I'm gonna do my list of the top songs of 2025.
It's not a complete list.
I guess oh my god. How
much time do you think I have? But the podcast is back. Radio detox season two episode three with me, Heather Larson, your host, your detox guy to detox you off of hideous mainstream music and platforms
that don't pay artists. So let's play some,
okay, a few of my favorite songs of 2025.
Actually, I have not done this before on Radio Detox. I haven't just
recorded me talking and then playing the songs like I would have done back in the day when I used to play music on the radio. Do people still do that anymore? So no. They don't. Do do people still listen to that anymore? No. It's my hope that you'll listen to this podcast. And if you're just finding this and you're like, what the hell is this? This is something you could do yourself. You can play
rights free
music,
independent music, however you wanna call this. Some people call it value for value music. Some people call it a whole lot of other things. Nothing sticks.
Nothing draws in the people. So if you found Radio Detox in me somehow,
please join this movement, whether you're a fan or an artist or somebody who's podcasting and you're like, hey. Wait. How do I play a music podcast? Like, how do I play music on a podcast and I don't get in trouble? Yeah. You can't play Taylor Swift on a podcast. She's gonna come for you. But Shredders,
they're not gonna come for you. Their music is in the Valueverse.
They will let you play their music
on your podcast. So I'm gonna play one of my favorite songs just to kick it off, one of the best songs of 2025
as far as songs
that you probably will never, you know, get fed
to you by Spotify.
Why are you still paying for Spotify? Don't do that as we head into 2026.
Support independent music artists and shredders. These guys part of the Doom Tree Collective out of Minneapolis.
It's Florida Mandem.
Two, it
but I won't lose.
I came in on my own two, it might fail me, but
might fail
I won't lose.
Came in on my own two,
who I wanted recasting a large fucking net. I mean, huge. Who the fuck are yous? Ducking cops and since I was watching Wasted Youth. I came on my own too. I'm poor and I'm weird, baby. I got no time for you.
I once worked for a radio station where we really had no rules. We did whatever we wanted, and that was actually our our thing. We said we play the seventies, eighties, whatever we want. We do what we want. There's no point to this. We had a huge music library.
It was 1,600
songs.
And that we started the radio station because my boss had read the Purple Cow by Seth Godin. So it was this purple cow idea that we would have this thing that was so rare,
and we started it and became so successful. Other stations across the country did it too. And then radio and shitified, and you couldn't have anything special and wonderful anymore. But now you can
with podcasting two point o
and shows like mine, Radio Detox. You can do whatever you want. You can play independent music. And one thing that I do wanna do that's not like radio, I don't wanna talk over the songs. I don't wanna have just a bunch of bullshit going
on. So there's there's no talking over the ramp or
sponsorships
or, you know, the things that just I don't wanna do it. I don't have to do it. You know? All all this is is I play some music. You hopefully
find out about an awesome new artist, and that was kind of the point of radio back in the day was to bring you closer to your artists and and
find new music. And somehow that went away, and I could bitch about that all day. But another thing that I can do in the vein of whatever I want, I can play whatever kind of music I want. So I'm gonna play a bunch of different things in out of order. I'm not doing a countdown. This isn't Rick D's in the weekly top 40. I'm just randomly playing songs that I liked in 2025,
and this one is
Breathe,
by the Greensands.
Just something to chill for a sec.
I
don't know if anybody worked harder than Man Like Quicks in 2025.
There were so many,
seriously,
so many songs I I could have picked from Man Like Quex. I could do an
entire podcast of just songs from Man Like Quex, a rapper in Tanzania, and also my friend.
And I'm very proud of Man Like Quex because
dude just keeps putting out songs, and he's he's a real artist. Okay? There's no AI slop here.
Love his music. Love him as a person, and he is one of the people that I know
who managed to leave the fiat minds in 2025.
And I'm specifically gonna play Bitcoin Arusha and shout out his
learning initiative.
We'll call it charity learning initiative project. Bitcoin Arusha, he is helping people in Arusha, Tanzania
to learn about Bitcoin.
And he was a school teacher, and now he's teaching people about Bitcoin full
time.
Dude works hard.
Hopefully, I'll get to meet Quex in real life in 2026.
That is my hope. So here's a little taste, just a little taste of the many songs Quex released in 2025.
TZ, stand up.
Let's go.
You
know what I'm gonna say, though? He could have made the song longer. The song is it's two and a half minutes.
Damn it, Quex. He still hasn't made me a long song.
You know my name on Noster. My display name is make songs longer.
If you haven't been on Noster yet and you somehow found this podcast without finding Noster first or Bitcoin Twitter, hey.
You found something. So, get on Noster. I recommend
getting in the app store and getting Primal and get yourself on Noster, and then look me up. My username is Heather Larson, all one word, Larson with an o, and then make songs longer is a display name. And people are like, why are you make songs longer? Because short songs are so fiat, and and songs just keep getting
shorter, and they need to be longer because I am that person who's going to put it on repeat because I like it, and you only made a two and a half minute song. Okay? So in 2026,
let's resolve to make songs longer
for the fans
like me who bitch about song length. Okay? So let's do a little back to back now because I don't wanna talk between every single song. I wanna do a superset here.
Again,
Shredders has to be in my list because there's two two of my favorites
right now back to back. I'm gonna do shit rules, and then I'm gonna do snerfs up, and you're really gonna enjoy the shit out of both of them, and you're really gonna enjoy the fact that I'm not gonna talk
between them. Enjoy.
Is it too heavy to measure? Is it effing it up? Does it ever get better? Man, I tell them whatever. Man, I tell them whatever. Man, I tell whatever. Man, I tell them it's cool.
Shit rules.
Dream the fever, but y'all seem defeated. All follow the leader, then all feet proceeded to say they really seen it, but we still can't believe it. Our father seeded the odd fodder. So the mod squad believing that the mob thought we'd treat him, but nah. You dreaming now you're who me? Five Dabolina was to do sex, my Kina. I'll be the me that it's countdown to beats, and I don't all fought for being my fault. I'm just saying, JB, we're getting weirder, we're all getting normal. We're getting a little lazy, or a little food gazey, or a little old rapper, still thinking ain't awake.
Maybe wavy, or get worse lucked. Anyway, turf sucks, tryna surf sup.
Woah. Clock ticks, trying to pause, don't hold off or stop shit. Just makes tense strings to make sense. Uh-huh. The brain's quick to make the plot. Think my mind run away when I'm trying to say anything, really. I make all of my best
Couldn't actually do this without artists like two weeks in Nashville. So let's listen to one of many songs. Again, this is a this is a band that everybody likes,
an indie band.
Everybody likes them in the Valueverse. I'm sure they get lots of zaps and lots of boosts on your podcasting
two point o apps that incorporate
Bitcoin payments,
aka value for value payments, whether it's a boost or a zap. Let's not get into the weeds because there's too much terminology
being thrown around
for the very low level of adoption that we've had since I've been doing this for the last two years. So, like,
in short,
artists put their music
on the Internet,
and they receive Bitcoin in return. And in this world of of Bitcoin
and Noster and open source and independent artists who have new ways to make money and receive value aka Bitcoin.
This is one of the bands that does really well. Everybody loves two weeks in Nashville. Nobody's gonna say anything bad
about two weeks in Nashville. In fact, it's hard to pick a favorite song from Two Weeks in Nashville. So I decided this was gonna be my favorite
from 2025.
I loved
Underachiever
more than any other Two Weeks in Nashville, aka Twin.
This is I love this one more than any other song. I love you guys. It's two weeks in Nashville. Can't wait to hear more from you. I hope and pray in 2026.
Some left.
Feels like we're fighting resistance
on a road to nowhere.
It's like I'm living in a hurricane,
indecisive
with the need to change,
far
Another great thing about
doing
the independent music podcast where artists and podcasters receive Bitcoin
in return,
peer to peer,
no middleman, you know, wallet to wallet. Another great thing about this is you're you're getting the chapters because it's podcasting two point o. So I actually do I even need
to talk
between the songs? I'm I'm gonna say no. I'm gonna give myself a break for a minute because you're gonna see the chapters. Right? So we we're gonna do two more songs now, and I'm not gonna talk between them because I love this. Right? You we have the technology. You don't need a person talking
in and out of every song. So let's do a little back to back action here. We're gonna do Horizons of Hope by Jawbone.
I've really been loving Jawbone in 2025.
And Palynopsia
is
gonna follow, and that one is by Dirt Moon. And then I'm gonna come back and probably tell some stories about Sarah Jade, and we will play a song from her.
Let's talk about Sarah Jade. One of my first
introductions,
the first person I met as far as musicians
are concerned
in this space where musicians
are making
sometimes a lot more money than they make
in traditional things. Certainly, they make nothing in streaming. Right? Podcasters probably don't make much money either unless you put six minutes of ads that are really repetitive at the top of your podcast. I don't wanna do that. Right? I would rather make, you know, like, $5 per episode
doing this than, like, sell myself out like that or, like, try to make money with ads and, like, oh, god. All of that sounds so nauseating. So I met Sarah Jade
in February
2024
right here in Phoenix, Arizona where I live, and she did a show for us, and that was live on toonster.io,
and she made $750
worth of Bitcoin.
Back then, Bitcoin was worth about $50,000.
So if she didn't touch that money, there was a point in time where Bitcoin doubled and hit this all time high.
She would have made, like, $141,500
dollars. It was just her and her husband on stage, and she had her guitar. He had his guitar,
and they played all original music for thirty minutes.
And they made, you know, $750.
I when when do you go play somewhere
and make that much money for your original music and just working for, like, half an hour? And and she hung out with us all day. She was awesome. And I got to hang out with her again
in 2025
in Las Vegas.
She was at the the Bitcoin conference.
More specifically, she was at the We All Scream nightclub
side event. Her and Jesse Lark and Bobby Shell and Martin Grooms were all out there playing at We All Scream, and so I got to spend some more time with her. She also did a show for us at the Valley High Golf Course for the Bitcoin Sports Network. So she was out there with, she was she was playing on her own, but she also had a little fun time, got on stage with our friend, Abel James. She was playing some music with him. So I've gotten to know Sarah and what she's been able to do
as an independent artist,
and and she's been working this year to bring together a lot of women artists
in San Diego.
They've been sharing notes
and ending some poor treatment,
just because
she's been able to mobilize and
and network with other female artists. And that's one of the really cool things about Sarah Jade is she's awesome. She's friendly. She's not threatened. It's not like, get off my corner. There's there's none of that attitude. And, you know, nobody deserves success,
I think, more than some of these artists that you're gonna hear on this podcast. And here was a new song that she did this year. I love her music because she's got a sense of humor. She is a reverent, great storyteller,
and this is a perfect example of that. Sarah Jade with Hippies Raised a Cowgirl.
You know, everybody could make these songs longer.
That'll be I'm gonna get to a long one. Don't worry. Don't I'll probably play it at the end, but we're gonna keep going down the list, and I wanna introduce three songs really quick here because, you know, again, you got chapters in podcasting two point o. You don't need me to introduce every song. So here's some fun songs,
three in a row,
all time high, Lessons of Regret from Robbie P, a little little bitcoin,
a little hip hop, a little attitude there. And then one of my favorites,
a hardworking artist from The UK,
longing and Bring It All Back Home to You Now.
And then finally, we're gonna do
I can't believe we're gonna say this, little EDM. This was one that brought the family together. This is the kind of music my kid likes. So I sent this to her, and she was like, oh, yeah. So, La Tech House from Dickie Tune Turret, and and then I'll come back to you after these three songs.
I hit that bomb,
hit that bomb for a all time high. What am I stupid? I knew that shit was one of my vice, and I still got bags. From here on out, I hold on tight.
Old as smoke,
under the lasers, robes, and lights. But I hit
I'm trying
up. Yeah. I feel like I'm trying to play catch up.
I mean, four years ago, people said if you got one,
that's what people are fighting for. Now they're fighting for point one. In four years, five years,
point o one.
And I'm on a 100.
So, of course, I feel like I'm playing catcher.
I reckon I'll get them back.
I always find a way.
Just a few songs left for my top songs of 2025.
And
have I gotten something in for everybody
already?
I think so. One of my favorite artists released a song this year that I really, really loved.
Well, we always love this artist. Ollie,
has a ton of great songs. Not one bad one in the bunch. They're all fantastic.
And in 2025,
he gave us this one called lost Summer.
I have voices in my head, when my head hit the pillow, line here wakes calling cribs on Zillow, my shoulder got out shit, I've been calling it Willow, all you do is talk, yeah, yeah, yeah, ditto, they wanna hold them in like damn, that's a good old, hold up, let me coat, let the flow just sizzle, nothing for the sane, none, not even a little Cause everything you've seen nowadays artificial.
I'm trying to make sense of the madness.
And how much I've been paying in taxes.
I just keep my head down through the work. Tick tick tick tock. Time passes. When alone I find peace from Woosah. Daydreaming how to grow the money moolah. My girl was talking last night, but some other things. All I heard was hippity dippity hoopla.
Wearing in my old j's, I came a long way. A legend in my city, but I never got the praise. A lot of people hiding for themselves. They're afraid, but I can't give a what anybody say. I just do me. I just do me. You know the flow red when I'm on a red beat. I never needed AI lyrics to compete. Nah. I was born with this heat.
Yeah.
I never needed AI lyrics to compete. Nah. I was born with this heat. Yeah.
I was too.
Okay. Two songs left. Let's get down to business here.
Gotta give a shout out to FM Rodeo. Did a show for us in Austin at Antones in December
2024.
Still love them. Sometimes called Austin's
Green Day,
I think.
I don't know. I get we always have to compare a band to somebody else, but, no, we love FM Rodeo. Shout out to you guys, a great Austin band that we like a lot. And this one's Elephant Nightmare.
And now to end the podcast. Take a deep breath. Just whoo hoosa.
We're gonna take it down a notch.
We're gonna relax.
Okay?
We're gonna chill.
I I said this earlier that the podcast has got a little something for everybody, so I would be remiss if we didn't do some classical music, let alone a long song. I left the longest song for the end of the podcast, 11
long, from a guy who came on to Noster.
And this was in August. He decided he would have a posting strategy
of posting himself on video playing his music daily.
And he got up to about 450 followers doing that, which is huge on any social media app. As you probably know, and if you don't,
social media follower count does not matter anymore because of the way all the legacy platforms
have changed algorithms. Like, having a lot of followers is no guarantee that your content would be seen. Right? It's all about engagement, not followers. Well, Matthias
McIntyre is very engaging on Noster where follower count really doesn't matter. Nobody cares.
It's all about engaging with people,
making friends,
commenting,
replies. Just having fun. That's what Noster is about. It's got the reverse chronological
timeline of Twitter in 02/2007.
So there's you know, if you show up and post every day, people are gonna zap your stuff, and they're gonna engage with you, and they're gonna listen with your they're gonna listen to your music. I mean and and that's what happened here. I I really enjoyed
Mathias doing his daily content run
on Noster,
and it was it was proof of work and and just he's a very talented musician. And, yes, that's a long song.
Eleven and a half minutes. You get to relax. So, hopefully, just center yourself. Take a deep breath. Let everything
in 2025
go
and take a moment to, practice a little gratitude
for Nostr and Bitcoin and and know that I'm wishing you well in 2026.
May your stack be huge.
May you have a life filled with tons of Nostr and open source software and tons of independent music. We'll be bringing you more radio detox
and detox you off the fiat music system
a heck of a lot more in 2026.
So now one of my top favorites,
favorite music, favorite story of how he came to Nostrand and what he did, but just some great music right here.
I couldn't possibly include every artist or every song,
from 2025
that I adored,
but had to had to have
Matheus McEntire in here with The Forest Reclaims the Land.