Is It Obvious? Or Is It Delirium?

Last Sunday's post summed up some of the great music in 2025 so far and tomorrow will complete the 25 For 25 set.

That selection has focused on what I would loosely describe as 'alternative' music, whereas I have featured several selections this year that are more electronic / beats based.

And there's so much of it, I can't keep up, to be honest. Exhibit A: another 90-minute, 15 song pick that refuses to be pigeonholed.

There is something of a nostalgic feel to this one. The All Seeing I have released an expanded version on their 1999 album Pickled Eggs And Sherbert, including 4 reworkings by founder member Richard Barratt aka Crooked Man, which you can also buy as a standalone EP. Of course I had to pick 1st Man In Space featuring living legend Phil Oakey.

Phil's in good company. The following song La Musica was originally released in 2014 by Munk and re-released this year as a collaboration with Kapote...although they are one and the same person, Mathias Modica. The version here features George Kranz, heavily incorporating his 1983 song Din Daa Daa.

Oh, and Yoko Ono pops up in the next song by the brilliant Jezebell,  Dub Narcotic Sound System's 1994 single Fuck Shit Up gets a makeover by hi-falutin' Hifi Sean and you'll hear a familiar snippet of Peter Fonda amongst the guess-the-sample offering by Follytechnic Music Library aka Paul Southgate. Paul's seemingly unstoppable output of edits and mash-ups deserves a post of its own. I must get to it.

It's not all reflective, though. If you've been following this blog all year, you will have twigged that I like Airsine's Like Fire EP. I mean, a lot. Three of the four versions have now appeared on 2025 round-up selections, so I guess I'd better save the remaining one for the 'best of the year' round up.

senses appear for the second time in a week with the same song. The original 'indie' version has a charm all of its own, but there was no way I was leaving out Andy Bell's GLOK remix. 

Likewise, Let Yourself Go by Una Camille & Dr. No (well, Richard Norris in disguise actually) popped up previously with one of his own remixes, but I had to make room here for the super Acid Mix by Leo Zero. 

Leo's been pretty busy himself this year, as I found to my (literal) cost last Bandcamp Friday, so there will be more from him here soon. 

Other gifts that keep giving since their release are albums by Hifi Sean and David McAlmont and 100 Poems aka Mike Wilson. Hugo Nicholson is in a real purple patch at the moment, Pete Bones too, here with a remix of Nick Hook for a charity fundraiser EP.

Relatively recent discoveries are Greendoxyn (here with Lyubava), via the ever reliable NEIN Records label,  and London duo Mermaid Chunky, who I found via their collaboration with Orbury Common in 2022.

Rounding things out is sLEdger, who got my attention with an excellent remix of Fluke in 2024, and have kept it with some top notch and brilliantly titled releases. Trippy Ass God Funk indeed.

Please come back on Sunday for more 2025 highlights.

1) 1st Crooked Man In Space (Remix By Richard Barratt): The All Seeing I ft. Phil Oakey (Return Of The Crooked Cat EP)

2) La Musica (Din Daa Daa Version): Munk & Kapote ft. George Kranz (La Musica EP)

3) Turn It Yes: Jezebell (Jezebellearic Beats Volume 2)

4) Like Fire (Single Version): Airsine (Like Fire EP)

5) Spanner: Hugo Nicolson (Black Stick EP)

6) have you ever had a broken heart? (Andy Bell/GLOK Remix): senses (have you ever had a broken heart? EP)

7) Sleeping Pill (Album Version): Hifi Sean & David McAlmont (Twilight)

8) Waiting For An Angel: Greendoxyn & Lyubava (Waiting For An Angel EP)

9) Viva Palestina (Pete Bones Remix): Nick Hook (Viva Palestina (Dance For Peace Remixes) EP)

10) chaperone (Peach's 2Good 2Be Remix): Mermaid Chunky (chaperone EP)

11) Fuck Shit Up (Hifi Sean Mix): Dub Narcotic Sound System (Fuck Shit Up EP)

12) Let The Horse Run Free: 100 Poems (Let The Horse Run Free)

13) Surfer Man Got Loaded: Follytechnic Music Library (FML25 Baggy Ravers 3)

14) Let Yourself Go (Leo Zero Acid Mix): Una Camille & Dr No (Let Yourself Go EP)

15) Trippy Ass God Funk: sLEdger (Funk From The Portal EP)

Is It Obvious? Or Is It Delirium? (1:30:45) (GD) (M)

And if you missed the previous 2025 So Far selections...

28th March: It's A Glamorous World 

11th May: Doused In Dopamine

4th July: Staring Into Air

Stocking Fillers? Or Floor Fillers?

Or both? Another bag full of Bandcamp boogie and beats that will give Santa's sack a run for its money.

 

After featuring Charlotte & Reinhard in yesterday's selection, it's back to their day job with Rheinzand for the first goody, the 'Sonic Refurbished' version of their album Atlantis Atlantis which proved to be a summer highlight. 

 

Pete Blaker's 'remixes' of Facciamo L'Amore and Ibiza Macht Frei had been released as standalone singles in 2023, and they both appear here alongside four other extended reworks. This is no mere 'remix' album though, as indicated by the fact that Blaker receives an artist co-credit with Rheinzand.

Pete got the band back into the studio to record new vocal and instrumental elements, which were dubbed and layered to create a fresh incarnation of each song. The shortest song on the album is eight and a half minutes, the longest - a version of Level 42's 1981 hit Love Games - nearly twelve and a half. 

The Gift Of Love is nearly twice the length of the Atlantis Atlantis original, retaining the former's languid melody, adding some bass from the bottom of the ocean and taking the listener on an even deeper dive.

 

From Pete Blaker to Pete Bones, here as The Shaker with the excellent 3-track single You Ain't Seen Me from April. I previously featured the Black Octopus remix, so I've gone for Serge Santiago this time, a heady mix of samples, synth stabs and fat beats dragging you back to the late 80s like the party never ended. All three recommended, to be honest.

 

Greendoxyn is Alen Delon (or Alen Ari, according to other t'internet sources) from Kazakhstan. I'd not heard any of his music or remixes before but the Roaming EP was released on the excellent Nein Records, which was good enough for me to take a punt. I did not regret it. 

Three tracks, Roaming, Closed Gamer and The Shark, with a remix of the latter by Elninodiablo aka Stephanos Pantelas. Titled the Close Encounter Remix, which immediately calls to mind a John Williams film score, with a title like The Shark, there is inevitably a nod to his earlier classic, Jaws. Nein were so impressed that the remix is also included on their Best Of 2024 compilation.

 

Portland, Oregon-based label Boomarm Nation released Family Album 2024 on January 1st, the fourth such compilation but the first since 2018. Again, another punt on a label and artists that I was mostly unfamiliar with, on the strength on the sole contributor that I had heard of, StinkyJim. His offering Lie In King, is a dubby, bubbly warm hug of a song and worth the price of admission alone.

Jim's in good company, as evidenced by the bass-heavy, dub colossus that is the 10-minute extended version of Ancient Atoll by Ulrich Troyer. Nineteen tracks in all, available as a name your price download. I mean, why wouldn't you?

 

Returning to planet Nein, and Walentin Pauer. What can I tell you about Walentin? Well, he's based in Bucharest...and that's about all I've got. July saw a 4-track single featuring Maat Mons and Voyager III, with a remix apiece by Stockholm Syndrome (Iain Mac, Australia) and From Beyond aka Alex Wastnidge, England). Here's the latter.

 

Getting down to the indie disco with Spare Snare, who handed their excellent album The Brutal over to other artists, resulting in the rather wonderful Mix Up, out in November. And what better way to kick of than with HiFi Sean's superb Echoplex Dub of I Have You? The bar is set high and maintained throughout.  

 

 

I've been subscribing to Richard Norris' Bandcamp for a few years now and the amount of music that's come my has been staggering, with 2024 being an especially fertile year. An almost impossible task to pick just one, the quality being so high, but I've gone with April's standalone single Weatherall's Last Stand, simply because it's a beautiful tribute to a much missed collaborator and friend.

 

Given the season, a reminder that Paisley Dark Records released the superb compilation Shelter Me - In Crisis in April. Eighteen tracks by top notch artists such as Al Mackenzie, Duncan Gray, Jezebell and Zillas On Acid, all for fifteen quid. All proceeds go directly to the account of UK based homelessness charity, Crisis. 

Again, a tough one to pick from, as they're all so good, so I've taken the easy option by choosing A Space Age Freak Out aka Paisley Dark Records co-founder John Paynter. His contribution Song Of Siraba is remixed in full effect by Mindbender aka Mårten Attling. Buy the whole album now!