what are you listening to? 2026

wherin we enthuse on our muse. celebrate cover art through the ages.
cds lps lawnmowers birdsong snoring laptop fan etc

https://i.discogs.com/7TFG98ME2xCP2ykmDjmjxMGSgDYT66kX6_Suhcsj4_0/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:504/w:564/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQxMDYz/MjctMTM1NTQzMDY2/My0xMTU1LmpwZWc.jpeg
io - "flamenco abstractions" david font processe josé luis rodriguez's guitar - sounds like mid-period _zoviet*france_

i can spell both "wherein" and "processes", but i cannot type

Sorry but I want to repost the last thing I put on the 2025 thread:

This is my closing song of 2025. Ridiculously beautiful stuff

https://open.spotify.com/track/5ECuF4LeGfQGAPDPdVxuYX?si=yfITGDiNQ5qbvY3bt42K5Q

Spotify has his name wrong. It’s Hass Salan. Not much is known about him but he wrote, arranged and played violin on a lot of Sinn Sisamouth’s big Cambodian hits. He disappeared with the rest of the scene when pol pot took over.

It’s been 50 years since that whole golden era of Cambodian music was wiped out. I went to the killing fields today and the S-21 prison where people were murdered. I found a tooth on the ground at the killing fields. Things keep appearing as the soil erodes. You can still see the bloodstains on the floors and ceilings of the former classrooms that became cells at S-21. It was tough.

Peace to all these wonderful musicians who went out in so much pain.

― Heez, Thursday, December 18, 2025 10:12 AM (two weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

that's quite lovely, thanks!

https://i.discogs.com/-cIRCkczUWlj90KIRi-9a1DP8FA8txvzI8O6C9-upLQ/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:535/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTc0NzY5/MS0xMzYyMzEwODkz/LTI1MzAuanBlZw.jpeg
fred frith's "allies"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oj--1mTk8lQ

Dave Liebman - Drum Ode (1974)
Contains some burners but also this lovely raga

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0msn2pPDzUA

David Binney - Action
Trio w/Louis Cole from a couple years ago

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FtF9TDXhQG

https://i.discogs.com/j1uNOdHTiO80BfNqpZWLVDQepvrfUMtNLFsWty4YXsM/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:169/w:170/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTE3Nzg2/MzQtMTI1OTcxMzIy/My5qcGVn.jpeg
spectre fone - "'newsday long island' for nipsy russell" pete nolan on chocolate monk in 2005. subdued & plangent static loop moan

Kraak & Smaak ft John Turrell - Back Again (Hot Toddy remix). Based on a single looping chord progression, but what a chord progression and what a bassline to go with it. Great vocal performance and overall a magnificent steal from Chic-era classic disco.

Underground System - Just A Place. Irresistible post-punk funk from well-established melting pot Brooklynites.

https://i.discogs.com/YN6nPZ8PEq80OLh2IdvKZYp3o-JaIj-GGTX8CJKRs1Y/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:600/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM4MTQy/NC0xNDk0OTU5ODEw/LTk5MzUuanBlZw.jpeg
swell maps "train out of it" odds n sods comp. grand, as you prob know

https://i.discogs.com/8nbXeNAnx31O26TH65S6cSEl94d4NZXlP6AjfGTBCLI/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:251/w:253/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTQ0NTQ1/NC0xMjA2MzA2MTY1/LmpwZWc.jpeg
vidéo-aventures - "camera (in focus)" 1984 french avant pop musique concrete. lo-fi electronics, chanson, nervy guitars, feedback, atmosphere, bloop blorp, sax chorale. awesome

https://i.discogs.com/5fYgP2E0XuRwIfYxjahE4oj2r3QjeQ0VAzADr6StCaw/rs:fit/g:sm/q:90/h:600/w:597/czM6Ly9kaXNjb2dz/LWRhdGFiYXNlLWlt/YWdlcy9SLTM3MDk4/OS0xMjQ4NDkwMzE5/LmpwZWc.jpeg
my son has discovered his mum's syrian pirate cassette of "complete madness" so much to love

their first ever compilation !?
needless to say, there have been quite a few since.

Divine Madness is probably my favourite, a simple collection of the original run of top 30 singles, but annoyingly it uses the album re-recording of The Prince instead of the 7" (among a few others iirc). I can forgive and even celebrate that when it's the Smiths because (challop?) their album versions are always better, but it's a bit distracting with Madness as the 2 Tone "Prince" is so much more familiar.

What am I listening to in 2026? The Rhythm Sisters! Road to Roundhay Pier is incredible, probably the quickest I've ever bought a second-hand record after listening to it online.

ok, having listened to madness forever i had no idea re the differences re 'the prince'.
(i have the orig. 7" i think .. but tis hidden away in the attic .. )
i have 'divine madness' of course, but not 'complete .. ' as have no need for it.
do any of their comps have the original version of 'the prince' on it ?

Der Meridian - Magdeburg (Lange Nacht), exquisite minimal wave synthpop with a tidily-executed Cold War aesthetic.

There are 80s pop songs that do the Motown/northern soul backbeat thing without being a retro soul pastiche, but this really up the antes. The accordion, as ever, hovering through the thing adds such a great element to their general acoustic skiffle-y sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zqQnGKLFx2A

A few of the songs feel like they use traditional folk modes - I can't say that for sure, just sounds a bit like it - but this one simultaneously highlights that while near-undercutting it with a lot of detuned Wild Honey Pie dissonance. It's a beautiful sound.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x5nFjJO2yKY

"do any of their comps have the original version of 'the prince' on it ?"

Complete Madness does, as does The Business (the one I grew up with). A quick consultation of Wiki suggests Ultimate Madness does too but I dunno about after that. Seems like there's not a lot of logic behind which version to use and when.

I have The Business.
absolutely (ahem !) hate it cos of the f^cking interviews that are spread throughout.
i also have the double header comps : 'It's Madness/It's Madness Too', that came out when they returned with 'Wonderful'.
The original versions of the comps had coverart/typo that fit alongside the artwork of Wonderful, hence why I got them, also, they both have loads of b-sides and no f&cking interviews.
i think that had the orig version of 'The Prince'.
will have to check ..

ok, checked.
i can now hear the difference.
this comp has the original 2-tone version on it

https://www.discogs.com/release/449176-Madness-Its-Madness-Too

Oh man my Complete Madness cassette was my very favourite thing for quite a while.

And I have that Rhythm Sisters LP somewhere. I saw them live once, opening for someone in Oslo. (The Proclaimers? Martin Stephenson and the Daintees?)

been plowing through this awesome series and ripping the LPs as I go:
https://www.discogs.com/label/457027-The-Greatest-Country-Music-Recordings-Of-All-Time

there are a couple of duds in the 50 sets, but not many

I must've listened to that Complete Madness compilation hundreds of times - it was one of very few records my mum owned that my sister & I liked so we played it all the time when we were kids. the other one was Squeeze - Singles 45s & Under

Girls Of The Internet - Forever, quiet, blissfully minimal house underpinning a choral gospel vocal of ecstatic restraint.

King Tears Bat Trip - s/t

absolutely thunderous free jazz record from 2012 on debacle records, they threw it in with my order of a different LP last year and i'm only getting to it now. a riot of drums and sax, so sick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJhQNmEBbiY

reading my way through Denim & leather on NWOBHM and checking out some of the bands mentioned. I know the bands names but not their music.
So have discovered I like early Girlschool, which fits in with the Runaways box set I picked up recently.
Also that the Paul Di'anno era Iron Maiden did include some influence from much earlier in the 70s on tracks like Remember Tomorrow which might prompt me to pick up the first couple of lps at some point.
Now in the section on Satanic metal so checking out Witchfinder General and relistening to Venom,

Otherwise picked up the s/t cd by The Raincoats.
really great, idiosyncratic take on the influences of punk which went on to be very influential. Stands as its own thing pretty well too.

Bothy Band Out Of The Wind Into The Sun#3rd lp by Irish traditional revival band. I think showing the Gadamer idea that a band's encounter with tradition is a conversation between the elements of the tradition and the players' own contribution.
Anyway this makes things sound pretty fresh and I could see this appealing heavily to people with little familiarity with Irish traditional music as well as connoisseurs. Like it has its own presence and is pretty sublime.
Think I need the preceding 2 lps too.

Next Stop...Soweto, Vol. 2: Soultown. R&B, Funk & Psych Sounds from the Townships 1969-1976
Strut label compilation of 70s music from SA like an equivalent to Ethiopiques in its demonstration of crosscultural influence. Tracks are mainly pretty short at roughly 3 minutes, I guess single length. I think Ethiopiques tracks cane be comfortably longer.
Anyway pretty great, funky as f*** and showing some influence from the white rock bands from the late 60s.