Music, Sound & Film

As the year rolls to its end. Here are our writers' best-of lists for 2025, and as always, it’s a highly genre-varied mixed selection of titles- highlighting the site's mission statement.  Some writers list taking in both music/ sound and film, or just music/ sound, depending on what they review on M[m].

Roger Batty (Editor/Owner)

Music/ Sound:
1: John Cage/ Apartment House - Chamber Works…1943- 1951 [Another Timbre]
2: Silver Dove - Heart Of Grief [Self-release]
3: Hana Haruna - Kawaii From The Edge [Endogenic Noise Records]
4: The Residents - American Composer Series( 3 CD set) [Cherry Red/ MVD Audio/ New Ralph]
5: Magnus Granberg - The Willow Bends And So Do I [Another Timbre]
6: Various Artists - Reggae Steady Go [Doctor Bird/ Cherry Red]
7: Sebastian Tomb - Talent Should Be Rewarded [Gates Of Hypnos]
8: Vidna Obmana - Twilight Of Perception Redux Volume Two 1995-2002 [Zoharum]
9: Whore’s Breath - North Of The Viaduct [Stemms Audio]
10: Georges Lentz - From “String Quartet(s)” [Kairos Music ]
11: Steve Roach - The Reverent Sky [Projekt]
12: The Melvins - Thunderball [Ipecac]
13:Pete Brown - Can’t Get Off The Planet( CD boxset) [Esoteric Records/ Cherry Red ]
14: Timothy McCormack & Jack Yarbrough - Mine but for its sublimation [Another Timbre]
15: Hana Haruna - The Gospel According To Hana Haruna [Basement Corner Emission]
16: The Residents - Leftovers 1970-1988 [Cherry Red/ MVD Audio/ New Ralph]
17: Alternative TV - Direct Action-Special Edition [Fourth Dimension Records]
18: Various Artists - Electric Junk - Deutsche Rock, Psych and Kosmische [Strawberry/ Cherry Red]
19: Ghost- Skeletá[Loma Vista]
20: Erik Wøllo - Gateway( 2025 2CD reissue) [Projekt ]
21: Joe Gibbs & The Professionals - Disco Love Dub [Doctor Bird/ Cherry Red ]
22: Johnny Richards & Dave King - The New Awkward [False Door Records]
23: Various Artists - Joe Meek- A Curious Mind [The Tea Chest Tapes/ Cherry Red Records]
24: James Opstad - Drift [Another Timbre]
25: Train Cemetery - Black Chapter [Self release]
26: Noriko Baba - Bonbori [Kairos Music ]
27: Matt Chobote - Nagual [Kairos Music]
28: CORR//PT│0N_UN1T - ROT7EN_Q//AR@NTINED_N37W0RK [Self release] 
29: Whore's Breath - Open Flask [L Abeille Cool ]                              30: Various Artists - Praise Be! Boarding 30: The Gospel Train, In Thrall of [Righteous/Cherry Red]

Films/ etc:
1: Through And Through (Blu Ray) [Radiance Films]
2: Oddity(Blu Ray) [Acorn Media ]
3: The House Of The Devil( Blu Ray boxset) [Second Sight Films]
4: Bloody Legend: The Complete Twemlow Twemlow,( Blu Ray/ CD set) [Intervision/ Severin]
5: Sahara (Blu Ray) [Powerhouse]
6: Transmission( DVD) [Jinga Films ]
7: Hardboiled: Three Pulp Thrillers by Alain Corneau( Blu Ray Boxset) [Radiance Films]
8: Night Of The Felines(Blu Ray) [88 Films]
9:Terror In The Fog( Blu Ray boxset) [Eureka Entertainment]
10: Fear Below( VOD/ DVD) [Signature Entertainment]
11: Venom( UHD & Blu Ray) [Blue Underground]
12: Mondo Keyhole(Blu Ray) [VCI Entertainment]
13: A Day At The Beach ( Blu Ray) [Powerhouse]
14: Oil Lamps( Blu Ray) [Second Run]
15: The Pick-Up( 2 Blu Ray Edition) [Severin]
16: Thirst( UHD/ Blu Ray) [Powerhouse]
17:The Coffee Table( Blu Ray boxset) [Second Sight Films]
18: Pinocchio 964( Blu Ray) [88 Films]
19: The Creep Tapes( Blu Ray) [Acorn Media International]
20: Zoltán Huszárik-1963- 1979( Blu Ray boxset) [Second Run]
 21: The Dresser( Blu Ray) [Powerhouse ]
22: The Pusher Trilogy( UHD/ Blu Ray) [Second Sight Films]
23: #shakespearesshitstorm( UHD & Blu Ray) [Troma Films ]
24: Ms.45(Blu Ray/ UHD) [Arrow Video]
25:Sex And Zen( Blu Ray) [88 Films]
26: Palindromes( Blu Ray) [Radiance Films]
27: The House of Lost Souls( Blu Ray) [Cauldron Films ]
 28: Trouble Every Day( Blu-Ray/ UHD) [Eureka Entertainment]
29: Trick Or Treat( UHD/ Blu-Ray/DVD) [Synapse Films]
30:  Crumb Catcher ( Blu Ray) [Arrow Video]

Darren Charles

Music
1:Pink Floyd – Pink Floyd at Pompeii MCMLXXII (Sony)
2: Anna Von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts (Year 0001)
3: Ghost – Skeleta (Loma Vista)
4: Sabaton – Legends (Better Noise Music)
5: Wardruna – Birna (Fimbulljod and Sony)
6: Testament – Para Bellum (Nuclear Blast)
7: Harakiri for the sky – Scorched Earth (AOP Records)
8: Various Artists – Yeah Man, It’s Bloody Heavy (Rise Above Records)
9: Clutch – Blast Tyrant 2025 Remaster (Weathermaker)
10: Simon Boswell – Santa Sangre (30th Anniversary OST)
11: Can – Live in Aston 1977 (Spoon records)
12: Rosalie Cunningham – To Shoot Another Day (Self Released)
13: Hedvig Mollestad Trio – Bees in the Bonnet (Rune Grammofon)
14: John Scott and Richard Band – Horror Films Scores of the 1980s (BSX Records)
15: Pitchshifter – Peel Sessions 1991-93 (Cold Spring Records)
16: Hedonist – Scapulimancy (Southern Lord)
17: Christian Mistress – Children of the Earth (Cruz Del Sur)
18: Rwake – The Return of Magic (Relapse)
19: Messa – The Spin (Metal Blade)
20: Lamps of Murmuur – The Dreaming Prince in Ecstasy (Wolves of Hades)
21: Blackbraid – Blackbraid III  (Blackbraid)
22: Igorrr – Amen (Metal Blade)
23: Helloween – Giants and Monsters (Reigning Phoenix)
24: Pulp – More (Rough Trade)
25: Castle Rat – The Bestiary (King Volume)
26: Wytch Hazel – V: Lamentations (Bad Omen Records)
27:Larkin Poe – Bloom Vol. 1 and 2 (Tricki-Woo)
28: Mammoth – The End (BMG)
29: Alice Cooper – The Revenge of Alice Cooper (Earmusic)
30: Steven Wilson – The Overview (Fiction)

Movies, Blu-rays and UHD
1:Frankenstein (Netflix)        
2:Malpertuis (Radiance Blu-ray/ UHD)
3:Reanimator (Second Sight UHD)
4:Delicatessen (Severin UHD)
5:Nosferatu (Universal UHD)
6:Sly Lives! (Hulu/ Disney+)
7:Andy Warhol’s Flesh For Frankenstein (Screenbound UHD)
8:The Tale of Oiwa’s Ghost (Radiance Films Blu-ray)
9: Nightmare Alley (Criterion UHD)
10: Weapons (Warner Brothers)
11: Heretic (A24 Blu-ray/ UHD)
12: The Wild House (Kimstim Blu-ray)
13: The Good, The Bad, The Weird (Arrow Films UHD)
14: In My Skin (Severin Blu-ray)
15: The Naked Witch (VCI Blu-ray)
16: Perfect Blue (Anime Ltd Blu-ray and UHD Deluxe Edition)
17:Yokohama BJ Blues (Radiance Films Blu-ray)
18: The Rapacious jailbreaker (Radiance Films Blu-ray)
19: Anora (Criterion Blu-ray)
20: The Toxic Avenger (Signature Blu-ray)
21: So Unreal (Altered Innocence Blu-ray)
22: HMS Defiant (Powerhouse Blu-ray)
23: The Substance (MUBI Blu-ray)
24: The Giant Gila Monster/ The Killer Shrews Double Bill (Film Masters Blu-ray)
25: Steppenwolf (Arrow Video Blu-ray)
26: Terminus (MVD Rewind Blu-ray)
27: Ninja Terminator (Neon Eagle/ Cauldron Blu-ray)
28:Freckled Max and the Spooks(Deaf Crocodile Blu Ray)
29: Antiviral (Severin Blu-ray)
30: Stranger Things Series 5 part 1 (Netflix)

 

Paul Casey

Music/ Sound
1:Natasha Barrett - Toxic Colour [Persistence of Sound]
2: Ben Chatwin - Klasis [Videos Disinter Records]
3: Bewider - Ships That Pass in the Night [Eiga]
4:Collage - Motel D'amour [The Outer Edge]
5: DAYOFWRATH - And The World Will Perish In Flames [Cyclic Law]
6: Deceased - March of the Cadavers - 40 Years of Death Metal [Hells Headbangers]
7: Disfuneral - In Horror, Reborn [Redefining Darkness]
8: Timothy Fairless - Keep Talking to Me [Dragon’s Eye Recordings]
9: Judith Hamann - Aunes [Shelter Press]
10: Peter Knight - For a Moment the Sky Knew My Name [Room40]
11: Lambwool - Ashes [Cyclic Law]
12: Occulsed - Antegnosis [Everlasting Spew]
13: o[rlawren] - The Intimate Overlap [Dronarivm / Fonodroom]
14: Phenomenal World - Same [Rock Is Hell Records]
15: Plasmodulated - An Ocean ov Putrid, Stinky, VIle, Disgusting Hell [Personal Records / Gurgling Gore / Dawnbreed]
16: Primeiro - Music for Horses I & II [Sonôsfera/Danzee/EX:IN]
17: Rún - Rún [Rocket Recordings]
18: Sallow Moth - Mossbane Lantern [I, Voidhanger Records]
19: Will Samson - Songs Of Beginning & Belonging [DAUW]
20: Sephiroth - Cathedron [Cyclic Law]
21: Stilluppsteypa - Schokolino Choco Loco [Futura Resistenza]
22: Sutekh Hexen - Primeval [Cyclic Law]
23: Testament - Para Bellum [Nuclear Blast]
24: The Ominous Circle - Cloven Tongues of Fire [Osmose]
25: Tomo-Nakaguchi - Out Of The Blue [Audiobulb Records]
26: Paolo Tortora - Waves of Fading Memories [Torto Editions]
27: Zane Trow - For Those Who Hear Actual Voices [Room40]
28:Vacuous - In His Blood [Relapse Records]
29:Venomous Echoes - Dysmor [I, Voidhanger Records]
30: Yorkshire Modular Society & Peter Digby - Beneath the Hanging Sky [Dragon’s Eye Recordings]

 Josh Landry

Music/ sound:
1. Bong.Ra - Black.Noise [Debemur Morti Productions]
2. Cryptopsy - An Insatiable Violence [Season of Mist]
3. Zangoma - Faka Mulilo [Svart Records]
4. Blush Response - Ego Death [Artoffact Records]
5. Sluta Leta - Drift Dekoder [Cheap Records]
6. Statiqbloom - Bled From All Sides [self-released / bandcamp]
7. Statiqbloom + Blush Response - Folding In [Hands Productions]
8. Ajna - New Revelations of Being [Cyclic Law]
9. Andreas O. Hirsch - The Salamander Treaty [makiphon]
10. Marja Ahti - Touch this Fragrant Surface of Earth [Fönstret]
11. David Donohoe and Kate Carr - A Storm and its Aftermath [Flaming Pines]
12. How to Disappear Completely - Seraphim III [self-released]
13. Kurt Kurasaki - A Single Momentary Sound [self-released]
14. Ohad Fishof - Witchcraft and Gardening [World of Echo]
15. Steve Roach - Portals and Spirals [Timeroom Editions]
16. Ursula Sereghy - Cordial [self-released]
17. VA [DiN] - Tone Science Module No. 10 - The Final Patch
18. VA [Modulisme] - Modulisme Session 122 - ACOUSTRONIQUE VIII
19. VA [Planet Mu] - 30
20. Access to Arasaka - Utility [self-released]
21. Dragon - The Tullus Project [Clean Error Records]
22. Antithesis - Arachnophobia EP [Purple Hexagon Records]
23. Fuzulu - Natural Selection [Parvati Records]
24. Karash - Cybernetic Dystopia EP [2to6 Records]
25. Rawar - Earth's Shifting Dimensions [osom-music]
26. Ridden - Urban Legends EP [Harmonia Records]
27. Paralocks - Rerouted EP [self-released]
28. Sequoya - Penumbra [Sangoma Records]
29. Yebah - Tangled Roots [Sangoma Records]
30. VA [Absolut Shit Records] - Cult of Sharon Benefit

Colin Lang

Music/ sound:
1. Tortoise, Touch (International Anthem)
2. Jim White, Inner Day (Drag City)
3. Chad Taylor Quintet, Smoke Shifter (Otherly Love)
4. Steve Gunn, Daylight Daylight (No Quarter) 
5. Makaya McCraven, Off the Record (Nonesuch) 
6. Helvetia, Welcome the Summer Heartbreak (Self-released)
7. Sunn O))), Eternity's Pillars (Sub Pop)
8. New Brutalism, Requiescat Record (Computer Students)
9. Sam Prekop, Open Close (Thrill Jockey)
10. Steve Gunn, Music for Writers (Three Lobed)
11. Kieran Hebden & William Tyler, 41 Longfield Street Late ‘80s (Temporary Residence)
12. Chicago Underground Duo, Hyperglyph (International Anthem)
13. Stereolab, Instant Holograms On Metal Film (Duophonic)
14. Earth, WEM Dominator (Live in London NW1, 2016) (Fire)
15. Water Damage, Instrumentals (Cardinal Fuzz)
16. Melvins, Thunderball (Ipecac)
17. David Grubbs, Whistle from Above (Drag City)
18. Ed Kuepper / Jim White, After The Flood (Remote Control)
19. Gunn-Truscinski Duo, Flam (Three Lobed)
20. Anton Lambert and Thanos Polymeneas Lion, tri-n-os (Kohlhaas)
21. Various Artists, Disk Musik: A DD. Records Compilation (Phantom Limb)
22. BJ Nilsen, True than Nature (Ideologic Organ)
23. Hüma Utku, Dracones (Editions Mego)
24. Jacek Doroszenko, R_sin _io (Audiobulb)
25. Geese, Getting Killed (Partisan)
26. Stärker, Spectral (Aesthetical) 
27. Swans, Birthing (Young God)
28. Little Simz, Lotus (Forever Living Originals)
29. Sharp Pins, Radio DDR (K Records)
30. Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, The Purple Bird (Domino)

Martin P

Music/Sound:
1:AAA Gripper - We Invented Work For The Common Good (Wrong Speed Records)
2:Ancient Hostility - Sing As Loud As You Can (Self-released)
3:Aphex Twin - Classics (R & S Records)
4: Blood Incantation - Starspawn (Century Media)
5: Bryn Harrison, Mark Knoop & Roderick Chadwick - Towards A Slowing Of The Past (Another Timbre)
6: Cardiacs - On Land And In The Sea (The Alphabet Business Concern)
7: Caspar Brötzmann Massaker - It's A Love Song (Exile On Mainstream Records)
8: Clikatat Ikatowi - The Trials And Tribulations Of... (Numero Group)
9:Coil - Live One (Retractor)
10: Diamanda Galas -You Must Be Certain Of The Devil (Intravenal Sound Operations)
11:Don Martin Three - To Sketch An Arrow (Numero Group)
12:Forged Relics ‎- Portal (Rope Or Guillotine)
13:Greet - I Know How To Die (Dry Cough Records)
14:Ian - Come On Everybody, Let's Do Nothing! (Human Worth)
15: Jakob Ullmann, Rebecca Lane & Jon Heilbron - Solo I / Solo IV (Another Timbre)
16: Jason Crumer - Lake Of Fire (Satatuhatta)
17: Kleistwahr - Winter/Music for Zeitgeist Fighters (Fourth Dimension Records)
18: Kling Klang - Half Life (Wrong Speed Records)
19: Kroppskännedom - Kroppskännedom (Morc Records)
20: Les Rallizes Denudes - Jittoku '76 (Temporal Drift)
21: Liquid Shit - You Suffer For A Long Time (Dry Cough Records)
22: Magnus Granberg, Skogen - The Willow Bends And So Do I (Another Timbre)
23: Nicolas Gombert & James Weeks, Apartment House - Gombert (Another Timbre)
24: Osees - Abomination Revealed At Last (Deathgod Records)
25: Osees - Live At The Broad (Deathgod Records)
26: Petty Crime - Brighton, UK, 1999 (Jabs/Raw Sugar Records)
27: Polygon Window - Surfing On Sine Waves (Warp Records)
28: Roman Torment - Persona: A Complete Retrospective (Phage Tapes)
29: Stereolab - Instant Holograms On Metal Film (Duophonic Ultra High Frequency Disks/Warp Records)
30: Various - Vigilant New Forces (New Forces)

Sarah Gregory

Music:
1: Under Tangled Silence - Djrum (Houndstooth)
2: Orcutt Shelley Miller - Orcutt Shelley Miller (Silver Current)
3: Instruments - Water Damage (Cardinal Fuzz)
4: The Universe Will Take Care of You - Holden & Zimpel (Border Community)
5:  …as long as I memorise your sky … - elijah jamal asani (AKP Recordings)
6: Solace of the Mind – Amina Claudine Myers (Red Hook)
7: List of Demands – Damon Locks (International Anthem)
8: hexed! – aya (Hyperdub)
9: Disquiet – The Necks (Northern Spy)
10: Travelling Light – Rafael Toral (Drag City)
11: Perseverance Flow – Natural Information Society (New Soil)
12: Vol II (Splendour & Obedience) – Decius (The Leaf Label)
13: FRKWYS Vol. 18: Extended Field - Horse Lords & Arnold Dreyblatt (RVNG Intl)
14: Metallic Life – Matmos (Thrill Jockey)
15: Hyperglyph - Chicago Underground Duo (International Anthem)
16: About Ghosts – Mary Halvorson (Nonesuch Records)
17: Clams as a Main Meal – Elijah Minnelli (Breadminster County Council)
18: Soft Courage – Grey Streak (SINK)
19: Bassduets – Dan Bean (Old Technology)
20: Turbo Meltdown – HHY & The Kampala Unit (Nyege Nyege Tapes)
21: Defiant Life – Vijay Iyer & Wadada Leo Smith (ECM)
22: Telepathic Fish: Trawling The Early 90s – Various Artists (Fundamental Frequencies)
23: sfs – Tim Reaper (Tim Reaper)
24:  A Man For All Seasons – Insecure Men (Fat Possum)
25: No Rocket Required - Moonlandingz  (Domino)
26: Black Water Light - Open Yellow Circle (Optimo)
27: Stochastic Drift – Barker (Smalltown Supersound)
28: Music from Airports – Pierce Warnecke (Room 40)
29: Acid Studies III – Om Unit (Self-Released)
30: Unit of Time – Egil Kalman & Hans Hulbækmo (Motvind)

Films:
1: About Dry Grasses (NBC Film/Memento Production/ Komplizen Film)
2: The Ballad of Wallis Island (Focus/Baby Cow)
3: Black Bag (Casey Silver)
4: Bring Her Back (Causeway)
5: Bugonia (Element Pictures/Square Peg/CJ ENM/Pith/Fruit Tree Enterprises)
6: Dead of Winter (Stampede Ventures/Augenschein Filmproduktion/Film- und Medienstiftung NRW/MMC Studios/Stampede Studios/Wild Bunch Germany/Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen)
7: Frankenstein (Double Dare You/ Demilo Films/Bluegrass 7)
8: Goodbye Horses: The Many Lives of Q Lazzarus (Dark Night Pictures)
9: House of Dynamite (First Light/ Prologue Entertainment/Kingsgate Films)
10: The Ice Tower (3B Productions/Arte France Cinéma/Sutor Kolonko/Albolina Film)
11: I Swear (Tempo Productions/One Story High)
12:  If I Had Legs I’d Kick You (A24/Central Group/Fat City/Bronxburgh)
13: It Was Just an Accident (Jafar Panahi Productions/Les Films Pelléas/Bidibul Productions/Pio & Co/Arte France Cinéma)
14:  Keeper (C2/Atomic Monster/The Safran Company/Oddfellows/Range/Stars Collective)
15: The Mastermind (Filmscience)
16: Miroirs No. 3 (Schramm Film Koerner & Weber/ZDF/Arte)
17: Misericordia (CG Cinéma/Scala Films/Arte France Cinéma/Andergraun Films Rosa Filmes)
18: The Monkey (C2/Atomic Monster/The Safran Company/Oddfellows/Range/Stars Collective)
19:  On Falling (Sixteen Films/Bro Cinema)
20: One Battle After Another (Warner Bros./Ghoulardi)
21:  Pillion (BBC/BFI/Element)
22)  Santosh(BFI/BBC/mk2 Films/Good Chaos/Haut et Court/Razor Film/ZDF/Arte/Suitable Pictures)
23:  Sinners (Proximity Media)
24:  Sly Lives! (aka the Burden of Black Genius) (Onyx Collective/RadicalMedia/MRC/ Two One Five Entertainment/StarDust Films/Network Entertainment/ID8 Multimedia/ Sony Music Entertainment)
25:  Spinal Tap II (Castle Rock)
26:  Steve (Big Things)
27: Train Dreams (Black Bear/Kamala)
28: Urchin (Devisio Pictures/Somesuch/BBC/BFI/Tricky Knot)
29: Weapons (New Line Cinema/Subconscious/Vertigo Entertainment/BoulderLight Pictures)
30:  Zodiac Killer Project (Loop/Field of Vision)

 

Jac Silver

Films:
1:Alpha (Curzon Film)
2:Sorcerer (Criterion)
3:Barry Lyndon (Warner Bros Discovery Home Entertainment UK)
4:Sinners (Warner Bros Pictures)
5: Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (Lionsgate)
6: Derelict (101 Films)
7: Bone Lake (Signature Entertainment)
8: Weapons (Warner Bros Discovery Home Entertainment UK)
9: The Innkeepers (Second Sight Films)
10: Talk To Me (Second Sight Films)
11: Bring Her Back (Sony Pictures)
12: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me 4K (Criterion)
13: Frankenstein (Netflix)
14: Jacob's Ladder (StudioCanal)
15: Shelby Oaks (Altitude Film Distribution)
16: Nosferatu (Universal Pictures)
17: Dark Star (Fabulous Films)
18: The NightWatch Collection (Arrow Films)
19: M: Beyond the Wasteland (GrimmVision)
20: Odyssey (Icon Film Distribution)
21: Pearl (Second Sight Films)
22: Mancunian Man: The Legendary Life of Cliff Twemlow (Severin Films)
23: Zombie Flesh Eaters (Arrow Films)
24: Martyrs (Eureka Entertainment)
25: In The Mouth of Madness (Arrow Films)
26: A History of Violence 4K (Criterion)
27: The Toxic Avenger (Signature Entertainment)
28: Speak No Evil (Arrow Films)
29: Outland (Arrow Films)
30: The Old Dark House (Eureka Entertainment)