Listening diary: weeks 49 & 50, 2025

A couple of weeks ago I dumped every FLAC in my library tagged “2025” onto my phone in a bid to get ahead of year-end season. The io release on No Part of It is patient and enveloping, setting a tone then iterating on it very gradually. The Lia Kohl album is a trove of exquisite miniatures that ends in an emotionally arresting place. Nyahh Records' Fiddlers comp has an unfussy approach to presentation and recording that succeeds in making these performances feel like a living tradition rather than a period/heritage piece. The BlankFor.ms and Nico Georis albums continue Leaving Records endlessly winning hand, and the Emerald comp on Moon Glyph suggests that they’re the only contemporary practitioners of kankyo ongaku-esque new age you need to bother with.

Erasure’s Christmas album from 2013 is legitimately great. It adheres to the cardinal rules of a Christmas record in that it brings seasonal themes into the artist’s existing practice, rather than knocking out a lazy Spector pastiche. But it’s also audacious and beautiful, and the vocal arrangements are amazing. In a parallel universe, they do their lovely version of Silent Night on Christmas Top of the Pops 1987 and it’s now part of the canon.