The mixtape nobody asked for — delivered on Orthodox Christmas. I’m gifting you this religious experience of noise: saturated sound for saturated minds, ambient, improv, experimental; the best possible way to make your ears bleed and find solace in that unruly spirit called SOUND.

You can hardly go wrong with anything from @adambdonoval.bsky.social's catalogue, but I think this selection does a good job of representing what the label is all about. Feat. Asemix, Martyna Basta, Marta Forsberg, HMOT, Tomáš Niesner, Raft Of Trash and Ani Zakareishvili.

Farewell today to Hungarian director Béla Tarr (1955 – 2026), one of cinema’s great visionaries. His deeply poetic and uncompromising films—like Sátántangó and The Turin Horse—redefined slow, contemplative cinema and left an indelible mark on the art of filmmaking

You can hardly go wrong with anything from @adambdonoval.bsky.social's catalogue, but I think this selection does a good job of representing what the label is all about. Feat. Asemix, Martyna Basta, Marta Forsberg, HMOT, Tomáš Niesner, Raft Of Trash and Ani Zakareishvili.

RIP Michał Urbaniak (1943-2025)

R.I.P. Perry Bamonte, guitarist and keyboardist for @thecure.com

merry xmas, i released two little free things for you today. yapping portal - ceremonial nullspace, & world of white ice - lake forest limb. plz enjoy yappingportal.bandcamp.com/album/ceremo... worldofwhiteice.bandcamp.com/album/lake-f...

An album from Walter, Al, & me that @alteranthony.bsky.social compared to Hellraiser. It would be a waste of good suffering for you to not listen to this. Added bonus, this is my only official release for the year and I don't play bass on it.

This was... strange. The framing was weak, but some of the found footage is excellent. And quite abstract. Reminded me of The Outwaters (2022) in a good way.

For @thewiremagazine.bsky.social's online edition, I wrote about the perceived downward trend of bands and how it applies to experimental music. DeForrest Brown, Jr's new essay on the automation of music is also very relevant to the discussion: www.thewire.co.uk/in-writing/e...

For @ivnafr.bsky.social's newsletter forkert, I reviewed Valby Vokalgruppe's new album 'Solids For Voice', a stunning collection of "rhythmical architectures built almost solely from the voice" that sound like "trance without electronics".

Crippling Alcoholism is the flenserest band ever, so much so that I was actually convinced they were part of the label's roster when I first heard them. Check out 'Camgirl' if you haven't already. It's one of the wilder 2025 rock/metal albums.

The BEST metal year-end list is here.

Always my favourite part of list season. The staff/contributor charts are a real treasure trove w/ so much variety in the picks. Great way to discover new music. Still quite happy with my list even though I compiled it almost 2 months ago. Los Thuthanaka should have been in my top 10, though.

Nadja in Zagreb: mochvara.hr/event-detail...

I somehow missed the new Slikback when it came out back in July, but holy smokes... Ultra dense, ultra extreme (club) music.

We're currently just 25 subscribers off the magical 2000 that ensures the long-term viability and stability of The Quietus. Join the Subscriber tier today & get instant access to hours of music in playlists covering our three main end of year charts: thequietus.com/subscribers/

heard someone call pooping “separating the art from the artist” & i think there’s something beautiful to learn from that

Excellent and quite comprehensive chart. Includes the splendid compilation 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘈𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘯 𝘛𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 𝘈𝘳𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘷𝘦𝘴: 𝘈 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘙𝘢𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭, 𝘌𝘹𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘢𝘭, & 𝘐𝘳𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘷𝘢𝘯𝘵 𝘔𝘶𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 1970𝘴 𝘚𝘢𝘯 𝘋𝘪𝘦𝘨𝘰 (accompanied by a blurb taken from my full review).

And a few more Bandcamp Friday recs if you're into heavy shit (you should be). 👇

Some recommendations for Bandcamp Friday. 👇

A fascinating interview with @tristanperich.bsky.social discussing his transcendent Infinity Gradient.

Released today, "Compassion through algorithms volume III" - a huge 55 track album full of really great music and noise from the live coding/algorithmic music community, fundraising to support Palestinian health, dignity and culture. Buy it today (name your price!) and bandcamp will waive their fee.

Good morning. Lots of tapes available on this Bandcamp Friday including the most recent by Budokan Boys and [something’s happening] strategictapereserve.bandcamp.com

I had two releases on the excellent @room40.bsky.social this year. Give them a listen if you haven't already. #bandcampfriday siavashamini.bandcamp.com/album/caligo

I have thoughts about people translating old poems into modern languages without checking them out first

Here's the Avant Rock chart that I've compiled for the Rewind issue of @thewiremagazine.bsky.social. Truly an excellent year for rock*, with a bunch of other records that narrowly missed out on the top 10: Horse Lords & Arnold Dreyblatt, Cyrus Pireh, Chuck Roth, Crippling Alcholism...

New @thewiremagazine.bsky.social is out! Proud to have contributed a Rewind essay + reviews of Unsound 2025, and records by Saint Abdullah/Jason Nazary + Rie Nakajima/David Toop. Whole issue is packed with great essays, articles and EOY gear Buy a copy/subscribe to support indie journalism in ‘26

I've got an EOY essay in here about the dialogue between jazz/improv, underground hip-hop and electronic music, and the exciting new open-genre music emerging from it. Plus a full page of jazz & improv reviews, inc the incredible @xcrswx, Marilyn Crispell, Angharad Davies & John Butcher...

Allow us to REWIND you up as 2025 draws to its close. Here’s a big bouncing bumper issue for your festive (or otherwise) edification!

Yes! @thewiremagazine.bsky.social nails the top 50! For the issue, I had the great pleasure of interviewing Tristan Perich. I also profiled @adambdonoval.bsky.social's Warm Winters Ltd, penned the regular and year-end Avant Rock columns, reviewed the new Anna von Hausswolff, and reflected on 2025.

Picked records from aya, Blawan, OsamaSon, Rosalía, billy woods, Jim Legxacy, Che, MIKE, Maria Somerville and james K for this list

As usual, one of the best lists around with plenty of new music to discover for everyone.

The best metal of 2025 as selected by Spyros and me for @popmatters.com. Banger list all around ft Antiversum, @allieinchains.bsky.social, Mendoza/fluke-mogul/Pérez (@burningambulance.bsky.social), @gonemage.bsky.social, OvO, Retromorphosis, Stygian Ruin... 🔗 www.popmatters.com/best-metal-a...

The Quietus would not exist were it not for our subscribers. We're not doing a Black Friday sale as we can't afford to, but if you subscribe today, you'll be helping actual humans share their joy in music with independent editorial that's guaranteed AI-slop-free: thequietus.com/subscribers/

My ballot had quite a few albums that I absolutely adore but didn't make the final list, incl. Abhorrent Expanse's insane death-metal-via-free-improv, @terzijdehorde.bsky.social's furious hardcore-tinged black metal, Weeping Sores / @avantdumb.bsky.social's touching experimental black-death metal...

One of my favourite records of the year, not just in the metal/rock category.

Thrilled to see "The Burden of I" on here! Antonio has followed my work since the Judicator days. Happy to see the album appreciated for what it is <3 And in general this is a great list of 2025 goodies to check out!!

The best metal of 2025 as selected by Spyros and me for @popmatters.com. Banger list all around ft Antiversum, @allieinchains.bsky.social, Mendoza/fluke-mogul/Pérez (@burningambulance.bsky.social), @gonemage.bsky.social, OvO, Retromorphosis, Stygian Ruin... 🔗 www.popmatters.com/best-metal-a...

Incredible set here, the opening section based around Assata Shakur's poem 'Leftovers - What is Left' in particular. www.youtube.com/watch?v=4URF...

Happy anniversary to the Max Headroom incident, the greatest example of signal hijacking. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Max_Hea...

Support independent journalism, material culture, and adventurous music. Give the gift of The Wire this Christmas. www.thewire.co.uk/shop/subscriptions/

you asked chatgpt. i asked the vampire louis de pointe du lac. he spoke in purple prose for ten uninterrupted minutes and didn't directly answer the question.

Jesus christ, absolutely no stone left unturned in big tech's quest to turn your brain into quivering, listless pudding. Feel like I need to scream into a pillow, although the pillow probably has AI now and will recap my scream and play it back with annotated notes that are all wrong

On the first album under her given name, Ale Hope turns her language of vibrant electronics, electric guitar and Latin rhythms into a canvas for diaristic poetry and spoken word. One worthy of the "most personal album to date" moniker and one of my favourite reviews for @thequietus.com this year.

On the first album under her given name, Ale Hope turns her language of vibrant electronics, electric guitar and Latin rhythms into a canvas for diaristic poetry and spoken word. One worthy of the "most personal album to date" moniker and one of my favourite reviews for @thequietus.com this year.

I rarely get to write about Croatian experimental music releases – because there are so few of them – so I'm extra happy when something as excellent as Rob Mazurek's encounter with Roj Osa (Alen & Nenad Sinkauz, Marco Quarantotto) comes along. I reviewed their album 𝘉𝘦𝘵𝘰𝘯 𝘒𝘪𝘯𝘰 for @thequietus.com.

🎶 Brave Sir Robert ran away. Bravely ran away, away! When danger reared its ugly head, He bravely turned his tail and fled. Yes, brave Sir Robert turned about And gallantly he chickened out. Bravely taking to his feet He beat a very brave retreat, Bravest of the brave, Sir Robert! 🎶

Monthly reminder to buy a copy or subscribe: www.thewire.co.uk/issues/502 Some excellent profiles in this issue: Mulatu Astatke by Francis Gooding, Alpha Maid by @msclairebiddles.bsky.social, Konrad Smoleński by @monsterbobby.bsky.social, Emergence Collective by @darylworthington.bsky.social...

I Interviewed Polish sound artist Konrad Smolenski for the new issue of The Wire www.thewire.co.uk/issues/502