better late then never.
here’s a list of albums that were released in 2025 that made my soundsystem rattle.
in no particular order :
the expert – vivid visions
pop will eat itself – delete everything
adrian sherwood – the collapse of everything
mura masa – selected weapons (2023-2024) ep
weval – chorophobia
ghost – skeleta
the black dog – my brutal life 2
the black dog – my brutal life : the ambient mixes
the black dog – loud ambient
matt baila & acme – around the world in 80 breaks
miles cooke – ceci n’est pas un portrait
galaktic rogue – rogue tv season 2
bicep – takkuuk
krafty kuts – finest cuts
mark stewart – the fateful symmetry
public enemy – blue sky over projects (apartment 2025)
tuft zong – tuff zongs
yann tiersen – the liquid hour/rathlin from a distance
death in vegas – death mask
john tejada – the watchline
skillex- f.u.s
tame impala – deadbeat
low end activist – airdrop ii/airdrop iii
various artists – tectonic sound
as you can see it was a year of some familiar names.
as per the previous post (which was posted prior to the very sad news re ken), a lot of the year was soundtracked by the brilliant releases/mixtapes released by the black dog.
there was also an album of new material by adrian sherwood released (his last ‘solo’ album was back in 2012), and the final album by mark stewart, both being included will be of no surprise to anyone who follows this hidden corner of the old fashioned web.
then the insanity of noise infused dance/electronica via mura masa, death in vegas, and the absolute sonic chaos of the skrillex ‘album’ for when such a need kicked in.
however, the main surprises for me were :
– the return of pop will eat itself who released an amazing album that shows that the lads have no desire to become radio 2 friendly,
– the welcome return of hip hop to the ireallylovemusic playlist.
new albums put out on rucksack records included the psychedelica sample heavy grooves of the first producer album by the expert, the slow-n-dark beats of galactik rogue, and the heavy vocal sounds of miles cooke,
and, the excellent hip hop/turntablism mixtape series that new kid on the block, weaponize records, have released over the last few years (this years treats were the party blends by krafty kuts, and the eclectic world genre bouncing mixtape by matt balia and acme), soundtracked most of the days when the sun was out.
let’s see what audio treats are to be added to the archive in 2026.