Probably needs no further explanation but a big chunk of our 2025 seasonal celebrations are being administered by a tag team of our writers, Ogglypoogly and DJ Fuzzyfelt
A composer as talented as Benn Jordan should, by rights, be ubiquitous. He is prolific, technically astonishing, and emotionally precise, and yet it often feels as though hardly anyone has heard of him. That's not to say he lacks a devoted audience. His fanbase grows steadily, passed hand to hand by word of mouth. But Jordan remains an outlier figure, operating just beyond the edges of the mainstream. Unless you already inhabit the world of American IDM, you could be forgiven for missing him entirely, whether working under his own name or, as with this year's album, his long-standing moniker The Flashbulb.
I've revisited the realm of Papillon many times since originally reviewing it back in the summer, but my response and sentiment remains unchanged.
It is always a pleasure when The Flashbulb turns an ear to the wind and hands over the weather in a jewelled case. Papillon, his latest collection of instrumental moods and moltings, is as exquisite as anything that has preceded it: part lullaby, part fever dream, part soundtrack to your own graceful disintegration.
This isn't music you listen to so much as music that remembers you.
Songs dissolve into rain. A lonely, clanging warning bell nudges you from the track as the steady freight train of melody bears down at speed. Around you, things you were certain were everlasting are bulldozed in slow motion, not violently, but with a kind of solemn inevitability. At times, almost nothing happens for long stretches: anticipation without anxiety, suspension without threat. And honestly, it's perfect.
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Ogglypoogly and DJ Fuzzyfelt's entire December 2025 Countdown to Christmas, is here
1st: Red Rum Club →
2nd: Chwaer Fawr →
3rd: Divine Comedy →
4th: DJ Harram →
5th: Mobley →
6th: Kling Klang →
7th: The Last Dinner Party →
8th: Sessa →
9th: Moonchild Sanelly →
10th: Maruja →
11th: Shelley Byron →
12th: Agathe Max →
13th: Eighty Eight Miles →
14th: Sprints →
15th: Seb Lowe →
16th: The Cords →
17th: Jack Weston →
18th: Model/Actriz →
19th: Warrington Runcorn New Town Development Plan →
20th: Annahstasia →
21st: The Flashbulb →
22nd: Nas and DJ Premier →
23rd: CMAT →
24th: KeiyaA →
25th: Ogglypoogly - Rebecca Lucy Taylor biography →
25th: Dj Fuzzyfelt - Some things I'd like to add... →
