Choice Cuts VI: Global Culture Bunker 2025

 Despite the trials of existence, another year soon passes into the annals of more utter stupidity, cruelty and degradation than ever before!  The human condition worsens with each passing day.  A saving grace for many in keeping mentally balanced in the positive is music and the unrelenting amount of releases old or new made by humans who craft under whatever the circumstance and wherever they happen to exist.  2025 has not been an easy year for anyone unless yer' in the 1% and all those who are can go fuck themselves!  The year has seen some long running labels tank and many of the "soldiers" in the underground struggle to find some bit of fading light at the end of a tunnel.  The road forward seems clogged with more problems than ever before.  

As always I must say, that if you've paid any attention at all, the year yielded a mind numbing plethora of wickedly delightful releases.   It has been the custom the last few years, to rope in some friends who share the love and joy of a wide variety of music they have discovered this calendar year that made their boat float.  Maybe, just maybe, you the reader, whether only ever curious, a self anointed expert or a bona fide music geek like us here, may discover something that "takes you higher" !  Hope the new year treats you well... ❤👽 

John Westhaver is the curator #BirdmanSound.  Birdman Sound (shop and record label) has been in existence since the late 1980's and is currently in phase III.  Since the 70's John worked at 3 other record shops, played in many music groups (last 18 years drummer in The Band Whose Name Is A Symbol ) programmed at community radio for 40 years at 3 different radio stations, promoted hundreds of LIVE music events, blah, blah fucking blah...

In no order and seriously only a smatter of the personal intake this year that really turned my crank!

Brown Spirits - Cosmic Seeds (Strut)

Chicago Underground Duo - Hyperglyph (International Anthem) 

DeRegaring Van Treffelijke Zaken (CardinalFuzz/FeedingTube)

Hibushibire - Flashback (Riot Season) 

Slow Dawn - Sonic Death Flow (Cardinal Fuzz/Centripetal Force)

Prison - Downstate (Drag City) 

Acid Mothers Temple - Electric Heavyland (Riot Season)

Death Panels - Maximum Sound (self released) 

Over-gain Optimal Death - Die Underground (Riot Season) 

Nitro Cosmetic - S/T (Cardinal Fuzz) 

Rick White - S/T (Blue Fog) 

Plastic Crimewave Syndicate / Blue Fantasy Split (Cardinal Fuzz)

Natural Informational Society & Bitchin Bajas - Totality (Drag City)

Dictators - S/T (Deko) 

Little Barrie & Malcolm Catto - Electric War (Easy Eye Sound) 

Iron Giant Free Association - Terry Riley's "In C" (Earth Libraries) 

Spiral Wave Nomads - The Weightless Sea (Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube/Twin Lakes) 

Technicolor Blood - Evolution Now (Le backstore), 

Caveman & The Banshee - Born To Kill (Noiseagonymayhem) 

Pallbearer Industry - Constellation Seance  (self released)

Psychedelic Dirt - Most Frantic (OwnSound) 

Thresher - You and Me Could Really Exist (OwnSound) 

Radiation Flowers - Too Much To Dream (self released) 

Lucy's Seduction - Jay's Garage (self released)

 

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet - The Way Out Of Easy (International Anthem) 

Jarius Sharif - Basis Of Unity (Telephone Explosion) 

Myrrors - Landback (Cardinal Fuzz) 

Jeffrey Alexander & Heavy Lidders - Synchronous Orbit (Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube)

Drazek Fuscaldo with Jorg A. Schneider - Attachments (Cardinal Fuzz/Feeding Tube)

Tumble - Lost In Light (Echodelick / Stickman)

A constant diet of The Heads, Miles Davis, Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, CAN, Soft Machine, Ash Ra Tempel and Funkadelic

Shane Hartman is a musician (Underground Mountains) and curates the record label We, Here and Now! based in Stratford, Ontario.

The following kept the sails full and the boat afloat in the year that was. Some serious dives preoccupied my ears when not taking a breather and once again, all killer no filler fuck around and find out for yourself.  Thanks to John for having me along once again!

The Bug vs Ghost Dubs ~ Implosion (Pressure, 2025)
Full disclosure - I wasn't prepared to be hit with the brown note right off the hop. This is fucking excellent! Being a fan of everything Kevin Martin does and Ghost Dubs album Damaged from last year, this was an exciting proposition that delivers the goods!

Jacob Shay and Opals ~ Clear In The Water (self released, 2025)
https://opalsounds.bandcamp.com/album/clear-in-the-water
How long can I bliss out?

Jeremy Young ~ Cablcar (Halocline Trance, 2025)
https://jeremyyoung.bandcamp.com/album/cablcar

Echoes of Distant Stars - Tower of Echoes (unreleased studio session recorded March 2025).
https://echoesofdistantstars.bandcamp.com/music
Alex and Tom regrouped as EoDS following the dissolution of Snakes Don't Belong In Alaska. Keeping the flame alight and travelling further out, these recordings are stellar. Their journey is available to immerse yourselves in over at the archive.

Silver Nun ~ Tabula Rasa (Crystal Cabinet, 2025)
https://thecrystalcabinet.bandcamp.com/album/tabula-rasa
Expansive, sizzling, crushing.. this late in the year surprise from Lucy Valentine and Simo Laihonen is a whirlwind from start to finish!

Thresher - Natural Music vol.1  

Recorded live off the floor at Gallery Stratford, October 17, 2025. As is the practice with certain bands, the lads record EVERYTHING. I'm lucky to be the recipient of a handful of their gig recordings, each one is unique and never to be repeated (barring the calling card "what do you like about shopping in downtown Owen Sound?" tape loop) Often with special guests sitting in. More to the point here, getting to sit in with one of my favourite bands of noisy improvisers and let the free freak flag fly 30 minutes and several barely controlled bursts of feedback was a thrill. This performance on this occasion is this fucking visceral! Within minutes of getting the bearings, the energy is relentless! Tommy's drums and Russ' bass drive the bus into the red, almost careening off a cliff! Squealing skronking sax and wailing vocals from Kevin egging on guitars prosaic and magical from Andy and myself with unhinged bursts of feedback! Travis synths the final touch sending the good ship Thresher directly past orbit and through the oort cloud!

Thresher ~ You and Me Could Really Exist (Ownsound, 2025)
https://ownsoundrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/you-and-me-could-really-exist

Thresher ~ split with Earthball (Ownsound, Isolate Now Waves,2025)
https://ownsoundrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/thresher-earthball-split

Andy Elliot ~ I Remember How I Used To Move (Ownsound, 2025)
https://ownsoundrecordings.bandcamp.com/album/i-remember-how-i-used-to-move

The Milkers ~ Gallery Stratford, October 17, 2025
The lads ripped through a set of originals and choice covers ranging from Sonic Youth, Melvins and Stooges when they opened the proceedings on this evening. Punk sound and fury, dripping with venom and loathing. Absolute raw power on display here,

Marrow Bulbs ~ Alla Prima
Recorded live at House of Targ, Ottawa July 16, 2025. Although I am partial to the lo-fi rehearsal recording from the day before, this one is more to the point and rips infinite. Grateful for Scott and Jeff. More to come!

Acid Damage ~ We Motioned Toward The Sky (self released, 2022)
https://aciddamage.bandcamp.com/album/we-motioned-toward-the-sky-2
A favourite from Eric's catalogue, a thick blend of cavernous dub propelled vertigo inducing sounds of the future now. Killer when experienced live or in the comfort of your home at loudest possible volume. Your neighbours deserve to hear this too! Party time is fucking over.

Pallbearer Industry ~ Celestial Seance (self released, 2025)
https://pallbearerindustry1.bandcamp.com/album/constellation-seance
Once again, for those in the back...
PALLBEARER INDUSTRY FUCKING RULE.
This really only confirms once again they are truly ahead of the pack.

Damo Suzuki & The Band Whose Name Is a Symbol ~ Complete Dominion Tavern 2012 (Cardinal Fuzz, Echodelick, Feeding Tube, Birdman Sound, We Here & Now, 2025)
The stories are true and at long last made material in this mortal realm.
https://thebandwhosenameisasymbol.bandcamp.com/album/damo-suzuki-tbwnis-dominion-tavern-march-23-2012-expanded-version-2025

Gong Seer ~ S/t (self released, 2025)
https://gongseer.bandcamp.com/album/s-t

En Fer ~ A Propos des diverses formes de Passerelles (self released, 2025)
En Fer's 4th full length of improvised psychedelic noise rock rises like a shadow from the darkest corner of the upside down. The adventure continues.
https://ironapproved.bandcamp.com/album/propos-des-diverses-formes-de-passerelles

Mechwar ~ Hope // Mercy (self released, 2025)
Heavy meditation from the sun baked snow cave that is Ottawa.
https://mechwar.bandcamp.com/track/hope-mercy

Mount Mural ~ S/t (self released, 2025)
Post - rock/punk/gaze so lush and atmospheric you could swim in it. Beauty stuff <3
https://mountmural.bandcamp.com/album/mount-mural

Stonegrass ~ Stonegrass 2 (self released, 2025)
https://cosmicrangerecords.bandcamp.com/album/stonegrass-2
Country-funk-kraut-rock from 'Doc Dun and co. is here once again!

RAWKANDROLLLLLL...

C.O.F.F.I.N ~ Australia Stops

C.O.F.F.I.N ~ S/T

Stiff Richards ~ Dig

Death Panels ~ Maximum Soul

Early Tombs ~ Misery Lights

Resin Scraper ~ Heard Mentality

Resin Scraper ~ Ridin' On The Small Bus

Top Ropes - 2 Lock City

Papir ~ IX

Causa Sui ~ In Flux

Kronstadt23 ~ Sommermorket

Joseph of Kirezi ~ Bleeding Jam vol.3 (self released, 2025)
https://kirezi.bandcamp.com/album/bleeding-jam-session-vol-3

Water Damage ~ Le Guess Who? (Cardinal Fuzz, 2025)
https://waterdamage12xu.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-le-guess-who
Seriously though, when are you guys coming to Canada?

Golden Sun Trio ~ Life Cycles, Ritual, Myth (Honey Farm, 2025)
https://honeyfarm.bandcamp.com/album/lifecycles-ritual-myth

Brick Road ~ Summer 2024 (self released, 2024)
https://brickroad.bandcamp.com/album/summer-2024-demo
Once again for another year, this one's been a constant I return to finding me further along thee cosmic brick road <3

Daniel Romano ~ Live In Oslo, Finally Free (You've Changed, 2024, 2018)
https://danielromano.bandcamp.com/album/live-in-oslo-2
https://danielromano.bandcamp.com/album/finally-free

The Myrrors ~ Red Vienna, Land Back, live in Newcastle august 2025
https://themyrrors.bandcamp.com/album/red-vienna-live-in-austria
https://themyrrors.bandcamp.com/album/land-back

Jeffrey Alexander & The Heavy Lidders ~ Snail Hook Tapes vol. 4
https://jeffreyalexander.bandcamp.com/album/the-snailhook-tapes-vol-4

Self Immolation Music ~ Strange Worship
https://selfimmolationmusic.bandcamp.com/album/strange-worship

The Heads ~ Reverberations 3 - 7 (Cardinal Fuzz, Rooster Rock, 2025)
https://cful.bandcamp.com/album/the-heads-reverberations-volume-3
https://cful.bandcamp.com/album/the-heads-reverberations-volume-4
https://cful.bandcamp.com/album/the-heads-reverberations-volume-5
https://cful.bandcamp.com/album/the-heads-reverberations-volume-6
https://cful.bandcamp.com/album/the-heads-reverberations-volume-7

The Witches of Eagle Crag (Folklore Tapes, 2025)
https://folkloretapes.bandcamp.com/album/the-witches-of-eagle-crag

Tree of The Left Hand Path (Folklore Tapes, 2025)
https://folkloretapes.bandcamp.com/album/the-tree-of-the-left-hand

Daisey Rickman ~ Howl (weird walk record cult, 2024)
https://daisyrickman.bandcamp.com/album/howl

Jon Collin ~ The Other Dead Sea (2022)
https://joncollin.bandcamp.com/album/the-other-dead-sea

V/A - Malmo 2025
https://malmo2025.bandcamp.com/album/malm-2025

Cherubs ~ Heroin Man
https://cherubs.bandcamp.com/album/heroin-man

Wicked Witch ~ Chaos : 1978 - 1986

Trad Gras Och Stenar ~ S/T

CAN ~ Paris '73

Thunder and Roses ~ King of he Black Sunrise

Yesterdays Children ~ S/t

Tortoise ~ Touch (International Anthem, 2025)

Jeff Parker ETA IVtet ~ The Way Out Of Easy (Nonesuch, International Anthem, 2025)

Juan Pablo Torres Y Algo Nuevo ~ Super Son (1977)

Grupo Irakere ~ Teatro Amadeo Roldan Recital (1974)

Jacob Miller ~ Who Say Jah No Dread

Burning Spear ~ Marcus Garvey / Garvey's Ghost

Dave Cambridge is a musician and the only Cardinal that matters who curates Cardinal Fuzz Records in the UK.  

2025 was a year where life took over and although i listened to music as much as ever - I retreated into the safety of loved older sounds rather than the seeking and exploring of new sounds/releases as much as i would have liked too. Cardinal Fuzz as always takes up much of my listening but for the sake of fairness have not included any Cardinal Fuzz releases for my year end


Les Rallizes Dénudés – Jittoku ’76
Raw, repetitive, throbbing and vibrating -

Earthball – Outside Over There
.A free-jazz noise barrage of jagged hallucinations and ecstatic eruptions—less “cosmic journey,” more “beautiful wreckage.”

Haress – Skylarking
Minimal, hypnotic, patient.Slow-burning, wide-open spaces.Minimalism with pulse and payoff.

Firefriend - Sulfur
Time hasn’t mellowed it; if anything, the edges are sharper. Psychedelia with burn marks - and sulfuric swirl—old on paper, but still mutating like a fresh hallucination.

Wednesday Knudsen – Atrium
A record that breathes. Equal parts sacred and playful, like wandering into a cathedral made of moss. Sometimes it feels like jazz, sometimes like folk, sometimes like something entirely unnamed.

Water Damage – REEL LE
Repetition taken seriously. The groove becomes landscape, The sound of the world grinding forward. I caught myself putting it on just to hear the room hum differently.

Kandodo – Solstice / Dub / Susk / Dawn
Feels like driving across huge empty spaces. Dub textures and desert mirages, motorik drift with dub shadows. Perfect travel-music whether or not you’re moving.

Des Demonas – Apocalyptic Boom! Boom!
Garage-psych with bite. Loud enough to be fun, sharp enough to be smart.

Ghost Rider – Various Artists (Efficient Space)
More proof that the archives are stranger than most new bands. Private-press fuzz presented like it belongs in the canon.

Agnes Martian – Elsewhere
Synths, sax, and improvisation pile up into a dazzling kaleidoscopic dream. Ambitious, sprawling and strangely magnetic.

The Far Sound – To Heart, To Earth
Lap-steel psychedelia built for wide-open spaces—cosmic drift that stares at the distance and refuses to blink.

Live Notes

The Myrrors – August 2025
A shimmering desert storm of sound—violins, drones, and drums rising like thermal heat. It felt less like a gig and more like a invocation for the collective unconscious.

Water Damage – September 2025
The room shook, the air trembled, and the set felt like a single massive note being sent through your bloodstream. Industrial-strength hypnosis.

Brett Savage is the guitarist Of Manchester UK's beloved Dead Sea Apes.  Brett is also the curator of Inner Space Records a shop located in Uppermill (Greater Manchester) Also a graphic designer Brett has rendered countless posters and album jackets for many GREAT musical acts the world over.

The usual caveats apply with this year’s list. There are probably loads of albums that I've forgotten to mention, and even more that I’ve not yet heard that will equally blow me away. That’s life.

Water Damage – Instruments/Live At Le Guess Who
Just an absolute masterclass. Deep, organic, repetition. It’s almost contradictory how repetition can evolve over time. Absolutely superb, both albums

Sonic Youth – Hold That Tiger
Another year, another Sonic Youth archive album makes its way into my list. It’s hard to see how it could fail: their golden period just before Daydream Nation (which has had a lot of hammer from me this year. This is always held up as their highpoint – but could never really warm to it – but it has hit me HARD this year). I’m already keeping a space reserved in this list for next year’s rumoured Washing Machine boxset

Heavy Mother - II
Immediately triggered my Spidey-senses when this was played on John’s radio show (he knows how to pick them). It is like a real distillation of Cle-Punk/Garage Rock vibes but somehow feels less like a pastiche (of which there is no shortage of in the psych world, let’s be honest). Having Craig Bell from Rocket From The Tombs onboard does it no harm neither. There are three cover versions, including the Velvets ‘Foggy Notion’ that are delivered with such life affirming brio that it is hard to resist.

Silver Nun – Tabula Rasa
Stunning slice of Raga/Commune Rock from Lucy Valentine (guitar) and Simo Laihonen (drums) that barely stops for breath throughout. Absolutely incredible playing from both, so much that it is a surprise that its only two people involved, given how massive this sounds. The only real downside is that it is such a short album. Just like Lucy Valentine’s Daughters Of Albion tape, you are left wanting more.

OverGainOptimalDeath – Die Underground
An incendiary slice of Japanese style Underground rock – that could easily strip paint from the walls. A couple of extended jammers on both sides ride this fella’s poor wah-wah pedal right out into the vanishing point.

Bitter Wish – Candle Finger
Fantastic jam outs in the style of Kohoutek and Bardo Pond (not surprising as this band includes Clint Takeda from Bardo Pond, Scott Verrastro from Kohoutek/Bardo Pond and filled out by John Comune on guitar). Two side long sub aquatic explorations. Side A takes its sweet time bubbling until Clint’s phased out bass boils over. Side B takes a more direct route and hits out from the start- but takes you right into the Interzone. Breathtaking.

Les Rallizes Denudes – Jittuko ‘76
Black Editions doing God’s work in releasing these choice concerts from LRD, especially this prime time one. A little heavy on the wallet – but great all the same.

Yabby You – Conquering Lion
As a massive fan of the Dadawah album Peace & Love, it was pointed out to me that the first two tracks were originally Yabby You’s. And I was definitely not disappointed with this. Bonus dubs on the second record, which is always nice.

Christopher Laramee lives in Saskatoon, SK.  Chris is Wasted Cathedral, for those that have had their head in the sand for years now!  Also an axe grinder with luminaries Shooting Guns, Switching Yard, Radiation Flowers, Runway, TBWNIS (member in good standing and more!  Currently with his partner Shelby Gaudet the new operation is Blue Fantasy who saw their second release this year with a split LP on Cardinal Fuzz with Chi-town's Plactic Crimewave Syndicate.  Chris scribes for the godlike #UglyThingsMagazine based in San Diego, hangs out with his felines and plays more music than most!  

Chris's 2025 sorta looks like this...

Lately I’ve been diving into the soundtrack scene, in no particular order and of no particular era. A favorite right now is David Shire’s masterful understated score to Alan J. Pakula’s classic Watergate investigation All The Presidents Men from 1976. Basically a bunch of different takes on a singular theme, the acoustic guitar and trumpets melody floats in and out of the movie like a wind, modulating through keys and adding to the creeping paranoia of events unfolding. Economical and extremely suggestive, the cues work well on their own as well, the foreboding atmosphere executed and supported at the highest level, thanks to Shire’s deft touch and ability to focus on what exactly the score needs to do, without any off-putting fanfares or showy moves. While not too active in film in comparison to other composers, file this one alongside his contributions to Coppola’s The Conversation and the funk moves of The Taking Of Pelham 123 as some of the best scores ever committed to tape. Another soundtrack winner I found in the budget CD bins is a cheapo 2CD comp of the maestro Ennio Morricone’s late 60’s/ early 70’s giallo work, simply entitled The Thriller Collection. Encompassing little seen films such as Copkiller, The Cat O’ Nine Tails, The Monster and The Antichrist, amongst many others, this wonder of a collection simply proves that the man was on point and at the top of his game in this era. Sideways beats, blaring cacophony, scraping dissonance and beautiful orchestral wafts, he really could do it all. Morricone’s towering and vast catalog of scores does tend to obscure the fact that he was a true creative legend and firebrand, truly in a category of one. A truly wonderful collection well worth hunting down in whatever format. 

I got a chance to play at the wonderful Swampfest in Regina SK this past September with my family in Blue Fantasy, and got my socks blown off by a wonderful collective from Lethbridge AB called Midnight Channel. Positive vibes and soulful, funky jazz that encompasses the likes of Pharaoh Sanders and Don Cherry. They were a treat to meet and see, top people all around and a much needed antidote to shitty vibes permeating the universe. Tight horns, fluid rhythm section and they have FUN. Hopefully on the verge of breaking out to more and more people, these folks throw down and then some. Go to their Bandcamp and check out Alien Love Songs, their full length LP, a joy to listen to and a true long player that leaves ya wanting more. Fav reissue of the year mos def goes to the folks at the always deep digging #GuerssenRecords family. It’s All Meat were a short-lived Toronto group in the late 60’s that had some local chart action in the southern Ontario region but never broke out in any big way. Awesome garage noise that gets into Love/ Quicksilver territory and gives those bands a run for their money and then some. Snotty attitude and nasty riffage meets bummer psychedelic wander to great effect. Liner notes by bud thee Steven Krakow set the scene and just a beauty package all around. DO NOT sleep on this any longer! 

Thanks to Brother John at the Birdman Empire for the hook-ups and music talk. Miss my Ottawa family as always!