@rgdelato gave me this idea on his best buy post - the best musical discovery of 2025.
I’m gonna cheat a little. For me, it wasn’t a new album from one of my favourite bands, finding a new band that I listen to regularly or even realising that enjoy “Americana” more than I previously thought.
2025 was the year I rediscovered an old favourite - Goldfinger. Back when I was a teen, me and my friends skated and listened to Ska Punk. For me, the cream of the crop was Goldfinger. They’re the band that I have seen the most in my life as they regularly toured the U.K., typically with another favourite - Reel Big Fish. A double was hard to resist. Even on a school night, with very little money to spare, my friends and I would get two trains, Birkenhead to Liverpool, then on to Manchester and have a blast. We’d skank until the very last second, adamant to experience the encore before having to sprint 10 minutes across town to get the last train back to Liverpool at 2330 hrs - just!
Although all of the above describes a fondness underpinned by nostalgia, it is more than that. It was my bachelor party weekend in October, I found myself stripped down to my underwear on a drum kit in front of 20 of my very best friends, not sober, being forced to perform whatever came to mind of the adoring crowd. It was the Goldfinger track ‘Superman’ that stuck with me from that night - in part because they filmed the whole thing and it was clear that I had the most fun playing that track.
It was this that had me put this track on my Qobuz playlist while I was working, sobered up, back in the real world. I was struck by how much I enjoyed the recording/production of that track. It’s not just a great bass line, the bass guitar sounds excellent to my ear. I love how natural it sounds. The drums give me similar enjoyment. I have long understood Goldfinger’s drumming to have had a big influence on my playing - how to listen and write something that supports the song, fills should primarily used not to show off but help energy/vide transitions between sections of the songs. I don’t sound like Donut Dan when I play, but I learnt a lot from him. The drum sound is well captured and helps feed into my sense of being in the room with the band.
I have since had Goldfinger’s first three albums on repeat. They’re packed full of super catchy tunes with excellent musicianship. It surprises me how great they sound, too. These aren’t hi res, 192 kHz remasters or anything either. There’s a rawness or lack of production to the production that really enhances the sense of being in the room with the band. I enjoy this a lot.
