going up against Putin is off limits. <<Hostile #dictatorships need to be kept the hell out of "Free World townsquares" and all these sociopathic agents of manipulation given the full "crimes against humanity" treatment.
With all its warts, the modern civilization we're currently experiencing —esp. in open-minded and tolerant democracies — is the result of endless efforts of people trying to improve things in our societies, not sowing chaos and distrust in them.
And some #psychopaths go and make a *business* out of destroying our *civil* societies?
All these people are still walking free and enjoying the fruits of their crimes... Every single one.
@emmalbriant #disinformation #misinformation #electionmanipulation #maga #trump #democracy #hybridwarfare #autocracy #cambridgeanalytica #teamjorge #talhanan #nuremberg #interpol
-
☝️ #mustread: All these various criminal projects aimed at destroying societies by destroying *trust* in them...
>> "...a systemic battle between autocratic and democratic countries"
...
"The effort was worth it for the cyber-mercenaries. Manipulating the truth has grown into a multi-billion-dollar business in which, according to experts, hundreds of service providers are active around the world alongside state actors."
...
"We provide tailor made services," Meidan says. Everywhere where governments are wobbling, where things could really explode if elections were to get out of hand. All the client has to do is define their goals or targets, and Team Jorge designs a suitable strategy and deploys the necessary resources and people, he says - veterans of intelligence and military services, specialists in psychological warfare, financial experts.
...
The fact that the leaders of Team Jorge were themselves formerly in the service of a democratically elected governments doesn't seem to bother them. There are only three rules at Team Jorge, emphasizes Nick: No assignments can be accepted in Israel or the United States, at least not in politics. And going up against Putin is off limits. <<Hostile #dictatorships need to be kept the hell out of "Free World townsquares" and all these sociopathic agents of manipulation given the full "crimes against humanity" treatment.
With all its warts, the modern civilization we're currently experiencing —esp. in open-minded and tolerant democracies — is the result of endless efforts of people trying to improve things in our societies, not sowing chaos and distrust in them.
And some #psychopaths go and make a *business* out of destroying our *civil* societies?
All these people are still walking free and enjoying the fruits of their crimes... Every single one.
@emmalbriant #disinformation #misinformation #electionmanipulation #russia #putin #ccp #china #maga #trump #democracy #hybridwarfare #autocracy #cambridgeanalytica #teamjorge #talhanan #nuremberg #interpol
-
CW: Part 1 Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy! “Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.” Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network
Part 1
Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy!“Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.”
Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network - Truthout https://truthout.org/articles/tax-docs-link-right-wing-parents-group-to-leonard-leos-dark-money-network/
#GOPInBedWithTheRich
#Fascism
#RightWingHatesDemocracy
#TheyWantTheirSerfsBack"Right-wing operatives are increasing their attacks on U.S. public education with an expanding number of legal complaints to censor books and target teachers on an array of issues —preventing them from teaching U.S. history accurately, treating LGBTQ+ students with the respect they deserve, and forming support groups for kids and teachers of color. These attacks will likely continue to escalate through 2024 as wedge issues intended to feed the right-wing voting base and lay the groundwork for redirecting funds from public schools to private recipients.
One of the main players in these attacks is Parents Defending Education (PDE), a dark money nonprofit group launched in 2021 in the midst of the Virginia state election cycle. Over the past two years, PDE has become a central actor in the right-wing assault on public schools across the nation. The group has trained local agitators to grab media attention, sued school districts for supposed anti-white discrimination, and railed against the teaching of social emotional learning, accurate U.S. history, and even ethnic studies in schools.
Lawyers affiliated with PDE filed at least four complaints in January with the U.S. Department of Education claiming affinity groups for kids or teachers are illegal. These are just a few of the many complaints the group has filed over the past two years.
As dark money in education expert Maurice Cunningham has written, PDE’s “real goal” in filing lawsuits and complaints appears to be to “create media attention and promote chaos and disruption.” Then groups like PDE can claim the solution to the chaos is increased right-wing “parental supervision” over school boards. That supervision appears to involve a minority of vocal, politically motivated parents dictating what other people’s kids are taught or what they can read, based on whether such lessons or books are consistent with their right-wing religious beliefs and political opinions.
PDE’s speakers are often portrayed in the media as simply “concerned parents,” despite the group’s ties to the network of oil billionaire Charles Koch, far right politicians and school privatization efforts. Due to the timetables for the filing of nonprofit IRS forms, the amount PDE had raised to mount these attacks was unknown — until now.
PDE’s 2021 990 nonprofit IRS form shows that the group raised more than $3.1 million in its first year, even though many genuinely local grassroots efforts take years to raise that much money. That form does not reveal how much money PDE raised in 2022, during the congressional midterm elections; the amount it received to fuel its operations last year is likely even higher than 2021. The $3.1 million disclosed for 2021 also does not include any money raised that year by PDE Action, its (c)(4) advocacy arm.
What does the new filing show? First, it reveals that although PDE describes itself as a group of concerned parents, almost all of its funding came from major donors rather than dues from parents. Specifically, PDE raised only $77,272 from membership dues out of the $3,178,345 it was given that year by funders who were not members.
That is, only 2 percent of the group’s funding came from local parents who paid a $10 fee for membership. The vast majority of PDE’s funding comes from big secret sources underwriting the attacks on public education, sources that paid the group a lot more than $10 in membership dues.
PDE’s figure and its disclosed fee suggest that around 7,700 people have paid dues, which would constitute .01 percent of all of the parents in the U.S. It’s a case study in the squeaky wheel getting the grease..."
-
CW: Part 1 Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy! “Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.” Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network
Part 1
Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy!“Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.”
Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network - Truthout https://truthout.org/articles/tax-docs-link-right-wing-parents-group-to-leonard-leos-dark-money-network/
#GOPInBedWithTheRich
#Fascism
#RightWingHatesDemocracy
#TheyWantTheirSerfsBack"Right-wing operatives are increasing their attacks on U.S. public education with an expanding number of legal complaints to censor books and target teachers on an array of issues —preventing them from teaching U.S. history accurately, treating LGBTQ+ students with the respect they deserve, and forming support groups for kids and teachers of color. These attacks will likely continue to escalate through 2024 as wedge issues intended to feed the right-wing voting base and lay the groundwork for redirecting funds from public schools to private recipients.
One of the main players in these attacks is Parents Defending Education (PDE), a dark money nonprofit group launched in 2021 in the midst of the Virginia state election cycle. Over the past two years, PDE has become a central actor in the right-wing assault on public schools across the nation. The group has trained local agitators to grab media attention, sued school districts for supposed anti-white discrimination, and railed against the teaching of social emotional learning, accurate U.S. history, and even ethnic studies in schools.
Lawyers affiliated with PDE filed at least four complaints in January with the U.S. Department of Education claiming affinity groups for kids or teachers are illegal. These are just a few of the many complaints the group has filed over the past two years.
As dark money in education expert Maurice Cunningham has written, PDE’s “real goal” in filing lawsuits and complaints appears to be to “create media attention and promote chaos and disruption.” Then groups like PDE can claim the solution to the chaos is increased right-wing “parental supervision” over school boards. That supervision appears to involve a minority of vocal, politically motivated parents dictating what other people’s kids are taught or what they can read, based on whether such lessons or books are consistent with their right-wing religious beliefs and political opinions.
PDE’s speakers are often portrayed in the media as simply “concerned parents,” despite the group’s ties to the network of oil billionaire Charles Koch, far right politicians and school privatization efforts. Due to the timetables for the filing of nonprofit IRS forms, the amount PDE had raised to mount these attacks was unknown — until now.
PDE’s 2021 990 nonprofit IRS form shows that the group raised more than $3.1 million in its first year, even though many genuinely local grassroots efforts take years to raise that much money. That form does not reveal how much money PDE raised in 2022, during the congressional midterm elections; the amount it received to fuel its operations last year is likely even higher than 2021. The $3.1 million disclosed for 2021 also does not include any money raised that year by PDE Action, its (c)(4) advocacy arm.
What does the new filing show? First, it reveals that although PDE describes itself as a group of concerned parents, almost all of its funding came from major donors rather than dues from parents. Specifically, PDE raised only $77,272 from membership dues out of the $3,178,345 it was given that year by funders who were not members.
That is, only 2 percent of the group’s funding came from local parents who paid a $10 fee for membership. The vast majority of PDE’s funding comes from big secret sources underwriting the attacks on public education, sources that paid the group a lot more than $10 in membership dues.
PDE’s figure and its disclosed fee suggest that around 7,700 people have paid dues, which would constitute .01 percent of all of the parents in the U.S. It’s a case study in the squeaky wheel getting the grease..."
-
CW: Part 1 Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy! “Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.” Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network
Part 1
Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy!“Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.”
Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network - Truthout https://truthout.org/articles/tax-docs-link-right-wing-parents-group-to-leonard-leos-dark-money-network/
#GOPInBedWithTheRich
#Fascism
#RightWingHatesDemocracy
#TheyWantTheirSerfsBack"Right-wing operatives are increasing their attacks on U.S. public education with an expanding number of legal complaints to censor books and target teachers on an array of issues —preventing them from teaching U.S. history accurately, treating LGBTQ+ students with the respect they deserve, and forming support groups for kids and teachers of color. These attacks will likely continue to escalate through 2024 as wedge issues intended to feed the right-wing voting base and lay the groundwork for redirecting funds from public schools to private recipients.
One of the main players in these attacks is Parents Defending Education (PDE), a dark money nonprofit group launched in 2021 in the midst of the Virginia state election cycle. Over the past two years, PDE has become a central actor in the right-wing assault on public schools across the nation. The group has trained local agitators to grab media attention, sued school districts for supposed anti-white discrimination, and railed against the teaching of social emotional learning, accurate U.S. history, and even ethnic studies in schools.
Lawyers affiliated with PDE filed at least four complaints in January with the U.S. Department of Education claiming affinity groups for kids or teachers are illegal. These are just a few of the many complaints the group has filed over the past two years.
As dark money in education expert Maurice Cunningham has written, PDE’s “real goal” in filing lawsuits and complaints appears to be to “create media attention and promote chaos and disruption.” Then groups like PDE can claim the solution to the chaos is increased right-wing “parental supervision” over school boards. That supervision appears to involve a minority of vocal, politically motivated parents dictating what other people’s kids are taught or what they can read, based on whether such lessons or books are consistent with their right-wing religious beliefs and political opinions.
PDE’s speakers are often portrayed in the media as simply “concerned parents,” despite the group’s ties to the network of oil billionaire Charles Koch, far right politicians and school privatization efforts. Due to the timetables for the filing of nonprofit IRS forms, the amount PDE had raised to mount these attacks was unknown — until now.
PDE’s 2021 990 nonprofit IRS form shows that the group raised more than $3.1 million in its first year, even though many genuinely local grassroots efforts take years to raise that much money. That form does not reveal how much money PDE raised in 2022, during the congressional midterm elections; the amount it received to fuel its operations last year is likely even higher than 2021. The $3.1 million disclosed for 2021 also does not include any money raised that year by PDE Action, its (c)(4) advocacy arm.
What does the new filing show? First, it reveals that although PDE describes itself as a group of concerned parents, almost all of its funding came from major donors rather than dues from parents. Specifically, PDE raised only $77,272 from membership dues out of the $3,178,345 it was given that year by funders who were not members.
That is, only 2 percent of the group’s funding came from local parents who paid a $10 fee for membership. The vast majority of PDE’s funding comes from big secret sources underwriting the attacks on public education, sources that paid the group a lot more than $10 in membership dues.
PDE’s figure and its disclosed fee suggest that around 7,700 people have paid dues, which would constitute .01 percent of all of the parents in the U.S. It’s a case study in the squeaky wheel getting the grease..."
-
CW: Part 1 Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy! “Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.” Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network
Part 1
Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy!“Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.”
Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network - Truthout https://truthout.org/articles/tax-docs-link-right-wing-parents-group-to-leonard-leos-dark-money-network/
#GOPInBedWithTheRich
#Fascism
#RightWingHatesDemocracy
#TheyWantTheirSerfsBack"Right-wing operatives are increasing their attacks on U.S. public education with an expanding number of legal complaints to censor books and target teachers on an array of issues —preventing them from teaching U.S. history accurately, treating LGBTQ+ students with the respect they deserve, and forming support groups for kids and teachers of color. These attacks will likely continue to escalate through 2024 as wedge issues intended to feed the right-wing voting base and lay the groundwork for redirecting funds from public schools to private recipients.
One of the main players in these attacks is Parents Defending Education (PDE), a dark money nonprofit group launched in 2021 in the midst of the Virginia state election cycle. Over the past two years, PDE has become a central actor in the right-wing assault on public schools across the nation. The group has trained local agitators to grab media attention, sued school districts for supposed anti-white discrimination, and railed against the teaching of social emotional learning, accurate U.S. history, and even ethnic studies in schools.
Lawyers affiliated with PDE filed at least four complaints in January with the U.S. Department of Education claiming affinity groups for kids or teachers are illegal. These are just a few of the many complaints the group has filed over the past two years.
As dark money in education expert Maurice Cunningham has written, PDE’s “real goal” in filing lawsuits and complaints appears to be to “create media attention and promote chaos and disruption.” Then groups like PDE can claim the solution to the chaos is increased right-wing “parental supervision” over school boards. That supervision appears to involve a minority of vocal, politically motivated parents dictating what other people’s kids are taught or what they can read, based on whether such lessons or books are consistent with their right-wing religious beliefs and political opinions.
PDE’s speakers are often portrayed in the media as simply “concerned parents,” despite the group’s ties to the network of oil billionaire Charles Koch, far right politicians and school privatization efforts. Due to the timetables for the filing of nonprofit IRS forms, the amount PDE had raised to mount these attacks was unknown — until now.
PDE’s 2021 990 nonprofit IRS form shows that the group raised more than $3.1 million in its first year, even though many genuinely local grassroots efforts take years to raise that much money. That form does not reveal how much money PDE raised in 2022, during the congressional midterm elections; the amount it received to fuel its operations last year is likely even higher than 2021. The $3.1 million disclosed for 2021 also does not include any money raised that year by PDE Action, its (c)(4) advocacy arm.
What does the new filing show? First, it reveals that although PDE describes itself as a group of concerned parents, almost all of its funding came from major donors rather than dues from parents. Specifically, PDE raised only $77,272 from membership dues out of the $3,178,345 it was given that year by funders who were not members.
That is, only 2 percent of the group’s funding came from local parents who paid a $10 fee for membership. The vast majority of PDE’s funding comes from big secret sources underwriting the attacks on public education, sources that paid the group a lot more than $10 in membership dues.
PDE’s figure and its disclosed fee suggest that around 7,700 people have paid dues, which would constitute .01 percent of all of the parents in the U.S. It’s a case study in the squeaky wheel getting the grease..."
-
CW: Part 1 Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy! “Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.” Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network
Part 1
Wealthy right-wing extremists are trying to "buy" the racist, oligarchic, Christian nationalist country they want and dismantle public education, democracy and the separation of church and state. They are actively plotting and working to destroy our multi-ethnic, liberal democracy!“Parents Defending Education” is overwhelmingly funded by big donors’ dark money rather than by “concerned parents.”
Tax Docs Link Right-Wing “Parents Group” to Leonard Leo’s Dark Money Network - Truthout https://truthout.org/articles/tax-docs-link-right-wing-parents-group-to-leonard-leos-dark-money-network/
#GOPInBedWithTheRich
#Fascism
#RightWingHatesDemocracy
#TheyWantTheirSerfsBack"Right-wing operatives are increasing their attacks on U.S. public education with an expanding number of legal complaints to censor books and target teachers on an array of issues —preventing them from teaching U.S. history accurately, treating LGBTQ+ students with the respect they deserve, and forming support groups for kids and teachers of color. These attacks will likely continue to escalate through 2024 as wedge issues intended to feed the right-wing voting base and lay the groundwork for redirecting funds from public schools to private recipients.
One of the main players in these attacks is Parents Defending Education (PDE), a dark money nonprofit group launched in 2021 in the midst of the Virginia state election cycle. Over the past two years, PDE has become a central actor in the right-wing assault on public schools across the nation. The group has trained local agitators to grab media attention, sued school districts for supposed anti-white discrimination, and railed against the teaching of social emotional learning, accurate U.S. history, and even ethnic studies in schools.
Lawyers affiliated with PDE filed at least four complaints in January with the U.S. Department of Education claiming affinity groups for kids or teachers are illegal. These are just a few of the many complaints the group has filed over the past two years.
As dark money in education expert Maurice Cunningham has written, PDE’s “real goal” in filing lawsuits and complaints appears to be to “create media attention and promote chaos and disruption.” Then groups like PDE can claim the solution to the chaos is increased right-wing “parental supervision” over school boards. That supervision appears to involve a minority of vocal, politically motivated parents dictating what other people’s kids are taught or what they can read, based on whether such lessons or books are consistent with their right-wing religious beliefs and political opinions.
PDE’s speakers are often portrayed in the media as simply “concerned parents,” despite the group’s ties to the network of oil billionaire Charles Koch, far right politicians and school privatization efforts. Due to the timetables for the filing of nonprofit IRS forms, the amount PDE had raised to mount these attacks was unknown — until now.
PDE’s 2021 990 nonprofit IRS form shows that the group raised more than $3.1 million in its first year, even though many genuinely local grassroots efforts take years to raise that much money. That form does not reveal how much money PDE raised in 2022, during the congressional midterm elections; the amount it received to fuel its operations last year is likely even higher than 2021. The $3.1 million disclosed for 2021 also does not include any money raised that year by PDE Action, its (c)(4) advocacy arm.
What does the new filing show? First, it reveals that although PDE describes itself as a group of concerned parents, almost all of its funding came from major donors rather than dues from parents. Specifically, PDE raised only $77,272 from membership dues out of the $3,178,345 it was given that year by funders who were not members.
That is, only 2 percent of the group’s funding came from local parents who paid a $10 fee for membership. The vast majority of PDE’s funding comes from big secret sources underwriting the attacks on public education, sources that paid the group a lot more than $10 in membership dues.
PDE’s figure and its disclosed fee suggest that around 7,700 people have paid dues, which would constitute .01 percent of all of the parents in the U.S. It’s a case study in the squeaky wheel getting the grease..."
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Amy Sharpe from the Sunday Mirror contacted me on Facebook after I declined another Mirror Journalist’s request for an interview.
I declined her request as well, as I wasn’t ready for the press, and as I am still paranoid to be tricked and trapped like Pret did with the Development Manager I write extensively about in Open “Letter” to Lila Tighilt Warren. My experience in Pret is very complex and sounds like straight from a twisted Hollywood script, but I have it all in writing and confront Pret openly on Twitter, which in turn have them report me to get shadow-banned (secretly censored on Twitter & Co. which then hides my posts and accounts from public search). But I urged her to go undercover to see for herself and not just take my word for it, just like James Bloodworth did in Amazon. And she did.
My Facebook message after Amy contacted me, but I was not ready for the press:
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What I meant by Pret “infiltrating” the mental health club I was a member of, Pret knew about this club as I mentioned it in my last hearing. I write about Pret “infiltrating” the club in my open “letter” to the Pret Foundation Trust which is just a smokescreen to pretend charity to the public. Pret never responded when I AND an OPs manager asked if I could be placed under someone from the Pret Foundation when I became bereaved and then targetted. Pret never responded.
As I commented on Sathnam Sanghera’s Times article, I’d like to give my two cents also to Amy Sharpe’s undercover article. Both articles from very different perspectives as one from a customer and business point of view, the other from behind the scenes for a few days. But both are equally important and revealing how business works with the main goal of profit in mind.
I have to say that when I saw the undercover reporting yesterday morning (28.11.2018) linked on Twitter, after Amy has been very silent about going “under”, and rightly so, I teared up. I cried when I read her name on the report because not just did she follow my suggestion taking my ordeal serious, but someone from the outside saw what I and many others experience(d), but the public doesn’t want to know about unless it is the press poking into an organization.
It sadly takes deaths becoming public to show how negligent a company, in this case Pret, really is. I’ve been writing openly about my experience with Pret since May 2018 after my father died in March and I started to come to terms again of another loss… still recuperating from my Pret trauma that has “postponed” my grief for my brother. Regular readers know the story.
Some people criticize The Sunday Mirror’s report as being part of a witch hunt, but I don’t think that. The public is so used to be lulled in by a nice and shiny facade, free coffees and cookies.
Customers are so used to the smiles of staff, but no-one knows what really is behind it. The fear management via the Mystery Shopper, rewarded extra £100 if specially nice or told off by the boss in the office and threatened with job security if they didn’t smile non-stop in the highly stressful work environment. I mentioned this in a Tweet response to a customer who without any thought or empathy complained to Pret about a barista, even naming him, for not smiling and rushing the service:
Amy Sharpe’s undercover article to me is like someone understanding this and finally confirming my and the team’s ordeal. Some points I want to highlight as I don’t use the full article, just what I want to confirm and expand upon a little from what this journalist has experienced and witnessed. The article will be in black and my comments in grey. I added the bold to the text to highlight some issues.
Article:
A manager reacts in horror as I point out the mistake (of an Almond Croissant with a Jam Croissant label).
“Oh my god!” he cries as he switches labels on two trays of croissants – one containing jam, the other almonds.This is the typical PANIC reaction of a manager who either didn’t take the time or is too disorganized to do the MBWA (Managing By Walking Around) to check that everything is in its proper place, health & safety checks and so on. This could easily be improved by investing to have plenty of staff, instead of cutting staff to save money, so that the Manager On Duty (MOD) can concentrate on checking everything daily as well as throughout the day. It’s a very simple organizational issue. Very, very simple.
Article:
In the wake of two allergy deaths, he adds: “It’s really dangerous, especially with everything that’s been going on.”And yet, no-one steps on the brakes to put immediate, and what CEO Clive Schlee calls, “meaningful” changes in place. The problem with the word “meaningful” to me here is, it sounds too wishy-washy, “poetically” correct but shows no urgency, even though “it’s really dangerous”. The appropriate word should have been to implement “immediate” changes! As Natasha’s parents are in shock over Pret’s procrastination, ITV’s November report:
Article:
I am standing behind the counter in Pret a Manger … The pace is so relentless, the demands so constant – customers want serving super-quick – that I find myself under constant pressure. I sense that other staff feel the strain too.Ms. Sharpe does not give the time of day she was behind the counter, but mentioned having to dash to the toastie machine, so this may have been lunch time. But the strain can especially be felt when a Team Member does the morning shift from 5 or 6am till 2 or 3pm going through two intense rushes: breakfast and lunch. When I worked in Pret I made a decision to not meet with a friend or have an appointment straight after my morning shift having come out of lunch time. I was always like having come out of a tumbler, being shaken for hours and still on electricity. My friends commented on this, so I tried to get home first to clean up and rest and calm down before joining any events.
One staff review paints this very bluntly. This is why I wished Amy Sharpe would have also covered a week in the kitchen to really get the full Pret “blow”: “This job can annihilate every piece of humanity inside of you.“
Many kitchens I have seen with very small working areas for the Hot Chef in particular. Someone leaked a photo to Twitter.
Customer areas are increased to get as many customers / money in as possible; staff areas are decreased. This then creates multiple problems, not only on the mental strain of staff but customers lives as mistakes happen quickly as with labelling I collected in another post “Vegetarians Get Meat Products“:
Or a shop where I worked where there was only ONE multitask room: office, staff changing room with lockers, fridges, freezers, stock room, hot chef soup prep area, chemical room for cleaning materials etc and to top it all, illegally the rubbish room next to the food prep area! This shop was the worst shop I’ve worked in. This photo is from 2015 and after years like this, Pret was forced to expand the work space to separate the rubbish for health and safety reasons. This room was medium size and approx. 15 square meters max. A total nightmare.
Article:
I am at a central London branch, where 10 staff vie for space, muttering apologies as we collide and stretch across one another to grab pastries and bags.
I shout orders to a barista while dashing to a beeping toastie machine to retrieve a baguette.
I make green teas and filter coffees while my other drinks orders are prepared. It’s stressful and confusing and the queue makes it even more so.
All the while, staff must be alert to the issue of allergens.Yep. And as one customer on Twitter pointed out the chaos and stress on the staff and customers alike. I had to console Team Members many times over the years who held their tears back or just cried in the staff room after being shouted at by the manager. Another review: “Better salary than McDonalds or Costa as long as you keep your fake smile up. Staff with more experience cuts corners on Sanitary rules because otherwise it is impossible to finish your batch on time.
– The coffee calling system is broken. During busy times it is nearly impossible to keep up with the orders without hating everyone around you. A lot of people cry in the staff room especially in their entry period.”
I also shed many tears on my way home in the bus, especially during grief of course, but after a terribly depressing shift this was a common thing to let the tears finally flow.UPDATE Jan. 2019
I found a photo of the coffee area and it shows how cramped and small the work area is. And the barista/coffee makers are required to get PERFECT coffees out within 1 minute that the Mystery Shopper times to the second! It doesn’t get any more dehumanizing and mentally straining than this. I don’t know how I managed, but we worked a lot in mental and physical pain. Under the coffee machine where the silver jugs are, this working area is so small baristas switch on autopilot and just keep going. Hence, lots of stress, shouting and customers going to Twitter with complaints of half cups of coffees that are made so fast to satisfy the Mystery Shopper, the manager and the long queue.
Link by @terry_mcparlane Twitter
It is rare that a customer speaks out like this and it’s sad that most customers don’t care how stressful it is behind the counter. They see it, at times even commented about it to me, but they just want their coffees fast. Pret has spoiled them where they would be perfectly happy to wait 5-10 minutes in Starbucks, Pret made the service so fast to get the money circulation into the shops fast. Pret staff are expected to whip out PERFECT coffees within ONE minute and are timed to the SECOND by Mystery Shoppers, while customers think that staff is just happy working under intense pressure. They don’t realize what’s behind that happy facade!
Excerpt:
1 minute aim to serve and another 1 minute to have a perfect hot drink ready, checked by the MS to the second:
“I was served very quickly, after 15 seconds, very quick service.”
“I received my hot drink very quick, after 30 seconds, quick service.”
And then customers run to Twitter with pictures of half full cappuccinos, missing cream, lukewarm coffees…! There’s nothing more dehumanizing at a workplace that I have experienced. And should anyone suffer from boredom, do an experiment and just read through some Pret Tweets a few minutes each day for a week, with the same sweet-talk response from Pret veering customers away from public Tweets to private DM.
Some complaints are legitimate when a customer already spoke to the manager, and yet Pret has a DM button, but customers feel the public needs to be aware of their dilemma in Pret shops. I know, I know I respond a lot to some Tweets, and maybe it is because for 10 years I had to bite my tongue towards rude customers, I take the opportunity now to give my opinion. And Pret doesn’t block me as they collect my Tweets in case for court and certainly to learn some tips, as I have showered them with suggestions for improvement while I worked there. Be my guest, Pret.
Article:
Staff now repeat orders to customers to avoid any mistakes. Allergen enquiries are referred to the duty manager, who will show a list of ingredients.Which is good to repeat, but the pace is still kept high with all sorts of demands, especially for the “Misery” Shopper: always smile, eye contact, make some small-talk, serve within 1 minute, stand on your head, dance on one feet, bend your back, twist your brain, know all the answers, kiss their butts … and all this with a big fake Pret A Smile to keep a low-paid job! In other words you either develop superhuman abilities or mental illness. The pace is the same, the demand is higher, and life is still at risk including the lives of staff who suffer depression, mental ill health and at times become suicidal. But the public “just” wakes up once customer lives are affected. Forget the “slaves“.
A positive Mystery Shopper visit, excerpt:
“The staff member who served me made good eye contact and greeted me with a friendly smile. While remaining focused and efficient, she also took time to engage in a few words of conversation, which added a personal element to the exchange – enhancing the welcoming atmosphere of this store.”
A negative Mystery Shopper visit, excerpt:
“I was not greeted at the till or given a smile. The only conversation was what was necessary for the transaction. To be welcoming the team member could have greeted me and smiled and be engage(d) and positive, the team member could have given me a friendly remark or made small talk.”
— or —
“Team members should smile at customers and may not work when ill, as team member was coughing whilst serving me and was therefore not feeling cheerful to smile that day.”
I wish I could have told this MS that staff are not paid sick leave for the first 2 and 3 days depending on age. So one had to decide if to stay home sick and lose income, or go to work unwell and get a telling off from the manager like I did because I coughed when I happened to serve the MS.
I wonder if Amy Sharpe served the Mystery Shopper and how she would have felt reading a negative comment on her service while feeling the experience of the “overstretched staff” and it being “stressful and confusing and the queue makes it even more so.”
I even wished sometimes customers would just join us for a few hours, especially those who quickly complain about everything.
Just few of the countless Tweets, just from this week:
This customer had good service for THREE years, then one negative experience and the world has come to an end. I linked her to Amy Sharpe’s report to bring some perspective for her feeling so unwanted. But I deleted the Tweet again as I write too many Tweets and always like to de-clutter my Twitter feeds:
“Every time…”
“Oh no!…”
etc. etc.
So, companies like Pret have created a “nation” of complainers where the British were usually patient and polite, they now cry like babies whose bottoms haven’t been wiped in a while! And the money keeps coming in while Pret responds with “Oh no…” and “Oh gosh, are you okay?…” sweet-talk to keep the babies happy and the money rolling!
I responded, but since deleted as well to this baby who had no issues to call hard working people the “C” word because he was in the “teething” period having his day ruined by a hard avocado. Pret’s typical cut’n’paste response, apologizing while he is offensive, and as if they really contact each shop all day long for repeated hard avocados:
Article:
The mantra, I am told repeatedly, is “NEVER guess”.
But from what I witness, the speed at which staff often have to work could put these commendable new standards at risk.
On my second shift I find an orange juice two weeks out of date on the shelves.
The shocked team leader tells me: “You don’t need to tell anyone, otherwise we’re f****d. It is really bad… I’ll throw it away.”
One barista tells me the cramped service area is a “nightmare”.
He says: “If I’m next to you, you have to shout. If you don’t shout I can make a mistake. A person can grab the wrong coffee. Make mistakes and the customer gets mad. You’ve got to focus, stay calm.”
With soybeans and dairy prominent on the menu – and among the 14 allergens kitchens must legally declare – this admission is worrying.
On my last shift, stickers are introduced to distinguish between soya, coconut and regular milks. But one barista serves a coffee without a sticker – and a manager barks: “Where is the sticker?”
The £8.25-an-hour shifts are tough and I collapse into bed exhausted after eight hours on my feet, lifting boxes, mopping and dragging tables around.Nothing more to add except this Link
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Article:
Some staff do 12-hour shifts or work at other branches to earn more. To add to the intensity, employees are battling the cold due to its station location. I wear extra layers to stay warm – there are only two Pret fleeces to go round, so we share.Nothing more to add except that some staff even do 60-70 hour weeks assigned by the manager! I had to speak out about this as Team Members were exhausted, at times became sick from the amount of work, but were too scared to speak with the GM. Again, I did not make friends with my bosses. But neither did I care!
Article:
When the bustle dies down I clean the shop but a colleague urges me to skip certain tasks.
“You’re supposed to sweep and mop every day but don’t do that or you’ll never leave on time,” he says.This unfortunately is common in most shops that staff are so swamped with work they are not able to finish in time and are NOT paid for overtime. I fought for this with my managers in every shop. I would say to my teams who did their best and me as the Team Leader helping them, that if they can’t finish I will mark this on the cleaning rota with an explanation, instead of just ticking off the jobs as done like most do to keep the appearance that jobs were completed. I’d then take responsibility when the boss summons me in the office the next day. I let the team go on the dot when our shift finished at 9 or 10pm or whatever closing and cleaning time the branch had.
Coffee Specialist, London April 2018
Most Team Members have families with kids at home, not seeing their children all day as they are in school, and later the parent is working when they go to bed. So I made it a point to let them go when the shift finished. I was very organized and made sure that the important jobs, health & safety was taken care of and prioritized these. I structured my teams in this way and left the unimportant jobs unfinished if we didn’t have time or enough staff.
In the early times in Pret I would work and work, finish in time and also worked overtime unpaid. But then the time came where I drew a line. It is okay here and there to finish a little late, but it was the norm in Pret and it seemed a very calculated one as Teams worked extra for no pay every day. I struggled with my managers and communicated that if we have to stay longer to finish the job, I will pay them the extra time through the system as was part of my job. If my bosses didn’t want that, then I told my team to finish on the dot and we go home. Full stop.
This of course didn’t make me friends with my bosses, but neither did I care! My friends are not these kind of people who exploit workers for their own bonuses. One Pret staff reviews this as a common practice for managers to give them a job to do 15 minutes before the Team Member would have finished the shift. But the job would take 30 – 60 minutes to complete. I experienced this many times as well and was made to feel bad if I needed or wanted to leave. It took me some time to stand up against this. Pret staff in the UK should do what their colleagues in the U.S. did, a class action suit for not being paid overtime.
Full article of the Sunday Mirror
I have to be honest that I wished Amy Sharpe would have worked longer, a month or so like James Bloodworth did in Amazon. It would have been good for Ms Sharpe to cover the early shifts and weekends as well, including working in the kitchen, as each time and job has its own challenges. But I’m not complaining. She covered 1 or 2 weeks (?) really really well, while I have 10 years of “material” to share that almost literally killed me having survived bullying during bereavement.
So, I have to be patient and acknowledge the brilliant work by this journalist having been willing to do this, as well as Sathnam Sanghera’s article. And many more people will tell their story in time away from the typical PR that Pret does so well. I keep confronting Pret on a staff suicide in 2017 and who knows how many more are under the carpet when they could hide two customer deaths for two years and the other for 10 months! I know my approach and direct confrontation is full on, but I almost lost my life after having worked with integrity, honesty, very hard and with passion for my teams. I cannot be silent after having wasted 10 years of my life in Pret with the knowledge that staff continue to suffer behind the facade. And if any reader wonders if I went to court, I explain here.
Thank you for your time in reading this. And thank you to anyone in the press to have taken a closer look. Thank you to Amy Sharpe. Ironic and delighted to be calling a reporter a now former colleague of mine! Well done Amy!
Life is short, please be kind to yourselves and others.
expret.org
UPDATE: 14.12.2018 A rare observation from a customer regarding forced friendliness.
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UPDATE March 2019 – The first time I share my story verbally in one go in this interview.
Interview:
https://expret.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/workplace-bullying-an-intervie-683101e6895da.m4a
Above interview is with Adam from The Adam Paradox podcast on my experience in Pret A Manger.
We spoke about gaslighting (being from Germany, that word doesn’t exist in Germany except in its English form. I had to explain it to a German therapist), “shadow banning” and censorship on social media, as well as bereavement, trauma and mental health in general. I further talked about the significant timing of Pret CEO’s announcement of the £1000 Tweet for all staff. I also talked about a regular day in Pret and how staff have to cut corners, in order to fulfill the immense workload under constant pressure.
It is hard to squeeze my traumatic experience into a podcast segment, but we covered enough to get a good picture of today’s systemic stress environment for profit driven global companies.
Please visit his Podcast and Twitter @1AdamParadox.
UPDATE February 2019, my posts on “Why do Pret Staff continue under Harshness“
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I worked at Pret A Manger and survived systemic workplace bullying during bereavement that involved HR, the top leadership, HQ and even the now “retired” former CEO Clive Schlee. I declined 4 settlement offers if I am silent about my ordeal. But I rather speak out to help others. For an overview of important blog entries of my experience with Pret, please visit My Ordeal with Pret A Manger. The little arrow to the right next to each heading will lead directly to the post.An incomplete list on what other Pret staff say about Pret’s bullying environment Caught in the Act Bullying and What shop MANAGERS and HQ staff say about Pret incl. CEO Pano Christou.I tell my story for the first time verbally in below audio player interview on a podcast by The Adam Paradox, and wrote two articles in the Scottish Left Review as well as mentioned by the BBC.Please also see the MEDIA page for more.
NEW LinkTree
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Thank you for reading/listening.
©2017 – present expret.org
Interview:
(Please be aware that the player shows 0:00 as WordPress sometimes “messes” with my blog. Just press play or go straight to the interview on Adam’s page).
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https://expret.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/workplace-bullying-an-intervie-683101e6895da.m4a.
Unless otherwise stated or linked to, this website and all writings within this site are the property of expret.org and are protected by copyright and other intellectual property laws. Reproduction and distribution of my writings without written permission is prohibited.©2017 – Present: expret.org unless otherwise stated. All Rights reserved. Disclaimer.
https://expret.org/2018/11/29/undercover-under-pressure/
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January 2026 Media Round-Up
Here’s my January round up of all the media I’ve read/watched/listened to this month! I’m going to try and keep this to the highlights, but I usually DNF things I’m not enjoying and they don’t get counted. Positivity only in this space! …Although the content itself may be not so positive.
As a bonus, I’m going to let you know my favourite song of the month too. I’ve just switched from Spotify to Qobuz, a music streaming service based in France, as Qobuz pays artists more per track while still costing the same, and also has a much better sound quality. Most of my playlist content has transferred over fine, but the one artist I was devastated is not fully on there yet is Felix Hagan.
There is one song of his on there currently though: Happy Songs (2025), from the brand new album of the same name which smashed its goal on Kickstarter. I’m really hopeful that the whole album will drop on Qobuz as well.
Happy Songs by Felix Hagan is definitely my favourite song from the start of the month. LISTEN ON QOBUZ
As I go on my Qobuz journey, I’ll be looking for new music to replace the tracks I loved to listen to on Spotify but that aren’t on Qobuz yet, and finding (I hope) new obsessions. I’ll be adding this into my media round-up just for fun!
On to the main event: books, shows, and films. This month I’m experimenting with highlighting my favourites, and listing everything else. I was off sick this month, so there’s a lot of them.
Books, Audiobooks, Story Podcasts
These are the highlights of what I’ve read/listened to this month. I’ve been really spoiled for ARCs! That’s one really lovely bonus of offering the author spotlights – the small presses that get in touch with me for their authors sometimes offer a reader copy for me to frame the interview questions around.
(I never ask for this and I do not expect it, and frankly, I couldn’t ever read one per author! But for the small presses, I know they’re going to be in genres I already like and would want to read, so I often accept these if offered.)
Best Friends Bury Bodies by C.M. Rosens.
You know what, I’m counting this. I read this cover-to-cover for the revisions and edits, and it’s a 78K novel, so this is on my round-up.
When their search for a missing music star leads to murder, how far will his old friends go?
Midsomer Murders meets The Forty Year Kiss. A contemporary mystery with middle-aged polyamorous bisexual second chance romance.
Sarah believes she’s happy with her life despite never really dealing with her partner’s sudden death six years ago; her job is fine, her friends are supportive, her girlfriend Sammie is amazing. But when her estranged soulmate, Bas, reaches out after a 12 year absence, Sarah’s carefully cultivated rut is thrown into chaos.
Her best friends are all for tracking down the prodigal member of their close-knit group, who drifted away from them when he got famous, spiralled into addiction, then disappeared. But finding a long-lost 1990s rock star is the least of their worries, when it catapaults them into the middle of a murder investigation in the sleepy Surrey village where he’s been recovering.
With skeletons falling out of every closet, and lives upended everywhere they turn, what will they do when another body shows up, and both Sarah and Bas are implicated?
I got an ARC of Dianna Gunn‘s Gothic Fantasy novel, Woman of Sorrow and Blood. This is a sensuous, bisexual, sapphic vampire tale, set in richly built world of pleasure, pain, and power. I really enjoyed it, and read it fairly quickly; poor Alma is not very quick on the uptake, bless her, but there’s a decent climax and I was very satisfied with the ending. This one squeaked in right at the end of the month; I just finished it in time for this post! Read my full review.
When 18-year-old Alma is invited to live with Nightfather and pursue the Pleasures of Power, she’s determined to win his affection and ultimate gift: eternal life.
Yet life in the House of Night is not what she expected. Nightfather spends all of his time alone with Nightmother, leaving his second wife to rule with an iron fist. The servants brought from Alma’s home are hollowed out versions of their former selves. Others—including Alma’s own mentor—have disappeared entirely.
Alma buries her suspicions and throws herself into attending to the Daughter of Night, an extraordinary woman who requires special care.
When Nightfather calls upon Alma at last, she begins to see that his eternity is not a reward but a trap—and that it is not him, but the woman he calls his daughter, that her heart longs for. But tragedy lurks in every corner, and sometimes the only escape is death.
Once Upon A Song by Nadine Bells – an ARC Read from Quill & Crow Publishing. I got into this book a lot more from the midpoint, and as it took off into the resolution and climax, I really enjoyed it. This Snow Queen retelling was fairly well done, although there were elements I personally didn’t vibe with. If you’re looking for a quick, lightweight and entertaining Gothic read, this is one to look out for and pre-order from your local store or library. Read my full review.
Welcome to the Hôtel de Neige. Let yourself be swept away by its grandeur and glamor, but beware…the cold may swallow you whole.
When lonely waitress Ana lands a job as a singer at the prestigious Hôtel de Neige, she believes it to be the beginning of her fairytale. Yet she soon finds that in those eerie halls, the line between Cinderella story and Gothic nightmare blurs. Sinister dreams cause her to sleepwalk, a ballerina makes ominous threats, and a phantom in white haunts the hotel—and Ana.
As Ana discovers that the hotel’s last singer lost his life under mysterious circumstances, she needs to decide if happily-ever-after is worth it. She knows she cannot trust her secretive colleagues or the charming but elusive hotel manager, Dimitri. All Ana ever wanted was to belong, but at the Hôtel de Neige, that may mean never leaving again…
The Dreaming of Man by Nikoline Kaiser. I got a copy from Neon Hemlock Press.
I love “Innsmouth” stories, and this is one of the better ones for sure. It has a trans man protagonist and plays with Shakespeare as well.
“An eerie, anxious read, crawling with tentacles of loss, regret, and uncanny coincidence. Nikoline Kaiser’s voice recalls the timbre of a rotting, bygone place and time while remaining fresh and crisp. A true joy for lovers of the weird!” —A.Z. Louise, author of Off-Time Jive
After receiving a letter telling him terrible news, Doctor Lawrence Cooper visits the small harbor-town Osmund in search of answers. Though something is clearly wrong there, Lawrence keeps finding reasons to stay: the sake of a young girl he meets, and to get to the bottom of his one-time lover’s suspicious death.
And the longer he stays, the more Lawrence is drawn into Osmund’s peculiar mysteries.
Cover Illustration by JJ Epping.
Death Valley Blooms by S.M. Mack is an interesting novella out with Neon Hemlock Press, a queer ecohorror about the inevitability of the landscape and the desert claiming its dues. It’s a tragic meditation on bodily autonomy and the survival of a landscape that uses humanity to thrive, but will outlast them.
“Death Valley Blooms is a breathtaking, atmospheric novella that explores hard-hitting topics such as gendered inheritance, mourning, and sacrifice with an impressively light touch. S.M. Mack’s writing is full of humor and sobriety, which held my attention from start to finish. If you enjoy stories that bridge meditative, slice-of-life scenes with fast-paced action, this book will not disappoint.” — Liza Wemakor, author of Loving Safoa
Every decade or so, vast quantities and varieties of wildflowers bloom all at once in Death Valley. But unbeknownst to the wider world, these super blooms are powered by a woman’s life. Mar Ramse lost her mother to Death Valley as a teenager and would give anything to break her family’s curse, but now the desert whispers its call to her. However, she still has a single ace up her sleeve: neither she nor her brother will ever have children. Is it enough for the desert to release its grip on her family?
Cover illustration by Rose Meyer. Cover design by dave ring.
Some classics in here, and new content by narrator Ian Gordon. This is a compilation of a number of stories, and Vol 1 is available on YouTube.
I have not finished this one yet.
The HorrorBabble podcast is one I’m listening to a lot, just to get a short story fix as that’s all I can really concentrate on currently. I don’t enjoy every classic story they read out, but I really like the range of tales I’m listening to and the classic authors I’m able to access via their podcast. I usually listen before bed for an hour or two, or while I’m doing housework or something.
Click for the list of HorrorBabble episodes I’ve listened to: short stories by classic horror and weird fiction authors, with their runtime (min:sec). I have highlighted my favourites.“Two Black Bottles” by H.P. Lovecraft & Wilfrid Branch Talman (29:51)
“The Dance of Death” by Algernon Blackwood (25:04)
“The House of Cards: A Thomas Chadwick Story” by Malcolm Ferguson (33:42)
“The Red Room” by H.G. Wells (26:06)
“The Spectre Priestess of Wrightstone” by Herman F. Wright (13:26)
“A Ghost/The Tale of a Haunted Chateau” by Guy de Maupassant (16:47)
“Mr. Hyde-and-Seek: A Thomas Chadwick Story” by Malcolm Ferguson (24:14)
“Stranger at Dusk” by Malcolm Murchie (42:16)
“The Mandrakes” by Clark Ashton Smith (17:13)
“The Lurking Fear” by H.P. Lovecraft (54:44)
“The Gateway of the Monster: A Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder Story” by William Hope Hodgson (51:20)
“The Horror from the Mound” by Robert E. Howard (45:19)
“The Thing from the Barrens” by Jim Kjelgaard (37:00)
“Chickamauga” by Ambrose Bierce (17:31)
“The Crawling Chaos” by H.P. Lovecraft (20:09)
“Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”, by M.R. James (45:57) – listened to x2 because it’s so funny.
“A Suspicious Gift” by Algernon Blackwood (26:38)
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (38:28)
“Catnip” by Robert Bloch (27:06)
“To Build a Fire” by Jack London (38:32)
“The Hound” by H.P. Lovecraft (21:55)
“An Unnatural Feud” by Norman Douglas (35:20)
“Caterpillars” by E.F. Benson (19:23)
“The Shining Pyramid” by Arthur Machen (52:30)TV Shows & Mini Series
I’ve highlighted the shows I’ve really enjoyed this month, and listed the other shows I watched below the highlights. The highlighted ones are my favourite watches. Expand the details of my other watches below these, so you can see the other shows & random Marple/Poirot episodes I watched.
Started the month catching up on Fallout (2024-), created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet
and Graham Wagner, which I loved.Absolutely amazing. One of my oldest friends has been a massive fan of the games for years, and when we were housemates he had a display cabinet of the figures in our living room – those were my introduction to the games and the world! I’m not fully caught up yet.
In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.
Year of the Rabbit (2019) an 8-part mini-series directed by Ben Taylor and written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley that got cancelled over funding issues. It is a rewatch and a comfort watch, as it makes me laugh out loud every episode.
Mabel (Susan Wokoma) demanding to be made a policewoman/Lady Fuzz: “When you adopted me you said you wanted the best for me!!”
Chief Inspector (Alun Armstrong): “I was mostly thinking about hats!”
Detective Inspector Rabbit, a dedicated, tough, thick, and oft-inebriated Victorian copper, sleuths his way across London with his two young partners: a doofy rookie and a brilliant Black policewoman no one ever believes.
Haunted Hotel (2025-) is a rewatch, another comfort show! I hope there’ll be another season soon. Just a really fun cartoon, with lots of family scares.
A single mom with two kids operates a haunted hotel, aided by her late brother’s ghost who believes they can have ingenious ideas despite his ethereal state.
West Country Tales (1982-1983). I loved the 9 available episodes I saw on YouTube, I think these are the only ones left out of the 14 that were aired.
This post, Remembering West Country Tales, has a full episode breakdown, including the missing episodes, courtesy of Steve Calvert.
I’ve listed the 9 episodes below, with each title linked to the YouTube video! Click to expand.The Poacher – I liked how slow this was, just like you were listening to an older man in the pub tell you a story from his younger days. It did keep me interested all the way to the end, and I really liked the idea of meeting Pan/the Devil in the woods.
The Breakdown – I switched my brain off for this one and didn’t try to guess where it was going, but just sort of let it carry me onwards. The twist is an obvious one, and it’s based on a fairly common/well-known urban legend (or rural legend?) but it’s one I liked. Not scary at all, just good company and a bit unsettling.
White Bird of Laughter Tor – this is a sad one, based on another fairly well-told folktale (I think, or ballad – but anyway I’ve heard a few variants of this one before) of a poor girl and her ill-fated romance. You have the sense of sad dread as you know where it’s going.
The Visitor – not a pleasant one, concerning two women and their competition for the life and love of a little toddler. A mother’s fear of usurpation, but also of the dangers posed by the people closest to you, regarding your child.
The Beast – I watched this one first, and really enjoyed it. It was a great episode. It’s much more folk horror in essence, and has the elements of the Beast of Bodmin Moor about it, much more of a Creature Feature than the others.
Miss Constantine – my personal favourite. This starts off with a dreamy vibe, where you meet an old lady who seems to be confused, perhaps has Alzheimers or dementia, and believes that she is being harrassed by ‘the young people from the Social’, who have moved into her home and refuse to leave. There is, of course, nobody there; at least, nobody the local vicar can see… or is there?
With Love, Belinda – a very sad one about the loss of a child, and its impact on the parents and surviving sister, Belinda. The ghostly return of the little boy heralds a series of strange happenings and a change in Belinda’s behaviour, causing the mother especially great distress. The ending, however, is not tragic, and rather sweet.
To Wit To Woo – a medieval tale of an unloved wife, who is tricked by a witch into various methods of making her husband love her. This one was sad and also funny, but I just felt really sorry for the poor woman.
Ring a Ring a Rosy – a feral autistic-coded girl who likes to kill things occasionally, out of curiosity, gets herself a boyfriend, and her mother starts worrying about the lad’s safety after they appear to have an argument and he disappears. But is she worried about the right thing? I didn’t know how to feel about this one, but it’s another sad one.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials (2026), created/written for the screen by Chris Chibnall and directed by Chris Sweeney, is a 3-part drama that just got released on UK Netflix, and I really loved it. In fact, it’s given me some thoughts about parent/child dynamics I’d like to write, or at least think about. It’s very silly fun, which I’m fully on board with.
In 1925, a country house party prank turns deadly. Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent investigates the chilling murder plot. Lady Caterham and Superintendent Battle assist in solving the country house mystery that changes Bundle’s life.
Miss Scarlet and The Duke (2020-) created by Rachael New, is a fun Victorian-era detective show I like to both rewatch and catch up on. I really love the period lady detective genre, like Miss Fisher, and Miss Scarlet has a few seasons under its belt to go through. S06 came out in December; I’ve watched up to S05.
When Eliza Scarlet’s father dies, he leaves her penniless, but she resolves to continue his detective agency. To operate in a male-dominated world, though, she needs a partner – step forward a detective known as the Duke.
Other Episodes & Mini-Series watched (click the + sign to expand)
These aren’t all in the order I watched them; I’ve grouped the Marple and Poirot episodes together, bookending the list. It’s all a bit random but it made some weird sense to me when I was typing this up.
- Miss Marple: The Body in the Library (1984) dir. Silvio Narizzano, screenplay by T.R. Bowen. I do love the old Miss Marple series with Joan Hickson, and this is one I’ve seen so many times. This was originally a 3-part mini-series, but it’s available now in one single feature. It’s not my favourite book either, but it’s one I’ve re-read a lot.
- Agatha Christie’s Marple: The Body in the Library (2004) dir. Andy Wilson, dramatised by Kevin Elyot. They very bravely* changed the ending of this one, and departed from the original reveal to bring it up-to-date, but this just succeeds in falling into the ‘evil lesbians’ trope, preying on younger girls. Still, sapphics on screen in 2004… I don’t enjoy the Bantrys’ dynamics as much in this one, either. We can still be feminists looking for women to be their own people, and love our husbands very much. Overall, I think I prefer T.R. Bowen’s adaptation.
*I am British, this is not a compliment
- Miss Marple: The Moving Finger (1985) dir. Roy Boulting, dramatised by Julia Jones. I do enjoy this one because of the romantic subplots and who gets with whom. These definitely make me want to read Christie’s romance novels, published under her pen name Mary Westmacott. This was a 2-parter, which is now available as a single feature.
- Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced (1985) dir. David Giles, dramatised by Alan Plater. I prefer the way the book character Mitzi is treated in this dramatisation, name changed here to Hannah which makes her not only Eastern European but Jewish-coded, although she is not explicitly Jewish in the text or in the episode. Even so, there’s a lot of anti-Eastern European prejudice in evidence. It’s a good adaptation though, and has one of my favourite lesbian-coded couples as ‘companions’. Also, so many autistic-coded women in this one. A village full of them.
- Miss Marple: Pocket full of Rye (1985) dir. Guy Slater, dramatised by T.R. Bowen. The nursery rhyme one! Originally a 2-parter, and then shown as a single feature-length episode. It has one of my favourite character actors, Selina Cadell, as Mary Dove. Sadly, this one is really forgettable, except for the nursery rhyme killings.
- Miss Marple: Nemesis (1987) dir. David Tucker, dramatised by T.R. Bowen. This is a good story, and one I haven’t seen a lot. I really enjoyed it, and it has a good few twists and turns. I love the three sisters, the random bus tour of historic homes and gardens, the locations used, and also Miss Marple having a nap on a bench. She’s elderly, let her sleep in a garden and stop bothering her with ice cream cornets.
- Mrs Amworth (1975) dir. Alvin Rakoff. Based on the E.F. Benson short story, adapted by Hugh Whitemore. A good ’70s short, 29mins runtime. I really enjoyed this one! I do like the gnat plague heralding the vampire, which is a bit different to the usual vampire fare. I’m not sure what this was part of, I think it was part of a series or anthology originally, but it’s on YouTube as a standalone, courtesy of What the Folk‘s channel.
- The Lost Will of Dr Rant (1951) dir. Laurence Schwab Jr., based on M.R. James’s story, The Tractate Middoth, and dramatised by Doris Halman. 30mins runtime. This is a US production, and possibly the first time that an M.R. James story was adapted for the screen! It was for the “Lights Out” series, and it’s pretty good. I really liked it, and it still stands up against the 2013 Mark Gatiss adaptation.
- The Incredible Dr Baldick: Never Come Night (1972) dir. Cyril Coke. Another one courtesy of the What the Folk YouTube channel, this was the pilot of a series that never got aired/made, and is now a standalone feature. It seems that Terry Nation, its creator, wanted to replace Dr Who‘s Doctor with a folk horror version who went around the country in his steam train The Tzar, a mobile home and laboratory, solving paranormal mysteries. It stars Robert Hardy in the titular role, and I’m really sad this was never a series as planned. The pilot is really worth a watch.
- Stones (1976) dir. Graham Evans. An episode of The Mind Beyond (BBC2 Playhouse), focused on the weird properties and then-shadowy history of Stonehenge. Available on YouTube via What the Folk‘s channel. This one is a full hour. Lots of stuff around ancient languages and the connection between written langauge and druidic power. It’s a bit dry for me, centering on a Tory minister’s scheme to move Stonehenge to London’s Hyde Park, and the subsequent discovery of an ancient language hidden on the spines of a 3-volume 17thC set of books about the stone circle. It has some positive Welsh rep in it, which is a nice change, and picks up towards the end with the involvement of the children.
- A Place to Die (1973) dir. Peter Jefferies. This is a Thriller episode, Season 1 Episode 7, available on YouTube via What the Folk‘s channel. Creepy rural English village alert! This is a pre-Wicker Man folk horror, in which the lovely doctor’s wife, Tessa Nelson (Alexandra Hay), becomes the focus of the villagers’ obsession, and uncovers a sinister cult at work.
- Poirot: The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (1989) dir. Edward Bennett, adapted by Clive Exton. I had no idea these were 1980s, I had them in my head as all being 2000s! But no – this is one of the much earlier episodes, and Suchet ran as Poirot for a hugely long time, 1989-2013. I enjoy the early series, for sure. I liked Exton’s original ghost story for Ghost Stories for Christmas, Stigma (1977), and this adaptation manages to be domestic and fun, and held our attention. This was a birthday watch since we were too ill to go and celebrate as planned. We stayed in and watched Seven Dials on Netflix, and then some Poirot. NOTE: Some very dated casual racism (towards Chinese immigrants).
- Poirot: Triangle At Rhodes (1989) dir. Renny Rye, adapted by Stephen Wakelam. This plot reminds me of Evil Under the Sun, and I get it confused with that one all the time. That’s because, I guess, Evil Under the Sun is the full-length version, while this is a short story. There are the star-crossed couples and the domestic drama between husbands and wives in each, and so they are fairly easy to confuse!
- Poirot: Problem at Sea (1989) dir. Renny Rye, adapted by Clive Exton. Some thoroughly unpleasant people having a terrible time on a cruise, with Hastings and Poirot along for the ride. This is another of the short stories adapted for the first season, which has that glossy bigger budget feel. I did really enjoy the two girls, they were fun.
- Poirot: The Cornish Mystery (1990) dir. Edward Bennett, adapted by Clive Exton. I liked this one, it’s another short story adaptation, and it works well as a feature. Again, I really enjoy Exton’s scripts and the dynamics he writes, and how Christie’s characters come alive on screen. Poor Mrs Pengelley.
Films
My films of January 2026: the highlighted ones with posters are all my top rated watches. I’ve watched a total of 40 films this month, from 1933-2025, and a range of short films and feature-length ones. Letterboxd has counted the 5 Miss Marples I logged as films, but I’ve counted those in my TV show watches, so they don’t appear here.
Expand the details below this highlighted list to see the full list of films I’ve seen this month! I’ve enjoyed all of them in some way. They aren’t in any particular order.
Foxes (2011) dir. Lorcan Finnegan. 17mins runtime.
I loved this little short, on YouTube via the Screen Ireland channel. It’s really atmospheric and unsettling, and I did like the ending. Also: some cracking fox shots, and lovely, eerie shots of the housing estate and its uniformity.
A young couple trapped in a remote estate of empty houses and shrieking foxes are beckoned from their isolation into a twilight world – a world of the paranormal or perhaps insanity.
The Sacrifice Game (2023) dir. Jenn Wexler.
This is one of my favourite Christmas movies, which I didn’t actually watch over Christmas this year (boo to me), but was the first film I watched in 2026. I really love how it ends. If you want to know what I’m like as a person, this film contains most elements I enjoy to watch. Draw your own conclusions.
This Christmas, raise a little hell.
Christmas break, 1971. Samantha and Clara, two students who are staying behind for the holidays at their boarding school, must survive the night after the arrival of uninvited visitors.
Strange Harvest (2024) dir. Stuart Ortiz.
Mockumentary with interviews and found footage that I really enjoyed. Cosmic horror that is actually well done. New to me.
He isn’t hiding, he’s waiting.
Detectives are thrust into a chilling hunt for “Mr. Shiny”—a sadistic serial killer from the past whose return marks the beginning of a new wave of grotesque, otherworldly crimes tied to a dark cosmic force.
Bring Her Back (2025) dirs. Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou
I really liked Talk To Me by the same directors, and this one was a real mind fuck as well. Deeply upsetting in places. I had to fast forward scenes, literally can’t watch some of that. Next level diabolical. New to me.
Family requires sacrifices.
Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are sent to live with a foster mother, only to learn that she is hiding a terrifying secret.
Clown in a Cornfield (2025) dir. Eli Craig.
Based on the Adam Cesare novel. US-set Hot Fuzz with clowns and teen protagonists. Gay rep (yay). Only Black teen in the friend group is the first one to die (boo). Modern teens dying because they don’t know how to use a rotary phone or drive a manual (“stick”) vehicle is so funny to me. Teach your kids these basic life skills.
Are you a friend of Frendo?
Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time.
Morgiana (1972) dir. Juraj Herz.
A rewatch for me – Morgiana is the name of the cat, whose fate is a major plot point. I really enjoy this one. We get a lot of cat-eye-view shots as well, moving around the house and seeing things from the cat’s POV.
Jealous of her vapidly “good” sister’s popularity, poisonous Viktoria doses pretty Klara’s tea with a slow-acting fatal substance. As the latter grows hysterically weak, the former finds success increasingly compromised by guilt, blackmail, and the pesky need to kill others lest she be exposed.
Dark Waters (1993) dir. Mariano Baino.
If you enjoyed Soavi’s The Church (1989), this is definitely one for the watchlist. It goes harder in a few places. One of the most disturbing family reunions I’ve seen. New to me, but I’ve rewatched it 3x this month, once with the director’s commentary.
A New Wave of Horror
After the death of her father, a young woman travels to a remote convent on an island in the Black Sea to find out why her father funded it for years.
O’r Ddaear Hen/From the Old Earth (1981) dir. Wil Aaron.
LEAVE THINGS ALONE school of horror, which deserves its place here for its place in Welsh cinema history, as much as for its addition to the 1980s weird films, like the Tales of the West Country series. New to me.
As William Jones digs in the garden of his council house he finds a strange looking stone head. During the night his wife has horrible dreams, forcing William to move the head out of the house. In turn, he takes the head to an archaeologist at Bangor University who is an expert on Celtic artefacts and trying to dig up the remains of the Celts elsewhere. In order to try and understand the head, he goes home with her but things start to go wrong at night there as well, bringing the horrors of a half-human half-animal creature to the housewives. One by one the archaeologist’s family is horrified leading to death and another sacrifice to the ancient gods of the Celts.
The Endless (2017) dirs. Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson.
I like this duo – I enjoyed Spring (2014), and I think this film is even better. It might be one of my favourite timey-wimey cosmic horror Sci-Fi films now. New to me.
Time is a prison.
Two brothers return to the cult they fled from years ago to discover that the group’s beliefs may be more sane than they once thought.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) dir. Guy Ritchie.
This is a comfort rewatch of my favourite Arthurian film. It has everything I enjoy about Ritchie films, plus it’s an action-fantasy. Arthur’s basically a gangster, which is all kings really are. This is actually my (almost) perfect fantasy film. Himself reckons Guy Ritchie should do a version of Preiddeu Annwn/The Spoils of Annwn, which is literally a heist story. That would be amazing.
From nothing comes a King
When the child Arthur’s father is murdered, Vortigern, Arthur’s uncle, seizes the crown. Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who he truly is, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword Excalibur from the stone, his life is turned upside down and he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy… whether he likes it or not.
Underwater (2020) dir. William Eubank.
Another comfort rewatch, which I really enjoy. This one did the deep sea walk across the seabed being attacked by monsters before Meg 2. This is a Cthulhu/Deep Ones mythos film, one of THE best entries into that subgenre made so far.
7 miles below the ocean surface something has awakened
After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.
Crow Hollow (1952) dir. Michael McCarthy.
A new-to-me British Gothic thriller, with a blushing bride (she’s known him a week), and three batty old aunts to contend with. My favourite genre of British Gothic is three old women up to no good. Available on YouTube.
A new bride tries to survive multiple attempts on her life in a dark mansion, while her husband refuses to believe that she in danger.
Panna a Netvor/Beauty and the Beast (1978) dir. Juraj Herz.
A favourite comfort watch, and one I finally own on disc. I love it so much.
I have so much to say about this, but I won’t do that here, I’ll save that for a full post or something.
Julie, the youngest daughter of a bankrupt merchant, sacrifices her life in order to save her father. She goes to an enchanted castle in the woods and meets Netvor, a bird-like monster. As Netvor begins to fall in love with Julie, he must suppress his beastly urge to kill her.
The Bench (2024) dir. Sean Wilkie.
This is an indie Scottish film that took 17 years to make, and finally got snapped up by Amazon. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. It’s a good old-fashioned slasher, made by people who clearly like slashers, and there are lots of nice moments and meta nods in it.
The twist is fairly predictable, but I don’t need it to be clever, I just want a fun 75mins of people having relationship drama then running around and screaming. Both our killer (Gareth Hunter) and my hero Tommy (Chris Somerville) were very Ricky-coded to me. Any film where I say “That’s my son!” twice gets an extra star.
Over 300,000 people go missing in the UK every year. Most are never found.
A breakdown. A kind invitation. A cabin with a bloody past. Alex and her newfound friends face a nightmarish reality as they are picked off one by one, drawn to the sinister bench below. Inspired by low-budget horror films of the 1970s.
An Cailleach Bhéarra (2007) dir. Naomi Wilson. 8mins runtime. Available on YouTube via Screen Ireland’s channel.
A lovely 8min folklore short, with a large scale puppet and some great animation.
“The Cailleach was dependent on this one thing… every hundred years she must get back to the water and immerse herself so that she might become young again.”
This film is an interpretation of fragments of the ancient myth of the “cailleach”, old hag, otherworld female, mother earth, sovereignty queen, or witch. Told using a large scale puppet and actors moving through real landscape.
Other Films Watched
Films and standalone shorts watched in January (click to expand)- Until Dawn (2025) dir. David F. Sandberg. It’s based on a video game I haven’t played but can see the appeal of. I really liked the aesthetics of the house, the monster design, and the concept. I also enjoyed the dynamics between the characters, but I lost interest in the middle.
- It Feeds (2025) dir. Chad Archibald. This is like a darker, feature-length film version of the US show, Medium. It has a very strong mother/daughter relationship and a good ending, fine for an afternoon viewing, but I don’t think I’d watch this again.
- The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras (2023) dir. Craig Williams. 17min runtime, a really good short film. We don’t see the wyrm herself, but hopefully we all know what a wyrm/really big fucking snake-dragon looks like. I would watch this short film again.
- The Innsmouth School for Girls (2023) dir. Joshua Kennedy. This is a rewatch, not a favourite or anything, but sometimes I get an urge to watch it again. It’s one of the better Deep Ones/Innsmouth entries, and I think it’s definitely worth a look.
- Dark Light (2019) dir. Padraig Reynolds. This is a rewatch – again, not a highlighted favourite, but one I occasionally feel in the mood for. It’s a pretty competent Sci-Fi-Horror, with monstrous humanoids rather than aliens, and I do enjoy the central mother-daughter drama.
- 東海道お化け道中 / Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts (1969) dirs. Kimiyoshi Yasuda, Yoshiyuki Kuroda. New to me, a good background one. Atmospheric, and with really fun 1960s effects! I think I’d rewatch this, I liked the little girl and the plot was entertaining enough. Available on YouTube.
- The Barbarians (1987) dir. Ruggero Deodato. A rewatch – accidental, I was doing stuff with the TV on in the background, this came on, and I didn’t turn it off and ended up watching the whole thing. As entertaining as the last time, not one I would ever dedicate my concentration to, but it’s ’80s Sword and Sorcery for comforting background company on a rainy day.
- The Spiritualist/The Amazing Mr. X (1948) dir. Bernard Vorhaus. I liked this one; I watched it for Turhan Bey and Lynn Bari. It’s a good psychological, Supernatural Explained noir, although for goodness sake her husband has only been dead for two years and everyone is pressuring her to move on and remarry, leave her alone. Westerners not knowing how to process grief is not a 21stC phenomenon. Available on YouTube.
- The Return (1973) dir. Sture Rydman. 30mins runtime, a made-for-TV British short; this is a pretty good Gothic ghost story, very atmospheric and melodramatic. It is based on stories by A.M. Burrage and Ambrose Bierce. A 2-person cast, which really works for the atmosphere and sense of claustrophobia in the house setting. Available on YouTube.
- Il mulino delle donne di pietra/Mill of the Stone Women (1960) dir. Giorgio Ferroni. Not as fun as I hoped, but pretty good. A bit of Mad Science and Italian Gothic. Available on YouTube. I actually think this might be a rewatch but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me the first time.
- The Ghoul (1933) dir. T. Hayes Hunter. This one made me laugh, I did enjoy it for 80mins of excitable young people shouting at each other. Is it culturally sensitive to anyone? No, not in the least. I really liked the enemies-to-partnership thing the cousins had going on, though; Betty was great. This is what 1930s feminism looked like.
- Moss Rose (1947) dir. Gregory Ratoff. An absolutely wild melodrama murder mystery/thriller, with Vincent Price as a policeman, and the worst faux-Cockney accents I have ever heard. Some fascinating class discussion though.
- Darklands (1996) dir. Julian Richards. I watched this again for a review I’m writing for Divination Hollow, and to see how the Director’s Cut (6min shorter) fares against the original version I watched in 2023, the year the Cut was released. This is… something. I have a whole post on it already, where I missed the antisemitism of the Lilith imagery of a character called Rebecca, on top of everything else it’s doing. Anyway, the new essay on this will be potentially cross-posted, but Divination Hollow will get it first.
- Deváté srdce/The Ninth Heart (1979) dir. Juraj Herz. The third Herz film I’ve seen this month, this is one I also own on disc (thanks to the Severin Films Folk Horror Compendium). I didn’t like this as much as Panna a Netvor, but the hair was amazing. I don’t think it was a highlighted watch for me, but I do think I’ll be watching it again, and maybe this will grow on me.
- The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) dir. Roger Corman. I’m not a massive Poe fan but I do like his work, and I do like a few of the adaptations of it. This is much more of a comfort rewatch for me just because of Vincent Price. I know there are loads of versions of it and I haven’t seen them all, but this is not a bad film. It was written by Richard Matheson, and I tend to enjoy his scripts.
- A Child’s Voice (1978) dir. Kieran Hickey. An Irish made-for-TV short, 29mins runtime. Very much in the vein of Ghost Stories for Christmas, and strongly reminiscent of Mark Gatiss’s original story, The Dead Room (2018) which has a very similar premise and main character. It was a one-off, not part of a series or anthology, and only shown on UK TV once in the 1980s.
- The Circle (2017) dir. Peter Callow. I’ve seen this one before and I vaguely remembered it was low budget and not awful, and I fancied the folk horror feels. It’s a Scottish set one, and I want to watch more Scottish horror where possible, like The Isle, Get Duked!, Dog Soldiers, Outcast, and Little Bone Lodge. The Irish horror scene is really flourishing, but Wales and Scotland are behind. A lot of that is budget and investment, so I’m on the lookout for more films by Scottish filmmakers. I don’t know if Callow is Scottish, but it does make some good use of the landscape and isolation of the islands!
- Tattiebogle (2017) dir. Douglas Kyle. Made for £101.99, this was the start of a rabbithole I fell into while looking for more Scottish Horror. Douglas Kyle seems to have a production company, ChaosBox Productions, which has a YouTube Channel. He has a 62-episode no-budget Sci-Fi series, The Pandora Men, and several features and shorts. This is one of the features, made over 8 days in the cast & crew’s spare time. I really appreciate no-budget / microbudget films made by people having a lot of fun, and this is absolutely that. It’s an ecohorror/folk horror slasher, made in Aberdeenshire.
- The Ghillie Dhu (2024) dir. Douglas Kyle. His latest short feature, roughly 37mins runtime. This attempts to be about anxiety disorder and, I guess, the horror of being consumed by your traumas and disorders, married with the Scottish folktale of the Ghillie Dhu.
- The Yird Swine (2020) dir. Douglas Kyle. This isn’t on Letterboxd yet, I need to add it. The link is to IMDB instead. This has the same core cast, with another cast member from The Pandora Men series, Myla Corvidae (he/they), originally from Cardiff! This was a fun one too. The pacing wasn’t as good as Tattiebogle, but I really liked it. Everyone was obviously really enjoying themselves making it. I think if you’re into this side of amateur indie filmmaking, you should check out these films.
DID YOU MISS ANY?
CLICK THE CATEGORY TAG (“Media Round Up”) TO SEE ALL THE POSTS, BEGINNING WITH NOVEMBER 2025.
A SELECTION OF THE MOST RECENT ROUND-UPS IS BELOW:My monthly media round-up for December 2025 – all the books, podcasts, tv shows, and films I read/listened to/watched this month.
by cmrosensDecember 30, 2025December 29, 2025I’m starting a new monthly series where I post a round-up of all the media I’ve watched/read/listened to for the previous month. Here is November’s media round-up!
by cmrosensDecember 5, 2025January 26, 2026 Subscribe to my newsletter to stay updated! I send newsletters around once a month. You can also subscribe to my site so you don't miss a post, but I also do a post round-up in my monthly newsletters, along with what I've been working on, what I've been reading, and what I've been watching. I will often update newsletter subscribers first with news, so stay ahead of the game with my announcements and discount codes, etc! First name Last name Email #BookReview #filmReview #mediaRoundUp #tvReview -
January 2026 Media Round-Up
Here’s my January round up of all the media I’ve read/watched/listened to this month! I’m going to try and keep this to the highlights, but I usually DNF things I’m not enjoying and they don’t get counted. Positivity only in this space! …Although the content itself may be not so positive.
As a bonus, I’m going to let you know my favourite song of the month too. I’ve just switched from Spotify to Qobuz, a music streaming service based in France, as Qobuz pays artists more per track while still costing the same, and also has a much better sound quality. Most of my playlist content has transferred over fine, but the one artist I was devastated is not fully on there yet is Felix Hagan.
There is one song of his on there currently though: Happy Songs (2025), from the brand new album of the same name which smashed its goal on Kickstarter. I’m really hopeful that the whole album will drop on Qobuz as well.
Happy Songs by Felix Hagan is definitely my favourite song from the start of the month. LISTEN ON QOBUZ
As I go on my Qobuz journey, I’ll be looking for new music to replace the tracks I loved to listen to on Spotify but that aren’t on Qobuz yet, and finding (I hope) new obsessions. I’ll be adding this into my media round-up just for fun!
On to the main event: books, shows, and films. This month I’m experimenting with highlighting my favourites, and listing everything else. I was off sick this month, so there’s a lot of them.
Books, Audiobooks, Story Podcasts
These are the highlights of what I’ve read/listened to this month. I’ve been really spoiled for ARCs! That’s one really lovely bonus of offering the author spotlights – the small presses that get in touch with me for their authors sometimes offer a reader copy for me to frame the interview questions around.
(I never ask for this and I do not expect it, and frankly, I couldn’t ever read one per author! But for the small presses, I know they’re going to be in genres I already like and would want to read, so I often accept these if offered.)
Best Friends Bury Bodies by C.M. Rosens.
You know what, I’m counting this. I read this cover-to-cover for the revisions and edits, and it’s a 78K novel, so this is on my round-up.
When their search for a missing music star leads to murder, how far will his old friends go?
Midsomer Murders meets The Forty Year Kiss. A contemporary mystery with middle-aged polyamorous bisexual second chance romance.
Sarah believes she’s happy with her life despite never really dealing with her partner’s sudden death six years ago; her job is fine, her friends are supportive, her girlfriend Sammie is amazing. But when her estranged soulmate, Bas, reaches out after a 12 year absence, Sarah’s carefully cultivated rut is thrown into chaos.
Her best friends are all for tracking down the prodigal member of their close-knit group, who drifted away from them when he got famous, spiralled into addiction, then disappeared. But finding a long-lost 1990s rock star is the least of their worries, when it catapaults them into the middle of a murder investigation in the sleepy Surrey village where he’s been recovering.
With skeletons falling out of every closet, and lives upended everywhere they turn, what will they do when another body shows up, and both Sarah and Bas are implicated?
I got an ARC of Dianna Gunn‘s Gothic Fantasy novel, Woman of Sorrow and Blood. This is a sensuous, bisexual, sapphic vampire tale, set in richly built world of pleasure, pain, and power. I really enjoyed it, and read it fairly quickly; poor Alma is not very quick on the uptake, bless her, but there’s a decent climax and I was very satisfied with the ending. This one squeaked in right at the end of the month; I just finished it in time for this post! Read my full review.
When 18-year-old Alma is invited to live with Nightfather and pursue the Pleasures of Power, she’s determined to win his affection and ultimate gift: eternal life.
Yet life in the House of Night is not what she expected. Nightfather spends all of his time alone with Nightmother, leaving his second wife to rule with an iron fist. The servants brought from Alma’s home are hollowed out versions of their former selves. Others—including Alma’s own mentor—have disappeared entirely.
Alma buries her suspicions and throws herself into attending to the Daughter of Night, an extraordinary woman who requires special care.
When Nightfather calls upon Alma at last, she begins to see that his eternity is not a reward but a trap—and that it is not him, but the woman he calls his daughter, that her heart longs for. But tragedy lurks in every corner, and sometimes the only escape is death.
Once Upon A Song by Nadine Bells – an ARC Read from Quill & Crow Publishing. I got into this book a lot more from the midpoint, and as it took off into the resolution and climax, I really enjoyed it. This Snow Queen retelling was fairly well done, although there were elements I personally didn’t vibe with. If you’re looking for a quick, lightweight and entertaining Gothic read, this is one to look out for and pre-order from your local store or library. Read my full review.
Welcome to the Hôtel de Neige. Let yourself be swept away by its grandeur and glamor, but beware…the cold may swallow you whole.
When lonely waitress Ana lands a job as a singer at the prestigious Hôtel de Neige, she believes it to be the beginning of her fairytale. Yet she soon finds that in those eerie halls, the line between Cinderella story and Gothic nightmare blurs. Sinister dreams cause her to sleepwalk, a ballerina makes ominous threats, and a phantom in white haunts the hotel—and Ana.
As Ana discovers that the hotel’s last singer lost his life under mysterious circumstances, she needs to decide if happily-ever-after is worth it. She knows she cannot trust her secretive colleagues or the charming but elusive hotel manager, Dimitri. All Ana ever wanted was to belong, but at the Hôtel de Neige, that may mean never leaving again…
The Dreaming of Man by Nikoline Kaiser. I got a copy from Neon Hemlock Press.
I love “Innsmouth” stories, and this is one of the better ones for sure. It has a trans man protagonist and plays with Shakespeare as well.
“An eerie, anxious read, crawling with tentacles of loss, regret, and uncanny coincidence. Nikoline Kaiser’s voice recalls the timbre of a rotting, bygone place and time while remaining fresh and crisp. A true joy for lovers of the weird!” —A.Z. Louise, author of Off-Time Jive
After receiving a letter telling him terrible news, Doctor Lawrence Cooper visits the small harbor-town Osmund in search of answers. Though something is clearly wrong there, Lawrence keeps finding reasons to stay: the sake of a young girl he meets, and to get to the bottom of his one-time lover’s suspicious death.
And the longer he stays, the more Lawrence is drawn into Osmund’s peculiar mysteries.
Cover Illustration by JJ Epping.
Death Valley Blooms by S.M. Mack is an interesting novella out with Neon Hemlock Press, a queer ecohorror about the inevitability of the landscape and the desert claiming its dues. It’s a tragic meditation on bodily autonomy and the survival of a landscape that uses humanity to thrive, but will outlast them.
“Death Valley Blooms is a breathtaking, atmospheric novella that explores hard-hitting topics such as gendered inheritance, mourning, and sacrifice with an impressively light touch. S.M. Mack’s writing is full of humor and sobriety, which held my attention from start to finish. If you enjoy stories that bridge meditative, slice-of-life scenes with fast-paced action, this book will not disappoint.” — Liza Wemakor, author of Loving Safoa
Every decade or so, vast quantities and varieties of wildflowers bloom all at once in Death Valley. But unbeknownst to the wider world, these super blooms are powered by a woman’s life. Mar Ramse lost her mother to Death Valley as a teenager and would give anything to break her family’s curse, but now the desert whispers its call to her. However, she still has a single ace up her sleeve: neither she nor her brother will ever have children. Is it enough for the desert to release its grip on her family?
Cover illustration by Rose Meyer. Cover design by dave ring.
Some classics in here, and new content by narrator Ian Gordon. This is a compilation of a number of stories, and Vol 1 is available on YouTube.
I have not finished this one yet.
The HorrorBabble podcast is one I’m listening to a lot, just to get a short story fix as that’s all I can really concentrate on currently. I don’t enjoy every classic story they read out, but I really like the range of tales I’m listening to and the classic authors I’m able to access via their podcast. I usually listen before bed for an hour or two, or while I’m doing housework or something.
Click for the list of HorrorBabble episodes I’ve listened to: short stories by classic horror and weird fiction authors, with their runtime (min:sec). I have highlighted my favourites.“Two Black Bottles” by H.P. Lovecraft & Wilfrid Branch Talman (29:51)
“The Dance of Death” by Algernon Blackwood (25:04)
“The House of Cards: A Thomas Chadwick Story” by Malcolm Ferguson (33:42)
“The Red Room” by H.G. Wells (26:06)
“The Spectre Priestess of Wrightstone” by Herman F. Wright (13:26)
“A Ghost/The Tale of a Haunted Chateau” by Guy de Maupassant (16:47)
“Mr. Hyde-and-Seek: A Thomas Chadwick Story” by Malcolm Ferguson (24:14)
“Stranger at Dusk” by Malcolm Murchie (42:16)
“The Mandrakes” by Clark Ashton Smith (17:13)
“The Lurking Fear” by H.P. Lovecraft (54:44)
“The Gateway of the Monster: A Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder Story” by William Hope Hodgson (51:20)
“The Horror from the Mound” by Robert E. Howard (45:19)
“The Thing from the Barrens” by Jim Kjelgaard (37:00)
“Chickamauga” by Ambrose Bierce (17:31)
“The Crawling Chaos” by H.P. Lovecraft (20:09)
“Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”, by M.R. James (45:57) – listened to x2 because it’s so funny.
“A Suspicious Gift” by Algernon Blackwood (26:38)
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (38:28)
“Catnip” by Robert Bloch (27:06)
“To Build a Fire” by Jack London (38:32)
“The Hound” by H.P. Lovecraft (21:55)
“An Unnatural Feud” by Norman Douglas (35:20)
“Caterpillars” by E.F. Benson (19:23)
“The Shining Pyramid” by Arthur Machen (52:30)TV Shows & Mini Series
I’ve highlighted the shows I’ve really enjoyed this month, and listed the other shows I watched below the highlights. The highlighted ones are my favourite watches. Expand the details of my other watches below these, so you can see the other shows & random Marple/Poirot episodes I watched.
Started the month catching up on Fallout (2024-), created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet
and Graham Wagner, which I loved.Absolutely amazing. One of my oldest friends has been a massive fan of the games for years, and when we were housemates he had a display cabinet of the figures in our living room – those were my introduction to the games and the world! I’m not fully caught up yet.
In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.
Year of the Rabbit (2019) an 8-part mini-series directed by Ben Taylor and written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley that got cancelled over funding issues. It is a rewatch and a comfort watch, as it makes me laugh out loud every episode.
Mabel (Susan Wokoma) demanding to be made a policewoman/Lady Fuzz: “When you adopted me you said you wanted the best for me!!”
Chief Inspector (Alun Armstrong): “I was mostly thinking about hats!”
Detective Inspector Rabbit, a dedicated, tough, thick, and oft-inebriated Victorian copper, sleuths his way across London with his two young partners: a doofy rookie and a brilliant Black policewoman no one ever believes.
Haunted Hotel (2025-) is a rewatch, another comfort show! I hope there’ll be another season soon. Just a really fun cartoon, with lots of family scares.
A single mom with two kids operates a haunted hotel, aided by her late brother’s ghost who believes they can have ingenious ideas despite his ethereal state.
West Country Tales (1982-1983). I loved the 9 available episodes I saw on YouTube, I think these are the only ones left out of the 14 that were aired.
This post, Remembering West Country Tales, has a full episode breakdown, including the missing episodes, courtesy of Steve Calvert.
I’ve listed the 9 episodes below, with each title linked to the YouTube video! Click to expand.The Poacher – I liked how slow this was, just like you were listening to an older man in the pub tell you a story from his younger days. It did keep me interested all the way to the end, and I really liked the idea of meeting Pan/the Devil in the woods.
The Breakdown – I switched my brain off for this one and didn’t try to guess where it was going, but just sort of let it carry me onwards. The twist is an obvious one, and it’s based on a fairly common/well-known urban legend (or rural legend?) but it’s one I liked. Not scary at all, just good company and a bit unsettling.
White Bird of Laughter Tor – this is a sad one, based on another fairly well-told folktale (I think, or ballad – but anyway I’ve heard a few variants of this one before) of a poor girl and her ill-fated romance. You have the sense of sad dread as you know where it’s going.
The Visitor – not a pleasant one, concerning two women and their competition for the life and love of a little toddler. A mother’s fear of usurpation, but also of the dangers posed by the people closest to you, regarding your child.
The Beast – I watched this one first, and really enjoyed it. It was a great episode. It’s much more folk horror in essence, and has the elements of the Beast of Bodmin Moor about it, much more of a Creature Feature than the others.
Miss Constantine – my personal favourite. This starts off with a dreamy vibe, where you meet an old lady who seems to be confused, perhaps has Alzheimers or dementia, and believes that she is being harrassed by ‘the young people from the Social’, who have moved into her home and refuse to leave. There is, of course, nobody there; at least, nobody the local vicar can see… or is there?
With Love, Belinda – a very sad one about the loss of a child, and its impact on the parents and surviving sister, Belinda. The ghostly return of the little boy heralds a series of strange happenings and a change in Belinda’s behaviour, causing the mother especially great distress. The ending, however, is not tragic, and rather sweet.
To Wit To Woo – a medieval tale of an unloved wife, who is tricked by a witch into various methods of making her husband love her. This one was sad and also funny, but I just felt really sorry for the poor woman.
Ring a Ring a Rosy – a feral autistic-coded girl who likes to kill things occasionally, out of curiosity, gets herself a boyfriend, and her mother starts worrying about the lad’s safety after they appear to have an argument and he disappears. But is she worried about the right thing? I didn’t know how to feel about this one, but it’s another sad one.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials (2026), created/written for the screen by Chris Chibnall and directed by Chris Sweeney, is a 3-part drama that just got released on UK Netflix, and I really loved it. In fact, it’s given me some thoughts about parent/child dynamics I’d like to write, or at least think about. It’s very silly fun, which I’m fully on board with.
In 1925, a country house party prank turns deadly. Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent investigates the chilling murder plot. Lady Caterham and Superintendent Battle assist in solving the country house mystery that changes Bundle’s life.
Miss Scarlet and The Duke (2020-) created by Rachael New, is a fun Victorian-era detective show I like to both rewatch and catch up on. I really love the period lady detective genre, like Miss Fisher, and Miss Scarlet has a few seasons under its belt to go through. S06 came out in December; I’ve watched up to S05.
When Eliza Scarlet’s father dies, he leaves her penniless, but she resolves to continue his detective agency. To operate in a male-dominated world, though, she needs a partner – step forward a detective known as the Duke.
Other Episodes & Mini-Series watched (click the + sign to expand)
These aren’t all in the order I watched them; I’ve grouped the Marple and Poirot episodes together, bookending the list. It’s all a bit random but it made some weird sense to me when I was typing this up.
- Miss Marple: The Body in the Library (1984) dir. Silvio Narizzano, screenplay by T.R. Bowen. I do love the old Miss Marple series with Joan Hickson, and this is one I’ve seen so many times. This was originally a 3-part mini-series, but it’s available now in one single feature. It’s not my favourite book either, but it’s one I’ve re-read a lot.
- Agatha Christie’s Marple: The Body in the Library (2004) dir. Andy Wilson, dramatised by Kevin Elyot. They very bravely* changed the ending of this one, and departed from the original reveal to bring it up-to-date, but this just succeeds in falling into the ‘evil lesbians’ trope, preying on younger girls. Still, sapphics on screen in 2004… I don’t enjoy the Bantrys’ dynamics as much in this one, either. We can still be feminists looking for women to be their own people, and love our husbands very much. Overall, I think I prefer T.R. Bowen’s adaptation.
*I am British, this is not a compliment
- Miss Marple: The Moving Finger (1985) dir. Roy Boulting, dramatised by Julia Jones. I do enjoy this one because of the romantic subplots and who gets with whom. These definitely make me want to read Christie’s romance novels, published under her pen name Mary Westmacott. This was a 2-parter, which is now available as a single feature.
- Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced (1985) dir. David Giles, dramatised by Alan Plater. I prefer the way the book character Mitzi is treated in this dramatisation, name changed here to Hannah which makes her not only Eastern European but Jewish-coded, although she is not explicitly Jewish in the text or in the episode. Even so, there’s a lot of anti-Eastern European prejudice in evidence. It’s a good adaptation though, and has one of my favourite lesbian-coded couples as ‘companions’. Also, so many autistic-coded women in this one. A village full of them.
- Miss Marple: Pocket full of Rye (1985) dir. Guy Slater, dramatised by T.R. Bowen. The nursery rhyme one! Originally a 2-parter, and then shown as a single feature-length episode. It has one of my favourite character actors, Selina Cadell, as Mary Dove. Sadly, this one is really forgettable, except for the nursery rhyme killings.
- Miss Marple: Nemesis (1987) dir. David Tucker, dramatised by T.R. Bowen. This is a good story, and one I haven’t seen a lot. I really enjoyed it, and it has a good few twists and turns. I love the three sisters, the random bus tour of historic homes and gardens, the locations used, and also Miss Marple having a nap on a bench. She’s elderly, let her sleep in a garden and stop bothering her with ice cream cornets.
- Mrs Amworth (1975) dir. Alvin Rakoff. Based on the E.F. Benson short story, adapted by Hugh Whitemore. A good ’70s short, 29mins runtime. I really enjoyed this one! I do like the gnat plague heralding the vampire, which is a bit different to the usual vampire fare. I’m not sure what this was part of, I think it was part of a series or anthology originally, but it’s on YouTube as a standalone, courtesy of What the Folk‘s channel.
- The Lost Will of Dr Rant (1951) dir. Laurence Schwab Jr., based on M.R. James’s story, The Tractate Middoth, and dramatised by Doris Halman. 30mins runtime. This is a US production, and possibly the first time that an M.R. James story was adapted for the screen! It was for the “Lights Out” series, and it’s pretty good. I really liked it, and it still stands up against the 2013 Mark Gatiss adaptation.
- The Incredible Dr Baldick: Never Come Night (1972) dir. Cyril Coke. Another one courtesy of the What the Folk YouTube channel, this was the pilot of a series that never got aired/made, and is now a standalone feature. It seems that Terry Nation, its creator, wanted to replace Dr Who‘s Doctor with a folk horror version who went around the country in his steam train The Tzar, a mobile home and laboratory, solving paranormal mysteries. It stars Robert Hardy in the titular role, and I’m really sad this was never a series as planned. The pilot is really worth a watch.
- Stones (1976) dir. Graham Evans. An episode of The Mind Beyond (BBC2 Playhouse), focused on the weird properties and then-shadowy history of Stonehenge. Available on YouTube via What the Folk‘s channel. This one is a full hour. Lots of stuff around ancient languages and the connection between written langauge and druidic power. It’s a bit dry for me, centering on a Tory minister’s scheme to move Stonehenge to London’s Hyde Park, and the subsequent discovery of an ancient language hidden on the spines of a 3-volume 17thC set of books about the stone circle. It has some positive Welsh rep in it, which is a nice change, and picks up towards the end with the involvement of the children.
- A Place to Die (1973) dir. Peter Jefferies. This is a Thriller episode, Season 1 Episode 7, available on YouTube via What the Folk‘s channel. Creepy rural English village alert! This is a pre-Wicker Man folk horror, in which the lovely doctor’s wife, Tessa Nelson (Alexandra Hay), becomes the focus of the villagers’ obsession, and uncovers a sinister cult at work.
- Poirot: The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (1989) dir. Edward Bennett, adapted by Clive Exton. I had no idea these were 1980s, I had them in my head as all being 2000s! But no – this is one of the much earlier episodes, and Suchet ran as Poirot for a hugely long time, 1989-2013. I enjoy the early series, for sure. I liked Exton’s original ghost story for Ghost Stories for Christmas, Stigma (1977), and this adaptation manages to be domestic and fun, and held our attention. This was a birthday watch since we were too ill to go and celebrate as planned. We stayed in and watched Seven Dials on Netflix, and then some Poirot. NOTE: Some very dated casual racism (towards Chinese immigrants).
- Poirot: Triangle At Rhodes (1989) dir. Renny Rye, adapted by Stephen Wakelam. This plot reminds me of Evil Under the Sun, and I get it confused with that one all the time. That’s because, I guess, Evil Under the Sun is the full-length version, while this is a short story. There are the star-crossed couples and the domestic drama between husbands and wives in each, and so they are fairly easy to confuse!
- Poirot: Problem at Sea (1989) dir. Renny Rye, adapted by Clive Exton. Some thoroughly unpleasant people having a terrible time on a cruise, with Hastings and Poirot along for the ride. This is another of the short stories adapted for the first season, which has that glossy bigger budget feel. I did really enjoy the two girls, they were fun.
- Poirot: The Cornish Mystery (1990) dir. Edward Bennett, adapted by Clive Exton. I liked this one, it’s another short story adaptation, and it works well as a feature. Again, I really enjoy Exton’s scripts and the dynamics he writes, and how Christie’s characters come alive on screen. Poor Mrs Pengelley.
Films
My films of January 2026: the highlighted ones with posters are all my top rated watches. I’ve watched a total of 40 films this month, from 1933-2025, and a range of short films and feature-length ones. Letterboxd has counted the 5 Miss Marples I logged as films, but I’ve counted those in my TV show watches, so they don’t appear here.
Expand the details below this highlighted list to see the full list of films I’ve seen this month! I’ve enjoyed all of them in some way. They aren’t in any particular order.
Foxes (2011) dir. Lorcan Finnegan. 17mins runtime.
I loved this little short, on YouTube via the Screen Ireland channel. It’s really atmospheric and unsettling, and I did like the ending. Also: some cracking fox shots, and lovely, eerie shots of the housing estate and its uniformity.
A young couple trapped in a remote estate of empty houses and shrieking foxes are beckoned from their isolation into a twilight world – a world of the paranormal or perhaps insanity.
The Sacrifice Game (2023) dir. Jenn Wexler.
This is one of my favourite Christmas movies, which I didn’t actually watch over Christmas this year (boo to me), but was the first film I watched in 2026. I really love how it ends. If you want to know what I’m like as a person, this film contains most elements I enjoy to watch. Draw your own conclusions.
This Christmas, raise a little hell.
Christmas break, 1971. Samantha and Clara, two students who are staying behind for the holidays at their boarding school, must survive the night after the arrival of uninvited visitors.
Strange Harvest (2024) dir. Stuart Ortiz.
Mockumentary with interviews and found footage that I really enjoyed. Cosmic horror that is actually well done. New to me.
He isn’t hiding, he’s waiting.
Detectives are thrust into a chilling hunt for “Mr. Shiny”—a sadistic serial killer from the past whose return marks the beginning of a new wave of grotesque, otherworldly crimes tied to a dark cosmic force.
Bring Her Back (2025) dirs. Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou
I really liked Talk To Me by the same directors, and this one was a real mind fuck as well. Deeply upsetting in places. I had to fast forward scenes, literally can’t watch some of that. Next level diabolical. New to me.
Family requires sacrifices.
Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are sent to live with a foster mother, only to learn that she is hiding a terrifying secret.
Clown in a Cornfield (2025) dir. Eli Craig.
Based on the Adam Cesare novel. US-set Hot Fuzz with clowns and teen protagonists. Gay rep (yay). Only Black teen in the friend group is the first one to die (boo). Modern teens dying because they don’t know how to use a rotary phone or drive a manual (“stick”) vehicle is so funny to me. Teach your kids these basic life skills.
Are you a friend of Frendo?
Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time.
Morgiana (1972) dir. Juraj Herz.
A rewatch for me – Morgiana is the name of the cat, whose fate is a major plot point. I really enjoy this one. We get a lot of cat-eye-view shots as well, moving around the house and seeing things from the cat’s POV.
Jealous of her vapidly “good” sister’s popularity, poisonous Viktoria doses pretty Klara’s tea with a slow-acting fatal substance. As the latter grows hysterically weak, the former finds success increasingly compromised by guilt, blackmail, and the pesky need to kill others lest she be exposed.
Dark Waters (1993) dir. Mariano Baino.
If you enjoyed Soavi’s The Church (1989), this is definitely one for the watchlist. It goes harder in a few places. One of the most disturbing family reunions I’ve seen. New to me, but I’ve rewatched it 3x this month, once with the director’s commentary.
A New Wave of Horror
After the death of her father, a young woman travels to a remote convent on an island in the Black Sea to find out why her father funded it for years.
O’r Ddaear Hen/From the Old Earth (1981) dir. Wil Aaron.
LEAVE THINGS ALONE school of horror, which deserves its place here for its place in Welsh cinema history, as much as for its addition to the 1980s weird films, like the Tales of the West Country series. New to me.
As William Jones digs in the garden of his council house he finds a strange looking stone head. During the night his wife has horrible dreams, forcing William to move the head out of the house. In turn, he takes the head to an archaeologist at Bangor University who is an expert on Celtic artefacts and trying to dig up the remains of the Celts elsewhere. In order to try and understand the head, he goes home with her but things start to go wrong at night there as well, bringing the horrors of a half-human half-animal creature to the housewives. One by one the archaeologist’s family is horrified leading to death and another sacrifice to the ancient gods of the Celts.
The Endless (2017) dirs. Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson.
I like this duo – I enjoyed Spring (2014), and I think this film is even better. It might be one of my favourite timey-wimey cosmic horror Sci-Fi films now. New to me.
Time is a prison.
Two brothers return to the cult they fled from years ago to discover that the group’s beliefs may be more sane than they once thought.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) dir. Guy Ritchie.
This is a comfort rewatch of my favourite Arthurian film. It has everything I enjoy about Ritchie films, plus it’s an action-fantasy. Arthur’s basically a gangster, which is all kings really are. This is actually my (almost) perfect fantasy film. Himself reckons Guy Ritchie should do a version of Preiddeu Annwn/The Spoils of Annwn, which is literally a heist story. That would be amazing.
From nothing comes a King
When the child Arthur’s father is murdered, Vortigern, Arthur’s uncle, seizes the crown. Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who he truly is, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword Excalibur from the stone, his life is turned upside down and he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy… whether he likes it or not.
Underwater (2020) dir. William Eubank.
Another comfort rewatch, which I really enjoy. This one did the deep sea walk across the seabed being attacked by monsters before Meg 2. This is a Cthulhu/Deep Ones mythos film, one of THE best entries into that subgenre made so far.
7 miles below the ocean surface something has awakened
After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.
Crow Hollow (1952) dir. Michael McCarthy.
A new-to-me British Gothic thriller, with a blushing bride (she’s known him a week), and three batty old aunts to contend with. My favourite genre of British Gothic is three old women up to no good. Available on YouTube.
A new bride tries to survive multiple attempts on her life in a dark mansion, while her husband refuses to believe that she in danger.
Panna a Netvor/Beauty and the Beast (1978) dir. Juraj Herz.
A favourite comfort watch, and one I finally own on disc. I love it so much.
I have so much to say about this, but I won’t do that here, I’ll save that for a full post or something.
Julie, the youngest daughter of a bankrupt merchant, sacrifices her life in order to save her father. She goes to an enchanted castle in the woods and meets Netvor, a bird-like monster. As Netvor begins to fall in love with Julie, he must suppress his beastly urge to kill her.
The Bench (2024) dir. Sean Wilkie.
This is an indie Scottish film that took 17 years to make, and finally got snapped up by Amazon. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. It’s a good old-fashioned slasher, made by people who clearly like slashers, and there are lots of nice moments and meta nods in it.
The twist is fairly predictable, but I don’t need it to be clever, I just want a fun 75mins of people having relationship drama then running around and screaming. Both our killer (Gareth Hunter) and my hero Tommy (Chris Somerville) were very Ricky-coded to me. Any film where I say “That’s my son!” twice gets an extra star.
Over 300,000 people go missing in the UK every year. Most are never found.
A breakdown. A kind invitation. A cabin with a bloody past. Alex and her newfound friends face a nightmarish reality as they are picked off one by one, drawn to the sinister bench below. Inspired by low-budget horror films of the 1970s.
An Cailleach Bhéarra (2007) dir. Naomi Wilson. 8mins runtime. Available on YouTube via Screen Ireland’s channel.
A lovely 8min folklore short, with a large scale puppet and some great animation.
“The Cailleach was dependent on this one thing… every hundred years she must get back to the water and immerse herself so that she might become young again.”
This film is an interpretation of fragments of the ancient myth of the “cailleach”, old hag, otherworld female, mother earth, sovereignty queen, or witch. Told using a large scale puppet and actors moving through real landscape.
Other Films Watched
Films and standalone shorts watched in January (click to expand)- Until Dawn (2025) dir. David F. Sandberg. It’s based on a video game I haven’t played but can see the appeal of. I really liked the aesthetics of the house, the monster design, and the concept. I also enjoyed the dynamics between the characters, but I lost interest in the middle.
- It Feeds (2025) dir. Chad Archibald. This is like a darker, feature-length film version of the US show, Medium. It has a very strong mother/daughter relationship and a good ending, fine for an afternoon viewing, but I don’t think I’d watch this again.
- The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras (2023) dir. Craig Williams. 17min runtime, a really good short film. We don’t see the wyrm herself, but hopefully we all know what a wyrm/really big fucking snake-dragon looks like. I would watch this short film again.
- The Innsmouth School for Girls (2023) dir. Joshua Kennedy. This is a rewatch, not a favourite or anything, but sometimes I get an urge to watch it again. It’s one of the better Deep Ones/Innsmouth entries, and I think it’s definitely worth a look.
- Dark Light (2019) dir. Padraig Reynolds. This is a rewatch – again, not a highlighted favourite, but one I occasionally feel in the mood for. It’s a pretty competent Sci-Fi-Horror, with monstrous humanoids rather than aliens, and I do enjoy the central mother-daughter drama.
- 東海道お化け道中 / Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts (1969) dirs. Kimiyoshi Yasuda, Yoshiyuki Kuroda. New to me, a good background one. Atmospheric, and with really fun 1960s effects! I think I’d rewatch this, I liked the little girl and the plot was entertaining enough. Available on YouTube.
- The Barbarians (1987) dir. Ruggero Deodato. A rewatch – accidental, I was doing stuff with the TV on in the background, this came on, and I didn’t turn it off and ended up watching the whole thing. As entertaining as the last time, not one I would ever dedicate my concentration to, but it’s ’80s Sword and Sorcery for comforting background company on a rainy day.
- The Spiritualist/The Amazing Mr. X (1948) dir. Bernard Vorhaus. I liked this one; I watched it for Turhan Bey and Lynn Bari. It’s a good psychological, Supernatural Explained noir, although for goodness sake her husband has only been dead for two years and everyone is pressuring her to move on and remarry, leave her alone. Westerners not knowing how to process grief is not a 21stC phenomenon. Available on YouTube.
- The Return (1973) dir. Sture Rydman. 30mins runtime, a made-for-TV British short; this is a pretty good Gothic ghost story, very atmospheric and melodramatic. It is based on stories by A.M. Burrage and Ambrose Bierce. A 2-person cast, which really works for the atmosphere and sense of claustrophobia in the house setting. Available on YouTube.
- Il mulino delle donne di pietra/Mill of the Stone Women (1960) dir. Giorgio Ferroni. Not as fun as I hoped, but pretty good. A bit of Mad Science and Italian Gothic. Available on YouTube. I actually think this might be a rewatch but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me the first time.
- The Ghoul (1933) dir. T. Hayes Hunter. This one made me laugh, I did enjoy it for 80mins of excitable young people shouting at each other. Is it culturally sensitive to anyone? No, not in the least. I really liked the enemies-to-partnership thing the cousins had going on, though; Betty was great. This is what 1930s feminism looked like.
- Moss Rose (1947) dir. Gregory Ratoff. An absolutely wild melodrama murder mystery/thriller, with Vincent Price as a policeman, and the worst faux-Cockney accents I have ever heard. Some fascinating class discussion though.
- Darklands (1996) dir. Julian Richards. I watched this again for a review I’m writing for Divination Hollow, and to see how the Director’s Cut (6min shorter) fares against the original version I watched in 2023, the year the Cut was released. This is… something. I have a whole post on it already, where I missed the antisemitism of the Lilith imagery of a character called Rebecca, on top of everything else it’s doing. Anyway, the new essay on this will be potentially cross-posted, but Divination Hollow will get it first.
- Deváté srdce/The Ninth Heart (1979) dir. Juraj Herz. The third Herz film I’ve seen this month, this is one I also own on disc (thanks to the Severin Films Folk Horror Compendium). I didn’t like this as much as Panna a Netvor, but the hair was amazing. I don’t think it was a highlighted watch for me, but I do think I’ll be watching it again, and maybe this will grow on me.
- The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) dir. Roger Corman. I’m not a massive Poe fan but I do like his work, and I do like a few of the adaptations of it. This is much more of a comfort rewatch for me just because of Vincent Price. I know there are loads of versions of it and I haven’t seen them all, but this is not a bad film. It was written by Richard Matheson, and I tend to enjoy his scripts.
- A Child’s Voice (1978) dir. Kieran Hickey. An Irish made-for-TV short, 29mins runtime. Very much in the vein of Ghost Stories for Christmas, and strongly reminiscent of Mark Gatiss’s original story, The Dead Room (2018) which has a very similar premise and main character. It was a one-off, not part of a series or anthology, and only shown on UK TV once in the 1980s.
- The Circle (2017) dir. Peter Callow. I’ve seen this one before and I vaguely remembered it was low budget and not awful, and I fancied the folk horror feels. It’s a Scottish set one, and I want to watch more Scottish horror where possible, like The Isle, Get Duked!, Dog Soldiers, Outcast, and Little Bone Lodge. The Irish horror scene is really flourishing, but Wales and Scotland are behind. A lot of that is budget and investment, so I’m on the lookout for more films by Scottish filmmakers. I don’t know if Callow is Scottish, but it does make some good use of the landscape and isolation of the islands!
- Tattiebogle (2017) dir. Douglas Kyle. Made for £101.99, this was the start of a rabbithole I fell into while looking for more Scottish Horror. Douglas Kyle seems to have a production company, ChaosBox Productions, which has a YouTube Channel. He has a 62-episode no-budget Sci-Fi series, The Pandora Men, and several features and shorts. This is one of the features, made over 8 days in the cast & crew’s spare time. I really appreciate no-budget / microbudget films made by people having a lot of fun, and this is absolutely that. It’s an ecohorror/folk horror slasher, made in Aberdeenshire.
- The Ghillie Dhu (2024) dir. Douglas Kyle. His latest short feature, roughly 37mins runtime. This attempts to be about anxiety disorder and, I guess, the horror of being consumed by your traumas and disorders, married with the Scottish folktale of the Ghillie Dhu.
- The Yird Swine (2020) dir. Douglas Kyle. This isn’t on Letterboxd yet, I need to add it. The link is to IMDB instead. This has the same core cast, with another cast member from The Pandora Men series, Myla Corvidae (he/they), originally from Cardiff! This was a fun one too. The pacing wasn’t as good as Tattiebogle, but I really liked it. Everyone was obviously really enjoying themselves making it. I think if you’re into this side of amateur indie filmmaking, you should check out these films.
DID YOU MISS ANY?
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A SELECTION OF THE MOST RECENT ROUND-UPS IS BELOW:My monthly media round-up for December 2025 – all the books, podcasts, tv shows, and films I read/listened to/watched this month.
by cmrosensDecember 30, 2025December 29, 2025I’m starting a new monthly series where I post a round-up of all the media I’ve watched/read/listened to for the previous month. Here is November’s media round-up!
by cmrosensDecember 5, 2025January 26, 2026 Subscribe to my newsletter to stay updated! I send newsletters around once a month. You can also subscribe to my site so you don't miss a post, but I also do a post round-up in my monthly newsletters, along with what I've been working on, what I've been reading, and what I've been watching. I will often update newsletter subscribers first with news, so stay ahead of the game with my announcements and discount codes, etc! First name Last name Email #BookReview #filmReview #mediaRoundUp #tvReview -
January 2026 Media Round-Up
Here’s my January round up of all the media I’ve read/watched/listened to this month! I’m going to try and keep this to the highlights, but I usually DNF things I’m not enjoying and they don’t get counted. Positivity only in this space! …Although the content itself may be not so positive.
As a bonus, I’m going to let you know my favourite song of the month too. I’ve just switched from Spotify to Qobuz, a music streaming service based in France, as Qobuz pays artists more per track while still costing the same, and also has a much better sound quality. Most of my playlist content has transferred over fine, but the one artist I was devastated is not fully on there yet is Felix Hagan.
There is one song of his on there currently though: Happy Songs (2025), from the brand new album of the same name which smashed its goal on Kickstarter. I’m really hopeful that the whole album will drop on Qobuz as well.
Happy Songs by Felix Hagan is definitely my favourite song from the start of the month. LISTEN ON QOBUZ
As I go on my Qobuz journey, I’ll be looking for new music to replace the tracks I loved to listen to on Spotify but that aren’t on Qobuz yet, and finding (I hope) new obsessions. I’ll be adding this into my media round-up just for fun!
On to the main event: books, shows, and films. This month I’m experimenting with highlighting my favourites, and listing everything else. I was off sick this month, so there’s a lot of them.
Books, Audiobooks, Story Podcasts
These are the highlights of what I’ve read/listened to this month. I’ve been really spoiled for ARCs! That’s one really lovely bonus of offering the author spotlights – the small presses that get in touch with me for their authors sometimes offer a reader copy for me to frame the interview questions around.
(I never ask for this and I do not expect it, and frankly, I couldn’t ever read one per author! But for the small presses, I know they’re going to be in genres I already like and would want to read, so I often accept these if offered.)
Best Friends Bury Bodies by C.M. Rosens.
You know what, I’m counting this. I read this cover-to-cover for the revisions and edits, and it’s a 78K novel, so this is on my round-up.
When their search for a missing music star leads to murder, how far will his old friends go?
Midsomer Murders meets The Forty Year Kiss. A contemporary mystery with middle-aged polyamorous bisexual second chance romance.
Sarah believes she’s happy with her life despite never really dealing with her partner’s sudden death six years ago; her job is fine, her friends are supportive, her girlfriend Sammie is amazing. But when her estranged soulmate, Bas, reaches out after a 12 year absence, Sarah’s carefully cultivated rut is thrown into chaos.
Her best friends are all for tracking down the prodigal member of their close-knit group, who drifted away from them when he got famous, spiralled into addiction, then disappeared. But finding a long-lost 1990s rock star is the least of their worries, when it catapaults them into the middle of a murder investigation in the sleepy Surrey village where he’s been recovering.
With skeletons falling out of every closet, and lives upended everywhere they turn, what will they do when another body shows up, and both Sarah and Bas are implicated?
I got an ARC of Dianna Gunn‘s Gothic Fantasy novel, Woman of Sorrow and Blood. This is a sensuous, bisexual, sapphic vampire tale, set in richly built world of pleasure, pain, and power. I really enjoyed it, and read it fairly quickly; poor Alma is not very quick on the uptake, bless her, but there’s a decent climax and I was very satisfied with the ending. This one squeaked in right at the end of the month; I just finished it in time for this post! Read my full review.
When 18-year-old Alma is invited to live with Nightfather and pursue the Pleasures of Power, she’s determined to win his affection and ultimate gift: eternal life.
Yet life in the House of Night is not what she expected. Nightfather spends all of his time alone with Nightmother, leaving his second wife to rule with an iron fist. The servants brought from Alma’s home are hollowed out versions of their former selves. Others—including Alma’s own mentor—have disappeared entirely.
Alma buries her suspicions and throws herself into attending to the Daughter of Night, an extraordinary woman who requires special care.
When Nightfather calls upon Alma at last, she begins to see that his eternity is not a reward but a trap—and that it is not him, but the woman he calls his daughter, that her heart longs for. But tragedy lurks in every corner, and sometimes the only escape is death.
Once Upon A Song by Nadine Bells – an ARC Read from Quill & Crow Publishing. I got into this book a lot more from the midpoint, and as it took off into the resolution and climax, I really enjoyed it. This Snow Queen retelling was fairly well done, although there were elements I personally didn’t vibe with. If you’re looking for a quick, lightweight and entertaining Gothic read, this is one to look out for and pre-order from your local store or library. Read my full review.
Welcome to the Hôtel de Neige. Let yourself be swept away by its grandeur and glamor, but beware…the cold may swallow you whole.
When lonely waitress Ana lands a job as a singer at the prestigious Hôtel de Neige, she believes it to be the beginning of her fairytale. Yet she soon finds that in those eerie halls, the line between Cinderella story and Gothic nightmare blurs. Sinister dreams cause her to sleepwalk, a ballerina makes ominous threats, and a phantom in white haunts the hotel—and Ana.
As Ana discovers that the hotel’s last singer lost his life under mysterious circumstances, she needs to decide if happily-ever-after is worth it. She knows she cannot trust her secretive colleagues or the charming but elusive hotel manager, Dimitri. All Ana ever wanted was to belong, but at the Hôtel de Neige, that may mean never leaving again…
The Dreaming of Man by Nikoline Kaiser. I got a copy from Neon Hemlock Press.
I love “Innsmouth” stories, and this is one of the better ones for sure. It has a trans man protagonist and plays with Shakespeare as well.
“An eerie, anxious read, crawling with tentacles of loss, regret, and uncanny coincidence. Nikoline Kaiser’s voice recalls the timbre of a rotting, bygone place and time while remaining fresh and crisp. A true joy for lovers of the weird!” —A.Z. Louise, author of Off-Time Jive
After receiving a letter telling him terrible news, Doctor Lawrence Cooper visits the small harbor-town Osmund in search of answers. Though something is clearly wrong there, Lawrence keeps finding reasons to stay: the sake of a young girl he meets, and to get to the bottom of his one-time lover’s suspicious death.
And the longer he stays, the more Lawrence is drawn into Osmund’s peculiar mysteries.
Cover Illustration by JJ Epping.
Death Valley Blooms by S.M. Mack is an interesting novella out with Neon Hemlock Press, a queer ecohorror about the inevitability of the landscape and the desert claiming its dues. It’s a tragic meditation on bodily autonomy and the survival of a landscape that uses humanity to thrive, but will outlast them.
“Death Valley Blooms is a breathtaking, atmospheric novella that explores hard-hitting topics such as gendered inheritance, mourning, and sacrifice with an impressively light touch. S.M. Mack’s writing is full of humor and sobriety, which held my attention from start to finish. If you enjoy stories that bridge meditative, slice-of-life scenes with fast-paced action, this book will not disappoint.” — Liza Wemakor, author of Loving Safoa
Every decade or so, vast quantities and varieties of wildflowers bloom all at once in Death Valley. But unbeknownst to the wider world, these super blooms are powered by a woman’s life. Mar Ramse lost her mother to Death Valley as a teenager and would give anything to break her family’s curse, but now the desert whispers its call to her. However, she still has a single ace up her sleeve: neither she nor her brother will ever have children. Is it enough for the desert to release its grip on her family?
Cover illustration by Rose Meyer. Cover design by dave ring.
Some classics in here, and new content by narrator Ian Gordon. This is a compilation of a number of stories, and Vol 1 is available on YouTube.
I have not finished this one yet.
The HorrorBabble podcast is one I’m listening to a lot, just to get a short story fix as that’s all I can really concentrate on currently. I don’t enjoy every classic story they read out, but I really like the range of tales I’m listening to and the classic authors I’m able to access via their podcast. I usually listen before bed for an hour or two, or while I’m doing housework or something.
Click for the list of HorrorBabble episodes I’ve listened to: short stories by classic horror and weird fiction authors, with their runtime (min:sec). I have highlighted my favourites.“Two Black Bottles” by H.P. Lovecraft & Wilfrid Branch Talman (29:51)
“The Dance of Death” by Algernon Blackwood (25:04)
“The House of Cards: A Thomas Chadwick Story” by Malcolm Ferguson (33:42)
“The Red Room” by H.G. Wells (26:06)
“The Spectre Priestess of Wrightstone” by Herman F. Wright (13:26)
“A Ghost/The Tale of a Haunted Chateau” by Guy de Maupassant (16:47)
“Mr. Hyde-and-Seek: A Thomas Chadwick Story” by Malcolm Ferguson (24:14)
“Stranger at Dusk” by Malcolm Murchie (42:16)
“The Mandrakes” by Clark Ashton Smith (17:13)
“The Lurking Fear” by H.P. Lovecraft (54:44)
“The Gateway of the Monster: A Carnacki, the Ghost-Finder Story” by William Hope Hodgson (51:20)
“The Horror from the Mound” by Robert E. Howard (45:19)
“The Thing from the Barrens” by Jim Kjelgaard (37:00)
“Chickamauga” by Ambrose Bierce (17:31)
“The Crawling Chaos” by H.P. Lovecraft (20:09)
“Oh, Whistle, and I’ll Come to You, My Lad”, by M.R. James (45:57) – listened to x2 because it’s so funny.
“A Suspicious Gift” by Algernon Blackwood (26:38)
“The Yellow Wallpaper” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (38:28)
“Catnip” by Robert Bloch (27:06)
“To Build a Fire” by Jack London (38:32)
“The Hound” by H.P. Lovecraft (21:55)
“An Unnatural Feud” by Norman Douglas (35:20)
“Caterpillars” by E.F. Benson (19:23)
“The Shining Pyramid” by Arthur Machen (52:30)TV Shows & Mini Series
I’ve highlighted the shows I’ve really enjoyed this month, and listed the other shows I watched below the highlights. The highlighted ones are my favourite watches. Expand the details of my other watches below these, so you can see the other shows & random Marple/Poirot episodes I watched.
Started the month catching up on Fallout (2024-), created by Geneva Robertson-Dworet
and Graham Wagner, which I loved.Absolutely amazing. One of my oldest friends has been a massive fan of the games for years, and when we were housemates he had a display cabinet of the figures in our living room – those were my introduction to the games and the world! I’m not fully caught up yet.
In a future, post-apocalyptic Los Angeles brought about by nuclear decimation, citizens must live in underground bunkers to protect themselves from radiation, mutants and bandits.
Year of the Rabbit (2019) an 8-part mini-series directed by Ben Taylor and written by Kevin Cecil and Andy Riley that got cancelled over funding issues. It is a rewatch and a comfort watch, as it makes me laugh out loud every episode.
Mabel (Susan Wokoma) demanding to be made a policewoman/Lady Fuzz: “When you adopted me you said you wanted the best for me!!”
Chief Inspector (Alun Armstrong): “I was mostly thinking about hats!”
Detective Inspector Rabbit, a dedicated, tough, thick, and oft-inebriated Victorian copper, sleuths his way across London with his two young partners: a doofy rookie and a brilliant Black policewoman no one ever believes.
Haunted Hotel (2025-) is a rewatch, another comfort show! I hope there’ll be another season soon. Just a really fun cartoon, with lots of family scares.
A single mom with two kids operates a haunted hotel, aided by her late brother’s ghost who believes they can have ingenious ideas despite his ethereal state.
West Country Tales (1982-1983). I loved the 9 available episodes I saw on YouTube, I think these are the only ones left out of the 14 that were aired.
This post, Remembering West Country Tales, has a full episode breakdown, including the missing episodes, courtesy of Steve Calvert.
I’ve listed the 9 episodes below, with each title linked to the YouTube video! Click to expand.The Poacher – I liked how slow this was, just like you were listening to an older man in the pub tell you a story from his younger days. It did keep me interested all the way to the end, and I really liked the idea of meeting Pan/the Devil in the woods.
The Breakdown – I switched my brain off for this one and didn’t try to guess where it was going, but just sort of let it carry me onwards. The twist is an obvious one, and it’s based on a fairly common/well-known urban legend (or rural legend?) but it’s one I liked. Not scary at all, just good company and a bit unsettling.
White Bird of Laughter Tor – this is a sad one, based on another fairly well-told folktale (I think, or ballad – but anyway I’ve heard a few variants of this one before) of a poor girl and her ill-fated romance. You have the sense of sad dread as you know where it’s going.
The Visitor – not a pleasant one, concerning two women and their competition for the life and love of a little toddler. A mother’s fear of usurpation, but also of the dangers posed by the people closest to you, regarding your child.
The Beast – I watched this one first, and really enjoyed it. It was a great episode. It’s much more folk horror in essence, and has the elements of the Beast of Bodmin Moor about it, much more of a Creature Feature than the others.
Miss Constantine – my personal favourite. This starts off with a dreamy vibe, where you meet an old lady who seems to be confused, perhaps has Alzheimers or dementia, and believes that she is being harrassed by ‘the young people from the Social’, who have moved into her home and refuse to leave. There is, of course, nobody there; at least, nobody the local vicar can see… or is there?
With Love, Belinda – a very sad one about the loss of a child, and its impact on the parents and surviving sister, Belinda. The ghostly return of the little boy heralds a series of strange happenings and a change in Belinda’s behaviour, causing the mother especially great distress. The ending, however, is not tragic, and rather sweet.
To Wit To Woo – a medieval tale of an unloved wife, who is tricked by a witch into various methods of making her husband love her. This one was sad and also funny, but I just felt really sorry for the poor woman.
Ring a Ring a Rosy – a feral autistic-coded girl who likes to kill things occasionally, out of curiosity, gets herself a boyfriend, and her mother starts worrying about the lad’s safety after they appear to have an argument and he disappears. But is she worried about the right thing? I didn’t know how to feel about this one, but it’s another sad one.
Agatha Christie’s Seven Dials (2026), created/written for the screen by Chris Chibnall and directed by Chris Sweeney, is a 3-part drama that just got released on UK Netflix, and I really loved it. In fact, it’s given me some thoughts about parent/child dynamics I’d like to write, or at least think about. It’s very silly fun, which I’m fully on board with.
In 1925, a country house party prank turns deadly. Lady Eileen “Bundle” Brent investigates the chilling murder plot. Lady Caterham and Superintendent Battle assist in solving the country house mystery that changes Bundle’s life.
Miss Scarlet and The Duke (2020-) created by Rachael New, is a fun Victorian-era detective show I like to both rewatch and catch up on. I really love the period lady detective genre, like Miss Fisher, and Miss Scarlet has a few seasons under its belt to go through. S06 came out in December; I’ve watched up to S05.
When Eliza Scarlet’s father dies, he leaves her penniless, but she resolves to continue his detective agency. To operate in a male-dominated world, though, she needs a partner – step forward a detective known as the Duke.
Other Episodes & Mini-Series watched (click the + sign to expand)
These aren’t all in the order I watched them; I’ve grouped the Marple and Poirot episodes together, bookending the list. It’s all a bit random but it made some weird sense to me when I was typing this up.
- Miss Marple: The Body in the Library (1984) dir. Silvio Narizzano, screenplay by T.R. Bowen. I do love the old Miss Marple series with Joan Hickson, and this is one I’ve seen so many times. This was originally a 3-part mini-series, but it’s available now in one single feature. It’s not my favourite book either, but it’s one I’ve re-read a lot.
- Agatha Christie’s Marple: The Body in the Library (2004) dir. Andy Wilson, dramatised by Kevin Elyot. They very bravely* changed the ending of this one, and departed from the original reveal to bring it up-to-date, but this just succeeds in falling into the ‘evil lesbians’ trope, preying on younger girls. Still, sapphics on screen in 2004… I don’t enjoy the Bantrys’ dynamics as much in this one, either. We can still be feminists looking for women to be their own people, and love our husbands very much. Overall, I think I prefer T.R. Bowen’s adaptation.
*I am British, this is not a compliment
- Miss Marple: The Moving Finger (1985) dir. Roy Boulting, dramatised by Julia Jones. I do enjoy this one because of the romantic subplots and who gets with whom. These definitely make me want to read Christie’s romance novels, published under her pen name Mary Westmacott. This was a 2-parter, which is now available as a single feature.
- Miss Marple: A Murder is Announced (1985) dir. David Giles, dramatised by Alan Plater. I prefer the way the book character Mitzi is treated in this dramatisation, name changed here to Hannah which makes her not only Eastern European but Jewish-coded, although she is not explicitly Jewish in the text or in the episode. Even so, there’s a lot of anti-Eastern European prejudice in evidence. It’s a good adaptation though, and has one of my favourite lesbian-coded couples as ‘companions’. Also, so many autistic-coded women in this one. A village full of them.
- Miss Marple: Pocket full of Rye (1985) dir. Guy Slater, dramatised by T.R. Bowen. The nursery rhyme one! Originally a 2-parter, and then shown as a single feature-length episode. It has one of my favourite character actors, Selina Cadell, as Mary Dove. Sadly, this one is really forgettable, except for the nursery rhyme killings.
- Miss Marple: Nemesis (1987) dir. David Tucker, dramatised by T.R. Bowen. This is a good story, and one I haven’t seen a lot. I really enjoyed it, and it has a good few twists and turns. I love the three sisters, the random bus tour of historic homes and gardens, the locations used, and also Miss Marple having a nap on a bench. She’s elderly, let her sleep in a garden and stop bothering her with ice cream cornets.
- Mrs Amworth (1975) dir. Alvin Rakoff. Based on the E.F. Benson short story, adapted by Hugh Whitemore. A good ’70s short, 29mins runtime. I really enjoyed this one! I do like the gnat plague heralding the vampire, which is a bit different to the usual vampire fare. I’m not sure what this was part of, I think it was part of a series or anthology originally, but it’s on YouTube as a standalone, courtesy of What the Folk‘s channel.
- The Lost Will of Dr Rant (1951) dir. Laurence Schwab Jr., based on M.R. James’s story, The Tractate Middoth, and dramatised by Doris Halman. 30mins runtime. This is a US production, and possibly the first time that an M.R. James story was adapted for the screen! It was for the “Lights Out” series, and it’s pretty good. I really liked it, and it still stands up against the 2013 Mark Gatiss adaptation.
- The Incredible Dr Baldick: Never Come Night (1972) dir. Cyril Coke. Another one courtesy of the What the Folk YouTube channel, this was the pilot of a series that never got aired/made, and is now a standalone feature. It seems that Terry Nation, its creator, wanted to replace Dr Who‘s Doctor with a folk horror version who went around the country in his steam train The Tzar, a mobile home and laboratory, solving paranormal mysteries. It stars Robert Hardy in the titular role, and I’m really sad this was never a series as planned. The pilot is really worth a watch.
- Stones (1976) dir. Graham Evans. An episode of The Mind Beyond (BBC2 Playhouse), focused on the weird properties and then-shadowy history of Stonehenge. Available on YouTube via What the Folk‘s channel. This one is a full hour. Lots of stuff around ancient languages and the connection between written langauge and druidic power. It’s a bit dry for me, centering on a Tory minister’s scheme to move Stonehenge to London’s Hyde Park, and the subsequent discovery of an ancient language hidden on the spines of a 3-volume 17thC set of books about the stone circle. It has some positive Welsh rep in it, which is a nice change, and picks up towards the end with the involvement of the children.
- A Place to Die (1973) dir. Peter Jefferies. This is a Thriller episode, Season 1 Episode 7, available on YouTube via What the Folk‘s channel. Creepy rural English village alert! This is a pre-Wicker Man folk horror, in which the lovely doctor’s wife, Tessa Nelson (Alexandra Hay), becomes the focus of the villagers’ obsession, and uncovers a sinister cult at work.
- Poirot: The Adventure of the Clapham Cook (1989) dir. Edward Bennett, adapted by Clive Exton. I had no idea these were 1980s, I had them in my head as all being 2000s! But no – this is one of the much earlier episodes, and Suchet ran as Poirot for a hugely long time, 1989-2013. I enjoy the early series, for sure. I liked Exton’s original ghost story for Ghost Stories for Christmas, Stigma (1977), and this adaptation manages to be domestic and fun, and held our attention. This was a birthday watch since we were too ill to go and celebrate as planned. We stayed in and watched Seven Dials on Netflix, and then some Poirot. NOTE: Some very dated casual racism (towards Chinese immigrants).
- Poirot: Triangle At Rhodes (1989) dir. Renny Rye, adapted by Stephen Wakelam. This plot reminds me of Evil Under the Sun, and I get it confused with that one all the time. That’s because, I guess, Evil Under the Sun is the full-length version, while this is a short story. There are the star-crossed couples and the domestic drama between husbands and wives in each, and so they are fairly easy to confuse!
- Poirot: Problem at Sea (1989) dir. Renny Rye, adapted by Clive Exton. Some thoroughly unpleasant people having a terrible time on a cruise, with Hastings and Poirot along for the ride. This is another of the short stories adapted for the first season, which has that glossy bigger budget feel. I did really enjoy the two girls, they were fun.
- Poirot: The Cornish Mystery (1990) dir. Edward Bennett, adapted by Clive Exton. I liked this one, it’s another short story adaptation, and it works well as a feature. Again, I really enjoy Exton’s scripts and the dynamics he writes, and how Christie’s characters come alive on screen. Poor Mrs Pengelley.
Films
My films of January 2026: the highlighted ones with posters are all my top rated watches. I’ve watched a total of 40 films this month, from 1933-2025, and a range of short films and feature-length ones. Letterboxd has counted the 5 Miss Marples I logged as films, but I’ve counted those in my TV show watches, so they don’t appear here.
Expand the details below this highlighted list to see the full list of films I’ve seen this month! I’ve enjoyed all of them in some way. They aren’t in any particular order.
Foxes (2011) dir. Lorcan Finnegan. 17mins runtime.
I loved this little short, on YouTube via the Screen Ireland channel. It’s really atmospheric and unsettling, and I did like the ending. Also: some cracking fox shots, and lovely, eerie shots of the housing estate and its uniformity.
A young couple trapped in a remote estate of empty houses and shrieking foxes are beckoned from their isolation into a twilight world – a world of the paranormal or perhaps insanity.
The Sacrifice Game (2023) dir. Jenn Wexler.
This is one of my favourite Christmas movies, which I didn’t actually watch over Christmas this year (boo to me), but was the first film I watched in 2026. I really love how it ends. If you want to know what I’m like as a person, this film contains most elements I enjoy to watch. Draw your own conclusions.
This Christmas, raise a little hell.
Christmas break, 1971. Samantha and Clara, two students who are staying behind for the holidays at their boarding school, must survive the night after the arrival of uninvited visitors.
Strange Harvest (2024) dir. Stuart Ortiz.
Mockumentary with interviews and found footage that I really enjoyed. Cosmic horror that is actually well done. New to me.
He isn’t hiding, he’s waiting.
Detectives are thrust into a chilling hunt for “Mr. Shiny”—a sadistic serial killer from the past whose return marks the beginning of a new wave of grotesque, otherworldly crimes tied to a dark cosmic force.
Bring Her Back (2025) dirs. Michael Philippou, Danny Philippou
I really liked Talk To Me by the same directors, and this one was a real mind fuck as well. Deeply upsetting in places. I had to fast forward scenes, literally can’t watch some of that. Next level diabolical. New to me.
Family requires sacrifices.
Following the death of their father, a brother and sister are sent to live with a foster mother, only to learn that she is hiding a terrifying secret.
Clown in a Cornfield (2025) dir. Eli Craig.
Based on the Adam Cesare novel. US-set Hot Fuzz with clowns and teen protagonists. Gay rep (yay). Only Black teen in the friend group is the first one to die (boo). Modern teens dying because they don’t know how to use a rotary phone or drive a manual (“stick”) vehicle is so funny to me. Teach your kids these basic life skills.
Are you a friend of Frendo?
Quinn and her father have just moved to the quiet town of Kettle Springs hoping for a fresh start. Instead, she discovers a fractured community that has fallen on hard times after the treasured Baypen Corn Syrup Factory burned down. As the locals bicker amongst themselves and tensions boil over, a sinister, grinning figure emerges from the cornfields to cleanse the town of its burdens, one bloody victim at a time.
Morgiana (1972) dir. Juraj Herz.
A rewatch for me – Morgiana is the name of the cat, whose fate is a major plot point. I really enjoy this one. We get a lot of cat-eye-view shots as well, moving around the house and seeing things from the cat’s POV.
Jealous of her vapidly “good” sister’s popularity, poisonous Viktoria doses pretty Klara’s tea with a slow-acting fatal substance. As the latter grows hysterically weak, the former finds success increasingly compromised by guilt, blackmail, and the pesky need to kill others lest she be exposed.
Dark Waters (1993) dir. Mariano Baino.
If you enjoyed Soavi’s The Church (1989), this is definitely one for the watchlist. It goes harder in a few places. One of the most disturbing family reunions I’ve seen. New to me, but I’ve rewatched it 3x this month, once with the director’s commentary.
A New Wave of Horror
After the death of her father, a young woman travels to a remote convent on an island in the Black Sea to find out why her father funded it for years.
O’r Ddaear Hen/From the Old Earth (1981) dir. Wil Aaron.
LEAVE THINGS ALONE school of horror, which deserves its place here for its place in Welsh cinema history, as much as for its addition to the 1980s weird films, like the Tales of the West Country series. New to me.
As William Jones digs in the garden of his council house he finds a strange looking stone head. During the night his wife has horrible dreams, forcing William to move the head out of the house. In turn, he takes the head to an archaeologist at Bangor University who is an expert on Celtic artefacts and trying to dig up the remains of the Celts elsewhere. In order to try and understand the head, he goes home with her but things start to go wrong at night there as well, bringing the horrors of a half-human half-animal creature to the housewives. One by one the archaeologist’s family is horrified leading to death and another sacrifice to the ancient gods of the Celts.
The Endless (2017) dirs. Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson.
I like this duo – I enjoyed Spring (2014), and I think this film is even better. It might be one of my favourite timey-wimey cosmic horror Sci-Fi films now. New to me.
Time is a prison.
Two brothers return to the cult they fled from years ago to discover that the group’s beliefs may be more sane than they once thought.
King Arthur: Legend of the Sword (2017) dir. Guy Ritchie.
This is a comfort rewatch of my favourite Arthurian film. It has everything I enjoy about Ritchie films, plus it’s an action-fantasy. Arthur’s basically a gangster, which is all kings really are. This is actually my (almost) perfect fantasy film. Himself reckons Guy Ritchie should do a version of Preiddeu Annwn/The Spoils of Annwn, which is literally a heist story. That would be amazing.
From nothing comes a King
When the child Arthur’s father is murdered, Vortigern, Arthur’s uncle, seizes the crown. Robbed of his birthright and with no idea who he truly is, Arthur comes up the hard way in the back alleys of the city. But once he pulls the sword Excalibur from the stone, his life is turned upside down and he is forced to acknowledge his true legacy… whether he likes it or not.
Underwater (2020) dir. William Eubank.
Another comfort rewatch, which I really enjoy. This one did the deep sea walk across the seabed being attacked by monsters before Meg 2. This is a Cthulhu/Deep Ones mythos film, one of THE best entries into that subgenre made so far.
7 miles below the ocean surface something has awakened
After an earthquake destroys their underwater station, six researchers must navigate two miles along the dangerous, unknown depths of the ocean floor to make it to safety in a race against time.
Crow Hollow (1952) dir. Michael McCarthy.
A new-to-me British Gothic thriller, with a blushing bride (she’s known him a week), and three batty old aunts to contend with. My favourite genre of British Gothic is three old women up to no good. Available on YouTube.
A new bride tries to survive multiple attempts on her life in a dark mansion, while her husband refuses to believe that she in danger.
Panna a Netvor/Beauty and the Beast (1978) dir. Juraj Herz.
A favourite comfort watch, and one I finally own on disc. I love it so much.
I have so much to say about this, but I won’t do that here, I’ll save that for a full post or something.
Julie, the youngest daughter of a bankrupt merchant, sacrifices her life in order to save her father. She goes to an enchanted castle in the woods and meets Netvor, a bird-like monster. As Netvor begins to fall in love with Julie, he must suppress his beastly urge to kill her.
The Bench (2024) dir. Sean Wilkie.
This is an indie Scottish film that took 17 years to make, and finally got snapped up by Amazon. I have to say, I really enjoyed it. It’s a good old-fashioned slasher, made by people who clearly like slashers, and there are lots of nice moments and meta nods in it.
The twist is fairly predictable, but I don’t need it to be clever, I just want a fun 75mins of people having relationship drama then running around and screaming. Both our killer (Gareth Hunter) and my hero Tommy (Chris Somerville) were very Ricky-coded to me. Any film where I say “That’s my son!” twice gets an extra star.
Over 300,000 people go missing in the UK every year. Most are never found.
A breakdown. A kind invitation. A cabin with a bloody past. Alex and her newfound friends face a nightmarish reality as they are picked off one by one, drawn to the sinister bench below. Inspired by low-budget horror films of the 1970s.
An Cailleach Bhéarra (2007) dir. Naomi Wilson. 8mins runtime. Available on YouTube via Screen Ireland’s channel.
A lovely 8min folklore short, with a large scale puppet and some great animation.
“The Cailleach was dependent on this one thing… every hundred years she must get back to the water and immerse herself so that she might become young again.”
This film is an interpretation of fragments of the ancient myth of the “cailleach”, old hag, otherworld female, mother earth, sovereignty queen, or witch. Told using a large scale puppet and actors moving through real landscape.
Other Films Watched
Films and standalone shorts watched in January (click to expand)- Until Dawn (2025) dir. David F. Sandberg. It’s based on a video game I haven’t played but can see the appeal of. I really liked the aesthetics of the house, the monster design, and the concept. I also enjoyed the dynamics between the characters, but I lost interest in the middle.
- It Feeds (2025) dir. Chad Archibald. This is like a darker, feature-length film version of the US show, Medium. It has a very strong mother/daughter relationship and a good ending, fine for an afternoon viewing, but I don’t think I’d watch this again.
- The Wyrm of Bwlch Pen Barras (2023) dir. Craig Williams. 17min runtime, a really good short film. We don’t see the wyrm herself, but hopefully we all know what a wyrm/really big fucking snake-dragon looks like. I would watch this short film again.
- The Innsmouth School for Girls (2023) dir. Joshua Kennedy. This is a rewatch, not a favourite or anything, but sometimes I get an urge to watch it again. It’s one of the better Deep Ones/Innsmouth entries, and I think it’s definitely worth a look.
- Dark Light (2019) dir. Padraig Reynolds. This is a rewatch – again, not a highlighted favourite, but one I occasionally feel in the mood for. It’s a pretty competent Sci-Fi-Horror, with monstrous humanoids rather than aliens, and I do enjoy the central mother-daughter drama.
- 東海道お化け道中 / Yokai Monsters: Along With Ghosts (1969) dirs. Kimiyoshi Yasuda, Yoshiyuki Kuroda. New to me, a good background one. Atmospheric, and with really fun 1960s effects! I think I’d rewatch this, I liked the little girl and the plot was entertaining enough. Available on YouTube.
- The Barbarians (1987) dir. Ruggero Deodato. A rewatch – accidental, I was doing stuff with the TV on in the background, this came on, and I didn’t turn it off and ended up watching the whole thing. As entertaining as the last time, not one I would ever dedicate my concentration to, but it’s ’80s Sword and Sorcery for comforting background company on a rainy day.
- The Spiritualist/The Amazing Mr. X (1948) dir. Bernard Vorhaus. I liked this one; I watched it for Turhan Bey and Lynn Bari. It’s a good psychological, Supernatural Explained noir, although for goodness sake her husband has only been dead for two years and everyone is pressuring her to move on and remarry, leave her alone. Westerners not knowing how to process grief is not a 21stC phenomenon. Available on YouTube.
- The Return (1973) dir. Sture Rydman. 30mins runtime, a made-for-TV British short; this is a pretty good Gothic ghost story, very atmospheric and melodramatic. It is based on stories by A.M. Burrage and Ambrose Bierce. A 2-person cast, which really works for the atmosphere and sense of claustrophobia in the house setting. Available on YouTube.
- Il mulino delle donne di pietra/Mill of the Stone Women (1960) dir. Giorgio Ferroni. Not as fun as I hoped, but pretty good. A bit of Mad Science and Italian Gothic. Available on YouTube. I actually think this might be a rewatch but it didn’t leave much of an impression on me the first time.
- The Ghoul (1933) dir. T. Hayes Hunter. This one made me laugh, I did enjoy it for 80mins of excitable young people shouting at each other. Is it culturally sensitive to anyone? No, not in the least. I really liked the enemies-to-partnership thing the cousins had going on, though; Betty was great. This is what 1930s feminism looked like.
- Moss Rose (1947) dir. Gregory Ratoff. An absolutely wild melodrama murder mystery/thriller, with Vincent Price as a policeman, and the worst faux-Cockney accents I have ever heard. Some fascinating class discussion though.
- Darklands (1996) dir. Julian Richards. I watched this again for a review I’m writing for Divination Hollow, and to see how the Director’s Cut (6min shorter) fares against the original version I watched in 2023, the year the Cut was released. This is… something. I have a whole post on it already, where I missed the antisemitism of the Lilith imagery of a character called Rebecca, on top of everything else it’s doing. Anyway, the new essay on this will be potentially cross-posted, but Divination Hollow will get it first.
- Deváté srdce/The Ninth Heart (1979) dir. Juraj Herz. The third Herz film I’ve seen this month, this is one I also own on disc (thanks to the Severin Films Folk Horror Compendium). I didn’t like this as much as Panna a Netvor, but the hair was amazing. I don’t think it was a highlighted watch for me, but I do think I’ll be watching it again, and maybe this will grow on me.
- The Fall of the House of Usher (1960) dir. Roger Corman. I’m not a massive Poe fan but I do like his work, and I do like a few of the adaptations of it. This is much more of a comfort rewatch for me just because of Vincent Price. I know there are loads of versions of it and I haven’t seen them all, but this is not a bad film. It was written by Richard Matheson, and I tend to enjoy his scripts.
- A Child’s Voice (1978) dir. Kieran Hickey. An Irish made-for-TV short, 29mins runtime. Very much in the vein of Ghost Stories for Christmas, and strongly reminiscent of Mark Gatiss’s original story, The Dead Room (2018) which has a very similar premise and main character. It was a one-off, not part of a series or anthology, and only shown on UK TV once in the 1980s.
- The Circle (2017) dir. Peter Callow. I’ve seen this one before and I vaguely remembered it was low budget and not awful, and I fancied the folk horror feels. It’s a Scottish set one, and I want to watch more Scottish horror where possible, like The Isle, Get Duked!, Dog Soldiers, Outcast, and Little Bone Lodge. The Irish horror scene is really flourishing, but Wales and Scotland are behind. A lot of that is budget and investment, so I’m on the lookout for more films by Scottish filmmakers. I don’t know if Callow is Scottish, but it does make some good use of the landscape and isolation of the islands!
- Tattiebogle (2017) dir. Douglas Kyle. Made for £101.99, this was the start of a rabbithole I fell into while looking for more Scottish Horror. Douglas Kyle seems to have a production company, ChaosBox Productions, which has a YouTube Channel. He has a 62-episode no-budget Sci-Fi series, The Pandora Men, and several features and shorts. This is one of the features, made over 8 days in the cast & crew’s spare time. I really appreciate no-budget / microbudget films made by people having a lot of fun, and this is absolutely that. It’s an ecohorror/folk horror slasher, made in Aberdeenshire.
- The Ghillie Dhu (2024) dir. Douglas Kyle. His latest short feature, roughly 37mins runtime. This attempts to be about anxiety disorder and, I guess, the horror of being consumed by your traumas and disorders, married with the Scottish folktale of the Ghillie Dhu.
- The Yird Swine (2020) dir. Douglas Kyle. This isn’t on Letterboxd yet, I need to add it. The link is to IMDB instead. This has the same core cast, with another cast member from The Pandora Men series, Myla Corvidae (he/they), originally from Cardiff! This was a fun one too. The pacing wasn’t as good as Tattiebogle, but I really liked it. Everyone was obviously really enjoying themselves making it. I think if you’re into this side of amateur indie filmmaking, you should check out these films.
DID YOU MISS ANY?
CLICK THE CATEGORY TAG (“Media Round Up”) TO SEE ALL THE POSTS, BEGINNING WITH NOVEMBER 2025.
A SELECTION OF THE MOST RECENT ROUND-UPS IS BELOW:My monthly media round-up for December 2025 – all the books, podcasts, tv shows, and films I read/listened to/watched this month.
by cmrosensDecember 30, 2025December 29, 2025I’m starting a new monthly series where I post a round-up of all the media I’ve watched/read/listened to for the previous month. Here is November’s media round-up!
by cmrosensDecember 5, 2025January 26, 2026 Subscribe to my newsletter to stay updated! I send newsletters around once a month. You can also subscribe to my site so you don't miss a post, but I also do a post round-up in my monthly newsletters, along with what I've been working on, what I've been reading, and what I've been watching. I will often update newsletter subscribers first with news, so stay ahead of the game with my announcements and discount codes, etc! First name Last name Email #BookReview #filmReview #mediaRoundUp #tvReview -
A rant about social protocols
Introduction
Recently, I read an article that talked about that someone, tried to do a new platform called “Content Nation”. This is a German platform that allows people to write content (to be honest, I don’t really know what it does.) and publish it. And recently, the creators tried to implement the ActivityPub protocol. They did so by using the official documentation provided by @w3c.
The problem was that the last time the official documentation was updated, was in 23 January 2018. So, this means that a lot of new standards that other platforms like Mastodon, Misskey, etc... use are not written in there. But this isn’t the fault of the service developers, this is the fault of the W3C that hasn’t been an update to the protocol officially to support the new standards in the industry such as Webfinger, SharedInbox, Privacy Scopes, and Opt-Out for Search…
The thing, is that this led to a lot of people thinking that this site was some kind of scraper and started making the crawler crash or, even worse, someone tried to load CP inside the platform.
BlueSky
Recently, BlueSky opened its AT protocol for everyone to use and federate, due to this, there has been a bit of a discussion inside these platforms. This made me think, why did BlueSky feel the necessity to make another protocol? If there is one already, why do we need another one that competes, wasn’t the objective of protocols to allow interoperability?
So, I did a bit of digging and I found two things. The first one is that they wanted so solve a few things that AP does not support officially (here are the main points, not all of them):Account portability. A person’s online identity should not be owned by corporations with no accountability to their users. With the AT Protocol, you can move your account from one provider to another without losing any of your data or social graph.
A lot of these problems are already present on ActivityPub for a long time. The account portability of ActivityPub let’s say it’s not intuitive. You have to do a lot of things and even then, there are some things like the posts that you make or the favourites that don’t transfer (in the case of favourites you need to transfer them manually, the same for blocks and mutes).
Algorithmic choice. Algorithms dictate what we see and who we can reach. We must have control over our algorithms if we're going to trust in our online spaces. The AT Protocol includes an open algorithms mode so users have more control over their experience.
Also, right now 99% if not all software that uses ActivityPub, does not have an algorithm that orders content for you to see, but shows you everything in chronological order (I don’t know if its intentional or if it’s a limit of AP) and the only thing you have to discover topics is trough hashtags that maybe someone forgot to tag.
Furthermore, not to mention that on ActivityPub, you are at the mercy of the server moderators, so this means that if you know someone that is on an instance that is blocked by yours, you won’t be able to talk to them unless you change the instance, which in a way it’s not very decentralized.
The other protocols
By doing research, I realized that there are a lot of other protocols (for example Nostr) that have its own implementation of things maybe there are some that are bridged and other not.
Such protocols have different features, for example Nostr allows you to suggest content edit to other people’s posts, move your content easily, etc.
How can we solve this?
First, we have to know why all these other companies make their own. I must say, that most of them probably do because AP does not allow customization of posts or the adding of new features for everyone and the fact that it’s not been updated for 6 whole years makes matters worse.
What the developers want, is a protocol that lets them create wherever they want and add everything the want, for example the edit thing that I said the Nostr supports, the only way to add it to AP, would be or only on your software or find another software that is willing to implement that feature, the rest of the market is left behind as well as the users that depending on what it is, they don’t understand.
My solution to this problem would be to add some kind of per user plugin system directly to the AP that allows for devs to implement add-ons that do with the JSON strings that add buttons or scripts at least to send and receive data. As well as to add some kind of CSS support for the posts and profiles. Of course, the point of these is that if you make a platform, and you are the only one using these characteristics, well… but in case that everybody wants to use it and everybody makes their own plugins it would be chaos.
For this, the solution I proposed would be like something you add while the W3C updates the protocol to support a very popular feature. #socialprotocols #nostr #activitypub #W3C #ATprotocol #rant #blogpost #ContentNation -
CW: Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025 (CW'd because it's a looooooong post)
Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025
And here we have it: a list of 151 albums (plus a few artists/labels in general) that kept 64 of us going in 2025, nearly 75% of those 2025 releases and the rest earlier gems! Given our collective eclectic tastes, voting/ranking was not attempted, but bolded titles and post tags indicate albums that were submitted by multiple Fedizens. Genre tags are included as tasting notes (apologies if I got any wrong), each title is linked to its Bandcamp/Songlink when possible, and footnotes list who submitted each album along with extra comments they included (warning: comments may include MOAR ALBUMS; also note: footnotes look way better on the blog). So, click and listen away – perhaps you’ll find a new-to-you album that gets you through 2026!
Thanks so much to the Fedizens who joined in, it’s so nice to see familiar faces from the 1001 Other Albums project as well as some new ones! And, as always, it’s lovely to get a glimpse of how diverse our tastes in music are, and to see people trying something new solely based on a random Fedi recommendation. The Fedi music community truly is a bright spot, and I personally am immensely grateful for it. 🙏🏻
Band – Title (year released, place of origin; genre)footnote
Action/Adventure – Ever After (2025, US; pop-punk)1
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… (2025, US; post-punk, gothic rock)2
Against Me! – White Crosses (2010, US; punk rock)3
Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs (2024, US; punk rock)4
Am I in Trouble? – Spectrum (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)5
Ami Taf Ra – The Prophet and the Madman (2025, US/Morocco; Moroccan gnawa, gospel, jazz)6
An Abstract Illusion – Woe (2022, Sweden; atmospheric black/death/prog metal)7
Analog Africa (label, in general) (1960s-80s, Africa; reissues)8
Anna Tivel – Animal Poem (2025, US; indie folk)9
Archon Satani – The Righteous Way to Completion (1997, Sweden; death ambient/black industrial)10
Ashbreather – La Grande Bouffe (2025, Canada; progressive sludge/death metal)11
Au4 – …And Down Goes The Sky (2013, Canada; prog rock)12
aya – hexed! (2025, UK; electronic, noise)13
Bad Cop/Bad Cop – Lighten Up (2025, US; punk rock)14
Baghed – Smear Campaign (2025, US; punk rock)15
Bank Myna – Eimuria (2025, France; post-rock/metal, doom gaze, slow core)16
Belle and Sebastian – Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (2005, Scotland; indie pop)17
Benedicte Maurseth – Mirra (2025, Norway; folk, jazz)18
Bill Frisell – Harmony (2019, US; folk-jazz)19
Black Flower – Kinetic (2025, Belgium; Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, dub)20
Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE (2025, US; indie folk/pop)21
Brittany Davis – Black Thunder (2025, US; cosmic jazz, r&b/soul, singer-songwriter)22
CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso – Papota (2025, Argentina; experimental trap, hip-hop, EDM, jazz, Latin pop)23
Caroline Shaw / Attacca Quartet – Orange (2019, US; classical, ambient, folk)24
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (2025, US; fantasy heavy metal)25
Causa Sui – Pewt’r Sessions 1 (2011, Denmark; psych/stoner rock)26
Celeste – Woman of Faces (2025, UK; neo-soul, jazz, singer-songwriter)27
Charlie Hunter, Carter McLean featuring Silvana Estrada – s/t (2018, US/Mexico; jazz)28
Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (2025, US; singer-songwriter, experimental)29
Civic – Chrome Dipped (2025, Australia; punk)30
clipping – Dead Channel Sky (2025, US; hip-hop)31
Dan Mangan – Natural Light (2025, Canada; indie rock/folk)32
Daniela Pas – Spira (2023, Italy; singer-songwriter, electronic, experimental)33
Data Rebel – Single Cell (2025, UK; electronic, IDM, ambient)34
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders (2025, US; blues metal/shoegaze blues)35
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (2025, US; blackgaze, metal)36
Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin (2025, US; death metal)37
Delobos – Cabal (2025, Spain; post-alt rock, post-rock, psychedelia)38
Devil ANTHEM. – Profound Rebuild (2025, Japan; J-pop)39
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (2025, US; punk, alt rock)40
Divide and Dissolve – Insatiable (2025, Australia; doom, drone, neo classical)41
Dödsrit – Mortal Coil (2021, Sweden; atmospheric/melodic black metal, blackened crust)42
Dool – The Shape of Fluidity (2024, Netherlands; rock, alternative)43
downy – 8th Album/Untitled (2025, Japan; math rock/post-rock)44
Drab Majesty – Completely Careless (2012-2015) (2016, US; darkwave, shoegaze, dream pop)45
Dropkick Murphy – For The People (2025, US; Celtic punk)46
Eikichi Yazawa – I believe (2025, Japan; rock)47
El Pino & The Volunteers – The Long-lost Art of Becoming Invisible (2009, Netherlands; alt country/folk)48
Elli De Mon – Raìse (2025, Italy; blues, dialect, garage, psychedelic)49
Eric Church – Evangeline vs. The Machine (2025, US; country)50
Ethmebb – Allo Babar et les Caramboleurs (2025, France; progressive melodic blackened death power metal)51
Ex-Vöid – In Love Again (2025, UK; indie pop/rock)52
EYES – Spinner(2025, Denmark; hardcore, noise rock)53
FACS – Wish Defense (2025, US; noise rock, neo-post-punk)54
Faetooth – Labrynthine (2025, US; fairy doom/stoner metal)55
False Aralia (label) – ALL the new 12-inch singles (2025, US; abstract electronic)56
Fever Ray – The Year of the Radical Romantics (2025, Sweden; experimental, electronic, pop)57
FOKALITE – Fokas, Lite & Four Shooting Riddles (2025, Japan; J-pop)58
Françoise Hardy – La question (1971, France; French pop, Brazilian saudade/bossa nova)59
Fust – Big Ugly (2025, US; rock)60
Geese – Getting Killed (2025, US; art/experimental rock)61
Gnome – King (2022, Belgium; stoner/prog/hard rock)62
Habak – Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto (2025, Mexico; melodic crust)63
Hallelujah the Hills – DECK (2025, US; indie rock)64
HANABIE – Bucchigiri Tokyo (2024, Japan; metalcore)65
Hatchie – Liquorice (2025, Australia; indie/dream pop)66
Hole – Live Through This (1994, US; alt rock)67
IAN – Come On Everybody, Let’s Do Nothing! (2025, UK; experimental, post-rock/metal)68
Igorrr – Amen (2025, France; experimental/avant-garde metal)69
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar (2025, US; experimental metal)70
In the Womb of the Universe – Searching for Sunrise (2024, US; electronic, synthpop)71
In the Woods… – Otra (2025, Norway; avant-garde metal)72
Insomnium – Shadows of the Dying Sun (2014, Finland; melodic death metal)73
Jade Bird – Who Wants to Talk About Love (2025, UK; folk rock, singer-songwriter)74
JER – Death of the Heart (2025, US; ska punk)75
Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick (1972, UK; prog rock)76
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield (2024, UK; heavy metal)77
Just Mustard – We Were Just Here (2025, Ireland; post-punk, noise, shoegaze, trip hop)78
Kaku P-Model – unZIP (2025, Japan; experimental, electronic)79
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler – 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s (2025, UK; electronic)80
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013, Australia; psychedelic pop)81
Kostnatění – Přílišnost (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)82
Küenring – In Search of Paradise (2025, Austria; heavy metal/hard rock)83
L.A. Salami (artist, in general) (UK; folk, post-modern blues, acoustic, rock)84
Labyrinthus Stellarum – Rift in Reality (2025, Ukraine; atmospheric/cosmic black metal)85
Lorien Testard – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Original Soundtrack) (2025, France; soundtrack)86
Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (2025, US; death metal/deathcore)87
Lucy Dacus – Forever is a Feeling (2025, US; indie rock, folk-pop, singer-songwriter)88
Maeror Tri – Multiple Personality Disorder (1993, Germany; ambient, noise, drone)89
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force – Khadim (2025, Germany/Senegal; mbalax, experimental, dub techno)90
Marshall Allen – New Dawn (2025, US; avant-garde jazz)91
Max Cooper – On Being (2025, UK; electronic, ambient, avant-garde)92
Messa – The Spin (2025, Italy; doom metal)93
Michel Legrand – The Essential Michel Legrand Film Music Collection (2005, France; soundtrack, compilation)94
MIKE – Showbiz! (2025, US; hip-hop/rap)95
Miynt – Rain Money Dogs (2025, Sweden; indie/bedroom rock)96
Modern English – Mesh & Lace (1981, UK; post-punk)97
Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky (2025, US; alt/indie rock)98
more eaze & claire rousay – no floor (2025, US; experimental, ambient, avant-pop, sound collage)99
Moron Police – Pachinko (2025, Norway; concept album)100
Morris Kolontyrsky – Origination (2025, US; ambient, drone, experimental)101
Nærværet – Når Man Ser Inn I En Annens Hjerte (2024, Sweden/Norway; experimental, field recording, tape manipulation/loops)102
Nailed to Obscurity – Generation of The Void (2025, Germany; melodic/prog death/doom metal)103
Nicolas Gombert & James Weeks / Apartment House – G O M B E R T (2025, Flanders/UK; contemporary classical)104
Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman – Lady of the Lake (2023, US; folk)105
Nout – Live Album (2024, France; alternative, punk, rock, jazz, noise)106
Olga Anna Markowska – Iskra (2025, Poland; modern classical, ambient)107
Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis (1995, UK; heavy metal)108
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills – That Wasn’t a Dream (2025, Wales/US; experimental jazz)109
Point Mort – Le Point de Non-retour (2025, France; blackened crust postcore)110
Plague of Carcosa – In The Dreamless Deep (2025, US; doomnoise, experimental metal)111
Population II – Maintenant Jamais (2025, Canada; art/prog/psychedelic rock)112
Primal Scream – XTRMNTR (2000, Scotland; experimental electro-rock)113
Priscilla Block – Things You Didn’t See (2025, US; country, singer-songwriter)114
Psychonaut – World Maker (2025, Belgium; post-metal)115
Queens of the Stone Age – Alive in the Catacombs (2025, US; rock)116
Radiopuhelimet – Kosminen Tiedottomuus (2020, Finland; alt rock)117
Rebecca Foon & Aliayta Foon-Dancoes – Reverie (2025, Canada; modern classical)118
Rivers of Nihil – s/t (2025, US; death/prog metal)119
Rogue Jones – Dos Bebés (2023, Wales; folk, indie pop)120
Shayfer James – Summoning (2025, US; noir-pop, dark cabaret)121
Shedfromthebody – Whisper and Wane (2025, Finland; doomgaze, [post-]metal)122
Shepherds of Cassini – In Thrall to Heresy (2025, New Zealand; prog metal)123
Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (2025, Mexico; singer-songwriter)124
Silvana Estrada (with Charlie Hunter) – Lo Sagrado (2017, Mexico/US; singer-songwriter)125
Širom – In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper (2025, Slovenia; instrumental avant-garde imaginary folk)126
SKC & The Poem – s/t (2025, Belgium; alt/folk rock)127
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (2025, US/Scotland; space gaze, post-metal)128
Soulwax – All Systems Are Lying (2025, Belgium; electronic alt rock)129
Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea (2025, Canada; metalcore)130
State Azure – The Light That Remains (2025, UK; electronica, ambient, downtempo)131
Stereolab – Switched On Volumes 1-5 (2024, UK/France; avant-pop)132
Steve Tibbetts – Close (2025, US; jazz fusion)133
Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers (2025, US; hardcore)134
Suede – Antidepressants (2025, UK; post-punk, gothic rock)135
Summer Walker – Finally Over It (2025, US; R&B, singer-songwriter)136
Susan Bear – Algorithmic Mood Music (2024, Scotland; electronic, alt-pop)137
Swansea Sound – Twentieth Century (2023, Wales; indie pop)138
TDJ (artist, in general) (Canada; electronic)139
Terveet Kädet – Lapin Helvetti (2015, Finland; hardcore punk)140
Tool – Lateralus (2001, US; prog rock/metal, art rock)141
The Bug Club – “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales” (2025, Wales; indie rock)142
The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising (2025, UK; avant-garde/art rock)143
Trio del Mango – Cómelo (2025, US/Puerto Rico; experimental, noise)144
Turnstile – Never Enough (2025, US; alt rock)145
UNIVERSITY – McCartney, It’ll Be OK (2025, UK; punk, noise rock)146
Water Damage – Instruments (2025, US; experimental psych/drone-rock)147
Weakened Friends – Feels Like Hell (2025, US; indie rock)148
Weirs – Diamond Grove (2025, US; trad folk, experimental noise)149
Wet Leg – moisturizer (2025, UK; indie rock)150
White Lies – Five V2 (2019, UK; post-punk)151
X-Cetra – Summer 2000 (Y2K 25th Anniversary Edition) (2025, US; sleepover core, dance-pop)152
Yara Asmar – everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so so much (2025, Lebanon; modern classical/ambient)153
Yugen Blakrok – Anima Mysterium (2019, South Africa; hip-hop)154
Yws Gwynedd – Codi/ \Cysgu (2014, Wales; indie rock)155
Footnote Number. Fediverse username(s): Comments
- poisonous ↩︎
- buffyleigh: My emotional support album of the year. I’ve been a fan of AFI since 2000 but haven’t liked an album since 2006. The second I heard the first single “Behind The Clock”, my expectations for this album skyrocketed, and they were absolutely exceeded. It sounds nothing like anything they’ve ever done, and yet it feels like this was the album they’ve always been moving towards. Song of the year goes to the entirety of side A, and Davey Havok’s unexpectedly different sound on this album is my overall favourite vocal performance of year. ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- umrk: top album requested by my kids in the car this year ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: The most gloriously unhinged album I’ve heard this year. Twists together ideas from everywhere without the slightest consideration of whether doing so might be normal or accepted. The kind of album where a classic French chanson or some deep filthy funk just appears out of nowhere and then is never referred to again. It shouldn’t work but it absolutely does. ↩︎
- gavin57: That last one is an all-timer. It’s astonishing. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik: This has been a year for nighttime music and music for trying to sleep. ↩︎
- swampgas: definitely my most played this year. A sludgy, deathdoom concept album about greed and gluttony and corruption thats riffy and groovy af. These are driving rhythms that chug hard! ↩︎
- MichaelMcWilliams: The one album that tops my list this year also appears in the 1001 Other Albums list. Band website offering free download of the album: https://au4.ca ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- riff: Most “Wait why did i never listen to this band before ?” of the year. ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- onuryasar: My kind of, very balanced Indie Pop: just the right amount of Indie but not too much and just the right amount of Pop but not too much 🙂 ↩︎
- icastico ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- burnitdown || MetalheadDana ↩︎
- cloudtripper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_e5kKzlFqU&list=RD8_e5kKzlFqU&start_radio=1 ↩︎
- nevar23 ↩︎
- debonaire: Recency bias is pushing me to three Silvana Estrada albums. I love her voice, I love the music, I love her with Charlie Hunter. ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Aussie punk in the vein of The Saints and Radio Birdman. ↩︎
- rothko ↩︎
- Chigaze: what happens when four guys to go a cottage in Ontario, find a flow state, and record an album over a few days. I got to see them play the album through at the Winspear in Edmonton and it’s way up there on my concert experience list. ↩︎
- evilchili: The Italian singer and composer’s debut is a hypnotic journey of loops, bloops, and dramatic and impassioned vocalizations. ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Blues metal? Shoegaze blues? I don’t know or care, I like it. ↩︎
- tym || niels ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- tym || demon6 ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- MetalheadDana: I listened to this album when it first came out in 2021 but for some reason it didn’t click with me. But apparently 2021 Dana had horrible taste in music, because in early 2025 I randomly tried Dodsrit – Mortal Coil again and fell in love and have been obsessed with it all year, it’s the perfect blend of crust punk and black metal and I love it. ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- Chigaze: nails it just as a solid Dropkick’s album but goes farther with songs made for the times. “Who’ll Stand With Us” and “School Days Over” are amazing workers songs while “Chesterfields and Aftershave” takes me back to my own grandfather. ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- riff: Most listened this year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- Moss ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- steveroyle: Leaving out Never Enough by Turnstile as I’m sure that’ll get plenty of votes. ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Angular, noise rock, neo-post punk. Unsettling, laid-back, yet aggressive. And yes it was the last album Steve Albini recorded. ↩︎
- MetalheadDana || demon6 ↩︎
- soundclamp: Runner-ups – https://lineimprint.bandcamp.com/album/muzak-for-the-encouragement-of-unproductivity; https://myheartaninvertedflame.bandcamp.com/album/my-heart-an-inverted-flame-apparitions-split; https://timbarnes.bandcamp.com/album/lost-words-1 ↩︎
- buffyleigh: I’ve known of Fever Ray since first seeing the TV show Vikings, but I for some reason didn’t check them out further until this year, when their s/t album came up for a blog post. I was floored. As it happens, their kinda sorta live album was set to come out soon after my first listen of the s/t, so I got caught up on the full Karin Dreijer discography, got super duper obsessed with their spectacular ARTE concert (which is essentially the same versions performed on the new album), and proceeded to be immensely inspired – nay, awakened – by this artist. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- onuryasar: I’ve first discovered the song Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex (I know, late comer), which brought me to Greg Gonzalez’s Wikipedia page, that says “Gonzalez was heavily inspired by French singer Françoise Hardy and her album La question”. I remember this album being mentioned in my Fedi timeline recently, so I gave it a spin and it turned on and on for the remainder of the year. [Editor’s note: Also see the 1001 OA spotlight on this album from earlier this year!] ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- mynameistillian ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- demon6 ↩︎
- donutage: I was a bit skeptical of this, and sure, in a 52-song project there’s some unevenness, but between the sheer audacity of the attempt & the frequent successes it scores, definitely one of the more remarkable records of the year. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- umrk: my fav album released in 2025 ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- gavin57 ↩︎
- Mark52: Jade Bird has been by far my most listened to album this year. ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- derthomas: I kept coming back to this album because it just fits every mood. It’s peak Jethro Tull if you ask me, it’s perfect in any way. Also the Steven Wilson Remaster sounds incredible. ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- jebeyer: a longer list is here – https://www.buymusic.club/list/whistlingkitty-some-of-my-favorite-2025-releases ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle: honorable mentions – Scare – In The End, Was It Worth It; Creatvre – Toujours Humain ; Guck – Gucked Up ; AVTT/PTTN – AVTT/PTTN; Saor – Amidst the Ruins ; Jessica93 – 666 tours de periph’ ; Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services; LS Dunes – Violet; Aesop Rock – I Heard It’s A Mess There Too ; Fishbone – Stockholm Syndrome ; Dead Pioneers – Po$t American ; Ethereal Wound – Defile | Demise; Sci Fi Industries – Initial States ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- derthomas: My AOTY from a very underground Heavy Metal band from Austria. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- t4s: Honorable mentions – The Halo Effect, Machine Head, Heaven Shall Burn, Spiritbox, Jinjer, Allegaeon ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- Wintergr33n: Percussion-driven music from Senegal on a self-released album: https://ra.co/news/82509. ↩︎
- platenworm: 5 things that ruled my world musically this year:
– The Analog Africa Label
– The Artist L.A. Salami
– The knowledge that you can have too much music
– The knowledge that you can make your solo debut album when you are 100 years old……Hail Hail Marshall Allen
– And that everybody loved Ozzy ↩︎ - nellie_m: The music project that somehow touched me most deeply was the result of two years of work by Max Cooper. „Powerful works of art have traditionally sprung from some source deep within an artist and, if they strike the right tone, resonate with an audience to leave a lasting mark. But what if that equation were reversed: what if an artist were to draw their inspiration from deep within their audience, and use that to reflect those ideas, emotions, hopes, fears, pains and aspirations back to us?…“ ↩︎
- niels || TG_Esq || sentynel || otherdog || umrk ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- BramMeehan ↩︎
- avi_miller: All three fall into the more ambient realm, and they all are absolutely phenomenal. I love music that is based more around textures and creating a mood than creating a melody, and this year had some really good ones. ↩︎
- niels ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- keefeglise: Compositions by Nicholas Gombert and James Weeks. Performed by Apartment House. Flanders/UK. Contemporary Classical (Debatable! Gombert died in 1560.) ↩︎
- evilchili: Two hipster kids from Brooklyn play 100 year old Appalachian folk tunes and make them come alive. Honest, reverential, and true. ↩︎
- riff: “Instantly burned in my brain” this year (well, it was actually their KEXP session from april that blew my mind, but since i have to submit an album, it’ll do nicely 🙂 ). ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- derthomas: I discovered this album this year on a metal journey (yeah, late to the party) and I loved it. It’s my favourite Ozzy album. ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- tym: Oh and not a brand new release, but the remaster and new tracks for the 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Takk…’ by Sigur Rós are pretty great. That and ( ) are still what I listen to the most, this year and apparently every year. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- epu: I had all but forgotten party drug enthusiasm tracks like ‘higher than the sun’ from 1991, and it turns out they made so many albums since I last tuned in. This one really resonates with my reaction to USpol this year. It rekindled my love for this band; I bought Evil Heat import on CD, my first physical purchase since last year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- jiiruu || t4s || gavin57 ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- rustynail: most played ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- TwoClownsEating: I discovered this band in 2025. Absolutely incredible, I’ve bought their entire catalogue and had the privilege to see them live a few months ago. Unbelievably good musicians. Magical music. ↩︎
- jomel: 2025 was a great year for Belgian music. Stef Kamil Carlens, co-founder of dEUS has released a gem with his new band The Poem. I have seen SKC twice this year, once in a solo gig, and the second time (in less then 2 weeks) for the “worst Case scenario” rewind from (and so with) dEUS, those two concerts were fabulous, and at the time, I wasn’t expecting this release.
Bonus Albums: The live album from Depeche Mode – Memento Mori: Mexico City; Arvo Pârt – Credo (released Alpha Classics label) which includes his “hits” – Credo , Fratres , Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten (my favourite one) https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/arvo-part-credo; 2025 Bryan Ferry release, with Amelia Barrat as female lead singer/speaker. Some of his material came from the 70’s and were updated, it’s a timeless album, and elegant as always https://soundcloud.com/bryanferry/sets/loose-talk-4 ↩︎ - jebeyer ↩︎
- jomel: (AKA 2manydj’s) Yep, those guys will make you dance, and rock, I guess they’ve listened to Kraftwerk & Front242. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- t4s ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- e (eva): algorithmic mood music was my fav last year! but i’m still listening to it and i didn’t submit anything then. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- BramMeehan: I’ve listened to so much TDJ, though no one release in particular. ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- buffyleigh: There’s so many other albums I’d love to list here for exposure, but it feels more honest to list this masterpiece, my first obsession of the year, courtesy of catching their amazing set at the big Black Sabbath/Ozzy send-off concert. I mean, I even titled my AOTY list “Forty Six & 2”, since that was the first song Tool played there and got my attention. Said list is here. ↩︎
- epu: Ok, this one’s kind of a cheat, it’s an EP.
2024, my friend turned me on to Bug Club for its lo-fi production aesthetic, humor and infectious fun/dark undertones. Marriage from 2023 album ‘Rare Birds: Hour of Song’ was the hook.
You can get this band straight into your heart and mind with this EP. And it takes me back to that one time I did go to Wales. ↩︎ - jomel: This newcomer British female band has written the ultimate feminist anthem as opening track. || RolloTreadway: I don’t tend to be very much of a rock person, so for a big brash rock record to have such an impact on me must say something. It’s noisy and it’s loud and it has guitars and drums and punkiness. And, er, flutes. Harmonicas. Cellos. Weird interpretations of bible stories. All chaos and absurdity and celebration and being absolutely done with the patriarchy and above all else fun. So much fun. ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- jebeyer ↩︎
- donutage: far & away my number 1; an angry & desperate neo-grunge banger. Sonia Sturino is a force of nature. ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: In parts weird and experimental, in others traditional. Here there’s strange droney noise, and then there’s some light, old-fashioned fiddle playing. Electronic distortion, a choir recorded live outdoors singing a simple hymn. It’s an astonishingly creative and unique folk record. ↩︎
- donutage: not as jaw-dropping as their debut (my runaway 2022 fave), but with a lot of the same qualities. It’s dancy, smart, & sexy, without ever once being submissive. || slamma ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- evilchili: Afro-futurist South African Hip-Hop Mysticism. Blakrok instantly became my favourite female MC. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
#AOTY #AOTY2025 #CastleRat #Deafheaven #DieSpitz #Faetooth #ListenToThis #Messa #music #musicDiscovery #RiversOfNihil #TheNewEves #WetLeg
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CW: Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025 (CW'd because it's a looooooong post)
Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025
And here we have it: a list of 151 albums (plus a few artists/labels in general) that kept 64 of us going in 2025, nearly 75% of those 2025 releases and the rest earlier gems! Given our collective eclectic tastes, voting/ranking was not attempted, but bolded titles and post tags indicate albums that were submitted by multiple Fedizens. Genre tags are included as tasting notes (apologies if I got any wrong), each title is linked to its Bandcamp/Songlink when possible, and footnotes list who submitted each album along with extra comments they included (warning: comments may include MOAR ALBUMS; also note: footnotes look way better on the blog). So, click and listen away – perhaps you’ll find a new-to-you album that gets you through 2026!
Thanks so much to the Fedizens who joined in, it’s so nice to see familiar faces from the 1001 Other Albums project as well as some new ones! And, as always, it’s lovely to get a glimpse of how diverse our tastes in music are, and to see people trying something new solely based on a random Fedi recommendation. The Fedi music community truly is a bright spot, and I personally am immensely grateful for it. 🙏🏻
Band – Title (year released, place of origin; genre)footnote
Action/Adventure – Ever After (2025, US; pop-punk)1
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… (2025, US; post-punk, gothic rock)2
Against Me! – White Crosses (2010, US; punk rock)3
Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs (2024, US; punk rock)4
Am I in Trouble? – Spectrum (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)5
Ami Taf Ra – The Prophet and the Madman (2025, US/Morocco; Moroccan gnawa, gospel, jazz)6
An Abstract Illusion – Woe (2022, Sweden; atmospheric black/death/prog metal)7
Analog Africa (label, in general) (1960s-80s, Africa; reissues)8
Anna Tivel – Animal Poem (2025, US; indie folk)9
Archon Satani – The Righteous Way to Completion (1997, Sweden; death ambient/black industrial)10
Ashbreather – La Grande Bouffe (2025, Canada; progressive sludge/death metal)11
Au4 – …And Down Goes The Sky (2013, Canada; prog rock)12
aya – hexed! (2025, UK; electronic, noise)13
Bad Cop/Bad Cop – Lighten Up (2025, US; punk rock)14
Baghed – Smear Campaign (2025, US; punk rock)15
Bank Myna – Eimuria (2025, France; post-rock/metal, doom gaze, slow core)16
Belle and Sebastian – Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (2005, Scotland; indie pop)17
Benedicte Maurseth – Mirra (2025, Norway; folk, jazz)18
Bill Frisell – Harmony (2019, US; folk-jazz)19
Black Flower – Kinetic (2025, Belgium; Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, dub)20
Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE (2025, US; indie folk/pop)21
Brittany Davis – Black Thunder (2025, US; cosmic jazz, r&b/soul, singer-songwriter)22
CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso – Papota (2025, Argentina; experimental trap, hip-hop, EDM, jazz, Latin pop)23
Caroline Shaw / Attacca Quartet – Orange (2019, US; classical, ambient, folk)24
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (2025, US; fantasy heavy metal)25
Causa Sui – Pewt’r Sessions 1 (2011, Denmark; psych/stoner rock)26
Celeste – Woman of Faces (2025, UK; neo-soul, jazz, singer-songwriter)27
Charlie Hunter, Carter McLean featuring Silvana Estrada – s/t (2018, US/Mexico; jazz)28
Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (2025, US; singer-songwriter, experimental)29
Civic – Chrome Dipped (2025, Australia; punk)30
clipping – Dead Channel Sky (2025, US; hip-hop)31
Dan Mangan – Natural Light (2025, Canada; indie rock/folk)32
Daniela Pas – Spira (2023, Italy; singer-songwriter, electronic, experimental)33
Data Rebel – Single Cell (2025, UK; electronic, IDM, ambient)34
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders (2025, US; blues metal/shoegaze blues)35
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (2025, US; blackgaze, metal)36
Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin (2025, US; death metal)37
Delobos – Cabal (2025, Spain; post-alt rock, post-rock, psychedelia)38
Devil ANTHEM. – Profound Rebuild (2025, Japan; J-pop)39
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (2025, US; punk, alt rock)40
Divide and Dissolve – Insatiable (2025, Australia; doom, drone, neo classical)41
Dödsrit – Mortal Coil (2021, Sweden; atmospheric/melodic black metal, blackened crust)42
Dool – The Shape of Fluidity (2024, Netherlands; rock, alternative)43
downy – 8th Album/Untitled (2025, Japan; math rock/post-rock)44
Drab Majesty – Completely Careless (2012-2015) (2016, US; darkwave, shoegaze, dream pop)45
Dropkick Murphy – For The People (2025, US; Celtic punk)46
Eikichi Yazawa – I believe (2025, Japan; rock)47
El Pino & The Volunteers – The Long-lost Art of Becoming Invisible (2009, Netherlands; alt country/folk)48
Elli De Mon – Raìse (2025, Italy; blues, dialect, garage, psychedelic)49
Eric Church – Evangeline vs. The Machine (2025, US; country)50
Ethmebb – Allo Babar et les Caramboleurs (2025, France; progressive melodic blackened death power metal)51
Ex-Vöid – In Love Again (2025, UK; indie pop/rock)52
EYES – Spinner(2025, Denmark; hardcore, noise rock)53
FACS – Wish Defense (2025, US; noise rock, neo-post-punk)54
Faetooth – Labrynthine (2025, US; fairy doom/stoner metal)55
False Aralia (label) – ALL the new 12-inch singles (2025, US; abstract electronic)56
Fever Ray – The Year of the Radical Romantics (2025, Sweden; experimental, electronic, pop)57
FOKALITE – Fokas, Lite & Four Shooting Riddles (2025, Japan; J-pop)58
Françoise Hardy – La question (1971, France; French pop, Brazilian saudade/bossa nova)59
Fust – Big Ugly (2025, US; rock)60
Geese – Getting Killed (2025, US; art/experimental rock)61
Gnome – King (2022, Belgium; stoner/prog/hard rock)62
Habak – Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto (2025, Mexico; melodic crust)63
Hallelujah the Hills – DECK (2025, US; indie rock)64
HANABIE – Bucchigiri Tokyo (2024, Japan; metalcore)65
Hatchie – Liquorice (2025, Australia; indie/dream pop)66
Hole – Live Through This (1994, US; alt rock)67
IAN – Come On Everybody, Let’s Do Nothing! (2025, UK; experimental, post-rock/metal)68
Igorrr – Amen (2025, France; experimental/avant-garde metal)69
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar (2025, US; experimental metal)70
In the Womb of the Universe – Searching for Sunrise (2024, US; electronic, synthpop)71
In the Woods… – Otra (2025, Norway; avant-garde metal)72
Insomnium – Shadows of the Dying Sun (2014, Finland; melodic death metal)73
Jade Bird – Who Wants to Talk About Love (2025, UK; folk rock, singer-songwriter)74
JER – Death of the Heart (2025, US; ska punk)75
Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick (1972, UK; prog rock)76
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield (2024, UK; heavy metal)77
Just Mustard – We Were Just Here (2025, Ireland; post-punk, noise, shoegaze, trip hop)78
Kaku P-Model – unZIP (2025, Japan; experimental, electronic)79
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler – 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s (2025, UK; electronic)80
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013, Australia; psychedelic pop)81
Kostnatění – Přílišnost (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)82
Küenring – In Search of Paradise (2025, Austria; heavy metal/hard rock)83
L.A. Salami (artist, in general) (UK; folk, post-modern blues, acoustic, rock)84
Labyrinthus Stellarum – Rift in Reality (2025, Ukraine; atmospheric/cosmic black metal)85
Lorien Testard – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Original Soundtrack) (2025, France; soundtrack)86
Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (2025, US; death metal/deathcore)87
Lucy Dacus – Forever is a Feeling (2025, US; indie rock, folk-pop, singer-songwriter)88
Maeror Tri – Multiple Personality Disorder (1993, Germany; ambient, noise, drone)89
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force – Khadim (2025, Germany/Senegal; mbalax, experimental, dub techno)90
Marshall Allen – New Dawn (2025, US; avant-garde jazz)91
Max Cooper – On Being (2025, UK; electronic, ambient, avant-garde)92
Messa – The Spin (2025, Italy; doom metal)93
Michel Legrand – The Essential Michel Legrand Film Music Collection (2005, France; soundtrack, compilation)94
MIKE – Showbiz! (2025, US; hip-hop/rap)95
Miynt – Rain Money Dogs (2025, Sweden; indie/bedroom rock)96
Modern English – Mesh & Lace (1981, UK; post-punk)97
Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky (2025, US; alt/indie rock)98
more eaze & claire rousay – no floor (2025, US; experimental, ambient, avant-pop, sound collage)99
Moron Police – Pachinko (2025, Norway; concept album)100
Morris Kolontyrsky – Origination (2025, US; ambient, drone, experimental)101
Nærværet – Når Man Ser Inn I En Annens Hjerte (2024, Sweden/Norway; experimental, field recording, tape manipulation/loops)102
Nailed to Obscurity – Generation of The Void (2025, Germany; melodic/prog death/doom metal)103
Nicolas Gombert & James Weeks / Apartment House – G O M B E R T (2025, Flanders/UK; contemporary classical)104
Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman – Lady of the Lake (2023, US; folk)105
Nout – Live Album (2024, France; alternative, punk, rock, jazz, noise)106
Olga Anna Markowska – Iskra (2025, Poland; modern classical, ambient)107
Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis (1995, UK; heavy metal)108
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills – That Wasn’t a Dream (2025, Wales/US; experimental jazz)109
Point Mort – Le Point de Non-retour (2025, France; blackened crust postcore)110
Plague of Carcosa – In The Dreamless Deep (2025, US; doomnoise, experimental metal)111
Population II – Maintenant Jamais (2025, Canada; art/prog/psychedelic rock)112
Primal Scream – XTRMNTR (2000, Scotland; experimental electro-rock)113
Priscilla Block – Things You Didn’t See (2025, US; country, singer-songwriter)114
Psychonaut – World Maker (2025, Belgium; post-metal)115
Queens of the Stone Age – Alive in the Catacombs (2025, US; rock)116
Radiopuhelimet – Kosminen Tiedottomuus (2020, Finland; alt rock)117
Rebecca Foon & Aliayta Foon-Dancoes – Reverie (2025, Canada; modern classical)118
Rivers of Nihil – s/t (2025, US; death/prog metal)119
Rogue Jones – Dos Bebés (2023, Wales; folk, indie pop)120
Shayfer James – Summoning (2025, US; noir-pop, dark cabaret)121
Shedfromthebody – Whisper and Wane (2025, Finland; doomgaze, [post-]metal)122
Shepherds of Cassini – In Thrall to Heresy (2025, New Zealand; prog metal)123
Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (2025, Mexico; singer-songwriter)124
Silvana Estrada (with Charlie Hunter) – Lo Sagrado (2017, Mexico/US; singer-songwriter)125
Širom – In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper (2025, Slovenia; instrumental avant-garde imaginary folk)126
SKC & The Poem – s/t (2025, Belgium; alt/folk rock)127
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (2025, US/Scotland; space gaze, post-metal)128
Soulwax – All Systems Are Lying (2025, Belgium; electronic alt rock)129
Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea (2025, Canada; metalcore)130
State Azure – The Light That Remains (2025, UK; electronica, ambient, downtempo)131
Stereolab – Switched On Volumes 1-5 (2024, UK/France; avant-pop)132
Steve Tibbetts – Close (2025, US; jazz fusion)133
Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers (2025, US; hardcore)134
Suede – Antidepressants (2025, UK; post-punk, gothic rock)135
Summer Walker – Finally Over It (2025, US; R&B, singer-songwriter)136
Susan Bear – Algorithmic Mood Music (2024, Scotland; electronic, alt-pop)137
Swansea Sound – Twentieth Century (2023, Wales; indie pop)138
TDJ (artist, in general) (Canada; electronic)139
Terveet Kädet – Lapin Helvetti (2015, Finland; hardcore punk)140
Tool – Lateralus (2001, US; prog rock/metal, art rock)141
The Bug Club – “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales” (2025, Wales; indie rock)142
The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising (2025, UK; avant-garde/art rock)143
Trio del Mango – Cómelo (2025, US/Puerto Rico; experimental, noise)144
Turnstile – Never Enough (2025, US; alt rock)145
UNIVERSITY – McCartney, It’ll Be OK (2025, UK; punk, noise rock)146
Water Damage – Instruments (2025, US; experimental psych/drone-rock)147
Weakened Friends – Feels Like Hell (2025, US; indie rock)148
Weirs – Diamond Grove (2025, US; trad folk, experimental noise)149
Wet Leg – moisturizer (2025, UK; indie rock)150
White Lies – Five V2 (2019, UK; post-punk)151
X-Cetra – Summer 2000 (Y2K 25th Anniversary Edition) (2025, US; sleepover core, dance-pop)152
Yara Asmar – everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so so much (2025, Lebanon; modern classical/ambient)153
Yugen Blakrok – Anima Mysterium (2019, South Africa; hip-hop)154
Yws Gwynedd – Codi/ \Cysgu (2014, Wales; indie rock)155
Footnote Number. Fediverse username(s): Comments
- poisonous ↩︎
- buffyleigh: My emotional support album of the year. I’ve been a fan of AFI since 2000 but haven’t liked an album since 2006. The second I heard the first single “Behind The Clock”, my expectations for this album skyrocketed, and they were absolutely exceeded. It sounds nothing like anything they’ve ever done, and yet it feels like this was the album they’ve always been moving towards. Song of the year goes to the entirety of side A, and Davey Havok’s unexpectedly different sound on this album is my overall favourite vocal performance of year. ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- umrk: top album requested by my kids in the car this year ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: The most gloriously unhinged album I’ve heard this year. Twists together ideas from everywhere without the slightest consideration of whether doing so might be normal or accepted. The kind of album where a classic French chanson or some deep filthy funk just appears out of nowhere and then is never referred to again. It shouldn’t work but it absolutely does. ↩︎
- gavin57: That last one is an all-timer. It’s astonishing. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik: This has been a year for nighttime music and music for trying to sleep. ↩︎
- swampgas: definitely my most played this year. A sludgy, deathdoom concept album about greed and gluttony and corruption thats riffy and groovy af. These are driving rhythms that chug hard! ↩︎
- MichaelMcWilliams: The one album that tops my list this year also appears in the 1001 Other Albums list. Band website offering free download of the album: https://au4.ca ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- riff: Most “Wait why did i never listen to this band before ?” of the year. ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- onuryasar: My kind of, very balanced Indie Pop: just the right amount of Indie but not too much and just the right amount of Pop but not too much 🙂 ↩︎
- icastico ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- burnitdown || MetalheadDana ↩︎
- cloudtripper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_e5kKzlFqU&list=RD8_e5kKzlFqU&start_radio=1 ↩︎
- nevar23 ↩︎
- debonaire: Recency bias is pushing me to three Silvana Estrada albums. I love her voice, I love the music, I love her with Charlie Hunter. ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Aussie punk in the vein of The Saints and Radio Birdman. ↩︎
- rothko ↩︎
- Chigaze: what happens when four guys to go a cottage in Ontario, find a flow state, and record an album over a few days. I got to see them play the album through at the Winspear in Edmonton and it’s way up there on my concert experience list. ↩︎
- evilchili: The Italian singer and composer’s debut is a hypnotic journey of loops, bloops, and dramatic and impassioned vocalizations. ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Blues metal? Shoegaze blues? I don’t know or care, I like it. ↩︎
- tym || niels ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- tym || demon6 ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- MetalheadDana: I listened to this album when it first came out in 2021 but for some reason it didn’t click with me. But apparently 2021 Dana had horrible taste in music, because in early 2025 I randomly tried Dodsrit – Mortal Coil again and fell in love and have been obsessed with it all year, it’s the perfect blend of crust punk and black metal and I love it. ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- Chigaze: nails it just as a solid Dropkick’s album but goes farther with songs made for the times. “Who’ll Stand With Us” and “School Days Over” are amazing workers songs while “Chesterfields and Aftershave” takes me back to my own grandfather. ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- riff: Most listened this year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- Moss ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- steveroyle: Leaving out Never Enough by Turnstile as I’m sure that’ll get plenty of votes. ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Angular, noise rock, neo-post punk. Unsettling, laid-back, yet aggressive. And yes it was the last album Steve Albini recorded. ↩︎
- MetalheadDana || demon6 ↩︎
- soundclamp: Runner-ups – https://lineimprint.bandcamp.com/album/muzak-for-the-encouragement-of-unproductivity; https://myheartaninvertedflame.bandcamp.com/album/my-heart-an-inverted-flame-apparitions-split; https://timbarnes.bandcamp.com/album/lost-words-1 ↩︎
- buffyleigh: I’ve known of Fever Ray since first seeing the TV show Vikings, but I for some reason didn’t check them out further until this year, when their s/t album came up for a blog post. I was floored. As it happens, their kinda sorta live album was set to come out soon after my first listen of the s/t, so I got caught up on the full Karin Dreijer discography, got super duper obsessed with their spectacular ARTE concert (which is essentially the same versions performed on the new album), and proceeded to be immensely inspired – nay, awakened – by this artist. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- onuryasar: I’ve first discovered the song Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex (I know, late comer), which brought me to Greg Gonzalez’s Wikipedia page, that says “Gonzalez was heavily inspired by French singer Françoise Hardy and her album La question”. I remember this album being mentioned in my Fedi timeline recently, so I gave it a spin and it turned on and on for the remainder of the year. [Editor’s note: Also see the 1001 OA spotlight on this album from earlier this year!] ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- mynameistillian ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- demon6 ↩︎
- donutage: I was a bit skeptical of this, and sure, in a 52-song project there’s some unevenness, but between the sheer audacity of the attempt & the frequent successes it scores, definitely one of the more remarkable records of the year. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- umrk: my fav album released in 2025 ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- gavin57 ↩︎
- Mark52: Jade Bird has been by far my most listened to album this year. ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- derthomas: I kept coming back to this album because it just fits every mood. It’s peak Jethro Tull if you ask me, it’s perfect in any way. Also the Steven Wilson Remaster sounds incredible. ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- jebeyer: a longer list is here – https://www.buymusic.club/list/whistlingkitty-some-of-my-favorite-2025-releases ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle: honorable mentions – Scare – In The End, Was It Worth It; Creatvre – Toujours Humain ; Guck – Gucked Up ; AVTT/PTTN – AVTT/PTTN; Saor – Amidst the Ruins ; Jessica93 – 666 tours de periph’ ; Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services; LS Dunes – Violet; Aesop Rock – I Heard It’s A Mess There Too ; Fishbone – Stockholm Syndrome ; Dead Pioneers – Po$t American ; Ethereal Wound – Defile | Demise; Sci Fi Industries – Initial States ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- derthomas: My AOTY from a very underground Heavy Metal band from Austria. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- t4s: Honorable mentions – The Halo Effect, Machine Head, Heaven Shall Burn, Spiritbox, Jinjer, Allegaeon ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- Wintergr33n: Percussion-driven music from Senegal on a self-released album: https://ra.co/news/82509. ↩︎
- platenworm: 5 things that ruled my world musically this year:
– The Analog Africa Label
– The Artist L.A. Salami
– The knowledge that you can have too much music
– The knowledge that you can make your solo debut album when you are 100 years old……Hail Hail Marshall Allen
– And that everybody loved Ozzy ↩︎ - nellie_m: The music project that somehow touched me most deeply was the result of two years of work by Max Cooper. „Powerful works of art have traditionally sprung from some source deep within an artist and, if they strike the right tone, resonate with an audience to leave a lasting mark. But what if that equation were reversed: what if an artist were to draw their inspiration from deep within their audience, and use that to reflect those ideas, emotions, hopes, fears, pains and aspirations back to us?…“ ↩︎
- niels || TG_Esq || sentynel || otherdog || umrk ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- BramMeehan ↩︎
- avi_miller: All three fall into the more ambient realm, and they all are absolutely phenomenal. I love music that is based more around textures and creating a mood than creating a melody, and this year had some really good ones. ↩︎
- niels ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- keefeglise: Compositions by Nicholas Gombert and James Weeks. Performed by Apartment House. Flanders/UK. Contemporary Classical (Debatable! Gombert died in 1560.) ↩︎
- evilchili: Two hipster kids from Brooklyn play 100 year old Appalachian folk tunes and make them come alive. Honest, reverential, and true. ↩︎
- riff: “Instantly burned in my brain” this year (well, it was actually their KEXP session from april that blew my mind, but since i have to submit an album, it’ll do nicely 🙂 ). ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- derthomas: I discovered this album this year on a metal journey (yeah, late to the party) and I loved it. It’s my favourite Ozzy album. ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- tym: Oh and not a brand new release, but the remaster and new tracks for the 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Takk…’ by Sigur Rós are pretty great. That and ( ) are still what I listen to the most, this year and apparently every year. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- epu: I had all but forgotten party drug enthusiasm tracks like ‘higher than the sun’ from 1991, and it turns out they made so many albums since I last tuned in. This one really resonates with my reaction to USpol this year. It rekindled my love for this band; I bought Evil Heat import on CD, my first physical purchase since last year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- jiiruu || t4s || gavin57 ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- rustynail: most played ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- TwoClownsEating: I discovered this band in 2025. Absolutely incredible, I’ve bought their entire catalogue and had the privilege to see them live a few months ago. Unbelievably good musicians. Magical music. ↩︎
- jomel: 2025 was a great year for Belgian music. Stef Kamil Carlens, co-founder of dEUS has released a gem with his new band The Poem. I have seen SKC twice this year, once in a solo gig, and the second time (in less then 2 weeks) for the “worst Case scenario” rewind from (and so with) dEUS, those two concerts were fabulous, and at the time, I wasn’t expecting this release.
Bonus Albums: The live album from Depeche Mode – Memento Mori: Mexico City; Arvo Pârt – Credo (released Alpha Classics label) which includes his “hits” – Credo , Fratres , Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten (my favourite one) https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/arvo-part-credo; 2025 Bryan Ferry release, with Amelia Barrat as female lead singer/speaker. Some of his material came from the 70’s and were updated, it’s a timeless album, and elegant as always https://soundcloud.com/bryanferry/sets/loose-talk-4 ↩︎ - jebeyer ↩︎
- jomel: (AKA 2manydj’s) Yep, those guys will make you dance, and rock, I guess they’ve listened to Kraftwerk & Front242. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- t4s ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- e (eva): algorithmic mood music was my fav last year! but i’m still listening to it and i didn’t submit anything then. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- BramMeehan: I’ve listened to so much TDJ, though no one release in particular. ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- buffyleigh: There’s so many other albums I’d love to list here for exposure, but it feels more honest to list this masterpiece, my first obsession of the year, courtesy of catching their amazing set at the big Black Sabbath/Ozzy send-off concert. I mean, I even titled my AOTY list “Forty Six & 2”, since that was the first song Tool played there and got my attention. Said list is here. ↩︎
- epu: Ok, this one’s kind of a cheat, it’s an EP.
2024, my friend turned me on to Bug Club for its lo-fi production aesthetic, humor and infectious fun/dark undertones. Marriage from 2023 album ‘Rare Birds: Hour of Song’ was the hook.
You can get this band straight into your heart and mind with this EP. And it takes me back to that one time I did go to Wales. ↩︎ - jomel: This newcomer British female band has written the ultimate feminist anthem as opening track. || RolloTreadway: I don’t tend to be very much of a rock person, so for a big brash rock record to have such an impact on me must say something. It’s noisy and it’s loud and it has guitars and drums and punkiness. And, er, flutes. Harmonicas. Cellos. Weird interpretations of bible stories. All chaos and absurdity and celebration and being absolutely done with the patriarchy and above all else fun. So much fun. ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- jebeyer ↩︎
- donutage: far & away my number 1; an angry & desperate neo-grunge banger. Sonia Sturino is a force of nature. ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: In parts weird and experimental, in others traditional. Here there’s strange droney noise, and then there’s some light, old-fashioned fiddle playing. Electronic distortion, a choir recorded live outdoors singing a simple hymn. It’s an astonishingly creative and unique folk record. ↩︎
- donutage: not as jaw-dropping as their debut (my runaway 2022 fave), but with a lot of the same qualities. It’s dancy, smart, & sexy, without ever once being submissive. || slamma ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- evilchili: Afro-futurist South African Hip-Hop Mysticism. Blakrok instantly became my favourite female MC. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
#AOTY #AOTY2025 #CastleRat #Deafheaven #DieSpitz #Faetooth #ListenToThis #Messa #music #musicDiscovery #RiversOfNihil #TheNewEves #WetLeg
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CW: Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025 (CW'd because it's a looooooong post)
Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025
And here we have it: a list of 151 albums (plus a few artists/labels in general) that kept 64 of us going in 2025, nearly 75% of those 2025 releases and the rest earlier gems! Given our collective eclectic tastes, voting/ranking was not attempted, but bolded titles and post tags indicate albums that were submitted by multiple Fedizens. Genre tags are included as tasting notes (apologies if I got any wrong), each title is linked to its Bandcamp/Songlink when possible, and footnotes list who submitted each album along with extra comments they included (warning: comments may include MOAR ALBUMS; also note: footnotes look way better on the blog). So, click and listen away – perhaps you’ll find a new-to-you album that gets you through 2026!
Thanks so much to the Fedizens who joined in, it’s so nice to see familiar faces from the 1001 Other Albums project as well as some new ones! And, as always, it’s lovely to get a glimpse of how diverse our tastes in music are, and to see people trying something new solely based on a random Fedi recommendation. The Fedi music community truly is a bright spot, and I personally am immensely grateful for it. 🙏🏻
Band – Title (year released, place of origin; genre)footnote
Action/Adventure – Ever After (2025, US; pop-punk)1
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… (2025, US; post-punk, gothic rock)2
Against Me! – White Crosses (2010, US; punk rock)3
Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs (2024, US; punk rock)4
Am I in Trouble? – Spectrum (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)5
Ami Taf Ra – The Prophet and the Madman (2025, US/Morocco; Moroccan gnawa, gospel, jazz)6
An Abstract Illusion – Woe (2022, Sweden; atmospheric black/death/prog metal)7
Analog Africa (label, in general) (1960s-80s, Africa; reissues)8
Anna Tivel – Animal Poem (2025, US; indie folk)9
Archon Satani – The Righteous Way to Completion (1997, Sweden; death ambient/black industrial)10
Ashbreather – La Grande Bouffe (2025, Canada; progressive sludge/death metal)11
Au4 – …And Down Goes The Sky (2013, Canada; prog rock)12
aya – hexed! (2025, UK; electronic, noise)13
Bad Cop/Bad Cop – Lighten Up (2025, US; punk rock)14
Baghed – Smear Campaign (2025, US; punk rock)15
Bank Myna – Eimuria (2025, France; post-rock/metal, doom gaze, slow core)16
Belle and Sebastian – Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (2005, Scotland; indie pop)17
Benedicte Maurseth – Mirra (2025, Norway; folk, jazz)18
Bill Frisell – Harmony (2019, US; folk-jazz)19
Black Flower – Kinetic (2025, Belgium; Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, dub)20
Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE (2025, US; indie folk/pop)21
Brittany Davis – Black Thunder (2025, US; cosmic jazz, r&b/soul, singer-songwriter)22
CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso – Papota (2025, Argentina; experimental trap, hip-hop, EDM, jazz, Latin pop)23
Caroline Shaw / Attacca Quartet – Orange (2019, US; classical, ambient, folk)24
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (2025, US; fantasy heavy metal)25
Causa Sui – Pewt’r Sessions 1 (2011, Denmark; psych/stoner rock)26
Celeste – Woman of Faces (2025, UK; neo-soul, jazz, singer-songwriter)27
Charlie Hunter, Carter McLean featuring Silvana Estrada – s/t (2018, US/Mexico; jazz)28
Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (2025, US; singer-songwriter, experimental)29
Civic – Chrome Dipped (2025, Australia; punk)30
clipping – Dead Channel Sky (2025, US; hip-hop)31
Dan Mangan – Natural Light (2025, Canada; indie rock/folk)32
Daniela Pas – Spira (2023, Italy; singer-songwriter, electronic, experimental)33
Data Rebel – Single Cell (2025, UK; electronic, IDM, ambient)34
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders (2025, US; blues metal/shoegaze blues)35
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (2025, US; blackgaze, metal)36
Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin (2025, US; death metal)37
Delobos – Cabal (2025, Spain; post-alt rock, post-rock, psychedelia)38
Devil ANTHEM. – Profound Rebuild (2025, Japan; J-pop)39
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (2025, US; punk, alt rock)40
Divide and Dissolve – Insatiable (2025, Australia; doom, drone, neo classical)41
Dödsrit – Mortal Coil (2021, Sweden; atmospheric/melodic black metal, blackened crust)42
Dool – The Shape of Fluidity (2024, Netherlands; rock, alternative)43
downy – 8th Album/Untitled (2025, Japan; math rock/post-rock)44
Drab Majesty – Completely Careless (2012-2015) (2016, US; darkwave, shoegaze, dream pop)45
Dropkick Murphy – For The People (2025, US; Celtic punk)46
Eikichi Yazawa – I believe (2025, Japan; rock)47
El Pino & The Volunteers – The Long-lost Art of Becoming Invisible (2009, Netherlands; alt country/folk)48
Elli De Mon – Raìse (2025, Italy; blues, dialect, garage, psychedelic)49
Eric Church – Evangeline vs. The Machine (2025, US; country)50
Ethmebb – Allo Babar et les Caramboleurs (2025, France; progressive melodic blackened death power metal)51
Ex-Vöid – In Love Again (2025, UK; indie pop/rock)52
EYES – Spinner(2025, Denmark; hardcore, noise rock)53
FACS – Wish Defense (2025, US; noise rock, neo-post-punk)54
Faetooth – Labrynthine (2025, US; fairy doom/stoner metal)55
False Aralia (label) – ALL the new 12-inch singles (2025, US; abstract electronic)56
Fever Ray – The Year of the Radical Romantics (2025, Sweden; experimental, electronic, pop)57
FOKALITE – Fokas, Lite & Four Shooting Riddles (2025, Japan; J-pop)58
Françoise Hardy – La question (1971, France; French pop, Brazilian saudade/bossa nova)59
Fust – Big Ugly (2025, US; rock)60
Geese – Getting Killed (2025, US; art/experimental rock)61
Gnome – King (2022, Belgium; stoner/prog/hard rock)62
Habak – Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto (2025, Mexico; melodic crust)63
Hallelujah the Hills – DECK (2025, US; indie rock)64
HANABIE – Bucchigiri Tokyo (2024, Japan; metalcore)65
Hatchie – Liquorice (2025, Australia; indie/dream pop)66
Hole – Live Through This (1994, US; alt rock)67
IAN – Come On Everybody, Let’s Do Nothing! (2025, UK; experimental, post-rock/metal)68
Igorrr – Amen (2025, France; experimental/avant-garde metal)69
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar (2025, US; experimental metal)70
In the Womb of the Universe – Searching for Sunrise (2024, US; electronic, synthpop)71
In the Woods… – Otra (2025, Norway; avant-garde metal)72
Insomnium – Shadows of the Dying Sun (2014, Finland; melodic death metal)73
Jade Bird – Who Wants to Talk About Love (2025, UK; folk rock, singer-songwriter)74
JER – Death of the Heart (2025, US; ska punk)75
Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick (1972, UK; prog rock)76
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield (2024, UK; heavy metal)77
Just Mustard – We Were Just Here (2025, Ireland; post-punk, noise, shoegaze, trip hop)78
Kaku P-Model – unZIP (2025, Japan; experimental, electronic)79
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler – 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s (2025, UK; electronic)80
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013, Australia; psychedelic pop)81
Kostnatění – Přílišnost (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)82
Küenring – In Search of Paradise (2025, Austria; heavy metal/hard rock)83
L.A. Salami (artist, in general) (UK; folk, post-modern blues, acoustic, rock)84
Labyrinthus Stellarum – Rift in Reality (2025, Ukraine; atmospheric/cosmic black metal)85
Lorien Testard – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Original Soundtrack) (2025, France; soundtrack)86
Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (2025, US; death metal/deathcore)87
Lucy Dacus – Forever is a Feeling (2025, US; indie rock, folk-pop, singer-songwriter)88
Maeror Tri – Multiple Personality Disorder (1993, Germany; ambient, noise, drone)89
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force – Khadim (2025, Germany/Senegal; mbalax, experimental, dub techno)90
Marshall Allen – New Dawn (2025, US; avant-garde jazz)91
Max Cooper – On Being (2025, UK; electronic, ambient, avant-garde)92
Messa – The Spin (2025, Italy; doom metal)93
Michel Legrand – The Essential Michel Legrand Film Music Collection (2005, France; soundtrack, compilation)94
MIKE – Showbiz! (2025, US; hip-hop/rap)95
Miynt – Rain Money Dogs (2025, Sweden; indie/bedroom rock)96
Modern English – Mesh & Lace (1981, UK; post-punk)97
Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky (2025, US; alt/indie rock)98
more eaze & claire rousay – no floor (2025, US; experimental, ambient, avant-pop, sound collage)99
Moron Police – Pachinko (2025, Norway; concept album)100
Morris Kolontyrsky – Origination (2025, US; ambient, drone, experimental)101
Nærværet – Når Man Ser Inn I En Annens Hjerte (2024, Sweden/Norway; experimental, field recording, tape manipulation/loops)102
Nailed to Obscurity – Generation of The Void (2025, Germany; melodic/prog death/doom metal)103
Nicolas Gombert & James Weeks / Apartment House – G O M B E R T (2025, Flanders/UK; contemporary classical)104
Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman – Lady of the Lake (2023, US; folk)105
Nout – Live Album (2024, France; alternative, punk, rock, jazz, noise)106
Olga Anna Markowska – Iskra (2025, Poland; modern classical, ambient)107
Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis (1995, UK; heavy metal)108
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills – That Wasn’t a Dream (2025, Wales/US; experimental jazz)109
Point Mort – Le Point de Non-retour (2025, France; blackened crust postcore)110
Plague of Carcosa – In The Dreamless Deep (2025, US; doomnoise, experimental metal)111
Population II – Maintenant Jamais (2025, Canada; art/prog/psychedelic rock)112
Primal Scream – XTRMNTR (2000, Scotland; experimental electro-rock)113
Priscilla Block – Things You Didn’t See (2025, US; country, singer-songwriter)114
Psychonaut – World Maker (2025, Belgium; post-metal)115
Queens of the Stone Age – Alive in the Catacombs (2025, US; rock)116
Radiopuhelimet – Kosminen Tiedottomuus (2020, Finland; alt rock)117
Rebecca Foon & Aliayta Foon-Dancoes – Reverie (2025, Canada; modern classical)118
Rivers of Nihil – s/t (2025, US; death/prog metal)119
Rogue Jones – Dos Bebés (2023, Wales; folk, indie pop)120
Shayfer James – Summoning (2025, US; noir-pop, dark cabaret)121
Shedfromthebody – Whisper and Wane (2025, Finland; doomgaze, [post-]metal)122
Shepherds of Cassini – In Thrall to Heresy (2025, New Zealand; prog metal)123
Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (2025, Mexico; singer-songwriter)124
Silvana Estrada (with Charlie Hunter) – Lo Sagrado (2017, Mexico/US; singer-songwriter)125
Širom – In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper (2025, Slovenia; instrumental avant-garde imaginary folk)126
SKC & The Poem – s/t (2025, Belgium; alt/folk rock)127
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (2025, US/Scotland; space gaze, post-metal)128
Soulwax – All Systems Are Lying (2025, Belgium; electronic alt rock)129
Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea (2025, Canada; metalcore)130
State Azure – The Light That Remains (2025, UK; electronica, ambient, downtempo)131
Stereolab – Switched On Volumes 1-5 (2024, UK/France; avant-pop)132
Steve Tibbetts – Close (2025, US; jazz fusion)133
Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers (2025, US; hardcore)134
Suede – Antidepressants (2025, UK; post-punk, gothic rock)135
Summer Walker – Finally Over It (2025, US; R&B, singer-songwriter)136
Susan Bear – Algorithmic Mood Music (2024, Scotland; electronic, alt-pop)137
Swansea Sound – Twentieth Century (2023, Wales; indie pop)138
TDJ (artist, in general) (Canada; electronic)139
Terveet Kädet – Lapin Helvetti (2015, Finland; hardcore punk)140
Tool – Lateralus (2001, US; prog rock/metal, art rock)141
The Bug Club – “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales” (2025, Wales; indie rock)142
The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising (2025, UK; avant-garde/art rock)143
Trio del Mango – Cómelo (2025, US/Puerto Rico; experimental, noise)144
Turnstile – Never Enough (2025, US; alt rock)145
UNIVERSITY – McCartney, It’ll Be OK (2025, UK; punk, noise rock)146
Water Damage – Instruments (2025, US; experimental psych/drone-rock)147
Weakened Friends – Feels Like Hell (2025, US; indie rock)148
Weirs – Diamond Grove (2025, US; trad folk, experimental noise)149
Wet Leg – moisturizer (2025, UK; indie rock)150
White Lies – Five V2 (2019, UK; post-punk)151
X-Cetra – Summer 2000 (Y2K 25th Anniversary Edition) (2025, US; sleepover core, dance-pop)152
Yara Asmar – everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so so much (2025, Lebanon; modern classical/ambient)153
Yugen Blakrok – Anima Mysterium (2019, South Africa; hip-hop)154
Yws Gwynedd – Codi/ \Cysgu (2014, Wales; indie rock)155
Footnote Number. Fediverse username(s): Comments
- poisonous ↩︎
- buffyleigh: My emotional support album of the year. I’ve been a fan of AFI since 2000 but haven’t liked an album since 2006. The second I heard the first single “Behind The Clock”, my expectations for this album skyrocketed, and they were absolutely exceeded. It sounds nothing like anything they’ve ever done, and yet it feels like this was the album they’ve always been moving towards. Song of the year goes to the entirety of side A, and Davey Havok’s unexpectedly different sound on this album is my overall favourite vocal performance of year. ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- umrk: top album requested by my kids in the car this year ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: The most gloriously unhinged album I’ve heard this year. Twists together ideas from everywhere without the slightest consideration of whether doing so might be normal or accepted. The kind of album where a classic French chanson or some deep filthy funk just appears out of nowhere and then is never referred to again. It shouldn’t work but it absolutely does. ↩︎
- gavin57: That last one is an all-timer. It’s astonishing. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik: This has been a year for nighttime music and music for trying to sleep. ↩︎
- swampgas: definitely my most played this year. A sludgy, deathdoom concept album about greed and gluttony and corruption thats riffy and groovy af. These are driving rhythms that chug hard! ↩︎
- MichaelMcWilliams: The one album that tops my list this year also appears in the 1001 Other Albums list. Band website offering free download of the album: https://au4.ca ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- riff: Most “Wait why did i never listen to this band before ?” of the year. ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- onuryasar: My kind of, very balanced Indie Pop: just the right amount of Indie but not too much and just the right amount of Pop but not too much 🙂 ↩︎
- icastico ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- burnitdown || MetalheadDana ↩︎
- cloudtripper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_e5kKzlFqU&list=RD8_e5kKzlFqU&start_radio=1 ↩︎
- nevar23 ↩︎
- debonaire: Recency bias is pushing me to three Silvana Estrada albums. I love her voice, I love the music, I love her with Charlie Hunter. ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Aussie punk in the vein of The Saints and Radio Birdman. ↩︎
- rothko ↩︎
- Chigaze: what happens when four guys to go a cottage in Ontario, find a flow state, and record an album over a few days. I got to see them play the album through at the Winspear in Edmonton and it’s way up there on my concert experience list. ↩︎
- evilchili: The Italian singer and composer’s debut is a hypnotic journey of loops, bloops, and dramatic and impassioned vocalizations. ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Blues metal? Shoegaze blues? I don’t know or care, I like it. ↩︎
- tym || niels ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- tym || demon6 ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- MetalheadDana: I listened to this album when it first came out in 2021 but for some reason it didn’t click with me. But apparently 2021 Dana had horrible taste in music, because in early 2025 I randomly tried Dodsrit – Mortal Coil again and fell in love and have been obsessed with it all year, it’s the perfect blend of crust punk and black metal and I love it. ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- Chigaze: nails it just as a solid Dropkick’s album but goes farther with songs made for the times. “Who’ll Stand With Us” and “School Days Over” are amazing workers songs while “Chesterfields and Aftershave” takes me back to my own grandfather. ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- riff: Most listened this year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- Moss ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- steveroyle: Leaving out Never Enough by Turnstile as I’m sure that’ll get plenty of votes. ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Angular, noise rock, neo-post punk. Unsettling, laid-back, yet aggressive. And yes it was the last album Steve Albini recorded. ↩︎
- MetalheadDana || demon6 ↩︎
- soundclamp: Runner-ups – https://lineimprint.bandcamp.com/album/muzak-for-the-encouragement-of-unproductivity; https://myheartaninvertedflame.bandcamp.com/album/my-heart-an-inverted-flame-apparitions-split; https://timbarnes.bandcamp.com/album/lost-words-1 ↩︎
- buffyleigh: I’ve known of Fever Ray since first seeing the TV show Vikings, but I for some reason didn’t check them out further until this year, when their s/t album came up for a blog post. I was floored. As it happens, their kinda sorta live album was set to come out soon after my first listen of the s/t, so I got caught up on the full Karin Dreijer discography, got super duper obsessed with their spectacular ARTE concert (which is essentially the same versions performed on the new album), and proceeded to be immensely inspired – nay, awakened – by this artist. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- onuryasar: I’ve first discovered the song Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex (I know, late comer), which brought me to Greg Gonzalez’s Wikipedia page, that says “Gonzalez was heavily inspired by French singer Françoise Hardy and her album La question”. I remember this album being mentioned in my Fedi timeline recently, so I gave it a spin and it turned on and on for the remainder of the year. [Editor’s note: Also see the 1001 OA spotlight on this album from earlier this year!] ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- mynameistillian ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- demon6 ↩︎
- donutage: I was a bit skeptical of this, and sure, in a 52-song project there’s some unevenness, but between the sheer audacity of the attempt & the frequent successes it scores, definitely one of the more remarkable records of the year. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- umrk: my fav album released in 2025 ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- gavin57 ↩︎
- Mark52: Jade Bird has been by far my most listened to album this year. ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- derthomas: I kept coming back to this album because it just fits every mood. It’s peak Jethro Tull if you ask me, it’s perfect in any way. Also the Steven Wilson Remaster sounds incredible. ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- jebeyer: a longer list is here – https://www.buymusic.club/list/whistlingkitty-some-of-my-favorite-2025-releases ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle: honorable mentions – Scare – In The End, Was It Worth It; Creatvre – Toujours Humain ; Guck – Gucked Up ; AVTT/PTTN – AVTT/PTTN; Saor – Amidst the Ruins ; Jessica93 – 666 tours de periph’ ; Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services; LS Dunes – Violet; Aesop Rock – I Heard It’s A Mess There Too ; Fishbone – Stockholm Syndrome ; Dead Pioneers – Po$t American ; Ethereal Wound – Defile | Demise; Sci Fi Industries – Initial States ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- derthomas: My AOTY from a very underground Heavy Metal band from Austria. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- t4s: Honorable mentions – The Halo Effect, Machine Head, Heaven Shall Burn, Spiritbox, Jinjer, Allegaeon ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- Wintergr33n: Percussion-driven music from Senegal on a self-released album: https://ra.co/news/82509. ↩︎
- platenworm: 5 things that ruled my world musically this year:
– The Analog Africa Label
– The Artist L.A. Salami
– The knowledge that you can have too much music
– The knowledge that you can make your solo debut album when you are 100 years old……Hail Hail Marshall Allen
– And that everybody loved Ozzy ↩︎ - nellie_m: The music project that somehow touched me most deeply was the result of two years of work by Max Cooper. „Powerful works of art have traditionally sprung from some source deep within an artist and, if they strike the right tone, resonate with an audience to leave a lasting mark. But what if that equation were reversed: what if an artist were to draw their inspiration from deep within their audience, and use that to reflect those ideas, emotions, hopes, fears, pains and aspirations back to us?…“ ↩︎
- niels || TG_Esq || sentynel || otherdog || umrk ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- BramMeehan ↩︎
- avi_miller: All three fall into the more ambient realm, and they all are absolutely phenomenal. I love music that is based more around textures and creating a mood than creating a melody, and this year had some really good ones. ↩︎
- niels ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- keefeglise: Compositions by Nicholas Gombert and James Weeks. Performed by Apartment House. Flanders/UK. Contemporary Classical (Debatable! Gombert died in 1560.) ↩︎
- evilchili: Two hipster kids from Brooklyn play 100 year old Appalachian folk tunes and make them come alive. Honest, reverential, and true. ↩︎
- riff: “Instantly burned in my brain” this year (well, it was actually their KEXP session from april that blew my mind, but since i have to submit an album, it’ll do nicely 🙂 ). ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- derthomas: I discovered this album this year on a metal journey (yeah, late to the party) and I loved it. It’s my favourite Ozzy album. ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- tym: Oh and not a brand new release, but the remaster and new tracks for the 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Takk…’ by Sigur Rós are pretty great. That and ( ) are still what I listen to the most, this year and apparently every year. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- epu: I had all but forgotten party drug enthusiasm tracks like ‘higher than the sun’ from 1991, and it turns out they made so many albums since I last tuned in. This one really resonates with my reaction to USpol this year. It rekindled my love for this band; I bought Evil Heat import on CD, my first physical purchase since last year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- jiiruu || t4s || gavin57 ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- rustynail: most played ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- TwoClownsEating: I discovered this band in 2025. Absolutely incredible, I’ve bought their entire catalogue and had the privilege to see them live a few months ago. Unbelievably good musicians. Magical music. ↩︎
- jomel: 2025 was a great year for Belgian music. Stef Kamil Carlens, co-founder of dEUS has released a gem with his new band The Poem. I have seen SKC twice this year, once in a solo gig, and the second time (in less then 2 weeks) for the “worst Case scenario” rewind from (and so with) dEUS, those two concerts were fabulous, and at the time, I wasn’t expecting this release.
Bonus Albums: The live album from Depeche Mode – Memento Mori: Mexico City; Arvo Pârt – Credo (released Alpha Classics label) which includes his “hits” – Credo , Fratres , Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten (my favourite one) https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/arvo-part-credo; 2025 Bryan Ferry release, with Amelia Barrat as female lead singer/speaker. Some of his material came from the 70’s and were updated, it’s a timeless album, and elegant as always https://soundcloud.com/bryanferry/sets/loose-talk-4 ↩︎ - jebeyer ↩︎
- jomel: (AKA 2manydj’s) Yep, those guys will make you dance, and rock, I guess they’ve listened to Kraftwerk & Front242. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- t4s ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- e (eva): algorithmic mood music was my fav last year! but i’m still listening to it and i didn’t submit anything then. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- BramMeehan: I’ve listened to so much TDJ, though no one release in particular. ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- buffyleigh: There’s so many other albums I’d love to list here for exposure, but it feels more honest to list this masterpiece, my first obsession of the year, courtesy of catching their amazing set at the big Black Sabbath/Ozzy send-off concert. I mean, I even titled my AOTY list “Forty Six & 2”, since that was the first song Tool played there and got my attention. Said list is here. ↩︎
- epu: Ok, this one’s kind of a cheat, it’s an EP.
2024, my friend turned me on to Bug Club for its lo-fi production aesthetic, humor and infectious fun/dark undertones. Marriage from 2023 album ‘Rare Birds: Hour of Song’ was the hook.
You can get this band straight into your heart and mind with this EP. And it takes me back to that one time I did go to Wales. ↩︎ - jomel: This newcomer British female band has written the ultimate feminist anthem as opening track. || RolloTreadway: I don’t tend to be very much of a rock person, so for a big brash rock record to have such an impact on me must say something. It’s noisy and it’s loud and it has guitars and drums and punkiness. And, er, flutes. Harmonicas. Cellos. Weird interpretations of bible stories. All chaos and absurdity and celebration and being absolutely done with the patriarchy and above all else fun. So much fun. ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- jebeyer ↩︎
- donutage: far & away my number 1; an angry & desperate neo-grunge banger. Sonia Sturino is a force of nature. ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: In parts weird and experimental, in others traditional. Here there’s strange droney noise, and then there’s some light, old-fashioned fiddle playing. Electronic distortion, a choir recorded live outdoors singing a simple hymn. It’s an astonishingly creative and unique folk record. ↩︎
- donutage: not as jaw-dropping as their debut (my runaway 2022 fave), but with a lot of the same qualities. It’s dancy, smart, & sexy, without ever once being submissive. || slamma ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- evilchili: Afro-futurist South African Hip-Hop Mysticism. Blakrok instantly became my favourite female MC. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
#AOTY #AOTY2025 #CastleRat #Deafheaven #DieSpitz #Faetooth #ListenToThis #Messa #music #musicDiscovery #RiversOfNihil #TheNewEves #WetLeg
-
Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025
And here we have it: a list of 151 albums (plus a few artists/labels in general) that kept 64 of us going in 2025, nearly 75% of those 2025 releases and the rest earlier gems! Given our collective eclectic tastes, voting/ranking was not attempted, but bolded titles and post tags indicate albums that were submitted by multiple Fedizens. Genre tags are included as tasting notes (apologies if I got any wrong), each title is linked to its Bandcamp/Songlink when possible, and footnotes list who submitted each album along with extra comments they included (warning: comments may include MOAR ALBUMS). So, click and listen away – perhaps you’ll find a new-to-you album that gets you through 2026!
Thanks so much to the Fedizens who joined in, it’s so nice to see familiar faces from the 1001 Other Albums project as well as some new ones! And, as always, it’s lovely to get a glimpse of how diverse our tastes in music are, and to see people trying something new solely based on a random Fedi recommendation. The Fedi music community truly is a bright spot, and I personally am immensely grateful for it. 🙏🏻
Band – Title (year released, place of origin; genre)footnote
Action/Adventure – Ever After (2025, US; pop-punk)1
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… (2025, US; post-punk, gothic rock)2
Against Me! – White Crosses (2010, US; punk rock)3
Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs (2024, US; punk rock)4
Am I in Trouble? – Spectrum (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)5
Ami Taf Ra – The Prophet and the Madman (2025, US/Morocco; Moroccan gnawa, gospel, jazz)6
An Abstract Illusion – Woe (2022, Sweden; atmospheric black/death/prog metal)7
Analog Africa (label, in general) (1960s-80s, Africa; reissues)8
Anna Tivel – Animal Poem (2025, US; indie folk)9
Archon Satani – The Righteous Way to Completion (1997, Sweden; death ambient/black industrial)10
Ashbreather – La Grande Bouffe (2025, Canada; progressive sludge/death metal)11
Au4 – …And Down Goes The Sky (2013, Canada; prog rock)12
aya – hexed! (2025, UK; electronic, noise)13
Bad Cop/Bad Cop – Lighten Up (2025, US; punk rock)14
Baghed – Smear Campaign (2025, US; punk rock)15
Bank Myna – Eimuria (2025, France; post-rock/metal, doom gaze, slow core)16
Belle and Sebastian – Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (2005, Scotland; indie pop)17
Benedicte Maurseth – Mirra (2025, Norway; folk, jazz)18
Bill Frisell – Harmony (2019, US; folk-jazz)19
Black Flower – Kinetic (2025, Belgium; Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, dub)20
Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE (2025, US; indie folk/pop)21
Brittany Davis – Black Thunder (2025, US; cosmic jazz, r&b/soul, singer-songwriter)22
CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso – Papota (2025, Argentina; experimental trap, hip-hop, EDM, jazz, Latin pop)23
Caroline Shaw / Attacca Quartet – Orange (2019, US; classical, ambient, folk)24
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (2025, US; fantasy heavy metal)25
Causa Sui – Pewt’r Sessions 1 (2011, Denmark; psych/stoner rock)26
Celeste – Woman of Faces (2025, UK; neo-soul, jazz, singer-songwriter)27
Charlie Hunter, Carter McLean featuring Silvana Estrada – s/t (2018, US/Mexico; jazz)28
Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (2025, US; singer-songwriter, experimental)29
Civic – Chrome Dipped (2025, Australia; punk)30
clipping – Dead Channel Sky (2025, US; hip-hop)31
Dan Mangan – Natural Light (2025, Canada; indie rock/folk)32
Daniela Pas – Spira (2023, Italy; singer-songwriter, electronic, experimental)33
Data Rebel – Single Cell (2025, UK; electronic, IDM, ambient)34
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders (2025, US; blues metal/shoegaze blues)35
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (2025, US; blackgaze, metal)36
Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin (2025, US; death metal)37
Delobos – Cabal (2025, Spain; post-alt rock, post-rock, psychedelia)38
Devil ANTHEM. – Profound Rebuild (2025, Japan; J-pop)39
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (2025, US; punk, alt rock)40
Divide and Dissolve – Insatiable (2025, Australia; doom, drone, neo classical)41
Dödsrit – Mortal Coil (2021, Sweden; atmospheric/melodic black metal, blackened crust)42
Dool – The Shape of Fluidity (2024, Netherlands; rock, alternative)43
downy – 8th Album/Untitled (2025, Japan; math rock/post-rock)44
Drab Majesty – Completely Careless (2012-2015) (2016, US; darkwave, shoegaze, dream pop)45
Dropkick Murphy – For The People (2025, US; Celtic punk)46
Eikichi Yazawa – I believe (2025, Japan; rock)47
El Pino & The Volunteers – The Long-lost Art of Becoming Invisible (2009, Netherlands; alt country/folk)48
Elli De Mon – Raìse (2025, Italy; blues, dialect, garage, psychedelic)49
Eric Church – Evangeline vs. The Machine (2025, US; country)50
Ethmebb – Allo Babar et les Caramboleurs (2025, France; progressive melodic blackened death power metal)51
Ex-Vöid – In Love Again (2025, UK; indie pop/rock)52
EYES – Spinner(2025, Denmark; hardcore, noise rock)53
FACS – Wish Defense (2025, US; noise rock, neo-post-punk)54
Faetooth – Labrynthine (2025, US; fairy doom/stoner metal)55
False Aralia (label) – ALL the new 12-inch singles (2025, US; abstract electronic)56
Fever Ray – The Year of the Radical Romantics (2025, Sweden; experimental, electronic, pop)57
FOKALITE – Fokas, Lite & Four Shooting Riddles (2025, Japan; J-pop)58
Françoise Hardy – La question (1971, France; French pop, Brazilian saudade/bossa nova)59
Fust – Big Ugly (2025, US; rock)60
Geese – Getting Killed (2025, US; art/experimental rock)61
Gnome – King (2022, Belgium; stoner/prog/hard rock)62
Habak – Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto (2025, Mexico; melodic crust)63
Hallelujah the Hills – DECK (2025, US; indie rock)64
HANABIE – Bucchigiri Tokyo (2024, Japan; metalcore)65
Hatchie – Liquorice (2025, Australia; indie/dream pop)66
Hole – Live Through This (1994, US; alt rock)67
IAN – Come On Everybody, Let’s Do Nothing! (2025, UK; experimental, post-rock/metal)68
Igorrr – Amen (2025, France; experimental/avant-garde metal)69
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar (2025, US; experimental metal)70
In the Womb of the Universe – Searching for Sunrise (2024, US; electronic, synthpop)71
In the Woods… – Otra (2025, Norway; avant-garde metal)72
Insomnium – Shadows of the Dying Sun (2014, Finland; melodic death metal)73
Jade Bird – Who Wants to Talk About Love (2025, UK; folk rock, singer-songwriter)74
JER – Death of the Heart (2025, US; ska punk)75
Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick (1972, UK; prog rock)76
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield (2024, UK; heavy metal)77
Just Mustard – We Were Just Here (2025, Ireland; post-punk, noise, shoegaze, trip hop)78
Kaku P-Model – unZIP (2025, Japan; experimental, electronic)79
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler – 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s (2025, UK; electronic)80
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013, Australia; psychedelic pop)81
Kostnatění – Přílišnost (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)82
Küenring – In Search of Paradise (2025, Austria; heavy metal/hard rock)83
L.A. Salami (artist, in general) (UK; folk, post-modern blues, acoustic, rock)84
Labyrinthus Stellarum – Rift in Reality (2025, Ukraine; atmospheric/cosmic black metal)85
Lorien Testard – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Original Soundtrack) (2025, France; soundtrack)86
Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (2025, US; death metal/deathcore)87
Lucy Dacus – Forever is a Feeling (2025, US; indie rock, folk-pop, singer-songwriter)88
Maeror Tri – Multiple Personality Disorder (1993, Germany; ambient, noise, drone)89
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force – Khadim (2025, Germany/Senegal; mbalax, experimental, dub techno)90
Marshall Allen – New Dawn (2025, US; avant-garde jazz)91
Max Cooper – On Being (2025, UK; electronic, ambient, avant-garde)92
Messa – The Spin (2025, Italy; doom metal)93
Michel Legrand – The Essential Michel Legrand Film Music Collection (2005, France; soundtrack, compilation)94
MIKE – Showbiz! (2025, US; hip-hop/rap)95
Miynt – Rain Money Dogs (2025, Sweden; indie/bedroom rock)96
Modern English – Mesh & Lace (1981, UK; post-punk)97
Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky (2025, US; alt/indie rock)98
more eaze & claire rousay – no floor (2025, US; experimental, ambient, avant-pop, sound collage)99
Moron Police – Pachinko (2025, Norway; concept album)100
Morris Kolontyrsky – Origination (2025, US; ambient, drone, experimental)101
Nærværet – Når Man Ser Inn I En Annens Hjerte (2024, Sweden/Norway; experimental, field recording, tape manipulation/loops)102
Nailed to Obscurity – Generation of The Void (2025, Germany; melodic/prog death/doom metal)103
Nicolas Gombert & James Weeks / Apartment House – G O M B E R T (2025, Flanders/UK; contemporary classical)104
Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman – Lady of the Lake (2023, US; folk)105
Nout – Live Album (2024, France; alternative, punk, rock, jazz, noise)106
Olga Anna Markowska – Iskra (2025, Poland; modern classical, ambient)107
Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis (1995, UK; heavy metal)108
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills – That Wasn’t a Dream (2025, Wales/US; experimental jazz)109
Point Mort – Le Point de Non-retour (2025, France; blackened crust postcore)110
Plague of Carcosa – In The Dreamless Deep (2025, US; doomnoise, experimental metal)111
Population II – Maintenant Jamais (2025, Canada; art/prog/psychedelic rock)112
Primal Scream – XTRMNTR (2000, Scotland; experimental electro-rock)113
Priscilla Block – Things You Didn’t See (2025, US; country, singer-songwriter)114
Psychonaut – World Maker (2025, Belgium; post-metal)115
Queens of the Stone Age – Alive in the Catacombs (2025, US; rock)116
Radiopuhelimet – Kosminen Tiedottomuus (2020, Finland; alt rock)117
Rebecca Foon & Aliayta Foon-Dancoes – Reverie (2025, Canada; modern classical)118
Rivers of Nihil – s/t (2025, US; death/prog metal)119
Rogue Jones – Dos Bebés (2023, Wales; folk, indie pop)120
Shayfer James – Summoning (2025, US; noir-pop, dark cabaret)121
Shedfromthebody – Whisper and Wane (2025, Finland; doomgaze, [post-]metal)122
Shepherds of Cassini – In Thrall to Heresy (2025, New Zealand; prog metal)123
Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (2025, Mexico; singer-songwriter)124
Silvana Estrada (with Charlie Hunter) – Lo Sagrado (2017, Mexico/US; singer-songwriter)125
Širom – In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper (2025, Slovenia; instrumental avant-garde imaginary folk)126
SKC & The Poem – s/t (2025, Belgium; alt/folk rock)127
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (2025, US/Scotland; space gaze, post-metal)128
Soulwax – All Systems Are Lying (2025, Belgium; electronic alt rock)129
Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea (2025, Canada; metalcore)130
State Azure – The Light That Remains (2025, UK; electronica, ambient, downtempo)131
Stereolab – Switched On Volumes 1-5 (2024, UK/France; avant-pop)132
Steve Tibbetts – Close (2025, US; jazz fusion)133
Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers (2025, US; hardcore)134
Suede – Antidepressants (2025, UK; post-punk, gothic rock)135
Summer Walker – Finally Over It (2025, US; R&B, singer-songwriter)136
Susan Bear – Algorithmic Mood Music (2024, Scotland; electronic, alt-pop)137
Swansea Sound – Twentieth Century (2023, Wales; indie pop)138
TDJ (artist, in general) (Canada; electronic)139
Terveet Kädet – Lapin Helvetti (2015, Finland; hardcore punk)140
Tool – Lateralus (2001, US; prog rock/metal, art rock)141
The Bug Club – “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales” (2025, Wales; indie rock)142
The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising (2025, UK; avant-garde/art rock)143
Trio del Mango – Cómelo (2025, US/Puerto Rico; experimental, noise)144
Turnstile – Never Enough (2025, US; alt rock)145
UNIVERSITY – McCartney, It’ll Be OK (2025, UK; punk, noise rock)146
Water Damage – Instruments (2025, US; experimental psych/drone-rock)147
Weakened Friends – Feels Like Hell (2025, US; indie rock)148
Weirs – Diamond Grove (2025, US; trad folk, experimental noise)149
Wet Leg – moisturizer (2025, UK; indie rock)150
White Lies – Five V2 (2019, UK; post-punk)151
X-Cetra – Summer 2000 (Y2K 25th Anniversary Edition) (2025, US; sleepover core, dance-pop)152
Yara Asmar – everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so so much (2025, Lebanon; modern classical/ambient)153
Yugen Blakrok – Anima Mysterium (2019, South Africa; hip-hop)154
Yws Gwynedd – Codi/ \Cysgu (2014, Wales; indie rock)155
Footnote Number. Fediverse username(s): Comments
- poisonous ↩︎
- buffyleigh: My emotional support album of the year. I’ve been a fan of AFI since 2000 but haven’t liked an album since 2006. The second I heard the first single “Behind The Clock”, my expectations for this album skyrocketed, and they were absolutely exceeded. It sounds nothing like anything they’ve ever done, and yet it feels like this was the album they’ve always been moving towards. Song of the year goes to the entirety of side A, and Davey Havok’s unexpectedly different sound on this album is my overall favourite vocal performance of year. ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- umrk: top album requested by my kids in the car this year ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: The most gloriously unhinged album I’ve heard this year. Twists together ideas from everywhere without the slightest consideration of whether doing so might be normal or accepted. The kind of album where a classic French chanson or some deep filthy funk just appears out of nowhere and then is never referred to again. It shouldn’t work but it absolutely does. ↩︎
- gavin57: That last one is an all-timer. It’s astonishing. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik: This has been a year for nighttime music and music for trying to sleep. ↩︎
- swampgas: definitely my most played this year. A sludgy, deathdoom concept album about greed and gluttony and corruption thats riffy and groovy af. These are driving rhythms that chug hard! ↩︎
- MichaelMcWilliams: The one album that tops my list this year also appears in the 1001 Other Albums list. Band website offering free download of the album: https://au4.ca ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- riff: Most “Wait why did i never listen to this band before ?” of the year. ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- onuryasar: My kind of, very balanced Indie Pop: just the right amount of Indie but not too much and just the right amount of Pop but not too much :) ↩︎
- icastico ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- burnitdown || MetalheadDana ↩︎
- cloudtripper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_e5kKzlFqU&list=RD8_e5kKzlFqU&start_radio=1 ↩︎
- nevar23 ↩︎
- debonaire: Recency bias is pushing me to three Silvana Estrada albums. I love her voice, I love the music, I love her with Charlie Hunter. ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Aussie punk in the vein of The Saints and Radio Birdman. ↩︎
- rothko ↩︎
- Chigaze: what happens when four guys to go a cottage in Ontario, find a flow state, and record an album over a few days. I got to see them play the album through at the Winspear in Edmonton and it’s way up there on my concert experience list. ↩︎
- evilchili: The Italian singer and composer’s debut is a hypnotic journey of loops, bloops, and dramatic and impassioned vocalizations. ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Blues metal? Shoegaze blues? I don’t know or care, I like it. ↩︎
- tym || niels ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- tym || demon6 ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- MetalheadDana: I listened to this album when it first came out in 2021 but for some reason it didn’t click with me. But apparently 2021 Dana had horrible taste in music, because in early 2025 I randomly tried Dodsrit – Mortal Coil again and fell in love and have been obsessed with it all year, it’s the perfect blend of crust punk and black metal and I love it. ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- Chigaze: nails it just as a solid Dropkick’s album but goes farther with songs made for the times. “Who’ll Stand With Us” and “School Days Over” are amazing workers songs while “Chesterfields and Aftershave” takes me back to my own grandfather. ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- riff: Most listened this year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- Moss ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- steveroyle: Leaving out Never Enough by Turnstile as I’m sure that’ll get plenty of votes. ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Angular, noise rock, neo-post punk. Unsettling, laid-back, yet aggressive. And yes it was the last album Steve Albini recorded. ↩︎
- MetalheadDana || demon6 ↩︎
- soundclamp: Runner-ups – https://lineimprint.bandcamp.com/album/muzak-for-the-encouragement-of-unproductivity; https://myheartaninvertedflame.bandcamp.com/album/my-heart-an-inverted-flame-apparitions-split; https://timbarnes.bandcamp.com/album/lost-words-1 ↩︎
- buffyleigh: I’ve known of Fever Ray since first seeing the TV show Vikings, but I for some reason didn’t check them out further until this year, when their s/t album came up for a blog post. I was floored. As it happens, their kinda sorta live album was set to come out soon after my first listen of the s/t, so I got caught up on the full Karin Dreijer discography, got super duper obsessed with their spectacular ARTE concert (which is essentially the same versions performed on the new album), and proceeded to be immensely inspired – nay, awakened – by this artist. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- onuryasar: I’ve first discovered the song Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex (I know, late comer), which brought me to Greg Gonzalez’s Wikipedia page, that says “Gonzalez was heavily inspired by French singer Françoise Hardy and her album La question”. I remember this album being mentioned in my Fedi timeline recently, so I gave it a spin and it turned on and on for the remainder of the year. [Editor’s note: Also see the 1001 OA spotlight on this album from earlier this year!] ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- mynameistillian ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- demon6 ↩︎
- donutage: I was a bit skeptical of this, and sure, in a 52-song project there’s some unevenness, but between the sheer audacity of the attempt & the frequent successes it scores, definitely one of the more remarkable records of the year. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- umrk: my fav album released in 2025 ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- gavin57 ↩︎
- Mark52: Jade Bird has been by far my most listened to album this year. ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- derthomas: I kept coming back to this album because it just fits every mood. It’s peak Jethro Tull if you ask me, it’s perfect in any way. Also the Steven Wilson Remaster sounds incredible. ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- jebeyer: a longer list is here – https://www.buymusic.club/list/whistlingkitty-some-of-my-favorite-2025-releases ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle: honorable mentions – Scare – In The End, Was It Worth It; Creatvre – Toujours Humain ; Guck – Gucked Up ; AVTT/PTTN – AVTT/PTTN; Saor – Amidst the Ruins ; Jessica93 – 666 tours de periph’ ; Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services; LS Dunes – Violet; Aesop Rock – I Heard It’s A Mess There Too ; Fishbone – Stockholm Syndrome ; Dead Pioneers – Po$t American ; Ethereal Wound – Defile | Demise; Sci Fi Industries – Initial States ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- derthomas: My AOTY from a very underground Heavy Metal band from Austria. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- t4s: Honorable mentions – The Halo Effect, Machine Head, Heaven Shall Burn, Spiritbox, Jinjer, Allegaeon ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- Wintergr33n: Percussion-driven music from Senegal on a self-released album: https://ra.co/news/82509. ↩︎
- platenworm: 5 things that ruled my world musically this year:
– The Analog Africa Label
– The Artist L.A. Salami
– The knowledge that you can have too much music
– The knowledge that you can make your solo debut album when you are 100 years old……Hail Hail Marshall Allen
– And that everybody loved Ozzy ↩︎ - nellie_m: The music project that somehow touched me most deeply was the result of two years of work by Max Cooper. „Powerful works of art have traditionally sprung from some source deep within an artist and, if they strike the right tone, resonate with an audience to leave a lasting mark. But what if that equation were reversed: what if an artist were to draw their inspiration from deep within their audience, and use that to reflect those ideas, emotions, hopes, fears, pains and aspirations back to us?…“ ↩︎
- niels || TG_Esq || sentynel || otherdog || umrk ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- BramMeehan ↩︎
- avi_miller: All three fall into the more ambient realm, and they all are absolutely phenomenal. I love music that is based more around textures and creating a mood than creating a melody, and this year had some really good ones. ↩︎
- niels ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- keefeglise: Compositions by Nicholas Gombert and James Weeks. Performed by Apartment House. Flanders/UK. Contemporary Classical (Debatable! Gombert died in 1560.) ↩︎
- evilchili: Two hipster kids from Brooklyn play 100 year old Appalachian folk tunes and make them come alive. Honest, reverential, and true. ↩︎
- riff: “Instantly burned in my brain” this year (well, it was actually their KEXP session from april that blew my mind, but since i have to submit an album, it’ll do nicely :) ). ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- derthomas: I discovered this album this year on a metal journey (yeah, late to the party) and I loved it. It’s my favourite Ozzy album. ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- tym: Oh and not a brand new release, but the remaster and new tracks for the 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Takk…’ by Sigur Rós are pretty great. That and ( ) are still what I listen to the most, this year and apparently every year. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- epu: I had all but forgotten party drug enthusiasm tracks like ‘higher than the sun’ from 1991, and it turns out they made so many albums since I last tuned in. This one really resonates with my reaction to USpol this year. It rekindled my love for this band; I bought Evil Heat import on CD, my first physical purchase since last year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- jiiruu || t4s || gavin57 ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- rustynail: most played ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- TwoClownsEating: I discovered this band in 2025. Absolutely incredible, I’ve bought their entire catalogue and had the privilege to see them live a few months ago. Unbelievably good musicians. Magical music. ↩︎
- jomel: 2025 was a great year for Belgian music. Stef Kamil Carlens, co-founder of dEUS has released a gem with his new band The Poem. I have seen SKC twice this year, once in a solo gig, and the second time (in less then 2 weeks) for the “worst Case scenario” rewind from (and so with) dEUS, those two concerts were fabulous, and at the time, I wasn’t expecting this release.
Bonus Albums: The live album from Depeche Mode – Memento Mori: Mexico City; Arvo Pârt – Credo (released Alpha Classics label) which includes his “hits” – Credo , Fratres , Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten (my favourite one) https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/arvo-part-credo; 2025 Bryan Ferry release, with Amelia Barrat as female lead singer/speaker. Some of his material came from the 70’s and were updated, it’s a timeless album, and elegant as always https://soundcloud.com/bryanferry/sets/loose-talk-4 ↩︎ - jebeyer ↩︎
- jomel: (AKA 2manydj’s) Yep, those guys will make you dance, and rock, I guess they’ve listened to Kraftwerk & Front242. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- t4s ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- e (eva): algorithmic mood music was my fav last year! but i’m still listening to it and i didn’t submit anything then. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- BramMeehan: I’ve listened to so much TDJ, though no one release in particular. ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- buffyleigh: There’s so many other albums I’d love to list here for exposure, but it feels more honest to list this masterpiece, my first obsession of the year, courtesy of catching their amazing set at the big Black Sabbath/Ozzy send-off concert. I mean, I even titled my AOTY list “Forty Six & 2”, since that was the first song Tool played there and got my attention. Said list is here. ↩︎
- epu: Ok, this one’s kind of a cheat, it’s an EP.
2024, my friend turned me on to Bug Club for its lo-fi production aesthetic, humor and infectious fun/dark undertones. Marriage from 2023 album ‘Rare Birds: Hour of Song’ was the hook.
You can get this band straight into your heart and mind with this EP. And it takes me back to that one time I did go to Wales. ↩︎ - jomel: This newcomer British female band has written the ultimate feminist anthem as opening track. || RolloTreadway: I don’t tend to be very much of a rock person, so for a big brash rock record to have such an impact on me must say something. It’s noisy and it’s loud and it has guitars and drums and punkiness. And, er, flutes. Harmonicas. Cellos. Weird interpretations of bible stories. All chaos and absurdity and celebration and being absolutely done with the patriarchy and above all else fun. So much fun. ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- jebeyer ↩︎
- donutage: far & away my number 1; an angry & desperate neo-grunge banger. Sonia Sturino is a force of nature. ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: In parts weird and experimental, in others traditional. Here there’s strange droney noise, and then there’s some light, old-fashioned fiddle playing. Electronic distortion, a choir recorded live outdoors singing a simple hymn. It’s an astonishingly creative and unique folk record. ↩︎
- donutage: not as jaw-dropping as their debut (my runaway 2022 fave), but with a lot of the same qualities. It’s dancy, smart, & sexy, without ever once being submissive. || slamma ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- evilchili: Afro-futurist South African Hip-Hop Mysticism. Blakrok instantly became my favourite female MC. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
#AOTY #AOTY2025 #CastleRat #Deafheaven #DieSpitz #Faetooth #ListenToThis #Messa #music #musicDiscovery #RiversOfNihil #TheNewEves #WetLeg
-
CW: Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025 (CW'd because it's a looooooong post)
Albums the Fediverse Loved in 2025
And here we have it: a list of 151 albums (plus a few artists/labels in general) that kept 64 of us going in 2025, nearly 75% of those 2025 releases and the rest earlier gems! Given our collective eclectic tastes, voting/ranking was not attempted, but bolded titles and post tags indicate albums that were submitted by multiple Fedizens. Genre tags are included as tasting notes (apologies if I got any wrong), each title is linked to its Bandcamp/Songlink when possible, and footnotes list who submitted each album along with extra comments they included (warning: comments may include MOAR ALBUMS; also note: footnotes look way better on the blog). So, click and listen away – perhaps you’ll find a new-to-you album that gets you through 2026!
Thanks so much to the Fedizens who joined in, it’s so nice to see familiar faces from the 1001 Other Albums project as well as some new ones! And, as always, it’s lovely to get a glimpse of how diverse our tastes in music are, and to see people trying something new solely based on a random Fedi recommendation. The Fedi music community truly is a bright spot, and I personally am immensely grateful for it. 🙏🏻
Band – Title (year released, place of origin; genre)footnote
Action/Adventure – Ever After (2025, US; pop-punk)1
AFI – Silver Bleeds the Black Sun… (2025, US; post-punk, gothic rock)2
Against Me! – White Crosses (2010, US; punk rock)3
Alkaline Trio – Blood, Hair, and Eyeballs (2024, US; punk rock)4
Am I in Trouble? – Spectrum (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)5
Ami Taf Ra – The Prophet and the Madman (2025, US/Morocco; Moroccan gnawa, gospel, jazz)6
An Abstract Illusion – Woe (2022, Sweden; atmospheric black/death/prog metal)7
Analog Africa (label, in general) (1960s-80s, Africa; reissues)8
Anna Tivel – Animal Poem (2025, US; indie folk)9
Archon Satani – The Righteous Way to Completion (1997, Sweden; death ambient/black industrial)10
Ashbreather – La Grande Bouffe (2025, Canada; progressive sludge/death metal)11
Au4 – …And Down Goes The Sky (2013, Canada; prog rock)12
aya – hexed! (2025, UK; electronic, noise)13
Bad Cop/Bad Cop – Lighten Up (2025, US; punk rock)14
Baghed – Smear Campaign (2025, US; punk rock)15
Bank Myna – Eimuria (2025, France; post-rock/metal, doom gaze, slow core)16
Belle and Sebastian – Push Barman to Open Old Wounds (2005, Scotland; indie pop)17
Benedicte Maurseth – Mirra (2025, Norway; folk, jazz)18
Bill Frisell – Harmony (2019, US; folk-jazz)19
Black Flower – Kinetic (2025, Belgium; Ethio-jazz, Afrobeat, dub)20
Bon Iver – SABLE, fABLE (2025, US; indie folk/pop)21
Brittany Davis – Black Thunder (2025, US; cosmic jazz, r&b/soul, singer-songwriter)22
CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso – Papota (2025, Argentina; experimental trap, hip-hop, EDM, jazz, Latin pop)23
Caroline Shaw / Attacca Quartet – Orange (2019, US; classical, ambient, folk)24
Castle Rat – The Bestiary (2025, US; fantasy heavy metal)25
Causa Sui – Pewt’r Sessions 1 (2011, Denmark; psych/stoner rock)26
Celeste – Woman of Faces (2025, UK; neo-soul, jazz, singer-songwriter)27
Charlie Hunter, Carter McLean featuring Silvana Estrada – s/t (2018, US/Mexico; jazz)28
Circuit des Yeux – Halo on the Inside (2025, US; singer-songwriter, experimental)29
Civic – Chrome Dipped (2025, Australia; punk)30
clipping – Dead Channel Sky (2025, US; hip-hop)31
Dan Mangan – Natural Light (2025, Canada; indie rock/folk)32
Daniela Pas – Spira (2023, Italy; singer-songwriter, electronic, experimental)33
Data Rebel – Single Cell (2025, UK; electronic, IDM, ambient)34
Dax Riggs – 7 Songs for Spiders (2025, US; blues metal/shoegaze blues)35
Deafheaven – Lonely People With Power (2025, US; blackgaze, metal)36
Degraved – Spectral Realm of Ruin (2025, US; death metal)37
Delobos – Cabal (2025, Spain; post-alt rock, post-rock, psychedelia)38
Devil ANTHEM. – Profound Rebuild (2025, Japan; J-pop)39
Die Spitz – Something to Consume (2025, US; punk, alt rock)40
Divide and Dissolve – Insatiable (2025, Australia; doom, drone, neo classical)41
Dödsrit – Mortal Coil (2021, Sweden; atmospheric/melodic black metal, blackened crust)42
Dool – The Shape of Fluidity (2024, Netherlands; rock, alternative)43
downy – 8th Album/Untitled (2025, Japan; math rock/post-rock)44
Drab Majesty – Completely Careless (2012-2015) (2016, US; darkwave, shoegaze, dream pop)45
Dropkick Murphy – For The People (2025, US; Celtic punk)46
Eikichi Yazawa – I believe (2025, Japan; rock)47
El Pino & The Volunteers – The Long-lost Art of Becoming Invisible (2009, Netherlands; alt country/folk)48
Elli De Mon – Raìse (2025, Italy; blues, dialect, garage, psychedelic)49
Eric Church – Evangeline vs. The Machine (2025, US; country)50
Ethmebb – Allo Babar et les Caramboleurs (2025, France; progressive melodic blackened death power metal)51
Ex-Vöid – In Love Again (2025, UK; indie pop/rock)52
EYES – Spinner(2025, Denmark; hardcore, noise rock)53
FACS – Wish Defense (2025, US; noise rock, neo-post-punk)54
Faetooth – Labrynthine (2025, US; fairy doom/stoner metal)55
False Aralia (label) – ALL the new 12-inch singles (2025, US; abstract electronic)56
Fever Ray – The Year of the Radical Romantics (2025, Sweden; experimental, electronic, pop)57
FOKALITE – Fokas, Lite & Four Shooting Riddles (2025, Japan; J-pop)58
Françoise Hardy – La question (1971, France; French pop, Brazilian saudade/bossa nova)59
Fust – Big Ugly (2025, US; rock)60
Geese – Getting Killed (2025, US; art/experimental rock)61
Gnome – King (2022, Belgium; stoner/prog/hard rock)62
Habak – Mil orquídeas en medio del desierto (2025, Mexico; melodic crust)63
Hallelujah the Hills – DECK (2025, US; indie rock)64
HANABIE – Bucchigiri Tokyo (2024, Japan; metalcore)65
Hatchie – Liquorice (2025, Australia; indie/dream pop)66
Hole – Live Through This (1994, US; alt rock)67
IAN – Come On Everybody, Let’s Do Nothing! (2025, UK; experimental, post-rock/metal)68
Igorrr – Amen (2025, France; experimental/avant-garde metal)69
Imperial Triumphant – Goldstar (2025, US; experimental metal)70
In the Womb of the Universe – Searching for Sunrise (2024, US; electronic, synthpop)71
In the Woods… – Otra (2025, Norway; avant-garde metal)72
Insomnium – Shadows of the Dying Sun (2014, Finland; melodic death metal)73
Jade Bird – Who Wants to Talk About Love (2025, UK; folk rock, singer-songwriter)74
JER – Death of the Heart (2025, US; ska punk)75
Jethro Tull – Thick as a Brick (1972, UK; prog rock)76
Judas Priest – Invincible Shield (2024, UK; heavy metal)77
Just Mustard – We Were Just Here (2025, Ireland; post-punk, noise, shoegaze, trip hop)78
Kaku P-Model – unZIP (2025, Japan; experimental, electronic)79
Kieran Hebden and William Tyler – 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s (2025, UK; electronic)80
King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard – Float Along – Fill Your Lungs (2013, Australia; psychedelic pop)81
Kostnatění – Přílišnost (2025, US; avant-garde black metal)82
Küenring – In Search of Paradise (2025, Austria; heavy metal/hard rock)83
L.A. Salami (artist, in general) (UK; folk, post-modern blues, acoustic, rock)84
Labyrinthus Stellarum – Rift in Reality (2025, Ukraine; atmospheric/cosmic black metal)85
Lorien Testard – Clair Obscur: Expedition 33 (Original Soundtrack) (2025, France; soundtrack)86
Lorna Shore – I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me (2025, US; death metal/deathcore)87
Lucy Dacus – Forever is a Feeling (2025, US; indie rock, folk-pop, singer-songwriter)88
Maeror Tri – Multiple Personality Disorder (1993, Germany; ambient, noise, drone)89
Mark Ernestus’ Ndagga Rhythm Force – Khadim (2025, Germany/Senegal; mbalax, experimental, dub techno)90
Marshall Allen – New Dawn (2025, US; avant-garde jazz)91
Max Cooper – On Being (2025, UK; electronic, ambient, avant-garde)92
Messa – The Spin (2025, Italy; doom metal)93
Michel Legrand – The Essential Michel Legrand Film Music Collection (2005, France; soundtrack, compilation)94
MIKE – Showbiz! (2025, US; hip-hop/rap)95
Miynt – Rain Money Dogs (2025, Sweden; indie/bedroom rock)96
Modern English – Mesh & Lace (1981, UK; post-punk)97
Momma – Welcome to My Blue Sky (2025, US; alt/indie rock)98
more eaze & claire rousay – no floor (2025, US; experimental, ambient, avant-pop, sound collage)99
Moron Police – Pachinko (2025, Norway; concept album)100
Morris Kolontyrsky – Origination (2025, US; ambient, drone, experimental)101
Nærværet – Når Man Ser Inn I En Annens Hjerte (2024, Sweden/Norway; experimental, field recording, tape manipulation/loops)102
Nailed to Obscurity – Generation of The Void (2025, Germany; melodic/prog death/doom metal)103
Nicolas Gombert & James Weeks / Apartment House – G O M B E R T (2025, Flanders/UK; contemporary classical)104
Nora Brown and Stephanie Coleman – Lady of the Lake (2023, US; folk)105
Nout – Live Album (2024, France; alternative, punk, rock, jazz, noise)106
Olga Anna Markowska – Iskra (2025, Poland; modern classical, ambient)107
Ozzy Osbourne – Ozzmosis (1995, UK; heavy metal)108
Pino Palladino & Blake Mills – That Wasn’t a Dream (2025, Wales/US; experimental jazz)109
Point Mort – Le Point de Non-retour (2025, France; blackened crust postcore)110
Plague of Carcosa – In The Dreamless Deep (2025, US; doomnoise, experimental metal)111
Population II – Maintenant Jamais (2025, Canada; art/prog/psychedelic rock)112
Primal Scream – XTRMNTR (2000, Scotland; experimental electro-rock)113
Priscilla Block – Things You Didn’t See (2025, US; country, singer-songwriter)114
Psychonaut – World Maker (2025, Belgium; post-metal)115
Queens of the Stone Age – Alive in the Catacombs (2025, US; rock)116
Radiopuhelimet – Kosminen Tiedottomuus (2020, Finland; alt rock)117
Rebecca Foon & Aliayta Foon-Dancoes – Reverie (2025, Canada; modern classical)118
Rivers of Nihil – s/t (2025, US; death/prog metal)119
Rogue Jones – Dos Bebés (2023, Wales; folk, indie pop)120
Shayfer James – Summoning (2025, US; noir-pop, dark cabaret)121
Shedfromthebody – Whisper and Wane (2025, Finland; doomgaze, [post-]metal)122
Shepherds of Cassini – In Thrall to Heresy (2025, New Zealand; prog metal)123
Silvana Estrada – Vendrán Suaves Lluvias (2025, Mexico; singer-songwriter)124
Silvana Estrada (with Charlie Hunter) – Lo Sagrado (2017, Mexico/US; singer-songwriter)125
Širom – In the Wind of Night, Hard-Fallen Incantations Whisper (2025, Slovenia; instrumental avant-garde imaginary folk)126
SKC & The Poem – s/t (2025, Belgium; alt/folk rock)127
SKLOSS – The Pattern Speaks (2025, US/Scotland; space gaze, post-metal)128
Soulwax – All Systems Are Lying (2025, Belgium; electronic alt rock)129
Spiritbox – Tsunami Sea (2025, Canada; metalcore)130
State Azure – The Light That Remains (2025, UK; electronica, ambient, downtempo)131
Stereolab – Switched On Volumes 1-5 (2024, UK/France; avant-pop)132
Steve Tibbetts – Close (2025, US; jazz fusion)133
Stick To Your Guns – Keep Planting Flowers (2025, US; hardcore)134
Suede – Antidepressants (2025, UK; post-punk, gothic rock)135
Summer Walker – Finally Over It (2025, US; R&B, singer-songwriter)136
Susan Bear – Algorithmic Mood Music (2024, Scotland; electronic, alt-pop)137
Swansea Sound – Twentieth Century (2023, Wales; indie pop)138
TDJ (artist, in general) (Canada; electronic)139
Terveet Kädet – Lapin Helvetti (2015, Finland; hardcore punk)140
Tool – Lateralus (2001, US; prog rock/metal, art rock)141
The Bug Club – “Have U Ever Been 2 Wales” (2025, Wales; indie rock)142
The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising (2025, UK; avant-garde/art rock)143
Trio del Mango – Cómelo (2025, US/Puerto Rico; experimental, noise)144
Turnstile – Never Enough (2025, US; alt rock)145
UNIVERSITY – McCartney, It’ll Be OK (2025, UK; punk, noise rock)146
Water Damage – Instruments (2025, US; experimental psych/drone-rock)147
Weakened Friends – Feels Like Hell (2025, US; indie rock)148
Weirs – Diamond Grove (2025, US; trad folk, experimental noise)149
Wet Leg – moisturizer (2025, UK; indie rock)150
White Lies – Five V2 (2019, UK; post-punk)151
X-Cetra – Summer 2000 (Y2K 25th Anniversary Edition) (2025, US; sleepover core, dance-pop)152
Yara Asmar – everyone I love is sleeping and I love them so so much (2025, Lebanon; modern classical/ambient)153
Yugen Blakrok – Anima Mysterium (2019, South Africa; hip-hop)154
Yws Gwynedd – Codi/ \Cysgu (2014, Wales; indie rock)155
Footnote Number. Fediverse username(s): Comments
- poisonous ↩︎
- buffyleigh: My emotional support album of the year. I’ve been a fan of AFI since 2000 but haven’t liked an album since 2006. The second I heard the first single “Behind The Clock”, my expectations for this album skyrocketed, and they were absolutely exceeded. It sounds nothing like anything they’ve ever done, and yet it feels like this was the album they’ve always been moving towards. Song of the year goes to the entirety of side A, and Davey Havok’s unexpectedly different sound on this album is my overall favourite vocal performance of year. ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- umrk: top album requested by my kids in the car this year ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: The most gloriously unhinged album I’ve heard this year. Twists together ideas from everywhere without the slightest consideration of whether doing so might be normal or accepted. The kind of album where a classic French chanson or some deep filthy funk just appears out of nowhere and then is never referred to again. It shouldn’t work but it absolutely does. ↩︎
- gavin57: That last one is an all-timer. It’s astonishing. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik: This has been a year for nighttime music and music for trying to sleep. ↩︎
- swampgas: definitely my most played this year. A sludgy, deathdoom concept album about greed and gluttony and corruption thats riffy and groovy af. These are driving rhythms that chug hard! ↩︎
- MichaelMcWilliams: The one album that tops my list this year also appears in the 1001 Other Albums list. Band website offering free download of the album: https://au4.ca ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- riff: Most “Wait why did i never listen to this band before ?” of the year. ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- onuryasar: My kind of, very balanced Indie Pop: just the right amount of Indie but not too much and just the right amount of Pop but not too much 🙂 ↩︎
- icastico ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- burnitdown || MetalheadDana ↩︎
- cloudtripper: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_e5kKzlFqU&list=RD8_e5kKzlFqU&start_radio=1 ↩︎
- nevar23 ↩︎
- debonaire: Recency bias is pushing me to three Silvana Estrada albums. I love her voice, I love the music, I love her with Charlie Hunter. ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Aussie punk in the vein of The Saints and Radio Birdman. ↩︎
- rothko ↩︎
- Chigaze: what happens when four guys to go a cottage in Ontario, find a flow state, and record an album over a few days. I got to see them play the album through at the Winspear in Edmonton and it’s way up there on my concert experience list. ↩︎
- evilchili: The Italian singer and composer’s debut is a hypnotic journey of loops, bloops, and dramatic and impassioned vocalizations. ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Blues metal? Shoegaze blues? I don’t know or care, I like it. ↩︎
- tym || niels ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- tym || demon6 ↩︎
- otherdog ↩︎
- MetalheadDana: I listened to this album when it first came out in 2021 but for some reason it didn’t click with me. But apparently 2021 Dana had horrible taste in music, because in early 2025 I randomly tried Dodsrit – Mortal Coil again and fell in love and have been obsessed with it all year, it’s the perfect blend of crust punk and black metal and I love it. ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- Chigaze: nails it just as a solid Dropkick’s album but goes farther with songs made for the times. “Who’ll Stand With Us” and “School Days Over” are amazing workers songs while “Chesterfields and Aftershave” takes me back to my own grandfather. ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- riff: Most listened this year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- Moss ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- steveroyle: Leaving out Never Enough by Turnstile as I’m sure that’ll get plenty of votes. ↩︎
- fistfulofdave: Angular, noise rock, neo-post punk. Unsettling, laid-back, yet aggressive. And yes it was the last album Steve Albini recorded. ↩︎
- MetalheadDana || demon6 ↩︎
- soundclamp: Runner-ups – https://lineimprint.bandcamp.com/album/muzak-for-the-encouragement-of-unproductivity; https://myheartaninvertedflame.bandcamp.com/album/my-heart-an-inverted-flame-apparitions-split; https://timbarnes.bandcamp.com/album/lost-words-1 ↩︎
- buffyleigh: I’ve known of Fever Ray since first seeing the TV show Vikings, but I for some reason didn’t check them out further until this year, when their s/t album came up for a blog post. I was floored. As it happens, their kinda sorta live album was set to come out soon after my first listen of the s/t, so I got caught up on the full Karin Dreijer discography, got super duper obsessed with their spectacular ARTE concert (which is essentially the same versions performed on the new album), and proceeded to be immensely inspired – nay, awakened – by this artist. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- onuryasar: I’ve first discovered the song Apocalypse by Cigarettes After Sex (I know, late comer), which brought me to Greg Gonzalez’s Wikipedia page, that says “Gonzalez was heavily inspired by French singer Françoise Hardy and her album La question”. I remember this album being mentioned in my Fedi timeline recently, so I gave it a spin and it turned on and on for the remainder of the year. [Editor’s note: Also see the 1001 OA spotlight on this album from earlier this year!] ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- mynameistillian ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- demon6 ↩︎
- donutage: I was a bit skeptical of this, and sure, in a 52-song project there’s some unevenness, but between the sheer audacity of the attempt & the frequent successes it scores, definitely one of the more remarkable records of the year. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- e (eva) ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- brh ↩︎
- umrk: my fav album released in 2025 ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- gavin57 ↩︎
- Mark52: Jade Bird has been by far my most listened to album this year. ↩︎
- poisonous ↩︎
- derthomas: I kept coming back to this album because it just fits every mood. It’s peak Jethro Tull if you ask me, it’s perfect in any way. Also the Steven Wilson Remaster sounds incredible. ↩︎
- burnitdown ↩︎
- jebeyer: a longer list is here – https://www.buymusic.club/list/whistlingkitty-some-of-my-favorite-2025-releases ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle: honorable mentions – Scare – In The End, Was It Worth It; Creatvre – Toujours Humain ; Guck – Gucked Up ; AVTT/PTTN – AVTT/PTTN; Saor – Amidst the Ruins ; Jessica93 – 666 tours de periph’ ; Deadguy – Near-Death Travel Services; LS Dunes – Violet; Aesop Rock – I Heard It’s A Mess There Too ; Fishbone – Stockholm Syndrome ; Dead Pioneers – Po$t American ; Ethereal Wound – Defile | Demise; Sci Fi Industries – Initial States ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- rustynail ↩︎
- derthomas: My AOTY from a very underground Heavy Metal band from Austria. ↩︎
- platenworm ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- thesinkingbelle ↩︎
- t4s: Honorable mentions – The Halo Effect, Machine Head, Heaven Shall Burn, Spiritbox, Jinjer, Allegaeon ↩︎
- rachelcholst ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- Wintergr33n: Percussion-driven music from Senegal on a self-released album: https://ra.co/news/82509. ↩︎
- platenworm: 5 things that ruled my world musically this year:
– The Analog Africa Label
– The Artist L.A. Salami
– The knowledge that you can have too much music
– The knowledge that you can make your solo debut album when you are 100 years old……Hail Hail Marshall Allen
– And that everybody loved Ozzy ↩︎ - nellie_m: The music project that somehow touched me most deeply was the result of two years of work by Max Cooper. „Powerful works of art have traditionally sprung from some source deep within an artist and, if they strike the right tone, resonate with an audience to leave a lasting mark. But what if that equation were reversed: what if an artist were to draw their inspiration from deep within their audience, and use that to reflect those ideas, emotions, hopes, fears, pains and aspirations back to us?…“ ↩︎
- niels || TG_Esq || sentynel || otherdog || umrk ↩︎
- eamonn ↩︎
- jake4480 ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- BramMeehan ↩︎
- avi_miller: All three fall into the more ambient realm, and they all are absolutely phenomenal. I love music that is based more around textures and creating a mood than creating a melody, and this year had some really good ones. ↩︎
- niels ↩︎
- TG_Esq ↩︎
- 3rik ↩︎
- raisedfist ↩︎
- keefeglise: Compositions by Nicholas Gombert and James Weeks. Performed by Apartment House. Flanders/UK. Contemporary Classical (Debatable! Gombert died in 1560.) ↩︎
- evilchili: Two hipster kids from Brooklyn play 100 year old Appalachian folk tunes and make them come alive. Honest, reverential, and true. ↩︎
- riff: “Instantly burned in my brain” this year (well, it was actually their KEXP session from april that blew my mind, but since i have to submit an album, it’ll do nicely 🙂 ). ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- derthomas: I discovered this album this year on a metal journey (yeah, late to the party) and I loved it. It’s my favourite Ozzy album. ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- mbr ↩︎
- tym: Oh and not a brand new release, but the remaster and new tracks for the 20th anniversary reissue of ‘Takk…’ by Sigur Rós are pretty great. That and ( ) are still what I listen to the most, this year and apparently every year. ↩︎
- Kingu ↩︎
- epu: I had all but forgotten party drug enthusiasm tracks like ‘higher than the sun’ from 1991, and it turns out they made so many albums since I last tuned in. This one really resonates with my reaction to USpol this year. It rekindled my love for this band; I bought Evil Heat import on CD, my first physical purchase since last year. ↩︎
- Mark52 ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- Braininabowl ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- avi_miller ↩︎
- jiiruu || t4s || gavin57 ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- superflippy ↩︎
- rustynail: most played ↩︎
- sentynel ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- debonaire ↩︎
- TwoClownsEating: I discovered this band in 2025. Absolutely incredible, I’ve bought their entire catalogue and had the privilege to see them live a few months ago. Unbelievably good musicians. Magical music. ↩︎
- jomel: 2025 was a great year for Belgian music. Stef Kamil Carlens, co-founder of dEUS has released a gem with his new band The Poem. I have seen SKC twice this year, once in a solo gig, and the second time (in less then 2 weeks) for the “worst Case scenario” rewind from (and so with) dEUS, those two concerts were fabulous, and at the time, I wasn’t expecting this release.
Bonus Albums: The live album from Depeche Mode – Memento Mori: Mexico City; Arvo Pârt – Credo (released Alpha Classics label) which includes his “hits” – Credo , Fratres , Cantus in memory of Benjamin Britten (my favourite one) https://outhere-music.com/en/albums/arvo-part-credo; 2025 Bryan Ferry release, with Amelia Barrat as female lead singer/speaker. Some of his material came from the 70’s and were updated, it’s a timeless album, and elegant as always https://soundcloud.com/bryanferry/sets/loose-talk-4 ↩︎ - jebeyer ↩︎
- jomel: (AKA 2manydj’s) Yep, those guys will make you dance, and rock, I guess they’ve listened to Kraftwerk & Front242. ↩︎
- Tak ↩︎
- nellie_m ↩︎
- cloudtripper ↩︎
- _slotek_ ↩︎
- t4s ↩︎
- Lizahadiz ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- e (eva): algorithmic mood music was my fav last year! but i’m still listening to it and i didn’t submit anything then. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
- BramMeehan: I’ve listened to so much TDJ, though no one release in particular. ↩︎
- jiiruu ↩︎
- buffyleigh: There’s so many other albums I’d love to list here for exposure, but it feels more honest to list this masterpiece, my first obsession of the year, courtesy of catching their amazing set at the big Black Sabbath/Ozzy send-off concert. I mean, I even titled my AOTY list “Forty Six & 2”, since that was the first song Tool played there and got my attention. Said list is here. ↩︎
- epu: Ok, this one’s kind of a cheat, it’s an EP.
2024, my friend turned me on to Bug Club for its lo-fi production aesthetic, humor and infectious fun/dark undertones. Marriage from 2023 album ‘Rare Birds: Hour of Song’ was the hook.
You can get this band straight into your heart and mind with this EP. And it takes me back to that one time I did go to Wales. ↩︎ - jomel: This newcomer British female band has written the ultimate feminist anthem as opening track. || RolloTreadway: I don’t tend to be very much of a rock person, so for a big brash rock record to have such an impact on me must say something. It’s noisy and it’s loud and it has guitars and drums and punkiness. And, er, flutes. Harmonicas. Cellos. Weird interpretations of bible stories. All chaos and absurdity and celebration and being absolutely done with the patriarchy and above all else fun. So much fun. ↩︎
- soundclamp ↩︎
- santialone ↩︎
- steveroyle ↩︎
- jebeyer ↩︎
- donutage: far & away my number 1; an angry & desperate neo-grunge banger. Sonia Sturino is a force of nature. ↩︎
- RolloTreadway: In parts weird and experimental, in others traditional. Here there’s strange droney noise, and then there’s some light, old-fashioned fiddle playing. Electronic distortion, a choir recorded live outdoors singing a simple hymn. It’s an astonishingly creative and unique folk record. ↩︎
- donutage: not as jaw-dropping as their debut (my runaway 2022 fave), but with a lot of the same qualities. It’s dancy, smart, & sexy, without ever once being submissive. || slamma ↩︎
- alicemcalicepants ↩︎
- slamma ↩︎
- keefeglise ↩︎
- evilchili: Afro-futurist South African Hip-Hop Mysticism. Blakrok instantly became my favourite female MC. ↩︎
- Steffi ↩︎
#AOTY #AOTY2025 #CastleRat #Deafheaven #DieSpitz #Faetooth #ListenToThis #Messa #music #musicDiscovery #RiversOfNihil #TheNewEves #WetLeg
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Apple TV – podsumowanie premier #148
Zapraszam do 148. wydania przeglądu nowości i zapowiedzi platformy Apple TV.
Apple odświeżyło wizerunek czołówki Apple TVp
Na nowej stronie i we wszystkich aplikacjach TV pojawiło się nowe logo Apple TV, co stanowi kolejny etap trwającego rebrandingu poprzedniej nazwy platformy Apple TV+, która dziś nazywa się Apple TV.
Poprzednio:
Nowe intro Apple TV stworzone bez efektów komputerowych!
Ciekawostka – Apple zaprezentowało nowe intro Apple TV, które powstało w całości przy użyciu praktycznych efektów. Zamiast technologii cyfrowych, twórcy wykorzystali szklane wersje logo Apple TV, nagrane kamerą z użyciem fizycznych ruchów i zmiennego oświetlenia. Projekt zrealizowano we współpracy z agencją TBWA\Media Arts Lab.
Apple TV’s colorful new branding was built with glass and captured in-camera. pic.twitter.com/Y8T4jXHKH1
— Andreas Storm (@avstorm) November 6, 2025
Nowe intro pojawia się przed wszystkimi treściami Apple TV i ma trzy wersje: 1-sekundową (trailery), 5-sekundową (seriale) i 12-sekundową (filmy). Towarzyszy mu nowy motyw dźwiękowy skomponowany przez Finneasa.
Premiery
Jak zawsze na początku nowego miesiąca, Apple przygotowały swój własny, krótki materiał podsumowujący nadchodzące w listopadzie nowości.
„Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost” →
Na platformie Apple TV zadebiutował dokument „Stiller & Meara: Nothing is Lost”, w którym Ben Stiller opowiada historię swoich rodziców – kultowych komików Jerry’ego Stillera („Seinfeld”) i Anne Meary („Night at the Museum”).
Produkcja ukazuje ich życie prywatne i zawodowe, wpływ na kulturę popularną oraz rodzinę, w której granice między sztuką a codziennością często się zacierały. Stiller dzieli się osobistymi wspomnieniami i refleksjami, odsłaniając niepublikowane wcześniej historie.
W realizacji projektu udział wzięli m.in. John Lesher („Birdman”), Geoffrey Richman („Tiger King”) i Lizz Morhaim („The Super Models”). Dokument to kolejny efekt współpracy Stillera z Apple – jest on także twórcą serialu „Severance”, który zdobył rekordowe 27 nominacji do Emmy w tym roku.
Dostaliśmy także nowy serial kryminalny „Down Cemetery Road” od autora „Slow Horses”.
W rolach głównych występują Emma Thompson jako prywatna detektyw Zoë Boehm oraz Ruth Wilson jako Sarah Tucker – kobieta, która po wybuchu domu w spokojnej dzielnicy Oksfordu i zaginięciu dziewczynki rozpoczyna prywatne śledztwo. Trop prowadzi do spisku, w którym zmarli okazują się żywi, a żywi – szybko dołączają do martwych.
„Down Cemetery Road” zamyka tegoroczne jesienne trio thrillerów Apple TV, obok „The Savant” z Jessicą Chastain i „The Last Frontier” z Jasonem Clarkiem. Premiera nastąpi w dniu finału 5. sezonu „Slow Horses”.
„Pluribus” od twórcy „Breaking Bad” →
W końcu jest! Nowy serial „Pluribus” od twórcy „Breaking Bad”. W roli głównej wystąpi Rhea Seehorn („Better Call Saul”).
Serial już przed premierą zebrał świetne oceny wśród krytyków. Choć pełne recenzje objęte były embargiem, krytycy zapowiadali, że „Pluribus” to jedna z najciekawszych premier roku. Alan Sepinwall z Rolling Stone nazwał serial „porywającym i olśniewającym dziełem rozrywki”, chwaląc połączenie filmowego rozmachu z narracyjną precyzją znaną z wcześniejszych produkcji Gilligana. Serial ma imponujący budżet — 15 milionów dolarów na odcinek, a w centrum fabuły znajduje się postać Carol (grana przez Rhee Seahorn).
„Pluribus” to tajemniczy thriller sci-fi, w którym „najbardziej nieszczęśliwa osoba na Ziemi musi ocalić świat przed… szczęściem”. Fabuła owiana jest tajemnicą, a w obsadzie znaleźli się także Karolina Wydra, Carlos-Manuel Vesga i Samba Schutte. Serial nie jest powiązany z uniwersum „Breaking Bad” i stanowi całkowicie oryginalną historię.
Apple zamówiło od razu dwa sezony, a pierwszy liczyć będzie dziewięć odcinków. Serial promowany jest m.in. podczas San Diego Comic-Con, a pełny zwiastun pojawi się w nadchodzących miesiącach.
Apple TV wprowadza oficjalny podcast towarzyszący serialowi „Pluribus”
Z okazji premiery nowego serialu Apple udostępnia oficjalny podcast „Pluribus: The Official Podcast”, który będzie publikowany co tydzień – w każdy piątek, po premierze nowego odcinka. Podcast, prowadzony przez Chrisa McCaleba, montażystę serialu, przedstawi rozmowy z twórcami, aktorami i ekipą produkcyjną, odkrywając kulisy powstawania serii.
To pierwsza od dłuższego czasu autorska produkcja podcastowa Apple TV+, po wcześniejszych projektach takich jak „Foundation” czy „Prehistoric Planet”.
Zapowiedzi
12 listopada – trailer 2. sezonu „Palm Royale” →
Apple TV ogłosiło datę premiery drugiego sezonu komedii „Palm Royale”. Nowe odcinki zadebiutują 12 listopada 2025 roku, a finał sezonu zaplanowano na 14 stycznia 2026.
W obsadzie ponownie zobaczymy gwiazdy: Kristen Wiig, Laurę Dern, Allison Janney, Ricky’ego Martina, Josha Lucasa, Kaię Gerber i legendarną Carol Burnett.
Pierwszy sezon serialu, który zadebiutował wiosną 2024 roku, mimo mieszanych recenzji krytyków zdobył wierną publiczność i stał się niespodziewanym hitem platformy.
Drugi sezon skupi się na losach Maxine Dellacorte (Wiig), która po skandalu zostaje wykluczona z towarzystwa. Aby odzyskać pozycję w świecie Palm Beach, będzie musiała udowodnić, że potrafi nie tylko przetrwać, ale i rządzić w świecie pełnym sekretów, intryg i kłamstw.
14 listopada – trailer „Come See Me in the Good Light” →
Apple TV ogłosiło, że nabyło globalne prawa do uznanego dokumentu „Come See Me in the Good Light”, reżysera Ryana White’a, który w 2025 roku został wybrany na Sundance Film Festival i zdobył nagrodę Festival Favorite Award.
Po światowej premierze na festiwalu film był powszechnie chwalony jako „pięknie wykonany” i „wyjątkowy dokument”, który oferuje „wzruszające spojrzenie na kruchość ludzkiego życia”. Film zdobył również nagrodę publiczności na Międzynarodowym Festiwalu Filmowym w Boulder, Międzynarodowym Festiwalu Filmowym w Cleveland i Festiwalu Filmów Dokumentalnych Full Frame.
„Come See Me in the Good Light” zadebiutuje globalnie na Apple TV jesienią tego roku. Jest to przejmująca i niespodziewanie zabawna historia miłosna o poetkach Andrei Gibson i Megan Falley, które z radością, dowcipem i niezachwianym partnerstwem stawiają czoła nieuleczalnej diagnozie raka. Poprzez śmiech i niezachwianą miłość przekształcają ból w cel, a śmiertelność we wzruszającą celebrację odporności.
„Come See Me in the Good Light” wyreżyserował White („Pamela, A Love Story”, „The Keepers”, „Visible: Out on Television”), który jest także producentem wraz z Jessicą Hargrave („Pamela, A Love Story”, „The Keepers”, „Visible: Out on Television”), Tig Notaro („The Morning Show”, „Star Trek”, „Am I OK?”) i Stef Willen (»Em«, „Have Tig at Your Party”).
Film zawiera oryginalną piosenkę w wykonaniu zdobywczyni nagrody Grammy i nominowanej do nagrody Emmy Sary Bareilles oraz zdobywczyni nagrody Grammy, zdobywczyni nagrody Emmy i nominowanej do Oscara Brandi Carlile, napisaną przez Andreę Gibson, Bareilles i Brandi Carlile.
21 listopada – „The Family Plan 2” – hit Apple TV powraca w świątecznej premierze →
Apple TV ogłosiło premierę sequela swojego hitowego filmu, „The Family Plan 2”, który trafi na platformę 21 listopada, tuż przed Świętem Dziękczynienia.
W filmie powracają Mark Wahlberg, Michelle Monaghan, Zoe Colletti i Van Crosby, a do obsady dołącza Kit Harington. Akcja rozgrywa się podczas świątecznych wakacji, kiedy Dan (Wahlberg) i jego rodzina muszą stawić czoła tajemniczemu gościowi z przeszłości, prowadzącym do serii zabawnych pościgów, napadów i świątecznych przygód w Europie.
Holiday cheer, family chaos, and a little global chase — the Morgans are back.
The Family Plan 2 premieres November 21. pic.twitter.com/mwUSaxK4eq
— Apple TV (@AppleTV) October 9, 2025
Pierwszą część, „The Family Plan”, można oglądać już teraz na Apple TV.
26 listopada – trailer „Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age” →
„Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age” – nowy pięcioodcinkowy serial przyrodniczy od BBC i Apple TV zadebiutuje na platformie już 26 listopada.
„Prehistoric Planet: Ice Age” to nowa odsłona nagradzanego serialu przyrodniczego, produkowana przez BBC Studios Natural History Unit („Planet Earth”), z udziałem producentów wykonawczych Jona Favreau i Mike’a Guntona. Narratorem jest laureat Złotego Globu i Nagrody Oliviera, Tom Hiddleston („Earthsounds”). Muzykę skomponowali Hans Zimmer, Anže Rozman i Kara Talve z Bleeding Fingers Music.
Serial zabiera widzów w epokę po wymarciu dinozaurów, kiedy lodowce zdominowały świat, a walka o przetrwanie stała się niezwykle zacięta. To czas pojawienia się nowych gigantów – charakterystycznej megafauny.
Tymczasem polecam nadrobić poprzednie sezony.
26 listopada – 3. sezon „WondLa” →
Apple TV ogłosiło premierę ostatniego sezonu trylogii animowanej „WondLa”, która zadebiutuje 26 listopada 2025 na całym świecie. Serial powstaje w Skydance Animation i oparty jest na bestsellerowej serii książek Tony’ego DiTerlizzi „The Search for WondLa”. Showrunnerem i producentem wykonawczym jest Bobs Gannaway.
Finałowa odsłona składa się z 6 ekscytujących półgodzinnych odcinków i przedstawia gwiazdorską obsadę głosową, m.in.: Jeanine Mason, Brad Garrett, Gary Anthony Williams, Alan Tudyk, John Ratzenberger, Shohreh Aghdashloo i Maz Jobrani. Sezon jest współprodukowany przez DiTerlizzi, Gannaway, Ellen Goldsmith-Vein, Jeremy’ego Bella, Julie Kane-Ritsch oraz zespół Skydance Animation.
3 grudnia – trailer „The Hunt” →
Apple ogłosiło premierę nowego thrillera w języku francuskim – „The Hunt”, który zadebiutuje na Apple TV 3 grudnia 2025. Pierwszego dnia pojawią się dwa odcinki, kolejne co tydzień aż do 31 grudnia.
Serial opowiada historię Francka (Benoît Magimel) i jego przyjaciół, którzy w trakcie polowania stają się ofiarami tajemniczej grupy myśliwych. Gdy jeden z nich zostaje postrzelony, rozpoczyna się dramatyczna walka o życie i ucieczka przed bezwzględnymi prześladowcami. Wkrótce bohaterowie odkrywają, że niebezpieczeństwo dopiero się zaczyna.
Mamy też oficjalny trailer.
„The Hunt” dołącza do rosnącej listy francuskojęzycznych produkcji Apple TV, takich jak „Drops of God”, „Carême”, „La Maison” czy „Liaison”.
5 grudnia – „The First Snow of Fraggle Rock” – nowy świąteczny hit Apple TV →
Fraggles powracają w nowym świątecznym specjalnym odcinku! „The First Snow of Fraggle Rock” zadebiutuje globalnie 5 grudnia na Apple TV.
Gobo, Red, Wembley, Mokey i Boober czekają na pierwszy śnieg i tradycyjne świętowanie, jednak gdy spada tylko jedna płatka śniegu, a Gobo nie może napisać corocznej piosenki, magia świąt staje pod znakiem zapytania. Bohater wyrusza więc do świata ludzi, by odnaleźć muzyczną inspirację, a w zamku Gorgów pojawia się nowe dziecko w rodzinie. Fraggles odkrywają, że wyjątkowe chwile nie muszą być idealne – wystarczy, że są szczere i niepowtarzalne.
Specjalny odcinek został wyprodukowany przez The Jim Henson Company, twórców nagradzanego serialu „Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock”. Gościnnie wystąpi Lele Pons, która zaśpiewa duet z Gobo w kultowym utworze „Our Melody” oraz dwóch nowych piosenkach świątecznych.
Produkcja dołącza do szerokiej oferty Apple TV+ dla rodzin i dzieci, w tym do hitów takich jak „Snoopy Presents”, „Lovely Little Farm” czy „The Velveteen Rabbit”.
12 grudnia – „F1: The Movie” – premiera na Apple TV →
Film „F1: The Movie” trafi na Apple TV w piątek, 12 grudnia 2025 r. Reżyserem produkcji jest Joseph Kosinski, a producentami Jerry Bruckheimer i Lewis Hamilton. W głównej roli występuje Brad Pitt jako doświadczony kierowca Formuły 1, który próbuje powrócić na szczyt.
Film okazał się ogromnym sukcesem – zarobił 629 milionów dolarów, stając się najbardziej dochodowym filmem sportowym roku i rekordowym tytułem Apple Original Films. Po premierze kinowej 27 czerwca produkcja powróciła na duży ekran w sierpniu i trafiła do sprzedaży cyfrowej.
Więcej na jego temat, szeroko, pisałem w sierpniowym wydaniu iMagazine. Polecam zapoznać się z artykułem!
14 stycznia – sezon 2. „Hijack” →
„Hijack” miał premierę swojego pierwszego sezonu w 2023 roku i natychmiast stał się jednym z najlepszych thrillerów Apple TV. Serial z Idrisem Elbą w roli głównej powróci z 2. sezonem 14 stycznia i powie historię porwanego pociągu.
21 stycznia – „Drops of God”: hit Apple TV wraca z 2. sezonem →
Jedna z najlepiej ocenianych serii Apple TV, Drops of God, wkrótce powróci z 2. sezonem. Serial oparty jest na bestsellerowej japońskiej mandze o tym samym tytule i osadzony jest w świecie gastronomii i wyrafinowanych win.
Pierwszy sezon zdobył 100% w Rotten Tomatoes i 93% ocen widzów. Serial jest wielojęzyczny (francuski, japoński, angielski), co może tłumaczyć, dlaczego nie zdobył od razu masowej popularności.
Premiera 2. sezonu: 21 stycznia na Apple TV, z cotygodniowymi odcinkami do 11 marca. Fabuła sezonu 1: po śmierci Alexandre’a Légere, jego córka Camille musi zmierzyć się z jego protegowanym, Issei, aby odziedziczyć niezwykłą kolekcję win.
Pierwszy sezon (8 odcinków) można oglądać już teraz na Apple TV.
28 stycznia – 3. sezon „Shrinking” →
Apple TV ogłosiło datę premiery trzeciego sezonu Emmy-nominowanej komedii „Shrinking”. Sezon startuje globalnie 28 stycznia 2026 z godzinnego odcinka, a kolejne nowe odcinki będą emitowane w środy aż do 8 kwietnia 2026.
Serial opowiada historię terapeuty w żałobie (Jason Segel), który zaczyna łamać zasady i mówić swoim pacjentom dokładnie, co myśli. Jego niekonwencjonalne podejście prowadzi do dramatycznych zmian w życiu klientów… i jego własnym.
W obsadzie ponownie zobaczymy Emmy-nominowanego Jasona Segela i wielokrotnie nagradzanego Harrisona Forda, a także Christę Miller, Jessicę Williams, Luke’a Tennie, Michaela Urie, Lukitę Maxwell i Teda McGinleya. Gościnne występy powracają od Goldsteina, Damona Wayansa Jr., Wendie Malick i Cobie Smulders, a dołącza Jeff Daniels i Michael J. Fox.
Shrinking jest produkowane przez Warner Bros. Television we współpracy z Apple TV+ i Doozer Productions Billa Lawrence’a. Twórcami są Bill Lawrence, Brett Goldstein i Jason Segel.
Pierwsze dwa sezony Shrinking są już dostępne globalnie na Apple TV.
20 lutego – premiera „The Last Thing He Told Me” →
Apple TV+ ogłosiło premierę drugiego sezonu thrillera „The Last Thing He Told Me” z Jennifer Garner w roli głównej. Nowe odcinki pojawią się 20 lutego 2026 roku.
Choć serial pierwotnie planowano jako miniserię, sukces pierwszego sezonu – opartego na bestsellerze „The Last Thing He Told Me” – sprawił, że powstanie kontynuacja inspirowana nową książką autorki Laury Dave, zatytułowaną „The First Time I Saw Him”, która ukaże się w styczniu 2026 r.
W obsadzie oprócz Garner zobaczymy ponownie Angourie Rice, Davida Morse’a i Nikolaja Coster-Waldau, a dołączą do nich Judy Greer i Rita Wilson.
Serial opowiada historię Hannah, która wraz z nastoletnią pasierbicą próbuje odkryć prawdę o tajemniczym zniknięciu jej męża.
Początek 2026 – 2. sezon „Dark Matter” →
Serial science fiction „Dark Matter” powróci z drugim sezonem na Apple TV. Po sukcesie pierwszej odsłony, opartej na bestsellerowej powieści Blake’a Croucha, twórcy zdecydowali się kontynuować historię – tym razem bez literackiego pierwowzoru.
Nowe odcinki mają pogłębić losy bohaterów walczących o przetrwanie w świecie wieloświatów. W obsadzie ponownie zobaczymy Joela Edgertona i Jennifer Connelly, a do ekipy dołączy Chris Diamantopoulos. Za scenariusz i reżyserię ponownie odpowiada Blake Crouch, co daje nadzieję na spójny klimat i wysoki poziom produkcji.
Zdjęcia do sezonu 2 zakończyły się w lipcu 2025 roku. Premiera planowana jest na początek 2026 roku – prawdopodobnie między lutym a majem.
Pierwszy sezon „Dark Matter” można obejrzeć na Apple TV.
Jason Segel z „Shrinking” w nowym projekcie Apple TV pt. „Sponsor”
Apple nabyło globalne prawa do filmu „Sponsor”, psychologicznego thrillera z Jasonem Segelem (Freaks and Geeks, Forgetting Sarah Marshall). Reżyserią zajmuje się James Ponsoldt, który współpracował z Segelem przy serialu Shrinking. Obaj są także współtwórcami scenariusza i producentami wykonawczymi.
Fabuła filmu opowiada historię Petera (Segel), który po imprezie wsiada za kierownicę i spowoduje poważny wypadek. Staje przed wyborem: więzienie czy program rehabilitacyjny. Przekonany, że nie ma problemu z alkoholem, zaczyna uczestniczyć w spotkaniach grupy wsparcia i poznaje charyzmatycznego, enigmatycznego Jerry’ego – potencjalne rozwiązanie jego problemów.
Premiera filmu „Sponsor” nie została jeszcze podana – produkcja jest na wczesnym etapie, a pełny komunikat Apple znajdziecie tutaj.
Film „CODA” od Apple – zdobywca Oscara dla Najlepszego Filmu – trafi na Blu-ray i DVD
Apple ogłosiło, że nagrodzony Oscarem film „CODA” doczeka się fizycznego wydania na Blu-ray i DVD. To pierwszy w historii film z serwisu streamingowego, który zdobył Oscara w kategorii Best Picture (Najlepszy Film) – stało się to w 2022 roku.
Po latach dostępności wyłącznie w streamingu na Apple TV+, „CODA” trafi teraz do sprzedaży w trzech formatach 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray, Blu-ray oraz DVD.
Premiera i wysyłka zaplanowane są na 4 listopada 2025, a zamówienia można składać już teraz. Decyzja Apple to część rosnącego trendu powrotu fizycznych nośników wśród platform streamingowych – coraz więcej widzów chce posiadać ulubione filmy na własność, zamiast polegać wyłącznie na subskrypcjach.
Apple TV+ wciąż rozwija swoją ofertę, w której znajdują się takie hity jak „Ted Lasso”, „Severance”, „The Morning Show”, „Silo” czy „Shrinking”. Subskrypcja kosztuje 12,99 USD miesięcznie i jest dostępna globalnie.
Apple udostępnia mecze playoff MLS wszystkim subskrybentom Apple TV!
Apple ogłosiło, że wszystkie mecze playoff Major League Soccer będą dostępne dla subskrybentów Apple TV bez dodatkowych opłat i bez konieczności kupowania osobnego MLS Season Pass.
Decyzja może mieć na celu przyciągnięcie nowych widzów do wykupienia pełnego Season Pass na sezon 2026.
Podobna strategia zostanie zastosowana w przypadku transmisji Formuły 1 w USA od 2026 roku – subskrybenci Apple TV otrzymają dostęp do F1 TV Premium bez dodatkowych opłat.
Lego w końcu to zrobi!
LEGO zapowiedziało rozszerzenie serii Speed Champions o nowy model bolidu zespołu APX GP, czyli tego samego, który mogliśmy oglądać w filmie „F1: The Movie”.
Premierę sklepową EGO SPEED CHAMPIONS 2026 77252 APXGP Team Race Car (F1 The Movie) zapowiedziano na 2026 rok.
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