Entering 2026, I would like to drop some exciting news alongside some remarks on whether or not I managed to reach some of my “resolutions” from the previous year. I would like to reiterate my future plans for this blog on a broad basis soon, but it would be nice to first focus on the progress made throughout 2025.
First, compared to last year where I managed to reach over 1000 views in total, this year almost quadrupled it to being over 3500 views with around 2800 of whom being original visitors. This is very big as I am starting to promote my posts more often online and it’s not only through automated announcements of it on Twitter or Bluesky. I’ve started to share it more often on subreddits as well especially with some posts there around my Disco Elysium analysis. It’s a very big deal to me as I’m starting to get more users looking into them via search engines rather than stumbling upon it. This especially goes to my Hotelier trans allegory piece, my semi-journalistic coverage of the Wrens’ leaked fourth album, and my speculation on Disco Elysium‘s worldbuilding from the leaked Locust City project that are driving up much of the views. It might not be a big enough number compared to Pitchfork or NME, but it’s a dramatic increase that is worth celebrating! Thank you all for giving this one a check at least!
Second, I’m still going to try and remodel the website to make it more concise and easy to the eyes. I know that I didn’t quite strike the chance to make GutterPutter a “single-page” blog with some contact details, an “about me” section with a criteria on what I’m interested in especially, and the list of all the posts I’ve published. This is still in the cards for sure and I would like to try and get it at least as minimal in its layout as I could. That alongside a bit of rebranding effort to make it more appealing. I already tried to divert away from Spotify in favour of sharing links to Bandcamp whether it’s possible. I’ve just installed Affinity so I’ll be catching up on my past Photoshop skills…
Third – and this is going to be a last key note, I am really considering taking a short break from doing some writing here. It’s likely going to be two weeks or even just one so it’s by no means dramatic at all. It’s simply because it can get really boring at times to spend much of your time writing reviews on music albums all the while hoping that they’re either niche in recognition (at least I’m able to cover more full reviews of such) or are more ad-hoc to the release date. I think I only did one retrospective article and that one is on Okkervil River’s Black Sheep Boy. Some of the most fun I have in writing is when I finally return to the Under the Label series with a long-term focus on shoegaze on top of the aforementioned Disco Elysium coverage. Even the more brief detour into Dead Prez’s works and their significance in politics-driven music nowadays has a certain thrill because it intersects with one of my big interests in a way that doesn’t just feel speculative.
This tells me that I could be doing more intersectional works that revolve around music and their relationships with other mediums or subject matters. Knowing how music either influences or get influenced by the humanities or social sciences is like striking diamond each and every single time and it’s actually something I previously had experience with in two of my theses from my university education. Even so, the possibility of me doing some more writing here on video games is not ruled out at all as I have also covered Warcraft III. As of now, I know for sure I wanted to branch my writing out via another blog. I won’t tell you what it is to keep it separate, but it can help as an exercise to keep myself ready for some typing. Once my short-term break is over, I don’t want to immediately hop on to doing record reviews. Instead, I might look into the music in some of anime’s most popular music-based shows.
Best Album of 2025
Magic, Alive! – McKinley Dixon
McKinley Dixon isn’t a definite superstar like Kendrick Lamar. He’s not especially known for being in a dynamic duo with another producer as had happened with Nas and Hit-Boy over the first half of this decade. Even in terms with coming off as a poet, he’s bound to get himself overshadowed by abstract emcees like billy wood. This year begs for all of the above to get flipped in its head. Magic, Alive! is a thunderous applause in hip hop in all its ubiquitously Black ways from its funky jazz instrumentals to its intertextual references to both Dixon’s previous works along with other maestros like Nujabes’ Luv(sic) anthology to inspired lyrics that avows communal bonding. The rapping in particular is full of character, shifting in accentuation to demonstrate the fervour of carrying on the cultural achievements of Black Americans. This is a masterpiece in conscious rap.
Honourable Mentions
This is How I Disappear – YEONSOO
If there is ever one album that matches with my last resolution on covering more overlooked records in style, may this be the definite proof of it. This is How I Disappear is the kind of album that many would have immediately lauded as an instant classic if it’s done by anyone who is more famous like, just from the top of my head, Parannoul. What happened sadly instead is that it’s a very overlooked gem that’s done by an ex-K-pop music artist whose initial steps into the genre got sidelined by seeming corporate misgivings. It is a glistening piece of work that best exemplifies how the instrumentation can be used as a stand-in for emotions. From the blaring wave of shoegazey feedback to the serene twinkles from electronic synths, YEONSOO conjures up an album that is so affecting, even for those who might not know Korean, that to realise the theme of dying relationships serve more as catharsis in the end than it does a shock.
Let God Sort Em Out – Clipse
“No confessions, questions, we contestin’, / Firework’ll send a lesson, iridescent,” so begins Pusha T in what many hails as one of the very best rap verses of the year in ‘M.T.B.T.T.F’ before his older brother Malice follows it up with a flex that his Christian faith accepts his destiny with cocaine dealing. which is just one of many iconic bars in Let God Sort Em Out. One of the most dearly beloved duos in the rap industry’s history reunite for a comeback that few could only dream of. With Pharrell Williams coming back as their main producer, the two are still able to come with ways to describe their shared history in trading keys in wholly original ways that are interspersed with religion, death, and family. It’s a kind of record that makes the absolute best-case scenario for the music artist by refreshing their sound to the new era without throwing away their identity entirely.
Pirouette – Model/Actriz
Model/Actriz is a kind of band where it proves itself harder to compare them to other contemporaries the more you think about them. An industrial rock band whose rhythms and tempo are more befitting to the dancefloor than they do the asylum should not go as hard as they do. Especially if they are not one to hide away their queerness. Luckily enough, the LGBTQIA+ community always clutches through with dope taste in the arts time and time again. Pirouette is proof of this. The riffs sound like the clicking of anchors being lifted upward, abrupt dissonant notes rung in a fury, and lead singer Cole Haden’s tense reminisces of gender identity crises and longings maximise whatever potential that is to be found from their debut. Many aspire to make the kind of music that truly stands out from the rest. Few could make it bop out like Model/Actriz.
Vanisher, Horizon Scraper – Quadeca
Quadeca has his eyes set on making a masterpiece for a long time. He always wanted to break the mold of being the e-celeb who takes his popularity for granted whether he ventures into creative works and now he finally discovers it in all its scintillating ways. Vanisher, Horizon Scraper is a cinematic tale of a sailor who, driven by nostalgia and especially his love interest, had gone out to sea in the bid to rediscover his will to live from the weight of falling under expectations. Tracks like the aquatic piano melodies that define ‘Monday’ or the ecclesiastical ‘Forgone’ that reveals the depth of the longingness demonstrate the potency of Quadeca’s maturing songwriting and ambitions that are largely met. It stands on its two feet as a model example of which all kinds of music artists could look up to as an example of how art pop can stun you as if it’s all sturm un drang.
Forever Howlong – Black Country, New Road
If this is a downgrade compared to Ants From Up There, I want to know the fuck kind of project Black Country, New Road are planning on doing next. Forever Howlong might be missing the wondrous magic that is Isaac Wood’s burlesquely literary lyrics, but the now-quartet band are still capable of pumping out gems after gems after gems in chamber pop. Here, the fanciful instrumentation becomes even more lush as disparate themes of unrequited love and connection are intertwined with booming saxophones and harmonised violins. The absence of Wood most certainly demands a restructuring of the band’s identity going forward and how they are able to adapt. This record reassures that they are not rusting away any time soon at least in their baroque nature.
La Brea – Hesse Kassel
If there is one debut album that is worth your attention, let La Brea be the one. Hesse Kassel at first gives the impression of being one of those kind of bands whose style is clearly modelled after Black Country, New Road with For the First Time being the key specific influence. However, to stick with just that would be a disservice to the nuances surrounding what makes the album incredible at first listen. From the harmonic vocal layering in ‘Anova’ to the piano in ‘Moussa’ that is more out of Godspeed You! Black Emperor‘s greatest ever crescendos, the band is able to conjure up the embodiment of sexual frustration and its little incidental consequences.
Best Songs of 2024
‘Copycats’ – Danny Brown (feat. underscores)
In a better world, a song like ‘Copycats’ would have been an immediate shoe-in for a chart topper. Danny Brown came off from more moody spells like with Quarana to unite with one of the original hyperpop artists in underscores to make a satiric assault on the braggadocio type of rapping. What Danny Brown makes fun of in the gangsta rags-to-riches trope, underscores cook with a glitchy type of house beat. Stuttering like snapping cameras, flanging synths, and slight bass boosts on top of varying vocals for the pre-chorus and choruses culminate in an infectious banger which makes you want to crave for more music like it.
‘Bouncing Masquerade Ball’ – Richard Sallis
If there’s anyone who deserves to get a spotlight for their soulful music and heartfelt deliveries, it has to be Richard Sallis. Situated in the context of grieving and conciliation that is Felix, ‘Bouncing Masquerade Ball’ comes face to face with the seeming failures of fatherhood and the impeding sense of doom to collapse in the face of a responsibility that’s gone inside out. Throughout the song, Sallis’s singing is one of pure anguish as he tried to make amends, but the rattling hi-hat and nursing guitar riff comes charging into a climatic second half where, in what is the closest musical equivalent to a “show, don’t tell” instance, the instrumentation starts to crescend as if to suggest a break in stoicism as it makes its way toward to actually confront your misgivings.
‘Moonville’ – Little Boy Velvet
This is a very surprising left-field addition to the list knowing that my very first review of the year is a pretty negative one even knowing that this section is reserved for those who are relatively overlooked compared to the others. Little Boy Velvet’s MOONSHINER is a headscratcher as while it is the album that contains a good variety of genres and influences, the best pieces coming out of it are the folk tunes in ‘Scared Children’ or ‘Moonville’ which ranked very close to the best songs of the year. For ‘Moonville’ in particular, the way that the hometown is described is heartrending in its sheer destitution. There should be nothing about it that is worth an ounce of childhood yearning. Yet, through all the edgy imagery of cigarettes and underaged kids doing target practice lies the persistent instinct of knowing where you’re from when you’re little no matter its grimes. Ouch.
Shout-outs of 2024
Mateus Aleluia – Mateus Aleluia
Many artsy musicians sought to make a project that speaks about themselves in a way that is wholly epic. It might be symphonic in its instrumentation, it might sought to create unusual song structures that mirrors the classics, it might have serious autobiographical coverage around their lives. Mateus Aleluia is one of those albums that covers them all and it’s one which got its name straight from its creator. One who is an elderly gentleman whose life has been spent not entirely on music, but also on teaching and a bit of academics. The album rests itself on folkish shoulders as Aleluia muses on his life and the relationship he has with music and love. There are many artists around his age who do spend their whole lives mastering it like with Bob Dylan, but they are never able to quite elevate it to the sheer scope that he has done here.
Devotion To The Higher Power – August, Yours Truly
How often do you listen to the kind of post-industrial music that doesn’t rave about the end of the world or some “degenerate” shit that’s been thrown around as of late? How often do you listen to the kind of post-industrial music that is not only out for love, but means it every step of the way? August, Yours Truly lays bare their heart in Devotion To The Higher Power where they went in detail about their mental ordeals to get with their partner with key examples being gender dysphoria, self-loathing insecurity, and even the degree of which they are close to their partner. Here, the noise and metallic textures in the music represent not necessarily the apocalypse but the mental state of a person who is in perpetual fear of knowing that there is someone who truly loves them. And that nuance is what makes the record so underrated.
Sunbelt Princess – LUACOLLIDER
LUACOLLIDER is a relative stranger to those who are into post-rock. She’s affiliated with Gleamfish Records for a start and her background in music so far is prolific but overlooked. She is only a teenager when she made and published Sunbelt Princess which is an entirely instrumental record. It is the kind of record which is out solely for personal reasons and it is one which is strongly aligned with the escapism provided by the crescendos. Throughout the record, samples step in as a stand-in for vocals and the production and instrumentation are overflowing almost to the point of essentially drowning out the listener’s experience. It might feel heavy under the weight of its maximalism, but there is potential to be found in there.
This Won’t Be the Last Time – acloudyskye
acloudyskye has been around for a good while and he’s been able to amass a following off the back of his usually indietronic rock outings. This Won’t Be the Last Time marks his further consolidation around it, but it’s also one which remarkably feels a lot more similar with how eerie its familiarity must have been to many alternative rock tunes. The singing echoes the kind of hip vocalists whose presence elevates their band to mainstream prominence for a bit as the energy that is emanating is nothing short of exhilarating. You can easily picture a future cult classic high/secondary school film having one of the songs here in the background as the end credits roll following the graduation of our protagonists.
Cult Subterranea – Celestaphone & Dealers of God
If you really want a rap album that is so weird that it even out-weirds Injury Reserve and Death Grips, Cult Subterranea is for you! The collaboration between producer Celestaphone and the loose collective Dealers of God (whose member include p.rosa whom I previously covered) saw deliberate conspiracy-driven drivels, antitheistic attacks, and anti-rich polemics line up against the firing squad that is the otherworldly production. It is out there in a way that is almost non-sequiter in its mindset and while that means that it’s an acquired taste at first listen, whoever is scratching for a truly experimental hip hop record will find this to be a bombshell to revere.
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