New To Me...To You...To Me...To You

or, How To Get Away With Two "25 From 25" Albums Lists Whilst Pretending That Wasn't Your Intention All Along, Part Two.

This is the second of two lists, my very loose criteria being the first time I have purchased an album by these artists, irrespective of whether they've been going for years or debuted in 2025.

Again, loads of albums that either remained on the long list or haven't yet made it off the shopping list and as yet are unheard. Honourable mentions to Brian Bilston & The Catenary Wires (sorry, JC!), Ead Wood, Restricted Code, Oklou, Steve Lane, The Morning Early, SPRINTS and Peter Capaldi (yes, him!)

As yesterday, I've listed my 25 picks alphabetically, rather than in order of greatness, but I will also reveal my favourite at the end.

25 From 25 - New To Me

(click on the links to buy these albums...and more!)

1) The Smile You Send Out Returns To You: Constant Follower

2) Gift Of Sorts: Chris Reeve

3) Dan's Boogie: Destroyer

4) Concrete Rockers: Earl Sixteen & The Co-operators

5) Ellen Beth Abdi: Ellen Beth Abdi

6) Mother Of A Thousand: F.O. Machete

7) Phantom Island: King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard

8) Om Verda Mi: Lakeshouse

9) Living History: Later Youth

10) LEDLEY: LEDLEY

11) Clients Of Suddenness: Louise Connell

12) A Danger To Ourselves: Lucrecia Dalt

13) Things Must Change: Montjuïc

14) Might As Well Play Another One: Mumble Tide

15) Ways To The Deep Meadow: Ocean Moon

16) A Dawning: Ólafur Arnalds & Talos

17) Desert Queen: Pearl Charles

18) Disturbia: Phonolab

19) Quad 90: Quad 90

20) Concorde: Res One, Upfront, Badhabitz

21) Don't Worry, It's Forever: Sister John

22) Rapture Party: The Joshua Hotel

23) Red Door Open: The Twistettes

24) Last Exit To Music: Xavier Corbera

25) Things Found In Books: Yvonne Lyon & Boo Hewerdine

I recommend each and every one of these albums, but my #1 of 2025 is the stunning self-titled debut by Ellen Beth Abdi.

I was fortunate enough to see Ellen Beth Abdi supporting A Certain Ratio in Bristol last May, and although I recognised her from appearances on the ACR album 1982 and 2023 EP, I was completely unfamiliar with her own songs.

I was at the gig with my friend Mike and we were both blown away by her performance. I told Ellen Beth as much at the merch stand after; she didn't have any records for sale at the time, but I did come away with a jar of delicious marmalade...now that's a USP!

So, when Ellen Beth Abdi's album emerged in May 2025, needless to say that expectations were high...and then surpassed.

The voice is something else, enough to carry the songs, but Ellen Beth handles the entire record with a sure hand, from keyboards and flute to co-production with Joel Anthony Patchett, this does not sound like a first album.

A highlight of the gig was a cover of Spellbound by Rae & Christian, a tribute to Ellen Beth's musical inspiration, vocalist Veba aka Beverley Green. She does the song - and the singer - justice, both on stage and in the studio, sublime vocal loops layering and layering to create a mesmerising whole.

Ellen Beth's own songs are more than up to the challenge of meeting this high bar. Tenterhooks, the lead single, was a perfect example of this but honestly, there's not a single song on the album that I don't want to play again and again. And I have, since buying it.

I can't wait to hear what she does next.

25 For 25, Part Two

Following up from last week's first half, today's 13-song selection rounds out the 25 For 25 highlights of the year so far. 

 

I've been fortunate enough to see two of these artists live on stage in the last couple of months, and with any luck by the time year end comes around, I'll have seen another two, also for the very first time.

 

I had an opportunity to see another this summer, with tickets for a "secret", "intimate" 5k capacity gig in Bristol, which I thought Lady K might be interested in going to. When I broached the subject, she gave me a withering look and said that they were "stuck in the 2010s".

 

I don't know what made me feel older: Lady K's reference to the 2010s - which I consider to be yesterday - as ancient history, or Mrs. K suggestion that a middle-aged man going on his own to a show with potentially a predominantly teen audience might draw attention for all the wrong reasons. I didn't go.

 

I leave you to hazard a guess at the opportunity that I passed up. 

 

Speaking of older, I've previously seen three other of today's featured artists, all who crashed into the public consciousness in the 1980s and/or 1990s. and have released great new music in the past 12 months.

 

Things change over time and my enthusiasm for certain things in my youth may have waned somewhat in passing decades, but my passion for music remains undimmed. 

1) Waiting: Yvonne Lyon & Boo Hewerdine (Things Found In Books)

2) Slow Emotion Replayed: The The (Slow Emotion Replayed EP)

3) Monday Murder: YUNGBLUD (Idols)

4) Rubber Inner Tube: Mark Rae ft. Heidi Haswell (New Town Ghosts)

5) Space Station Mantra: Andy Bell (Pinball Wanderer)

6) Metrosexual Man: Davey Woodward (Mumbo In The Jumbo)

7) Kicking Up Dust: F.O. Machete (Mother Of A Thousand)

8) On The Missing: Later Youth ft. Lissie (Living History)

9) Being Baptised (Piano Version): Manic Street Preachers (Critical Thinking (Deluxe Edition))

10) Portland Town: Heavenly (Portland Town EP)

11) pond song: Wet Leg (moisturizer)

12) Fuckboy: Billy Nomates (Mary And The Hyenas OST)

13) Moonlight Hotel: Charlie Noordewier (Moonlight Hotel EP)

Side Two (45:21) (GD) (M)

You're Welcome Here

A dip into my shopping bag from last week's Bandcamp Friday bonanza, a mix of new releases and 'catch up' purchases.

Heavy Heavy was the first album by Young Fathers that I bought, and I really liked it. I also got to see them perform live (kind of) when they joined Massive Attack on stage for three songs at last year's ACT 1.5 concert in Bristol.

Second album White Men Are Black Men Too has been made available as Name Your Price, so it was straight in the bag on Friday. Get Started is the closing song.

Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation, the 10th album - and first in six years - by Edwyn Collins, was out in March. I enjoyed the singles that preceded it, but this is also a primer for seeing Edwyn live in concert for the first - and last - time in September.

The Bridge Hotel appears two thirds of the way through, a wonderful paean to the real-life guest house in Helmsdale.

For one day only, most of Ibibio Sound Machine's digital catalogue was available as Name Your Price, which was an opportunity for me to plug the gaps in my collection, including the second studio album, Uyai.

I previously had the excellent Richard Norris remixes of side one closer Joy (Idaresit), and the album version is a welcome addition to my collection.

I've been a fan of Los Angeles-based Black Market, with their dub reimagining of iconic artists and music. In my bag this time were EPs by The Clash and Talking Heads and, going back to my entry point, the Thin White Dub EP. 

Posing the question, "What if David Bowie spent the summer of 1975 in Kingston, Jamaica with King Tubby instead of Philadelphia?", the EP recreates four songs: Young Americans, Modern Love, Station To Station and TVC15. 

The attention to detail is impeccable and the dub-infused versions are completely believable.

Another delightful discovery, also hailing from Scotland and released in March, is Things Found In Books by Yvonne Lyon and Boo Hewerdine. 

I'll admit that I was very familiar with Boo, having been a fan of his music since first hearing Graceland and Mahalia by The Bible nearly 40 years ago, but I knew next to nothing about Yvonne. 

It's a brisk album - 15 songs in 36 minutes - but does exactly what it set out to do. Vocally, Yvonne and Boo are a great pairing, with delicate acoustic chords and wistful horn elements providing an effective backdrop to their vignettes of imagined lives.