Sexfaces
photo via bandcamp
What are your top five albums that were released in 2025? (In order 1-5)
[note: at the time of this recording, Jacky Cougar is still at large in Kenya]
Hana: Optic sink!
[silence as everyone tries to think of more]
Hana: ...I just can't do it off the top of my head.
Sal: All right, let's skip that one.
What band did you discover in 2025 (can be a brand new band or an older band) that had an impact on your life? How so?
Sal: [To Hana] I think I know what yours is...
Neil: [interrupting] It's a band from the '70s called the Fania All-Stars. They're a Latin band, and I always thought, oh, they played salsa, so you know, I was never really interested in checking them out, but it turns out they played like Latin jazz or whatever, and it blew my mind that I never paid attention.
Sal: For me it was These Immortal Souls, which is one of Roland S Howard's bands. After Birthday Party, he split with Nick Cave because they had disagreements on songwriting. Roland wanted to write a lot of, like, pining songs about girls and stuff. Anyway, I got that album, and was really listening to the way he played guitar and his lyrics are really good. And that was, like, my top album from 2025 is I'm Never Gonna Die Again even though it was released in '92. And I listened to it so much that I had a nightmare. One of those, um, what do you call it, the one where you can't move?
Hana: Sleep paralysis!
Sal: Yeah! I listened to it so much I had the most scary sleep paralysis dream ever, where Rowland S Howard was standing there, and he shook the bed -- like my whole bed was shaking, and I couldn't move, and he was screaming in my face “I died 26 times!” And I woke up at like 6 am scared out of my mind, heart racing, I couldn't go back to sleep. I had to take like three Valiums, and I texted Jacky since he’s the one that got me onto him...
Vero: I saw that! He posted a screenshot!
Hana: I have to come back to it. Wait... what do you think mine was?
Sal: It was --
Neil: [interrupting] Wait wait! I want to add something! We played in Kenya with a Spanish band Commando 9mm, and I've been listening to the first album, so that was a discovery and it's really good. And Jack is probably gonna say one of his favorite banks right now is Genre is Death. We played with them at Rhizome, and he's been obsessed with that band.
How will you remember 2025 (in terms of music)?
Sal: Mostly for the things we’ve done together as a band... we had to go through some lineup changes but kind of gelled and did an incredible tour in Kenya. That was pretty fucking magical. Putting out our album with Slovenly and doing a lot of cool shit with them. Our record release show --
Neil: I didn’t go because of my vasectomy.
Hana: But he sent a postcard [Vero delivered]. And I was like ew, why are Neil’s balls sore?!
Sal: Swole and sweated! Then we found out they almost burst. He almost died from burst, sweating balls.
Hana: Then I found out he’s based!
What can we look forward to from you in 2026?
Hana: New album. More tours. Going to Europe. We're going to the West Coast. We're going to Spain, baby! Yeah! We're going to South Africa! And Brazil! We’re going to Vietnam!
What records are you looking forward to most in 2026?
Hana: Ours. Periot.
Singles rule the music scene right now. How has that affected you as a band or label? Has it influenced your approach to new releases or touring?
Hana: No! Periot!
Sal: We aren’t a TikTok band.
Hana: We barely had a single.
Neil: Singles, what single, the movie from the '90s? What are you talking about?
