Piccadilly Records End Of Year Review 2025

Piccadilly Records

End of Year Review

12 tracks on eco-mix random coloured vinyl — limited to just 600 copies.

20 tracks in a digipak sleeve — limited to just 300 copies.

End of Year Review 2025

Welcome to the Piccadilly Records EOY Review — and what an eventful year it’s been.

In between being swamped in July with Oasis tourists, we’ve managed to welcome a host of incredible artists through our doors. Antony Szmierek, Andy Bell, BC Camplight, and Pastel all joined us instore for intimate live sets to celebrate their album launches. We also hosted signing sessions with Saint Etienne and The Charlatans — and the legendary Johnny Marr dropped by to accept a Record Store Day Legend Award. True to form, he stuck around to sign stacks of his RSD release too (what a gent!).

Across the road at Night & Day Café, we were treated to unforgettable outstore performances from The Horrors, Sprints, and Ellen Beth Abdi, plus a “vibrant” Q&A with original members of The Fall. And to top it all off, we helped celebrate YES’ 7th birthday with a special Cate Le Bon live show as part of her album launch.

Piccadilly Records Compilation 2025

To cap off the year, we’re super excited to unveil our annual Piccadilly Records Compilation, a deep dive into the sounds that defined our year. This year’s tracklist features Pulp, Geese, Big Thief, Antony Szmierek, and many more. And for the first time ever, the release will be available on CD alongside the usual vinyl edition.

The extended audio capacity of the CD has allowed us to include bonus tracks and present a reworked running order, stretching to a glorious 80 minutes in total.

(A detailed track-by-track Piccadilly Records Compilation feature appears in the pages between the Top 100 and Top 50 Collections charts.)

In Memoriam

This year has also brought great sadness with the passing of some notable music legends.

Thank you for the music: Dave Ball, Marianne Faithfull, Bill Fay, Gwen McCrae, Roberta Flack, Angie Stone, Roy Ayers, Sly Stone, Brian Wilson, Lalo Schifrin, Ozzy Osbourne, Terry Reid, JD Twitch, Danny Thompson, Hermeto Pascoal, and D’Angelo.

Thank You

Finally, a huge thanks to Mark Brown for designing everything once again; the booklet, the vinyl and CD compilation covers, and all the posters around the shop! And to Republic Of Music for facilitating the Piccadilly Records Compilation on both vinyl and CD.

Here’s to another incredible year of music — and to all of you who make it possible.

Szmierek Service Station At The End

Manchester and its surroundings have a long history of producing great wordsmiths. Be it the literary genius of Antony Burgess and Shelagh Delaney, the songwriting chops of Morrissey, Ian Curtis and Shaun Ryder or the punk poetry of John Cooper Clarke, there seems to be a knack in these parts for documenting the grit and reality of city life with wit and charm.

A confident but gentle beta-male with the same insecurities and foibles as the rest of us. The polar opposite of the faux bravado of Old Manchester whilst still, somehow, possessing that patented swagger and our inability to take anything toooo seriously.

Thoughtful, and with an acute awareness of the times in which we live. What I love about this particular album is, you feel Antony’s lived every single one of these tales. When he finishes “Yoga Teacher” with its deeply self-critical prose, you know it’s a real, honest assessment of himself. His heart never leaves his sleeve throughout and his beautiful sensitivity is articulated perfectly as he discusses love, life and The Great Pyramid Of Stockport. There’s goosebump after goosebump inducing moment and lyrically, there’s few male singers that can have me so close to tears. I fuckin’ love you Antony!

It should be no surprise then that our favourite album this year comes from an artist following in this storytelling lineage. Set to a backdrop of serotonin boosting beats that nod to the Manc dancefloor through the decades, be it baggy grooves, full on dancefloor euphoria or slo-mo late-night-early-morning pulses, Antony’s stories are steeped in real life with all its joys, anxieties, ups and (come) downs, swirled together with a stream of consciousness meanderings and a heavy dose of surrealism. It’s an album with its heart in the city, and its feet on the dancefloor.

Antony Says...

To suddenly be actively contributing to a Year In Music is an odd feeling. You have to kind of hold both ends of it at the same time — the compulsion to write but also the reason you enjoyed it in the first place. You have to be able to go to gigs and not overanalyse which pedals the band are using, in the same way you should still be able to walk into a record shop and browse without worrying that everything has

been done before, and better. You have to be inside music, but also you have to be a fan.

Those lines were firmly blurred when my record came out, and despite remembering only fragments of a very intense and very real release week I’ll never forget seeing the cover of my record in the window of World Famous Piccadilly Records. (continues overleaf)

Antony Says...

(continued)

A dream you always sort of have as a Mancunian even if you’re not making music. Just kinda, that’d be cool wouldn’t it? To be where all those great records have been. To be in the background of the photos of passing tourists who have heard all about it online and desperately want to buy some Joy Division to take home to, say, Mexico.

But that’s the beauty of places like this. They mythologise music and make it art. They aren’t interested in playlists or statistics or data entry. In Piccadilly Records, with its iconic banners lining the shop, music is held aloft as something to covet, something special, and something that to many people is still the most important thing. You could stumble in on a rainy Tuesday and find your favourite album of all time, and that just feels possible in a way that it doesn’t through a screen.

Here you can physically rifle through music. Hold it. Be amongst it. Ask Barry behind the counter what’s playing out of the speakers. Hold the artwork up to the light and feel the heft of a gatefold and wonder if people will be passing this record down generation to generation just like the ones you inherited.

So to be on a list like this at all is insane, is what I’m saying. It’s been an important year and I’m glad to have contributed to that at all. I want to make lots more albums and I hope that some of them will sit within the walls of this beautiful shop and be picked up by accident by somebody who didn’t have a clue who I was or how to say my name, just that they liked the cover and the title and thought they’d probably give it a go. Magic.

Rude Films Rude Films

Liam: Well we might not all care to openly admit, one of the greatest buzzes of working at Piccadilly is putting an LP on the shop speakers and have one of you asking what is playing. And for 2025, or indeed recent memory, we can’t think of a record that this has happened to as often and frequently as it has for Rude Films’ debut.

And who can blame them? From the opening brooding moments of “Where Have You Been Lately?”, the Manchester quartet explode into a cacophony of shoegaze infused noise-rock on “Mort Subite”. From there, things don’t even begin to slightly let up as Rude Films then slam into the monster that is “Death

Hex”. Pummelling walls of sound that act as the perfect statement of what this band is capable of. A statement of which carries on with the fuzzed out and driving “Religion” and the sprawling and frenetic “Serenity”. Elsewhere, tracks like “Blood On The Tracks”, “Wide-Eyed Boy” and “A Lonely Moon” take a more atmospheric and textually rich route, whilst the jangly and anthemic “You’re The Image I Can’t Forget” sets its sights on your heart. Closing up on “Black Snow”, the entirety of the record comes to a cataclysmic crescendo with frontman Aaron Hill-Southern spitting his guts out over the Deafheaven-esque finale.

Immediate, massive and with plenty of noise to back them up, we’ve not been this excited about a new band from Manchester in a while. And we’re sure you’ll think the same too.

Big Thief Double Infinity

Liam: Since the release of their 2020 opus ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain I Believe In You’, a lot has happened to Big Thief. They’ve toured the globe nonstop, released various side-projects between them (with Lenker’s incredible ‘Bright Future’ being one of our albums of 2024), but also had their longserving bassist Max Oleartchik depart the band. But rather than let this affect them, Big Thief strived forward and invited a host of close collaborators and friends to create ‘Double Infinity’.

Whilst ‘Dragon New Warm Mountain...’ acted as a best of as sorts — it saw Big Thief exploring every avenue of their repertoire with the utmost precision — ‘Double Infinity’ thrives within its looseness and collaborative energy.

No more so than on the sweeping “Grandmother”, which features NewAge legend Laraaji. Elsewhere, tracks like “All Day All Day”, “Words” and “Happy With You” burst instrumentally with cosmic life, whilst the likes of “Incomprehensible”, “Los Angeles” and “How Could I Have Known” are classic Big Thief — with the latter being one of their best tracks to date. Lenker also once again proves lyrically she’s one of the finest songwriters of our generation. The way she creates these vivid vignettes with such ease and relatable intimacy is remarkable.

‘Double Infinity’ feels like the beginning of an exciting new chapter for Big Thief. A life-affirming record that examines love and, even though we might not always understand its various forms, the idea that it is the one constant we should all embrace in these ever challenging times.

Geese Getting Killed

Willow: There’s very little ground not covered by this manic, sprawling masterpiece. A challenging and unique effort by a prolific collective of artists, ‘Getting Killed’s devilish genius is in the minutest of its many subtle details.

Bombastic and cathartic at some points, subdued and hypnotic at others, the common threads through this album are the off-piste but considered instrumentation that elevate simple ideas to unexpected heights and, of course, Cameron Winter’s distinctive Walker-cumCave croon, at once comforting and unsettling.

In a year of both newer faces and veterans honing in on their areas of expertise and producing fantastic work, Geese have emerged as one of the biggest winners by deciding to have a go at one of everything — the biggest surprise not being that it works, but that it fits together so cohesively — typified by the lead single from the album “Taxes”, that in its short run time embarks on an ethereal journey through the various moods and styles that this project boasts. My personal favourite moments from the album are of course psychotic Doors-esque opener “Trinidad”, the Stones-y one-two punch of “Islands Of Men” and “100 Horses”, and the gorgeous closing track “Long Island City Here I Come”. Careful not to overstay my welcome in gushing about the grip this album has had on the Saturday squad since its relatively late entry into the year’s canon, suffice to say that this is a gem that will not lose its lustre with the passage of time.

Pulp More

Andy: Imagine a band returning to the fray twenty three years after their last album and then actually making a record that’s right up there with the very best of their material, a record as melodic and pertinent as anything they’d ever done before? Well that band is Pulp!

Music is of course about people, and when I think of Pulp I immediately think of my dear friend and their biggest fan Joseph, from the wondrous book shop and cafe Novel in (appropriately enough) Sheffield; what would he say about Pulp’s comeback? Perhaps he would mention something about them sounding more mature with less bedroom voyeurism whilst retaining the playful edge with which they made their name? Joey would probably find that a tad cheesy but then I’d have to remind him of the famous Elvis

Costello quote which was something along the lines of “writing about music is like dancing about architecture”.

Emboldened, I am pretty sure that Joe would continue by saying that it basically reminded him of their album ‘We Love Life’ and that it feels like the next stage of “growing up”. Where that album was about acceptance of themselves after ‘This Is Hardcore’, this one is all about accepting love. He would probably say that Jarvis is now singing about love in a way that sounds more like birds in your garden but without the climbing into bedroom windows of old; it’s more reflective and has moved away from the immediate moments of intimacy and instead focuses on reflections on intimacy in solitude. Is there still room for the classic “song to a mystery woman” that harks back to “Sylvia”? In “Tina”, Joe would say there certainly was! I would then thank Joe and probably end with my trademark; it’s a classic! That’s if any of the above actually happened at all.

Momma Welcome To My Blue Sky

Matt: Welcome to the world of young love, heartbreak & infidelity; sun scorched road trips; high school jealously; and riffs bigger than the 90s jeans you’re currently rocking.

I shouldn’t like Momma; it’s like the aural equivalent of watching The OC or Dawson’s Creek whilst slamming back tequila shots. But it’s so unavoidably infectious. Though the band are now based in Brooklyn, Etta & Allegra’s ultra Californian vocal harmonies soar over the songs like the Golden Gate Bridge at sunset, with lyrics that instantaneously knock years off your actual age. I think the Japanese call it natsukashii — rose-tinted nostalgia that fills your heart with joy. There’s a touch of classic skater punk aesthetics, a bit

of Weezer’s (who they’ve supported on tour) preppy innocence and demeanour; all whilst being more than capable of sizzling your nose hairs with their stupendously large guitar hooks and kicking drum work.

At first I’d have thought music this sweet and immediate would have burned out quickly, but no — the album’s been on constant rotation in my life throughout the year. From afternoons here in the shop, to driving through the Welsh countryside, to miserable mornings where you need an instant pick-meup. In interviews they say they wanted to write an album in which you’ll learn every lyric — I have! Word on the street is they’re amazing live too; and let’s get it straight — this band are still firmly in their infancy and ascendency — there’s gonna be more to come, and I for one can’t wait.

Lael Neale Altogether Stranger

Darryl: Four albums in and Sub Pop recording artist Lael Neale finally breaks into the Piccadilly End Of Year chart! Clocking in at just 32 minutes it’s a wonderfully crafted album, its brevity in keeping with Neale’s minimalist drone-pop sensibility; less is most certainly more on ‘Altogether Stranger’.

Lael Neale grew up on a farm in rural Virginia before feeling the pull of Los Angeles’ bright lights in 2011, then the pandemic hit and she retreated back to Virginia. It was there in her rural isolation that she wrote and recorded her 2023 album ‘Star Eaters’.

‘Altogether Stranger’ captures her return to Los Angeles and the tension between its magnetic artistic energy and its overwhelming chaos. Neale reflects on the city’s dual nature — the inspiration and madness of

a sprawling metropolis, the allure of creation alongside the hollow consumerism and deep melancholy that often pervade urban life.

Throughout the otherworldly ‘Altogether Stranger’, the ghosts of The Velvet Underground, Spacemen 3, and the wistful unease of Syd Barrett’s solo years drift in and out of focus. Standout moments include opener “Wild Waters,” with its synthetic handclaps, motorik pulse, and sugar-sweet vocals; the urgent mechanical thrum and majestic dreamscape of “Down On The Freeway”; the slow-burning ascent of “Tell Me How to Be Here,” that recalls the VU’s “Ocean”; and the mesmerising spiritualness of the hypnotic “New Age”.

Full of brittle lyrical honesty and meditative instrumentation, ‘Altogether Stranger’ is a maximinimal masterpiece.

Nightbus Passenger

Andy: Nightbus are the Manchester / Stockport duo

Jake Cottier and Olive Rees. They burst onto the scene a few years back with a 7 inch single which could only be described as a synth-pop take on Joy Division. It flew off our shelves! Now having enlisted the skills of producer Alex Greaves (Working Men’s Club) they have matured into a sleek and classy update, for me at least, of those electro-pop maestros Ladytron.

‘Passenger’ is a shadowy voyage into the neon wilderness with propulsive beats and plenty of cinematic scope. It’s a moody immersive experience specifically for late nights or early mornings: It’s comforting whilst at the same time having more than a small dose of melancholia.

The production is hypnotic with low slung grooves and 90s dance elements competing with post-punk guitars and spectral electronics. This is a dream-like world and one previously inhabited by the likes of The Cure, The XX or even Portishead. In album standout ”Host“ Nightbus use a dub drenched soundscape with trip-hop beats to create a whole world in itself, whilst the glacial “Ascension” (featured on our Piccadilly Records 2025 compilation), simply glides and glistens in a weightless blissed out space, moving along like prime time New Order yet somehow floating, detached, above it all and beautiful. It’s a track that’s typical of the whole record really; spectral, immersive, glowing (blue, like that artwork!) and dreamlike. Welcome aboard the Nightbus.

Turnstile NEVER ENOUGH

Ethan: With ‘NEVER ENOUGH’, Turnstile have strayed so far from any hardcore-punk formula that the world’s biggest hardcore band suddenly have their street-cred in question. But while punk fans debate semantics and decide how wide the scene’s gate should be, Turnstile are busy embracing their new-found place on the world stage.

Continuing the experimentation from 2021’s ‘Glow On’, the album that catapulted the band into the mainstream, this record adds extra flourishes to their established sound, keeping the listener thoroughly engaged. Scattered across 45 minutes are lovely Moog synths, triumphant horns, dream-pop guitars, funk-laden basslines, and even a beautiful flute solo on track “Sunshower” from Shabaka Hutchings (Sons of Kemet). Indie darlings Hayley Williams (Paramore), Dev Hynes (Blood Orange) and Faye Webster have guest vocal

appearances as well, and yet the whole record is produced by the band’s very own frontman, Brendan Yates.

The punk core that defines Turnstile is still present throughout. “SOLE” features the appropriate amount of builds and breakdowns, with a brilliant fake-out ending. Likewise, “SEEIN’ STARS” and “BIRDS” form a great one-two punch on the B side, the latter being maybe the track most reminiscent of earlier Turnstile soundscapes. Across all tracks, Daniel Fang’s drumming is a constant highlight, varied yet always lively and intense.

Whether Turnstile still fits the hardcore mold is irrelevant. Becoming popular is no longer synonymous with “selling out”, and the band stay true to their values on community and social consciousness while projecting to a wider audience. Above all, Yates, Fang, McCrory, Lyons and Mills have shown the world that their band is ostensibly hardcore in the ways that matter most — their ethos, energy, and connection.

Emma-Jean Thackray Weirdo

Paul: EmmaJean Thackray returned in 2025 with an album that refused to be ignored. Her debut album, 'Yellow', firmly established her on the UK jazz scene, but when ‘Weirdo’ hit back in April via Gilles Peterson's label, Brownswood Recordings, the 35-year-old West Yorkshire-born bandleader revealed herself as a musical polymath and ace producer able to use “jazz language” as a basis for her eclectic multiverse of broken beat, P-funk, spiritual jazz, hip-hop, and beyond.

‘Weirdo’ reportedly began life in 2022, but its themes took a devastating turn after the sudden passing of her partner in January 2023. After a six-month hiatus spent playing the computer game Zelda or staring at the wall, Thackray found her way back to the music and crafted 19 songs

(or just under an hour of music) that sit together as a true modern-day masterpiece. You only need to read the liner notes to find a dizzying index of the instruments played by her: trumpet, flugelhorn, trombone, euphonium — along with vocals, guitar, drums, keys, production, mixing, and art direction. Her name appears in the credits 123 times!

Love and loss, death and rebirth, from reclusiveness to sociability are all covered here, but that’s not to say it’s a depressing journey. “Maybe Nowhere” would get any crowd swaying and dancing, and closing track “Thank You for the Day” has a classy gospel-soul bop and sublime vocal workout that channels a tangible sense of optimism.

The art work might suggest that with glamour can come disaster. But this album proves she got out of that bath, and moved onwards like a warrior.

11. Sydney Minsky Sargeant Lunga

Barry: While I’ve dipped in and out of Sargeant’s work in Working Men’s Club and found much to enjoy, for me the languid folk-adjacent melodies and smoothly plucked acoustic guitar of ‘Lunga’ is a much more accurate barometer of his superbly evocative writing style and inventive melodic leanings.

There are echoes of the thoughtful, downtrodden altfolk of Alexander Tucker or Nick Drake, but it’s in the slower moments that Sergeant’s songwriting talents shine through, with brittle highpassed guitars and shimmering echo atop double-tracked vocals bringing incredibly welcome comparisons to ‘Madcap’-era Barrett. It’s not all woozy drifting though, the more defined moments of melodic clarity shine as brightly as anything he’s ever written. It’s a wonderfully rich, inventive sound that’s completely at odds with the industrial thump of WMC, and all the better for it.

12. Deafheaven Lonely People With Power

Fred: ‘Lonely People With Power’ is a timely return for Deafheaven, bringing back the Blackgaze sound that let them outshine their peers and in my opinion eclipsing their modern classic ‘Sunbather’.

Over its hour-long runtime, the album mixes manic drumming and guitars that bleed noise with moments of respite created by the “Incidentals” that feature guest vocals from the likes of Paul Banks and Jae Matthews.

The final track ,”The Marvelous Orange Tree” is a standout, calling back to the final track of their seminal album, ‘The Pecan Tree’, as it bounces around between the almost melodic sound of the intros of previous tracks on the album and the wall of sound that the rest of the album accompanies resulting in a satisfying finale. I do think, with this obsession they seem to have with trees, however they could have been arborists in another life.

13. Cindy Lee Diamond Jubilee

Andy: I first heard this Cindy Lee album with zero context playing on the office computer whilst I opened boxes of records. After about half an hour I began to wonder; what is this classic music and why haven’t I heard it before? Is it a compilation of great bands that for some reason didn’t make it?

It sounds like a beautifully curated hazy mixtape moving through doo-wop, sixties pop, girl groups, psych rock, indie pop, synth pop and even dislocated disco! I started to imagine it was the haunted soundtrack to some long lost David Lynch film, playing on a lonely old medium wave radio in a deserted house on a quiet and still street. This wistful sound felt warped, fractured, brokenly lo-fi yet sophisticatedly arranged, sweet yet macabre and with a deep sense of longing laced throughout. It was the best thing I’d heard in a long time!

Welcome to the mysterious world of Cindy Lee; the alter ego of Canadian maestro Patrick Flegel. Six years in the making and featuring 32 tracks spanning two hours of music, this could be your most exciting (and exotic!) musical discovery of 2025. It certainly was mine!

14. Andy Bell Pinball Wanderer

Barry: We’re big fans of all things Bell in the shop, Ride (obviously) and Oasis are common on the shop stereo so of course we’re always going to be super excited about a new one from the great Andy Bell. Turns out as well that not only does Manchester love Andy Bell, Andy Bell loves Manchester too with the swaggering Rosesy sound of “Apple Green UFO” more than a little reminiscent of the baggy groove we all know so well.

It doesn’t stop there either, we get soaring synthy bliss and stabs of saturated arpeggios swirling beneath echoic vocals and deep bass throbs, resulting in an album that’s as uniquely danceable and warmly comforting as anything he’s ever done. A perfectly engineered, impeccably curated selection of grooves from one of the most chameleonic and talented musicians in the game.

15. Blood Orange Essex Honey

Millie: It’s been six long years but Blood Orange has dropped something worth holding out for, ‘Essex Honey’ fixes that gaping absence of new music from the incredibly talented, Dev Hynes. The album holds those trademark feelings, iconic piano arrangements, but mostly there is hauntingly beautiful vocals which leaves an emotional rippling effect throughout.

The track “Mind Loaded” set part of the internet alight, the collaboration between Lorde, Caroline Polachek & Mustafa has been fulfilled and it’s magnificent. The vocals reach an ethereal level, and not to mention the Elliott Smith reference.

Exploring themes of grief and growing up in England, Hynes’ introspective song writing will always be emotive and soulful. It feels as though Dev Hynes can almost tap into a nostalgia or feeling you didn’t know you had, that’s the Blood Orange effect.

16. Little Simz Lotus

Laura: Little Simz returns with ‘Lotus’ which she describes as her ‘most personal album to date’. It’s a heart on its sleeve collection of songs, at times angry, at others reflective. The raw emotion kicks straight in on opening track ‘Thief’, which may or may not address the breakdown of her friendship with producer Inflo. A subject which has obviously impacted the album massively, not just emotionally and lyrically but production wise too. Themes of loss, anger, paranoia and grief are all covered and she’s diverted her rage into creating yet another absolute killer album. Where her previous two albums were all lush cinematic production and sweeping strings, this time around there’s a more contained sound: a darker, brooding intensity that’s powerful and provides the perfect space for Simbi’s smart, witty and incisive flow.

It’s an absolutely stunning album and Simbi once again proves that she is one of the greatest artists of her generation.

17. Apta The Pool

Martin: Apta’s latest libation has been a long time brewing. He released his first E.P. back in 2011 — for context, David Cameron was prime minister, the UK was still happily part of the E.U. and pandemics were the stuff of history lessons and disaster movies. So much has changed since, not least in Apta’s sonic world, although in this case those developments have not been jarring, each new iteration building on the fertile ground of the former; this being the most complete realisation of his creative vision to date.

“The Pool” is a sympathetic expression of psychedelic experience through music, with accents of post-rock, kosmische, Icelandic glitch popsters Múm and even folk inflexions adding texture to a modular electronic core. For the first time in his recorded history there are even vocals (hushed mind you, and only on the one song, the gorgeous drift of “Emerge”).

Yes, it’s taken 14 years to get to this point, but it’s definitely been worth the wait — and infinitely more welcome than some things I could think of.

18. The Horrors Night Life

Mine: There aren’t many other bands that have been as consistently present in my life over the last 20 years as The Horrors. I vividly remember the big hair and the raucous live shows that accompanied their debut in 2007; but with every release they changed (sometimes a little, sometimes a lot) and with every release they matured (and so did I!)

And while I didn’t love every new album immediately, those I initially disliked are now among my all-time favourites. In a way, it feels like The Horrors, like a big brother who has seen the world, ready to pass on their wisdom, were showing me the way during my arguably most formative years. The haunting ‘Night Life’, more industrial and electronic than its predecessor, has also been a grower, but it wouldn’t be The Horrors if they didn’t manage to convince me that it was time for them to move on — and that it was worth it! Here’s to the next 20 years.

19. Kendrick Lamar GNX

Ethan: On ‘GNX’, Kendrick Lamar trades his saviour image and bold messages for an eloquent victory lap in his new black Grand National. This joyride is, of course, in the wake of one of hiphop’s most notorious beefs — the one between Lamar and industry sweetheart Drake.

This major pop culture event forms the subtext of the record, as a focal point is celebrating Lamar’s connection to his hometown and culture (something he criticised Drake’s lack of). Grounded firmly in the West Coast sound, Lamar lowers the ladder back into the scene, giving newcomers like Dody6 and YoungThreat moments in the spotlight.

‘GNX’ also sees Lamar having more obvious fun in the studio compared to past works. DJ Mustard-produced “TV Off” is a notable example, with a section where Lamar screams the producer’s name, while “Peekaboo” retains Lamar’s goofy delivery from his work with Baby Keem. “Reincarnated” also celebrates black musicians and learning from history. Bouncy, playful and passionate, Lamar sounds freer than ever behind the wheel.

20. Kokoroko Tuff Times Never Last

Millie: Kokoroko’s second studio album ‘Tuff Times Never Last’ is a literal message, a beautiful dose of optimism, joy and that resilience with the help of music and community, it might just all be ok in the end — if not better.

You can really get the sense that the 8-piece band have grown their sound from more Afrobeat jazz, to being influenced by soul, R&B, bossa nova and quite a range more. The progression of their style feels like an organic movement into this new chapter and I’m all for it. Vibrant, emotive, almost as though a snapshot of Summer 2025.

“Never Lost” has got to be my favourite track from the album, the harmonies they reach, the emotions it evokes, it really encapsulates the feeling of golden sunshine on your face. The album holds the sentiment that, with the people closest to you held tightly, it’s true, good times are only around the corner.

We find it hard to say anything bad about a Mogwai album, they’re one of the greatest bands in the world and thus we’re convinced they’ll never make anything less than astounding. ‘The Bad Fire’ is thematically, visually and aurally impeccable. Beautiful, climactic crushing post-rock with bags of melody.

Jagged, glitchy pop music and euphoric, trance flavoured minimalistic electronica, both phasing in and out beneath the sometimes haunting, often ethereal vocal passages. Perfectly crafted, constantly moving and drawing influence from all over the musical spectrum.

Cate Le Bon’s ‘Michelangelo Dying’ takes all of the bright, angular melodicism we’ve come to know from albums like ‘Reward’ or ‘Pompeii’, and hides it beneath a shroud of swirling chorus and deep reverb. Like listening to perfect indie-pop under the surface of the sea. Lovely.

Wonderfully clever, dynamic rock music that grows and twists around a solid melodic core. As ever, the band’s vocal interplay is key, and results in an album as interesting as it is melodic and enjoyable.

The “difficult” second album from the meteorically popular, Obama-approved Wet Leg sees the Isle of Wight duo pushing their sound further into the territory of off-kilter jangling indie, shining with melodic streaks and soaring choruses. Their humour and understated songwriting shine through too, with moments of wry self-deprecation commonplace among the melodic maelstrom.

21. Mogwai The Bad Fire

22. FKA Twigs EUSEXUA

23. Cate Le Bon Michelangelo Dying

24. Bar Italia Some Like It Hot

25. Wet Leg Moisturizer

An optimistic outing from Earl Sweatshirt this time! Full of his trademark experimental jazz sampling, abstract beats, and loose unorthodox flows, while also being concise and straight to the point. Class!

Gogo Penguin ooze non-frantic, languid and easy vibes. All of this while retaining the sort of impeccable frenetic musicianship and effortlessly beautiful developmental songwriting we’ve become used to from them. It’s impeccable, and it’s pretty and it looks stunning too.

Ela Minus DÍA

Perfectly penned, cathartic synth-pop that’s as beautifully produced as it is danceable, with echoes of Christine & the Queens, Georgia and Kelly Lee Owens but with a unique, main-room dancefloor drive. Unbelievably powerful, armwaving euphoria throughout.

29. Water From Your Eyes

It’s A Beautiful Place

Water From Your Eyes forge a sort of noise that could result in me trying to describe song after song in an endless stream of genre descriptions, but it would do no good. You need to hear it. Mad avant indie, jagged math rock and arty psychedelia, and the rest.

A chameleonic jaunt through indie-pop, country and psychedelic rock with the inimitable CMAT building on her already solid reputation as one of the most innovative musicians in the arena. If anything, ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ manages to push these boundaries even further without compromising on her ability to tell a tale with humour and skill. Another future classic.

26. Earl Sweatshirt Live Laugh Love 27. GoGo Penguin Necessary Fictions

The ketamine-fueled, make-believe love child of Taylor Swift and Lana Del Rey debuts on taste-making imprint Scenic Route for a fairy tale of disassociation and lost American dreams.

BDRMM aren’t exactly afraid of pushing boundaries, and earned a lot more fans with their last album ‘Standard Tuning’. This time, the Hull foursome smash through a series of beautifully produced pieces, packed with industrial synths and woozy floating pads, shoegaze tentativeness and electronic bombast.

A raucous selection of riotously melodic indie stormers from Shame here, taking everything they’ve established on their previous three albums and turning the volume up even more. Brighter, more carefree and with years of experience on the live circuit to bolster their energetic blast of melody. A band entirely at ease with their sound.

34. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Death Hilarious

Newcastle’s blistering Pigs x7 bring us a scuzzed-out version of their groundbreaking sound from 2023’s mindblowing ‘Viscerals’. There are riffs aplenty and heavy hitting lyrics, walls of noise and soaring, groovy basslines but there’s also a load of garagey, saturated distortion and loads of muck. Classic Pigs.

35. Natalie Bergman

My Home Is Not In This World

Natalie Bergman returns for Third Man Records, bringing a host of bouncy melodies and flickering folky balladry, majestic 60s psychedelia and soaring gospel choruses. A beautifully evocative, and warming treat.

31. F.G.S. Tinker Bell’s Cough 32. Bdrmm Microtonic

33. Shame Cutthroat

Scenic Route records have done it again! This one from Acopia has got Piccadilly HQ weak at the ol’ knees. Reminiscent of a more dreamy Bar Italia, then at times channelling A.S.O.’s downtempo-ness from yesteryear.

Doves return for their most progressive, nuanced outing yet. Though they have made their name as an “indie” band, ‘Constellations For The Lonely’ shows that their wheelhouse effortlessly expands with each release, crafting pieces that are wildly dynamic and enduringly unique and taking them well beyond the realms of their initial appeal.

Visceral, thumping kick drums and stabbing guitars work beneath soaring synth arps and snappy 808’s before breaking down into tender electronic indie and brittle ambient washes. Beautifully produced and endlessly inventive, never straying too far from melody, but evolving constantly.

To me, while Wednesday’s music has all of the evocative charm and quiet thoughtfulness of a country record, there is little to tie Wednesday’s southern American roots to their sound, an incendiary mix of snarling grunge rock and sweeping stadium grandiosity. ‘Bleeds’ is another superb record from Wednesday and a perfect fit for Dead Oceans’ off-piste aesthetic.

40.

Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You

Brittle, ambient folk meets country-pop melodies and wispy guitars, gorgeous ambient washes and Hayden Anhedönia’s beautifully evocative layered vocals. It’s a perfect followup to her understandably adored 2022 outing ‘Preacher’s Daughter’.

36. Acopia Blush Response

37. Doves Constellations For The Lonely

38. Model/Actriz Pirouette

39. Wednesday Bleeds

Ethel Cain

x Piccadilly Records 2025

"Metal Megastars"

“Modern, hazy spin on 2000s nostalgia”

“An atmospheric, melodic sequel”

Thrice

x Piccadilly Records 2025

“Thoroughly modern and original.”

Mavis Staples Sad and Beautiful World

Sam Akpro Evenfall

Curtis Harding Departures & Arrivals

BIG THIEF Double Infinity

JENNY HVAL Iris Silver Mist BARTEES STRANGE Horror

MARIA SOMERVILLE Luster TUNE-YARDS Better Dreaming

U.S. GIRLS Scratch It

41. The Besnard Lakes

The Besnard Lakes Are The Ghost Nation

This is a really beautiful album which combines post-rock with a touch of psych and even gently pulsing shoegaze. The band have created a warm and enveloping sound world studded with gorgeous twinkling songs.

42. KiF Still Out

Dewy, bucolic ambient music that’s reminiscent of any number of post-club staples but with a uniquely shimmering tenderness and richly immersive production. There are moments of surprise too, and humour but the end result is something that comforts and soothes.

43. Adrian Sherwood The Collapse Of Everything

His first non-collaborative album since 2012, ‘The Collapse Of Everything’ provides the perfect return for one of the most innovative and creative musicians and producers in the world. Absolutely stunning progressive, dub-adjacent pieces studded with huge guests too.

44. Maria Somerville Luster

Gorgeous and mesmerising, Maria Somerville’s latest is a beautifully produced and wonderfully immersive example of classic 4AD. Hazy and shimmering shoegaze, mixed with lush enveloping ambient passages — Somerville’s ‘Luster’ is destined to be a classic.

45. Viagra Boys Viagr Aboys

Scathing, soaring garage riffs and distorted vocal swathes, as is the order of the day for Viagra Boys. This time the psychedelic quotient is amped up to 11, with woozy riffs and weird scuzzy stoner grooves coated with a veneer of heady, lysergic oddity.

46. Ellen Beth Abdi Ellen Beth Abdi

Silky smooth street soul rich with shimmering arpeggios and throbbing bass, meticulously crafted passages of minimalist electronics and Abdi’s athletic, rhythmic vocals. A brilliantly cohesive, musically inventive debut from an artist we’ll be hearing lots more of in the future.

47. Baxter Dury Allbarone

Oooof, a slew of absolute bangers here from Baxter Dury channeling the spirit of the club, and resulting in something that’s instantly recognisable as his but with a rich heart of percussion and throbbing bass. A wonderfully new twist on Dury’s already unique sound.

48. Sprints All That Is Over

A raucous, distorted distillation of garage rock and postpunk, with a breadth of sound you don’t necessarily expect from a second album. “To The Bone” is a particularly brilliant non-sequitur that shows how flexible the band are.

49. BC Camplight A Sober Conversation

A superb, cinematic journey that’s as instantly alluring as any album in his brilliant back-catalogue, but whose myriad sonic non-sequiturs make more sense every time you hear them. A beautifully warm, endlessly enchanting journey from one of the most capable and talented figures in the game.

50. Kieran Hebden & William Tyler 41 Longfield Street Late 80s

A perfect mix here of William Tyler’s warm, athletic guitar playing and Hebden’s organic, off-the-grid electronic production resulting in an album that sits easily in the canon of either artist, but is probably just as much reinventing a sound as it goes. A gorgeously immersive journey.

AIRBAG WOKE ME UP

SPILL TAB ANGIE

MIDAS THE JAGABAN PARTY ON THE MOON

SOULWAX ALL SYSTEMS ARE LYING

OKLOU CHOKE ENOUGH

LSDXOXO DGTL ANML

MYD MYDNIGHT

AMADOU & MARIAM L’AMOUR À LA FOLIE

SHYGIRL CLUB SHY ROOM 2

BAMBII INFINITY CLUB II

METRONOMY GREATEST HITS & BBC SESSIONS

SHYGIRL ALIAS (5 YEAR ANNIVERSARY REISSUE)

MARIE DAVIDSON CITY OF CLOWNS

THE BETA BAND THE THREE EPS

PARCELS LOVED

LIMINANAS FADED

BECAUSE MUSIC 2025

JESHI

51. David Byrne Who Is The Sky?

There’s a loose frivolity and organic shuffle to every piece here, with Byrne’s incredible outlook and impeccable musicianship clearly shining. A wonderfully uplifting, impeccably conceived masterpiece.

52. Everyone Says Hi Everyone Says Hi

Tuneful guitar pop from this new band fronted by ex-Kaiser Chief frontman Nick Hodgson. The kind of accessible and melodic indie-pop that Ian Broudie effortlessly serves up with the Lightning Seeds.

53. Marconi Union The Fear Of Never Landing

Stunningly rich electronic music that beautifully drifts in the open space between ambient downbeat music or IDM. A stunningly cohesive and evocative behemoth of an album.

54. Suede Antidepressants

Since their early Britpop days Suede have expertly shifted through various states of indie-adjacent heaviness, their latest is a roaring garagey slab of snarling post-Britpop heft.

55. Everything Else Another On Making Clouds

Harkening back to those early Slowdive EPs released on Creation, the swathes of ethereal reverb, distorted artwork and enveloping walls of sound make this a real gem of 2025.

56. Yazmin Lacey Teal Dreams

After her 2023 breakthrough album ‘Voice Notes’ and last year’s stunning vocal collaboration with Ezra Collective, Lacey delivers a classy blend of soul, jazz and indie on ‘Teal Dreams’.

57. Just Mustard

WE WERE JUST HERE

The third release from Irish five-piece Just Mustard sees the band adding a warm melodic thrust to their signature heavy distorted noise. A haunting, beautiful and immense soundscape.

58. Hayden Pedigo

I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away

On his latest album Hayden’s mesmerizing finger picked guitars conjure up images of dusty sunbaked landscapes and endless highways. A wonderfully evocative album, perfect for lazy Sunday listening.

59. Marie Davidson City Of Clowns

Scattered electronic fragments melt together into a big, robotic monolith of Linn drums, glitchy vocals and melted oscillators.

60. Nine Inch Nails

Tron: Ares Soundtrack

Another roaring suite of cinematic thuds and industrial riffage from one of the greatest musicians in all of recorded music, Trent Reznor. Superb.

61. Mark William Lewis

Mark William Lewis

Never has melancholy and fragility sounded so good as when he burst onto the scene last year. ‘MWL’ expands the instrumental and fx palette further whilst his rich, syrupy velvet voice still touches our hearts.

62. Mac DeMarco Guitar

Swimming in the sort of friendly vibes that MDM excels at, ‘Guitar’ sees him at his best, mellow acoustic guitar parts combined with his warmingly evocative vocals.

Abomination Revealed

Another fiery missive from the scuzz-rock behemoth that is OSEES. Big, bold and brash and ram-packed with attitude. John Dwyer and co,

Her first album recorded predominantly in English ‘Utopia’ is endlessly evocative and beautifully conceived. It’s development of her sound.

69. Raisa K

Affectionately

Intriguing DIY / bedroom, experimental synth-pop curio which will appeal to regular visitors to the Dean Blunt sphere.

70. Jane Remover

Revengeseekerz

Noisy, free-wheeling experimental hip-hop that’s deeply rooted in synth music and vapourwave, reminiscent of an amped-up PC Music vibe.

(Splendour & Obedience)

Thumping, jagged dance music that’s as filthy as it is alluring. Gritty overdriven synths, rattling drum machines and lots of satisfying filter manipulation. Perfect for the dancefloor or

Eddie

Chacon

Chacon’s latest dips more than a toe into the Balearic seas, but ends up somewhere between poolside electronica, downbeat and funky soul.

Pale Blue Eyes

Beautifully rich soundscapes with shimmering chorused guitars and dreamy, lysergic vocals swimming over the top. Pale Blue Eyes take the best elements of shoegaze, synth and pop and bring them together perfectly.

71. Michael Grigoni & Pan American

New World, Lonely Ride

Another winner from the Kranky stable, if rippling ambient American guitar music is your thing then the majestic ‘New World, Lonely Ride’ is possibly the most perfect example of it.

72. Chip Wickham

The Eternal Now

Wonderfully rich, lysergic keys and treble-bright Rhodes stabs echo throughout, underpinned by intensely skilled percussion and silky-smooth vocals — a vivid, hypnotic blend of craft and atmosphere.

Expanding To One

Deeply restorative droplets, Restorative droplets and chimes fall over syncopated percussion; swimming woodwinds and jazzy trills drift into lounge-like rhythms and slow, fluid grooves.

73. Billy Woods

Golliwog

If it wasn’t for Woods’ impeccable rapping, this could easily be an outsider noise / plunderphonics odyssey, with lo-fi samples bringing to mind Lilacs & Champagne or DJ Shadow. Brilliant, and completely startling experimental hip-hop.

74. The Charlatans

We Are Love

Tim Burgess and co return with their first studio album since 2017’s ‘Different Days’. A lush production and a renewed energy sees them push their trademark indie-groove to vibrant new levels.

75. Pastel Souls In Motion

Blissed out, spacious grooves and a vibe brimming with belief and positivity. A swaggering sound reminiscent of The Verve circa ‘A Northern Soul’.

76. Resavoir & Matt Gold

Horizon

Another International Anthem stunner, this time channelling Brazilian music and ending with an album that’s just driven enough to not end up horizontal.

77. Deftones Private Music

With ‘Private Music’ Chino & crew recall the heft of ‘Adrenaline’ and the ingenuity of ‘White Pony’. A brilliant sonic odyssey, dreamy and ferocious in equal measure.

78. Bon Iver SABLE, FABLE

A cathartic and epic album comprising two parts. ‘SABLE’ is undeniably beautiful, focussed on Bon Iver’s alt-folk roots, while the contrasting ‘fABLE’ is a widescreen burst of emotion.

79. Big Special National Average

82. Panic Shack Panic Shack

Bouncy, punky dance music that’s rooted in garage rock but is shining with the sort of modern production and song structures that lean heavily into modern, wild party music.

83. Jasmine.4.t You Are The Morning

Jasmine’s music thoroughly soars, nestling comfortably between the countryadjacent majesty of onetime tourmate, Lucy Dacus or the folky fingerpicking of Ryley Walker or Yasmin Williams.

84. Loyle Carner Hopefully!

An absolutely stunning, heartfelt new album from Loyle Carner, perfectly mixing his established disaffected lyrical flow with understated full-on singing! Brilliant.

Wry, political spoken word pieces that are nicely produced and perfectly constructed, some a little louder and some a little less but all superb.

80. The Limiñanas Faded

France's Limiñanas beautifully segue through a selection of gritty psychedelic groovers and airy tropical pop gems. It's hard not to be swayed by their inescapable songwriting talent and incomparable vibe.

81. Mulatu Astatke Mulatu Plays Mulatu

The Ethio-jazz godfather returns for a brand new album, clearly showing how his dedication to the preservation of classic Ethiopian music has shaped the appreciation of it throughout the world.

85. DITZ Never Exhale

Ditz’ second record is an incendiary slab of distorted guitars, pummelling percussion and roaring vocals.

86. Blue Lake The Animal

A properly lovely selection of rippling, bucolic ambience, slide guitar and zither recalling folk traditions with a heavy nod to Americana and New Age improvisation.

87. Maruja Pain To Power

A melting pot of slow, thoughtful percussion and flickering post-rock guitar passages, topped with athletic saxophone trills and thoughtful vocals, resulting in an album that’s as jazzy as it is ambient.

88. Say She She Cut & Rewind

The Brooklyn nu-soul powerhouse return for another blast of smooth basslines, snapping percussion and gorgeous 3-part harmonies, rendering possibly their most addictively funky outing yet.

One of the prime forces behind the Post-Rock movement of the early 90s are back; ‘Touch’ delivers off-kilter jazz ambience, kosmische rhythms and

Beneath Strawberry

Their third album ‘Beneath Strawberry Moons’ sees Gulp team up with the super talented Andrew Wasylyk to create a lovely album of dreamy tropical pop music.

Nourished By Time

The Passionate Ones

On his second album Baltimore’s Marcus Brown brings all the ravey rhythms and snappy 909’s, crafting a comfortingly wonky base for his singular lysergic vocals.

Jessica Winter

Bright, bold synth pop that sounds as influenced by modern synthesis and production techniques as it is the classic synth era.

95. The Beths

Straight Line Was A Lie

Recorded in their hometown of Auckland, ‘Straight Line Was A Lie’ is a beautifully nuanced, and gorgeously evocative indie-rock opus.

96. Alabaster DePlume

A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole

Alabaster DePlume’s music is rich in jazz tradition but also swims with avant garde folk influence, with Plume’s voice providing a welcome counter to the deep, oft dissonant instrumental element.

97. Studio Electrophonique

Studio Electrophonique

The solo project of Sheffield’s James Leesley; ‘Studio Electrophonique’ is both heartfelt and melodic, reminiscent of the bedroom indie-pop charm of early Belle & Sebastian.

psychedelia that's both hypnotic and entrancing on the ever-reliable Fuzz Club. There are hints here of minimal ambient and Industrial, music concrete and classical but the whole

uncategorisable as it does

98. Caroline

Caroline 2

Beautifully structured, monolithic compositions with soul and intrigue that also get stuck in your head like nothing else.

99. Beirut A Study Of Losses

Another superb suite of thoughtful, wandering melodies and swooning harmonies from Zach Condon here, this time commissioned for a contemporary Swedish circus.

‘Arctic Moon’ sees the indie pioneers laying down a perfect mix of their trademark guitary jangle and a more modern production aesthetic.

100. The Tubs

Cotton Crown

Oscillates from their bombastic punk-adjacent throb and driving distorted power chord groove to nuanced, jangling indie melodicism and soaring, memorable harmonies.

Supporting the best releases of 2025

CINDY LEE

’Diamond Jubilee’ W25th

KiF

‘Still Out’ Sound Records

GANAVYA ‘Nilam’ Leiter

V/A

’ALL THE YOUNG DROIDS’ School Daze

CHIME OBLIVIAN ’Chime Oblivian’ Deathgod corp

GALAXIE 500

’CBGB 12.13.88’ Silver Current

RIVAL CONSOLES ’Landscape From Memory’ Erased Tapes

MOSES YOOFEE TRIO ’MYT’ Leiter

F**CKWOLF ’Boone’ Agitated

BLUE LAKE

’The Animal’ Tonal Union

TITANIC ’Hagen’ Unheard of Hope

THE GNOMES

’The Gnomes’ Dogmeat

Piccadilly Records Compilation 2025

£14.99

We’re super proud to bring you the Piccadilly Records Compilation 2025. And for the first time ever the vinyl has been joined by a CD edition including nine bonus tracks.

But let’s begin with the vinyl compilation. Featuring twelve tracks from artists in our EOY Top 20, here’s a brief track-by-track synopsis.

A1. Rude Films Death Hex

From the album ‘Rude Films’ No.2 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Kicking off this year’s vinyl compilation, Rude Films strike hard and heavy with “Death Hex”; a devastating, monolithic opener that fuses Mogwai’s loud/quiet dynamics with soaring vocal harmonies.

A2. Geese Taxes

From the album ‘Getting Killed’ No.4 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Currently creating a seismic stir with their new album, “Taxes” embarks on an epic odyssey through shifting moods and styles — perfectly encapsulating the album’s essence.

A3. Momma I Want You (Fever)

From the album ‘Welcome To My Blue Sky' No.6 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Brooklyn’s Momma keep the tempo high with a breezy indie-pop anthem — packed with driving guitar hooks and soaring melodic vocals that The Breeders would’ve nailed in their prime.

A4. Big Thief Los Angeles

From the album ‘Double Infinity’ No.3 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Taking the tempo down a notch, Big Thief's understated brilliance comes to the fore with “Los Angeles”. A warm folky sound that wraps itself around Adrianne Lenker’s unmistakable vocals. Intimate, classy and timeless!

A5. Emma-Jean Thackray Staring At the Wall

From the album ‘Weirdo’ No.10 in the Piccadilly Top 100

The jazz infused “Staring At The Wall” combines minimal keys and sparse synthesized beats with raw and emotional vocals. A deeply personal track born from a period of loss and introspection.

A6. Pulp Spike Island

From the album ‘More’ No.5 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Big hitters Pulp close out Side A in euphoric style. “Spike Island” is Pulp at their best; an anthemic and evocative track recalling the near mythical Stone Roses gig in 1990.

B1. Lael Neale Wild Waters

From the album ‘Altogether Stranger’ No.7 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Lael Neale’s sparkling “Wild Waters” heads up Side B with its synthetic handclaps, motorik pulse, and sugar-sweet vocals. Echoes of Spacemen 3 and VU drift through her minimalist drone-pop landscape.

B2. Nightbus Ascension

From the album ‘Passenger’ No.8 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Flowing on with an electro-pop pulse

Nightbus’ “Ascension” simply glides and glistens in a weightless blissed out space, moving along like prime time New Order, detached but beautiful.

B3. Andy Bell I’m In Love…

From the album ‘Pinball Wanderer’ No.14 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Andy Bell sustains the shimmering dream-pop soundscape on his cover of “I’m In Love With A German Film Star”; an epic, ethereal kosmische collaboration with Dot Allison and Neu!’s Michael Rother.

B4. Sydney Minsky Sargeant

I Don't Wanna ***

From the album ‘Lunga’ No.11 in the Piccadilly Top 100

Sidestepping his Working Men’s Club project, Sydney delivers an LP of languid alt-folk. With its gentle acoustic guitars and subtle flowing synths, “I Don’t Wanna” offers a perfect snapshot of the album.

B5. Kokoroko Never Lost

From the album ‘Tuff Times Never Last’ No.20 in the Piccadilly Top 100

The mood remains mellow with Kokoroko’s sublime “Never Lost”, a beautifully lilting piece of soulful jazz. Vibrant harmonies shimmer throughout, radiating like golden sunshine for the ears.

B6. Antony Szmierek

The Great Pyramid Of Stockport

From the album ‘Service Station At The End Of The Universe’ No.1 in the Piccadilly Top 100

The compilation closes on a high with the bombastic ode to “The Great Pyramid Of Stockport”. Our Album of the Year hero delivers his poetic lyrical flow over a backdrop of thumping dance beats, swirling synths, and intricate guitar licks.

*** A vinyl only track.

CD price £8.99

The CD edition of Piccadilly Records

Compilation 2025 features nine bonus tracks hand-picked from our Collections, Singles, and Genre charts; though it loses the vinyl only Sydney Minsky Sargeant track. With 20 tracks in total and a reworked sequence the CD runs to a glorious 80 minutes in total.

Here’s a brief review of the bonus tracks:

Mancunian outfit Westside Cowboy have been making serious waves across the country with their off-kilter slacker indierock, and “I’ve Never Met Anyone…” is a killer cut from their debut EP, definitely ones to watch in 2026!

Having earned early support from Andrew Weatherall and, more recently, Richard Fearless, Andrew Innes and David Holmes, Belfast’s Deeply Armed affirm their credentials with “The Healing”, a propulsive kosmische psyche-dance mantra charged with hypnotic energy.

Ghost Assembly turn up the intensity with thumping synth stabs on the glorious acid chugger “Resist!”, whilst Alex Kassian follows up last year’s epic “A Reference To E2-E4…” with another monumental rework in the form of Spooky’s "Orange Coloured Liquid”.

Blurring the boundaries between Balearic, kosmische, disco and psych; Psychederek woo us again with the blissed-out 80s Ibiza vibe of “Thinkin' Bout U”. Whilst Piccadilly staffer Barry, under his Apta guise, provides a beautifully warm slice of electronica with “The Depths” before we drift into the deep, meditative jazz of “Love Theme From Your Life” courtesy of LA’s Phi-Psonics.

Ellen Beth Abdi lays down the majestically soulful “Sad Chord” and finally Christian (The Earlies) Madden & The Enemy Chorus’ gloriously funky “Twice As Thick” is the standout pick from Two Piers ‘Soul Psychédélique (The Sounds Of Psychedelic Soul & Funk 1967-2024)’, our Collection of the Year!

CARGO INDEPENDENT DISTRIBUTION

BILLY NOMATES

BEST OF THE YEAR 2025

Various Artists

Psychédélique

(The Sounds Of Psychedelic Soul & Funk 1967-2024)

Piers, takes you on a journey into the world of Psychedelic Soul & Funk, from its early beginnings in the 1960s and 1970s to the current crop of artists championing the more Psychedelic, trippy end of the Soul sound today.

‘Soul Psychédélique’ brings together legends of the Soul Psych scene, such as Curtis Mayfield, The Chambers Brothers, Marlena Shaw, The Temptations, and the brilliant “Sugar Man” by Rodriguez. Place alongside Soul Titans like Isaac Hayes, Bobby Womack, Chairman of the Board, Terry Callier all delivering stunning Psychedelic Nuggets for your Listening pleasure. Throw in some covers like “Dear Prudence” by The Five Stairsteps, “Hard to Handle” by Patti Drew and “California Dreamin’’ by Bobby Womack and finish with some brilliant modern-day exponents of the scene like Khruangbin, Gabriels and Michael Kiwanuka. The result is a crazy ride through the world of Psychedelic Soul and Funk. If you ain’t dancing and smiling by the end — what the hell is wrong with you!

Darryl: A new installment in the ‘Psychédélique’ compilation series, ‘Soul Psychédélique’ brings together heavyweights from yesteryear and nestling them up against some contemporary gems. As with the other albums in the famed ‘Psychédélique’ series the emphasis is on proven classics rather than crate digging offcuts — a party on vinyl! (oh, and CD too!)

Mark McQuillan

compilation curator

Wow! Number 1! What can I say, to be awarded the prestigious Collection of the Year from our favourite Record Shop in the world, Piccadilly Records, means so much to us all at Two Piers.

When we started the label with our French Pop compilation ‘Pop Psychédélique’ we didn’t have a plan, we just felt there was a gap in the market for well curated, fun and interesting compilations that people would hopefully enjoy, could play at home, put on at parties for DJing, or simply listen as a soundtrack for running on your headphones.

Fast forward a few years and our latest release ‘Soul Psychédélique’ is about to hit the record racks, and we are particularly proud of this one. This is the first compilation on the label that was a true collaboration between the four of us here at Two Piers and I think we’ve all individually discovered some new favourite tracks within the Psychedelic Soul and Funk scene off the back of making this compilation. The ‘Psychédélique’ series is intended to introduce the listener to particular genres, and in this case the Psychedelic Soul & Funk scene from the early pioneers of the 1960s right through to the artists championing the sound today. It isn’t meant to be a trainspotters album, It’s supposed to be feel good and fun, a perfect album for your DJ box and one that takes the listener down a rabbit hole to journey into the crazy and brilliant world of Psychedelic Soul and discover more!

We hope you enjoy ‘Soul Psychédélique’ as much as we did compiling it, and dig what we are trying to do at Two Piers, our humble little label out of Brighton, England.

1. Chairman Of The Board: Life And Death In G&A (Part 2)

2. Curtis Mayfield: (Don’t Worry) If There Is A Hell Below, We’re All Going To Go

3. The Temptations: Psychedelic Shack

4. The Chambers Brothers: Time Has Come Today: Single Version

5. Brutal Force: The Number For Groove

6. Isaac Hayes: Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic **

7. Bobby Womack: California Dreamin’

8. The Five Stairsteps: Dear Prudence

9. Ebony Rhythm Band: Drugs Ain’t Cool

10. Doris: You Never Come Closer

11. Terry Callier: You Goin’ Miss Your Candyman

12. Rodriguez: Sugar Man

13. Patti Drew: Hard To Handle

14. Marlena Shaw: Liberation Conversation

15. El Michels Affair: Murkit Gem

16. Janko Nilovic: Drug Song

17. Kylie Auldist: Nothin’ Else To Beat Me **

18. Khruangbin: Maria También

19. Christian Madden & The Enemy Chorus: Twice As Thick

20. Gabriels: Love And Hate In A Different Time

21. Michael Kiwanuka: Black Man In A White World

22. MRCY: Purple Canyon

** Bonus tracks for vinyl edition

Released as a limited deluxe double purple and orange coloured vinyl, double white vinyl and CD.

2. Oasis (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? — Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition

Barry: There are very few albums that can have at the very least three of the Piccadilly staff members agreeing on blasting on a Friday afternoon, but this is one of them. From the radio-bothering ubiquity of “Wonderwall” to the epic rolling rock of “Don’t Look Back In Anger”, there is a consistent stream of impeccably raucous rock and relentlessly widescreen roll.

An iconic selection of tracks from one of the greatest rock bands in history, now featuring a lovely selection of finely crafted acoustic reworks. The ultimate collection, and one that you should definitely own one way or another.

Released as a triple clear coloured vinyl, triple black vinyl and a double CD.

3. The Earlies These Were The Earlies — 21st Anniversary Edition

Names Records in conjunction with Two Piers Editions are delighted to announce the long awaited 21st Anniversary reissue of the debut album from The Earlies. ‘These Were the Earlies’ was released on Names Records / 679 Recordings in July of 2004 and quickly became one of that summer’s essential albums.

Laura: This is still one of my favourite records. It was my album of the year in 2004 and only narrowly missed out on the coveted top spot in the shop, with the mighty Sufjan Stevens’ ‘Seven Swans’ just edging it. It’s a glorious mix of folk, pop, gospel and electronica that still sounds fresh and relevant today.

Released as a numbered double cream coloured vinyl, and CD.

4. The Verve

This Is Music: The Singles

Andy: Three non album early singles make this an extra special collection, for me. Absolutely no one was making the hugely scoped out, psychedelic, shoegaze, grooveladen, wonder- sound that The Verve were coming up with in the early 90s. They were a band right out (there) on their own. Then Richard must’ve got himself an acoustic guitar (and famously toured with Oasis, in support, no less!) and bingo: enter the land of classic single after classic single. They’re all collected on this imperious compilation, and the rest is as they say, history.

Released as a limited double red and blue coloured vinyl, and double black vinyl.

5. Doves So, Here We Are: Best Of Doves

Andy: Doves are such a wonderful addition to the Manchester music scene. At the start of their career they even played in our shop and last year we had lead singer Jimi spinning records in his Nightjar incarnation. The band’s doomy epicness, heavy with doses of melancholy and magic, has captured our imaginations for nearly three decades! A fitting time for a retrospective then. ‘So, Here We Are’ does not disappoint; all the big hitters are included, along with rarities and a previously unreleased track “Spirit Of Your Friend”.

Released as a double gold coloured vinyl, double black vinyl and CD.

All formats include an exclusive signed postcard.

6. Happy Mondays The Factory Singles

Andy: Happy Mondays were always funky, Manchester’s answer to New York’s ESG, if you like. But with their cartoonish lyrics and wild, often hilarious but also edgy personas, they created a unique space for themselves in the mid 80s music scene. This would explode into multicolour in ‘88, with their breakout single “Wrote For Luck”. Then everything went wild with the standalone Madchester “Rave On” EP the following year, where a druggier and heavier groove became apparent and (for once!) superior club mixes put the band right at the centre of the burgeoning baggy scene. This singles collection absolutely nails it!

Released as a double yellow and magenta coloured vinyl, double black vinyl and CD.

7. Patti Smith Horses — 50th Anniversary

Patti Smith’s debut album invokes the spirit of her 1960s influences (Velvet Underground, Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix etc), updating them with a typically cool twist of NY art-rock. Produced by the Velvet’s John Cale and featuring a powerful sleeve photograph by Robert Mapplethorpe, this inspiring 1975 set includes the classic gender-bending cover version of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” and seven other self-composed tracks.

Darryl: How do you improve on an iconic 10/10 classic? You add a second disc of previously unreleased outtakes and rarities including Patti Smith’s 1975 RCA audition tape.

Released as a double black vinyl, and double CD.

8. Various Artists

Unlock Your Mind With Morning Glory — Compiled By

James Endeacott

Darryl: A wonderfully eclectic compilation from music industry maverick James Endeacott. Released on the ever reliable Two Piers label, ‘Unlock Your Mind With Morning Glory’ takes us on a musical journey across the earth highlighting tracks from his Morning Glory radio show.

Released as a selected indies exclusive double sunrise yellow and dawn break pink coloured vinyl, double sunbeam orange coloured vinyl, and digi-pack CD.

9. Nick Drake The Making Of Five Leaves Left

Barry: There are few artists more revered than Nick Drake, and his brilliant 1969 opus gets a fully-approved, extensive ‘making-of’ edition including outtakes from various sessions, unheard early versions and indeed, the full finished product. An essential document.

Released as a 4 LP box set, and 4 CD box set both formats come with a 60 page booklet printed on special textured paper stock.

10. Richard Hawley Coles Corner — 20th Anniversary Edition

Laura in 2005: Richard’s third solo album is a beautiful gem, filled with nostalgia, emotion and romance. Its orchestral splendour sits alongside earthy rock and roll, with songs that are by turns intimate and soaring. You’ll know of his time spent with Pulp, perhaps pass on his tenure in The Longpigs, and maybe be intrigued by his audition for Morrissey; all that will fade, however, as song by classic song socks you where it matters. Hawley is a massive talent in his own right, and this must be one of the most romantic albums of the year. Gorgeous.

Released as a zoetrope vinyl, half-speed master black vinyl and CD.

2025

SRD PICCADILLY PICKS

DECIUS

‘DECIUS VOL.II (SPLENDOUR & OBEDIENCE)’

2LP / 2LP (TURQUOISE) / CD (THE LEAF LABEL)

“It’s a wall-to-wall deviant disco delight that’s simply impossible to resist. All Hail Decius!” ELECTRONIC SOUND

SUPER FURRY ANIMALS

‘LOVE KRAFT’

2LP (GATEFOLD) / 2CD (STRANGETOWN)

20th Anniversary album reissue remastered for 2025. “Another testament to the Furries’ endless inventiveness, lovingly and deservedly expanded.” SHINDIG!

CLARK

‘STEEP STIMS’

2LP / CD (THROTTLE)

Gatefold double vinyl with spot UV front cover. “Full of emotional rave energy and trademark Clark-ian melodies.” MOJO

NANCY SINATRA

‘NANCY’

LP (BLUE) / CD (LIGHT IN THE ATTIC)

First ever vinyl reissue and definitive edition of Nancy’s 1969 self-titled album. LP includes bonus flexi. CD includes 3 bonus tracks.

DEAN WAREHAM

‘THAT’S THE PRICE OF LOVING ME’

LP / LP (TAN) / CD (CARPARK RECORDS)

“Gorgeous solo album from a songwriter determined to prove he is not yesterday’s hero.” 9/10 UNCUT

THE ALTONS

‘HEARTACHE IN ROOM 14’

LP / LP (BLUE) / CD (DAPTONE RECORDS)

“A straight-up balladfest blending effortless crooning with stylish pop and tejano rhythms, while lyrics are heartfelt, vulnerable and intimate.” 4/5 MOJO

NIGHTBUS ‘PASSENGER’

LP (BLUE) / CD (MELODIC)

#8 in PICCADILLY RECORDS’ ALBUMS OF THE YEAR : “The kind of music New Order might make if they were 21 today.” THE GUARDIAN “Eeerie indie to soundtrack late night tales.” NME

VARIOUS ARTISTS

‘LA TORRE IBIZA - VOLUMEN CINCO’ 2LP / CD (HOSTEL LA TORRE RECORDINGS)

180gm Gatefold 2LP. Curated by Pete Gooding and Mark Barrott. Tracks by Nina Simone, Mazzy Star, Talk Talk, Boards of Canada, µ-Ziq, Yellow Magic Orchestra.

MICHAEL GRIGONI / PAN AMERICAN

‘NEW WORLD, LONELY RIDE’

LP / CD (KRANKY)

“The title track inhabits Ry Cooder’s Paris, Texas soundtrack terrain and the lonesome plangency of Dream of Someone nods to Angelo Badalamenti’s David Lynch scores.” 4/5 MOJO

ROCHELLE JORDAN

‘THROUGH THE WALL’ 2LP / CD (ROCHELLE JORDAN / EMPIRE)

“Across 17 sensorial tracks, the mood is intimate and dusky, luxurious and hypnotic; you can feel the velvet rope unhooking from the stanchion.”

8.3 PITCHFORK

DELTA

‘SLIPPIN’ OUT’ 2LP / CD (CIRCUITRY)

This 25th Anniversary release is “an elegant, graceful, emotionally kaleidoscopic album exploring joy, anguish, sadness and all points between. Sounding sweeter with each passing year, it fully deserves this longoverdue vinyl pressing.” SHINDIG!

JERKCURB

‘NIGHT FISHING ON A CALM LAKE’ LP / LP (GREEN) / CD (HANDSOME DAD)

Limited coke bottle green vinyl. Jacob Read returns with his new bittersweet album channeling the magical spirit of Prefab Sprout and The Blue Nile.

UPCOMING RELEASES FROM ROUGH TRADE IN 2026

SLEAFORD MODS, TYLER BALLGAME, THE SOPHS, SOAK, GILLA BAND

caroline - caroline 2 ARTHUR RUSSELL - OPEN VOCAL PHRASES

SAM AMIDON - SALT RIVER

PULP - MORE

LISA O’NEIL - THE WIND DOESN’T BLOW THIS FAR RIGHT

ROUGH TRADE 45s - VOLUME 1

LANKUM - GHOST TOWN

11. The Fall Singles Live — Vol. One 1978-81

Jarvis Cocker (Pulp): I know these songs by heart even though I never bought a Fall single back then; John Peel always played The Fall releases so I taped them off the radio. Sorry. I’m sure you’re familiar with them too. But to hear them live, in the heat of the moment, really brings back the spirit of The Fall. The giddiness and excitement. The palpable hunger to find something new to sing about and believe in. This music never gets old.

12. Various Artists

Sounds From The Flightpath Estate Vol. 2

Matt: The Golden Lion Sounds family continues to expand, with new signings sure to cause a few flutters of excitement even amongst the most ardent aficionados. Volume 1 really was an outstanding achievement, warming our hearts and everyone who received it. Volume 2 looks to continue to trend as GLS and The Flightpath Estate unite the tribes under the legacy of the late, great Andrew Weatherall.

13. Pink Floyd Pink Floyd At Pompeii — MCMLXXII

Barry: I will never fall out of love with Pink Floyd, and this sees them at their youthful, experimental best. Wonderfully rich, bursting with moments of psychedelic perfection and unsurprisingly, goes incredibly well with mushrooms. Probably.

14. Pavement

Hecklers Choice: Big Gums And Heavy Lifters — A Pavement Collection

Darryl: Basically a revamped version of 2010’s ‘Quarantine the Past’ for the TikTok generation. All the classics are here; “Summer Babe”, “Stereo”, “Cut Your Hair”, “Shady Lane”, “Range Life”, “Here”; 12 tracks in total all presented as 2025 remastered editions.

15. Various Artists Strobes In Space (Indie Sleaze, Nu Rave & Future Disco 2000-2009)

Matt: Two Piers, legends of the historical curation, pay tribute to that embryonic time, when turntables famously outsold guitars, kids ditched their guitars for synthesizers, and the smiley face emblem had a 2nd coming. For the first time since ‘92 it really did unite the tribes. Indie kids started necking pills and die hard ravers started going to gigs! A wonderfully fruitful time.

1. BBC Radio Sessions VOL. 2

2. Buffalo Tom –Sleepy Eyed (Expanded Edition)

3. Electric Six – Fire

4. Electric Six –Fire (Boxset)

5. The Fall –Seminal Live

6. Fields of the Nephilim – Dawnrazor

7. Gary Numan –Telekon

8. Gary Numan –Telekon 45th Anniversary

9. Natacha Atlas –The Best of 10. seefeel – pure, impure 11. seefeel –quique (redux)

12. Vintage Red LongSleeve Football Shirt

13. Vintage Teal + Black Wave Football Shirt

16. Various Artists

You’re No Big Deal — Grunge, The US Underground And Beyond 1984-1994

Darryl: Wow, what an incredible collection! Compiled by Cherry Red with Mudhoney’s Mark Arm — packing 80 classic tracks into the 4 CD set, it pulls together pretty much every key US underground band from 84-94, whilst adding a few Australasian artists too. The re-birth of American guitar rock as we know it!

17. Various Artists

All The Young Droids: Junkshop Synth Pop 1978-1985

Barry: A wonderfully off-piste collection of angular synth ditties and stumbling grooves, wrought through self-made oscillators and cobbled-together drum machines and resulting in some of the most divinely uncomplicated melodies in music history. A hugely varied selection of superb songwriting at the pinnacle of innovation.

18. Radiohead Hail To The Thief (Live Recordings 2003-2009)

Barry: A wonderfully reimagined selection of live cuts of Radiohead's incendiary 6th LP, ‘Hail To The Thief’. Brilliantly bridging the gap between the original LP and their most recent foray into stage production. A wonderfully evocative display from one of the best live bands going.

19. Various Artists A Love From Outer Space

Barry: One of the most legendary labels in the electronic music space, and a compilation that perfectly outlines their unique musical vision. Reflecting on the music that has shaped ALFOS over the past 15 years while also hinting at its future, the 19-track album pays tribute to the club night’s rich history and its commitment to pushing musical boundaries forward.

20. Terry Hall

Laugh — Deluxe Dinked Archive Edition

Laura: This second solo LP from Terry Hall is an absolute gem. As with his debut, ‘Home’, it’s a collection of witty, melancholic pop songs, delivered in his own inimitable style. It also includes a cover of Todd Rundgren’s “I Saw The Light” (IMO better than the original!) And being a Dinked Edition it’s beautifully packaged with a bonus disc of added extras too.

21. Various Artists Kneecap (Original Soundtrack)

Barry: There are few bands that have made as much of an impact as Kneecap have, with their debut album hitting our end of year charts pretty heavily. Here we get the soundtrack to the film, following Kneecap around their scene and their peers and contemporaries. Including Kneecap (obv), Fontaines DC, Bicep and loads more.

22. Stiff Little Fingers Inflammable Material — 2025 Remaster

Martin: You know you’re in the presence of greatness from the blazing opening bars of “Suspect Device” — a blast of raw heat whose fiercely non-aligned, anti-sectarian stance sets the tone for everything that follows. The lyrics burn with wit, anger, and intelligence, delivered with scorn and passion through Jake Burns’ trademark growl.

23. Various Artists Maybe I’m Dreaming

Barry: Gorgeously evocative drifters that span the psychedelic spectrum, from saturated folk and woozy country to blipping synthpop and bold, bubbling minimalism, all perfectly slotted together. A proper melting pot of influence, brought together with clear respect for the source material, and a deep field of knowledge.

24. The Pale Fountains The Complete Virgin Years

Andy: Formed in Liverpool in 1980, The Pale Fountains were Michael Head's first band - a group brimming with romance, melody, and youthful beauty. It's all captured in this glorious 4CD box set, a testament to the band's enchanting sound and timeless charm.

25. Pulp Different Class 30

Darryl: Released as a 4LP box set and deluxe 2CD edition, Pulp’s anthem loaded (“Common People”, “Mis-Shapes” and all) ‘Different Class’ has been expanded to include their entire Glastonbury Festival set that would propel them to superstardom.

26. Hüsker Dü 1985: The Miracle Year

Darryl: Miracle year indeed — this is Husker Du at their incendiary best — culling tracks from their epic SST period. Features an entire Minneapolis gig (Jan 30th 1985) plus 20 extra tracks recorded on tour during that year too!

27. Loop Twelves

Darryl: A triple LP collection of 12”s released by Loop in the 80s and 90s. Formed by mainstay Robert Hampson, Loop we’re a brilliant distillation of 70s kosmische and 60s psych rock: The Stooges meets Can.

28. The Sisters Of Mercy First And Last And Always — 40th Anniversary Edition

Darryl: One of the cornerstone albums of the goth movement, Sisters Of Mercy’s debut album featured the iconic line-up of Andrew Eldritch, Gary Marx, Wayne Hussey, and Craig Adams. Featuring fan favourites such as “Marian”, “Walk Away”, and “Black Planet”, for this 40th anniversary edition there’s also a 4LP edition that includes the 3 EP’s that preceded its release.

29. Various Artists Ein Null — 10 Years Of Sprechen

It's wonky & weird, banging & beautiful, cosmic & consciousnessexpanding and it continues to connect the invisible dots of club music and more abstract listening experiences.

Matt: Chris Massey's Sprechen celebrates 10 years in the field with a truly all-star cast and nothing short of exceptional content.

30. Super Furry Animals Love Kraft — 20th Anniversary Edition

Andy: Twenty years ago? Wow! I always really loved this album, starting with the brilliant artwork and then journeying inwards to the land of dreams and whimsy and layers of sound. My favourite song is “Lazer Beam” which just packs everything this glorious madcap band does into four magical, spiralling minutes. Another mega record and a timely reissue.

AFRICA EXPRESS PRESENTS...

BAHIDORÁ

OUT NOW ON 2CD/2LP LTD ORANGE 2LP

2LP LTD 2CD

31. Galaxie 500 CBGB 12.13.88

32. Johnny Marr Look Out Live!

33. The Pogues

Rum Sodomy & The Lash — 40th Anniversary Edition

34. King Creosote KC Rules OK — 20th Anniversary Edition

35. Various Artists Paul Hillery Presents Folk Funk & Trippy Troubadours Vol. 3

36. Maximo Park

A Certain Trigger — 20th Anniversary Edition

37. Various Artists System Olympia — Love Language: A Collection Of Erotica Electronica

38. Bloc Party Silent Alarm 20th Anniversary Edition

39. Various Artists La Torre Ibiza — Volumen Cinco

40. Sigur Rós Takk... — 20th Anniversary Remaster

41. Various Artists Volcanic Tongue

42. Tears For Fears Songs From The Big Chair — 40th Anniversary Edition

43. Various Artists Somewhere Soul: Rituals Vol 1

44. Various Artists A Complete Unknown (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack)’

45. Various Artists Histoire De Coeur — Lost French Synth-Pop 7”ers & Euro-Bombs (1980-89)

46. Various Artists Pop Psychédélique: Les Extras (An Extra Slice Of French Psychedelic Pop)

47. Various Artists DJ-Kicks: Quantic

48. Big Flame Peel Sessions 84-86

49. A Certain Ratio Live In America — 2025 Reissue

50. Various Artists Break The Glass, Burn The Cage (The Sound Of Indie Punk Rock)

The Singles Bar

Matt: A Nine Inch Nails edit and a Mazzy Star remix stole the show this year, and Mancunian outfit Westside Cowboy showed instant promise with their debut EP. Deeply Armed and Psychederek represented Belfast’s and Manchester’s psychedelic underbelly in style, whilst old friends Ghost Assembly, Alex Kassian & Quiet Village return for the 2nd (and 3rd in GA’s case) year running.

There was no way we were gonna omit Magic Source’s tribute to THE Manchester acid house anthem; and it’s nice to see established camps like Toko & Golden Lion continue to supply us with locally sourced, globally adored hits. One of the maddest but fruitful match ups of the year — John Grant and Richard Sen. Further surprises from Moodymanc, Cowper and Velvett proved that small run, cottage industry labels refuse to go away and are in fact, the salt of the vinyl industry; with a number of prolific artists preferring the single and EP format above all else to convey their messages to the world.

There’s apparent backlash amongst some youth against our highly digital, cloud based reality, and I’m always pleasantly surprised to see the next generation digging through our racks, seeking out music in its physical form.

The biggest surprise of 2025? No new genre headings were invented here at HQ?!?! We were musing the other day at how rapidly dance music and the technology it’s made with evolved between the late 80s and early 00s but how, perhaps things have slowed down somewhat since the invention of dubstep and its mutant subgenres. Technology is in danger of surpassing creativity, and with the dawn of AI generated music looming like a shadowy nemesis on the apocalyptic horizon (indeed, the genie is already halfway out the bottle); I can only hope that we continue to innovate and inspire rather than regress and devolve. The sheer fact we picked up that drum and started beating it all those millennia ago is what makes us different to the robots in the first place!

1. BAR:LOW #1 (White Label)

2. Four Tet Into Dust (Still Falling) (XL Recordings)

3. Westside Cowboy This Better Be Something Great EP (Heist Or Hit + Nice Swan Records)

4. Deeply Armed The Healing (Echo Pet Recordings)

5. Psychederek Thinkin’ Bout U EP (Via Jupiter)

6. Ghost Assembly Resist! (Big Strings Attached)

7. Alex Kassian X Spooky Orange Coloured Liquid (Test Pressing Records)

8. Magic Source Voodoo Ray (Favourite)

9. Quiet Village & Vanessa Daou Naked Hunger (The Quiet Village)

10. Si Brad Doublestar (Toko)

11. Velvett Femme Fatale (Audio Versatile)

12. The Emanations Better Days / Rumrunner (Golden Lion Sounds)

13. John Grant Richard Sen Remixes (Darkness Is Your Candle)

14. Moodymanc OME001 (Old Mervue Edits)

15. Arp Frique & The Perpetual Singers Save Your Soul (Joe Claussell Remix) (Rush Hour)

16. Roy Of The Ravers V Jake Buckley Isle Of Acid (Winthorpe Electronics)

17. KLF What Time Is Love (Rework) (White Label)

18. UV & Nenor Space Love Continuum (Fossils)

19. Django Django & Man Power Home (Another Cheap Thrill) 20. Cowper Between Edits 001 (Between Stations)

NOURISHED BY TIME The Passionate Ones EVERYTHING IS RECORDED Temporary

Hail to the Thief (Live Recordings 2003 - 2009)

JIM LEGXACY

black british music (2025)

BLAWAN SickElixir

FOUR TET Into Dust (Still Falling)

RADIOHEAD

MAKAYA MCCRAVEN Off The Record KEIYAA hooke’s law

Soul Jazz Funk

Millie: Another year, another soul-y jazz round-up for you all. It’s been a fantastic year for it so hopefully you can find something in this chart for you.

Jumping straight in at number one, Kokoroko’s ‘Tuff Times Never Last’ has been loved in the shop. Since their first Brownswood appearance on ‘We Out Here’, we have continued to fall for them, they bring energy and have the most perfect uplifting sound to soundtrack the every day. Containing a huge varying amount of genres, they cover all bases, from Afrobeat-jazz to neo-soul and funk, just to name a few. A very deserving first place.

Second spot is for the lovely Ellen Beth Abdi whom we had the pleasure of hosting at Night & Day earlier in the year. The self-titled debut delights with soulful vocals and flowing synths, it’s a real joy. We hope to hear lots more in the future and want to spotlight brilliant local talent.

Yazmin Lacey also scores highly with her late-October entry of ‘Teal Dreams’ landing third in our chart. Her signature sound is more than just soulful, she captures emotion which stands out as her song-writing tends to be shaped by real life experiences. This album feels like a more confident version of herself, not limited to just ‘soul’, there’s inspiration from lover’s rock to R&B.

Honourable mentions for all that made it into our top ten, some you may know already, some may fall more under the radar. We hope there’s a little something for everyone. Grab your drink of choice and settle down, there’s listening to do!

1. Kokoroko Tuff Times Never Last

2. Ellen Beth Abdi Ellen Beth Abdi

3. Yazmin Lacey Teal Dreams

4. Phi-Psonics

Expanding To One

5. Monzanto Sound

The Channel

6. Alfa Mist Roulette

7. Emma-Jean Thackray Weirdo

8. Eddie Chacon Lay Low

9. Georgie Sweet I Swear To You

10. Sault Acts Of Faith

Electronic Ambient Modern Classical

Barry: It was a hard task to narrow down this years’ electronic offerings into a list that didn’t span an entire double page, with a different album hitting my personal top spot every couple days, HOWEVER with our list being a fair democracy, the winner by both sales and staff votes was my own album from this January for Castles In Space: Apta ‘The Pool’ (thank you, kind colleagues and lovely customers).

The battle was fierce behind it though with Ela Minus’ melodically rich, futurist odyssey, Gabriel Brady’s alt-ambient debut on Tonal Union, Barker’s gorgeous ‘Stochastic Drift’ and Polypores’ propulsive, melodic, frenetic album providing a constant stream of joy.

Lorde’s ‘Virgin’ was a shoo-in the moment I played it on the shop stereo, with clashing nu-rave percussion and glitchy vocals riding above the dark dancefloor pop, while I’ve had to stop myself from listening to WarringtonRuncorn’s new album before it landed on the shop stereo to not spoil the delight. It’s little surprise either that it’s brilliant, but there’s a lot more shadowy longform ambience and drifty cosmic business going on, which echoes his live shows that have become so popular of late (and quite rightly too).

I’m a big fan of Four Tet and it’s pretty much guaranteed that any albums he releases will be mentioned in here but it’s a rare thing that I listen to a single enough that it ends up herein. Despite some staff objections (-redacted-), I love the combination of the classic vocal on FT’s trademark shuffled ‘tron, and finally I couldn’t not include FKA Twigs’ mindblowing electronic odyssey could I?

1. Apta The Pool

2. Ela Minus DÍA

3. Gabriel Brady Day-Blind

4. Polypores Cosmically A Shambles

5. Barker Stochastic Drift

6. Lorde Virgin

7. Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan Public Works And Utilities

8. Max Richter Sleep Circle

9. Four Tet Into Dust (Still Falling)

10. FKA Twigs EUSEXUA

Puma Blue antichamber

“a drastic and engaging reinvention” Fader

Available on LP & CD Out Now

Yoshika Colwell On The Wing

“a fresh voice in contemporary folk music” The Line of Best Fit

Available on LP & CD Out Now

Memory of Jane Unsinking The Cypress

“epic, swirling synth-pop” The Independent

Available on Limited LP Out Now

Hip-Hop

Ethan: The bar for hip-hop releases this year has been the highest of the decade so far. We saw the reunion of Clipse, a finally optimistic Earl Sweatshirt, and some quality offerings from UK hip-hop artists in Antony Szmierek, Little Simz and John Glacier, showing that our scene is not to be overlooked. Of course, you can read more about Szmierek and Simz (as well as Kendrick Lamar’s ‘GNX’) earlier in the booklet.

More than ever, 2025 saw the online underground breaking into the mainstream. Jane Remover’s newest effort is her first rap album, taking influence from the ‘rage’ sound frontiered by Playboi Carti and his Opium associates, and despite its abrasive qualities and off-kilter sampling has proven to be a hit. There’s also artists like fakemink and Ian finding similar success, while YouTuber-turned-musician Quadeca has become a sought-after producer, breathing a lease of life into Kevin Abstract’s (Brockhampton) newest solo album ‘Blush’.

Elsewhere, ‘Alfredo 2’ is another hit from Freddie Gibbs and The Alchemist (as we should have expected based on their earlier collaborations), Billy Woods gives us one of his most unsettling offerings to date, and McKinley Dixon is quickly developing a reputation for his warm jazz-rap style. And this is only scratching the surface!

1. Kendrick Lamar GNX

2. Little Simz Lotus

3. Jane Remover Revengeseekerz

4. Earl Sweatshirt Live Laugh Love

5. Antony Szmierek Service Station At The End Of The Universe

6. Billy Woods Golliwog

7. John Glacier Like A Ribbon

8. Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist Alfredo 2

9. Kevin Abstract Blush

10. McKinley Dixon Magic, Alive!

I GOT TOO SAD FOR MY FRIENDS

BOO BOOS YOUNG LOVE

DUST AN ECHO OF LOVE THE HIVES THE HIVES FOREVER FOREVER THE HIVES

OTHER LIVES VOLUME V BRÒGEAL TUESDAY PAPER CLUB

SHURA

KERALA

WHITE LIES NIGHT LIGHT

ELLA EYRE EVERYTHING, IN TIME

KEATON HENSON PARADER

NICK CAVE & THE BAD SEEDS LIVE GOD

TOM SMITH THERE IS NOTHING IN THE DARK THAT ISN’T THERE IN THE LIGHT

All your favourite 2025 releases from Mute

Out now on CD & vinyl

SWANS

birthing

Triple vinyl + DVD / 2CD

“Every track is an extended trip, alternating shimmering, sibilant and stentorian passages”

8/10 Uncut

HAAi HUMANiSE

Double Clear Vinyl / CD

“The transcendent album… finds her exploring the themes of digital humanism by way of vibrant hues, ethereal choirs and breathy, blissed out vocals”

Electronic Sound

Laibach

Alamut

Double vinyl / 2CD box set

“Alamut is almost certainly the most jaw-dropping work they’ve been involved in across a 45-year career”

The Quietus

Yann Tiersen

Rathin from a Distance

| The Liquid Hour

2 x Vinyl / 2 x CD

“Tiersen’s new double LP combines eight introspective piano pieces with five brasher electronic tracks.”

8/10 Uncut

Mark Stewart

The Fateful Symmetry

Red vinyl / CD

“As commanding as he ever was as frontman of The Pop Group, and as sentimentally wounded as a torch singer.”

The Wire

Throbbing Gristle

Live in Berlin (2005)

Double Vinyl / CD

“All the TG live recordings, from the tattiest bootleg to the most professional recording, are important. But this one... ...is especially so.”

Electronic Sound

Chris Liebing

Speedy J: Collabs 3000

Metalism

Double vinyl / CD

20th Anniversary edition of the Techno classic by two masters of the craft. Fully remastered by Stefan Betke. Complete album on vinyl for the first time.

Clock DVA

White Souls in Black Suits

Double Grey Vinyl / CD

Originally released on Throbbing Gristle’s Industrial Records 1980. Recorded at Cabaret Voltaire’s Western Works.

“… still sounds powerful, a glimpse of the early industrial sound before the movement became codified into a genre”

UNCUT

Darryl

Since its release back in February, Lael Neale’s ‘Altogether Stranger’ has stood out as my clear album of the year. It’s a mesmerizing piece of dazzling dronepop that I just haven’t been able to shake. That said, the late-September arrival of the awesome ‘Getting Killed’ by Geese gave it a real run for its money — but in the end, Lael Neale just edged it for the top spot.

It’s also been a brilliant year for the locals: Rude Films, Nightbus, Jasmine.4.t, Sydney Minsky Sargeant, and, of course, overall Piccadilly Album of the Year winner Antony Szmierek all landed in my top ten. The local scene really has been thriving.

On a personal note, Lety and I have managed to fit in plenty of travel too. This year took us to Sri Lanka (including a rather close encounter with a local elephant!), Amsterdam, Arrochar, Rab Island in Croatia, St. Abbs, Paris for the final stage of the Tour de France, Edinburgh, York, Nusa Lembongan in Indonesia, and Ghent. And, just after this booklet launches, we’ll be off on a preChristmas jolly to Budapest.

Finally, you’ll be relieved to hear, there’s no cat fatalities to report this year!

Laura

After a slow start to the year, Antony Szmierek’s debut album was an early contender for my album of the year, and in the end nothing really came close. It’s my most played album and brings a smile to my face even on the greyest of Manchester days, while in the number 2 slot, Hayden Pedigo’s intricate finger picked guitar stylings have soundtracked many a Sunday morning. And then my number 3 is of course Little Simz who never fails to hit the spot at any time. The order of the rest could change on any given day!

Besides Antony, there’s a nice chunk of other Manchester stuff: Great to see both Westside Cowboy and Nightbus getting something out on vinyl this year. I love the indie pop jangle of Autocamper and Christian Madden’s funky keyboard grooves and Rude Films have won over pretty much everyone in the shop. Pulp made a triumphant return with ‘More’ and a fantastic gig at The Co-op Arena. Tubs were also a live highlight this year around the release of their ‘Cotton Crown’ album. The rest of my chart is a mix of all sorts from singer songwriters, to reggae, to jazz and indie-rock. All killer of course!

1. Lael Neale: Altogether Stranger

2. Geese: Getting Killed

3. Rude Films: Rude Films

4. Antony Szmierek: Service Station At The End Of The Universe

5. Sydney Minsky Sargeant: Lunga

6. Nightbus: Passenger

7. Maria Somerville: Luster

8. Various Artists: Soul Psychédélique (The Sounds Of Psychedelic Soul & Funk 19672024)

9. The Earlies: These Were The Earlies — 21st Anniversary Edition

10. Jasmine.4.t: You Are The Morning

11. Model/Actriz: Pirouette

12. Cate Le Bon: Michelangelo Dying

13. Viagra Boys: Viagr Aboys

14. OSEES: Abomination Revealed At Last

15. Various Artists: You’re No Big Deal — Grunge, The US Underground And Beyond 1984-1994

16. Natalie Bergman: My Home Is Not In This World

17. Pulp: More

18. Mogwai: The Bad Fire

19. Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee

20. Andy Bell: Pinball Wanderer

1. Antony Szmierek: Service Station At The End Of The Universe

2. Hayden Pedigo: I’ll Be Waving As You Drive Away

3. Little Simz: Lotus

4. The Tubs: Cotton Crown

5. Geese: Getting Killed

6. Westside Cowboy: This Better Be Something Great EP

7. Various Artists: Maybe I’m Dreaming

8. Rude Films: Rude Films

9. Autocamper: What Do You Do All Day

10. Nightbus: Passenger

11. Pulp: More

12. Various Artists: Soul Psychédélique (The Sounds Of Psychedelic Soul & Funk 19672024)

13. Terry Hall: Laugh — Deluxe Dinked Archive Edition

14. Andy Bell: Pinball Wanderer

15. Chip Wickham: The Eternal Now

16. The Charlatans: We Are Love

17. The Flying Hats: The Return Of

18. Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: Live God

19. Jacob Alon: In Limerence

20. Christian Madden & The Enemy Chorus: Shinbone’s Revenge

If you’d told me at the start of 2025 that I’d end up seeing the top three bands on my gig bucket list, I’d have told you to jog on down Oldham Street... However, that’s exactly what happened!

Firstly, we have a band very close to my heart — WU LYF. Their album ‘Go Tell Fire To The Mountain’ is my favourite Manchester album of all time, however I never got the chance to see them live before they broke up. So when murmurings started to filter around town of a return, it was a dream come true. I managed to get down to two of their three sold-out shows at The Kings Arms and they were some of the most life-affirming gigs of my life.

Then we have Oasis at Heaton Park. The most perfect day with my Dad, my partner Saesha and her sister. Impeccable setlist, incredible atmosphere and an immaculate performance from those boys from Burnage. A day I’ll remember forever.

And finally at the time of writing this, I’ll be going to see My Bloody Valentine in a matter of days — with ear plugs at the ready. Don’t let me down Kevin. 2026? Cocteau Twins reunion anyone?

AndyAnother year gone by and cliche ahoy; they really do go quicker as you get older! This year we had Johnny Marr coming into the shop to receive an award connected with Record Store Day as he had nominated us as his favourite shop. To spend some time with him as he discussed the importance of record shops in such an eloquent way in front of the film crew was a real highlight for me. He’s just so romantic and as for his guitar playing well, all I can say is; he’s my favourite guitar player ever! There’s nothing he can’t do, just plenty he chooses not to do… talking of which, David Gilmour is probably my other favourite guitarist, very different from Johnny but I’ll have Johnny for chords and Dave for lead if you don’t mind! This year marks the 50th anniversary of ‘Wish You Were Here’, an album which I got into aged 12 in 1978. I told you I was old! This is one reissue I’m really looking forward to as it promises to have the whole unedited version of “Shine On You Crazy Diamond” on it. It will be strange to hear this iconic track in its original glory after, well, for me at least, 47 years!!!

Another old dinosaur is the much maligned (in some quarters) Genesis. This is a band I didn’t really connect with in my youth. All I can say now is that ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ (another 50th anniversary special) is now one of my favourite LPs ever. I don’t think Johnny Marr would be too happy about that though!! Anyway, enough ramblings… all the best everyone x

1. Rude Films: Rude Films

2. Turnstile: NEVER ENOUGH

3. Prism Shores: Out From Underneath

4. Big Thief: Double Infinity

5. Geese: Getting Killed

6. Everything Else: Another One Making Clouds

7. Maria Somerville: Luster

8. Acopia: Blush Response

9. 100% Wet: 100% Wet

10. Deafheaven: Lonely People With Power

11. Nourished By Time: The Passionate Ones

12. Lorde: Virgin

13. Erika De Casier: Lifetime

14. Andy Bell: Pinball Wanderer

15. The Horrors: Night Life

16. Glixen: Quiet Pleasures

17. Kendrick Lamar: GNX

18. Eterna: Debunker

19. Apta: The Pool

20. Olan Monk: Songs For Nothing

1. Cindy Lee: Diamond Jubilee

2. BC Camplight: A Sober Conversation

3. Everyone Says Hi: Everyone Says Hi

4. Andy Bell: Pinball Wanderer

5. The Horrors: Night Life

6. Lael Neale: Altogether Stranger

7. Studio Electrophonique: Studio Electrophonique

8. Geese: Getting Killed

9. Cate Le Bon: Michelangelo Dying

10. Sydney Minsky Sargeant: Lunga

11. The Besnard Lakes: The Besnard Lakes Are The Ghost Nation

12. The Pale Fountains: The Complete Virgin Years

13. Natalie Bergman: My Home is Not in this World

14. Apta: The Pool

15. Genesis: The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway (50th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition)

16. Nightbus: Passenger

17. The Earlies: These Were the Earlies — 21st Anniversary Edition

18. Cloth: Pink Silence

19. Momma: Welcome To My Blue Sky

20. Frankie Cosmos: Different Talking

Franz Ferdinand ‘The Human Fear’

Buscabulla ‘Se Amaba Así’

Richard Dawson ‘End of the Middle’

Ela Minus ‘DÍA’

Guedra Guedra ‘MUTANT’

Sorry ‘COSPLAY’

Panda Bear ‘Sinister Grift’

SASAMI ‘Blood on the Silver Screen’

These New Puritans ‘Crooked Wing’

wet leg ‘moisturizer’

Disiniblud ‘Disiniblud’

Cass McCombs ‘Interior Live Oak’

Bonnie “Prince” Billy ‘The Purple Bird’

Lawrence Hart ‘Come In Out of the Rain’

Night Moves ‘Double Life’

James Yorkston and friends ‘Songs for Nina and Johanna’

Hot Chip ‘Joy in Repetition’

Melody’s Echo Chamber ‘Unclouded’

Upchuck ‘I’m Nice Now’

Austra ‘Chin Up Buttercup’

Sydney Minsky Sargeant ‘Lunga’

Daniel Avery ‘Tremor’

Barry

Synths! Violins! Keys! Guitars! Things that go kzzz_jrrr_ blip! There’s been loads of stunning examples this year of what I’ve never previously called (and will probably never again call) ‘The Five Essential Elements To Music’ and for once in my time on this green earth, I’ve actually written more than two of them down. Album out in January? I SEE YOU MOGWAI, April? Don’t you worry Szmierek, stop emailing in, I’ve remembered you and you’ve been awarded thus. As always, there’s been an absolute slew of top quality aural content flung towards us this year, not least by my label of the year Tonal Union (Blue Lake & Gabriel Brady) and my pals (Polypores, WRNTDP) and bands that have been around since the dawn of my musical time (Oasis, Smumpkins). A real selection box of delights new and old, and a good crew of staff and customers alike to enjoy them with. Cheers!

1. Gabriel Brady: Day-Blind

2. Ela Minus: DÍA

3. Blue Lake: The Animal

4. Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan: Public Works And Utilities

5. Antony Szmierek: Service Station At The End Of The Universe

6. Andy Bell: Pinball Wanderer

7. Beirut: A Study Of Losses

8. Momma: Welcome To My Blue Sky

9. Sydney Minsky Sargeant: Lunga

10. Deftones: Private Music

11. Nine Inch Nails: Tron: Ares Soundtrack

12. Smashing Pumpkins: Siamese Dream — 2025 Repress

13. Mogwai: The Bad Fire

14. Oasis: (What’s The Story) Morning Glory? — Deluxe 30th Anniversary Edition

15. Sunn O))): Eternity’s Pillars

16. Water From Your Eyes: It’s A Beautiful Place

17. Sonnenspot: Sonnenspot

18. Four Tet: Into Dust (Still Falling)

19. Gogo Penguin: Necessary Fictions

20. Maruja: Pain To Power

Millie

Kokoroko clinched the top spot for me this year. I saw them live last November, dropping in teasers of this new album which came out in the thick heady days of summer, I already knew it was a goodie. Their music is undeniably joyous and just plain cool. Then moving into the latter part of the year, Blood Orange graced us with an album after six long years away. It’s as moving and beautiful as expected, one that’s on constant repeat for me.

The trend of my charts tend to be (roughly) 85% chilled out jazz and soul then the remaining percent tends to be hip-hop, a tad heavier on the listening front. It reflects the year I’ve had, mostly pottering around enjoying simple pleasures. I’ve recently started sewing and even knitting so that’s definitely my 20’s coming to a natural end. I enjoy the juxtaposition of my wholesome sewing activities while blasting out the likes of Kneecap and Kendrick. That’s about all, wishing you all a great end of the year!

1. Kokoroko: Tuff Times Never Last

2. Blood Orange: Essex Honey

3. Chip Wickham: The Eternal Now

4. Little Simz: Lotus

5. Yazmin Lacey: Teal Dreams

6. Kendrick Lamar: GNX

7. Phi-Psonics: Expanding To One

8. Greentea Peng: Tell Dem It’s Sunny

9. Knats: Knats

10. Apta: The Pool

11. Gogo Penguin: Necessary Fictions

12. Moses Yoofee Trio: MYT

13. Sudan Archives: THE BPM

14. Alfa Mist: Roulette

15. Makaya McCraven: Off The Record

16. Okonski: Entrance Music

17. Ambre Ciel: Still, There Is The Sea

18. Various Artists: Kneecap (Original Soundtrack)

19. Matt Wilde: Find A Way

20. Joe Armon-Jones: All The Quiet (Part I)

Matt

The year started off in fine fettle here at Picc HQ, with Antony Szmierek treating us to a rousing and almost tear-jerking instore performance; showcasing tracks from, whodathunkit, what would end up being our no. 1 album of the year! Then we had an aptly dramatic Q&A with members of The Fall’s original lineup at Night & Day. It was Mark Smith’s sister Caroline who really stole the show though — coining one of the most iconic & Smithian phrases ever — ‘Piss yourself out of here!’. A moment I will never forget from my musical hero’s sister.

We Out Here saw a load of MCR’s finest blast the Love Serve bar a new one over the summer (proving wrong that meme about over 30s hanging up their headphones!). Also big love to Not A Cult festival, who’ll probably shout at me for letting the cat out of the bag as one of the best kept, small festival secrets, shh!

A major highlight of the year for me was seeing our Red Laser parties at The Carlton Club develop so well. Big shouts to Martin, Evan, Andy on the lasers, and all the crew down at the Club (not to mention all the extended RL gang ❤❤). Plenty more to come so if you fancy a boogie in the Range (with a nice sensible 1am finish ;) come check us out!

1. Mark William Lewis: Mark William Lewis

2. Momma: Welcome To My Blue Sky

3. Antony Szmierek: Service Station At The End Of The Universe

4. Prince Philip: Dubplates & Raw Rhythm From King Tubby’s Studio 1973-1976

5. Various Artists: Red Laser Records

6. Joanne Robertson: Blurrr

7. Dean Blunt & Elias Rønnenfelt: Lucre

8. Steffi & Virginia: Patterns Of Vibration

9. Various Artists: Sounds From The Flightpath Estate — Volume 2

10. Tunng: Love You All Over Again

11. Maribou State: Hallucinating Love

12. Acopia: Blush Response

13. Sonnenspot: Sonnenspot

14. Various Artists: Ein Null — 10 Years Of Sprechen

15. Great Area: Light Decline

16. Apta: The Pool

17. The Tubs: Cotton Crown

18. F.G.S.: Tinker Bell’s Cough

19. Frankie Bones: Ghetto Technics “The Compilation” Vol 1 & 2

20. Bar Italia: Some Like It Hot

Mine

It wouldn’t be my end of year list if I wasn’t struggling to put it together and then struggle to write about it (and then write about how I’m struggling to write about it — are you bored and confused yet? Me too.) It also wouldn’t be my top 20 if there weren’t a selection of 12”s and compilations in there but what can I say, I’m partial to a good compilation and/or collection of edits. I also couldn’t help but sneak two reissues in, but they’re desert island discs for me so it really would have been rude not to! The top spot this year is held by Raisa K and her lo-fi industrial pop debut ‘Affectionately’ — a bit of a surprise hit for me and not one that was on my radar at all until Matt randomly put it on in the shop one day (thanks Matt!) — closely followed by Lorelle Meets The Obsolete who have been favourites of mine for years. Here’s to another year of new discoveries and old faves then… See you in 2026!

1. Raisa K: Affectionately

2. Lorelle Meets The Obsolete: Corporal

3. NAD: DB12017

4. UV & Nenor: Space Love Continuum

5. The Horrors: Night Life

6. Johnny Sais Quoi: Love On Ice

7. Venus II: Oh Boy

8. Acopia: Blush Response

9. Automatic: Is It Now?

10. MIEN: MIIEN

11. Exotic Gardens: Drugs & TV

12. Various Artists: Tehrangeles Vice (Iranian Diaspora Pop 1983-1993)

13. Quiet Village & Vanessa Daou: Naked Hunger

14. Various Artists: Night City Life II

15. Various Artists: Techno Kayō Volume One — Japanese Techno Pop 1981-1989

16. Pale Blue Eyes: New Place

17. Pôt-Pot: Warsaw 480km

18. Various Artists: Histoire De Coeur — Lost French Synth-Pop 7”ers & Euro-Bombs (1980-89)

19. Tears For Fears: Songs From The Big Chair — 40th Anniversary Edition

20. Propaganda: A Secret Wish — 2025 Reissue

Martin

After having not once left Blighty’s blighted shores in 2024, it was time to treat myself to a dust bath, oil my plumage and follow my beak somewhere I might learn something. But where? On what was mostly a whim I decided to follow the light north to Riga — more forest than city — then Tallinn, finally ferrying across the Gulf Of Finland to Helsinki, before retracing my route back to Manchester. Immersing in Baltic nature, the connection to and reverence for the natural world (and for one another) was a joy and inspiration, as was getting to experience two sets of midsummer celebrations, once in Helsinki (more a piss up) and once in Riga, this time closer to the elemental pagan ritual I was hoping to see. I was a little less impressed with the squadrons of mosquitos who made it their mission to empty me of blood, but it was a beautiful and rewarding trip.

There’s been a sweet Manc/Gujarati flavour to the latter end of what has been a fabulous year…on top of which, I’m (still) amazed by the depth and profusion of human musical creativity, reflected in my top twenty which, I am happy to say, is all over the place.

Kudos to Rude Films for releasing the best record to come out of Manchester for a very long time.

Lots of love to everyone! xxx

Pasta Paul

Emma-Jean Thackray’s self-produced/written album, ‘Weirdo’, was always going to be my number one this year. The record has a deeply moving recurring theme of death due to Thackray’s own personal loss, and she plays nearly every instrument. My reissue of the year had to be Buckingham & Nicks; it only took 50 years!

For me, 2025 was so much about live music. Some highlights: Pulp, LCD Soundsystem, and DJ Harvey all in one night at Hollywood Bowl, Los Angeles. Beck at The Royal Albert Hall. Unexpected front row seats for Cat Power at The Bridgewater Hall singing Dylan. Oasis at Heaton Park and Murrayfield — both times in the front pit. Amazing! Emma-Jean Thackray at Koko, London. Jack White, Glasgow Barrowland, my first time at that venue and I wasn’t disappointed. Wet Leg, Leeds Academy. Yeah Yeah Yeahs at Manchester Apollo with an orchestra was pretty special. I couldn’t quite believe how fantastic Iggy Pop was at Victoria Warehouse; for a man of 78, he was relentless. Eryka Badu at The Apollo (second time seeing her). Finally got to see The Rapture at New Century Hall. Managed to catch Michael Kiwanuka at Liverpool Olympia before he sadly had to cancel his tour, plus We Out Here festival — which I made it to for the second year running, with glorious weather again!

Here’s to 2026, when I’ll get to see The Cure for the first time ever! Can’t wait!

1. Rude Films: Rude Films

2. Ela Minus: DÍA

3. Billy Woods: Golliwog

4. Ranil Y Su Conjunto Tropical: Sonido Amazonico

5. Wet Leg: Moisturizer

6. Turnstile: NEVER ENOUGH

7. Zé Ibarra: Afim

8. Lorelle Meets The Obsolete: Corporal

9. Joanne Robertson: Blurrr

10. Mark William Lewis: Mark William Lewis

11. JID: God Does Like Ugly

12. FKA Twigs: EUSEXUA

13. Eddie Chacon: Lay Low

14. Paul St. Hilaire: W/ The Producers

15. Water From Your Eyes: It’s A Beautiful Place

16. Jenny Hval: Iris Silver Mist

17. Doechii: Alligator Bites Never Heal — 2025 Reissue

18. John Glacier: Like A Ribbon

19. Ichiko Aoba: Luminescent Creatures

20. These New Puritans: Crooked Wing

1. Emma-Jean Thackray: Weirdo

2. Eddie Chacon: Lay Low

3. Balaphonic: Resolution Revolutions

4. Simon Herody: Hard Lounge

5. Giorgio Lopez: Giorgio Lopez Presents Sud Des Îles

6. Ellen Beth Abdi: Ellen Beth Abdi

7. Chip Wickham: The Eternal Now

8. Sven Wunder: Daybreak

9. Headnodic + Jazz Mafia: Headnodic + Jazz Mafia

10. Jimi Tenor & Cold Diamond & Mink: July Blue Skies

11. Souleance: Kebab Discothèque

12. Jonny Nash: Once Was Ours Forever

13. Sewell and The Gong: Patron Saint Of Elsewhere

14. Sonnenspot: Sonnenspot

15. KiF: Still Out

16. BOM: ÀSE

17. Tasmin: Tezeta

18. CMAT: EURO-COUNTRY

19. Various Artists: Maybe I’m Dreaming

20. Lindsey Buckingham & Stevie Nicks: Buckingham Nicks — 2025 Reissue

Ethan

I feel comfortable describing 2025 as, definitively, one of the years of all time. The first half of the year was spent mindlessly powering through my degree, reaching the top of the mountain, only to fall into the infamous ‘post-grad slump.’ But everything outside of that was pretty good!

My highlight of the year was a self-described ‘emo pilgrimage’ back in June. I travelled down to London for Cap’n Jazz’s reunion (and second ever UK show), snuck in a Jane Remover gig too, then came straight back to Manchester for Sunny Day Real Estate at Outbreak Fest. All three shows were great, but Cap’n Jazz was some next level wizardry. The Kinsella brothers have an unmatched stage presence. Other gig highlights include Porter Robinson @ Academy 1, and Weatherday @ Star & Garter. My band got to open for that latter show, and we went on to record an EP of demos in my parents’ kitchen. It’s been a lot of fun. It’s got me more invested in the UK screamo / emo scene and I want to give a lot of love to anyone involved. Through attending the odd local gig, I’ve met some lovely people and seen some awesome sets. D.I.Y forever, bring on 2026 x

1. First Day Back: Forward

2. Jane Remover: Revengeseekerz

3. Weatherday: Hornet Disaster

4. Oklou: Choke Enough: Expansion Pack

5. Turnstile: NEVER ENOUGH

6. Earl Sweatshirt: Live Laugh Love

7. Alex G: Headlights

8. Geese: Getting Killed

9. Dead Calm: Keep Moving

10. Ninajirachi: I Love My Computer

11. Febuary: Run Like a Girl

12. Westside Cowboy: This Better Be Something Great EP

13. Ethel Cain: Willoughby Tucker, I’ll Always Love You

14. Vote for Pedro xCountlessRooftopsx: Split

15. FKA Twigs: EUSEXUA

16. Chat Pile & Hayden Pedigo: In The Earth Again

17. Baths: Gut

18. Scowl: Are We All Angels

19. Ichiko Aoba: Luminescent Creatures

20. Wednesday: Bleeds

Willow

At the start of the year, inspired by Mudhoney’s Steve Turner, I set out to curate, record and release a compilation of some of the incredible bands in Manchester’s punk underground in an effort to crystalize the scene and show people how truly special it is. With the help of my wonderful friends Angie and Gustavo at Little Punk Records, this dream became a reality over the Summer and on November 1st we celebrated our efforts with a festival of these bands that (I’m presuming) was the best day of my life. Outside of this, I continued to gig with my bands Humongous Fungus and Dierotica, the former of which will release our debut EP Light Up on February 6th of next year. I also started a part-time music production master’s at Spirit Studios in Ardwick, and feel very much at home there. All in all it’s been a busy year for ol’ Willow, more or less constantly soundtracked by the fantastic new Pigs album. Although, I have to say, I’ve uttered the phrase ‘there’s a bomb in my car’ much more frequently than I would have guessed.

1. Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs: Death Hilarious

2. Geese: Getting Killed

3. Wet Leg: Moisturizer

4. Melvins: Thunderball

5. The Lemonheads: Love Chant

6. Neil Young & The Chrome Hearts: Talkin’ To The Trees

7. Various Artists: Little Punk Records Vol. 1

8. F.G.S.: Tinker Bell’s Cough

9. Big Thief: Double Infinity

10. Billy Woods: Golliwog

11. Wu-Tang and Mathematics: Black Samson, The Bastard Swordsman

12. Deafheaven: Lonely People With Power

13. Rude Films: Rude Films

14. Water From Your Eyes: It’s A Beautiful Place

15. Kendrick Lamar: GNX

16. FKA Twigs: EUSEXUA

17. Turnstile: NEVER ENOUGH

18. Phoebe Rings: Aseurai

19. Little Simz: Lotus

20. Die Spitz: Something To Consume

Wow, my first full year at Piccadilly records has finally finished, with me being able to further delve into the racks to discover new music for myself!

Despite only having been a fan of small parts of Preachers Daughter, Ethel Cain has released some of my favourite music this year. With her eschewing the trappings of the pop that she gets “pigeon holed” alongside, the release “Perverts” reminds me of one of my favourites; Coil’s ‘Musick To Play In The Dark’, proving how multifaceted as an artist she is. Her gig at the O2 Apollo in October was amazing.

In the end, this year has had some great moments. I went to Japan for the first time to visit my friend who was living there. My first intercontinental flight and my first time travelling somewhere abroad alone! Whilst I did spend a large amount of the 10 days there buried in the arcades trying to get my fix of fighting games, I did get to explore a lot of Tokyo, climbing Mt. Takao with my friend. Seeing a part of Tokyo sprawled out in front of me was breathtaking.

1. Ethel Cain: Perverts

2. Deafheaven: Lonely People with Power

3. Songs: Ohia: Impala — 2025 Reissue

4. Ethel Cain: Willoughby Tucker, I Will Always Love You

5. Model/Actriz: Pirouette

6. Titanic: Hagen

7. Turnstile: NEVER ENOUGH

8. Coil: A Guide For Beginners — The Voice Of Silver / A Guide For Finishers — A Hair Of Gold — 2025 Reissue

9. Rude Films: Rude Films

10. Jane Remover: Revengeseekerz

11. FKA Twigs: EUSEXUA

12. Venetian Snares: Rossz Csillag Allat Született — 20th Anniversary Edition

13. Glixen: Quiet Pleasures

14. Nine Inch Nails: Tron: Ares Soundtrack

15. Beirut: A Study of Losses

16. Lorde: Virgin

17. Big Thief: Double Infinity

18. Geese: Getting Killed

19. Coil: Black Antlers — 2025 Reissue

20. Wet Leg: Moisturizer

Staff Charts

THE DIVINE COMEDY RAINY SUNDAY AFTERNOON Divine Comedy Records

HEARTWORMS GLUTTON FOR PUNISHMENT Speedy Wunderground

MATT BERRY HEARD NOISES Acid Jazz

ICHIKO AOBA LUMINESCENT CREATURES hermine

BJÖRK CORNUCOPIA LIVE One Little Indian

EMMA POLLOCK BEGGING THE NIGHT TO TAKE HOLD Chemikal Underground Records

THEY ARE GUTTING A BODY OF WATER LOTTO ATO (UK)

DEAD PIONEERS PO$T AMERICAN Hassle Records

McLUSKY THE WORLD IS STILL HERE AND SO ARE WE Ipecac Recordings

GHOSTWOMAN WELCOME TO THE CIVILIZED WORLD Full Time Hobby

SUDAN ARCHIVES THE BPM Stones Throw

RUFIGE KRU ALPHA OMEGA London Records