Season greetings 🎄

The Flirt FM radio station is on a Winter break and will be off FM brodcast until the 12th of January, 2026.

The Human Recommendation radio show 📻 will return in 2026 and my first show of the new year will feature the top Irish albums and EPs. (I'm struggling to whittle that list down to fit into a hour long show!)

Album picks of 2025

For about 10 years or more, I used to keep a thread of the best of year end music lists on Twitter before sites such as albumoftheyear.org sprung up. While I didn't tend to agree with most of what was in these "Best albums" lists from the mainstream music outlets, that goes with the territory for year end lists, they are so subjective and "Best" is a false construct.

2025 was grim at times but the year surfaced plenty of extraordinary music worth listening to. On the final radio show #44 of this year, I counted down a bakers dozen of independent international albums that I really enjoyed and that I think merit your listening consideration. You can listen back to the show on mixcloud and I hope you find an album that you may have missed or overlooked. 

Please continue to support these local and international independent artists you love, to help them make more music, buy their records and their merch, and get off the couch to go see them perform live when they come visit your hometown 🙌

Interviews

One of my last interviews of the year was with Natalia Yanchak, keyboardist and singer from The Dears. Their excellent album 'Life is Beautiful! Life is Beautiful! Life is Beautiful!' is one of my Albums Of The Year #AOTY. Natalia is also a published author, journalist and blogger.

She spoke about the band's longevity, their career to date and the making of their 9th studio album after a five year period, Montreal's guily pleasure of poutine, reconnecting with fans and much more. I enjoyed talking with her about her career so far and her daughter has now also entered into the music business, the band is called Melonella (after a Cocteau Twins song.) and are one to keep an eye on.

I also caught up with Arthur Murray from Cork’s Ash Red, who talked about their debut album 'The Foreign Game'. Using football as its frame, Arthur spoke about how the album title draws on the Irish history of the GAA’ s ‘Rule 27’, which used to forbid its members from playing or watching foreign games such as rugby and football until 1971. The album is available via Blowtorch Records and that interview is available to read on Medium here

Live Shows

After playing multiple tracks from their ‘The Foreign Game' album on my show I went along to a local venue to hear them live. Ash Red blazed through a set based off their debut album.

Another Cork City band are indie veterans The Altered Hours who are an indie rock group that totally embrace the independent spirit. Their music has a propelling quality. It was such a pleasure to catch those album songs performed live at Saint Nicholas' Collegiate Church as part of the Airneanach/Nightbird series. The church of St. Nicholas of Myra was built circa 1320, making it over 700 years old. I hope this can become a more regular nighttime series.

Their self titled third album is their best to date and one of the best Irish releases this year.

I interviewed band members Elaine and Nora last month and it was lovely to catch up with them in person after the gig

Writing

I started writing for Dublin print magazine ‘The Goo’ which is dedicated to music and clubbing. It provides a comprehensive What’s On listings guide along with features, interviews and reviews. My first submitted piece was a review of The Boojums debut album.

Favourite EPs of 2025

EPs often get a bad wrap, unfairly I think 🤔. “Extended Play” records have long been popular in punk and indie genres. (Their duration tends to be between 15 and 30 minutes.)
In a recent interview I hosted with Billy Riley from Montreal's Ribbon Skirt, he mentioned:

"I feel like a lot of labels don’t really like releasing EPs because they’ve not got the same kind of gravitas as a record, but I love EPs. I feel like some of my favorite records by my favorite bands are from their EPs! I like that kind of space between albums where you have a little chance to experiment a little bit more"

With that in mind I have been thinking about some of my favourite EPs from this year, many from bands who are between albums with new music expected from them in 2026 that I am looking forward to!

Thank you for your listening company throughout the year 🎧 and I hope there are many music related gifts beneath the tree this year! 🎁🎄🎁