#2025FavSingles #top25of25 6️⃣/25 Eurovision’s swan song: “Zjerm” by 🇦🇱 Shkodra Elektronike. other contenders were 🇫🇮”ICH KOMME” and 🇱🇻 “Bur man laimi”, but Albania gets it for being my favourite ESC country of these final years, and I will miss them, and *it*: youtu.be/Sfvb761EEcM?...

the most beautiful album of the moment (and possibly of the year) is 🇿🇦Babalwa M’s ACQUIESCE. immersive 3step, afro house and private school piano, with Babalwa’s voice gliding thru it all. linking the intro track, just because it so perfectly announces the beauty to come: youtu.be/XusbUQbbVzM?...

#2025FavSingles #top25of25 #25SongsFrom2025 #Twenty5Stinkers 5️⃣/25 DJ Veek is one of the up-and-comers in South African🇿🇦 3Step/3-step. his “Nkosi”with vocalist Criimora b.k.z is a work of art. stately and incredibly moving: youtu.be/D-0YwaTmVDo?...

one of the main producers on BigBaller_Ceo’s hot shit 🇿🇦bacardi album also released an excellent album earlier this year*, called SIA WARRA FELA. check out “Hlaba o be wete” featuring Dimphowadiwave, Mr Kay and… BigBaller_Ceo: youtu.be/nXbrAcSNkbY?...

this one’s for all the mbalax aficionados: the brand-new song by Aïda Samb, one of my favourite 🇸🇳Senegalese singers. “Maana” features Ethio: youtu.be/aH6UCQAjh9U?...

#2025FavSingles #top25of25 #25SongsFrom2025 #Twenty5Stinkers 5️⃣/25 DJ Veek is one of the up-and-comers in South African🇿🇦 3Step/3-step. his “Nkosi”with vocalist Criimora b.k.z is a work of art. stately and incredibly moving: youtu.be/D-0YwaTmVDo?...

full draw for the PPPop World Cup: #popworldcup

this song, people! (I’m still smack dab in the “holy hell” phase myself)

#2025FavSingles #top25of25 #25SongsFrom2025 #Twenty5Stinkers 4️⃣/25 “Coco Chanel”: yesterday we learned about monogamy in the face of polyamory, today we’re putting the sapphism in shatta. take it away, ladies*! youtu.be/nSozQlDpD1U?... (*Meryl from Martinique🇲🇶 and Eva from France🇫🇷)

I’m still on the fence on the whole 🇵🇭budots phenomenon and it may not really be my 🍵, but I’m glad engaging with it brought this banging slice of BOSHED-all-the-way-UP 🇭🇰Cantonese dance pop back into my life ⬇️🎈⬇️🎈⬇️🎈⬇️

(and yes, RIP ESC. we had joy, we had fun, we had seasons in the sun, but the wine and the song, like the seasons, have all gone)

in other musical* news: FXCK Isrxxl for continuing to keep the Eurovision Song Contest hostage and FXCK the EBU and many of its member countries for allowing it to get away with it, again and again. www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/12... *also applicable, mutatis mutandis, to other contexts

surprisingly unpopular choice well, it will remain my (and that of the French massive) little secret then 🤷🏻‍♂️

#2025FavSingles #top25of25 #25SongsFrom2025 #Twenty5Stinkers 4️⃣/25 “Coco Chanel”: yesterday we learned about monogamy in the face of polyamory, today we’re putting the sapphism in shatta. take it away, ladies*! youtu.be/nSozQlDpD1U?... (*Meryl from Martinique🇲🇶 and Eva from France🇫🇷)

#2025FavSingles 3️⃣/25 we’re just here for fun, frolicking no-strings-attached fun! “Cheat On You” by 🇬🇭Ghanaian heartthrobs KiDi and Gyakie: youtu.be/8vhOM7sHK6Y?... #top25of25 #25SongsFrom2025 #Twenty5Stinkers

Rema himself only followed up half-heartedly on last year’s groundbreaking HEIS album this year, but SA-based 🇨🇩Congolese rapper BabyDaiz wreaks absolute havoc on that sound, cracking every last bone of it on “Allez Tobina” with 🇨🇩Rebo and 🇳🇬Kvng Vinci: youtu.be/zHTf1t4H0FU?... (continues below)👇🏻

#2025FavSingles 3️⃣/25 we’re just here for fun, frolicking no-strings-attached fun! “Cheat On You” by 🇬🇭Ghanaian heartthrobs KiDi and Gyakie: youtu.be/8vhOM7sHK6Y?... #top25of25 #25SongsFrom2025 #Twenty5Stinkers

#2025FavSingles #top25of25 #25SongsFrom2025 #Twenty5Stinkers

Rema himself only followed up half-heartedly on last year’s groundbreaking HEIS album this year, but SA-based 🇨🇩Congolese rapper BabyDaiz wreaks absolute havoc on that sound, cracking every last bone of it on “Allez Tobina” with 🇨🇩Rebo and 🇳🇬Kvng Vinci: youtu.be/zHTf1t4H0FU?... (continues below)👇🏻

one of the year’s biggest bangers (see below) gets a tremendous follow-up. “PDG” is French for CEO and I hereby name Kocee 🇨🇲Cameroon’s Entertainment Overlord. I mean, holy hell, those backing vocals that keep ramping it up until the end! youtu.be/wBRe8D-PKOs?...

#2025FavSingles 2️⃣/25 among the dry, dubby 🇿🇦amapiano funkateers in the field to the left of Shakes & Les (think my 2024 fav Musical Jazz), W4DE has pride of place. “Ama’zuka” (+ Royal MusiQ + vocalist Shoes Meister) is a highlight on his brand new Sgijapreneur III album: youtu.be/W883bpemVmM?...

1️⃣/25: let’s set out from my home base: versatile dancealot 🇳🇱Dutch dj/producers Jarreau Vandal and Dave Nunes team up with 🇲🇦Moroccan gnawa musician Mehdi Nassouli (he plays the guembri), mixing in some 🇳🇬 fuji (it says on the tin), and create riveting banger “Ganga Riddim”: youtu.be/S8oTe_GswxI?...

🇫🇷15 15 (QuinzeQuinze)🇵🇫 keep doin’ it and doin’ it and doin’ it well*. their latest one “Fāfaru” has me thinking this is what it would sound like if you blend all the music I love together (yes, this is complimentary) youtu.be/v_DcM0Wd9uc?... (*but is anybody listening?)

1️⃣/25: let’s set out from my home base: versatile dancealot 🇳🇱Dutch dj/producers Jarreau Vandal and Dave Nunes team up with 🇲🇦Moroccan gnawa musician Mehdi Nassouli (he plays the guembri), mixing in some 🇳🇬 fuji (it says on the tin), and create riveting banger “Ganga Riddim”: youtu.be/S8oTe_GswxI?...

BEST (⁉️) OF 2️⃣0️⃣2️⃣5️⃣ okay, #2025FavSingles it is (but I intend to leave it at a #top25of25, a/k/a #25SongsFrom2025 - it’s going to be #Twenty5Stinkers!) ADVANCE WARNING: I will be zigzagging thru the year’s many faves, probably ending up with a random but hopefully fun and/or ~inneresting~ selection

I can’t do this because a) too difficult b) not in the right headspace (so basically ‘too many jams, too little time’, yes, thank you) but why, upon seeing Tom’s 5ive, did I feel the immediate and irresistible urge to play “Freedom (‘84)”?

one-woman (touring) band 🇺🇸Sudan Archives visited our shores for a rough and tumble live rendition of her work, of which up til now I had been little more than a tourist, but omg Britt (and yes, you are fucking silly 🥰)

🇫🇷15 15 (QuinzeQuinze)🇵🇫 keep doin’ it and doin’ it and doin’ it well*. their latest one “Fāfaru” has me thinking this is what it would sound like if you blend all the music I love together (yes, this is complimentary) youtu.be/v_DcM0Wd9uc?... (*but is anybody listening?)

DEZZEMBERR season is upon us ‼️‼️ new albums by master producers 🇿🇦Dlada Thukzin and 🇿🇦W4DE and top-notch amapiano vocalists 🇿🇦Babalwa M and (collaboratively) 🇿🇦Khalil Harrison & LeeMcKrazy🇿🇦, plus new projects by neo mbalax rappeur 🇸🇳Bilou XIV and funk wizzard 🇧🇷DJ Arana

🇨🇮Côte d’Ivoire’s “woman king 👑” Josey’s new album RÉSONANCE is thoroughly enjoyable coupé-décalé/biama, afrobeats, sexy drill, in a spirit of generous positivity, knowing where to draw the line - in a whirlwind 33 minutes ambiance-toi doucement! (mais pas trop doucement!) youtu.be/fBS2DMx_f2U?...

🇨🇮Côte d’Ivoire’s “woman king 👑” Josey’s new album RÉSONANCE is thoroughly enjoyable coupé-décalé/biama, afrobeats, sexy drill, in a spirit of generous positivity, knowing where to draw the line - in a whirlwind 33 minutes ambiance-toi doucement! (mais pas trop doucement!) youtu.be/fBS2DMx_f2U?...

broke: liever te dik in de kist dan weer een feestje gemist woke: I'd rather be a free man in my grave than living as a puppet or a slave RIP Jimmy Cliff 🇯🇲 want to celebrate his life and career with the fierce “Treat The Youths Right” from 1982, a hit in these parts: youtu.be/fhRZbuSd488?...

excerpt from the 3️⃣👣🧵 - and yes, Kenyan 🇰🇪 producer Ally Fresh’s SWAKACHA is a very nice project. 4 of its 6 main tracks are 3-Steppy and the other two are cool afrohousey steppers too - there’s a “Mama” to the “Baba” below, but I especially dig “Keki” with vocalist Nes Mburu: youtu.be/ozcpK-IRJpU?...

check out my somewhat extensive reply to Dave’s question below in 3️⃣, 2️⃣, 1️⃣

elated that 🇳🇬Tems has ~finally~ listened to me* and made a (mini)album, Love Is A Kingdom, with strictly (well, 5/7) uptempo afro(-adjacent) beats “First”: youtu.be/tzBXQbUj3uI?... “I’m Not Sure”: youtu.be/pCU4CUvIpNs?... (*either that or perhaps this sped-up Tems is Pink Pantheress-propelled)

how about this for an 🇺🇿Uzbek entry? youtu.be/BiChbzN9h1g?... “Shabi Ruzam” by Aziz Yuldashev (2025)

this is a gorgeous album right here sarathykorwar.bandcamp.com/album/there-...

after last night, the PPPop World Cup 2026 is well on the way, and 🇶🇦Qatar is fancying its chances. ‎“سبحان (Subhan)” by Fahad Al Kubaisi is a blistering banger: youtu.be/b18KVyM7QIs?...

subag jàmm! (it’s ‘good morning’ in Wolof, but it works either way)

here’s some modern Senegalese🇸🇳 mbalax in a live setting - it’s Bass Thioung’s new one, “Gnégno”. check the lineup and see how they play (and dance). it’s very instructive and super enjoyable! youtu.be/nHr68RMvBCU?...

thanks to Nyege Nyege Tapes, you may be aware of instrumental underground singeli, but in Tanzania🇹🇿 there’s a cottage industry of SINGELI POP next to the bongo flavour mainstream. overlap exists: bongo big shot Lava Lava guests on my fav singeli singer Meja Kunta’s “Wezi”: youtu.be/xJCeNzuOeSo?...

thanks to Nyege Nyege Tapes, you may be aware of instrumental underground singeli, but in Tanzania🇹🇿 there’s a cottage industry of SINGELI POP next to the bongo flavour mainstream. overlap exists: bongo big shot Lava Lava guests on my fav singeli singer Meja Kunta’s “Wezi”: youtu.be/xJCeNzuOeSo?...

if you want to keep practising your ultrafast footwork, here’s a great additional exercise to “Jamaïque” below - from Cameroon🇨🇲 this time: it’s “Chargé” by Mink’s and Blanche Bailly (whose “Lève toi” with Lady Ponce is *still* the most popular video in Cameroon). go for it! youtu.be/eZ-3hJphrbg?...

feeling this one today

electric relaxation for your sunday

it’s a saturday night (take your time, do it right)

A-SIDES: my nrs 4, 8, 11 and 16. (7 POINTS: Grandmaster Flash & Furious Five ft. Melle Mel & Duke Bootee • The Message 3 POINTS: Patrice Rushen • Forget Me Nots) two juggernauts/behemoths, in either stature (“The Message”) or ambition (JBGTM), two that paint with a lighter brush (Rushen and Sade)

wow, this is quite something think I will call this Djyorical Soul for now youtu.be/w10hk32JIgs?... “Feelings” by 🇿🇦Djy Biza x Shakes & Les x Leandra.Vert if this will be part of some larger project I’m here for it

Eftalya ama piyano (‘Eftalya but piano’) so this is world music? (‘dünya’ means ‘world’ in 🇹🇷) youtu.be/XYmxCRw1ilM?... (Eftalya Yağcı • DÜNYA)

I also love this random track from 2023 by the twice removed 🇿🇦Desong M, “Asian”. it’s on his ELECTRONIKKA album and I can’t stop playing it*: youtu.be/YtnWAPbHIjE?... (*maybe I’ll be the one to push it past the 1000 streams mark!)