With Just A Hint Of Mayhem

Music reviews, gig reviews, fun trivia and extra added random stuff!

Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 (Part 5) – The Final Countdown! December 20, 2025


The revelation of Mayhem’s Top 50 Albums Of 2025 is now nearing the top. In past years it has only ever been a top 20, but it was hard to whittle the original list of 60 down to 20, so we kept 50 of them! So far we have given you parts 1, 2, 3 and 4 which cover positions 11 through to 50. Now we reveal the numbers from 1 to 10 in the final instalment, the top 10 or part 5.

Have your favourite albums made the Mayhem cut? Check out the list below and check out parts 1, 2, 3 and 4. (Just click on the numbers). There is, as promised, a 50 song play list, bringing you nearly three hours of great sounds (check below)! For information the whole top 50 is printed below as well. Here comes the top ten!

1 Service Station At The End Of The Universe – Antony Szmierek – “Perfect spoken word poetry set against sublime beats, like the bastard northern son of Mike Skinner”
2 Der Traum Über Alles – Avalanche Party“Without a doubt the finest British band of their generation. I am gutted that they decided to call it a day”
3 More – Pulp“A flawless return to form from one of Sheffield’s finest bands”
4 Panic Shack – Panic Shack – “Personal tales of truth and life from a superb band”
5 Rave Immortal – ALT BLK ERA“A musical phenomenon that gets better with every release!”
6 black british music – Jim Legxacy – “Can anyone combine rap, R&B and electro pop better than Jim Legxacy? Probably not!”
7 Reflecting Light And Causing Chaos – Dead Rat Society“Perhaps a little short, but this is a genuine example of an album that is most definitely all killer no filler“.
8 Suspects – The Dead Zoo“A band that is standing on the threshold of true greatness”
9 Never Enough – Turnstile“Who can write a hook-laden chorus better than this lot?
10 Who Let The Dogs Out – Lambrini Girls“Perfect punk energy switched up to 11”

THE FULL TOP 50

1 Service Station At The End Of The Universe – Antony Szmierek
2 Der Traum Über Alles – Avalanche Party
3 More – Pulp
4 Panic Shack – Panic Shack
5 Rave Immortal – ALT BLK ERA
6 black british music – Jim Legxacy
7 Reflecting Light And Causing Chaos – Dead Rat Society
8 Suspects – The Dead Zoo
9 Never Enough – Turnstile
10 Who Let The Dogs Out – Lambrini Girls
11 Cut & Rewind – Say She She
12 West End Girl – Lily Allen
13 Parasites & Butterflies – Nova Twins
14 Bin Juice – The Lovely Eggs
15 The Clearing – Wolf Alice
16 Lotus – Little Simz
17 MAD! – Sparks
18 Euro-Country – CMAT
19 Pillow Talk – Party Nails
20 Antidepressants – Suede
21 The Passionate Ones – Nourished By Time
22 Can’t Lose My (Soul) – Annie and the Caldwells
23 Showbiz! – MIKE
24 Who Is The Sky? – David Byrne
25 Getting Killed – Geese
26 YHWH Nailgun – 45 Pounds
27 Lux – ROSALÍA
28 Golliwog – Billy Woods
29 Only Dust Remains – Backxwash
30 I Feel The Everblack Festering Within Me – Lorna Shore
31 A Paradise In The Hold – Yazz Ahmed
32 Essex Honey – Blood Orange
33 EUSEXUA – FKA Twigs
34 DeBÍ TiRAR MáS FOToS – Bad Bunny
35 Addison – Addison Rae
36 THE BPM – Sudan Archives
37 Like A Ribbon – John Glacier
38 That’s Showbiz Baby! – JADE
39 The Bad Fire – Mogwai
40 A Complicated Woman – Self Esteem
41 The Sky, the Earth & All Between – Architects
42 Music Can Hear Us – DJ Koze
43 The Collapse Of Everything – Adrian Sherwood
44 Sad And Beautiful World – Mavis Staples
45 Metalhorse – Billy Nomates
46 A Fine African Man – Knucks
47 Faux Animaux – Blue Violet
48 Lost In Good Intentions – Fishing 4 Compliments
49 Dreaming In Stereo – Jellybricks
50 Naked Truth – Autumn Dawn Leader

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The Mayhem Charts – January 2025 February 12, 2025


Here is the Mayhem chart for January 2025. Regular readers know the chart is based on my Spotify listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. After a slight blip last month my taste in music is now apparently 99% more obscure than the rest of the UK! The chart remains contemporary-ish (but if a classic artist releases something new they might feature in the chart). However, last month’s top three “Legacy” artists were David Bowie, Linda Ronstadt and Bill Withers. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for January and they are Liz Davinci, Jackie’s Boy and Herorangecoat. Last month Herorangecoat also made it to number eight in the artist chart. For the first time in months Delilah Bon has not made it into the chart since we restarted it more than a year ago. But another Mayhem chart regular, ALT BLK ERA sit at number two in the artist chart. Party Nails is the number one artist for January following the release of her wonderful album ‘Pillow Talk’ in that month. Top of the song chart for January is a firm favourite here at Mayhem Towers and someone we have championed for a long while. It is the supremely talented Kindelan with her latest offering “Drowning The Killer”. So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five!

Mayhem Artist Chart January 2025

1 Party Nails
2 ALT BLK ERA
3 Lambrini Girls
4 The Apocalypse Disco
5 Robo
6 Lola Young
7 abs
8 Herorangecoat
9 Brògeal
10 Used To Be Apes

Mayhem Song Chart January 2025

1 Drowning The Killer – Kindelan
2 Manhattan – Pennine Suite
3 Safe & Sound – Pip Lewis
4 A New Dream – Gregory Darling and Julian Lennon
5 Vice – Rizzle Kicks

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Leeds Festival 2024 – The Preview August 2, 2024


It is now just a few weeks until the 2024 Leeds/ Reading Festivals and it must be time for a preview from me, so here goes. Are we back to one main stage again? The poster of the line-up suggests we are, which is wonderful news. Although there is still the silly joint headliner thing going on. But how do the acts on the main stage shape up? Personally, I will be sticking to the bands and artists appearing earlier in that part of the arena. On Friday 23rd August my tips for the best acts on the Main Stage are Pendulum and Crawlers. Who will I not be rushing to see? Well Liam Gallagher obviously, who needs an Oasis tribute act headlining a major festival? On Saturday I think headliners Blink 182 could be fun, even though watching middle-aged blokes with low-slung cargo shorts is a bit creepy sometimes, but I believe the band will rise to the occasion. I am optimistic for Two Door Cinema Club. Sunday’s Main Stage line-up is good with Bleachers, Fontaines D.C., Raye, and Lana del Ray likely to be highlights. The Last Dinner Party might pull it off if they can continue to live with the hype, but Fred Again.. as a headliner? Seriously? I know this festival has often been good at moving with the times, but I am not sure about this one.

The new and futuristic Chevron stage looks great for EDM and generic dance fans. Skrillex headlines on Friday and I find them quite a Marmite act, the Prodigy headline on Saturday, and even without the sadly departed Keith Flint I reckon they will smash it. The BBC Radio 1 Stage looks good, especially on Friday with Beabadoobee headlining and immediately preceded by Ashnikko. Confidence Man will be good on Saturday and the Sunday headliners are the Wombats, a real blast from the past. I imagine that I will be spending a lot of time at the Festival Republic Stage, particularly for the Japanese House, Rachel Chinouriri and Matt Maltese on Friday, Neck Deep, Bad Nerves and the Lambrini Girls on Saturday, and Kid Kapichi and Dream Wife on the final night. The BBC Introducing Stage is a favourite of mine and is a place where I have discovered some great artists. I am familiar with some playing the introducing stage this year, notably Sun King and Welly on Sunday. But shaping up to be the best act of the weekend is the magnificent Delilah Bon who headlines the BBC Introducing Stage on Friday. I predict that she will move to the main stage in 2025 or 2026. Who are you most looking forward to?

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The Mayhem Charts – September 2023 October 2, 2023


The Mayhem Monthly charts return for a second month. Regular readers know the chart is based on my Spotify listening habits over the last month. But I have kept it to contemporary/ contemporaryish artists. The top three “Legacy” artists are David Bowie, Paul Simon, and the Clash. There is a top ten artists chart and a top 5 songs chart. As expected there is quite an eclectic mix of artists including three that were in the top ten last month (ALT BLK ERA, Ren, and Anchor Lane). The top five songs features just one artist that also appears in the artist top ten, that is the Lambrini Girls who sit at the top of both charts this month! So without further ado here are those charts! Click on the header of the song chart for the playlist on Spotify.

MAYHEM ARTIST CHART SEPTEMBER 2023
1Lambrini Girls
2 Bleach Lab
3 Slayyyter
4 Taylor Acorn
5 Stuart Pearce
6 ALT BLK ERA
7 Ren
8 Anchor Lane
9 Hawksley Workman
10 Fall Out Boy

MAYHEM SONG CHART SEPTEMBER 2023
1 Boys In The Band – Lambrini Girls
2 Ripples In The Ether (Live) – Public Service Broadcasting
3 Perfect Picture – Hannah Diamond
4 Choices – Tennessee Holy Water
5 What Did I Say – Fendry

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