2025 review

I didn't have the time or the inclination to do my review of 2025 yesterday. And I hadn't got round to gathering the information together. I have done that now, but since I didn't keep detailed notes this is going to be fairly skeletal.

Starting with the negatives, in late July and early August my cat Iggy was seriously ill with anaemia due to a heavy flea burden. He pulled through, but it was financially very damaging. I'll know better what to watch for and preventative measures to take for the future. 

Another contribution to that financial damage is an already low wage that's been affected by near 15 years of real-terms wage stagnation or even negative growth, by austerity, and by at least three years of a cost of living crisis. For some time I've been shedding various small and large costs, and this year stopped a lot of regular outgoings I no longer needed. They were so large I was able to subscribe to BFI Player and Mubi instead of the cancelled Netflix. I'll come to them later.

Finally for this section, Britain First held an anti-immigration, pro-'remigration' rally in August starting at Manchester Piccadilly. I joined a counter protest and ended up kettled by police for several hours while the racist flagshaggers were allowed to parade through the city. At least they had some demonstration of the opposition to their disgusting views. 

Moving on, in the remainder of this entry I'll cover books I read (kinda, you'll see), gigs and events I attended, the small number of performances I gave, some of the films I saw, and a couple of other bits.

BOOKS 

I didn't finish many books in 2025, and didn't keep any record of those that I did finish. The only book I can say for sure I completed was Mattie Lubchansky's Simplicity, a really excellent comic book exploring among other things the idea of utopias.

I may also have completed Kek-w's Other Times and Stephen Emmerson's Big Song, though both came out the previous year. The two long short stories in Other Times were eminently readable, and perhaps indicating the limits of my reading reminded me, faintly, at one point of Kim Newman, and at another of Ted Chiang. Big Song is a dense text of memory, embodied experience, the limits and strengths of language, and more.

All three books are highly recommended if you're able to get hold of them. If you can't, the authors have other publications also worth your time. 

GIGS & EVENTS 

Most of the gigs I attended were organised by Curious Ear Manchester and Eroteme. I only recorded attending 10 gigs in seven months, February to May, July, September, and November. Among the artists I saw and enjoyed were Jon Collin and Kelly Jayne Jones, David Birchall in various different groupings, Phil Minton and Maggie Nicols, Mariam Rezaei and Robyn Rocket, Chris Corsano and Mick Flower, and Helmut Lemke. There were many others, including at the Curious Ear Palestine Fundraiser. I'd also pull out the collaboration culminating in a performance in Platt Fields Market Garden between Ikbal Lubys and David Birchall in July. 

Continuing until 14 March this year at the Portico Library is Stephen Emmerson's exhibition How To Read A Book. I attended the opening in October and it's excellent, worth a visit if you can make it. 

The bulk of other events were the great poetry reading series Peter Barlow's Cigarette. I haven't recorded anything about who stood out through the year, I'll try to do better in 2026. PBC did, however organise a screening, a premiere I think, of Edmund Ogawa Hardy's film Negative Worlds. A film that I loved and which reminded me of Godard's Alphaville, in parts of its approach if not intent or structure. 

Another screening co-organised by a friend at the same venue (a week later, from memory) was more conventional, a biopic of Genesis P. Orridge. It was good, and offered some insights, but with the approval of the family couldn't really dig into more problematic aspects of their character. The allegations from Cosi's book couldn't be ignored, so had to be acknowledged and moved on from. 

In May, ifpthenq publisher James Davies organised the first Manchester Experimental Poetry & Arts Festival. Among the highlights were performances from Iris Colomb, Gary Fisher, and Scott Thurston. I don't remember whether Tim Allen performed as he was advertised to, but I've never seen him give a bad reading. 

MY PERFORMANCES 

I performed three times across June and July. First on Sunday 15 June at Hatch in Sheffield. Due to needing to catch a train home I missed Jaap Blonk's set. But excitingly I did get to do a brief (5 minutes or so) improvisation with him. Obviously this was better, and better received, than my solo set.

Next on Saturday 28 June I was a very small, and very minor part of the Curious Ear Improvisers Orchestra. It was an enjoyable experience, especially ensuring I was listening to everything happening. 

Finally, and perhaps most enjoyably since it turned out so well, I did a collaborative performance with Nina Whiteman for Curious Ear at The Peer Hat on Monday 21 June. 

FILMS 

Aside from the two films mentioned earlier, everything I saw that was worthwhile was in the last four weeks on BFI Player and Mubi. Among the nearly 30 films to date I particularly loved: M; Hundreds of Beavers, a very fun and funny film; Pink Narcissus, Flow, a fabulous animation; Born in Flames; London; Man With A Movie Camera; Battleship Potemkin; Derek Jarman’s The Angelic Conversation; Laura Mulvey and Peter Wollen's Penthesilea; and Godard's The Image Book, and Trailer of the Film That Will Never Exist: 'Phony Wars'.

RECORDS 

That should be record singular. Thanks to those financial straits previously mentioned I predominantly listened to music online or live. The exception was Martin Carthy's marvellous Transform Me Then Into A Fish in which he revisits and reworks his very first album from around 60 years ago. His voice is no longer as strong, but as a skilled and experienced musician he breathes life into the songs in a unique way.

WALKING 

I'll touch a bit more on walks in the final section. But my favourite walk this year was with one of my sisters around the four churches of which my father was vicar until his death in 2003. Starting from the village we grew up in, Austwick we walked to Eldroth Church, Keasden Church, Clapham Church, and back to Austwick Church, taking in parts of the hills Norber and Oxenber before the final church. We also visited the grave of our parents. 

In the absence of anywhere else to put it, I'll mention that circumstances causing me to start recording my longer-form vocal sound improvisations outdoors was a good idea, at least from my perspective. 

NUMBERS 

I already shared these numbers on social media, but no harm in repeating them here.

I posted 218 YouTube videos this year. Only one or two were not vocal sound improvisations. I posted 53 of the longer-form videos, and 165 shorts. 

I walked 8,422.1 km (5233.21 miles), 28.16 km (17.49 miles) less than 2024.

And that's my review of 2025. I'm hoping 2026 will bring more, and be less challenging in some aspects.