Apologies to all goons sharing videos of Radiohead's Sad Man Has A Lie Down and Fatboy Slim's Christopher Walken dancing on the ceiling, this is actually the greatest thing that was ever aired on MTV: youtu.be/qdlQyNe_9tE?...

Shout out to anyone who is watching a Dutch woman eating a donut live from a forest on the BBC; happy new year.

Agriculture - Salford Aya - Oxfordshire Ozzy/Sabbath - Birmingham Eric Chenaux - Bristol MPTL Microplastics - Wilts Bonus DJ set: Rian Treanor & Mun Sing - Oxfordshire

‪Chops Top 5: Gigs of 2025 1. LCD Soundsystem (Brixton Academy) 2. Hinds (MOTH Club) 3. Les Savy Fav (Scala) 4. Slime City / FO Machete / Punching Swans (The Lexington) 5. Nation of Language (Roundhouse) ‪#chopsfives #topfive #gigs2025 reply or QT‬ to share yours

On the 45th anniversary of one of The Special A.K.A.'s best 45rpms getting all the way to the top of the charts, Wrong Tom charted the long lead up and the trail they blazed in getting there Quietus Best Of 2025: ‘Too Much Too Young’ - How #TheSpecials got Their First Number One buff.ly/noUzk5k

Go round the outside.

Howdy! Is there anything happening in Bristol this afternoon/evening? CHEERS!

A Christmas re-read of 2001 - the first time in over four decades! - reveals it’s just as good as I remembered it.

Dune 3: Jeff In Dune Praise be to @plasmatron.bsky.social

'Slayer created a shadow world – a dark mirror to reflect the most horrifying elements of humanity. This three-album run ripped heavy metal out of its moorings and threw it into the fire' Quietus Best Of 2025: How 20th Century Metal Never Bettered #Slayer’s Unholy Trilogy buff.ly/fkY0uqw

She was trash right? Still doesn’t take anything away from this: youtu.be/1SE_K7SSDKgA

Claire-Louise Bennett - Pond I tend to abandon books the second I get even a whiff of “interior monologue of lecturer“ especially when married to an ill-planned escape into rural life. This not exactly a novel, not exactly short story collection has such brilliant flow it transcends absence of…

'Coil felt dangerous. Not with just the standard fear that your parents would hear the lyrics through the floorboards but rather that you the listener would unlock forbidden irreversible things.' Quietus Best Of 2025: Coil’s Scatology Revisited buff.ly/sop5Sy2

My follower count has doubled since bonfire night; is there an obvious reason for this? youtu.be/CeMUyPWZY5M

“Keep your wig on, crack head.”

Aya Sinclair talked to John Doran about giving up drink & drugs; reckoning with her emo, metal & IDM past and found time to pass on some tips for those wanting to fill their mouths with live earthworms Quietus Best of 2025: An Interview with Aya buff.ly/5Xb0Mkr

Father In Law is drifting from room to room singing/humming "Do They Know It's Christmas?" like a haunted wind. Did you see this earlier? Get yr headphones in and head to The Quietus to watch... thequietus.com/news/hey-col...

Don't joke, Paddy Considine, that's you.

Bring it on.

KANEDA! Happy Christmas everyone!

Ho Ho Hey! Hey Colossus announce their 15th album... on Christmas Day! thequietus.com/news/hey-col...

“There is a cosmic force at play with this band!” Hey Colossus – never doing anything the easy way – have just announced their new album on Christmas Day, via a mini documentary. Pre-sale goes live on Jan 1 You can watch it via link below. Happy Christmas to all of our readers! buff.ly/r4fVPLa

'The MT-40 offered the musician something new, in the form of a miniature sub-keyboard either for playing bass notes, or allowing the main keyboard to be played along with pre-programmed basslines...' Quietus Best of 2025: Attempting to Uncover the Real Sleng Teng Story buff.ly/6ar7fnk

Christmas holiday reading list returning great dividends so far; feel like A Fragment Of Life (by Arthur Machen) is one of the greatest novellas I’ve read. I’m naturally inclined towards anything with a transcendent function from The Fall to William Blake; Machen’s boring every couple… 1/2

When someone commissions me to write my aural history of post-rock, this is exactly where it will begin. Year zero a whole manner of things

'With NOS’ hard swung Prefuse 73 vocal cutups, juddering serotonin burst drum trills, pelvis-shattering bass and Trocadero computer game noise, Blawan puts the fun back in remorseless machine funk.' Blawan - ‘NOS’ is No 7 in The Quietus Tracks of the Year for 2025 buff.ly/9dtflPo

It's a seasonal special for the final antidote to the algorithm of 2025, as Laura Cannell guides us through melancholic Medieval, rousing Baroque and stolen carols Organic Intelligence LI: Laura Cannell’s Guide to Early-ish #ChristmasMusic buff.ly/zVxAILf

Arthur Machen on English fiction.

Solstice perambulation.

Family out for a walk: hard full-dial reset.

One day something will happen — a wedding, a graduation, a job promotion, Jake Paul getting knocked out, Andrew Tate getting knocked out the next day — and you’ll want the right outfit to celebrate. Buy that special outfit now, so you’re ready when that next unexpected moment arrives.

Happy Solstice!

DOUBLE RESET! Coffin MULCH!!!!

House tidied. Time to reset the dials before the family gets here.

To paraphrase Ben Myers, writing is just lonely people typing, punctuated by biscuits. I think Jesus Christ Kinski is his best yet, or up there at least. It is unique, but its uniqueness in no way hampers its immense enjoyability. And if that’s not a recommendation, I don’t know what is.

We've had some great interviews up on the site this year, and this, our final for 2025, is one of them. Stewart Lee jumps on a zoom call with Canadian free rock group EarthBall but then a breakdown in communication leads to a meditation on improvisation... Ln1k in thared

#Shackleton has a new album on the way. His first solo release for AD 93, Euphoria Bound, follows last year’s collaborative record with Holy Tongue, The Tumbling Psychic Joy Of Now, for the same label You can listen to lead track ‘Crushing Realities’ here: buff.ly/8eKk4K0

Go get the flu jab lads. I cannot say this enough: you do not want to come down with this

'Blue serves as both anchor and inspiration. It reminds us that the modernity of Afrobeats is not rupture but continuity, that today’s hybrids have long genealogies.' K. Frimpong & His Cubano Fiestas - The Blue Album is No 12 in tQ’s Reissues Etc. of the Year 2025 buff.ly/J3GK4Dr

Apologies if this is triggering to anyone but FOR THE PURPOSES OF EDUCATION OF A THIRD PARTY what is the most even-handed overview of (or series of articles on) JK Rowling’s journey into TERFdom/ gender critical monomania in recent years? pls & thx. I very much do not like… 1/2

Stolen from Nogbad The Bad over at the other place.

Bidi-bidi-bidi, goodnight Buck. 😪

I love doing playlists for our subscribers. My Tubeway Army/Numan Deep Cuts 78-80 playlist added to the Telekon review just now. thequietus.com/quietus-revi...

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/