2025

hello, welcome to 2025! as always, this is a 30-track list of favourite tracks released this year; so, no reissues, deep digs, or classics i had on repeat. this was much harder this year since i started doing a monthly radio show focussing primarily on new releases; sound service station has forced me to pay attention even in weeks where i might ordinarily have just put on harmony by origin8a and propa for 8 solid hours a day.

so! i have tried to hone in on things that became part of my regular rotation in a given month, not just choice gems i played on the radio (although, of course, some are both). i’ve ofc also ordered the playlist by vibes so it’s not a shuffler.

i hope you’ve had a lovely year of music — feel free to shout me with your own personal highlights and recommendations. i’ll see you in a week or so for the quick december recap.

this was easily my favourite album this year, innovations and lineage, recorded live (!) at cafe coda in madison, wisconsin. emma dayhuff is an incredible bassist, and i love the way she arranged these pieces — but it of course helps that three absolute dons of the chicago jazz scene are performing them alongside her. isaiah collier!! dee alexander!! kahil el’zabar!!

i recently completed a dead hang for 2 minutes 20 because i simply decided to enter a flow state of breathing and closing my eyes (duh), but i think if i could have also listened to kahil el’zabar drumming a box and vocalising in front of me i could have kept going for hours. stunning work!!

i did not have ‘posthumous unreleased music from one of my all time fave musicians’ on my 2025 bingo card so secrets of the sun was an enormous drop for me in november. dragon’s nest is buttery and smooth and sunny and like the part in a spike lee summer portrait of brooklyn when everything’s hot but everyone’s still having a nice time. ❤️ ❤️ ❤️

talking of the summer, masters at work are the, ahem, masters of upbeat summery soulful, house productions. all of brian jackson’s reworks with them which were released this year were winners in that sense, especially it’s your world. i was bouncing down the streets listening to it around 10pm, around the longest days of the year.

i’m predicting big things for the flute in 2026. for my ears, at least.

new orleans soul jazz live from leeds, but that’s doing it a disservice. it’s speedy, funky and fresh as hell.

this centers the egyptian kawala flute, which has a totally different tone, and a great afro-latin groove underneath.

while favourite album was kind of an easy win, favourite track is obviously kind of an impossible question. however, holy ghost was the one i played the most, and so if i had to crown one, i suppose i’d have to give the accolade to arp frique’s wildly funky arrangement, marilonah’s bass’s skills (PLEASE it’s too good), and to brandon delagraentiss’s absolutely ludicrous take-it-to-the-skyyyyyy gospel vocal.

imagine this but it’s 28 degrees, direct, baking sunshine, in a field in devon:

i do think this is a perfect remix of an already very nice song, and one of the only more dance-y tracks that made it for me this year. occasional bits of the brass bursting through, deep throbby synth-y sounds, you lift me up / i feel the warmth of your love / when i’m with you i see the sun etc. again with the sun tho!! damn bitch r u vitamin d deprived or something???

🌞 morning sun - sampology

🌞 amor em copacabana - joão selva

ok now this is like the polar opposite of sunny. this song properly gives me the shivers. discordant, siren-like notes; haunting, robotic vocals echoing the main thread of the aidan moffat-style narrative lyrics; disconcerting laughter; can you hold my hand? i am frightened. it feels like a true menty b, or a bad, paranoid trip. recommend and yet don’t recommend, you know.

also not summery, but i think best and most pained saxophone playing i heard all year.

some things don’t need me to recommend them to you, but i always wanna be up front about the fact that sometimes popular music is popular for a very good reason:

🏆 nosebleeds - doechii 🏆

🐬 aquamarine - addison rae 🐬

and some things i’ve said so much about for the last 20+ years that it’s just a given i have to include them:

🌙 night and day - franz ferdinand 🌙

• rotary connection 222 [@ we out here]

• florence adooni [@ crookes social club]

• pulp [@ tramlines]

• ensemble nist-nah [@ firth hall]

• allexa nava quartet [@ crookes social club]

• mu quintet [@ footprints jazz festival]

finally, last year i had goals amounting to: ‘it would be nice to dj at grub records some time next year’ and ‘i’d like to get more involved with the radio somehow’. honestly both were just the start! it has been a gr8 year. now i’m already playing on some very nice line ups next year and am a presenter and producer for a wonderful community station.

evidence of a super fun b2b with the operator at kitchen radio’s birthday party at grub in december.

shout out sheffield it’s v good. also shout out me for working hard and also saying yes to things. ok bye! xxx