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1000 results for “Carole”
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#NotNews24 | #UnbreaklingAfterDinnerBiscuitNotNews; #IT's #DefinitelyNotNews... #IT's #NearlyTheWeekend...
#Oooer... #Things are #GettingSerious at #NHSEngland in #TheFormerUnitedKingdom...
#WesStreeting's #SmartWatch has #RunOut of #OverTime...
That was #Careless...
And, #TheFediverseRemembers...
🧙⚕️🤖:wolfparty:🤖⚕️🧙 | :fediverse:🦹:PirateBadge:🦄:PirateBadge:🦹:fediverse:
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Kate Middleton’s surprising hobby she ‘plays with her parents’ Carole and Michael Middleton is so on trend https://www.allforgardening.com/1758754/kate-middletons-surprising-hobby-she-plays-with-her-parents-carole-and-michael-middleton-is-so-on-trend/ #CaroleMiddleton #garden #KateMiddleton #MichaelMiddleton #Royalty #ThePrincessOfWales
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Kate Middleton’s surprising hobby she ‘plays with her parents’ Carole and Michael Middleton is so on trend https://www.allforgardening.com/1758754/kate-middletons-surprising-hobby-she-plays-with-her-parents-carole-and-michael-middleton-is-so-on-trend/ #CaroleMiddleton #garden #KateMiddleton #MichaelMiddleton #Royalty #ThePrincessOfWales
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‘Utterly charming’ Kate Middleton’s private birthday celebrations revealed https://www.diningandcooking.com/2470905/utterly-charming-kate-middletons-private-birthday-celebrations-revealed/ #BritishRoyals #CaroleMiddleton #francais #france #French #FrenchRestaurants #KateMiddleton #PippaMiddleton #Restaurants #royalty #ThePrincessOfWales
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‘Utterly charming’ Kate Middleton’s private birthday celebrations revealed https://www.diningandcooking.com/2470905/utterly-charming-kate-middletons-private-birthday-celebrations-revealed/ #BritishRoyals #CaroleMiddleton #francais #france #French #FrenchRestaurants #KateMiddleton #PippaMiddleton #Restaurants #royalty #ThePrincessOfWales
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‘Utterly charming’ Kate Middleton’s private birthday celebrations revealed https://www.diningandcooking.com/2470905/utterly-charming-kate-middletons-private-birthday-celebrations-revealed/ #BritishRoyals #CaroleMiddleton #francais #france #French #FrenchRestaurants #KateMiddleton #PippaMiddleton #Restaurants #royalty #ThePrincessOfWales
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Excellent article! We worth a read if you care about press freedom!
“The broligarchy's war on journalism”
by Carole Cadwalladr in How To Survive The Broligarchy on Substack
@uk_politics
@ZackPolanski
@UKLabour
@AltPress
@BBC5Live
@BBCRadio4
@BBCNews“The capture of US media by Trump allies is accelerating and the UK is the next in line. Plus: the mystery money behind my old newspaper”
https://open.substack.com/pub/broligarchy/p/the-broligarchys-war-on-journalism
#Press #SocialMedia #UK #US #ZionistTakeover #Ellison #CNN #BBC #Guardian #Observer #OpenAI #OpaqueFunding #CBS #Bezos #AxelSpringer #Telegraph #Palantir #Thiel #TortoiseMedia #NorthHatleyTrust #Healy #MBS #Bonesaw #Kashoggi
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CF Premiere: CHAM – Perspective of Nowhere
From Lille, France, comes someone worth knowing right now: CHAM, a young and promising live techno artist and DJ with a proposition that makes clear from the very first second that there’s something serious behind it. We had the opportunity to premiere one of his tracks —and we didn’t let it pass.
The track is called Perspective of Nowhere, and the title already anticipates the territory it inhabits. Created entirely from his studio in Lille, with live analog machines as the central axis of all the creation, the result is an ambient sound track with a very particular personality. There’s an immediate electricity in how it begins —something that happens ipso facto, without preamble— which quickly transforms into something more complex: gusts of the past made present, suspended amid uncertain realities and futures hanging by a thread. That’s not forced poetic description —it’s literally what you hear.
https://soundcloud.com/clubfuriess/cfp-cham-perspective-of-nowhere
What sets Perspective of Nowhere apart isn’t just its atmosphere, but the solidity of what lies beneath. Strong conceptual foundations, a well-structured sound design that doesn’t improvise carelessly but builds with intention. Throughout the entire track, CHAM manages to sustain a well-anchored effect of nostalgia —a nostalgia that doesn’t wallow in itself but constantly dissolves, as if each present it constructs has the capacity to safeguard all existing anxiety without denying it. That’s a difficult balance to achieve, and here it’s achieved.
At Club Furies, we’ve had our eyes open for some time toward what’s happening in the French scene —a scene that continues to produce artists with their own sensibility and a relationship with analog sound that very few places in the world can match. CHAM fits perfectly within that tradition, and at the same time sounds like something new. Get a feel for his pulse now.
Artist: CHAM
Title: Perspective of Nowhere
Master: DerodeCHAM
Club Furies
Website | SoundCloud | Instagram | Threads | TikTok | Facebook | Bandcamp | Linktree
#CHAM #DarkTechno #Electronic #Electronica #France #HypnoticTechno #Lille #techno -
CF Premiere: CHAM – Perspective of Nowhere
From Lille, France, comes someone worth knowing right now: CHAM, a young and promising live techno artist and DJ with a proposition that makes clear from the very first second that there’s something serious behind it. We had the opportunity to premiere one of his tracks —and we didn’t let it pass.
The track is called Perspective of Nowhere, and the title already anticipates the territory it inhabits. Created entirely from his studio in Lille, with live analog machines as the central axis of all the creation, the result is an ambient sound track with a very particular personality. There’s an immediate electricity in how it begins —something that happens ipso facto, without preamble— which quickly transforms into something more complex: gusts of the past made present, suspended amid uncertain realities and futures hanging by a thread. That’s not forced poetic description —it’s literally what you hear.
https://soundcloud.com/clubfuriess/cfp-cham-perspective-of-nowhere
What sets Perspective of Nowhere apart isn’t just its atmosphere, but the solidity of what lies beneath. Strong conceptual foundations, a well-structured sound design that doesn’t improvise carelessly but builds with intention. Throughout the entire track, CHAM manages to sustain a well-anchored effect of nostalgia —a nostalgia that doesn’t wallow in itself but constantly dissolves, as if each present it constructs has the capacity to safeguard all existing anxiety without denying it. That’s a difficult balance to achieve, and here it’s achieved.
At Club Furies, we’ve had our eyes open for some time toward what’s happening in the French scene —a scene that continues to produce artists with their own sensibility and a relationship with analog sound that very few places in the world can match. CHAM fits perfectly within that tradition, and at the same time sounds like something new. Get a feel for his pulse now.
Artist: CHAM
Title: Perspective of Nowhere
Master: DerodeCHAM
Club Furies
Website | SoundCloud | Instagram | Threads | TikTok | Facebook | Bandcamp | Linktree
#CHAM #DarkTechno #Electronic #Electronica #France #HypnoticTechno #Lille #techno -
CF Premiere: CHAM – Perspective of Nowhere
From Lille, France, comes someone worth knowing right now: CHAM, a young and promising live techno artist and DJ with a proposition that makes clear from the very first second that there’s something serious behind it. We had the opportunity to premiere one of his tracks —and we didn’t let it pass.
The track is called Perspective of Nowhere, and the title already anticipates the territory it inhabits. Created entirely from his studio in Lille, with live analog machines as the central axis of all the creation, the result is an ambient sound track with a very particular personality. There’s an immediate electricity in how it begins —something that happens ipso facto, without preamble— which quickly transforms into something more complex: gusts of the past made present, suspended amid uncertain realities and futures hanging by a thread. That’s not forced poetic description —it’s literally what you hear.
https://soundcloud.com/clubfuriess/cfp-cham-perspective-of-nowhere
What sets Perspective of Nowhere apart isn’t just its atmosphere, but the solidity of what lies beneath. Strong conceptual foundations, a well-structured sound design that doesn’t improvise carelessly but builds with intention. Throughout the entire track, CHAM manages to sustain a well-anchored effect of nostalgia —a nostalgia that doesn’t wallow in itself but constantly dissolves, as if each present it constructs has the capacity to safeguard all existing anxiety without denying it. That’s a difficult balance to achieve, and here it’s achieved.
At Club Furies, we’ve had our eyes open for some time toward what’s happening in the French scene —a scene that continues to produce artists with their own sensibility and a relationship with analog sound that very few places in the world can match. CHAM fits perfectly within that tradition, and at the same time sounds like something new. Get a feel for his pulse now.
Artist: CHAM
Title: Perspective of Nowhere
Master: DerodeCHAM
Club Furies
Website | SoundCloud | Instagram | Threads | TikTok | Facebook | Bandcamp | Linktree
#CHAM #DarkTechno #Electronic #Electronica #France #HypnoticTechno #Lille #techno -
CF Premiere: CHAM – Perspective of Nowhere
From Lille, France, comes someone worth knowing right now: CHAM, a young and promising live techno artist and DJ with a proposition that makes clear from the very first second that there’s something serious behind it. We had the opportunity to premiere one of his tracks —and we didn’t let it pass.
The track is called Perspective of Nowhere, and the title already anticipates the territory it inhabits. Created entirely from his studio in Lille, with live analog machines as the central axis of all the creation, the result is an ambient sound track with a very particular personality. There’s an immediate electricity in how it begins —something that happens ipso facto, without preamble— which quickly transforms into something more complex: gusts of the past made present, suspended amid uncertain realities and futures hanging by a thread. That’s not forced poetic description —it’s literally what you hear.
https://soundcloud.com/clubfuriess/cfp-cham-perspective-of-nowhere
What sets Perspective of Nowhere apart isn’t just its atmosphere, but the solidity of what lies beneath. Strong conceptual foundations, a well-structured sound design that doesn’t improvise carelessly but builds with intention. Throughout the entire track, CHAM manages to sustain a well-anchored effect of nostalgia —a nostalgia that doesn’t wallow in itself but constantly dissolves, as if each present it constructs has the capacity to safeguard all existing anxiety without denying it. That’s a difficult balance to achieve, and here it’s achieved.
At Club Furies, we’ve had our eyes open for some time toward what’s happening in the French scene —a scene that continues to produce artists with their own sensibility and a relationship with analog sound that very few places in the world can match. CHAM fits perfectly within that tradition, and at the same time sounds like something new. Get a feel for his pulse now.
Artist: CHAM
Title: Perspective of Nowhere
Master: DerodeCHAM
Club Furies
Website | SoundCloud | Instagram | Threads | TikTok | Facebook | Bandcamp | Linktree
#CHAM #DarkTechno #Electronic #Electronica #France #HypnoticTechno #Lille #techno -
Nichts über uns ohne uns!
Morgen findet unser erster Austausch für Menschen mit Erfahrungen in #Wohngruppen, #Pflegefamilien und anderen Formen stationärer Jugendhilfe statt. Es geht um die Bedeutung von #Erinnerungen und #Erinnerungsräume in der #Jugendhilfe.
Mehr Infos auch zur Anmeldung für den Link gibts auf unserer Website https://careleavers-academy.de -
#TopArtists #TheBeatles #ElvisPresley #HerbAlpertandtheTijuanaBrass #GloriaEstefan #JohnWilliams #HallAndOates #Madonna #FleetwoodMac #EltonJohn #NeilDiamond #CaroleKing #JamesTaylor #RodStewart #ArethaFranklin #BarbraStreisand #BillyJoel #Commodores #Eagles #HenryMancini #HueyLewisAndTheNews 🪩+🤸🏻+🎶+
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Käytiin Banksy-näyttelyssä, hetkeä ennen pahinta sunnuntaitungosta. Ei mikään valtava, mutta ihan hyvä retrospektiivi taiteilijan töihin.
Tää olis hyvä #alt4me, jos joku jaksaa.
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Käytiin Banksy-näyttelyssä, hetkeä ennen pahinta sunnuntaitungosta. Ei mikään valtava, mutta ihan hyvä retrospektiivi taiteilijan töihin.
Tää olis hyvä #alt4me, jos joku jaksaa.
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Käytiin Banksy-näyttelyssä, hetkeä ennen pahinta sunnuntaitungosta. Ei mikään valtava, mutta ihan hyvä retrospektiivi taiteilijan töihin.
Tää olis hyvä #alt4me, jos joku jaksaa.
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Exam Time Yet Again
The January examination period at Maynooth starts tomorrow (Friday 9th January), so I thought I’d do a quick post on the topic of examinations. First of all let me wish the very best of luck to everyone at Maynooth or elsewhere taking examinations in the next few weeks. I hope at least that the exam halls are nice and warm! Actually, owing to the Sport Hall being unavailable for this examination period owing to building work, some exams will be off campus; my first exam paper is actually being sat in the GlenRoyal hotel.
Here’s a video produced by Maynooth University to remind those taking exams of some general points about preparation and, most importantly, to look after themselves before during the examination period. It’s directed at Maynooth students but students from elsewhere may find useful tips in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c02JFEBrbs
I completed the last of my revision sessions today but, as the first examination for which I have responsibility is not until Monday 12th, I’ll have to wait to find out how any of my own students have done but let me take this opportunity to pass on a few of my own tips more aimed at students in Physics:
- Try to get a good night’s sleep before the examination and arrive in plenty of time before the start. This is especially important when there’s bad weather that may disrupt travel. It is your responsibility to get to the examination on time!
- Read the entire paper before starting to answer any questions. In particular, make sure you are aware of any supplementary information, formulae, etc, given in the rubric or at the end.
- Start off by tackling the question you are most confident about answering, even if it’s not Question 1. This will help settle any nerves.
- Don’t rush! Students often lose marks by making careless errors. Check all your numerical results on your calculator at least twice and – PLEASE – remember to put the units!
- Don’t panic! You’re not expected to answer everything perfectly. A first-class mark is anything over 70%, so don’t worry if there are bits you can’t do. If you get stuck on a part of a question, don’t waste too much time on it (especially if it’s just a few marks). Just leave it and move on. You can always come back to it later.
Readers of this blog are welcome to add other tips through the comments box below!
#Examinations #HigherEducation #MaynoothUniversity #theoreticalPhysics
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Exam Time Yet Again
The January examination period at Maynooth starts tomorrow (Friday 9th January), so I thought I’d do a quick post on the topic of examinations. First of all let me wish the very best of luck to everyone at Maynooth or elsewhere taking examinations in the next few weeks. I hope at least that the exam halls are nice and warm! Actually, owing to the Sport Hall being unavailable for this examination period owing to building work, some exams will be off campus; my first exam paper is actually being sat in the GlenRoyal hotel.
Here’s a video produced by Maynooth University to remind those taking exams of some general points about preparation and, most importantly, to look after themselves before during the examination period. It’s directed at Maynooth students but students from elsewhere may find useful tips in it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-c02JFEBrbs
I completed the last of my revision sessions today but, as the first examination for which I have responsibility is not until Monday 12th, I’ll have to wait to find out how any of my own students have done but let me take this opportunity to pass on a few of my own tips more aimed at students in Physics:
- Try to get a good night’s sleep before the examination and arrive in plenty of time before the start. This is especially important when there’s bad weather that may disrupt travel. It is your responsibility to get to the examination on time!
- Read the entire paper before starting to answer any questions. In particular, make sure you are aware of any supplementary information, formulae, etc, given in the rubric or at the end.
- Start off by tackling the question you are most confident about answering, even if it’s not Question 1. This will help settle any nerves.
- Don’t rush! Students often lose marks by making careless errors. Check all your numerical results on your calculator at least twice and – PLEASE – remember to put the units!
- Don’t panic! You’re not expected to answer everything perfectly. A first-class mark is anything over 70%, so don’t worry if there are bits you can’t do. If you get stuck on a part of a question, don’t waste too much time on it (especially if it’s just a few marks). Just leave it and move on. You can always come back to it later.
Readers of this blog are welcome to add other tips through the comments box below!
#Examinations #HigherEducation #MaynoothUniversity #theoreticalPhysics
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After Lectures and before Examinations
This morning I did my last teaching session of the Academic Year 2024-5, a revision lecture/tutorial on Computational Physics. It was optional, as this is officially a study break, and was at 9am, but I had about 30% attendance which wasn’t bad in the circumstances. As is often the case with optional sessions, I think the students who came were the keenest and probably therefore those who least needed last-minute tips for the examination, but that’s always the way.
The Examination Period starts tomorrow morning, but most of the students who turned up this morning have their first examination on Monday 19th May which happens to be Computational Physics.
Anyway, now that my teaching is over I thought I’d take the opportunity to wish all students the best for their examinations:
You shouldn’t really be relying on luck of course, so here are some tips (especially for physics students, but applicable elsewhere).
- Try to get a good night’s sleep before the examination and arrive in plenty of time before the start. Spending all night cramming is unlikely to help you do well.
- Prepare well in advance so you’re relaxed when the time comes.
- Read the entire paper before starting to answer any questions. In particular, make sure you are aware of any supplementary information, formulae, etc, given in the rubric or at the end.
- Start off by tackling the question you are most confident about answering, even if it’s not Question 1. This will help settle any nerves. You’re under no obligation to answer the questions in the order they are asked.
- Don’t rush! Students often lose marks by making careless errors. In particular, check all your working out, including numerical results obtained your calculator, at least twice
- Please remember the units!
- Don’t panic! You’re not expected to answer everything perfectly. A first-class mark is anything over 70%, so don’t worry if there are bits you can’t do. If you get stuck on a part of a question, don’t waste too much time on it (especially if it’s just a few marks). Just leave it and move on. You can always come back to it later.
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After Lectures and before Examinations
This morning I did my last teaching session of the Academic Year 2024-5, a revision lecture/tutorial on Computational Physics. It was optional, as this is officially a study break, and was at 9am, but I had about 30% attendance which wasn’t bad in the circumstances. As is often the case with optional sessions, I think the students who came were the keenest and probably therefore those who least needed last-minute tips for the examination, but that’s always the way.
The Examination Period starts tomorrow morning, but most of the students who turned up this morning have their first examination on Monday 19th May which happens to be Computational Physics.
Anyway, now that my teaching is over I thought I’d take the opportunity to wish all students the best for their examinations:
You shouldn’t really be relying on luck of course, so here are some tips (especially for physics students, but applicable elsewhere).
- Try to get a good night’s sleep before the examination and arrive in plenty of time before the start. Spending all night cramming is unlikely to help you do well.
- Prepare well in advance so you’re relaxed when the time comes.
- Read the entire paper before starting to answer any questions. In particular, make sure you are aware of any supplementary information, formulae, etc, given in the rubric or at the end.
- Start off by tackling the question you are most confident about answering, even if it’s not Question 1. This will help settle any nerves. You’re under no obligation to answer the questions in the order they are asked.
- Don’t rush! Students often lose marks by making careless errors. In particular, check all your working out, including numerical results obtained your calculator, at least twice
- Please remember the units!
- Don’t panic! You’re not expected to answer everything perfectly. A first-class mark is anything over 70%, so don’t worry if there are bits you can’t do. If you get stuck on a part of a question, don’t waste too much time on it (especially if it’s just a few marks). Just leave it and move on. You can always come back to it later.
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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
-
One nice thing about #literature is how characters and stories can help us recognize and understand patterns observed in real life. Often they serve as a short-hand for commentary. An often cited example is Icarus.
Given #POTUS47 careless comments about Iran, Lord #Farquaad from Shrek is serving overtime the last 9 days.
“Some of you May Die, But it's a Sacrifice I am Willing to Make.”
-
One nice thing about #literature is how characters and stories can help us recognize and understand patterns observed in real life. Often they serve as a short-hand for commentary. An often cited example is Icarus.
Given #POTUS47 careless comments about Iran, Lord #Farquaad from Shrek is serving overtime the last 9 days.
“Some of you May Die, But it's a Sacrifice I am Willing to Make.”
-
One nice thing about #literature is how characters and stories can help us recognize and understand patterns observed in real life. Often they serve as a short-hand for commentary. An often cited example is Icarus.
Given #POTUS47 careless comments about Iran, Lord #Farquaad from Shrek is serving overtime the last 9 days.
“Some of you May Die, But it's a Sacrifice I am Willing to Make.”
-
One nice thing about #literature is how characters and stories can help us recognize and understand patterns observed in real life. Often they serve as a short-hand for commentary. An often cited example is Icarus.
Given #POTUS47 careless comments about Iran, Lord #Farquaad from Shrek is serving overtime the last 9 days.
“Some of you May Die, But it's a Sacrifice I am Willing to Make.”
-
One nice thing about #literature is how characters and stories can help us recognize and understand patterns observed in real life. Often they serve as a short-hand for commentary. An often cited example is Icarus.
Given #POTUS47 careless comments about Iran, Lord #Farquaad from Shrek is serving overtime the last 9 days.
“Some of you May Die, But it's a Sacrifice I am Willing to Make.”
-
Pop Cryptid Spectator 8
Welcome to the Pop Cryptid Spectator no. 8. This edition illustrates more examples of how cryptids are an integral part of culture, if you are in town, in the woods, on or offline.
In this edition:
- Bigfoot proposed as California’s official cryptid
- Monster Snap VR Game
- What is a “cryptoid”?
- Fakelore to folklore: The Rake
Bigfoot proposed as California’s official cryptid
The big(foot) news this week was the introduction of a bill in the California Assembly to name Bigfoot as an the official cryptid of California. On February 14, 2025, Chris Rogers (Democrat) proposed bill AB 666*:
Existing law establishes the state flag and the state’s emblems, including, among other things, the golden poppy as the official state flower and the California redwood as the official state tree.
This bill would state the intent of the Legislature to enact legislation that would designate Bigfoot as the official state cryptid.
*Bigfoot could be the “mountain or wood devil” if you are predisposed to never seeing a coincidence.
Some people didn’t respond positively to the news, noticing that California has more important things to attend to right now and in the foreseeable future. But state legislators are overly fond of such memorial acts, and regularly waste time pushing them through. California already has 42 official state symbols. Why not another one? The symbolic gestures provide recognition and anchors the symbols to the state.
Rogers’ represents the Northern part of the state that is heavily associated with Bigfoot and benefits already from the link. Humboldt County includes Bluff Creek, the location of the infamous Patterson-Gimlin film from 1967, and nearby Willow Creek, home of huge Bigfoot Daze festival. Willow Creek was the place where Bigfoot supposedly made its historic entrance into American popular culture when in 1958, loggers found giant footprints that were reported in the local Humboldt Times, giving the unknown creature the name “Bigfoot”.
Therefore, it does make sense that Rogers’ would like to cement this notoriety. The effort clearly is intended to encourage tourism from those people who believe, or just really want to believe, the forest still hides a mysterious creature that, like some supernatural being, has remained hidden and magical. Rogers’ noted that Bigfoot “generates buzz and interest from outdoor enthusiasts,” more so than other cryptids. He’s not wrong.
Washington and Oregon, however, may have a beef about it, but there is no reason why Bigfoot can’t also be their official cryptid. Heck, Bigfoot or its relations have been reported spotted in every US state with the possible exception of Hawaii. Bigfoot is the top US, for sure.
More from SF Gate and from the SF Chronicle.
Monster Snap VR game
A new virtual reality game coming in 2026 promises to give you a chance to collect photo evidence of cryptids. Monster Snap maroons you in the Bermuda Triangle where mysterious secrets are hidden. (Gosh, this is SO OLD. But I guess having a bunch of mysterious secrets existing in a single named location is convenient.) You can also encounter Bigfoot and spot Nessie. For PC-VR and Meta Quest 2 & 3.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYMAgt6k8q0
What is a “cryptoid”?
If you peruse online cryptid content, you may sometimes see the term “cryptoid”. It struck me as a possibly useful term to distinguish between sci-cryptids (those viewed with a zoological lens) and the fantastical or folkloric version of cryptids (such as mermaids, dragons, shapeshifters, jackalopes, etc.). So I took a look into where the term might have come from and how it’s used.
The suffix “-oid” means “similar to” or “likeness”, giving us words like “planetoid”, “humanoid” and “factoid”. It can also be a way to make an interesting derogatory word sometimes referring to a particular ideology or group of people as in “schizoid” or “skeptoid“. Or just a fun suffix for made up things like “graboid“.
According to Loren Coleman, whom I found had addressed the question of the difference between a cryptid and a cryptoid back in 2011, he seems to think it’s mostly a mistaken attempt to mean “cryptid”. In a way, “cryptoid” works when someone is intending a humorous or monstrous description of a mystery creature. But it will be confusing if not consistently used that way.
“Cryptoid phenomena” was a term used by Emile Boirac beginning around 1918 to refer to hidden psychic abilities. Later, it also comes up as the term “cryptoID”, which can ruin your search results. But there are a few books in the 2000s that intentionally use “cryptoid” as a humorous term (as with comics or monster-related art) or simply as a strange error by self-published writers who didn’t have an editor. (Worse than that, some even more careless will use “crypoids” [sic].) Unless it’s used in a more deliberate sense, it seems to be an indicator that the user isn’t well versed on “cryptids”.
A graph of “cryptoid” use per decade. The 1920s represents the Boirac references. The use is also creeping up since the 2000s.Finallly, “Cryptoid” is an official trademarked name of a pyrethroid insecticide. (There’s the -oid again, meaning similar to the natural pesticide pyrethrum.) The trademark makes me jettison the nub of an idea to use the word to mean cryptid-like.
Hope you enjoyed this rather strange etymology lesson.
P.S. Remember the “noid“? Um, on second thought, avoid the noid.
Fakelore to folklore: The Rake
Cryptid Wiki explicitly rejects discussion on “creepypasta monsters such as slenderman, herobrine, the rake”. This is understandable as there is a flood of new creatures invented all the time. To include them would dilute the idea of cryptids. Creepypasta is related to digital transmission of fictional tales. CW also rejects outright fictional characters from books and films as well. While it’s reasonable to mark, say, Cthulhu as an inappropriate cryptid, there are many examples where it’s not easy to draw an objective line.
The Rake is the prime example of a creepypasta creature. The spark was set in motion on 4Chan and then the idea morphed from there. It was formalized, and given a fictional history, in a story from 2009 as a pale hairless humanoid, often spindly in appearance, with small sharp teeth, black voids as eyes, and an unnerving disjointed look, and highly agile way of moving on all fours.
The description and characteristics varied as the stories spread online. It was described similar to slenderman, without a defined face, watching in the background, often in suburban areas. Originally described as a “crawler”, it acquired the name “rake” a bit later and eventually was associated with shapeshifters and “fleshgaits”, as a generally unpleasant entity. It also is not that far from depictions of modern aliens. The lore has grown and evolved online and, as such, I currently can’t find a great resource for the Rake. As time goes on, you can see overlap and blending of creatures with similar features and stories (pale crawlers, skinwalker, wendigo, etc.), and these all diverge widely from the original tales. The rake continues to grow in popularity and is often listed as a cryptid.
A photo circulated widely in 2010 of a pale crawling creature framed as a “swamp monster” captured on a trail camera in Berwick, Louisiana. It was discussed (however seriously or not) as a real or hoaxed thing in the woods. At the time, my opinion was that it was a manipulated image using a digital model. In a short while, this picture became labeled as a rake and the story of the image in the swamp morphed into other tales as well.
The Berwick incident photo. A hoax that became linked to the rake.A problem arises when creepypasta or “mythical” creatures are seen by people. Long ago, people swore to having real experiences with fairies and dragons. Today, we have many people attesting that they see werewolves (often in the form of dogmen). There is a popular suggestion that fictional beings are thought into existence; that is, since so many people hear about them and visualize them, they manifest themselves into our reality. This is also known as the tulpa origin of cryptids.
The fictional origins of creepypasta monsters can get lost if they are removed from their original context and are mistaken for genuine eyewitness stories. This video embedded below is a good rundown of the history of the rake, though I have not confirmed the details and dates. (They do sound right, but you might want to ignore most of the visuals.) Also, the title portrays the rake as the “first Internet cryptid” – eh, I’m not buying that as the chupacabra from 1992 and others since may more rightly deserves that title. It is a good explanation of why it’s can be difficult to differentiate the rake as a cryptid.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3x7k4hjDBwU
People claim to encounter the rake, even though it’s fiction. It is unclear if they are telling what they think is the truth or just playing along in a shared manufactured reality. The phenomenon of creepypasta creatures showing up in the real world seems similar to the true story of a made-up April Fools song on a Michigan radio station in 1987 that resulted in a wave of stories from the past and continuing today about the Dogman.
Where can we draw the line for when a fictional creature can exist under the “cryptid” label? Cryptids are liminal creatures, and they deftly pass between the realms of real and fiction. The label is a dependent on the moment in time when people report, and others believe, that the creature could exist in our reality.
Thanks for reading! Send comments, questions, or suggestions to popcryptid(at)proton.me. If you want to send some cryptid plushies or other merch, or books to review, email for my physical mailing address.
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G-Nitro’s Daily Music Wrap-Up – 4/28/26
I check out an album by Carole King, and the latest EP from Yuna.
Favorite Videos include Whee In on Stone Live, Rass Kass on Cadillac Chronicles, and more!
https://g-nitro.com/g-nitros-daily-music-wrap-up-4-28-26
#Music #1001Albums #CaroleKing #Yuna #WHeeIn #StoneLive #RassKass #CadillacChronicles
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G-Nitro’s Daily Music Wrap-Up – 4/28/26
I check out an album by Carole King, and the latest EP from Yuna.
Favorite Videos include Whee In on Stone Live, Rass Kass on Cadillac Chronicles, and more!
https://g-nitro.com/g-nitros-daily-music-wrap-up-4-28-26
#Music #1001Albums #CaroleKing #Yuna #WHeeIn #StoneLive #RassKass #CadillacChronicles
