Another year in the books. 24 years of making a music blog. A mighty long time to do anything. Something to be proud of even if this thing has stalled a bit outside of the new music weekly. However, even that takes five plus hours of my time (almost) every weekend and I’ve repeated that effort now 341 times. It’s not an easy task. How much does that work matter is a whole another question, but I hope the playlist can be something good in the messed up streaming world. At least it’s genuine, human curated and born out of love for music. And tries to also cover music that might not get a spotlight in the actual music media.

The forthcoming year is sort of a 25 year jubilee, so I’ve been thinking that I probably should find a way to celebrate that somehow. Quarter of a century is such crazy amount of time gone by that I don’t think I should just let that slide. So hopefully a more active 2026 in the horizon, but absolute no promises whatsoever. This is just a spare time hobby and even keeping up with the current schedule is often a hell of a grind.

A giant thank you once again to all you lovely people who keep on following this blog and my weekly new music adventure. It means the world to me and I appreciate all the kind words and encouragements I’ve received over the years. You are the best.

And to wrap up this little birthday post, I’ll quickly share some songs that I love wholeheartedly. I picked a few that might not yet be super household names, because I feel like that’s sort of why One Chord to Another exists. These are also a bit from the softer end of the OCTA spectrum.

First Alice George Perez from Brussels, Belgium. I absolutely adore this beautiful single The Crow from her forthcoming album that is due out in October.

Next over to Canada and British Columbia for the dreamy new single Star City from Dana Sipos. Not sure when the album is coming out, but hopefully soon because both singles have been wonderful.

And then over to Los Angeles for the first single It Must Be So Easy from Mia Wilson’s forthcoming self-titled debut album. It only took a few seconds on my first to listen to fall for this one. Such a gorgeous early 70s kind of pop song. Album out in November on one of the greats, Royal Oakie Records.

Finally a couple of albums that are already out and available. Leslie Graves and Toby Goodshank joined forces and created a charming album called Between Worlds. My own favorite out of the many gems is this beauty called The Natural Way.

And this one you’ve heard before, if you follow this blog closely. But this has been the year of Hectorine for me and I absolutely adore her album Arrow of Love. I usually have posted Is Love an Illusion, but let’s go with the equally wonderful Everybody Says this time around.

And there would be much more, but it’s past midnight and I need some sleep. Take care.

I made another playlist. This time a YouTube playlist of 2025 music videos, because I’m a lazy music blogger and struggle to share them here on the actual blog. So I put some here until I get my act together. This is partly a reminder for myself what I need to feature, if I actually start writing more. I don’t really know how I will operate this and I know there’s stuff missing, because I just added what I could remember. Feel free to send stuff my way too. Maybe I will focus more on the actual music videos on this one instead of live stuff and lyric videos though. Both could work too, if I really love them. Maybe I could even pin this to the top here and just switch the first song every day, so you’ll have a new video of the day every time you visit. Maybe I ditch the idea altogether next week. Who knows.

Oh yeah and Bay Area songwriter Hectorine. I featured her debut album on the new music weekly when it came out in 2019 and while I liked it a lot, I still hadn’t paid enough attention to her music until now. But oh my. Now I’m borderline obsessed with her new song Is Love An Illusion?. It’s the first single from forthcoming album Arrow of Love that is due out 23rd of May on Take a Turn Records. That’s rightfully the first video on this playlist. After that you’ll get 50 or so 2025 music videos, if you hit play or follow the YouTube link.

OCTA Video Vault 2025 on YouTube

A quick music video post of some of my favorite albums of January 2025. Not a lot of words, but there’s three wonderful songs/albums.

First a long time favorite Flora Hibberd from Paris, Texas. This time via Eau Claire, Wisconsin where she recorded her new album Swirl with another big personal favorite Shane Leonard. Magic all around and I already know this will be one of my most loved albums of 2025.

Flora Hibberd Website

Next over to Austin, Texas. I wasn’t familiar with Nicole Hale beforehand, but thankfully I found her beautiful new album Some Kind of Longing. Such a gorgeous slow burner of a record. Thor Harris and the Little Mazarn people lend a hand among others. Love this music video for Remembered This Way as well.

Nicole Hale Website

Carrying our bags to New York to meet up with songwriter Renny Conti. Another new find for me and I found his self-titled album a week or so after the release, but instantly fell for it. Here’s Looking at the Geese from the album to wrap up this little blog post.

Renny Conti Website

It’s been ages since I’ve made any kind post that was not a playlist or a year-end list. First I didn’t have the energy and then I sort of lost the belief that it matters. So I kinda just let things slide and it has never done me any good. I don’t know if I’ll ever really start again, but Hello Emerson inspired me to make at least one post. Therefore here’s a very quick music video entry of songs that I love.

Starting with that beauty of a song from Hello Emerson. Their new album To Keep Him Here will come out on the 29th of March and the latest single called Church was accompanied with the loveliest music video. Life, love and death. Oh my. Sweet work of art.

Maybe my absolute favorite songwriter right now is Anna Tivel and she just released a wonderful first single Disposable Camera from her forthcoming album Living Thing. Due out May 21st on Fluff and Gravy Records. I will keep a close eye on that.

My favorite album of the year so far is Critterland by Willi Carlisle and there’s a brand new music video for the song called When The Pills Wear Off. This one hits hard, but I love everything about it. Critterland is out now on Signature Sounds.

Wrapping this first post in ages with a new song from another big personal favorite. Canadian Michael Feuerstack also has a new album on the horizon. Eternity Mongers will be released by Forward Music Group on the 19th of April. Here’s the great new single and music video Big Sails.