6 / 7 (for the older head: 'at six o' clock or seven there's a little bit of heaven...........) Wishing you all a most convivial 2026. It's certainly off to a great start 😊

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 1 Gwenno I Utopia Utopia is the best of Gwenno's four (solo) albums to date imo. It's rarely left the turntable at home since release. Semi-autobiographical, melodically (and linguistically) rich, and wonderfully recorded. It's a constant joy to listen to.

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 2 Manic Street Preachers I Critical Thinking On what is perhaps their least conceptual album the Manics still land on one of the central questions of our time, over what to these ears is a very euphoric, melodic and engaging record, which also sounded superb live.

#NP Robert Plant | Suzy Dian | Saving Grace Time to slip in one last record before Mrs. B gets home from work. Another first spin here and this is an absolute keeper. Lucky to have caught the band twice live, and the record wholly lives up to the promise of those excellent shows. Superb 👌

#NP Saint Etienne | International It had to happen: my Top 30 for 2025 has to go back to the drawing board. I love when this happens (honestly). Saint Etienne on top form on this one, which will be spun a lot over the coming days. A perfect holiday record ⏺️ 🎧 🎶

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 3 Marissa Nadler I New Radiations Marissa paints a beautiful melancholic haze framed in an ever inventive low key mix of alt rock, country and psych. It keeps pulling the listener back as it's a slow reveal. Also boasts my favourite song of the year in the title track.

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 4 Miki Berenyi Trio | Tripla I'm minded to think that this album is as good as any album that Miki has been on, which is saying something. It's a wonderfully melodic affair and perfectly sequenced. Miki's vocals are brilliant throughout, plus the cover art is mint.

Agreed, it's not everyone's idea of Christmas shopping, but I'm well sorted for Christmas dinner come Thursday 😊

Delighted to see my copy of Agnes Haus' Inexorable Ascent arriving in the post this morning (evading customs even 😁). These Nite Hive cassettes are really a thing of beauty, as is the wonderfully curated music. And yes I will be giving this one an analogue spin on a tape deck later 👌 🎶 🙏

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 5 Sevdaliza I Heroina The shift to pop on Sevdaliza's third album was well flagged with the Raving Dahlia EP and the singles. It would have benefited from the inclusion of Torture, but that's a minor quibble for what is likely to be my summer '26 soundtrack. Fabulous 💎

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 6 Wolf Alice | The Clearing Guess that I'm on the lucky side of polarity on this superb records. It's been rarely off the turntable since release and has turned into a total musical comfort blanket. Taken on its own terms it's a runaway success imo. Others beg to differ 😊

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 7 Yasmine Hamdan | I Remember I Forget I honestly thought that February's release of Hon was a once off, but no, Yasmine went on to release her first album in an age and somewhat unsurprisingly it's superb. Live shows incoming in 2026. Even Mrs. B is beside herself 😊

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 8 bdrmm | Microtonic I'm not too concerned with past glories when the present is so glorious. Polarising perhaps, but this is a beautifully realised album. Fabulous pacing and dynamics, and an intoxicating mix of pop, electronica and psychedelia. Rewind operator.... 😎

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 9 Jim Ghedi | Wasteland Such a truly singular voice, drawing deep from the well of English folk music, but with a wholly contemporary outlook. Jim's musical vision knows no bounds on this quite superb record. An absolute legend in the making here folks.

#NP Ten Favourites 2025 - 10 Penelope Trappes | A Requiem | Æternum Haunting, sparse, at times desolate but quietly beautiful, full of life and so engaging. I think both records need to be included as they are very much intertwined. A real winter soundtrack, prefacing the coming spring.

Going to dip my toes in the ever shifting waters of EOY/AOTY 2025. This is my alphabetical shortlist of 25 personal favourites, which works really well for me. Going to try a 10 to 1 over the coming days, but it's a moving target that invites inevitable failure 😎

#NP The Dream Syndicate | Medicine Show Took delivery of the recent four CD expanded reissue today, but for moment it's back to my original 1984 vinyl edition. A steadfast companies of four decades and counting. Timeless rock'n'roll and a personal favourite. Still playing perfectly 😎

#NP Yann Tiersen I Palestine Recently acquired twelve inch from Yann's 2010 album Dust Lane. A very simple lyrical construct, but no less potent for that. All four additional remixes only reinforcing the sentiment of the original track, as unfortunately has time 😢

#NP QUINQUIS I Eor Remixes | Gwenno | Utopia Remixes Two fabulous digital EPs from two of 2025's best albums. I love the way if you play the Eor remixes first you get a lovely crossover of Gwenno's remix of Morwreg flowing effortlessly into QUINQUIS' remix of Hireth. It's a magical moment 👌

#NP Poor Creature | All Smiles Tonight First few spins of what I am sure is going to become a firm favourite, pulling and stretching traditional forms into new and wonderful places. Quite exceptional, and I really should have been listening before now. Better late than never 😊

Wrapping up a creative year. Took all my music off Spotify. Bandcamp sales raised €1000 for Brain Tumour Ireland in memory of Niall Crumlish. And €585 went yesterday to DEPAUL IRELAND. Released 2 Arrivalists albums, connected with so many beautiful souls yet again along the road . Grateful x .

Latest nine on Bandcamp 😎 (better than any EOY list I could come up with, but sure there'll be one of those as well 😂)

Ten Speed Racer - Was it a Moment? is out now, exclusively on Bandcamp. The first Ten Speed Racer single in 21 years. tenspeedracer.bandcamp.com/track/was-it...

First TenSpeedRacer single in 21 years. All proceeds to the Stay Human Collective. tenspeedracer.bandcamp.com/track/was-it...

My top ten gigs of 2025 (alphabetical) Anna B Savage Duran Duran / Chic Exit North Manic Street Preachers Nerina Pallot NewDad Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory Sigur Rós The Altered Hours (*) The Waterboys (*) tomorrow night but a dead cert 😎

Show us the last four albums you listened to #last4albums (late Sunday evening edition 😴....)

#NP Sevdaliza I ISON Heroina has been a runaway success for Sevdaliza this year, but she also has an amazing back catalogue. Back to 2017's debut album today and a stunning MOV pressing and fabulous artwork. Quite trip-hoppy so perfect for a postwalk Sunday afternoon chill 😎

#NP David Sylvian I Alchemy | An Index Of Possibilities In for a penny, new money for old rope etc., but there's no denying how groundbreaking these tracks were in David Sylvian's musical evolution. And as ever they still reward repeated listens. Plus it's brought the sun out ☀️ 👌 👍

#NP Caroline | Caroline 2 A rainy start to the day on the South Coast of the Island so a cup of tea and Caroline 2 going a long way to lift the mood. I missed this release earlier in the year, but was delighted to get a copy at Plug'd yesterday. Bold and ambitious, it's a fabulous listen 👌

#NP Girls Names | Arms Around A Vision That they got to this point and left us with this legacy is nothing short of miraculous. One of greatest Irish albums ever, if somewhere unsung. A decade in and its potency is still intact and as intoxicating as ever. With thanks to @mihanoid.bsky.social 👍

Show us the last four albums you listened to #last4albums (Bierhaus edition (avoiding the Christmas shopping))

Over €300 in one day raised for DEPAUL IRELAND. I'll leave this on Bandcamp until next Friday and then take it down . I cannot express what that meant to me yesterday. Magnificent people.x All proceeds go to DEPAUL. thehedgeschools.bandcamp.com/track/o-holy...

#NP Pet Shop Boys | Disco 5 There's no getting around this fact: Disco 5 is ridiculously good. A compilation in all but name, it's as fine a release as 2025 will see. I've had it on 🎧 for the past week, but the double vinyl is the job. Humble black, but needs must be. To the (domestic) dancefloor 😊

#NP Madonna | Bedtime Stories | The Untold Chapter The 30th anniversary edition(s) of Bedtime Stories has (have) been frustrating to say the least. But formatting quibbles aside The Untold Chapter is superb on vinyl and a fabulous addition to Madonna's catalogue.

#NP Melody's Echo Chamber | Unclouded Happy Release Day to Melody Prochet and her fabulous fourth. More than worth the trudge through the post-work rain to the local record emporium. A gorgeous mix of classic and dream pop, and so beautifully presented. Ah, the folly of November year end lists 😂

O Holy Night is over on my Bandcamp. All proceeds from sales of this will go to DEPAUL IRELAND in aid of their Home For Christmas campaign. Dedicated to Mama Bear. Thanks in advance of shares and coins in the fountain . x . thehedgeschools.bandcamp.com/track/o-holy...

𝟮 𝟬 𝟮 𝟱 𝗶𝗻 𝗴𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗜𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝗮𝗹𝗯𝘂𝗺𝘀 THE DIVINE COMEDY THE MURDER CAPITAL SPRINTS JUST MUSTARD ADRIAN CROWLEY FOR THOSE I LOVE ASH MARIA SOMERVILLE KEAN KAVANAGH POOR CREATURE M(H)AOL BRICKNASTY SODA BLONDE Lullahush pôt-pot THE WOOD BURNING SAVAGES THE WATERBOYS #IrishBluesky #speirgorm #music #irish

#NP The Altered Hours | The Altered Hours Cork's The Altered Hours channel their inner Paisley Underground on their superlative third album. This will be an absolute joy to behold on the upcoming tour. One of the very best Irish releases, and there were many, of 2025. Class.

#NP Clint Mansell | Black Swan OMPS This is a fabulous MOV repress of the OMPS for Darren Aronofsky's movie 'Black Swan'. The music is a thing of beauty all in itself and MOV have really done it justice, the record, pressing and cover reproduction are just superb. A lovely way to ease into Sunday.

#NP pôt-pot | Warsaw 480 km Delighted to finally catch up with pôt-pot's debut album. It's a terrific blend of krautrock, post-punk and psychrock. If the beat doesn't lets up, neither do the melodies, and the male/female vocals blend beautifully. A real surprise, of the very right kind 😎

#NP Midlake I A Bridge To Far Second spin of this wonderful record, with thanks (again) to the dynamic duo of @rickymca.bsky.social & @paulwonvinyl.bsky.social It's a gorgeous listen, sumptuous melodies and perfect for a Saturday night at home. And that cover. Superb 👌

Show us the last four albums you listened to #last4albums (Saturday night and music all the way edition 🎧)

Mrs. B was all over this one earlier today. 2026 is shaping up rather nicely on the gig front. Welcome to the weekend 😎

#NP Hilary Woods | Night CRIÚ Hilary's fourth and perhaps most accessible album to date. It loses none of the experimentation of its predecessors, but is melodically rich, evocative and enticing. I don't like the adjective 'ethereal', but that's what it says on the cover. A truly magical listen 👌

👀 👀 👀 The weekend has arrived already 😊

It's all happening @rickymca.bsky.social 😎

....... and here we all are in the middle of November admiring the festive pint. I'm at peace with myself 😉 😜

#NP Sevdaliza | Heroina To paraphrase Sevdaliza no me cansare (de este disco) First few spins on vinyl for me of Heroina and it's totally hit the musical sweet spot. Beautifully realised pop music, and already my soundtrack to summer '26 😎

Show us the last four albums you listened to #last4albums (Saturday recover edition (after two great nights out))