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 – July 2025 August 18, 2025


Here is the Mayhem chart for July 2025, a little late (just like last month) I know, but better late than never right? Regular readers know the chart is based on my streaming listening habits. These are gathered over the last month by obscurify.com. My taste in music dropped one point to 98% 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, Carole King and Bob Marley. Obscurify also suggests the most obscure artists I have listened to for March and they are Liz Davinci, Dead Rat Society and The Dead Zoo. Bowie, Dead Rat Society, Liz Davinci and David Bowie have retained their obscure and legacy positions from last month.

Panic Shack sit atop the artist chart for July 2025. party Nails was the only act that remained in the artist chart from last month, falling from number 1 to number 10. Three artists appear in the artist chart and the song chart: Scene Queen, Panic Shack and the Dead Zoo. Scene Queen smashes her way to the top of the song chart with her wonderful single and future disco classic “L-Shaped Couch” 70% of the artist chart is female or female fronted and the song chart is not far behind! ALT BLK ERA and Delilah Bon make a welcome return to the artist chart. So without further ado here are those charts in full! Click on the Spotify link below to listen to the famous (or infamous) five! Seventeen minutes of fabulous music!

Mayhem Artist Chart July 2025

1 Panic Shack
2 The Dead Zoo
3 Paul Weller
4 Jah Wobble
5 Scene Queen
6 ALT BLK ERA
7 Delilah Bon
8 Cassyette
9 Kindelan
10 Party Nails

Mayhem Song Chart July 2025

1 L-Shaped Couch – Scene Queen
2 Thelma And Louise – Panic Shack
3 Catherine – Rival Consoles
4 Catch 22 – Specky Cult
5 Bruise – The Dead Zoo

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‘Panic Shack’ – Panic Shack July 17, 2025


Cardiff-based punk quintet Panic Shack, who exploded onto the scene back in 2018, will unleash their much-anticipated self-titled debut album on 18 July 2025 via Brace Yourself Records. This energetic slab of perfect punk energy was produced by Ali Chant (PJ Harvey, Perfume Genius, Yard Act). The album opens with a classy combination of punk and pop sound in “Girl Band Starter Pack”. It was the second single from the album. It has sharp riffs and a thunderous bass line and keeps the band’s spirit of rebellion and fun. The album’s lyrical themes embrace passionate feminism and tight friendship. In the first single from the collection, “Gok Wan”, the band rages towards malignant media beauty standards with no apologies, this is a riot grrrl feminist anthem for theses times. Current single “Thelma & Louise” is a wonderful love song, but not in a lovey dovey valentine sense. I think it is about the joy of a platonic friendship.


So many of their lyrics are conversational. In “Pockets”, literally a song about having no pockets, the line “Got my vape in my bra / Drink in my hand” is literally something that vocalist Sarah Harvey said on a night out. “Unhinged” is about swiping through dating app Hinge, and the mostly, white lies people tell on there. Misogynists will almost certainly be afraid of Panic Shack, and I have no sympathy for them at all. Sexual harassment is on the receiving end of a musical powerhouse right hook from the band on “SMELLARAT”. The industry plant brigade showed their showed their cards early in Panic Shack’s career, around the time “The Ick” was released, accusing them of simply cosplaying being working class. Frankly that is utter bollocks! I doubt that anyone who had not grown up in a working-class environment could write a punk classic like “Tit School”. This is my current favourite on the album. The lyrics are perfect, take “I didn’t go to Bedale’s / Instead I got free meals,” for example.


The band consists of Sarah Harvey (vocals), Meg Fretwell (guitar/backing vocals), Romi Lawrence (guitar/backing vocals), Em Smith (bass/backing vocals) and Nick Williams (drums) and together they are on fire. When Sum 41 said all killer no filler they could have been describing this monumentally great debut album. The album is fun, funny, furious and simply fantastic. Punk this good can hit harder than a heavyweight boxing champion. It is riotous, rebellious and roars like a hungry punky pop lion. This is a banger that is definitely a contender for album of the year! Thank you to Eddie at Vinyl Eddie for sending this record my way!

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Leeds Festival 2023 Day 0 – Thursday 23rd August 2023 August 25, 2023

Filed under: Review — justwilliam1959 @ 10:29 am
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Last night was the now legendary Leeds Festival prequel or overture. Something that doesn’t happen at Reading. The Festival Republic Stage was the place to be, and we were treated to a whole bunch of bangers from some banging bands; BBY, Panic Shack, King No-One, and James Marriot. For us, I think Panic Shack just about shaded it with a loud, funky, punky set. Who was your favourite?

Photo of Panic Shack by ace rock photographer John Hayhurst of Snapagig

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Leeds Festival Day 1 – Friday 26th August 2022 August 30, 2022


Let me kick off with the whole split Main Stage thing at Reading and Leeds. What is the point of having two main stages? Surely whoever plays last is effectively the headliner. Does it sell more tickets? Or is it an ego stroke for bands and singers? Or maybe it is something else entirely, I would love to hear your views. Anyway, enough of a bit of ranting let me tell you who I saw on day 1. First up was Mall Rat on the Main Stage East. Mall Rat came all the way from Australia and maybe this is what Kylie might have sounded like had she emerged now rather than back in the 80s. Mall Rat mentioned that she was hot and to be fair it was pretty warm, but she was wearing some kind of woolly mittens, what was that all about? I thought “Are You High?” is a striking pop dance track. The clouds on her rolling logo screen had clouds shaped like Care Bears, so I should insert an “aaaahhh” here right? It is still a bit weird watching just one person on stage singing to backing tracks, but to be fair Mall Rat has some great tunes. Next, it was a trip to the Main Stage West for the K’s, these lads have some top songs and they are getting better and better musically. I reckon that they are potential future Reading/ Leeds headliners, hopefully, by then we will have reverted to a single Main Stage. The K’s have the power, passion, and skill that will lead to them becoming the band that Oasis probably wanted to be but never were.

Mall Rat and some Care Bear shaped clouds!

I saw Dylan at the Latitude Festival a few weeks ago and she was bloody good, so I had to catch her at Leeds, where she opened the BBC Radio 1 Dance Stage, not quite sure why she was on the Dance Stage. I think Dylan will be huge, she has a great core following and I am sure she picked up a lot of new fans with this set. Once again she did a snippet of a great cover of “Paradise City”. And just like at Latitude “You’re Not Harry Styles” went down an absolute storm! I paid my first visit to the BBC Introducing Stage next for Boy Bleach, a great festival discovery for me. Hard glam punk with a wonderful overlay of camp. This was a belting full-on performance. This included kind of band uniforms of tartan ties and white shirts adorned with slogans, such as “Tax The Rich” and “Destroy”. “So Good” is a fabulous song, but “Bullet” is anthemic punk for Generation Z. On top of that, the cover of Britney Spears’s “Toxic” was an explosive banger. A truly awesome band. A short hop to the Festival Republic Stage next for Daisy Brain, the alias of Will Tse. This is grungey slacker rock of the finest order. There’s some Graham Coxon, some Dinosaur Jr and maybe even some Pavement and Nirvana too. But above all, there were megatons of Daisy Brain originality. This was a spectacularly good set and I am now proper looking forward to the release of the Daisy Brain EP later this year.

Boy Bleach

I stayed at the Festival Republic Stage for The Native from Plymouth. They are purveyors of melodic and emotional power pop with a punchy rock edge. This band knows how to write a great song. In particular “Looking Back” is something very special, from the harmonies to the screaming guitar solo. The Native were clearly well up for this appearance! Bradford’s Bad Boy Chiller Crew were on Main Stage West. This bunch put on a British rap and hip hop party, but I didn’t really feel it. A bit like Goldie Lookin’ Chain with nowhere near as much humour. I trudged over to Main Stage East for the phenomenal Pale Waves. When they first arrived on the scene they were considered as another indie band, but they are so much more than that. The songs from the new album, ‘Unwanted’ testify to that. Front woman Heather Baron- Gracie is a real performer and she works the crowd wonderfully well. The band are incredibly tight, especially drummer Ciara. This was another stonking set from Pale Waves. I managed to catch the tail end of Belfast based rapper Emby’s set on the BBC Introducing Stage. Wow, can anyone else spit rhymes and ciphers as clear and as fast as this bloke? Somehow I don’t think so, he was bloody good and I need to hear more of his stuff.

Panic Shack

I stayed at the BBC Introducing Stage for DIY Welsh punksters Panic Shack. Incredible songs from a fantastic band. If the Tuts, the Spice Girls and the Runaways had been cloned and spliced then I am sure that they would become Panic Shack. The co ordinated moves were entertaining and skillfully exercised. I love the humour and fun that Panic Shack convey, and obviously the fab tunes too. I want more Panic Shack in my life please. My final act of the day was Crawlers from Liverpool on the Festival Republic Stage. Their songs are impassioned, heartfelt, funky and punky. Another great band and what a stunner of a show! OK why is this my last act of day 1, well I had a prior commitment to whizz back to the Fulford Arms in York to see Ginger Wildheart and I sure as hell wasn’t going to miss that for the 1975. Obviously if Rage Against The Machine hadn’t pulled out I would definitely have stayed at the Leeds Festival!

All pictures, except the gig poster, were taken by me using my very cheap Chinese Android phone. The videos were found on YouTube. If the video is yours and you would like a credit or for it to be removed please let me know.

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