Spaghetti Blogonese's Albums of 2025

ALBUMS OF 2025

1. Benjamin Booker – Lower: Gotham-City-tinged grunge meets soul; identikit beauty.

2. Model/Actriz – Pirouette: Fantabulous — the album Fischerspooner never made; metal-pop for the catwalk.

3. Cass McCombs – Interior Live Oak: Super stupendously made; could’ve been aged in an oak barrel; exquisite instrumentation from a true singer-songwriter.

4. Juana Molina – Doga: Argentinian magical-realism electronica; can’t believe she’s still going — a wonderful surprise.

5. Ichiko Aoba – Luminescent Creatures: One of the most beautiful, timeless albums; could’ve been made in any decade; vital for the environment; all in Japanese.

6. Darkside – Nothing: A hodgepodge of bongos and everything else; this could be anything — a great result from Nicolás Jaar.

7. Geese - Getting Killed - Loose, jammy, awkward indie rock, surging up my charts here.

8. Pulp – More.: A cultural institution — Britpop legends returning with perhaps their best album yet.

9. Gruff Rhys – Dim Probs: Sung entirely in Welsh; a gorgeous accomplishment from Gruff Rhys.

10. Real Lies – We Will Annihilate Our Enemies: An Ibiza throwback to the clubbing days at 17; lad-poetry wrapped around financial-crisis nostalgia (for me as I invested heavily while on a run listening to this)

11. Rafael Toral – Travelling Light (Ambient jazz)
12. Makaya McCraven – Off the Record (Beat-driven jazz)
13. Phil Cook – Appalachia Borealis (Springtime solo piano)
14. Just Mustard - We Were Just Here (Thunderous shoegaze)
15. Kelly Moran – Don’t Trust Mirrors (Sister album to last years electronic piano)
16. Yaya Bey – Do It Afraid (Great R&B sketches)
17. Horsegirl – Phonetics On and On (Brilliant basic indie-core)
18. Annie and the Caldwells – Can’t Lose My Soul (40 years together; their gospel debut)
19. Jason Isbell - Foxes In The Snow (Boutique country)
20. Matmos – Metallic Life Review (All made with sampling metal - great electronic)
21. ex_libris – 001 / 002 (Expert double house EP offering)
22. Purelink – Faith (Ibizan chillout)
23. AraabMuzik – Electronic Dream 2 (Banging electro hip-hop samples)
24. Ela Minus – Dia (Colombian electronic-pop album)
25. Little Simz – Lotus (British hip-hop stalwart)

Albums of 2025 - 24. Ela Minus - DÍA

Albums of 2025 - 24. Ela Minus - DÍA

Sometimes when you’re young, whether in your job or with your friends or whatever, the smallest absurdities can funnel through for a lifetime — or funnel through into a lifetime, whichever is correct. When I was an intern in Reykjavik, one of the happiest moments of my life, age 23, we would listen — me and the fellow interns, one in particular — to M.I.A.’s Galang. And we would, I would, all of us would sing the lyrics: Blaze, ablaze, galang galang galang galang, purple haze, galang galang galang galang. And now the silliness, the naïvety of it all, has emerged again.

Even though the album in question here, number 24, is about recovering, it’s just very innocent. Some of the lyrics especially — “I’ve been a foooool,” “acting all cooool,” “but now I’m brooooken.” Colombian producer Ela Minus started the year in the best possible way, kickstarting with a dancey, clubby, poppy beaut that takes me back to those good times and is still kicking on.

No need to act so serious all the time. Don’t fucking wait. Don’t get conditioned by society. Guys — your time is now.

Albums of 2025 - 25 Annie & The Caldwells - Can't Lose My Soul

25. Annie & The Caldwells - Can't Lose My Soul

A brilliant example of a band that have been going for many decades — forty years it is, I believe — and have just released the debut album. It’s a great story, one of the best musical stories of the year. And… you know what gospel music is, dear reader, and so do I, but… you might as well chop your carrots, garlic, throw in some coriander in your kitchen. Not in the kitchen — actually in the mix of what you’re making in the kitchen — and play this album. It’s really great for the soul, because you can’t lose it, and neither can I. What more to add? I guess you could add something to thicken the soup, like some flour. Butter is alright for thickening soup. Sometimes cream. The songs here have got that musical cooking, cookery, cooking lesson, cooking up some great music, cooking class… No, I’ve already said cooking classes. You know what I'm saying.

Mid-Year Album Roundup 2025: Sweat, Shadows, and Steel

 Mid-Year Album Roundup 2025: Sweat, Shadows, and Steel

The year started with a bang — FKA Twigs came in hot with a brilliant slice of electronic pop that set the tone early. I was literally running to it this morning. It’s slick, sultry, and totally uninhibited. There’s a lot of sex in there, but hey — I’m not Catholic.

Then Benjamin Booker followed up with Lower, an album that feels like a cracked-up version of Lenny Kravitz got lost in the shadows of Gotham. It’s dark, gritty, and jagged — full of distorted, zombie-ish vocals and eerie swagger. Produced by hip-hop veteran Kenny Segal, it’s the sound of a 14-year hunt for reinvention finally paying off. I wasn’t sold at first — then I listened, bought the vinyl, and haven’t looked back. It creeps in like a basement ghost.

February delivered a string of big ones. Horsegirl dropped an indie record that sounds like it was made in a warehouse full of chugging guitars, all under the direction of Cate Le Bon. There’s something mechanical and artsy about it — apparently, Andy Warhol would’ve managed them if he were still alive, and yeah, I see it. Darkside returned with colossal spaghetti electronics, a hypnotic sprawl of synthetic chaos from Nicolás Jaar that might be the best thing they’ve ever done. And Ichiko Aoba released a stunning folk album sung entirely in Japanese. It’s called Luminescent Creatures, and it’s exactly that — delicate, otherworldly, and quietly devastating.

March slowed things down but didn’t disappoint. Phil Cook, a Bon Iver affiliate (Justin Vernon’s crew), released a beautiful, stripped-back album made of nothing but piano and birdsong. It’s a small, gentle thing that feels like a deep breath. Jason Isbell also brought out a fantastic country album soaked in pedal steel — he sings about craving steel, loving steel. It’s grounded, rich, and made for barbershop radios and backroad nights.

April? Garbage. But one album saved it: Real Lies dropped We Will Annihilate Our Enemies, a blast of lad rap over Ibiza-house beats. It’s nostalgic, euphoric, bitter-sweet — the kind of record that fills the gap my hedonistic youth left behind. It’s the album that never existed back then, but somehow still belongs to it.

May turned the volume back up. Model/Actriz released a ferocious, metallic, queer-core record that sounds like the electro-diva album Fischerspooner never quite made. It thumps. It sweats. I run to it and sweat like a bitch. It’s alive with tension, sex, and attitude.

June came through with grace and bite. Yaya Bey dropped a collection of soulful, R&B vignettes — subtle, smoky, full of late-night clarity. Pulp returned with their first album in 24 years, a glorious Britpop comeback with Jarvis Cocker reflecting (heavily) on getting older. And Little Simz reminded everyone why she’s top tier, releasing a sharp, soulful British hip-hop record that holds its ground with ease.

So yeah — halfway through 2025, and already drenched in sweat, steel, and shadows. Let’s see what the second half brings.

Spaghetti Blogonese's Top 25 albums of 2020

 

As the year 2020 was a showshit of a year, it was apt that the musical output was top-notch. Never before had I needed an LP to drop like it did on 11th December by The Avalanches - crafting a sumptuous concept album about love and light, against all the odds. Fleet Foxes continued to mesmerise with their fourth epic seasonal majesty, coninciding with the start of autumn. Crack Cloud, a bunch of recovered addicts from Vancouver knocked up a sublime debut of eccentric post-punk. Faten Kanaan hypnotised me with her meditative frozen landscapes - perfect for winter. Freddie Gibbs delivered on all his potential, by finding his stride over The Alchemist's hazy production - Freddie proving to be the ultimate street rapper.

Erland Cooper came in time for a spring, with a pastoral concept LP of folk and orchestral lore located off the north of Scotland. Nadia Reid, down there in New Zealand offered up a heart-achingly gorgeous folk record. Regarding explosive jazz, Shabaka & The Ancestors really came through with a rootsy, primordial investigation into where the origin of humanity lays. Dan Bejar brought the old Shadow Power (my student radio alias) vibes back with one of his career bests of surreal and vivifying songwriting and Oneohtrix Point Never followed up his stellar work on the Uncut Gems soundtrack by dropping his ninth album of spangly, dimension-bending white elephants.

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1. THE AVALANCHES – WE WILL ALWAYS LOVE YOU

2.FLEET FOXES – SHORE

3. CRACK CLOUD – PAIN OLYMPICS

4.FATEN KANAAN – A MYTHOLOGY OF CIRCLES

5. FREDDIE GIBBS - ALFREDO

6. ERLAND COOPER – HETHER BLETHER

7. NADIA REID – OUT OF MY PROVINCE

8. SHABAKA & THE ANCESTORS – WE ARE SENT HERE BY HISTORY

9. DESTROYER – HAVE WE MET

10. ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER – MAGIC ONEOHTRIX POINT NEVER

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11. CARIBOU - SUDDENLY

12. BONNIE LIGHT HORSEMAN – BONNIE LIGHT HORSEMAN

13. BC CAMPLIGHT – SHORTLY AFTER TAKEOFF

14. U.S. GIRLS – HEAVY LIGHT

15. THURSTON MOORE – BY THE FIRE

16. BILL CALLAHAN – GOLD RECORD

17. JARV. IS – BEYOND THE PALE

18. I BREAK HORSES – WARNINGS

19. THE STROKES – THE NEW ABNORMAL

20. WILMA ARCHER – A WESTERN CIRCULAR

21. MIKE POLIZZE – LONG LOST SOLACE FIND

22. THE SOFT PINK TRUTH – SHALL WE GO ON SINNING…

23. FIONA APPLE – FETCH THE BOLT CUTTERS

24. CRAVEN FAULTS – ERRATICS & UNCONFORMITIES

25. EINSTURZENDE NEUBATEN – ALLES IN ALLEM