Bad Machinery

Once again, same as it is every year, my albums of the year. Only one more year to go to achieve 40 years of chart lists (see them all!). I didn’t get quite as much listening done this year due to some demanding extra-curriculars, and it felt like an “off” year generally, but last year was so rich for new music for me that a drop-off was inevitable. There were a few reissues that gummed up my 2025 deep listening time too. But I still found lots of new things that I really enjoyed, especially in the final third of the year.

1 BALLOON BALLOON BALLOON – Sharp Pins
2 BLEEDS – Wednesday
3 NESTED IN TANGLES – Hannah Frances
4 PHONETICS ON AND ON – Horsegirl
5 LIFE, DEATH AND DENNIS HOPPER – The Waterboys
6 RASPBERRY MOON – Hotline TNT
7 MORE – Pulp
8 IT’S A BEAUTIFUL PLACE – Water From Your Eyes
9 WHEN I PAINT MY MASTERPIECE – Ada Lea
10 GETTING KILLED – Geese

11 JOEY – Joey Joesph
12 EURO COUNTRY – CMAT
13 THE BERRIES – The Berries
14 MICHELANGELO DYING – Cate Le Bon
15 BURY THE KEY – TOPS
16 INSTANT HOLOGRAMS ON METAL FILM – Stereolab
17 BURNOVER – Greg Freeman
18 NEW THREATS FROM THE SOUL – Ryan Davis & The Roadhouse Band
19 SWITCHEROO – Gelli Haha
20 COTTON CROWN – The Tubs

21 GRASS – Grass
22 SONG SHARDS – Peter Stampfel
23 MARAVILHOSAMENTE BEM – Julia Mestre
24 UP LATE WITH DUMBELLS – Dumbells
25 SPRING GROVE – The Ophelias
26 BUGLAND – No Joy
27 SOUNDS LIKE… – Florry
28 TOMORROW COMES CRASHING – Smut
29 LUMINESCENT CREATURES – Ichiko Aoba
30 2 – Foxwarren

31 SNOCAPS – Snocaps
32 I LOVE PEOPLE – Cory Hanson
33 ANTIGONE – Eiko Ishibashi
34 LOVE CHANT – The Lemonheads
35 SPRING BOARD – The Chills
36 BUYER BEWARE – The Men
37 ALL CYLINDERS – Yves Jarvis
38 SINISTER GRIFT- Panda Bear
39 ANIMARU – Mei Semones
40 TIMELESS WORLD FOREVER – Graham Hunt

One record arrived too late for consideration (last week) but I am sure would have made the list given time to bed in, it’s a good one:

HOLO BOY – This Is Lorelei

I’ve stopped using Spotify this year but I know a lot of you still use it so I’ve done a playlist of a song from each album (bar the one where the artist had taken their music off). You can listen here. I’ve also done one for Tidal.

The collected edition of KILL OR BE QUILT is out today, in comic shops and bookshops. Just ask for it! If you didn’t pick it up in single issues or prefer a bookshelf edition, now is your time to shine. Or perhaps you think it will make a good Christmas gift? I can imagine many scenarios in which this book delights its recipient on the holy morn. I think this is one of the best books Max Sarin and I have done together, and I am not sure when we will get to work together again, so I hope you’ll pick it up.

Related: I will be signing copies of this and anything else you stick under my nose at Gosh Comics in London this Saturday (28th Nov) from 2-3. Here’s the link to the event.

ITEM! SAVAGE SWORD OF SUSAN (TOPATOCO) UPDATE: The first shipment to the US was lost. The second has now been “delayed” for a week (this might be due to Thanksgiving/Black Friday parcel traffic etc). Fully half the run has now been fired into the Atlantic void, I will post here again when and if it is ever available.

I’ll be at Thought Bubble Festival in Harrogate, UK on November 15th and 16th, sharing table A14 in the 2000AD Hall with my friend, the incredible artist Warwick Johnson Cadwell. I’ll have loads of different books – Solver, Savage Sword of Susan, Destroy History: NEMS, plus a show exclusive print (that has elicited great excitement from those who have seen it already) and anything else I can round up between then and now. Every year I see faces old and new, and I’m always glad to see you. I’ll be doing a panel (Silence! To Astonish 10th anniversary) on the Saturday at 1.45pm too.

Then, at the end of the month, I’ll be a featured artist at the Gosh Comics drink and draw on November 28th, and I’ll be signing GREAT BRITISH BUMP-OFF: KILL OR BE QUILT in-store the following afternoon at 2-3pm. If you’re in London or nearby, perhaps I will see you then.

After that: no more appearances in 2025. I will be hiding until the new year. But after several years of very limited appearances at events, I hope to do a few more (in the UK at least) in 2026. They’re hard work but I like meeting readers and other creators. My aim is to learn about the good events before they happen, rather than afterwards (as has generally been the case).