17 December 2025 - Oklou - family and friends

Before I release my list of the best albums of 2025, which I am doing next week, I wanted to pay an acknowledgement to what others were saying about albums.  

And Oklou's album choke enough is one that is populating so many year end lists - and deservedly so.  It's a great and mellow pop album - one that sounds unique and cool.  French artist Oklou (prounouce it like "OK Lou", not "oakloo" - it's a play on her real first name, Marylou) has made a pretty solid career as a producer and artist, and she's hitting a solid stride.  

This was the first single, and it is a cool song co-produced and co-written by the artist. 

Hearing it live is a similar experience, honestly. Oklou is nothing if not consistent. I see good things coming.  

By the way, she did this show while pretty significantly pregnant. 

16 December 2025 - NewDad - Entertainer

Back in July, I first heard Irish band NewDad, and their 2024 album Madra, which was really good.  This album was shortlisted for the Choice Music Prize (which Fontaines D.C. rightly won).  

In September, NewDad released Altar, which is, in my humble opinion, a step forward and a step up for the band.  The song (also released as part of their EP Safe, at which time this visualizer was released) is both beautiful and hard-rocking - and not, as of this writing, released as a single.  It's a song that builds harder and louder as it goes on.

You can hear the ramp-up during their KEXP performance of this song as well.  

But what if you strip it down and take out the drums? 

They did just that during this September performance in Liverpool. It just gives Julie Dawson's vocal more room to shine. 

15 December 2025 - Emmanuelle Boucher - Mieux à deux

Should I be saving this for March? 

Probably.  

I'm not, though.  I have WAY too much music for March to not post Canadians the rest of the year.

Emmanuelle Boucher is a country artist from Nashville.... oh, wait.  She's not from Nashville.  She's from Quebec, and does country music primarily in French.  This song is off her latest album Ma route, and translates to "Better together". 

Anyway, it's a lively, exciting country sound that will make you forget you're listening to country music in French. 

12 December 2025 - Fontaines D.C. - Starburster

In a couple of weeks, I'll be chronicling my favorite albums of 2025.  I've been listening to a lot of them this year, and I have focused a lot on recent albums of late.   

One that won't make the list is the latest album by the Fontaines D.C., Romance.  That's not because the album isn't great - it is - but because it was released in 2024.  I *almost* posted about this song before #AmericanAutumn, but decided against.  

It's a shame.  The Grammy-nominated song was also on a lot of year-end lists as single of the year - which makes sense.  The album itself was also on a lot of those lists, and had we done such a list last year, we would have been one of those lists.  It is retroactively one of my favorite albums of 2024.

I waited just as long as I could to post this. 

By the way, the D.C. stands for Dublin City.  The band is from near Dublin, Ireland, and added it as a disambiguation from a Los Angeles band - who seem to have not done much of anything for about five years.  Fontaines D.C. are still making music, still being politically active (their music is not available in Israel as of this writing), and I look forward to what they do next. 

The song itself starts quiet.... with organ, then piano, then drums.... then it explodes!

Look, the band is solid and every performance sounds just like the recording.

The performance from the Glastonbury festival in 2024 is perhaps the greatest crown engagement thus far. 

11 December 2025 - MUDRAT - I HATE RICH C***TS

I was VERY HESITANT to publish this.  I almost posted this under an alternate title ("WE DESPISE THE BOURGEOISIE" which I figured out even before I heard it), but no.  I had to censor the title.  It's not a word we use politely in the United States.  It's a little more casually tossed out in Australia and elsewhere.  

And acclaimed Australian MUDRAT is absolutely from Australia, and he's got some RADICAL views.  His album SOCIAL COHESION - which was shortlisted for the Australian Music Prize - is in my conversation for favorite album of 2025.  It's raw and angry, and a MUST listen.

So, I ultimately decided to post this.  I may have fallen in the category of his white friends who might be initially scared by his rhetoric, but at the end of the day, I absolutely don't wish his silence.  I want to amplify his voice. 

In this song, he makes it very clear his views on Matt Walsh.  I wonder if Matt Walsh has heard this song?  I am totally going to tag him today. 

10 December 2025 - Princess Nokia - Drop Dead Gorgeous

During his presidency, Barack Obama was instrumental in introducing the Lifeline program, which supplied cell phones to low-income people, for free. 

As it turns out, Destiny Nicole Frasqueri was eligible for a Nokia phone. So, as she was experimenting with names - Wavy Spice was an early contender - she chose the one that stuck as a tribute to her Obamaphone. 

Maybe she had an app on that phone that helped her figure out how to create compelling, unique hip-hop... or maybe it's just talent and her tough upbringing.  And, that tough upbringing has not come without controversy.  However, it's made her a strong advocate against racism and sexism, and she not afraid to put her money where her mouth is.  For example, if you watch this whole video, you'll see a racist get thrown off a train by a group of people. including a woman near the end throwing a bowl of 

hot soup on him.

That soup belonged to Princess Nokia, and she's the one who threw it and told him to get off the train. 

Good. She is a badass. 

She released a new album in October, titled GIRLS, and it is fantastic, end to end.  This song - an early single that has been out for several months - is one of the highlights of an overall excellent album.  

9 December 2025 - Ninajirachi - All I Am

I am really really happy that American Autumn is finally over.   Not because I didn't love it, but because, while you were listening to my American music posts, I was discovering music from literally everywhere else.

Take Girl EDM superstar from Australia, Ninajiraci.  Her stage name is a combination of her real name - which is Nina Wilson - and her favorite Pokémon - which is Jirachi. 

Can't deny he's adorable

As I write this, I know that her debut album, I Love My Computer, is shortlisted for won the Australian Music Prize (think Mercury Prize but for Australia), and she also is nominated for eight ARIA Awards (think Junos, but for Australia), which is more than any other artist this year.  By the time you read this, you're going to know if she won any of that (I predict at least 4 of the ARIAs and the AMP win for her, and I will honestly tell you if I got it right) (Update: she won 3 ARIAs and the AMP).   

She's making compelling EDM with smart and fresh lyrics, and she's poised to be a worldwide superstar. 

By the way, she's touring, and I hope we get better live footage of her by the time we actually publish, but for now, have a YouTube Short. 

Even here, you can tell she brings a TON of energy.