Currently listening to....

[Maf]

I will add all this stuff tomorrow all recommendations welcome and thanks 

[Maf]

I’m usually not a big fan of this guy but I love this. 
 

 

[Maf]

Reasonable Doubt is probably my 1st or 2nd favourite album ever. And even though I’ve heard this song sixteen million times, I only recognised how good it is when walking the other day. He raps really good on this

 

 

[Maryokutai]

 

I think they did some stuff for Hellblade II as well? Might have to play that after all.

[Guest]

Quote

"I'm a freak" 

"I'm a loser baby so why don't you kill me" 

"I'm a creep" 

"Cos I got no self esteem" 

 

90's is when the youth were so humble.

Saw the above comment on a youtube video for a 90's music video
Dont think its that we were humble, Just everything seemed Fucking Fruitless, No Hope, No Dream.
Generation Zero Summed up there!

Regardless we made some fucking good music.
On a Silver Chair Fix right now
 

 

 

[one-armed dwarf]

Here's an anti-recommendation for Mad Men, this thing is permanently stuck in my head now

 

 

[Craymen Edge]

I've listened to the new Sleep Token song a lot in the last couple of weeks. New album in May.

 

 

Also listened to Ren's appearance on Fire In The Booth more times than I can count.

 

[shinymcshine]

Bruce Springsteen was the first musician I saw live in concert, and I was a huge fan - but drifted away a good number of years ago - preferring his older stuff to any new offerings. Then a twist of fate saw me going, at last minute, to his concert at the Principality Cardiff last year - where fortunately most of the set list was the older stuff that I knew and loved.

 

Anyway, he's just announced the release of a 7 disc set of previously unrealised material - for what feels like a rather astonishing price !

 

Really - what are they thinking !?!?

 

[DANGERMAN]

On 23/03/2025 at 00:27, Snaggletooth said:

Saw the above comment on a youtube video for a 90's music video
Dont think its that we were humble, Just everything seemed Fucking Fruitless, No Hope, No Dream.
Generation Zero Summed up there!

Regardless we made some fucking good music.
On a Silver Chair Fix right now
 

 

 

late to this, sorry. I always wanted that Roswell guitar from the Freak video, but they were stupidly expensive (also it wasn't really the sound I had, I liked a fuller sounding guitar)

 

Also, Silverchair were the first band I went to see live when I was about 13/14, and we weren't sure if we'd get in, even though the band were about 15 themselves

[Guest]

I never realised they were so young at the peak of their fame, nuts to think!

[Maf]

On 31/03/2025 at 23:27, Craymen Edge said:

 

 

Also listened to Ren's appearance on Fire In The Booth more times than I can count.

 

 

Oddly enough my mum has said she likes REN so it’s always put me off listening to him. But a reaction to this came up the other day and I watched it, and it’s very good.

 

I think it’s all performance, delivery, styles, flows, timing etc. He really raps well on these beats.

The writing has good, dense rhyme patterns but in terms of what he’s saying it’s a bit light and whatever. The rhyming is better than the punchlines. 
 

It’s weird how a lot of what he talks about is video games and comic references then talks about guns and gangster stuff. It’s like ok, white boy. White rappers are a thing now but rap also declares pretence at authenticity at least and you’re not pulling that off

 

But he’s a very good rapper. This is clearly him coming in and trying to turn the place upside down and he definitely succeeds at that 

 

[Maf]

So after listening to the above I fell down the REN rabbit hole and actually he is really good. This song below is the middle part of a trilogy called Jenny and Screech, but I think this is the best part

 

 

The way he knocks on the guitar like a door, uses the guitar like a gun, and the line “AND THEY CALL ME FUCKING SCREECH!” might be the most satisfying line delivery…ever? I dunno. It’s so much fun 

Listening to a lot of this guy’s music over the past week he is very good. I think what makes him so good is he’s musical choices. He lets just enough influences in from everywhere from rap, jazz, Spanish sounding music without ever actually committing to a genre. So it’s not a genre fusion it’s just a mixture of a lot of different influences and styles which end up really unique sounding 

 

I’ve seen some people describe him as a rapper, I think he calls himself that to in some songs. I have tbh, I think measuring him as a rapper only he floats around 6/10-7/10. He’s only ok. But again mix in his music ability, and he shoots right past that. 

[Maf]

Ok this song is so fun 

 

 

[Guest]

 

[DANGERMAN]

the anime bits in that video are great. The song, I'm going to politely say, is not for me

[Maf]

Just heard this while out on a walk

 

 

Wretch 32 is incredible. The rhyming here is so complex and he makes it seem so effortless. He’s the kind of guy I always forget about (Because he’s UK and rap is obviously mostly US music) but he has to be in my top 5. 

[Maf]

I fell down this rabbit hole of Big Push covering I Shot The Sheriff/Hip Hop  reaction videos and this black guy is almost tearing up watching this white guy do reggae and rap. It is an incredible performance, I love it as well

 

 

[Nag]

 

This song lives rent free in my head at the moment...🥰

[DANGERMAN]

 

halfway through the year and I've bought 18 albums released in 2025 so far, so I thought I'd do an indulgent massive post . A couple of them like Mogwai and Pup I'll probably end up mentioning at the end of the year, Mogwai's is pretty decent, not their best, Pup I really like. Home Is Where sounds like a Home Is Where album, and the Michael Cera Palin album is good, but I've not had a huge amount of time with it yet but I like them, one for the emo/punk thread

 

A few I've bought haven't really paid off. I bought The Sinews after hearing a track on Bandcamp called The Door Into Tomorrow, which is a cool bluesy grunge post-rock thing. Unfortunately the rest of the album sounds like it was recorded on an old tape player and was just the first 12 songs they wrote, regardless of if they were any good. That one track is a fucking tune though

https://thesinews.bandcamp.com/track/the-door-into-tomorrow

 

Bad Request Machines I want to like more than I do I think, there's an element of butt-rock to them //cdn.theforum365.com/emoticons/icon_lol.gif I think if you like Monster Magnet you might like them, they're fun, they're from Brazil, and they sort of sound like they're from the nu-metal era without being nu-metal, a little overwrought. The album is pay what you want on Bandcamp, it's fun, a bit of a guilty pleasure, I'm listening to it as I type and they are fun

opening track as a sample: https://badrequestband.bandcamp.com/track/feel-this-desire

 

Some of the other stuff I liked without loving, This Does Not Exist are decent, in a Maserati heavy post-rock kind of a way. Oversize I saw supporting Rival Schools, their album is good but the CD has a weird thing where the tracks end in the wrong place, anyway, decent modern emo band. They Don't Sleep Anymore (Save Nothing) is pretty good, more of a post-hardcore album, I like this a lot, and Say Nothing is probably the stand out song

 

 

Suzzallo  - The Quiet Year is a fuzzy grunge album, all about the death of the singer's young son. It's pretty good, sonically it's not too maudlin, it's good, but you can tell the singer doesn't usually write this kind of stuff, but it's good, not especially heavy but there's plenty of melodies. Lyrically it ranges from really sweet memories about time with his son to lines like "give me a time machine, I'd do everything different, and maybe you'd still be here with me" 

 

 

Silver Tears is an Italian/German synth goth duo, and they're kind of fucking great. It could do with a bit more meat in the background, but there's some proper bops on it. Not my favourite album of the year, but worth a listen definitely

 

 

Take that Silver Tears album but at a sleazy  scuzzy layer to it and you get Plough. This was a real surprise, it's one guy and it's one of the albums from this year I put on most often. Great opening track, I'd love to watch him live if he were to ever put a band together and come over. This is cheap on Bandcamp too https://plough.bandcamp.com/album/plough

 

 

Softcult - See You In Heaven. Another fuzzy grunge album, this maybe loses its way toward the end when it gets a bit more shoegaze, otherwise I think it's up with my albums of the year, it's great

 

 

March On, Comrade  - The Gift You Can't Contain. I got their previous album back in 2021 and really liked it, they seem like decent people too, supporting foodbanks with their sales and stuff. Again, really cheap on Bandcamp, only $5. I'm not entirely sure how to describe their sound on this album other than using overwrought again //cdn.theforum365.com/emoticons/icon_lol.gif I guess emo in that sense of having a wide sound rather than being pop-rock or an off-shoot of hardcore. Probably not for everyone, good band name though 

 

 

You, Infinite I've not had chance to listen to loads of, but I wanted to mention them because it's a couple of the lads from This Will Destroy You, and kind of channels their earlier stuff, so it's more of a PSA for anyone who liked them

https://youinfinite.bandcamp.com/album/you-infinite

 

Swans - Birthing  I fucking love Swans, they are very much not for everyone, and Birthing falls in to the same sound as their last few albums. Not their most difficult album, probably not their best, but it's good if you like proggy riffy fever dreams

 

 

 

This one is a good news one. Alan Sparhawk, formally of Low, put out a new album called With Trampled By Turtles (the band that's supporting him with it, fittingly). For those that don't know, Low were a brilliant slowcore folk band, husband and wife (Alan and Mimi), with a bass player. Mimi passed away a few years ago, and Alan put out an album last year that kind of followed a direction Low were going down with manipulated vocals and sounds, to an extreme, because he couldn't bear to sound like Low. It wasn't amazing as an album but he clearly needed to do it. With Trampled By Turtles gives him a full band as backing, a meatier sound than Low, and shows what a good songwriter he is. Brilliant album, and I'm legitimately pleased he's found himself again, especially as his voice has got so much stronger over the decades. I'd love him to work with them again

 

[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.