HCTF's best of 2025 (5-1)

• 20-16
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• 15-11
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• 10-6
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• 5-1

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HCTF's annual list of the 20 albums that will be in regular rotation for many years to come. As per usual many genres are represented. Here Comes The Flood covers a lot of ground and it shows in this eclectic, final tally. Caveat: only albums that got a review are in these listings. I listen to a lot more music than I have time to write about.

Today: final countdown from number 5 to 1.

Please shop at your local record store. Most of the stores have a pretty good website where you can order your stuff. It might even be cheaper than the big ones on the 'net. The folks who work there know their stuff and can recommend artists you might like.

Buy directly from the artist, attend live shows and stop by the merch table. And be sure to tell your friends about that great new act you discovered. Word-of-mouth can't be beat as the prime source to discover new music. Algorithms always play it safe, which is fucking boring.

Dancer: More or Less

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Glaswegian indie band Dancer play ramshackle endearing twisted love songs on their new album More or Less. Rising above the fiercely lo-fi New Wave-tinged music lead singer Gemma Fleet takes the piss about everyone she was involved with, not sparing herself in the process.

Static, fuzz and feedback are put to good use as an integral part of the stop-and-start rhythms that will get the people at their shows on the wrong foot. This kind of well-executed stubbornness and not playing by the rules was all the rage in the 90s in circles of music lovers who were serious about their listening habits. Add sharp-witted lyrics - "You wanna know what is so fucking funny? That's the way you always come running to me" might well be this year's best putdown line - and you have a recipe for an album with a dozen of songs that all could have been chosen as a single.

Dancer: "Didn't Mean To" video

Watch the video for Didn't Mean To by Glaswegian indie band Dancer, a track from the Split LP they share with like-minded Portland, OR based band Whisper Hiss: "a leftfield party album that will be fully embraced by indie lo-fi loving kids of all ages. It will clear the room of any lingering jocks and sorority girls, who can't make hay of the skewed rhythms and tempo changes."

» Dancer on Instagram

HCTF review of Split

Dancer / Whisper Hiss: Split

Post-punk quartets Dancer (Glasgow) and Whisper Hiss (Portland) have joined forces for an album called Split, with both band having one side to showcase their raucous, rambling take on guitar-driven off-kilter danceable rock. The Scots lean heavily on bands like Talking Heads and X-Ray Spex, while the Americans are in thrall of the catchy weirdness of the B-52s.

This is a leftfield party album that will be fully embraced by indie lo-fi loving kids of all ages. It will clear the room of any lingering jocks and sorority girls, who can't make hay of the skewed rhythms and tempo changes.

Dancer / Whisper Hiss: "Split" album in October

Post-punk quartets Dancer (Glasgow) and Whisper Hiss (Portland) are separated by an ocean, but musically they drink from the well: quirky lo-fi danceable songs that are as adorable as playful kittens. So when they made the connection by way of the owner of Happy Happy Birthday To Me Records to team up for one side each on an album called Split, they set to work to write more songs.

Both bands have picked a single of the album as a taste for what is to come. Dancer chose Priority Girl, with a jagged rhythm a la Talking Heads mixed with a bit of X-Ray Spex, and Whisper Hiss went for Movable Objects, a leftfield disco-tinged song that will go down well with fans of the B-52s and Blondie.