2025 Review...
This post was started optimistically in a restaurant in Madrid over breakfast two weeks ago and finished on a drab cold Winter's afternoon back in North London way past the intended 1st of January deadline.
2025 was a fairly good, yet tough year personally. Like other years my BBBlood my output wasn't loads, but what I completed I'm extremely happy with. It was a joy to return to Leeds in June, the run up to which I really made time to get back into action of recording and rehearsing. The show forcing me to finally commit to releasing new material and I put out some tracks for compilations. I do really love playing gigs, it puts a rocket under me to do more, but I think the biggest issue for me is always time and space to do more. I'm hoping 2026 I manage to make some more time.
Big thanks to the label Un Poco Fria for releasing 'Feral Tape' at the start of this year, Pete for putting me on in Leeds, and to Carlo for releasing the split CDr with Last Action.
Split with Last Action
This one has been in the works for a while, it's a real pleasure to be doing a split CDr with Carlo, it's been close to 20 years now since he released BBBlood 'The Cosmic Gash' on his now defunct legendary label Audiobot. Copies are limited direct from Carlo.
BBBLOOD / LAST ACTION - Split CDr
Paul Watson is an absolute fuckin' living noise legend that has literally earned more stripes in the game than an Adidas tracksuit. This dude is hands down a top-notch geezer from head to toe, OG pedal pusher, golden day one connect & one of the best to ever do it the harsh way across the pond in the United Kingdom. King life. Dad life. From his truly memorable Audiobot release way back in 2006 to this terrifying shredder almost twenty fuckin' years later... It's full circle season & you're more than welcome in our harsh noise escapist circle where walls collapse & skulls explode. You need this sh*t euh split in your life. Full-color artwork packaged in slim orange DVD-case with fold-out insert & b/w xeroxed upcomin' releases flyer. Spraypainted discs just like Da Teacher told us. Edition of 20 copies.
'Best of' 2025
This part of the blog post has been sat as a draft email for ages, but in the last few days I've been revisiting records I've listened to and purchased this year whilst trying not to be influenced by everyone else's lists (even though it's hard to do so). Some of the old favouries are in there, but this year I think I made some effort to check out some artists I'd never heard of previously.
Here is a list of records / things I enjoyed this year:
- Merzbow / John Wiese - Akashaplexia
- Merzbow - PENDULUM
- Kiran Arora - Virgin Forest
- Kiran Arora - Keepsake
- Erik Nystrand - Brain Damaged By Head Meat
- Altar Of Flies - A Lifetime
- Incapacitants - Chwalfa
- John Duncan & Torturing Nurse - Glass Mind
- Otomo Yoshihide Solo Works 2 - Otomo Yoshihide Plays Christian Marclay
- Russell Walker - Back To The Womb
- XT + Anne Gillis - AnimauX veGeTal
- Dai Koelakanth - Don't Let Me Be A Burden
- Max Julian Eastman - Regency Place
- Plutonomy - Saturated and Sun Burnt
- Charmaine Lee - Tulpa
- Ted Byrnes & Jeph Jerman - Play Drums
- Marc Baron + Eric La Casa - Contrefaçons
- Heat Signature - Trench Trapped
- Sewer Election & ÅN - De Sälla Jaktmarkerna
- Commuter - Tokyo Pure Decadence
- John Wall - Constructions I-IV. 2025
- CREAMS - THROUGH BEING COOL
- A LARGE SHEET OF MUSCLE - CURRENCY EEL
- TYHJÄ PÄÄ - High Magnetic Intensity
- Faith Coloccia + Daniel Menche - Smelter
- Xeroxhead - I / O
- Duncan Harrison - There is No Fire in the Lake
- Germ Lattice - Corpusty
- Recording with D. Bolger for an upcoming release
2026 plans
Turning to 2026 I'm feeling optimistic, I will do a separate post here but I will be collaborating with long time friend John Macedo on the 24th of Jan at the Hundred Years Gallery. The show is part of the ASCH (From the Netherlands) UK tour. Beyond that nothing is concrete.
Happy new year.
