Bob's Favourite Spins 2025

Favourite Spins of 2025

All right... here we go. 2025 was a slowly burning shitshow politically, and this definitely required me to look for tunes that provided a real escape from things. Below are some of my most-played tracks or albums. This list is very gnarly. Let's go0oo0000ooooo....

1. Surgeon- Shell~Wave: This DJ Maestro offers another banger album. It is a well-crafted colllection of 'techno', dashed with deep house, dub/dubstep, with many tracks designed for the club (or dancing alone with your headphones... in the dark... in your basement suite... of your parents... when everyone else is asleep... and you have to get up at 6 am ... and its 2 am and you're still up... and you want to move). This album could have been made 30 years ago (but it would have taken 20 years to make the sounds you can hear with a click of a button today). if the opening track doesn't draw you in, you're an ugly bag of water without a soul.
2. Daniel Avery - Tremor: The reviews are in: everyone doesn't vibe with Daniel Avery's departure from hypnotic beats to a ultra-lound shoe-gaze rockin album. 3 years from his last release, Tremor is something more like a My Bloody Valentine album with screaming keyboards and -importantly- vocals and lyrics. Personally, I think its awesome. There are one or two tracks where the guitar sounds a bit to0 intentional (the guitar in the bridge in Haze makes a squint a bit, and bits of Tremor), but -on average- it's a great throwback sound mixed within modern chemicals. New Life has a great dubstep shoegaze vibe, and the title track, when played at maximum volume is an experience. Check out this remix which sounds soo0oo Frontline Assembly-ish (no... it doesn't sound like NIN, you dummy... FLA>>NIN). 
3. Blawan - SickElixir: Blawan's "Wet Will Always Dry" album got me hooked ... hard. That album was a screaming call to bounce ... with viciousness. This album could be described in a single word: GNARLY... and I mean that in not in a "Square Pegs" kinda way. I mean, check this out... gnarly, right? What I love about this album is the deranged vocals, whispers, and speech that is more 'personal' than lyrical. If I could put on a soundtrack to my LinkedIn profile, it would be Weirdos United. People who like that GNARLY funky grooves are my kind of people I want to "CONNECT" with. 
4. James Holden & Waclaw Zimpel - The Universe Will Take Care of You: Such a beautiful, sublime album. Think a thousand mystical angles kissing a sore wound. With a world so full of shit, this generally ambient album gives a bit of solace. Sunbeam path sounds like a 70s NFB clips between commercials, bringing a very Boards of Canada vibe, differentiated by a feeling of 'hope'. Time Ring Rattles brings a touch of eastern sounds, but Sparkles, Crystals, Miracles is the dope, the drug, the anesthetic. Check out this live performance... I've been playing this lots. It's magical. 
5. Aleksi Perala - (Where do i start?): This dude *just* *doesn't* *stop* pumping out tunes. Eleven full-length albums (that I could find) just last year, excluding remixes. There are a few that stuck out, namely Cylces I & II, which has warm xylophone rhythmic treatments layered with triangles and subwoof-woofs... tribal and hypnotic. Controversial is to say the least. Where does mathematics begin and the music end? "Music is Math" say some... but are the never-ending digits in 'e' or 'pi' converted to musical notes music anymore? Who defines this shit anyway? I think this guy is trying to push those limits (e.g, the Colundi sequence, which are scales of 128 frequencies that don't follow traditional octaves/semitones). "I meditate and then try to remain in the sensitive state whilst making music." says he. Of the 8 "Grace" series he released, I have given Grace 8 more airtime. Maybe I was too tired to give the others the time they needed, but I'll take this experience. This one sings of Indian classical instruments (tabla, sarod) and percussive xylophones, which I've always found soothing. Great 'thinking music". Here is a link to another "Grace" track. 
6. David Gilmore's - The Luck and Strange Concerts: To quote others, there never will be another David Gilmore... from a lyrical, instrumental, or compositional perspective. This 78 yo rattles of a guitar solo for "Comfortably Numb" like it's nothing. This is such a great album, especially if you're a Floyd fan. Enjoy the video. 
7. Foxing - Foxing: Emo rock anyone? Sign me up. The first few tracks will pump blood through your veins like a firehose. You really have to give it a listen. Nuf said. Watch the official video for Secret History. 
8. Exaltics - Das Heise Experiment 1 (remastered). OK. ok... late 2023 release but it was December and its a 10 year remastered release so technically 2013... and this is my list so, sit-on-it, Potsy. This is a dark, gothic, electro album with some unforgiving beats. Zwoelf has a spacey but early days Aphex Twin sound, with acid-trance vibes. My favorite is Sieben, which has a sharp Front 242-ish percussion, with drone and acid layers (see this wild video). Quite industrial-sounding, sometimes pretty plain, but nevertheless, a classic. 
9. Tear Garden- Astral Elevator: A Tear Garden release in 2025 was definitely not on my Bingo card, but boy am I glad it released. I gravitate to this band due to my quest to trace goth/industrial music at its roots and look for splinters. Tear Garden was a splinter from a root that reached decades and, in its own little way, carved a path rarely taken. This (Edward Ka-Spell and Cevin Key) duo's releases are mind-benders, but I found this album exceptionally mind-bending. The lyrics are so relevant, touching on never-ending wars, hedonism, artificial intelligence, and the 'influencer' generation, among other themes, making for lyrical ear candy. I love it when music makes you think: "Square Root" digs deep into your mind, mixing thoughts on servitude, intelligence, what it means to be human, intimacy vs. control, in a super creepy kind of way. It blew my mind the same way Tear Garden's (first album, 1987) "You and Me and Rainbows" did. Here's a throwback to that 16-minute creepy classic. War Crier has such a beautifully lush sound, mixed with profound messaging (check out the official video... so very cool). "... love again despite the war... this never-ending bloody war." It’s not subtle... not comforting. When people claim divine permission, they stop questioning themselves ... and that’s when abuse becomes “holy,” hatred becomes “love,” and mobs convince themselves they’re saving souls while destroying lives. Love isn’t bliss; it’s resistance.

But, without a doubt, my favorite ‘electronic' album of 2025 (even better on LP) was 
Barker - Stochastic Drift … fast becoming a 'desert island album', alongside Eno’s Apollo/MfA1, Alva Noto’s Xerrox Vol.2, AphexTwin Ambient 2, etc.). Has a lot of texture for an ambient album with non-traditional beat signatures and outstanding mixing and music production. Whip out a book, put this on, and enjoy. "Fluid dynamics" has warm jazz vibes, and “Remembering Self” is very ‘Eno-ish.’ “Reframing" is earphone candy. Chicken Skin. Check out Barker's interview on AI and clubs.