radiofloyd

I’ve bought 11 albums released in 2025 so far. Here’s a short run down: Arcade Fire - Pink Elephant Lukewarm criticism reception but I quite like this. It’s certainly better than their last album WE, and it’s not even close. It has one of my candidates for my favourite song of the year so far too, Year of the Snake. Bill Fox - Resonance Maybe my favourite album of the year so far? It’s a singer-songwriter album in the vein of Elliot Smith. I love his voice and it’s just rock solid from beginning to end. I also went back and bought his previous album on the strength of this. Bon Iver - Sable, Fable Bon Iver is one of a handful of artists/bands that I’ve been listening to since I was in university and that have never really disappointed. The new album starts off with a 4 song EP that was released at the end of last year and then there are 9 songs on the album itself. The album is short. I liked it when I first heard it, it’s very “pretty” music. I wondered how much staying power it would have but the more I listen to it the more I appreciate it. Sometimes less is more. Bonnie Prince Billy - The Purple Bird Been a bit of a case of diminishing returns with Bonnie Prince Billy (for me, at least) since his brilliant 2019 album I Made a Place. Even still, I’m sure I’ll get many more listens out of it. Haim - I Quit The newest album on this list. I love Haim. I love how they’re not afraid to change direction. Some of my favourite artists recently have released albums where they broke free of the shackles of whatever genre they were in (Vampire Weekend with Father of the Bride, Big Thief with Dragon New Warm Mountain) and I feel like Haim are kind of doing the same thing here. It might not be quite as good or as successful as those albums but I like it. It’s a more sad and mellow album than their last album. The Horrors - Night Life I have a soft spot for The Horrors since I discovered them in 2009 through their album Primary Colours. I thought they would go from strength to strength but they went in a direction that I didn’t really like (although I appreciate their follow-up album Skying a lot more now). Looking at my playcount apparently I listened to their 2017 album V a lot when it came out, but I have no memory of it at all. Anyway, it’s been a long wait for new music from them. Night Life isn’t a classic or even particularly excellent but I think it hearkens a bit back to the sound on Primary Colours, so I like it for that. Horsegirl - Phonetics On and On Love this. One of those “albums that instantly made me a fan.” There isn’t a dud on here. They have quite a unique sound, kind of twee guitar-rock with the reverb/distortion turned down to zero, so you can hear every note being played clearly. They’re coming to Tokyo in September so I’m almost definitely going to go see them. Japanese Breakfast - For Melancholy Brunettes (and Sad Women) Another candidate for album of the year so far. Having seen her (with her band, I guess Japanese Breakfast is a full band now) a couple of weeks ago live, I love this even more. This album doesn’t shoot for the rafters but what is here is lovely, very thoughtful music. It’s a nice companion to the poppier album Jubilee. Definitely one of my favourite modern artists/bands, along with groups like Fontaines DC and Big Thief. Jethro Tull - Curious Ruminant The third Jethro Tull album in three years? Wonders never cease. I really liked the first comeback album, The Zealot Gene. I haven’t really listened to the middle one, Rokflute. This new one is quite soft and gentle, mostly pleasant music, if not in any way essential. That being said, I love the long 16 minute song Drink from the Same Well. It’s worth it for that song alone. Southern All Stars - Thank you So Much This was a nice discovery for me. New album (possibly their last, who knows) from a Japanese pop-rock band that have been around for decades, and these days have slowed down to about one album every ten years. The album is a treasure trove of sounds (a lot of 70s sounds) and melodies. There isn’t a song on here I would skip. I’ve listened to their previous album and it sounds excellent too, so I will eventually add that to my collection and keep digging further. Valerie June - Owls, Omens and Oracles A few years ago I fell in love with her album The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, so I was really looking forward to this. I need to listen to it more from start to finish to have a more concrete opinion but I really like it. It might not be a concept album like her last one (although looking at the title, maybe it is and I haven’t noticed) but I could listen to her sing about anything.

Been a while since I posted in here. I haven’t watched too many films in June but I did watch two films by David Robert Mitchell, It Follows and Under the Silver Like. It Follows is a solid, enjoyable movie that I enjoyed more this time, watching with someone, than the time I tried watching it on my own. Under the Silver Like is much more ambitious and is brilliant for the first hour, then it turns into chaos. Still recommended though. Besides those, I watched one brilliant film, called Mad God. Its director, Phil Tippett spent thirty years making it (well, with long periods of not working on it). I think you will either love it or hate it. It’s an incredibly beautiful (and incredibly grotesque) hand-crafted film where literally everything that happens is horrible. I haven’t looked at the NYT list in the other thread but if I was to make a list of my favourite movies from the 21st century so far, this would easily be on there.

Sad news. Dreamsettler, the follow up to Hypnospace Outlaw, has been cancelled. https://www.eurogamer.net/hypnospace-outlaw-sequel-dreamsettler-cancelled-as-creator-issues-heartfelt-statement-maybe-ive-been-burnt-out-this-whole-time Hypnospace Outlaw is one of my favourite games of recent memory and I would have bought this day one.

That looks beautiful. I’ll probably already have a next-gen console by the time this comes out, but if I didn’t this is the kind of game that would make me take the plunge.

28 hours in now, on mission 7. The game has started to pick up again. Mission 6 was quite a change of pace but it was back to bashing the shit out of the demons at the end. The game is far from a classic but it’s quite fun switching between Legions and fooling around with the various attacking options the game gives you. Probably sitting on a 7/10 for me at the moment.

Well, Japanese Breakfast were brilliant. I wasn’t sure how many people were in the band besides Michelle Zauner, but it’s turns out it’s quite a big band with about six members. She is the star though. They played 20 songs, mostly from their most recent two albums which are the ones I own, and a few from their older albums. She sang amazingly well and everything sounded even better live than it does on record. One thing that surprised me is how “cute” her stage presence is. She bounced around a lot like a rabbit, it was cute. But yeah, great band, great concert. Hopefully I can see them many more times live.

Been watching the Mission Impossible movies. Just finished Fallout, the sixth one. The first three were enjoyable enough but the second three (Ghost Protocol, Rogue Nation and Fallout) are brilliant. A solid 9/10 all of them.

Going to my second concert of the year tomorrow, Japanese Breakfast. Another band I like, Horsegirl, are coming to Tokyo in September. I might go, but I’ll decide closer to the time.

Not showing for me, Snaggletooth.

Slight update following the Xbox Showcase. https://www.eurogamer.net/team-cherry-confirms-hollow-knight-silksong-is-coming-this-year-following-xbox-games-showcase According to Team Cherry, the game is coming before the holiday season and is not tied to the launch date of the Xbox handheld.

https://www.gematsu.com/2025/06/thunder-lotus-games-announces-side-scrolling-action-adventure-game-at-fates-end-for-ps5-xbox-series-and-pc Spiritfarer was cool, but this looks like a big step forward.

https://www.gematsu.com/2025/06/the-blood-of-dawnwalker-launches-in-2026 The Witcher, but you’re a (half) vampire.

https://www.eurogamer.net/bloobers-cronos-the-new-dawn-gets-release-window

Looks much more interesting than the Super Meat Boy runner thing.

Yeah this looks really good.