SF0201 Festive Forthy 2025 Pt 3, #14-1

SF0201 Festive Forthy 2025 Pt 3, #14-1

Show Podcast Information

So we come to the end of 2025.

The task of compiling the best 40 tracks tends to start with the idea that surely there can’t be another 40 great tracks this year. But there always are.

In fact, there were twice as many. I could have easily picked tracks from Pulp, Stereolab, Mouseatouille, Melody’s Echo Chamber, Ulrika Spacek, Dry Cleaning, Bucle Lunar, Big Thief, Dead Pioneers, Bar Italia, Dean Blunt, Friendship, Fantasy of a Broken Heart, Peel Dream Magazine, Sacred Paws, Marie Davidson, The Beths, Tropical Fuckstorm, Squid, Cross Record, Lael Neale, Deep Sea Diver, Courting, Lucrecia Dalt, They Are Gutting A Body Of Water. Momma, Destroyer, Youth Lagoon, Billy Marten, Oklou, and Yindling. They were all on the long list among many others.

So, here’s to you, Top 14.

There are some old friends. Saint Etienne released their 10th and last album. It’s not often bands retire, but they did. Black Country New Road have featured before and their featuring in my gig list early in the new year as well, I’m pleased to say. A pleasing change of direction for them. Sharp Pins along with Cusp appeared a long time ago in our Chicago episode and it’s good to see them going from strength to strength. Horsegirl, Florist and This Is Lorelei are also no strangers to our FF rodeo, but sheer force of quality has seen them crowbar their way into the Top 10. And who would have thought, two decades after releasing any new music at all, that Evan Dando would find himself ranked so high. Fully deserved, I might add.

At the same time, it’s always good to have new blood, so welcome Colin Miller, Horse Jumper of Love and Automatic. And we especially welcome a couple of arrivals from further afield – South Korea’s Ohyung via Brooklyn and a heady hybrid of Peru, Berlin and the Congo with Ale Hop and Titi Bakorta.

Although the entire Top 5 could have been #1, in the end my moving finger slid Water From Your Eyes up top. Worthy winners indeed, and congratulations to them.

I hope you enjoy the show.