And lastly, I have a Google Audio Chromecast plugged into the amplifier. It’s only the size of a jam jar lid, not intrusive at all. The Chromecast is for streaming my favourite French radio station, FIP. That’s where I pick up most of my listening from.

You can get the app on your phone, and your musical woes are over. I heartily recommend it. It’s been my only radio for over a decade. I don’t know why you would choose to listen to any UK radio station.

Within the FIP channel there are sub-channels covering various genres. Jazz, electro, hip hop etc. They hardly ever say anything, no adverts. You will hear songs in multiple foreign languages.

It’s not just a radio station, it’s a lifestyle.

If I don’t turn off the power to the Chromecast once it’s streaming FIP it’ll keep streaming, so when I turn on the amp, FIP is already on. That gives me immense pleasure. If I lived in Paris, I could just turn on the FM radio. An audio Chromecast is the next closest thing. It’s not using Bluetooth btw, nearly every similar product after this does. As I understand it, the Chromecast is independently connected to your wifi, you just tell it where to stream from.

They don’t make them anymore, you can get one on eBay for under £100. I don’t know if there is a better modern equivalent. An alternative would be a separate streaming deck. There is one in the studio which has internet radio, and I’ve preset all the FIP channels.

Linda Lewis – Fathoms Deep (1973). It’s got a die-cut cover with her face on the inner sleeve looking out of the diving helmet on the outer sleeve. I’m surprised her records are not way more expensive; you can get a first press of this under £20 easily. Nice evening, happy vibes. Her voice is too high for some people. I don’t have a particular favorite track on the album. Ouch, hear that slammin jam 1min in, and only 17 seconds of the outro. Linda Lewis, great at any time of day, can be a social listen with friends before or after dinner. They’ll ask who it is.

Gabor Szabo – Bacchanal (1968). Heavy rotation over the spring/summer this year. An outstanding vibe album for a tripped-out party man, Dig? Fully instrumental.

I got a near-perfect ’69 first UK pressing in a joblot box of Jazz and Blues last summer; it’s one of my rare scores. I’d put this in my favourite records, if I could only remember what it’s called, I can never find it.

It just sounds really cool in the room, I mean, it fits with everything else going on. Let’s just put the music on.

I heard one track from this before I quit Spotify, and it’s been stuck in my head since as a fragmenting memory. I had resolved that it was highly unlikely to get on the second-hand market. If it were to come up, I imagine it would be very expensive. I was mad excited to find out the record label was going to run a preorder reissue this year; it arrived about two weeks ago. Sadly, they didn’t use the original cover art. I don’t know why; it was kind of ludicrous, I guess, but the gatefold they did use is very nice.

I hadn’t heard the full album before; the memory of that one song was so lost, had I even ordered the right thing?

It’s so beautiful. This song it’s like you already knew it.

To get to the studio, I have a new commute that involves a 30-minute train ride. Last summer, in my preparation for quitting Spotify and this commute, I bought a modified iPod (new battery/sim storage) to listen to music and podcasts. This cost less than a year on Spotify, and I can put that subscription money into buying music, which was the logic.

It’s been the best thing ever, completely re-energized my love of music.

Simply achieved by separating my phone and music. I now also don’t look at my phone as much as a consequence. Buy an MP3 player. Don’t use Bluetooth.

By the time I actually arrive at the studio, it’s usually the finish of the album I chose on the train. So I’ve found listening to albums on the train really rewarding for getting into new albums, and giving the time to albums I’d passed by.

It’s offline. No data harvesting. No algorithm. It’s you and your music.

In 1998, the singer Jan and new guitarist Gina Stile put out an album as Vixen called Tangerine. It’s wild that now I think that’s only 8 years after the second album, but it might as well of been a million. When I picked up Tangerine by Vixen in 1998, I had no thought it was even the same band. I listened to that heaps and rediscovered it this year on the train. I think it was wildly overlooked; no one cared about some old women (mid-30s ffs) from a failed 80s glam rock band in 1998. I have probably listened to Tangerine as much this year as when I first bought it in ’98. I don’t think there is a ‘bad’ song on it. The guitar is rocking. Cant Control Myself may be a fav solo, but what a cool album. It’s individual, wrong for the time, sounds even better today. Today, a CD is not impossible to find but is priced high, estimate between £20/50+

In 2006, they put an album out, and I fully disregarded it as rubbish at the time. The cover looked cheap, there’s an opening vocal which put me off straight away, and a nasty bass pop on the second track. I just didn’t try. It was only the original guitarist Jan Kuehnemund with a new band, but that’s irrelevant, cause 2006’s album Live & Learn is probably my album of the year. It’s phenomenal.

Just take out two songs, ‘You Wish’ a flavour of the old 80s Vixen style, and a cover of ‘Suffragette City’ (which isn’t awful, it just isn’t necessary), you have a perfect album. And a most unexpected instrument appears on the last song, and the finest call back to the origins of the band, with the outro fading into the start of the debut 1988 album. Real nice touch.

Urge Overkill – Supersonic Storybook (1991) I had breezed over their albums years ago, decided I didn’t like them. So I thought I’d revisit and try again. This album is my favourite so far. It’s a couple of albums in, so they are a tight band, and it’s before they had the big hit, so it’s real. The early part of 2025 was very grunge-driven. Rare to find on CD these days, it’s on my list to get.

Do you know about the newest Judas Priest album? In 2023, they put out an album called Invincible Shield. It’s insane how good Halford’s vocals are; he’s in his 70s. The guitarist is off the charts.

The opening song has this sucky synth intro, and you’re like, aww naw this is gonna suck. And then it does not. It rocks supreme. And then each song on the album has a more insane solo. It’s pretty wild.

I got into them in 2019/2020, Powers was due for release, and they probably account for 80% of my listening time. I could probably write a huge blog just about this band, I’ll try not to. I’d say this year I was mainly on 12 Hugs (Like Butterflies) (2023).

I got to see them in London in September (witness my baldy napper bottom centre), and the new album came out in October. Don’t Laugh It Off (October 8, 2025) has been on heavy rotation since.

I like that they do not seem scared to try new directions. The new album has cello and synths. It’s the same band, but with each album they evolve the sound. Their choruses make me incredibly happy. It’s very 90s, yeah what of it? It is better than the 90s is what it is.

Their albums on vinyl are incredibly expensive on the resale market. Like, really expensive. If you are not on the pre-sale, you’ll never get it. Getting the CDs from Japan is expensive enough. But I will say the packaging of those Vinyl/CDs is amazing. The paper, the printing, even the box has a nice rounded edge feel. I mean, it’s top-line design.

I hope they don’t burn out; their tour schedule has been non-stop since I started listening to them 6 years ago. The last 4 albums are phenomenal. Next to Car Seat Headrest, Hitsujibungaku are my favourite band with guitars. Since the new album and seeing them live, I have a new appreciation of the bass player. She is so melodic, it’s the reason this 3-piece is so rocking. It’s nice to hear the bass more in the mix on the new album; she’s really really good.

Favourite songs, at the minute the two heavier tracks Doll & Burning but its still very new.

Clairo – Charm (2024) Got a lot of plays on the train. It’s chill, but not sleepy chill. I had only heard the single Sexy To Someone on FIP and bought the CD without a pre-listen. On the chance there was more to it, but I fully expected it to be just that one song. It’s not. What a strong album. So I also bought her previous album Immunity (2019), first listen really didn’t like it at all. Charm is so good I almost don’t trust it, if that makes sense? Maybe she’s just really good. Immunity is the perfect album for 20 year olds. Charm is the perfect album for 40 year olds. Well played Clairo.

Charley Crockett – $10 Cowboy (2024)

I do like my country. I’m not into new country. With his off-kilter pronunciation, kinda weird singing, I’ve been getting into Charley Crockett. I’d heard some song a couple of years back, so his name was on my radar when I found his (then) newest CD in a charity shop. It’s got a flavour of old school country, all the sounds are there. I believe he’s real deal, new country.

An older couple asked me what I was listening to when we arrived in Central one day, because I’d been laughing and clearly enjoying it. Blindboy is hard to explain! It’s this piano music quietly looping while he delivers a conversational monologue about how the early pineapple trade in the 1700s is linked to a hi-fi inventor in the 90s or something like that, what he calls a hot take. Touches on creativity, the arts, music, and mental health.

The studio hi-fi set up is pretty banging. There is the shonky party station, which consists of a pair of B&W DM110i speakers with a missing tweeter, wired incorrectly. Dennon Amplifier with only one input working. Budget Technics CD deck.

It’s one of the best hi-fi setups I’ve ever heard.

It’s phenomenally loud; those speakers are pumping. The whole rig is on castor wheels, so it can move about. You get a nice sound if you put it in the right spot.

At some point a couple of years ago, I switched my records from the studio to home, and kept my CDs at the studio.

Starting a new project of actively trawling the charity shops for albums I remember being good that I either never had, or always fancied listening to.

CDs are also a bit more accessible to everyone; vinyl has more risks. I think the boat has sailed on the charity shop CD scores; there are more people out looking now. 2 years ago, no one cared at all. So I put in the miles doing a regular circuit of shops, building it one piece at a time, and now have a solid collection. Most CDs were usually acquired in multiples for a pound. 4for£1

I find CD shelves very meditative to look at. Sometimes it’s just about the looking; I’m not actually choosing something.

This year, I’ve moved more to just buying specific albums when they pop into my head. Most CDs are only a couple of pounds; it would have to be a real special one to be more than £10. Like say KLF – White Room, that’s a classic album that is still an expensive CD. So sporadically, I’ll get something off my mental list. And I’ve got a list, there’s no rush like. That’s the fun.

Zap Mama – Zap Mama (1991) Belgian musical group. Zap Mama specializes in polyphonic, harmonic music with a mixture of heavily infused African instruments, R&B, and Hip-hop, and emphasizes voice in all their music.

This is their debut album, and it sounded amazing through the B&W speakers.

Scott Walker · Sunn O))) – Soused (2014)

Scott Walker is kind of new to me. I got an album called Tilt last year, it was so hard to get through, but wildly exciting to listen to. So when I saw this album with SunnO I felt safe in taking the punt. WOW! Maybe CD of the year for me. I don’t think I’ve heard anything like this, period.

Janet Jackson – Rhythm Nation 1814 (1989)

Still sounds fresh, banging album. Pretty topical, still. You won’t have the same version on streaming.

Unfortunately, this CD has seen better days. I think it’s more age-related degradation once you’re dealing with 80s discs. This one plays on the JVC but not on the Technics; it didn’t rip without errors.

Floating Points · Pharoah Sanders · The London Symphony Orchestra – Promises (2021)

This is maybe the album that set the tone and direction of the years listening, if I look at what I went on to. It’s a pretty somber listen, sad, unsettling. Not a social listen, maybe not a solo listen either. Handle with care, it’s lovely but might make you contemplate too deep.

David Bowie – 1. Outside (The Nathan Adler Diaries: A Hyper Cycle) (1995)

I asked for this Christmas ’95 and freaking loved it. I was into David Bowie from my mum; this was my era Bowie. Outside & Earthling. I had an inclination to revisit it. What a cool-sounding album! I think it still sounds great today. On reflection, a pretty dark listen for my 16-year-old self. There are internet rumours that an unreleased Volume Two exists.

Abyssinians – Arise (1974)

Totally new to me, it’s rare to see Reggae in the charity shop, so that’s why I got it. Didn’t expect such an upbeat, funky, good time. I was expecting a lot more militant angle. It’s maybe like a reggae version of The Meters.

Favourite bit, the guitar intro riff to Jah Loves.

Bonnie Banane – Nini (2024)

Multiple favourite tracks off this album. It’s very cool, there’s a lot of good music coming out of France. This was a one listen buy, heard a track on FIP, went straight for a listen through, bought it. It’s the only CD I have seen with the text elements printed on the outside of the case. Came with a transfer tattoo set. The music video for Hoes Of Na is impressive.

Samantha Crain – Gum Shoe (2025)

She is on the no listen, just buy list. I drifted onto her Bandcamp one night, after listening to several albums, and I had to buy one. I got Small Death (2020). Got on the presale for this new album, which has been in heavy rotation. You could definitely sell this off the deck in a record store. Ridin’ Out The storm, and sold.

I feel she is authentic.