Doctor Blind

oooh, I was fully expecting Venetian Snares to finally make an appearance on BuzzJack - the high end Samsung to Aphex Twin's iPhone, but not to be! Heard quite a few artists here but looks like a good selection of new discoveries for me. Look forward to blasting this playlist on my night shift.

I'm really sorry Leww, I did intend to send something last night but I was just so washed out with all the travelling and a slight headache that I just had to tap out. I think it being 20 degrees cooler here than where I was last week has really hit me hard. I also had to be up at 5 this morning for work.. I will more than happily listen and vote though to not hold up the contest, as this theme really sounds compelling and something that I'd very much enjoy.

Voted - that Water From Your Eyes track is a total heater so ofc Utopia sent it. *.*

I really enjoyed this, so much more than I expected to going in. It creates such a melancholic atmosphere and perfectly conveys that feeling of loss - whether that be a special person, place or time. I love the string arrangements throughout, but I think my favourites from the first few plays away from the lead single(s) are “Somewhere in Between”, “The Last of England” and “Thinking Loud”. However, I didn't find any low points and it'd be difficult to pick only a few cuts for picks to take away/rec. as it works so much better as a whole.

Welcome to the first poll of the autumn - thanks again to @k👠th for doing a great job holding the fort last month as well as for her hard work helping to curate this playlist. Thanks also to those who voted and commented. Despite a healthy number of votes, the winners are inseparable and it is a tie at the top of the July poll with both Danny L Harle & PinkPantheress and FKA twigs picking up 7 people's support. Only missing out on a 3-way tie at the top by 1 vote is Tame Impala's recent electronic pivot, the appropriately titled “End Of Summer”. But whilst meteorological summer in the nothern hemisphere may now be officially over, we've still got plenty of heaters to see you through the cooler months with the best electronica of August in this month's poll. This includes stalwarts such as Avalon Emerson, DJ HEARTSTRING, KETTAMA, Overmono and Sofia Kourtesis as well as long overdue returns for Burial and Daniel Bortz. We've also some new names in the mix and a fairly diverse set of tracks for your enjoyment. Please vote in the tiebreak too, and happy listening! August 2025 Contenders: Avalon Emerson & Moby “E After Next” Burial “Comafields” Chloe Battelle “Anesthesia” Daniel Bortz “New Patch 21 Balanced Medium” Denham Audio, piri & Tommy Villiers “Heavy Handed” DJ HEARTSTRING & SWIM “Forever (if u need it)” DJ Planet Express & XNom “Eyes” Gusta “Let You In (Eternity Mix)” Iglooghost “Xcavator.03” J Wax “PASALO” KETTAMA & Clouds “Sort It Out” Leon Vynehall “Scab” Love Remain “Girl With All The Flowers” MISS LUXURY “desperate desires” Overmono & High Contrast “If We Ever” salute “double luxury” Sega Bodega & Judeline “PIKI” Sim0ne “space cadet” Sofia Kourtesis “Corazón” Tourist “Outside” PLAYLIST: 2025 Winners January: DJ HEARTSTRING “Last Time Under Purple Skies” February: HAAi “Can’t Stand To Lose” March: DEBBY FRIDAY “1/17” April: HVOB “Void” May: TDJ & Clara Kimera “On and On (You Lie)” June: TDJ & Danny L Harle “Shoreline”

Nilüfer Yanya's My Method Actor to win please! Boo's Hyper Feminine to win the PopJustice £20 music prize. She's from the northeast too so it makes sense if they hold the main contest there this year - gotta support the local talent xx

I'd heartily recommend Nicola Kelly's recent book Anywhere But Here: How Britain’s Broken Asylum System Fails Us All - she used to work as a press officer at the Home Office and exposes the shamefully under-resourced and chaotic asylum system that is at the heart of this issue. In it she actually gives a voice to the refugees themselves to find out who they are and what has forced them to make this pretty terrifying and desperate journey across one of the world's busiest shipping lanes, instead of constantly reducing them to mere statistics and describing them all as predatory, aggressive sex offenders. It's so refresing because as you say in all this endless coverage we never actually hear from them at all. The whole debate is completely toxic, and as you say the far right are exploiting ignorance/misinformation about the situation for political gain, and what we don't have right now is any politician brave enough to take the heat out of the debate and call this out. Farage, Badenoch (and all those seeking to replace her in the broken husk of the Tory party) as well as Starmer are all just stoking the flames further.

“Not Nineteen Forever” by the Courteeners peaked at No. 19.

Yes - a population boom that started in the 1950s caused fear about overpopulation and even led the Chinese government to implement a 1 child policy from 1979 until 2015 - but just because an opinion based on earlier evidence was justified at the time, that doesn't mean you should continue to hold that opinion even after further evidence has thrown doubt on that original belief, nor should that original opinion be thrown out as a counter-argument against those that now have changed their opinion. In 2010: 41% of the welfare bill went on pensions, by 2030 it'll be nearly 50% and rising. All the time the working population who fund it will be starting to shrink. How do you think we can address that? The 'issues' as you describe them appear to be that asylum seekers are held in hotels pending assesment (they are generally not allowed to work while their applications are pending). I would agree that this is a waste of money, but you can blame the Conservatives for causing it by deliberately cutting the Home Office border agency in the 2010s, thus whilst applications and boat crossings did increase substantially, the backlog in processing ballooned to the point where it became unmanageable. This was politically expedient as it allowed the Tories to distract from their own failures (flatlining economy, failing public services, falling living standards) to push this issue to the top of the agenda and use it to shore up support in their newly acquired voter coalition - remember the 'Rwanda scheme' ? Another huge waste of public money. It ultimately backfired though because that's also been exploited (as ever) by the right, tapping in to sincere concerns from the public about safety, particularly around children, and now the Tories are having to tack even further to the right to avoid total collapse. This has everything to do with it because the public conflate illegal and legal migration and they generally think there is more of the former, when in reality it is tiny: 4%. You can apply confirmation biases from polls that narrowly support your view all you want, it won't change my opinion that this isn't an issue that concerns ordinary voters outside a narrow local issue and beyond the brief amplification that it occasionally gets nationally from the billionaire owned/backed press and today the BBC (the news site today was a complete Farage love-in). Finally I'd just like to say please tone down your attacks on others, it's obviously fine to debate and have a different opinion but when you belittle or insult people then you not only cause hurt to that person but discourage them and others from contributing here, which would be a shame.

The only thing propping up the labour market in the UK is immigration, the birth rate fell to 1.44 last year (lowest on record, since 1938) and it's likely to continue to fall. There are schools in the local area that are having to close because of rapidly falling pupil numbers. Therefore, we have to face the reality that the population of the UK is rapidly aging, a serious issue that Japan has been battling with since 1990 and has yet to resolve (despite finally relaxing its attitude to allow immigration). There is a structual ageing of our population, with all its associated problems, effectively baked in for at least the next century. The protests against immigration are generally of the order of around 100 or so - they do not in any way represent the opinion of the wider public, and are massively dwarfed by the protests against the ongoing genocide in Gaza. However, the billionaire backed press, and recently regrettably the BBC, have decided it is in their interest to amplify the voices of wives of Conservative councillors who spend their spare time calling for the public to burn down hotels full of refugees. This country has always had a mostly positive history with welcoming immigrants, from Jewish immigrants in the 1930s, the post-war rebuilding from the Commonwealth in the 50s and 60s and even recently the Ukranian women and children in 2022. An Estonian women in the town here built a business from scratch that has generated significant improvement to the area and brings in people from all around the local area - I think there are generally more positive cases that are, in general, largely overlooked. On the OP question, I personally think that Reform have a very small chance of forming a government at the next GE, the polling has always overestimated their share of the vote and when it comes to a national election I think people are minded to retreat to the safety of what they know and trust, especially against unknowns that could be as damaging and potentially destructive as having Farage as PM. Our FPTP system actually works against any ascendant new party, so whilst they could conceivably rack up north of 20% that may only translate into 50 or 60 seats as long as there is collaboration with the more progressive voices and my god Starmer is going to make that incredibly difficult.. Finally - wrt benefits. A significant number of those receiving benefits are in work. Where you have a point is housing benefit, a huge sum of money handed over from us to wealthy landlords which is a huge waste and should be reduced with more council housing built and reduced rents offered instead of forcing everyone into an already saturated rental market.

Got a nice surprise this morning- the vinyl arrived. It feels like I should have rotated it 90 deg tho, haha. I'm really enjoying the whole EP. It's compact but eclectic, and works as an accompaniment and footnote to My Method Actor. I think my favourite moments on the EP are the industrial drums that kick in during the emotive centerpiece of the EP “Cold Heart”, and I'm especially appreciating the guitar work on “Kneel” and the nod to her Turkish heritage during its string drenched ending. Serves as the perfect palate cleanser before her next era, which I'm already highly anticipating.

Yess, we're finally getting that Peppa Pig deep cut *.* Hyped for my first Fljótavík hosted contest.

Thank you @Iz 🌟 - I think I've managed to vote now? I hope so, I was gonna send my votes to @Brer as our port in the storm for technology issues or failing that edit the OG DM? Would that work? Anyway, a solid final. One country in particular in the top of my votes for the first time in what feels like years, and what is no doubt a long overdue return given the consistent quality and diversity of the entries they send.

Doctor Blind Chart - 10th August 2025 TW - LW / Artist / “Song” / (Peak- if not current) 01 - 01 james K “Play” ✮6 weeks at #1✮ 02 - 06 Disiniblud “Disiniblud” 03 - 02 Ethel Cain “Nettles” (02) 04 - 04 Annahstasia “Villain” 05 - 03 Sudan Archives “DEAD” (02) 06 - 11 Amaarae “S.M.O.” 07 - 05 Smerz “You got time and I got money” (05) 08 - 10 Nuovo Testamento “Dream On” 09 - 12 Sophia Stel “Everyone Falls Asleep In Their Own Time” 10 - 07 For Those I Love “Of The Sorrows” (03) 11 - 17 Ninajirachi “Infohazard” 12 - 14 Frost Children “Falling” 13 - 09 Four Tet “Into Dust (Still Falling)” (09) 14 - 19 Cruel Sister “IRON PILLS” 15 - 08 Alex G “Afterlife” (04) 16 - 21 Geese “Taxes” 17 - 23 snuggle “Sun Tan” 18 - 26 Safe Mind “Standing on Air” 19 - 22 Caroline Polachek “On the Beach” 20 - 24 Say She She “Cut & Rewind” 21 - 13 Leon Vynehall & Beau Nox “Cruel Love” (08) 22 - 25 supermodel* “i used to live in England” 23 - 15 Nourished by Time “Max Potential” (02) 24 - 31 Lauren Duffus “Super” 25 - 37 Deki Alem “House Fire” 26 - 16 Sofia Kourtesis & Daphni “Unidos” (01) 27 - 34 FKA twigs “Perfectly” 28 - 40 Daniel Avery ft. Cecile Believe “Rapture in Blue” 29 - 35 Grande Mahogany “Salford Softie” 30 - 38 Confidence Man & Jade “Gossip” 31 - 18 Izzy Camina “Neptune Mood” (14) 32 - 46 Yves Tumor & NINA “We Dont Count” ✮Fastest Climber✮ 33 - 20 Rochelle Jordan “Crave” (08) 34 - 27 Deki Alem “Fun” (01) 35 - NE Burial “Comafields” ✮Highest New Entry✮ 36 - 47 Tsatsamis “Sweet Praise” 37 - 50 crushed “Starburn” 38 - 49 DJ_Dave “Hard Refresh” 39 - 28 Model/Actriz “Diva” (07) 40 - NE Joon Gloom “Joker” ✮New Entry✮

Love that artwork, the Ghanaian flag has a black star in it, so it's iconic for that reason! I'm especially loving the lead single “S.M.O.” (along with its iconic video), perfect summer heater, I've yet to give the full album a listen but looking forward to it given the positive reviews.