Kicker of Elves’ Favourite Things from 2025

SONG OF THE YEAR

It had to be this. First heard on a bus ride back home from work, I can remember exactly where this came on my headphones – it was at the junction of Allerton Road and Queens Drive on the number 80, and, yes, it brought tears to me eyes. Scott just keeps on producing wonderful songs combining humour and heartbreak. Long may it continue. Can he make it 3 in 3 in 2026? I wouldn’t bet against it. Just make sure there’s a custard reference, eh?

Top 25 Albums

1 Stephen Jones – Ten Of Your Favourite Things

An album that is literally about ten of my favourite things by one of my favourite artists: a shoe-in for number one spot really. Stephen Jones remains remarkably prolific (see below) but at the same time maintaining an unbelievably high level of quality that ensures every new release is a must hear. Sadly, only I will get to hear this album in full (you can hear one of the tracks on this podcast), but should you wish to have an album of your own favourite things recorded – it might well be worth asking here.

2 Alan Sparhawk & Trampled By Turtles – Alan Sparhawk With Trampled By Turtles

3 Scott Lavene – Cars, Buses, Bedsits And Shops

4 Half Man Half Biscuit – All Asimov And No Fresh Air

5 Little Whirls – Eels And Smiles

6 Ed Kuepper & Jim White – After The Flood

7 Gruff Rhys – Dim Probs

8 Hap A Damwain – Diwedd Hanes

9 The Humdrum Express – Rastrophiliopustrocity Pomposity

10 Maxine Funke – Timeless Town

11 Good Flying Birds – Talulah’s Tape

12 Guided By Voices – Thick, Rich And Delicious

13 Michael Hurley – Broken Homes And Gardens

14 The Mekons – Horror

15 The Bug Club – Very Human Features

16 The Saints – Long March Through The Jazz Age

17 Melin Melyn – Mill On The Hill

18 Wreckless Eric – England Screaming

19 Mclusky – The World Is Still Here And So Are We

20 Sharp Pins – Balloon Balloon Balloon

21 The Moles – Composition Book

22 Swearing At Motorists – 31 Seasons In The Minor Leagues

23 Guided By Voices – Universe Room

24 Rural Tapes – Oneiric

25 Mavis Staples – Sad And Beautiful World

…. and making up a top 50 albums, all of which you should own, are, in alphabetical order, 25 more:

The Apartments – That’s What The Music Is For; Autocamper – What Do You Do All Day?; Babybird – Internal Bleeding; The Bats – Corner Coming Up; The Burning Hell – Ghost Palace; Edwyn Collins – Nations Shall Speak Unto Nation; Comet Gain – Letters To Ordinary Outsiders; The Cords – The Cords; Crayola Lectern – Disasternoon; Deadman’s Ghost – A Votive Offering; Robert Forster – Strawberries; Bill Fox – Resonance; Index For Working Musik – Which Direction Goes The Beam; Kitchen Cynics – To The Green Round; Don Leisure – Tyrchu Sain; Edvard Graham Lewis – Alreet?; Lightning In A Twilight Hour – Colours Yet To Be Named; Melys – Second Wind; Modern Nature – The Heat Warps; The Necks – Disquiet; The New Eves – The New Eve Is Rising; The Nightingales – The Awful Truth; Emma Pollock – Begging The Night To Take Hold; Possible Humans – Standing Around Alive; Rip Van Winkle – Blasphemy; Franco Rossino– #1; Sharp Pins – Radio DDR; Smug Brothers – Stuck On Beta; Throwing Muses – Moonlight Confessions; Transistors – Everything Will Never Happen Again; The Tubs – Cotton Crown; Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan – Public Works And Utilities; Wiiince – Puce; James Yorkston And Friends – Songs For Nina And Johanna

Top 5 Compilations

1 A Selection Of Music From Libyan Tapes (Habibi Funk)

2 Tough Love 20: Don’t Do Anything Important With Anybody Else

3 Electronic Sound 2025: UK Grassroots Electronic Music

4 Star Charms (Inscrutable Records)

5 Codrophenia (Fruits De Mer)

Top 5 EPs

1 Peter Jefferies – Duit On Tuesday

I would never have anticipated an EP of Nilsson covers would be anywhere near my favourite of the year (you can hear what we made of some of those late 60s Nilsson albums here and here), and yet, New Zealand legend Peter Jefferies takes the original songs to places they could only have dreamt about going and has produced yet another Almost Halloween Time Records release that you must have.

2 Getdown Services – Primordial Slot Machine

3 Bevil Web – 4 Track EP

4 No Slugs – Realisation

5 Birds In The Brickwork – Business Park Study #1 / Suburb Study #2 / Coastal Study #1

Top 5 Reissues / Re-pressings / Remixes / Not Strictly Speaking New Stuff

1 The Chills – Spring Board: The Early Unrecorded Songs

Martin Phillipps’ death last year was a huge loss and especially shocking as he had looked in good health the year before when I saw him play in Manchester. He mentioned this album was in the works and played the beautiful ‘Stay Longer’. This is a superb collection that is a fitting closer to a musical career that gave us so much.

2 Baby Bird – Motherhood

3 Trappist Afterland – Collected Solo Works

4 Papernut Cambridge – Tape Session

5 Schizo Fun Addict – An Introduction To

Top 5 Live Albums

1 Les Rallizes Dénudés – Jittoku ’76

The best live band I never saw. This is a high quality recording of the band at possibly their peak.

2 Galaxie 500 – CBGB 12.13.88

3 Simon Joyner – The VHS-C Session At Cantine Polvanera

4 Guided By Voices – Goodnight El Dorado

5 Dick Gaughan – Untroubled: Live In Belfast 1979–82

The Robert Pollard Annual Output Roundup

Just three Guided By Voices albums were released in 2025: the live ‘Goodnight El Dorado’, and two studio albums: ‘Universe Room’ and the appallingly titled, but quite brilliant ‘Thick, Rich and Delicious’. Robert Pollard’s more scrappy lo-fi side was also seen on the Rip Van Winkle album ‘Blasphemy’. Tobin Sprout put out a neat Bevil Web four song EP, called, appropriately enough ‘4 Song EP’, while Doug Gillard appeared on a split single with Bunnygrunt covering Game Theory‘s ‘Dripping With Looks’ and also on Bill Fox‘s ‘Resonance’ album on the song ‘Wildflower’, where he featured on rhythm and lead acoustic guitar. Meanwhile, serial Robert Pollard collaborator, Todd Tobias put out an album called ‘Blue Mansions’ self-described as a collection of 14 aeriform vignettes, which was a million miles away from Rip Van Winkle.

There were also, rightly, a number of tribute releases with Band Called Aerodynamics (Ryan from Chilliwack) putting out a ‘Band Called Aerodynamics EP’; Joseph Airport and Cul De Sac Kids splitting a single called ‘Bloody Yanks’, featuring Boston Spaceships covers as well as GbV, and performing at the Euroheedfest 13, and finally on the always reliable Almost Halloween Time Records there was a tribute to the greatest album of all-time, the cleverly titled ‘Key Eat Mune: A Tribute To Guided By Voices And Bee Thousand’, which is worth checking out for the stunning cover of Smothered In Hugs by Guest Appearance (Ed Nolbed & Wio) alone.

Uncle Bob also treated us to the another collection of his artwork with Eat 21 and forced me to buy some boots that I’ll never wear.

The Stephen Jones One Man Domination Of Record Shelf Space Award

Just the 220 tracks released by Stephen Jones under various guises this year:

Babybird –Jesusaurus; Internal Bleeding; Demos (2025); The 1995 Rehearsal Tapes / 1999 Etc.; I Am Plastic Man; The C Word

Baby Bird – Motherhood, Demo Tape 1988-1995

Stephen Jones – Ten Of Your Favourite Things; Almost Cured Of Sadness (Live In Amsterdam)

Black Reindeer – A Blk Rndr Celebration Volume 1

Top 5 Music Related Books (Read This Year)

1 Kevin Rowland – Bless Me Father

A remarkable read – unflinchingly honest with more details of onanism than strictly required. Kevin was also in great conversational form in Liverpool and has promised more Dexys to come.

2 Steve Van Zandt – Unrequited Infatuations

3 Tim Blanchard – Like Magic In The Streets

4 Will Hodgkinson – Street-Level Superstar: A Year With Lawrence

5 Andrew Schmidt – Peter Jefferies: The Other Side Of Reason

Top 10 Gigs

I am getting to fewer and fewer gigs these days as my old cricketer knees make standing for any length of time quite difficult. This means I need to be more selective than I used to be. Fortunately, I chose very well this year.

1 Spare Snare + The Grand Gestures – V&A, Dundee, 7 & 8 July

I travelled up to Dundee in July to see the celebrations for 33 1/3 years of Chute Records, the label run by Jan Burnett. This involved 2 nights of the multi-singer fronted Grand Gestures playing a rare live set ahead of one by the legendary Spare Snare. I was blown away on the first night, noting that it may well have been my favourite Spare Snare gig ever. Then, the second night, they were even better, with even more Terry Edwards and Gary Barnacle . You can hear for yourself on the live album CD (taken from across the 2 nights), which comes out in a few days, and will be a dead cert for inclusion in this blog next year. As, to be honest, will the forthcoming Grand Gestures set, featuring the guest performances from Emma Pollock, Sanjeev Kohli, Jill O’Sullivan, Celie Byrne and Phill Jupitus.

2 Robyn Hitchcock – Prohibition Studios, Liverpool, 23 October

3 Ichi – Neuadd Ogwen, Bethesda, 12 September

4 Robert Forster – Band On The Wall, Manchester, 13 October

5 Crinc + Hap A Damwain – Y Lab, Wrexham, 6 August

6 Tai Haf Heb Drigolyn – Y Fic, Bethesda, 13 September

7 The Bug Club – Future Yard, Birkenhead, 29 January

8 Gruff Rhys – Eglwys Glanogwen, Bethesda, 13 September

9 Melin Melyn – District, Liverpool, 30 April

10 Craven Faults – The Capstone Theatre, Liverpool, 28 November

Favourite Music Related Moments (Outside of Everything Above)

My old band Tom Violence put out a new original split single ‘Dereliction‘ (with our friends Hap a Damwain) on lathe cut vinyl from Lathe To The Grave. It looks and sounds magnificent even if I say so myself. The record was released as a bit of a concept by Almost Halloween Time Records, yes, them again, with each 7″ cover being cut from an original 42″ square painting of the derelict Allerton Towers in Liverpool by Luigi Falagario. We also used its release to raise funds for my friend Reg who has been diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease. If you can spare some change, please think about donating here. Thank you.

Last year I started curating Music Leagues and this year I have just kept going. You can find our completed leagues below.

https://app.musicleague.com/l/c184e055810246e783862f9863099940/ – 6^th

https://app.musicleague.com/l/deeea8a6782b4a25b8e3231d3c2d2d88/ – 7^th

https://app.musicleague.com/l/37008529d66742f5b70d1b652ecb06fe/ – 8^th

https://app.musicleague.com/l/a53d438179854e7ca2a832c40fda4f51/ – 9^th

https://app.musicleague.com/l/ba5f423dac6e4f26ab2195acb710a10d/ – 10^th

And all the songs that have been submitted here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1BmnwD7Sn-lNUT_xaO24hldZfx-TuFXVw/edit?usp=drive_link&ouid=109499387671212696262&rtpof=true&sd=true

Please help support all the wonderful musicians mentioned in the lists above by searching out their records, CDs, tapes and downloads and BUYING THEM!!!

Previous end of year podcasts: