I’m weighing three topics for my next video - what would you be most excited to hear me talk about?

- The paradox of using social video to promote podcasts
- AI music and podcasting
- The value of very long podcasts
- Something else!

I was a little nervous to wade into the AI conversation, something people who follow me feel very strongly about (on both sides!), but I tried to take an evenhanded and pragmatic approach. Whether you're a fan or a skeptic, I think you'll get something out of it.

I'm already working on my next one about the state of vocal AI, and it suddenly feels extremely relevant www.theguardian.com/film/2025/ja...

In a nutshell, modest progress on gender equality led to a 'backlash decade' in which every American institution decided that activists were too aggressive, that the women's movement had gone too far and that feminists were the reason women still lagged behind.

The Cure made my favorite old man record of the year, a magisterial return to form that builds to the brutally hopeless Endsong. I couldn’t not put it last in my list, but the keyboard riff on the Jane Remover track just ahead of it is magic.

This crunchy, vibrant set includes old sounds in new packages (Being Dead feels like the second coming of X, Dummy like a shoegaze Stereolab) and new sounds from veteran acts (71 year old Kim Gordon trying out deadpan rap, MGMT reaching epic heights with a slower tempo).

This set doesn’t include my album of the year (Cindy Lee’s Diamond Jubilee isn’t on Spotify, so they’re represented with the gently disarming Panda Bear collab ‘Defense’), but does get my song of the year; This Is Lorelei’s run-on-sentence anthem ‘I’m All Fucked Up’.

In 2024 country took over everything from rap (how did a folk-stomp interpolation of J-Kwon become the year’s biggest song?) to indie, with alt-country-ish acts like Hurray… and MJ Lenderman riding high. I get it; it’s an inherently comforting style for challenging times.

Ben Frost strikes a perfect balance between big riffs and pointillistic power noise on Chimera. Finally, after the thrilling return of Japan’s Melt Banana, Blood Incantation opens the stargate with a Floyd-indebted metal masterwork.