25. Wet Leg – moisturizer
At the beginning of the year, I had this pegged as one of my most anticipated releases of 2025… so what went wrong? Weight of expectation? A concerted effort to go more mainstream? Rhian Teasdale’s clear desire to recreate herself as some kind of sexy femme-rock icon? (See how she’s changed.)
(Small m) moisturizer
is far from a disaster, but it’s not as smart as it thinks it is – songs named
after davina mccall, pokemon and mangetout promise more than they deliver, and
the consistent lack of capital letters just smacks this English teacher as
trying too hard. When it works – as on the thrilling lead single Catch These
Fists – there’s still hope to be had… but there’s nothing as strong or as joyously witty as Chaise
Longue or even Wet Dream… and at times, it comes dangerously close to sounding
like Republica. Still, maybe that’s what the kids are looking for these days. I
very much doubt Rhian and Hester are interested in the opinions of a weird 53
year old blogger as long as they can keep selling out the arenas…
Difficult second album syndrome?
24. Bret McKenzie – Freak Out City
Formerly half of Flight of the Conchords, Bret McKenzie released his debut solo album Songs Without Jokes back in 2022, and it was a moderate favourite of mine for its Randy Newman-flavoured observation songwriting. Having been a huge Conchords fan, all it needed to lift it to the next level was… a few more jokes.
Well, they’re still largely absent on his follow-up record,
but I continue to dig the profoundly 70s vibe – more debts to Newman, and the
occasional steal from Stealer’s Wheel…
23. Nervous Twitch – The Day Job Gets In The Way
A new discovery from Leeds, which gets them extra marks, and this went down well with Brian, CC and The Swede, so I figured I better squeeze it into my countdown. Nervous Twitch are partying like it’s 1979 – and there’s everything right about that. Further investigation reveals this isn’t actually their debut – they’ve been bashing away at this malarkey for quite some time. Further investigation required…
I can't say I recall singing the praises of Nervous Twitch but they are certainly the pick of the bunch today.
ReplyDelete