Alan Pedder

Best Fit writers on their underappreciated favourite albums of 2025 Best Fit editors and writers handpick their underappreciated personal favourite records of the year, from Agriculture to Xinwenyue Shi and more.

Also this one, in which I give some love to the fantastic ‘I remember I forget’ by Yasmine Hamdan 🇱🇧🎧

The TND Writers' Top 20 Songs of 2025 The top songs of the year according to the TND writers.

Another fun list I’m glad to be a part of, though I take no responsibility for the song at no. 1 🎧

Even if you think, incorrectly, that this repulsive technology has any place in mainstream culture, maybe it gives you pause that the worst people in the world are hell bent on making you use it.

Hania Rani: "Language can translate feelings... but for me, music is another layer" | Interview Commissioned to respond to a lost composition from the Holocaust, pianist Hania Rani discovered a personal connection across the decades – a dialogue that bridged classical rigour and contemporary…

Language can translate feelings... but music is another layer": Commissioned to respond to a lost composition from the Holocaust, Hania Rani discovered a personal connection across the decades that bridged classical rigour.

Totally blown away by Anna von Hausswolff and her ICONOCLASTS band tonight in Malmö. Holyyyy shit. Do not miss this tour 🫨

Nicole Sabouné is transformed by her ancestral homeland on “So Far Out” | Tracks Flush with the wild emotion of unlocking something both old and new, Nicole Sabouné’s “So Far Out” captures the thrill of something vital taking root.

I am once again repping Swedish music on @thelineofbestfit.com with a little write up of Nicole Sabouné’s new Beirut-inspired banger 🇸🇪🇱🇧

The fact there's even the tiniest hint of a debate about whether or not this very obviously racist man who has built his entire career on being a racist is a racist or not. I... I just can't.

Delighted with our #1 (🇸🇪❣️) though I didn’t write about it for this list. I did write entries for 6 other great records though. Some of which you can win as part of the amazing vinyl giveaway, which is so good I am actually fuming I can’t enter it myself!

Barbarians

Can you imagine the TERFs getting a line-up like this (or being able to fill a venue of this size)???

…No, neither can I! 😆

All the best, hottest, and most talented people support #TransRights ✊🏻🏳️‍⚧️💕

The best songs by Goldfrapp, as chosen by Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp | Interview Celebrating 20 years of Supernature, Goldfrapp join BEST FIT for a journey through five key songs that tell their story.

Celebrating 20 years of Supernature, Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory join @neverdoneing.bsky.social for a journey through five key songs that tell their story

Tomorrow! at St Matthias Church

Doors open at 19:30
Sophia Hansen-Knarhoi on stage at 20:20
@penelopetrappes.bsky.social at 21:10

Tickets available via Dice
link.dice.fm/w11ee1de4085

The best songs by Goldfrapp, as chosen by Will Gregory and Alison Goldfrapp | Interview Celebrating 20 years of Supernature, Goldfrapp join BEST FIT for a journey through five key songs that tell their story.

Celebrating 20 years of Supernature with Alison and Will. I had such a cosy chat with Goldfrapp a couple of weeks ago and it’s live on @thelineofbestfit.com now 🎧🖤

One of this year’s hidden gem albums that has something new to discover every time I listen. Glad I finally got around to writing this ✨

The best songs by Marissa Nadler, as chosen by her | Interview Marissa Nadler takes time out of her New Radiations tour to pick out five favourite cuts from her 20+ year career, and hint at what comes next.

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve interviewed Marissa for various publications (6, maybe?) but it’s always a great chat. There’s a scoop in here too about a brand new band she’s a part of… 👀

The best songs by Saint Etienne, as chosen by Sarah Cracknell | Interview Saint Etienne’s Sarah Cracknell walks BEST FIT through her personal highlights of the trio’s 35-year career.

🪩🕺🏻 here’s a lovely chat I had recently with Sarah Cracknell about five solid gold pop songs, coaching Kylie, and the ‘end’ of Saint Etienne

Win tickets to see Narduwar live in London on 29 November at The Dome! Doot doola doot doo! buff.ly/gg5Z6y1

ira glass: “Sometimes it’s fun, but we do have a tendency towards torture" | Interview The schizoid post-hardcore/free jazz of Chicago quartet’s ira glass unravels like a shattering fever dream, writhing and contorting around all conventional paths.

cool new band alert.

(also, my @thelineofbestfit.com debut)

www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/int...

The words 'The Tonic' emerging jauntily from an envelope

If you enjoyed some, all, or one bit of that then make sure you subscribe to our email newsletter The Tonic, to get the latest highlights from our Magazine, and some archive gems, direct to your inbox every month.

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Alisa Weilerstein: 'We're taught that context is everything; why can't we just skip that and listen?' | Southbank Centre Cellist Alisa Weilerstein discusses her musical upbringing, expanding the repertoire and the 'great equaliser' of classical music out of context.

Some recent pieces from the @southbankcentre.bsky.social Magazine that you might enjoy...

Firstly, for this month's long read, @neverdoneing.bsky.social spoke with one of our newest Resident Artists, Alisa Weilerstein about her very musical upbringing and expanding the cello repertoire

Austra: "Being able to actually laugh at myself and my extreme emotions has been really fun to work with" | Interview Katie Stelmanis tells BEST FIT how learning to laugh at herself was the key to making Chin Up Buttercup, a breakup album unlike any other.

I met up with Austra in Toronto recently to chat alter egos, heartbreak and being unhinged ahead of the new album Chin Up Buttercup, out tomorrow 🎈

Alisa Weilerstein: 'We're taught that context is everything; why can't we just skip that and listen?' | Southbank Centre Cellist Alisa Weilerstein discusses her musical upbringing, expanding the repertoire and the 'great equaliser' of classical music out of context.

I also wrote a longish read on the seriously impressive cellist Alisa Weilerstein for Southbank Centre Magazine 💛 Alisa is a Resident Artist for the season and her next performance is on 30th November.

Joy Guidry: "I can love music again, not just in my head but in reality" | Interview Entering a new decade of life, bassoonist, composer, and producer Joy Guidry is pushing forward with unfiltered honesty and honouring how far she’s come.

This week’s @thelineofbestfit.com cover story is a deep dive from me into the life and work of bassoonist, composer, and producer Joy Guidry. She’s playing London Jazz Festival on the 19th, at Union Chapel, and it’s gonna be pure bliss 💙

Zohran Mamdani in New York
Catherine Connolly in Ireland
Rob Jetten in the Netherlands
Plaid Cymru in Caerphilly

The rise of the far right is not inevitable.
If we work together, we can dare to hope.

All of this is so deeply disgusting and wrong.

Illustration of a hunky man being squeezed out of a toothpaste tube onto a toothbrush. Girl, I can’t explain it better.

Every once in a while I feel a little adrift—until I remember to check the extremely normal covers of My Life, My Way, a Japanese gay magazine published from 1977-1982.

It rained a lot, as usual 🫠

Me and my dog took the train to Gothenburg earlier this month to meet Anna von Hausswolff, and today our cover story is live 🖤

ICONOCLASTS out this Friday on @year0001.bsky.social

www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/int...

Anna von Hausswolff: “Art should be allowed to not always play by the rules” | Interview How Swedish musician and composer Anna von Hausswolff found kindred spirits in rebels and disruptors to create her most urgent work yet.

“Art should be allowed to not always play by the rules”: Swedish musician and composer Anna von Hausswolff found kindred spirits in rebels + disruptors to create her most urgent work yet, she tells @neverdoneing.bsky.social for this week's cover story.

Sean Shibe: 'Maybe there is a bit of clownery to what I'm doing, but I'm totally serious about it' | Southbank Centre An in-depth interview with guitarist Sean Shibe who talks dedication, dignity, and weight of expectation as he becomes one of our Resident Artists.

A bit of recent work for the Southbank Centre. Sean’s residency starts there this coming Saturday 🎸