Kelan

Street Ease

Future Perfect

Vertigo

Yaramaz

Sabahlar

SUPERIMPOSER

Hot War

Cavallo EP

Western sans sérif

Constant Noise

Continual

Reckless Randy II

New Boots

Gimme Gabba Gabba

Runnin' (Till I Die)

Danse des Larmes

Tűz Tó

On The Inside

Make Them Wonder Why

Nuclear Word

Eden

HYDRA

BREAK A SWEAT

Pale Horses

Triple Moon Ride

45 Pounds

Sickle Walk

Frau Fatal

Hopeless Romantik

I DIDN'T ASK

We All Dissolve

Eiffel Tower

Pulser

The Veil

Instant Holograms On Metal Film

Melodie Is A Wound

It's A Beautiful Place

Nights in Armor

The Starrr Of The Queen Of Life

Lipsync

A Loaf of Wax (Live from MOTH Club)

Willie's Lady

The challenges facing music seem to grow ever more stark, but such stakes only seem to remind us just how essential music is, or at least should be. Now, with the scourge of AI-slop thrown into the mire, grassroots artists have an extra layer of algorithmic hell to wade through on top of dismal streaming revenues and a wider cost of living. Perhaps the threat of AI is overblown. It's hard to imagine many people are going to passively find automated slurry even remotely interesting, but the full-throttle tech embrace around us flashes a grim reminder of how expendable deep, human needs for creativity are to Silicon Valley CEO dickheads with not a glimmer of artistic flair between them. It's what keeps me going. In my own little way, I hope the Heads on Sticks tastemaking curation project is a one tiny little cluster of music lovers, writers, DJs, and radio shows that can all continue in charting a course of organic recommendation over nebulous AI force-feeding you the lowest common denominator. As ever, thanks to all the artists who have scored my year. Please listen in order like an old Now! compilation or lovingly assembled mixtape, as the annual round-ups are always arranged with cohesiveness and journey in mind. Best, Tom (A Fan)Note, Seera - 'Akhir Arkha' is not on Bandcamp, so the Tidal link is below, advised to listen between Delores Galore and Hirons.<a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://tidal.com/track/462564279/u">https://tidal.com/track/462564279/u</a>

HeadsonSticks

Heads on Sticks 2025

CASH BURN/RIDDIM DUSTER

KELAN - RIDDIM DUSTER

The Final Act

Look Familiar

A Long Beautiful Flowing Cape

I Have A Physical Body That Can Be Harmed

Woke Frasier

Animation Cel

My Metronome

Hard Copy

Runway Runaway

Keep, Repeat

Tristwch Y Fenywod

Blodyn Gwyrdd

Rampen (apm: alien pop music)

Planet Umbra

Mondo Maleficum

Venus Ascending

Triple Fire

Art is Dangerous

Infants Under the Bulb

Big Guitar Jackoff in the Sky

At Every Turn

Entwined

Class Living

Dead City

AGITATOR

SKULKER

Hex Dealer

Sermon

Seggs Tape

desecho

Manning Fireworks

Wristwatch

Total Reality

Escalator Man

Tir Groupé

Eyeballer

10 ILL SONGS

yellow shell

Icon Enterprises

iCandy

Love Is A Flame In The Dark

The Butcher

The annual Heads on Sticks round-up is here! As always, never an exclusive list nor arranged as a hierachy of quality, but simply a collation of songs that's scored HEADHQ this year. Please listen in order, and if you like what you're hearing buy the tune or album! Thanks for the music. Tom (a fan)NOTE: WILDES' 'So Soft' is in the round-up but only availble on Spotify: <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://open.spotify.com/track/5Ys8ZgiLprqtZpfF7PPQjb?si=0096f927d08e45ac">https://open.spotify.com/track/5Ys8ZgiLprqtZpfF7PPQjb?si=0096f927d08e45ac</a>

Heads on Sticks 2024

Last Days On Earth

Goldie

Immaturity

Comfortable

Grockle Vision

Salaryman

SAVED!

THE POOR WAYFARING STRANGER

In The Wilderness

Gimme Little More

Disig

Man Against the Tide

Vol. II

The Minotaur

Blooming

FALLOPIAN TUBE AMPLIFIER (LP)

THE TIN FOIL HAT BRIGADE

Blind Taste Test

I'm So Bored With You

Quaranta

Dark Sword Angel

Nails

Council Rust

BÉTON ARMÉ - SECOND SOUFFLE EP

L'UNION FAIT LA FORCE

EP 1.0

Take You Home (On Time)

Super Snõõper

Fitness

Australia Stops

Faceless

XYZoop

Flux

GOOD LUCK

WHAT A MAN

GAMES OF POWER

New Face Of Death

Good Living Is Coming For You

Good Living Is Coming for You

Dragging the Needlework for The Kids at Uphole

Palangana

Morreadoras y ya está

Ojos negros

Bending Hectic

Fiesta en el vacío

A3. 엄마 (avec Ji Min Park)

Licking Orchids

Muzzle

Here's to the artists who scored my 2023! As ever, the round-ups are never a 'best of', nor an exclusive collection of all that's been on heavy rotation at HEADHQ but more a lovingly curated mixtape or compilation, a curated playlist crafted for coherence and journey in mind. Many thanks to tall the artists included, and to all that listen to the 2023 round-up, I hope you discover great music! Best, Tom (a fan)

Heads on Sticks 2023

Skrting On The Surface

Curtição Suprema Vol.2

Raposas Viciadas em Líquido de Freio de Carro

Back Home

Sainted

PROCESS

AM I OKAY?

Bob Vylan Presents The Price Of Life

Take That

W.A.R. In The Digital Realm

Cybernetic Super Soldier

Ahora Aquí, Todavía No

The Isle of Barra

ARKHON

The Fall

Feed My Desire

Transient Communications

Distant UFO Signals

Endure

LA Blues

Reckless Randy

Gone Stealin

PAINLESS

stabilise

Baby Shack

Baby

Downtown

Kelan - The Rag

A Force To Be Rockin' With

Pucker Up

Rebirth/Return

Sucker

Rough Dimension

Live (In a Dream)

Vampire Club

Jenny Destroys Records

Aren't You Gonna Introduce Me To Your Friend?

Who Wants to Fuck Me

Secret Agent Headcheese - Headcheese Gets Abducted

Leather Jackets Fast Bikes

Lovers and Addicts

Apathy Fix

ETT - 098 - Mini Skirt // C​.​O​.​F​.​F​.​I​.​N - Split EP

C.O.F.F.I.N - Under Your Wing

Extreme

Avoid Heaven

VIOLENTS EP

ANDROGYNISTA

Collating the end-of-year round-ups has become an annual fixture as seasonally traditional as dodgy eggnog and unprepared NY plans, a festive marker that truly signals the arrival of Yule Tidings an' all that. It's a welcome and joyous occasion each year when the time comes to recall the volume of new music that's made its way into my heart, and I'm repeatedly astonished as to how vital and enthused the global music community remains year after year. The vibrancy of new music is particularly remarkable when considering the political forces it's up against. I was fortunate enough to attend an Enough Is Enough rally in October and catch an impassioned speech by Equity boss Paul W. Fleming, rejecting the romantic trope of the 'struggling artist' and championing access to the arts and dignified careers within a routinely exploitative industry. While mainly representing members in the performing arts, his stirring invective against the disparity of class that plagues the creative industries was a sobering reminder of the state assistance that's ebbed away in the neoliberal wasteland, where our musical heritage is seemingly celebrated while the social provisions that helped it flourish (the dole, housing benefit, art schools, adequate Arts funding) are scorned. Along with streaming royalty rates and touring obstructions beset by Brexit, my hope for next year is that the Musician plays every bit of a role as the postal worker, the rail staff, the nurse and every other force within the great industrial action confronting corporate Britain and all its inequities. As always, the annual Heads on Sticks round-ups are never a perfunctory 'best of' but simply the soundtrack to my 2022 in all its ebbs and flows. Scoring my life in the way the artists featured have across the giddy highs and tumultuous lows of the year means any one of these 25 tracks will serve as a future portal to this time when the wist of nostalgia takes me. Merry Christmas, have a better 2023, and thanks for the music! Tom (A Fan)

Heads on Sticks 2022

Picking Up Ruby

Curing

Drip

Flag

1-2-3-4!!

2083 A.D.

Nerva Sky

Cybergang

Don't Get It Twisted

Side Part

Are we really at the dawn of 2022 already!? Reflecting on the past 12 months of new music and where I was when collating last year's round-up brings home the enormous leap forward I've had in my wellbeing and enthused anticipation for new ventures ahead. While the artists that scored my 2020 served more like urgent lifebuoys as I thrashed in a swamp of anguish and uncertainty (apologies to those who were at times on the receiving end), the heroes of 2021 soundtrack a personal rejuvenation and excitement for life once again. Hoisting myself out of the 'funk' also meant switching Heads on Sticks to a 'reduced service', but with a new site and graphics revamp, I think it was worth it! I'm excited to go back to the heartbeat of the 'ead, which is the weekly write-ups I've had to intermittently forgo throughout the year due to moving from Bristol to London, as well as other personal needs for respite. The spare time also afforded me space to unleash the '﻿<a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" href="https://headsonstickschats.podbean.com/">Heads on Sticks Chats</a>' podcast, which I frankly love doing and endeavour to deliver many more! As ever, my round-ups are arranged by cohesion and journey, so please listen in order. Neither are they necessarily the 'best of', but simply the result of a painful whittling away to the mere 25 tracks I've set as my yearly number. Not only do I hope that you discover fantastic new music, but let it serve as a conduit to new love, revitalisation, the discarding of toxicity, and pastures new! I hope you enjoy it, I'm sure you will! Tom (a fan)

The official Heads on Sticks 2021 round-up!

Heads on Sticks 2021