The music section is the one with the most categories in the #JujuAwards! We did the Track of the Year, now we are doing the #AlbumOfTheYear, next we'll do the Act, the Ambient track, the Dance track and finally the Gig! (Apparently, this is some kind of teaser.)

Interestingly this year I listened to a lot of French musicians. Is nostalgia hitting me that hard? Is my midlife crisis reaching a new stage? Am I homesick?! I don't know but there is a lot of good stuff coming from my birth country.

Here are the 5 nominees.

Poèmes Pulvérisés by Léonie Pernet

I really liked Léonie Pernet's previous album, Le Cirque de Consolation. She is keeping the momentum, delivering the tunes and ever better lyrics – seriously good writing, actual poetry. She mixes electronic beats with African drums or classical instruments such as the piano and strings. She also diversifies the emotions between dance music, nostalgic ballads and chants from protests. A real trip. I especially enjoy the tracks Réparer Le Monde, L'Horizon Ose, Paris-Brazzaville and Nymphéas.

Contre-Temps by Flavien Berger

I'm so late with this, this album was released in 2018, I had briefly listened to it years ago but rediscovered it this year and it's full of good stuff, whether it's instrumental flights or lyrical puns, Flavien Berger shows his talents for a full hour on it. He also has duets with two other amazing French artists: the fiery Rebekah Warrior and the enticing Bonnie Banane. The tracks I would like to single out are: Brutalisme, Maddy La Nuit, and the title track, Contre-Temps.

Ultratonics by Ryoji Ikeda

Japanese multimedia artist Ryoji Ikeda came to Melbourne for the Now Or Never festival and graced us with his Ultratonics show which plays this album fully. It was a great experience in itself (I will talk about it further in the Gig of the Year section) but the music is just so amazingly well crafted. The level of detail, the experimentalism... A electronic masterpiece. My favourite tracks are the soberly named Ultratonics 01, Ultratonics 07 and Ultratonics 13.

Watt by Bertrand Belin

Don't you love a mononymous album title? Björk always names her albums with a single word. In fact, she even has an album called Volta, a name linked to electricity, like Watt. I barely knew Bertrand Belin before, I had heard a wee bit of his music ages ago but hadn't been charmed because I thought it lacked modernity, as in, it wasn't electronic enough to my taste. With Watt, he is definitely embracing the times while still keeping in character. He has aged since his big 2010 breakthrough, Hypernuit, and his voice is featuring something more vulnerable and it just makes it more raw and personal. I love being positively surprised by an artist's evolution. On this album, I especially enjoy the tracks Berger, L'Inconnu En Personne and Ni Bien Ni Mal.

Dance at Oscar's by C.A.R.

French and Canadian musician Chloé Raunet is back with a new album and is as good as ever. It's still her great electronic, almost brutalist self but she doesn't hesitate being downright funny or emotional this time. I'm very curious to see what she will do next. My faves are: The Pageant, Shyana and Anzu.

And the winner is... Poèmes Pulvérisés by Léonie Pernet! Wow! Woohoo! Aya! Yay! Etc.

#JujuAwards2025 #BestOf2025