2026 already! The winter weather here has really been beautiful and I always enjoy
this time of year. Writing this yearly musical retrospective has now become a
beloved tradition of mine¹ and I enjoy retracing the year’s various
events through albums I listened to and concerts I went to.

Albums

In 2025, I added 141 new albums to my collection, around 60% more than last
year’s haul. I think this might have been too much? I feel like I didn’t have
time to properly enjoy all of them and as such, I decided to slow down my
acquisition spree sometimes in early December, around the time I normally do the
complete opposite.

This year again, I bought the vast majority of my music on Bandcamp. Most of
the other albums I bought as CDs and ripped them.

Concerts

In 2025, I went to the following 25 (!!) concerts:

• January 17^th: Uzu, Young Blades, She came to quit, Fever Visions
• February 1^st: Over the Hill, Jail, Mortier, Ain’t Right
• February 7^th: Béton Armé, Mulchulation II, Ooz
• February 15^th: The Prowlers, Ultra Razzia, Sistema de Muerte,
  Trauma Bond
• February 28^th: Francbâtards
• March 28^th: Conflit Majeur, to Even Exist, Crachat
• April 12^th: Jetsam, Mortier, NIIVI, Canette
• April 26^th-27^th (Montreal Oi! Fest 2025): The
  Buzzers, Bad Terms, Sons of Pride, Liberty and Justice, Flafoot 56, The
  Beltones, Mortier, Street Code, The Stress, Alternate Action
• May 1^st: Bauxite, Atomic threat, the 351’s
• May 30^th: Uzu, Tenaz, Extraña Humana, Sistema de muerte
• June 7^th: Ordures Ioniques, Tulaviok, Fucking Raymonds, Voyou
• June 18^th: Tiken Jah Fakoly
• June 21^st: Saïan Supa Celebration
• June 26^th: Taxi Girls, Death Proof, Laura Krieg
• July 4^th: Frente Cumbiero
• July 12^th: Montreal’s Big Fiesta DJ Set
• August 16^th: Guerilla Poubelle
• September 11^th: No Suicide Act, Mortier
• September 20^th: Hors Contrôle, Union Thugs, Barricade Mentale
• October 20^th: Ezra Furman, The Golden Dregs
• October 24^th: Overbass, Hommage à Bérurier Noir, Self Control,
  Vermin Kaos
• November 6^th: Béton Armé, Faze, Slash Need, Chain Block
• November 28^th (Blood Moon Ritual 2025): Bhatt, Channeler,
  Pyrocene Death Cult, Masse d’Armes
• December 13^th (Stomp Records’ 30^th Anniversary Bash):
  The Planet Smashers, The Flatliners, Wine Lips, The Anti-Queens, Crash ton
  rock

Although I haven’t touched metalfinder‘s code in a good while, my instance
still works very well and I get the occasional match when a big-name artist in
my collection comes in town. Most the venues that advertise on Bandsintown are
tied to Ticketmaster though, which means most underground artists (i.e. most of
the music I listen to) end up playing elsewhere.

As such, shout out again to the Gancio project and to the folks running the
Montreal instance. It continues to be a smash hit and most of
the interesting concerts end up being advertised there.

See you all in 2026!