Joy to the world! It’s the return of our favourite festive tradition, the Joyzine Advent Calendar, back for its 22nd consecutive edition, which as far as we’re aware makes it the longest running on the net.
As always, every track is completely free to download and we don’t require you to sign up for a mailing list (though you can if you want to) or hand over your personal data – it’s our way of saying thank you to everyone who’s visited the site during 2025 and to hopefully bring a few more listeners to some very deserving artists.
However, if you do enjoy the tracks we would love you to consider making a donation to our chosen cause, which this year is HOPE not hate, and their stirling work researching, campaigning, and supporting communities to build HOPE and oppose far-right extremism. You can make a donation here.
a.P.A.t.T. are Liverpool’s premier experimental electronic art-rock prog-pop avant-garde collective. I was having a think about how to describe them, because they are a nebulous, multi-faceted, anarchic, and slippery bunch and elude almost every effort to define them…so I had a look at their Wikipedia page for inspiration, and decided it’s not going to be possible to improve on what it says there, so I’ve copied it:
“Among other things, they (a.P.A.t.T.) have performed live soundtracks to accompany films such as Nosferatu, modern classical pieces such as In C by Terry Riley, and in 2013 they performed the premiere of a piece of music composed from the locations of bird droppings falling on large sheets of paper.”
We caught up with General MIDI, speaking on behalf of a.P.A.t.T., for a festive q&a session:
Tell us a little bit about your track please
‘Just Hello’ is a postcard from a perspective of someone ‘not so into the idea’ of Christmas, but yet remains polite and is happy to simply engage with ‘Just Hello‘. It is taken from our Xmas album The Essential Now That’s What I Call an a.P.A.t.T. Christmas Vol 1.
What have you been up to in 2025?
a.P.A.t.T. have mainly been working on new material for our next album. It’s about 70% done…But I always say that whatever stage it’s at so who knows when it will be ready. The new music is very ‘live’ and ‘playable’ something a.P.A.t.T. doesn’t always adhere to, so that’s nice.
And what are your plans for next year?
We aim to play more in the UK. Our recent shows have been really great and as we are currently playing as a 4 piece it is the most accessible we have ever been. We fit in a car these days which is so crazy compared to our previous stage setups. So yes WE WANNA PLAY YOUR WONKY SHOWS!! We are also booking NOW a European tour in June.
What have been your musical highlights of the year from other bands/artists?
- Kling Klang -Half Life /album is superb!
- Cardiacs – L.S.D. / album is a real trip OBVS
- Field Music – Binding Time / album is Field Music singing about mining related tales with a Brass band… What’s not to like
Christmas: The most wonderful time of the year or a big bag of humbug?
Mixed bag init.
On one hand, It’s lovely to see people, as our Masters allow us to have 2 weeks away from work and allow us to be with the family.
But on the other hand we are spellbound and encouraged to spend the year’s savings on trinkets purchased from our Masters shops.
I try my best to keep the xmas spirits up if for no other reason than to confuse our Masters with the emotion we refer to as joy.
Stream and download ‘Just Hello’ below
Make a donation to HOPE not hate
a.P.A.t.T.: Website / Facebook / Instagram / Bandcamp
David J Boswell, or Bozz/Bozzwell to many, is a supremely talented musician. He’s worked with some ridiculously famous and fabulous artists and bands (Jarvis Cocker, Phil Oakey, Roots Manuva, to name a few), travelled Europe as a celebrated DJ, but you still probably don’t know who he is. Which is both a travesty, and quite weird. He and I ponder the nature of fame, popularity and the peculiar nature of the music industry in an upcoming interview for Joyzine, for the January release of his upcoming third album Going Down Slow, released on 19 Jan 26.
Your fabulous free download for advent day 22 is ‘Walk Her Down’, the 2nd track on David’s latest EP, I Know What I Saw, released just a few days ago on Atlantis Audio Records. The label was set up to promote Hiem – the dynamic duo that is David (Bozzwell) & Nick “Nico” Eastwood & has been lovingly reanimated to produce & promote David’s new solo work. Atlantis Audio is run by David, together with the illustrious Alan Deadman, a near mythical figure in the Sheffield music scene, currently supporting the reinvention of the iconic Leadmill venue as Electric Sheffield.
Keep your eyes metaphorically peeled for my pending interview with David in the next few weeks.
We caught up with David for a festive q&a session:
Tell us a little bit about your track please
Walk her down is a track I wrote a few years back. It’s from an old boxing saying, “Walking Your Opponent Down”. It’s basically a really focused approach, advancing towards your opponent, fighting off defences, to get closer and dominate the fight. I’m relating it to the way some people can be when they are interested in someone – it’s saying “I like this woman, but I aint gonna give my all away in the process”.
What have you been up to in 2025?
This year has been really bad tbh. I’ve had a lot of personal problems, but I’ve got a new home, which I moved into in April. I’ve been hiding away there, getting everything ready for the new LP, which is out 15 Jan next year, and the single/EP came out just a few days ago, on the 15th December.
And what are your plans for next year?
Well I guess releasing the album. I’m gonna have to start on the next one also, so there’s gonna be a lot of writing and recording – the whole process all over again 🙂
What have been your musical highlights of the year from other bands/artists?
I’ve been listening to a few new bands. Castle Rat from New York are absolutely insane. I really like the stuff I’ve heard from The Cribs new album. And I’ve been listening to a lot of Trap, like Lil Yachty & Yeat and all the others. It’s a bit samey, but I like to incorporate new ideas into my own stuff, so my ears are always on high alert.
Christmas: The most wonderful time of the year or a big bag of humbug?
Well I’m not looking forward to this Christmas. I don’t want to be a Killjoy, but its not for me. It’s nice to know it’s great for kids, and for people who really like it. Just not for me this year .
Stream and download ‘Walk Her Down’ below
Make a donation to HOPE not hate
David J Boswell: Website
More tracks from this year’s calendar:
1: Piney Gir & Parenthesis Dot Dot Dot
2: Syd Howells
3: The Happy Hollow
4: Stephen Evens
5: Ombudsmen
6: The Scaramanga Six
7: Dextro + Rubber Oh
8: Craig Fortnam
9: Salt The Snail
10: Cerys Hafana
11: bis x Art Brut
12: Gemma Rogers
13: The Joyzine Christmas Band, Gift Box, Skink + Adam & Elvis
14: DRIFT. + Annie Gardiner
15: Kat Five + Charley Stone
16: MJ Hibbett & CJ Thorpe-Tracey
17: Crocodile Collective ft. Elisabeth Elektra, The Margins, Jolt, Charlie Salvidge, New Commercial Product + Great Silkie
18: The Gymkhana + The Pawnbroker
19: Leg Puppy 2.0
20: LOUD WOMEN ft. deux furieuses, I, Doris, ShyGodwin, HotWax, Twat Union + Retropxssy
21: Slime City
Check back tomorrow for another free festive download!
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