Music Roundup: November 2025
Featuring: social media gripes, closing clubs, another big venue, and another mix by yours truly
The winter chill is back and the Christmas markets are slowly getting going in Germany. Some say Christmas what the Germans do best: Glühwein, Kartoffelpuffer, and Lebkuchen. Despite the darkness, it’s a time to look forward to here.
The lack of daylight also makes this time of year one of the best to go out. Beating off the winter blues by sweating it out in a dark room with pounding basslines and light shows to allow you to forget that you haven’t seen the sun in a week.
If you think about it, we’re essentially plants that have to pay taxes.
Anyways, onto the music.
Out And About
Performative Audio
The Prodigy’s Liam Howlett talked to Mixmag about their new era of music following the death of their original front man Keith Flint and he made a note to share his dismay with the relationship between the electronic music scene and social media: “Social media is turning dance music into fast food”.
There’s an unavoidable truth to this with artists opening up about how exhaustingly content focussed their hobbies have become just to try and get reach. In fact, it’s gotten so important in artists’ careers, that entire marketing agencies exist just to service their growing social media need.
And as much as it easy to lament about how “social media is ruining things”, I can’t deny that I find out about tours and nights out on social media long before I hear about them anywhere else. It’s almost vital to staying on top of what’s going on and where for all the artists, collectives, clubs, and festivals that you follow. Artists need to be on social media to exist, and we (as fans) need to be on social media to follow what’s going on.
Yet, we all hate it here. And it’s only getting worse with enshittification.
Instagram accounts have now started mocking the desperate attempts of some artists to grow their audiences in the manic and tragic stunts that they post of themselves. The satirist Marco Cariola on Instagram will often post roundups of “cringe moments” highlighting the performative nature of the scene:
The esteemed Kiwi duo Chaos in the CBD also post such roundups from time to time, and the eclectic array of content artists can stretch to some wild performances.
And all of this for an industry whose primary output is audio, and not video.
It really does ask the question, what on earth are we doing here?
Klubsterben
The Germans have a term for the ongoing slow decline of clubbing institutions around the world: Klubsterben. It directly translates to “the death of clubs” and is a little too touch on the nose for the current scene.
And speaking of dying venues, the Berlin club Renate has announced its marathon 86 hour long closing party at the end of the year with names such as Ben Sims, Amy Dabbs, and Lewis Fautzi on the lineup.
I’ve been twice to the 18 year old club this year and it’s a real shame to see it go. The crowd can be a bit hit-and-miss with my first visit having a great energy, and my second being mostly large groups of men and tourists. However, I love the house party feeling to the place with its many small rooms and nooks and crannies you can explore.
The place also champions putting on small acts and resident DJs which is a welcome sight to see in aforementioned race-to-the-top social media frenzy of today. When I lived in London, the club night was often decided based on lineup, whereas with Renate, I go for the club instead of who’s playing and learn a few new names in the process. Amy Dabbs is a fantastic DJ I discovered through going there.
We need more places like Renate. Where you go for the club and find new artists through it. Bring back resident DJs and going for the sake of a night out instead of just following names.
Yet Another Superclub
London’s getting yet another large venue: Arc, and it’s in Olympia of all places which is previously only really known for being a conference venue. I’ve been there for that very purpose and, despite it being a beautiful building, it’s a relatively run of the mill large space with a surprising lack of good transport connections nearby aside from the Mildmay and District Lines.
It’s also slap-bang in the middle of a boujee bit of town with house prices being, on average, above £2 million. So, lord knows what the noise complaints are going to be like.
I can’t help but think that the city doesn’t really need any more of these venue types. There’s a whole host of these large places available but all the new developments still seem to be on yet more large and vapid places.
The comments for Mixmag’s respective Instagram post are in agreement, with many calling for more small cap or 300-800 person venues.
There’s just this constant race to the top at the moment in terms of everything in the scene. Venues need to be as biggest ever, artists need the largest following, music needs to be streamed the most, even vinyls need the most amount of pressings possible.
It just feels like there’s this prevalent, exhausting belief that “bigger is always better” but I just don’t think it’s what people are really calling for any more. I would love to see a new drive into having more venues instead of big ones, varied lineups instead of just big names that are guaranteed to sell out, interesting records to be released instead of just your generic-big-name-pop-star.
Just something new, and fun, and interesting.
Music Recs
I’ve gone a bit heavier this week and we’re starting off with Samaran’s latest release: Moscow Madness. A certified roller of a track, this is a heavier continuation of his <Insert City> Madness series to which the beloved Paris Madness belongs.
Getting even heavier now, we have 10010’s BREAKIE EP and my favourite track from it: BREAKIE BOYS ft. MONVCO. A full throttle breakbeat journey, it’d be a great mid set twister.
Stepping up the pace yet again, we have SPFDJ’s debut album Heel Thyself on her record label Intrepid Skin. My track of choice from the EP is The Hot In Psychotic and it’s unstoppable energy. She was a last minute choice for us at Dekmantel in 2024 and very quickly became our favourite set of the weekend.
You are unlikely to be surprised when I say this, but I’m a huge fan of NTS, and ddwy were a guest on Flo Dill’s NTS Breakfast Show a few weeks back. They did a live, more ambient set on the show itself but made a note to say that their latest EP Beaming Backwards has got some more energy to it so of course I snapped up a vinyl of it. The album titled track is my standout with its dreamy energy.
I’ve been waiting for this one for a while, but the British duo Franc Moody have finally released their latest album: Chewing The Fat. The whole thing is a groovy delight and my standout track has to be Good To Go. This is one for fans of Barry Can’t Swim and Anish Kumar.
The other week I found myself in Munich, and I thought I would get out of work early to hit up a shop I’ve developed a real interest in: Public Possession. Record label, fashion, interior design, and cycling equipment all rolled into one, the entire store oozes style (even if the physical location is surprisingly bare inside). Whilst there, I picked up Eden Burns’ latest album And The Make Believers, and I think it’s one of the first times where I preferred the B side over the A, with my standout track being Slow Thing.
Last but not least, my Headache record turned up this month. Anyone familiar with me knows full well just how much of a grip Vegyn’s alter moniker has on me and it’s become a go-to in my listening rota at home. Thank You For Almost Everything is his second album under this moniker and it’s absolutely fantastic. The first track Nineteen Sixty Five is my standout from this, but to be honest, I would just listen to the whole thing if I were you.
Bonus Content
I did a mix myself this month gone. I thought it had been a while and I felt like I needed to make the eye watering amounts I spend on Bandcamp worth it. Progressive house is a love of mine at the moment so if you’re feeling a little proggy, feel free to dive right in.
One of my favourite b2b partners, DJ Ironing Board, also did a mix and this one’s an absolute heater from beginning to end. If you want your high tempo energy fix, this is a must listen.
I finally got around to listening to Derrick Gee’s sunset mix in the Elbphilharmonie building in Hamburg and it’s one of the best track selections I’ve heard in a while. Had this on at work and made for a great morning soundtrack. Definitely recommend getting this on when you’re in a rut.
Until Next Time
I picked up Ableton Live 12 Suite in the Black Friday sale and have been getting stuck into it. If you want to hear some of my previous work you may need to go all the way back to my GCSE work from 13 years ago. It was described as “Michael Nyman-esque” by my mother at the time which was bang on the nose with my then obsession with him.
So, until I’ve got something better to show for it, you’re going to have to enjoy that for the time being.