TOP 3 albums reviewed on VoS in 2025:
ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF - Iconoclasts Big, bigger, biggest, even biggestest, Anna! Iconoclasts is a sonical and emotional maximalist masterpiece of Contemporary Gothic, Chamber Pop, Drone, Ambient, Darkjazz and Prog, driven by pipe organs, saxophone and one of the most magical voices of our time.
LAIBACH - Alamut - Slovenian retro-avantgardists Laibach collaborated with Iranian composers, a symphony orchestra, two experimental vocal groups and an accordion cohort to create a larger than life amalgam of European Classical Music with Persian Folk, Electronic Industrial and bursts of chaotic cacophony.
SOPHIA DJEBEL ROSE - Sécheresse - “Chanson Noire” the Franco-Morroccon singer rightfully calls her organically droning pieces of feminist Dark Folk, above which her charismatic vocals turn powerful poetry into mesmerizing, hauntingly beautiful sound.
Top 5 albums VoS mysteriously missed in 2025:
YAZZ AHMED - A Paradise In the Hold - Celebrations of beauty, femininity and humanity in myths and folklore from the Persian Gulf, transformed into stunning modern Arabic Jazz Fusion magic. No other musician tells stories like British-Bahraini composer and trumpeter/horn player Yazz Ahmed. A Paradise In the Hold has actually been on the top of my favorites for most of the year.
DALILA KAYROS - Kthonie - Both more accessible and diverse than before the Italian singer returns with more absolutely fierce and fearless vocal performances to nonconformist Avantgarde Electronic tracks by congenial partner Danilo Casti. Outrageously great!
JAYDAWN & WUKIR SURYADI - Pucung, Pangkur Jeung Hujan Bedog - Producer Jaydawn from Badung (Java) teams up with the instrumental half of Indonesian Experimental duo Senyawa for an intensly pulsating clash of hard-hitting TripHop beats, samples, Ambient, field recordings and Industrial sounds, weaponizing old and new culture and subculture against the crushing capitalist powers that be.
SPINIFEX - Maxximus - One of my favorite contemporary Avantgarde Jazz groups returns with an extended line-up of nine musicians featuring viola, cello and vibraphone. But instead of going louder and more excessive, we get a pre-electric Chamber version of their delightful Experimental madness.
PAINKILLER - The Equinox / The Great God Pan - The legendary trio of John Zorn, Bill Laswell and Mick Harris completed their return trilogy with more Dub / Breakbeat / Jazzcore / Future Jazz greatness on The Equinox and two atmospherically meandering Ambient longtracks on The Great God Pan.
IGORRR - Amen Monsieur Gautier Serre, what kind of crazy extreme music is on the menu today? Igorrr: Yes. Amen to that.
Oops, that were already more than five, right? Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself.
TOP 3 live shows of 2025:
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MINISTRY - Markthalle, Hamburg, Aug 01 - With Industrial Metal classics en masse and even songs from their Synth Pop debut With Sympathy seeing Ministry in a club setting for the first time was a greater blast than I could have ever hoped for.
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THE KILIMANJARO DARKJAZZ ENSEMBLE aka THE MOUNT FUJI DOOMJAZZ CORPORATION - Lido, Berlin, Aug 29 - Fans from near and very far made the return of Jason Köhnen’s and Gideon Kiers’ Ensemble after twelve years of hiatus a pilgrimage. The fantastic double show of Slow Motion Jazz / Electronic / Ambient / Doom / Dub / Post Rock / Folk / Contemporary Classical Music was worth it.
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SUMAC - Roadburn Festival, 013, Tilburg, Apr 20 - Making a long, weird, angular, abstract, ultra-heavy Avantgarde Sludge album like The Healer work so perfectly in a room filled with three thousand listeners is no small feat. Maybe an only at Roadburn experience?
