reckonslepoisson

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DYR, DJ Billybool (2025)

Some artists bypass my typical taste entirely, perhaps by charisma, perhaps by skill. DJ Billybool does so with a mix of both, a man who once persuaded me to adore a live trance remix of ‘My Heart Will Go On’, who supersedes chintz with ease. DYR is his most technically accomplished release but never omits the big beats; it could charm anything, never mind just me.

Pick: ‘Blomstertid’

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Pinball II, MIKE and Tony Seltzer (2025)

MIKE shimmers once more atop Tony Seltzer’s beats, but while on the first Pinball it was Seltzer that shined (glimmered, sheened, glossed) this time MIKE’s hooks and flows anchor the project. Once more, MIKE proves he can do lighter, funner rap as good as those that make a career out of it.

Pick: ‘#71’

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Motherfucker, I Am Both: “Amen” and “Hallelujah”... Shearling (2025)

[No artwork – wouldn’t want Tumblr to ban me over a horse bum]

One cannot help but admire if not the ambition of Motherfucker, the gall. Post-Sprain group Shearling try immensely hard over one 62-minute song to entertain, intrigue, baffle and shock, and in parts achieve all that. Motherfucker’s episodes (for this is an episodic long-song work, not a cumulative one) offer a grand variety of sound, crushing and blinding and, on several occasions, ascensionary. Shearling may seem too chuffed and smug with their own brilliance to be actually, properly brilliant but talent so often breeds arrogance, and this is proof.  

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Golliwog, billy woods (2025)

billy woods doesn’t so much work within hip-hop as reconfigure it – as such, he has his own spectrum for success. Where does Golliwog sit on that spectrum? This is a collection of individual tracks rather than a cohesive whole, and that variety makes it much less forgiving and more demanding than much of woods’ recent output – but the sprawl also makes Golliwog more rewarding. Weighty bass, haunting and empty space, El-P cosmic rumbles, eerie soul, all tied together by woods’ usual lyrical despondency and magnetic delivery. 

Pick: ‘Corinthians’

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Boy, 2hollis (2024)

Nepotism is complicated, and best evaluated on a case by case basis. Does 2hollis having Tortoise drummer John Herndon as a dad give him a leg-up? I’m not sure. How about having a mum who was a high-flying label exec? More relevant, sure – having that insight into navigating the music industry and succeeding within it is surely invaluable.

In any case, Boy is nepo in its mentality and approach, in that it takes (steals, if we're being mean) from others without doing much with it. More than either of the two 2hollis releases that came before it, Boy listens like a money grab, cynically mashing together the likes of Porter Robinson and Skrillex, Justice and PC Music bubblegum into empty sadboy choons. 

Pick: ‘Two Bad’

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Jonatan, Yung Lean (2025)

Jonatan is the long-awaited melding of Yung Lean with his Jonatan Leandoer96 moniker, more raw and honest and un-auto-tuned, though fails to add enough quality to make it an interesting move. All too often its tunes immobile or sluggish or underthought; while Jonatan is capable of typical Lean power, off-kilteredly impassioned and tender, those moments are few.

Pick: ‘I’m Your Dirt, I’m Your Love’

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Fab Four Suture (2006), Not Music (2010), Stereolab

Stereolab have, after many years away, made a grand return to studio releases. So, time to brush up on two of the Groop’s later works that, previously, I couldn’t be bothered with. Are Fab Four Suture – a collection of single releases from 2005-6 – and Not Music – a collection of previously-unreleased works, all of which very much is music – worth brushing up on? 

Hmm, no, not really. The trouble, I imagine, lies with being a band with such a distinct, well-defined sound that has kept within said sound for such a lengthy amount of time. Stereolab on autopilot, though Not Music is the more diverse and intriguing of the two. 

Pick(s): ‘Interlock’, ‘So Is Cardboard Clouds’

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The Difference Between Me and You Is That I’m Not on Fire, Mclusky (2004)

The sort of energy of Mclusky’s first two releases, reckless and feckless, felt destined for burn-out. The Difference Between Me and You sounds very much like an album released by a band cracking, on the cusp of breaking up, and lo and behold afterward they did. Has 20 years been long enough for Falkous to recuperate? Give the new record a listen and find out. 

Pick: ‘She Will Only Bring You Happiness’

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Taba, Satomimagae (2025)

Pop thoroughly but meticulously wrapped in field recordings; sounds fly off the songs, encase them in an environment, though a sense of immersion is avoided by short songs.

Pick: ‘Dottsu’

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Head, The Jesus Lizard (1990)

I, like many who discovered The Jesus Lizard long after their prime, never got around to listening to debut Head, opting first for Goat. And that’s a shame! This is every bit as good as much of the decade that followed, a band totally established with a defined sound and confident vision.

Pick: ‘One Evening’

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Remscéla, Milkweed (2025)

Perhaps folk music should always be recorded through battered old equipment, so that it sounds like it is echoing, haunting down generations. Milkweed’s Remscéla triggers something deep-rooted and fundamentally pleasurable in my bones; my ancestors heard music like this, thunderous tales told with high drama, and now so have I. 

Pick: ‘Exile of the Sons of Uisliu’

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Pirouette, Model/Actriz (2025)

I adored Model/Actriz’s full-length debut Dogsbody for how it felt like a beast trapped inside a great, industrial machine; wracking, scratching guitars, throbbing, creaking bass and protagonist Cole Haden ever threatening to break free. Sophomore Pirouette almost entirely ditches that menace for polished grooves and more personal lyrics, and it is enjoyable in plenty of ways – most prominently in its body-twitching/-caressing/-moving rhythms. In all, however, it scratches many of the same itches scratched by EBM records past, and is nowhere near as exhilarating as the debut. 

Pick: ‘Cinderella’

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Luster, Maria Somerville (2025)

A tonne of feathers is still, famously, as weighty as a tonne of anything else. Maria Somerville works within these sorts of notions, accumulating atmosphere with synths, airy vocals and straightforward guitar and achieving noise and power without ever being noisy or muscular. 

Pick: ‘Garden’

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The Scholars, Car Seat Headrest (2025)

With no other band am I so flawed a listener as with Car Seat Headrest. I cannot help but lean deeply into my biases and dismiss any and all weaknesses. Plot? Who in rock music ever cared about a plot? Andrew Katz sounds like Stephin Merritt, but don’t we all love Stephin Merritt? Overly lengthy songs? Yes, that is precisely what I am here for. The Scholars does more than enough to rekindle my adoration of Will Toledo and co, and that in itself is worth remarking upon. Toledo’s vocal melodies and knack for a yell-along chorus, the elongated songs with multi-phased architecture, the charmingly ambitious if fundamentally faulty concept – my love may be flawed, but it is genuine.

Pick: ‘CCF (I’m Gonna Stay With You)’

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With a Vengeance, Sherelle (2025)

Dark, loud, intense, the club is an environment that invites tremendous focus. Focus on the music, of course, but also on enjoyment, and that’s where Sherelle rules. It’s also where I look forward to hearing the best of With a Vengeance’sjungle throbs, pattering footwork and attention-demanding energy.

Pick: ‘Enter the Void’

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A Study of Losses, Beirut (2025)

Invited to soundtrack a circus, Zach Condon was given him the excuse he had always wanted to show off his nerdy orchestral tastes, lean into atmospheres and drown even further in his own moaning warbles. A Study of Losses is overlong and samey with too few points of audial focus, but Condon remains plenty capable of marvellous prettiness.

Pick: ‘Forest Encyclopedia’ 

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(The) Forever Dream, Fly Anakin (2025)

Keen devotees of hip-hop can – and surely will – obsess over (The) Forever Dream, a rap record supremely competent in every regard; precise and slick flows, thoughtful and inventive wordplay, diverse and well-produced beats, substantial tracks with well-placed and high-quality guest appearances. A purist’s dream. 

Pick: ‘Say Thank You’