9 in 1 (56)

No, no, where have you been? OK, here's your first '9 in 1' since January, no order or reason...

Caryl a'r Band - Canu'n Ara

Is this yacht rock? Welsh-language soft rock beauty from 1980 played by Flo Dill on NTS a few weeks back.

Oneohtrix Point Never - Memories Of Music

As mentioned in the last section of the No Tags 2 book, on a piece about music, separation, and incarceration. V. surprised to learn only now about National Prison Radio in that piece. It launched in 2009, a few years earlier, and I'd have been all over it at uni. Shows how much things drop away, I suppose.

Patrick Selinger - Businessmen

Another one from Flo Dill's breakfast show on NTS, I think this was on Ultimate DJ as a joke song or something, but I dig it. Oldball crunchy new wave from late 80s Belgium.

Severed Heads - Lamborghini (Petrol April 1982)

Ashamed to say I think the algo chucked this one up on Instagram for me. But it got me. More scratchy electronic new wave, this time from early-80s Australia.

Mr & Mrs Dale - It's You (Free House Mix)

Stripped-back deep house from 1989.

Los Twangueros - Star Guitar

Yes, one of my favourite Chemical Brothers tracks given the balearic guitar treatment. Big summer vibes.

The The - Uncertain Smile

A third track from Flo Dill's show. I swear I've listened to other shows in the six months since I last posted one of these lists.

John Martyn - You Might Need a Man

This is now a John Martyn fan blog. Glorious pop rock from 1982.

Joachim Witt - Goldener Reiter

Yet more 80s new wave; this time closer to the rock end. As heard on the German-language Hola FM while on holiday in Fuerteventura in February.

Original image: Kidfly182, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Glass Circles

Finger on the pulse as ever, here's a great little video that was featured in a buzzy blog about Corduroy Psychedelia and Boards of Canada in March, which I picked up on after it was mentioned last month on No Tags 68.

Geometry of Circles is a cool AF animation made for Sesame Street in 1979 with a bespoke Philip Glass soundtrack. We used to have it so good.

Pump: CRTs & PVP

I left Do You Radio on as it went into the repeats for a change the other day. Had my head in Markdown, trying to fix a table that shouldn't be a table. A tale as old as time.

Anyway, I was pulled out of the drudge by the Mii Channel Theme, then Dire, Dire Docks and even more video game soundtrack bangers. It was Pump: CRTs & PVP.

I think Pump is a new host on the station??

Yeah, so the show was a top top two hours, the highlight of which was probably this, WANDA WANDA by Katamari Damacy Series SOUND TEAM.

Gotta say this is a new one on me, Katamari Damacy is a 2004 action puzzle video game developed and published by Namco for the PlayStation 2. Every day is a school day.

Fake Bleep

Hey, is your brain melting? Given up on the future? Swimming in existential dread?

Why not distract yourself for an hour or so with this headsy techno-ish mix from Nathan Fake? It's Bleep Mix 316 and is all Fake productions, so it's decent, y'know.

Bye.

Back Boards

OK, so it looks like it's actually happening...

Tape 05 is the first music from Boards of Canada in 13 years. So, if everyone could hold off bombing each other to oblivion until the album drops, that would be fab.

This upload follows the VHS mailouts and the posters appearing in LA, NY, London and Tokyo in the last week or so. If this rollout is going to be anything like Tomorrow's Harvest in 2013, then I'd recommend following bocpages on Instagram to keep up to speed. There's also this evolving thread on the story so far on the bocpages website.

Genuinely so happy that BOC appear to be back.

PS hi how are you? Sorry for the lack of posting, a mix of sickness, holidays and general existential dread means I've not felt like posting. But hey, couldn't miss this news.

Daphni Buzz

I reviewed Daphni's new album Butterfly for Buzz magazine the other day; it even made it into the print edition on page 28. (I did give it four stars, maybe the full review online reads more like a three?).

Hang is my pick from the album, and it also appears on Daphni's recent Essential Mix, which is up for the next month or so on BBC Sounds.

9 in 1 (55)

Hi, how are you?

Hiroshi Yoshimura - Creek

One day, I'll get around to buying Green. Yoshimura's 1986 album was mentioned in one of the later chapters in Everything We Do is Music: How 20th-Century Classical Music Shaped Pop by Elizabeth Alker, which I finished off the other day. Good read like.

Manchester String Quartet - Voodoo Ray

Is this a bit too Pete Tong Ibiza Classics? It's right on the line.

Felix Da Housecat - Silver Screen Shower Scene (Thin White Duke Mix by Jacques Lu Cont)

I rarely adore a remix as much as I do the original, but here we are. Georgous orchestral start before it starts jacking, incredible stuff.

The Black Madonna - Venus Requiem

Another one from Acker's book - the chapter focussed on Pauline Oliveros - from the DJ now known as The Blessed Madonna.

Slam - Positive Education (Slam Remix)

No nonsense, heads down techno from Glasgow from 2001. 

Llondon Actress - Country

As flagged on the No Tags pod's best of 2025 episode (and a subsequent Dan Hancox post) there is something interesting going on here, definitely hearing Clams Casino in there on the production.

Lily Allen - Ruminating

Look, I'm just as suprised as you are, but this really gets under the skin.

KW Griff - Bring in the Katz (feat. Pork Chop)

I could watch those Baltimore line dancing videos for hours. The comments section is also a joy.

Hadouken! - That Boy That Girl

2008 was a long long long time ago.

Original image: Rosa Bonheur, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

Four Kings

I've been enjoying Four Kings on Channel 4, a "documentary series exploring the careers of great Black British boxers Frank Bruno, Lennox Lewis, Chris Eubank and Nigel Benn, featuring interviews with the men themselves."

Figured it would be good to roll out again that video of Benn entering the ring to We Are I.E. by Lennie De Ice, but it's got a copyright strike.

So, as identified by UK Rave Comments as the fight at which it happened, here's the full highlights of Benn's fight with Danny Perez from 1995, with the breakbeat hardcore banger kicking in at around 3 minutes. What a time.

Top 12 Tracks I Heard In 2025

Finger on the pulse, Sammo, here are the top 12 tracks I heard in 2025. Not stuff that came out in 2025, but stuff that I heard for the first time in 2025.

In no particular order...

• John Martyn - Please Fall in Love with Me [1981]

• Van Morrison - Dweller on the Threshold [1982]

• Il Quadro di Troisi - Non Ricordi [2020]

• Joshua Idehen - Mum Does The Washing [2024]

• LCD Soundsystem - Home (Tom Sharkett Edit) [2025]

• Capone - Music Love Song [1979]

• Robyn - Dopamine [2025]

• SOPHIE - Is It Cold in the Water? [2018]

• SOPHIE - Immaterial [2018]

• Snooper  - Pom Pom [2025]

• Earl Sweatshirt - 2010 [2021]

• Clipse - P.O.V. feat. Tyler, The Creator [2025] (this is also my music video of the year)

Mix of the year

Brava & Teki Latex on Rinse France - 30 October 2025.

Special shout-out to the Jam City XLR8R mix from 2011 that I found on an old pen drive too.

Gig of the year

The Futureheads at SWX, Bristol - February 2025.

Album of the year

Maybe the Polygon Window re-issue? Or the Metronomy greatest hits? Yeah, I didn't really listen to or buy many new albums over 2025.

Actually, I did get OIL OF EVERY PEARL'S UN-INSIDES, definitely listened to that more than anything else in 2025, so SOPHIE gets it.

Related post: Top 10 Things I Heard in 2024