Andy Helliwell

Would recommend. Incredibly talented live guitarist, as well as the great songs...

Favourite gigs of 2025 - didn't get to as many as I wanted, but those I did get to included:

1. The Tubs
2. Desperate Journalist
3. Suede
4. The Beths
5. MJ Lenderman
6. Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
7. The Weather Station

Top four of those were exceptional. Obligatory bad gig photos below...

😍 Christmas come early for you... Wonderful.

I did wonder about the Belarusian ambient field recordings, but no, they exist!

I was going to say it's a tough choice between the two. Michael Rother isn't short of debut albums in this heat, but I have more or less decided not to pick both..

By that reckoning Neu! 2 would be a cracking flexidisc... I hear you, but it'll be in my picks anyway!

I knew I could rely on you Alex! 🖤

If anyone will have a good answer to this, it's @thelabandfield.bsky.social. You two would, I think, get on anyway as a keen follower of both your feeds...

The Best Albums of 2025 Ranked From Simz to Silvana Estrada, Addison Rae to Saya Gray, and Samia to Die Spitz, here is our definitive ranking of 2025's best records.

In support of my Anna Von Hausswolff comments, just seen it's actually number one in the Line Of Best Fit top 50... Overall I don't fare much better against that list than the Quietus one - had only listened to 6 of the 50 but a few I plan to catch up on... www.thelineofbestfit.com/features/art...

Good effort! I also picked out and liked Messa, Real Lies and Neptunian Maximalism, first two of those especially. Anna Von Hausswolff is worth persisting with in my opinion - she was one of the few I'd already listened to, and it's a bit of a grower...

As a lifelong Hampshire cricket fan this is terribly sad news. Another of my childhood heroes gone. One of the greatest ever hitters of a ball.

One of the very best of the year - hope there's more from them soon.

Funnily enough the only reason I'd heard of Jim Legxacy before this list was your post the other day! It's also got my favourite of the year in it - the slightly less cutting edge Tubs. It's an enjoyable list to dig around in.

Exactly! I feel happy that there are all these people I've never heard of out there doing really quite niche things, sometimes brilliant sometimes dreadful!

I'd heard of maybe - at a stretch - 25 of the artists previously. Had only listened to 9 of the albums before tonight though (TBH I was quite pleased it was as many as that!!)

That Pains Of Being Pure At Heart compilation is one of the best releases of the year for me.

This is a truly amazing list. I'd heard of at most 25 of the artists. Have dipped into the other 75 and found excellent stuff (Italian doom rock, something involving a lyre, Osmium) and some utter rubbish (cumbia trance, an indescribable Japanese thing, Bar Italia*) - well worth exploring!

* - joke

Lifeguard is the only one of those I don't know - will check them out. Great choices!

Thought it was an excellent month for new albums:

Snocaps - s/t
Rosalía - Lux
Charlotte De Witte - s/t
Sister Ray Davies - Holy Island
Midlake - A Bridge To Far

YouTube video by Fontaines DC Fontaines D.C. - It's Amazing To Be Young (Official Video)

Suede - June Rain
The Tubs - Strange
The Beths - Metal
Snocaps - Heathcliff
Sister Ray Davies - Big Ships
Telephone Numbers - Ebb Tide
Floodlights - Horses Will Run
Heartworms - Extraordinary Wings
Fontaines DC - It's Amazing To Be Young
Good Looks - Standing In Front

youtu.be/MjI1L0dBAVI?...

Excellent call - really enjoy this whenever I stick it on.

I tend to agree. I posted about 50 albums I really liked at the end of last year. The list definitely isn't as long as that this year. Might be me, of course - looking forward to seeing what I've missed...

Looking forward to your list!

If it is Coldplay adjacent then maybe I need to revise my opinion of Coldplay 🙂 Anyway, the album is very much in my end of year list mix too

I say yay. Did you catch them on the recent tour? I thought this song was beautiful live.

What a list! Never saw any of them, sadly...

The Go-Betweens, Barbican, London Barbican, London

I count myself very fortunate to have caught them when I did. Found a review of it - in typical Guardian fashion "an avalanche of exquisitely crafted moments" 4 stars! It was definitely a 5 star concert! www.theguardian.com/music/2004/j...

They really were - they were from Hampshire like me so I saw them a few times. This one lives in my memory (though not the support bands!)

Likewise - I also saw MC4 at Reading '90 and at least a couple of other times too. This was a particularly memorable night somewhere in a field in Hampshire - played on the back of a truck on one of those mad summer nights of your teenage years. Whatever happened to 'Gastric Ulcer' though??

Introduce yourself with 5 concerts you've seen

Nirvana
The Go-Betweens
Mega City Four
Toumani Diabaté
The Cropdusters