Best Albums of 2021

The Bug - Fire

If anyone was going to knock us out of our collective pandemic-induced fuzz, it was Kevin Martin. Every last one of his releases as The Bug has carried itself with an unassailable swagger, fuelled by bass and dread, and 'Fire' was no different.

No one else makes music that sounds like this. No one else makes music that erupts like this. It makes you dance and move and mosh, with an energy that will help channel your thoughts and feelings into something powerful and coherent that can banish the fuzz we all know too well.

Inspired by the dystopian travails of lockdown, Kevin Martin presents his first full-length album as The Bug in seven years. ‘Fire’ completes a loosely connected trilogy that began with 2008’s ‘London Zoo’ and continued with 2014’s ‘Angels & Devils’, blasting the listener with fourteen electronic flamethrowers influenced by grime, hip-hop and dancehall. Helping stoke the flames are Roger Robinson, Flowdan, Manga Saint Hilaire, Moor Mother, Daddy Freddy, FFSYTHO and more.

Eighty-year-old spiritual jazz pioneer Pharoah Sanders presents his first album of original material in over a decade. Teaming up with electronic music wizard Sam Shepard (a.k.a. Floating Points) and recording with The London Symphony Orchestra, ‘Promises’ is a nine-track suite released via Luaka Bop.

Not many bands make their most critically acclaimed record twelve albums in but that appears to be what has happened with Duluth trio Low and 2018's 'Double Negative'. Therefore 'HEY WHAT' (their capitals and lack of exclamation mark) is highly anticipated. We are promised layers of distortion and textures with Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's ever glorious harmonies breaking through the murk. You can always trust these guys to keep coming up with the goods and that old adage about The Fall could as easily apply  - always different, always the same. 

One for you early-days synth heads here from Hannah Peel, whose latest work contains re-interpretations of the original music of the 1972 KPM series featuring Delia Derbyshire and the Radiophonic Workshop. Peel has gained a reputation for lavish projects - working on 'Journey to Cassiopeia' and 'Game Of Thrones', scoring for synthesisers and a thirty-piece brass band. 'Fir Wave' is a further stop on her fascinating journey. 

Matt Cutler presents his eighth studio album as Lone, and first in half a decade. Influenced by classic dream pop and shoegaze acts like Cocteau Twins and MBV that enrich his existing aesthetic informed by Mo’Wax and Warp acts, ‘Always Inside Your Head’ marks two significant changes for Cutler - a new label (Greco-Roman) and the use of vocalists for the first time.

American multi-instrumentalist Kristin Hayter announces her fourth Lingua Ignota album, and her debut for the Sargent House label. Following her breakout ‘Caligula’ in 2019, ‘Sinner Get Ready’ steers away from the industrial aesthetics that have characterised her previous work to create ethereal, polyphonic walls of sound from traditional Appalachian instruments.

Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan is a musical vehicle for English musician and academic Gordon Chapman-Fox. ‘Interim Report, March 1979’ examines the gap between the shimmering vision and failed reality of these two Cheshire post-war new towns, set to music recalling the IDM of classic early Warp artists.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor release their seventh studio album, making the last ten years the most prolific of their nearly three-decade career. ‘G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END’ contains some of the rawest and most charged material of their celebrated discography - cinematic, dynamic post-rock that ebbs and flows majestically over side-long epics - but also some of their most delicate and poignant.

‘Sound Ancestors (Arranged By Kieran Hebden)’ by Madlib sees the famed hip-hop producer working with Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet - a mouth-watering collaboration that’s been in the offing for some time. To create this record, Madlib sent Hebden various loops, tracks and sound experiments and the Four Tet man messed around with them in his own inimitable style. 

Sufjan Stevens & Angelo De Augustine have teamed up to write and record an LP loosely based on well-known films. ‘A Beginner’s Mind’ asks us to look at these beloved film classics from new angles. Musically they come off like a kind of new-age Simon & Garfunkel. Angelo De Augustine is a similar sounding, equally brilliant label mate of Sufjan Stevens.

Inspired by West African griots as well as the R&B, hip-hop and rock she listened to growing up, dazzlingly talented guitarist Yasmin Williams presents her second album ‘Urban Driftwood’. Using the lockdowns and political upheavals of 2020 as a narrative frame, it’s a breathtaking album both thematically and sonically.

Former Nortec Collective member Fernando Corona releases a mammoth triple-LP under his Murcof moniker. The product of three years of work, ‘The Alias Sessions’ is a marvel of sound design, consisting of spectral, minimalist electronic music bordering on post-classical composition in its atmosphere and construction. It’s also Corona’s return to The Leaf Label for the first time in over a decade.

Featuring collaborations with Nova, Le3 bLack and Baths’ Will Wiesenfeld, ‘Reflection’ is Loraine James’ second album on Hyperdub. It continues the poppier direction that 2020’s EP ‘Nothing’ headed in, removing some of the extraneous sound of her debut ‘For You And I’ and bringing in elements of trap-pop and R&B.

‘The Witness’ is the fifth LP by Canadian experimental rockers Suuns. This LP is more intricately pieced together than their last, 2018’s intentionally rough-round-the edges ‘Felt’. With ‘The Witness’ we have taut Krautrock, silken electronics and tranquil vocals. 

A second album of sumptuous, melodic folk and chamber pop from Cassandra Jenkins. ‘An Overview On Phenomenal Nature’ is a beautiful meditation on the state of the world around us expressed through seven tracks that stretch Jenkins’ artistry to its limits. Think The Decembrists and the most ornate bits of The National's output.

Jane Weaver’s ninth studio album proper 'Flock' is the one where she feels she got everything just right. It’s a psych-pop album with a difference, influenced by years of listening to under-the-radar records and music from all over the world - Lebanon, Russia and Australia (and Prince). Of course, the cosmic prog elements she has become known for are there too.

Inspired by a nightmare that lead singer Sebastian Murphy had where all his family and friends hated him, Swedish post-punks Viagra Boys lash out at themselves as well as the world around them on their latest album 'Welfare Jazz'. Channelling the unruly spirits of Iggy Pop, The Birthday Party and Fat White Family, it’s another thrillingly unhinged experience. 

Enlarging their palette to encompass influences of afrofunk and freeform jazz into their psychedelic template, ‘Ookii Gekko’ is the third studio album from London-based four-piece Vanishing Twin. Their most ambitious statement yet, the album underscores how the band slots into a fine tradition of British-based cosmopolitan psychedelic pop.

Following the warm reception that greeted 2017’s ‘Created In The Image Of Suffering’, Kristina Esfandiari’s King Woman deliver their sophomore album ‘Celestial Blues’. Balancing once again between doom metal, shoegaze and twisted folk, it’s a monolithic album of biblical imagery reshaped to fit Esfandiari’s own experiences.

Following their signing to Invada in 2020, saxophonist Takiaya Reed and drummer Sylvie Nehill release their third full-length album as Divide And Dissolve. Presenting themes of fighting for indigenous sovereignty and against the legacy of colonial oppression, the surging, animated tracks that make up ‘Gas Lit’ - exemplified by the cracking lead single ‘We Are Really Worried About You’ - might well represent their finest work yet.

Dean Blunt, formerly one half of Hype Williams, releases a follow-up to his acclaimed 2014 solo album ‘BLACK METAL’. Just like its predecessor, ‘BLACK METAL 2’ repurposes aesthetics from indie, folk pop, dub, grime, and dancehall and forges them into spiky yet conventional structures with a hip-hop artist’s sense of lyrical pointedness.

Let's hope that when everything dies down 2020 will not be remembered for a worldwide pandemic but for the return of Insides. Fat chance but we have to take any glimmer of positivity we can. The duo have returned after 20 years during which time the legend around their magnificent album Euphoria has grown. It blended electronica, the Durutti Column-like guitars and ethereal vocals that recalled Bjork and early tasters suggests Soft Bonds will be just as impressive. 

Recently snapped up by prestigious American indie Matador, Tuareg guitarist and songwriter Mdou Moctar prepares some of his boldest sounding work yet with sixth album ‘Afrique Victime’. Imbued with the same DIY spirit that saw his profile grow through a trading network of memory cards, these songs put a noisy, innovative spin on Saharan rock.

Released a matter of weeks after ‘Ruff Dog’, ‘Blue Alibi’ is the second solo record from Mica Levi. The music is reminiscent of their acclaimed soundtrack work, mixed with the off-kilter pop charm of their releases with Good Sad Happy Bad, Tirzah and CURL - the latter of which make a handful of guest appearances here.

Leeds heavies Ona Snop play a super-fast take on hardcore punk which draws on powerviolence, thrashcore, and grindcore. We had this on the shop stereo and played it twice in a row because we enjoyed it that much! Their second record 'Intermittent Damnation' sees them cram many a groovy riff, blastbeat, and caustic vocal into the seventeen visceral tracks which barely push the minute mark. One for fans of Gets Worse, Infest, ACxDC, Crossed Out, and Despise You.

Following the party-orientated indie rock success that was 2018’s ‘Wide Awake!’, Parquet Courts explicitly embrace dance music culture with their eighth studio album ‘Sympathy For Life’, billed as a dance-rock hybrid in the vein of Talking Heads or Primal Scream albums and constructed from lengthy, improvised jams with the dancefloor in mind.

‘Course In Fable’ is the fifth LP by Ryley Walker. The LP takes its inspiration from the glut of experimental and highly creative bands - Gastr Del Sol, Tortoise, The Sea and Cake - active in 1990s Chicago, Walker’s home city. If you can imagine those bands fronted by Ryley Walker’s jazz-flecked folk then you’re pretty much there. For authenticity Ryley Walker hired John McEntire of Tortoise to produce the LP. 

Recorded in Chicago in early 2021, ‘Open Arms To Open Us’ is the first new music from jazz visionary Ben LaMar Gay since his 2018 odds’n’ends collection ‘Downtown Castles Can Never Block The Sun’. It’s another dazzling demonstration of his box-fresh ‘pan-Americana’ sound, a brew of jazz, blues, R&B, Latin and hip-hop.

‘Cavalcade’ is the second album by London experimental/noise/math rock band black midi. It is the follow-up to their hugely acclaimed debut ‘Schlagenheim’. Just like its predecessor, ‘Cavalcade’ draws from a range of influences from King Crimson to 1990's Chicago post-rock and takes a number of exciting musical twists and turns. Another modern rock classic. 

That album sleeve looks like every day out I've had in the beautiful countryside that surrounds us in Yorkshire. Cobalt Chapel have made an entire album called 'Orange Synthetic' about the place - about its history, folklore, nature and landscape. What a place! And the perfect subject matter for their style of music, one which includes all kinds of organ variants plus mandolin and recorders all topped off with Cecelia Fage's cut-glass vocal. 

'Quivering in Time' is the debut album from DJ and electronic dance producer Eris Drew. It may be her first full-length record, but she's been a go-to name in the dance music scene for a while and is well-known for her incredible DJ sets. Released through T4T LUV NRG, the label she runs with partner Octo Octa, Drew transfers the upbeat energy and dancefloor euphoria of her sets to record. Expect to hear lush deep house grooves meet rave-referencing breakbeat.

A fascinating collaboration between highly acclaimed English folk musician Richard Dawson and Finnish experimental rock veterans Circle. ‘Henki’ - a multi-faceted word broadly meaning ‘spirit’ - is a flora-and-fauna themed record that splices elements of folk with progressive metal tendencies, and sounds unlike virtually anything else you’ll hear in 2021.

A founding member of Nottingham-based indie cult heroes Tindersticks, David Boulter presents an emotionally torn but ultimately heartfelt album about his home city. ‘Lover’s Walk’ sees backing contributions from his bandmates Dan McKinna and Earl Harvin, and evokes the warmth of childhood memories but also a sense of present stability and guarded optimism.

‘Sometimes I might Be Introvert’ is the fourth LP by London rapper Little Simz. The LP’s theme is based around the difficulties of being introverted in an industry filled with extroverts. After a period of reflection ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ sees Little Simz opening up on relationships and various personal issues. Cleo Sol and Obongjayar make guest appearances.

Martin Jenkins’ fourth Pye Corner Audio album for the esteemed Ghost Box imprint ‘Entangled Routes’ completes a loosely conceived trilogy of records that began with 2016’s ‘Stasis’ and 2019’s ‘Hollow Earth’. It’s another beautifully designed series of synthesizer soundscapes dramatically evoking soundtracks to old sci-fi films.

Lindsey Jordan presents her second Snail Mail album. A little over three years on from 2018’s captivating debut ‘Lush’ - a record whose incisive and emotionally devastating lyrics were all the more impressive coming from a seventeen-year-old - ‘Valentine’ is a refinement of all the same methods and techniques, consisting of ten perfectly sculpted indie-rock tracks that display enormous sonic range and emotional depth.

Portuguese percussionist and sculptor João Pais Filipe works with Tomaga drummer Valentina Magaletti and producer Leon Marks as CZN (or, Copper Zinc Nickel). ‘Commutator’, released via Düsseldorf-based label Offen Music, dwells somewhere between ambient house and experimental music, balancing a sense of forward motion with one of serenity and calm.

Sarah Davachi is a sound artist out of Calgary, Canada who has been releasing music since 2013. 'Antiphonals' is perhaps her ninth album (though it is hard to tell as her discography is sprawling full of limited edition releases). This album is a slow and peaceful affair featuring horns and woodwinds alongside various keyboards and was recorded pretty much throughout 2020. 

Bearing the subtitle ‘The Past Is A Foreign Country’, ‘Fünf’ is (obvs) the fifth release from Jon Michaelides’ Dalham. Using a greater number of effects units than previous efforts, the contents of this EP emphasise the ‘ambient’ in Michaelides’ ambient techno aesthetic, exploring themes of nostalgia and wishing for better times.

Warp Records releases the debut album from London-based composer and producer Nala Sinephro. ‘Space 1.8’ is a gorgeous, inventive fusion of electronic music with elements of folk and jazz, and fulfils the promise that the Caribbean-Belgian artist has displayed since becoming one of the hottest names on the British jazz scene over the last couple of years.

BIG|BRAVE offer a distinctly different take on drone / post-metal than their peers and influences. It's all about providing space and creating tension for the Montréal power trio, as lumbering drum hits meet the soaring vocals of Robin Wattie and huge, distortion-soaked riffs. 'Vital' is the group's fourth album, following the excellent 'A Gaze Among Them' from 2019. Released through the ever-reliable Southern Lord label.

Aesop Rock and Blockhead are no strangers to each other, as they’ve been working together with Aesop on rhymes and Block on beats since Rock released the ‘Appleseed’ EP back in 1999. ‘Garbology’ brings Blockhead forward as a contributor, with the pair purging pandemic boredom and cabin fever through making playful alternative hip hop tunes together.

‘If The Ceiling Were A Kite: Vol. 1’ is a collection of early recordings from San Francisco’s DIY indie-rockers April Magazine, released on Tough Love. The twelve tracks present come from a series of self-released EPs the quartet recorded between 2018 and 2020, including the earworm breakout single ‘Shirley Don’t’.

'Manger on McNichols' was one of the most inventive and acclaimed hip hop releases of 2020. Detroit MC Boldy James teams up with Sterling Toles for a collaboration which sees gritty Motor City influenced rhymes collide with lucid jazz beats and instrumentals which mirror chamber jazz/pop/classical sounds. The overall sound will appeal to fans of Freddie Gibbs & The Alchemist, Griselda, Mick Jenkins, KA, Roc Marciano, and Raekwon. If this is the way hip hop is going, count me as a follower.

Trinidadian steel pan master Fimber Bravo returns with his first full-length album on the Moshi Moshi label in seven years. As Bravo did for its predecessor, here he calls on a network of former collaborators for 'Lunar Tredd' that include Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, The Horrors’ Tom Furse and Senegalese musician Mamadou Sarr. 

Having been a DJ since the age of ten and cutting her teeth in Chicago's Dance Mania scene in the mid-Nineties, Jana Rush makes another highly idiosyncratic statement in electronic music with her album for Planet Mu. Twisting samples, electronics and beats into complex new shapes, ‘Painful Enlightenment’ is a dense and richly textured vision of footwork and beyond.

Off the back of a clutch of EPs that have made them one of Britain’s most hotly tipped indie newcomers, Joey Cobb and Katie Drew present their first White Flowers full-length. ‘Day By Day’ takes influence from classic alternative sounds, from MBV-style chambers of reverb and the oblique dream-pop of Cocteau Twins to the haunted sounds of Burial and Portishead.

‘Watch Out!’ is the first release on Ninja Tune by India Jordan. It follows on from their highly rated 2020 EP ‘For You’. The London-based DJ has won praise for their music from The Guardian and Resident Advisor. Jordan’s music is not for the faint-hearted, blending techno, breakbeats, hardcore and melodic synths. ‘Watch Out!’ EP is no exception in their dynamic discography. 

The Goalie’s Anxiety At The Penalty Kick hail from Philadelphia, so I guess it’s surprising that their name is a reference to our beautiful game. Talking of beautiful, their LP ‘Ways Of Hearing’ is just that. Sweeping songs with cinematic scope and mournful melodies making fabulous use of guitars, pianos, strings, drums and two vocalists. Indie rock with post rock sensibilities.

Canadian black metal outfit Spectral Wound release their third studio album ‘A Diabolic Thirst’. A follow-up to 2018’s ‘Infernal Decadence’, these six new songs boast the same combination of blood-chilling cacophony and pleasant, radiant atmospherics that made that album so acclaimed.

‘Any Other City’ by Life Without Buildings was the only LP the Glaswegian band recorded in their three-year career. This LP has become a classic in the time since its release in 2001. The music blends the indie groove of American Analog Set, the post-rock stylings of Mogwai and angular post-punk. Vocalist Sue Tomkins comes across like a noughties Poly Styrene.

Recorded in 1981 but never given a proper commercial release, ‘Kirtan: Turiya Sings’ was a suite of nine devotional songs from spiritual jazz godmother Alice Coltrane. Consisting almost entirely of Coltrane’s transcendental, improvisatory vocals and organ tones, the collection drew influence from Indian culture but also from European classical and North American jazz. Impulse! makes this gem of a record widely available for the first time.

‘Headsoup’ is a career-spanning compilation from Swedish psychedelic rampagers Goat, gathering up rarities including B-sides, stand-alone singles, remixes and alternate takes. Furthermore, there’s two new original tracks, the grimy, funky psychedelia of ‘Fill My Mouth’ and the behemoth of ‘Queen Of The Underground’.

You may well have heard John Coltrane's 'A Love Supreme' classic but you have probably never heard it recorded live in concert in Seattle in 1965.  It is one of only three known performances of the suite on which Coltrane was joined by a crack band which included Pharoah Sanders on second sax. This is a vinylization of a never before heard recording from a private collection.  

As ‘LP5’ was the fifth outing by Rochdale electronic duo Autechre, but arrived without a title anywhere on the sleeve or label, it became known as ‘LP5’. The highly rated LP further explores the sounds they had been making on the 1997 LP ‘Chiastic Slide’ and follow-up EP ‘Cichlisuite’. Released in 1998, ‘LP5’ is essentially a mid-point between their earlier, more accessible work with a nod to their technical and experimental later work. 

'When I Hit You - You’ll Feel It' is the first career-spanning anthology from poet, musician and model Leslie Winer. Boy George once described her as 'the coolest woman on the planet' and her backstory certainly stands up. Her music is a wild ride through hip and trip-hop, ambience, spoken word and post punk. The likes of Jon Hassell, Renegade Soundwave and several Adam and the Ants collaborate. Artwork by legendary artist Linder. 

Incorporating elements of shoegaze, prog, post-hardcore and trip-hop into their alternative metal template, Deftones’ 2000 album ‘White Pony’ is rightly regarded as one of the most influential albums of the Noughties. Here, it gets a deluxe reissue for its twentieth anniversary, accompanied with a remix album titled ‘Black Stallion’ featuring reworks from Clams Casino, DJ Shadow, Robert Smith and more.

Seefeel were perhaps the unsung heroes of the early '90s electronica scene releasing a slew of brilliant albums but not getting quite the recognition they deserve. Their work on Warp gradually got more and more abstract and this collection of two non album EPs shows contrasting sides of the band's output. 'Starethrough' being ethereal and melodious and 'Fractured / Tied' more beat-driven and heavy.  As a bonus you get a rare Autechre mix of 'Spangle'. Wonderful stuff. 

‘Feed Me Weird Things’ is the debut LP by Squarepusher. The LP was originally released in 1996. Although it was critically acclaimed at the time, the LP’s reputation has grown to be regarded as a seminal  and essential drill ‘n’ bass release. Squarepusher took the jungle genre and shook things up by adding a plethora of interesting musical twists and turns.   

Marking the twenty-fifth of its original release in 1996, Outkast reissue their second studio album ‘ATLiens’ as an expanded deluxe edition, featuring fourteen previously unreleased instrumental tracks. Housing the singles ‘Elevators (Me & You)’, ‘ATLiens’ and ‘Jazzy Belle’, this was a key point in the evolution of Southern hip-hop’s most instrumental and iconic band.

A very long-awaited fourth instalment in Stereolab’s ‘Switched On’ compilation series gathering up non-album tracks and assorted rarities. ‘Electrically Possessed’ spans the final decade of the seminal post-rock band's career (1999-2008) and includes the complete EP ‘The First Of The Microbe Hunters’, several tour-only singles, work for art installations and a handful of outtakes from the ‘Mars Audiac Quintet’ and ‘Dots And Loops’ LPs - all of it remastered from original tapes.

Marking the twentieth/twenty-first anniversaries of ‘Amnesiac’ and ‘Kid A’ respectively, Radiohead announce a deluxe triple-album of both records plus a brand new bonus disc titled ‘Kid Amnesiae’. It features two previously unreleased tracks - ‘If You Say The Word’ and ‘Follow Me Around’ - plus alternate versions of album tracks and B-sides from the era. An absolute essential for Radiohead fans!

Looks like it has been fifteen years since The Knife issued 'Silent Shout' so there's no better time for a vinyl re-press. Their 2003 debut 'Deep Cuts' had already been a smash but 'Silent Shout' ploughed a darker path with eerie electronics and gender-free pitch shifted vocals. Lyrics concerned social issues and sexism amongst other things. In short: a classic.  

These days they seem to release an album every five minutes but for a long, long time 'Since I Left You was the only The Avalanches album and it quickly became a classic due to its innovative sampledelic approach and the storming single 'Frontier Psychiatrist'. For its 20th anniversary it gets the luxury re-issue treatment complete with an additional album of remixes from the likes of Stereolab, MF DOOM and Cornelius. No excuses not to buy it this time.   

‘Ai Ga Nakucha Ne’ was the sixth studio from Japanese star Akiko Yano, a former collaborator with Yellow Magic Orchestra and whose artistry is sometimes compared to that of Kate Bush. Originally released in 1982 and now reissued via WeWantSounds with a booklet containing an introduction from superfan Mac DeMarco, this gorgeous exploration of electro-pop (produced by Ryuichi Sakamoto and recorded with the musical backing of David Sylvian’s Japan) is available once again.

UK Garage? No! It's UGK - the legendary Texas hip-hop duo known respectively as Pimp C and Bun B. Their third record 'Ridin' Dirty' has samples from artists as diverse as Pink Floyd, Wes Montgomery, and Bootsy Collins, and is full of the lurching, Southern hip-hop beats and rhythmically-complex flows that paved the way for artists like Run The Jewels. Reissued on Get On Down. 

With their third studio album ‘Quiet Life’, David Sylvian and Japan completed their transition from glammy punk naifs to sleek art-house pop stars. Containing a stylish take on The Velvet Underground’s ‘All Tomorrow’s Parties’, this new remastered reissue is a timely reminder of the power of an art-rock group who perhaps remain a bit underrated in the modern era.

The brand new Discostan label launches with a reissue of an obscure but delightful synth-pop nugget from the Eighties. Translated as ‘Beyond Disco’, British-Pakistani singer Nermin Niazi recorded ‘Disco Se Aagay’ as a fourteen-year-old in 1984. Glittering new wave and disco styles meet Urdu lyrics and Indian scales on this wonderful album.

A highly sought-after jazz/rock artefact from the Seventies scene in Britain, Ian Carr’s seminal ‘Belladonna’ receives a reissue on Mr Bongo. Featuring performances from members of Soft Machine, Nucleus and many more, the credits read like a Who’s Who of British jazz in 1971, ‘Belladonna’ mixed elements of proto-funk, prog and rock into its moody sound palette.

When it was first unveiled at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in 1913, Igor Stravinsky’s ‘The Rite Of Spring’ (or, ‘Le Sacre Du Printemps)’ caused a near-riot due to its strongly avant-garde construction. This edition, courtesy of some excellent vault-exhuming work by DTR Archive Recordings, sees the Russian composer conducting his career-defining masterwork.

Mordant Music (at the time consisting of Baron Mordant and Admiral Greyscale) originally released their minimal techno masterpiece ‘Dead Air’ back in 2006, a beautifully designed experience best enjoyed on headphones. Remastered by Castles In Space and presented with all-new artwork from Greyscale.

A double album looking at fifty-five years’ worth of French psychedelic pop, forging chic melodies and fuzzy garage-rock aesthetics. Stars of the Sixties scene from Brigitte Bardot, Serge Gainsbourg and Gillian Hills rub shoulders with more modern artists like Air and Stereolab on ‘Pop Psychédélique (The Best Of French Psychedelic Pop 1964-2019)’.

Released in 1996, ‘Dead Cities’ was the fourth album by The Future Sound Of London. Garry Cobain and Brian Dougans continued with their boundary-pushing blend of different areas of electronic music, and the album yielded FSOL’s two highest-charting singles - the ‘Blade Runner’-sampling ‘My Kingdom’ and the Run DMC-sampling ‘We Have Explosive’.

Trunk Records marks its twenty-fifth year of existence with this special double-LP blowout ‘Do What You Love’. Variously including unreleased music from electronic pioneer Delia Derbyshire, material from the archive of eclectic drummer Basil Kirchin, and apparently the audio from a sex tape purchased at a car boot sale. On top of reams of curios and trinkets that Jonny Trunk has exhumed over the years.

‘‘B-sides And Rarities: Part II’ by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds gathers togethter obscurities from the period between the 2006 LP ‘Dig Lazarus Dig’ and 2019’s ‘Ghosteen’  The LP was compiled by Bad Seed Mick Harvey and, among the many tracks, includes early versions of ‘Girl In Amber’ and ‘Skeleton Tree’.

One of the first albums to bring compositional ideas like ‘found sounds’ into the mainstream and presaging the sampling free-for-all that was to hit in the decades to come, ‘Big Science’ was the debut studio album from avant-garde icon Laurie Anderson. Originally released in 1982, it contained the infamous eight-minute single ‘O Superman’ which hit no.2 in the UK charts.

Ican Harem and DJ Kasimyn formed Gabber Modus Operandi and released the brain-frying ‘PUXXXIMAXXX’ back in 2018. A mixture of punk theatrics, European club traditions and Indonesian gamelan music that sounded like it might fall apart at any moment, it’s now reissued via Danse Noire with three additional tracks.

A perfect fusion of garage-punk and classic soul, 2001’s ‘Ultraglide In Black’ by Detroit’s The Dirtbombs receives a twentieth anniversary reissue on vinyl. Largely featuring covers of lead singer Mick Collins’ formative influences and favourite bands, there’sre excoriating versions of tracks by Sly & The Family Stone, Stevie Wonder and The Miracles among many others.

Music From Memory presents the first in a new series of compilations that will explore how artists in the Nineties expanded and redefined the terms of ‘ambient’ music. ‘Virtual Dreams: Ambient Explorations In The House & Techno Age, 1993-1997’, a triple-LP collection, includes tracks from Richard H. Kirk, LFO, Space Time Continuum, David Moufang, Sun Electric, Link, Bedouin Ascent and many more.

Third Wave saw the iconic Space Rock of The Telescopes revived for a third studio album in 2002. The aptly titled 'Third Wave' embraced ambience and texture to create a sound world that was simultaneously becalming and disorientating. The album marks The Telescopes as a house of many rooms, pushing the boundaries of sonic possibilities. Full-on head music with a hallucinogenic agenda.

Before they achieved Grammy and Oscar fame, Memphis-based hip-hop outfit Three 6 Mafia emerged as a horror-themed, lo-fi affair from the underground with their debut album ‘Mystic Stylez’. Released in 1995, it’s arguably the purest distillation of the original vision of DJ Paul and Juicy J, whose alliance established the group at the start of the Nineties.

‘Sound Storing Machines: The First 78rpm Records from Japan, 1903-1912’ is very much what it says it is in the title. A fascinating document of the earliest recorded music from Japan, compiled by Robert Mills. Musical styles and instruments on show are gagaku (imperial court music), storytelling, folksong, shakuhachi (bamboo flute) and shamisen (Japanese three stringed instrument).

Japanese DJ and producer Jun Seba released his first full-length album as Nujabes, titled ‘Metaphorical Music’, in 2003. While he was an artist who predominantly worked in the medium of singles, this loose assembly of breakbeat, jazz and hip-hop (which featured stellar collaborations with rapper Shing02 and fellow producer Uyama Hiroto) became an acclaimed cult success.

Joyce Manor's debut album is a perfect combination of hardcore punk, emo revival, and power pop. Released a decade ago to unanimous acclaim in the US punk press (and eventually beyond, Pitchfork recently featured it as their classic album in their Sunday Review spotlight), the Californian group have now remixed/remastered the entire album to celebrate its tenth release anniversary. Through combining the rich, emotive melodies of Jawbreaker and early Weezer with the frantic pace of punk and garage rock, 'Joyce Manor' became an immediate classic to many. It's this here Norman writer's favourite ever album y'know?

Spiritual folk tinged with psychedelia and jazz from Tassos Chalkias is gathered up on ‘Divine Reeds – Obscure Recordings From Special Music Record Company (Athens 1966-1967)’, a new compilation of hard-to-find material from Radio Martika. A must-have for all fans of epirótika! 

Taken from a live recording of a performance at Brooklyn’s Issue Project Room in 2012, pedal-steel guitar player Susan Alcorn’s work 'The Heart Sutra' is rearranged by cellist and composer Janel Leppin here. Including new lyrics written by Leppin for the occasion, ‘The Heart Sutra’ is an ideal showcase for Alcorn’s talent, underscoring her contributions to our understanding of what the pedal steel guitar can be used for.

As the LP title will attest, Janet Beat is a ‘Pioneering Knob Twiddler’, a maker of electro acoustic music from the 1960s onwards. Her career had a rocky start as lots of men, including fellow musicians and her own father, thought she shouldn’t be doing this. Her father ruined the tapes of her 1960s work, using them to hang tomato plants. This LP compiles her otherworldly, cosmic endeavours from the 1970s and 1980s and you will like it. 

Jamaican trombonist Rico Rodriguez began his solo career at the turn of the Eighties, having played in Jerry Dammers’ Specials and worked as a session man for ska/reggae pioneers like Prince Buster before that. ‘Jama Rico’ was his second record for 2 Tone, originally released in 1982 and constructed around a more African identity.

Strut delivers an international reissue for one of the most sought-after albums from Black Fire’s treasured catalogue. Originally released in 1977, ‘Love Is Where The Spirit Lies’ by Lon Moshe & Southern Freedom Arkestra drew from the label’s hugely talented roster of personnel. The result was an intoxicating brew of soul, jazz and funk which addressed the aftermath of the civil rights movement.

‘Melodies In The Sand’ is an introduction to the works of Czech husband-and-wife duo Irena and Vojtěch Havlovi. Their work together dates back to the mid-Eighties when they were members of experimental band Capella Antiqua E Moderna, and in a recording career that continues to this day they have consistently applied inventive techniques to a variety of compositional modes - from a sort of contemporary classical/ambient mode reminiscent of Erased Tapes to more Romantic, Brahms-indebted chamber music.

‘ANTH01’ is a compilation of tracks from Jacques Greene previously only available on 12” singles. There are collaborations from How To Dress Well and Koreless dating from early on in his career, on top of calling-card classics such as ‘Another Girl’ and ‘The Look’ and two previously unreleased tracks.

‘The Archival Arteries of Sterling Toles’ by Detroit hip-hop producer Sterling Toles features recordings made between 1998 and 2006. Scratchy vinyl samples, glitchy clicks, lo-fi production and a blend of ambient, folk, Detroit techno and soul all make this classic LP pretty much essential.

You wouldn't give two hoots about an openly gay songwriter in these more enlightened times but back in the 1970s things were very different. This collection revisits some of the earliest examples of 'out' songwriting that saw the protagonists sacrifice what could be promising careers to stay true to their core beliefs. Originally released in 2012 on CD, this is a first vinyl pressing of an important document of some brave artists who helped pave the way. 

Roky Erickson is one of music's most enduring 'outsider' artists, cultivating an American version of psych-rock with his bands the 13th Floor Elevators, the Aliens and later Okkervil River as his backing band. 'The Evil One' was recorded after the time Erickson spent in a mental institution, and saw a version of Erickson led by straight-forward, plaintive rock 'n' roll heavy on horror-flick imagery. Originally released in 1981, it's now being reissued by Light In The Attic.

'The Problem Of Leisure: A Celebration of Andy Gill and Gang of Four' is a compilation album featuring acts who were inspired by the Leeds angular post-punk group. Idles, Gary Numan, Flea & John Frusciante, Everything Everything and The Dandy Warhols are among the diverse set of contributors. It's all a very fitting tribute to Gang of Four guitarist Andy Gill, a man who sadly passed away in 2020.

Getting The Fear were a mid '80s collective made up of the former The Southern Death Cult rhythm section of Barry Jepson, David 'Buzz' Burrows, and Aki Haq Nawaz Qureshi. Alongside vocalist Paul ‘Bee’ Hampshire they made a political post-punk racket inspired by the likes of Psychic TV, Siouxsie & The Banshees and Theatre of Hate. This is the first collection of their work which includes demos, unreleased tracks as well as liner notes and photographs. 

Too many Pere Ubu records have been allowed to slip out of print, so here, to coincide with some shows, the group are reissuing a few early records on Fire. The Modern Dance is their searing 1978 debut, a furiously powerful mash of industrial-tinged rock and weird concreté sounds. Remastered from the original tapes.

George Harrison made arguably the most sublime - and certainly the most expansive - solo statement of any of the Beatles with his graceful 1970 triple album ‘All Things Must Pass’. It’s now reissued for its fiftieth anniversary, with a new mix from Grammy-winning engineer Paul Hicks, with swathes of bonus material including demo recordings, session outtakes and studio jams alongside unreleased tracks on the more lavish box set editions.

‘Deep England’ by Gazelle Twin & NYX is based around extensive reworkings of tracks from Gazelle Twin’s 2018 album ‘Pastoral’. There are also original pieces here by electronic drone choir NYX, plus takes on tracks by ‘Wicker Man’ composer Paul Giovanni and poet William Blake (yes, it's 'Jerusalem'). The album is inspired by pagan and sacred music, but presented as a techno-meets-choral masterpiece denouncing the post-truth politics of the country.

4AD releases the seventh studio album from Helado Negro. Following the biographical concept album about family and roots that was ‘This Is How You Smile’ back in 2019, Roberto Lange offers another kaleidoscopic pop collection bearing prominent Latin and folk influences in the shape of 'Far In', featuring guest spots from Buscabulla and Benamin.

Karkhana is an international supergroup structure consisting of six of the Middle East’s boldest experimental artists, plus a veteran American jazz percussionist. ‘Al Azraqayn’ is a scintillating double-album set that captures them at their most vivid, live at Amsterdam venue Bimhuis.

Indonesian duo Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi reveal their eighth studio album as Senyawa. With their unique mixture of extended vocal techniques and a homemade string instrument variously used acoustically, electronically and as a percussive object, ‘Alkisah’ is another compelling melding of musical styles from this brilliant outfit.

You may not know Dave Okumu by name but he is a sought after behind-the-scenes songwriter who has worked with the likes of Arlo Parks, Adele, St Vincent and Grace Jones. Quite the resume but can he cut it solo? Well 'Knopperz' sounds promising being somewhat a homage to J. Dilla's 'Donuts' by way of hip-hop, jazz and experimental electronica.  

Written, recorded and released under lockdown, ‘An Unexpected Reality’ is a fierce and urgent EP from Arizona-based death metal outfit Gatecreeper. Frontloaded with seven brief tracks that smash into each other, influenced by punk and hardcore, the real eyecatcher is behemoth of final cut ‘Emptiness’.

Gustaf are an art-punk five piece from out Brooklyn way who have done it the old way. With no recorded music or hardly an online presence, word has spread through their stellar live shows opening for the likes of Beck, Omni and Tropical Fuck Storm. If you like your post-punk wiry and arty this could be for you especially if you dig the likes of ESG, The B52s and Television. 

Following 2020’s politically and emotionally charged mixtape ‘hybtwibt?’, Joshua Inyang and Joshua Reid turn introspective for their latest Space Afrika album ‘Honest Labour’. Spurred on by the winter’s second wave of coronavirus, the duo expand their sound by adding sweeping strings and dreamy guitars to their sophisticated, downtempo template.

Ultra-heavy drone/doom/industrial duo The Body return with one of their most harrowing works to date. Distortion shatters each instrument and vocal to shape a warped and frightening yet completely engaging sonic experience. 'I’ve Seen All I Need To See' features guest appearances from Ben Eberle of Sandworm and Assembly of Light Choir's Chrissy Wolpert, and follows The Body's second collaboration with Uniform, their most recent studio effort 'I Have Fought Against It, but I Can't Any Longer.', and the debut of Lee Buford's Sightless Pit project with Dylan Walker and Lingua Ignota. 

Oh lord there's some serious shit going down here. New Zealand-born Melbourne-dweller Sarah Mary Chadwick is already know for a brutal, bruised form of singer-songwriting that always appears to be part self-help psychoanalysis for the musician. 'Me And Ennui Are Friends, Baby' (which contains only solo piano compositions) comes off the back of a relationship breakup and subsequent suicide attempt. However good this art may be, let's hope she is now in a better place.  

‘Great Spans Of Muddy Time’ is the fourth studio album from Mercury Prize-nominated, electronic influenced art-pop songwriter William Doyle (formerly known as East India Youth). In contrast to the painstaking perfectionism that went into 2019’s ‘Your Wildnerness Revisited’, a catastrophic hard-drive failure meant the tracks here are released without the “ceaseless tinkering” (in Doyle’s words) that might have kept it under wraps for much longer. There’s a rawness present that represents a new strand in Doyle’s beautiful music.

‘I Don’t Live Here Anymore’ is the fifth LP by The War On Drugs. Building on the critical and commercial success of ‘Lost In The Dream’ and ‘A Deeper Understanding’, this LP carries emotional heft and musical wallop. LP opener and first single ‘Living Proof’ may well be one of the band’s best ever songs. 

Improvisational artist Damon Locks’ Black Monument Ensemble project, showcasing various musicians, singers and dancers, returns for a second album. ‘NOW’ follows in the same vein of activist urgency as the outfit’s 2019 debut ‘Where Future Unfolds’, inspired by the social and political upheaval we collectively experienced throughout 2020.

Six years after their debut EP ‘Tá Tipo Já Não Vamos Morrer’, Tia Maria Produçõe return with a sequel in the shape of ‘Lei Da Tia Maria’. Again released on the Príncipe label, this record sees the trio sharing their experiences as Angolan-Portuguese migrants in European countries and channelling them into some banging Batida dancefloor-slayers.

BADBADNOTGOOD present their first non-collaborative studio album in half a decade. ‘Talk Memory’ features collaborations with composer Arthur Verocai and musicians like Terrace Martin, Karriem Riggins and Laraaji, and sees the Canadian instrumental experimenters go full psychedelic jazz and embrace the joys of improvisation.

CHAI are a fantastic Japanese band who blend of rock, dance-punk, art-rock and pop into something brilliantly brash. ‘WINK’ is their third album and is a lot more mellow than its chaotic predecessor ‘PUNK’. ‘WINK’ sees CHAI adding R&B and hip-hop to their sound whilst retaining their "neo-kawaii" charm. Producers Mndsgn and YMCK, along with Chicago rapper Ric Wilson, all contribute - the first time an artist from outside CHAI has featured on one of their records.

Ninja Tune presents the second full-length album from Armand Jakobsson, the producer known as DJ Seinfeld. Arriving four years after 2017 debut ‘Time Spent Away From U’ and off the back of some great EPs and stand-alones, he continues to tinker on the border regions of house, techno and ambient music on ‘Mirrors’.

Featuring Sarah Neufeld and Richard Reed Parry of Arcade Fire, Bell Orchestre release their first full-length album in over a decade and their third in total. ‘House Music’ is a reference to the method of its creation - every room in Neufeld’s house was mic’d up and every member took a room each, created in isolation for a fortnight and came together to fit their contributions into one forty-five-minute-long improvised piece. It recalls artists like peak-ambient Orb, fusion-era Miles Davis and prime Talk Talk.

Matt Sweeney & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy have reawakened their 2005 project 'Superwolf' under the name ‘Superwolves’. Matt Sweeny, known as leader of US band Chavez, wrote guitar parts and Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, AKA Will Oldham, wrote lyrics. The pair then met up to craft the songs. ‘Superwolves’ is a more uptempo affair than its predecessor with inspiration being taken from the world of African rock music.

One of Britain’s finest indie newcomers of recent years, Dry Cleaning prepare their first full-length studio album for 4AD. ‘New Long Leg’ was produced by PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish over a compressed summer session in 2020, and their wiry, tense post-punk has evolved since their celebrated 2019 EPs, Florence Shaw’s spoken-word artistry exploring contemporary, existential themes.

Berlin-based producer Moritz Van Oswald reformulates his trio for the first time in six years - this time with Detroit artist Laurel Halo and jazz percussionist Heinrich Köbberling. ‘Dissent’ was recorded at the end of 2020 and edited down from lengthy jams, encompassing ambient, techno and jazz aesthetics.

‘ULTRAPOP’ sees The Armed make their debut for the Sargent House label. Augmented in parts from Queens Of The Stone Age bassist Troy Van Leeuwen and the legendary Mark Lanegan, the album explores the outer limits of sonic expression in the headlong pursuit of heaviness in music - noise, metal and other extreme musical compounds.

Looks like 'Engine Of Hell' is another one of those cathartic albums on which the protagonist articulates pain through melody and stark lyricism. Emma Ruth Rundle has really stripped things back here so that every note and every word hits hard. Lone piano or guitar is all that backs up her voice on an album that is just as much about healing than it is the pain that caused its existence. 

This cassette release from Death Is Not The End represents the first in a two-part collection of lovingly-curated advertisements and station idents that ran on London pirate stations between 1984 and 1993. 'London Pirate Radio Adverts 1984-1993, Vol. 1' was assembled with the help of The Pirate Radio Archive, Simon Reynolds, Wayne Anthony and Stephen Hebditch, which is pretty much an all-star cast for this sort of thing.

Dorcha's Honey Badger is an unusual confection of noise pop and psychedelia and prog and disco party. Lots of old school synths and there's a link somewhere to BEAK. This is a 5D world which is two extra D's than we are normally used to. I listened to the concoction and it sure is a disconcerting swirl of sound. Get on it I reckon. 

With their serene, relaxed approach to the intricacies of math rock, Chicago-based quartet Floatie present us with a beautifully released debut album in ‘Voyage Out’. They manage the difficult task of sounding expansive and radiant at the same time as being hypnotically tight as a performing unit.

‘Black To The Future’ is the fourth LP by the Shabaka Hutchings-led jazz/afrobeat band Sons of Kemet. The LP follows their sublime Mercury Prize nominated LP ‘Your Queen Is A Reptile’. ‘Black To The Future’ features more vocal tracks than its predecessor and there’s greater attention paid to structure and instrumentation. Guests include Kojey Radical and Angel Bat Dawid. 

‘Garden Of Burning Apparitions’ is the fifth LP by US grindcore band Full Of Hell. Musically, the LP is an incredibly heavy wall of noise. Lyrically the band take a pop (that’s probably under-selling it, to be fair) at organised religion and America’s mega churches. There’s also an exploration of the fear of death being inevitable. 

Tirzah releases her long awaited follow up to 2018's much lauded 'Devotion' with 'Colourgrade'  - an album on which she writes about becoming a mum (congrats). Once again frequent collaborator Micah Levi is involved as well as Coby Sey. Expect further downtempo R&B ruminations on ..y'know feelings and stuff.  

Dark Time Sunshine are an alternative hip hop duo based in Seattle made up of rapper Onry Ozzborn and producer Zavala. ‘LORE’ is their fifth LP and first following a nine-year hiatus. Zavala’s production blends soulfulness and experimentation, creating the perfect platform for Onry Ozzborn’s perceptive rhymes. 

Idris Rahman, Leon Brichard and Tom Skinner present their third studio album as Wildflower, and the inaugural release by the new Tropic Of Love label. As ever, ‘Better Times’ sees the trio take jazz and various musical influences from around the world and forge them into a groove-based aesthetic.

Painted Shrines are the kind of supergroup we like. They feature Jeremy Earl of Woods, Glenn Donaldson of Reds, Pinks and Purples and Jeff Moller who has played with Papercuts. ‘Heaven and Holy’ began with the idea of DIY rock music and tambourines. The end product is a blend of folk rock, psych-pop and lo-fi noise made with a gloriously hazy aesthetic. This is where the sound of The Clean meets ‘5th Dimension’-era The Byrds.   

Veteran electronic music producer Sasu Ripatti aka Vladislav Delay (Luomo, Moritz von Oswald Trio, Uusitalo) has, latterly, turned away from straightforward house templates and embraced hip-hop’s rhythmical complexity. ‘Fun Is Not A Straight Line’ is a fascinating listening experience, sharing some sonic DNA with Chicago footwork and the heavy bass and granite beats of East Coast rap.

‘Live’ is an emotionally-charged performance by the spiritual jazz prophet, clarinet player and composer Angel Bat Dawid, plus her band Tha Brothahood. They rocked up in Berlin for the show taped here and were promptly met with racist abuse. The boiling rage which Angel Bat Dawid felt at the incident was expelled on stage, making for one hell of show.

On their fourth studio album ‘Cosmorama’, Portuguese outfit Beautify Junkyards continue their excursions into dream-pop, hypnagogia and psychedelia. Featuring new member Martinez on vocals and guest spots from Smoke City’s Nina Miranda and Lake Ruth’s Alison Bryce, it’s a sonically rich and diverse listening experience that reveals new details with each spin. Out via Ghost Box.

'Black Encyclopedia Of The Air' is the seventh LP by US poet and musician Moor Mother. The LP is a blend of chilled beats, ethereal sounds, hip-hop, poetry and rap set in an Afrofuturist world. Moor Mother is also known for her activism and as co-leader of the free jazz collective Irreversible Entanglements. 

Canadian-born electronic musician Scott Monteith (a.k.a. Deadbeat) teams up with Bristolian DJ Om Unit for a double 12” release. ‘Root, Stalk, Leaf And Bloom’ sees the pair exploring their mutual fondness for dub and ambient electronica over four tracks, with flashes of acid house and techno bleeding into the productions.

‘Little Dominiques Nosebleed’ is the 2020 studio album from Los Angeles-based rapper The Koreatown Oddity (real name Dominique Purdy). His second for Stones Throw, it retains Purdy’s signature lo-fi sound, and tells of his experiences growing up through thumbnail-like song sketches that feature guest appearances from the likes of Anna Wise, Fatlip and Sudan Archives.

Led by multi-instrumentalist and composer Joshua Abrams, Chicago avant-garde jazz ensemble Natural Information Society release an album that was recorded live at London’s Cafe OTO with improv sax legend Evan Parker. A thrilling listen, ‘Descension (Out Of Our Constrictions)’ is spontaneous and free-spirited but ultimately disciplined and poised.

Shire T is Chris Davids one part of the very popular and critically acclaimed Maribou State. This debut solo project delves into deeper and darker territory than his parent band and utilises a broader set of influences with particularly focus on clubby sounds in order to present what he is calling a celebration of British dance culture. 

The immensely talented Josiah Wise explores black love and queer relationships on his second studio album as serpentwithfeet. Lyrically bolder than his 2018 debut, ‘DEACON’ is again influenced by Wise’s Pentecostal upbringing and his love for R&B, but its themes are expressed more straightforwardly and directly. Wise's singing voice is of generational brilliance.

Recorded in early 2020, paused because of the lockdown and finished just before the legendary rapper’s sad passing later that year, ‘Super What?’ is another on-point collaboration between MF DOOM and Czarface, the hip-hop supergroup of duo 7L & Esoteric and Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck. Featuring guest spots from DMC, Lamour Supreme and Del Tha Funky Homosapien, it's another snappy collection of innovative rhymes and granite-hard, no-nonsense production.

London post-rock septet Black Country, New Road hail from the famed Brixton Windmill scene (Fat White Family, black midi etc). 'For the first time' is their debut album and follows the highly-rated singles ‘Athens, France’ and ‘Sunglasses’. The engaging, literate lyrics contain stories of terrible sex and tabloid pop culture references whilst the music is reminiscent of Slint and Sonic Youth experimenting with jazz maybe.

More widely known under her DJing pseudonym LOFT, British producer Aya Sinclair has won acclaim for her diverse club sets and dreamy yet complex electronic productions. On her latest release ‘im hole’, she gets creative with the album format itself, releasing it as a book of lyrics, poetry and photography she’s designed in league with Australian artist Oliver Van Der Lugt, with a single-use download code containing the actual music.

‘Nafs At Peace’ is the formal debut album from Pakistani improvisational quartet Jaubi. Recorded at the same time as the 2020 project ‘Ragas From Lahore’ with Ed “Tenderlonius” Cawthorne, this suite is anchored in the Indian classical tradition but also incorporates Western instrumentation such as the guitar, synths and conventional drum set-ups.

Liz Harris’s twelfth Grouper album ‘Shade’ is not a conventional studio effort, rather a collection of songs whose origins reach back as far as fifteen years ago. Some of it dates from a residency at Mount Tamalpais in Portland during the late Noughties, but tracks were recorded more recently in Astoria. The entirety of ‘Shade’, however, is thematically coherent, concerning our connections to certain times and geographical places, set to the hazy, enveloping music that’s made Harris such a cult icon.

On 'Teliffusion' Concretism not only celebrates analogue technology, but also plays a role in curating its sounds, its sight, it's nuances. He remembers the very physical things that used to underpin television, and through subtle hints in artwork and song titles encourages us to do the same. The music is appropriately haunted, his aged circuits playing uncannily familiar melodies.

'Sensational' is a good word isn't it? The kind of word Simon Bates would have used to describe the latest Level 42 single in 1984. I digress. 'Sensational' is the sensational new album by Erika de Casier which is a meditation on love and the ways people have of looking for it. As well as her usual house and techno influences De Casier finds inspiration in soul/pop music such as Aaliyah and Janet Jackson. 

'Isles' is the second album by London-based electronic duo Bicep. It follows on from their 2017 eponymous debut, an album which was a success both critically and commercially. 'Isles' features the singles 'Apricots' and 'Atlas' - the latter being Nick Grimshaw’s record of the week on his Radio 1 breakfast show and Annie Mac’s Hottest Record - and generally fronts more festival-ready tech-house euphoria.

Legendary drummer and composer Tony Allen passed away in 2020. It has been said that his aura around other musicians was such that he could teach without speaking. It would seem this is true given his influence on his posthumous LP ‘There Is No End’. Under the guidance of producer Vincent Taeger collaborations between Tony Allen and Skepta, Sampa The Great, Danny Brown, Damon Albarn and more have created this magical LP.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor release their seventh studio album, making the last ten years the most prolific of their nearly three-decade career. ‘G_d’s Pee AT STATE’S END’ contains some of the rawest and most charged material of their celebrated discography - cinematic, dynamic post-rock that ebbs and flows majestically over side-long epics - but also some of their most delicate and poignant.

Marking the twentieth/twenty-first anniversaries of ‘Amnesiac’ and ‘Kid A’ respectively, Radiohead announce a deluxe triple-album of both records plus a brand new bonus disc titled ‘Kid Amnesiae’. It features two previously unreleased tracks - ‘If You Say The Word’ and ‘Follow Me Around’ - plus alternate versions of album tracks and B-sides from the era. An absolute essential for Radiohead fans!

‘Headsoup’ is a career-spanning compilation from Swedish psychedelic rampagers Goat, gathering up rarities including B-sides, stand-alone singles, remixes and alternate takes. Furthermore, there’s two new original tracks, the grimy, funky psychedelia of ‘Fill My Mouth’ and the behemoth of ‘Queen Of The Underground’.

Happy Songs For Happy People was the fourth album by loveable Scottish rascals Mogwai and saw the band tone down their earlier post-rock excesses to a more subdued form of mostly instrumental composition. Synths and keyboards were used more prominently and there are some vocal contributions but it is the emotional depth and always simmering tension that suggests that this is one of the high points in their ever expanding musical canon.  

Fully remastered version of my bloody valentine's 1991 classic, Loveless. Done by the man himself it is, as ever with MBV, difficult to work out where the myth ends and the truth begins. Kevin Shields claimed that listening to these new versions would "definitely" produce a different emotional effect from the originals. Listen through headphones on decent equipment and the subtle changes are apparent. But does 'different' mean better? You decide.

One of Britain’s finest indie newcomers of recent years, Dry Cleaning prepare their first full-length studio album for 4AD. ‘New Long Leg’ was produced by PJ Harvey collaborator John Parish over a compressed summer session in 2020, and their wiry, tense post-punk has evolved since their celebrated 2019 EPs, Florence Shaw’s spoken-word artistry exploring contemporary, existential themes.

There's no-one quite like Yo La Tengo is there? On and one they go always picking at the frays at the edge of their sound pushing it in this direction and that. I Am Not Afraid of You and I Will Beat Your Ass was their eleventh full length record released in 2006. As has become their habit it contains a mixture of soft and pure ballads, guitar wig-outs, cover songs and slight explorations into jazz. We'd expect nothing else from this justly lauded Hoboken trio.  

London post-rock septet Black Country, New Road hail from the famed Brixton Windmill scene (Fat White Family, black midi etc). 'For the first time' is their debut album and follows the highly-rated singles ‘Athens, France’ and ‘Sunglasses’. The engaging, literate lyrics contain stories of terrible sex and tabloid pop culture references whilst the music is reminiscent of Slint and Sonic Youth experimenting with jazz maybe.

Originally released in 2000, Coil’s ‘Musick To Play In The Dark Vol. 2’ was inspired by John Balance and Peter Christopherson’s relocation from London to the seaside town of Weston-Super-Mare in Somerset. The second of two incredible records spawned by the same prolific sessions, it’s one of the experimental veterans’ most acclaimed late-period albums.

Bristol psych rockers The Heads have long been one of the most re-issued bands particularly given their (relative) obscurity but their debut 'Relaxing With...' has only been pressed twice after the initial batch. 25 years on from its inception it's high time it came out again and this time you get different gatefold artwork with some silver foil on the border and in a double vinyl edition with bonus B sides and a Radio 1 session. . The music? Ah yes guitar heavy, amp bustin' psych. Excellent stuff.   

Not many bands make their most critically acclaimed record twelve albums in but that appears to be what has happened with Duluth trio Low and 2018's 'Double Negative'. Therefore 'HEY WHAT' (their capitals and lack of exclamation mark) is highly anticipated. We are promised layers of distortion and textures with Alan Sparhawk and Mimi Parker's ever glorious harmonies breaking through the murk. You can always trust these guys to keep coming up with the goods and that old adage about The Fall could as easily apply  - always different, always the same. 

Glaswegian legends Mogwai reveal their tenth studio album. Reuniting with producer Dave Fridmann, the chap who worked on 2001’s ‘Rock Action’ and ‘Every Country’s Sun’ in 2016, the band recorded remotely for ‘As The Love Continues’. This is a cathartic and cinematic album of instrumental post-rock that includes guest spots from Nine Inch Nails collaborator Atticus Ross and saxophonist Colin Stetson.

‘Under The Bushes Under The Stars’ is the ninth album by Guided By Voices and was originally released in 1996. It was the last LP, until they reformed in 2012, to feature Tobin Sprout, Mitch Mitchell, and Kevin Fennell under the watchful eye of Robert Pollard. Includes the Guided By Voices classics ‘Cut-Out Witch’, ‘The Official Ironmen Rally Song’ and ‘Don’t Stop Now’.

‘Pod’ was such a refreshing release when it came out in 1990. A blend of raw indie with grungy alternative rock and the minimal, overdub-free production of Steve Albini, The Breeders’ debut felt like an immediate 4AD classic. Britt Walford of Slint’s taut and dense drumming meets Josephine Wiggs’ defined basslines and the spindly guitar chords and sweetly sung backing vocals of Tanya Donelly, whilst Kim Deal’s dark and cryptic lyricism is expressed with an ultra-cool, detached vocal delivery. Simultaneously raw and melodic enough to carry plenty of ear-worms, the album proved influential to Hole, Nirvana, and contemporary indie songwriters like Courtney Barnett. 

The hardest working man in maybe anything is back again with more music for you to gobble up. Yes it's jean shorts' own John Dwyer with another project featuring Bent Arcana crew Ryan Sawyer, Peter Kerlin, Tom Dolas, Brad Caulkins, Kyp Malone, Marcos Rodriguez, Ben Boye, Joce Soubiran, Laena Myers-Ionita, and Andres Renteria. Phew, we'll just call it John Dwyer and Co. shall we? And what exactly is John doing with all that company? He's channelling all that pent-up psych-rockin' energy to create 'Moon Drenched', an album that is by some distance the weirdest of Dwyer's improvised records. 

Eighty-year-old spiritual jazz pioneer Pharoah Sanders presents his first album of original material in over a decade. Teaming up with electronic music wizard Sam Shepard (a.k.a. Floating Points) and recording with The London Symphony Orchestra, ‘Promises’ is a nine-track suite released via Luaka Bop.

‘Cavalcade’ is the second album by London experimental/noise/math rock band black midi. It is the follow-up to their hugely acclaimed debut ‘Schlagenheim’. Just like its predecessor, ‘Cavalcade’ draws from a range of influences from King Crimson to 1990's Chicago post-rock and takes a number of exciting musical twists and turns. Another modern rock classic. 

The sleeve of agitated post-punkers Squid's much-anticipated debut album may seem pastoral and bucolic but their groove-based discords are much more suited to a concrete cityscape. 'Bright Green Field' plays on this disconnect in their sound, their bold approach ensuring that none of their popular early singles are included here. 'Bright Green Field' is, therefore, a standalone and ambitious work helmed by hotshot producer Dan Carey but with each musician playing an equal role. 

The second album from early post-rock proponents Tortoise is a genre-hopping delight of hypnotic instrumental music. Concocting a blend of mellow minimalism, cyclic krautrock, and lush electronic with a fair share of dub, psychedelia, and post-punk in there too, the Chicago based group balanced listenable experimentation with a huge array of influences. This mesmerising soother boasts an incredible amount of replay value – it’s constantly on the shop stereo here at Norm!

Electric Wizard's 'Dopethrone' is a masterpiece of stoner and doom metal. The Dorset group take Black Sabbath's slow-and-low template and run all the way down the psychedelic rabbit hole and straight into the gates of hell with it. The ridiculously low-tuned guitars are steeped in devilish herb smoke and thick layers of fuzzed-out fog, whilst their wall-of-sound riffs lumber with monolithic intensity alongside mammoth percussion which fall like asteroids hitting earth. Jus Oborn’s funereal vocals sound as if he was caught within a bad trip, augmenting the demonic album with a shade of psychedelic brilliance.⁣ 'Dopethrone' is the perfect marriage of doom, sludge, stoner and psychedelic rock and is an essential in any collection. The album art depicting an intoxicated Lucifer pretty much sums up the record!

On 'Teliffusion' Concretism not only celebrates analogue technology, but also plays a role in curating its sounds, its sight, it's nuances. He remembers the very physical things that used to underpin television, and through subtle hints in artwork and song titles encourages us to do the same. The music is appropriately haunted, his aged circuits playing uncannily familiar melodies.

Originally released in 1994, Portishead's first record 'Dummy' is a collection of dark and sonorous electronic tunes inspired by rock music , jazz and hip-hop alike. 'Dummy' helped synthesize a new sound that became essential to the Bristol scene, coinciding with bands such as Massive Attack to put West Country trip-hop on the map. It also garnered a few hits, including "Numb" and "Glory Box".

Nick Cave works with his trusty Bad Seeds lieutenant Warren Ellis on a formal studio album of songs for the first time. Inspired by the various soundtrack material they’ve created together as well as the struggles of humanity in the face of the pandemic, ‘Carnage’ consists of eight songs that balance Cave’s twin penchants for brutality and beauty.

Summer’s coming, which means that we must brace ourselves once more for a deluge of new records featuring pretty guitar riffs and nice singing. Getting in there early are Melbourne group Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever. Their debut LP Hope Downs features more of the sunny jangle-grunge that characterised their buzz-building 2017 EP The French Press. Hit play if you find it uncomfortable to listen to Surfer Blood or Real Estate but want similar kicks. Out via Sub Pop.

‘Black To The Future’ is the fourth LP by the Shabaka Hutchings-led jazz/afrobeat band Sons of Kemet. The LP follows their sublime Mercury Prize nominated LP ‘Your Queen Is A Reptile’. ‘Black To The Future’ features more vocal tracks than its predecessor and there’s greater attention paid to structure and instrumentation. Guests include Kojey Radical and Angel Bat Dawid. 

A founding member of Nottingham-based indie cult heroes Tindersticks, David Boulter presents an emotionally torn but ultimately heartfelt album about his home city. ‘Lover’s Walk’ sees backing contributions from his bandmates Dan McKinna and Earl Harvin, and evokes the warmth of childhood memories but also a sense of present stability and guarded optimism.

‘As Days Get Dark’ is the grimly, aptly titled seventh album from Scottish miserablist legends Arab Strap. On their first full-length since 2005 we see Aidan Moffat and Malcolm Middleton deliver another cathartic and darkly funny collection. This album is both reassuringly familiar for old fans and accessible to those who missed out on Arab Strap the first time around. Released via Mogwai’s Rock Action imprint.

The new album from Richard Dawson is a notable new epic from the Tyneside master, featuring more guest musicians than ever before. Peasant’s songs are all set in the pre-medieval north-east, with each title naming a figure: ‘Weaver’, ‘Herald’, ‘Beggar’. It’s the most fully-fledged work yet by Dawson, and it's out on Weird World.

Recorded in early 2020, paused because of the lockdown and finished just before the legendary rapper’s sad passing later that year, ‘Super What?’ is another on-point collaboration between MF DOOM and Czarface, the hip-hop supergroup of duo 7L & Esoteric and Wu-Tang Clan’s Inspectah Deck. Featuring guest spots from DMC, Lamour Supreme and Del Tha Funky Homosapien, it's another snappy collection of innovative rhymes and granite-hard, no-nonsense production.

‘Sound Ancestors (Arranged By Kieran Hebden)’ by Madlib sees the famed hip-hop producer working with Kieran Hebden aka Four Tet - a mouth-watering collaboration that’s been in the offing for some time. To create this record, Madlib sent Hebden various loops, tracks and sound experiments and the Four Tet man messed around with them in his own inimitable style. 

Nine years after they first all worked together on the ‘Ego’/‘Mirror’ single, Burial and Four Tet connect once again with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke. More low-key and atmospheric than those previous productions, ‘Her Revolution’ and ‘His Rope’ are subdued ambient works that bear the hallmarks of all three of these incredible artists.

Polypores is the ambient/new age/experimental electronic project of Stephen James Buckley. On ‘Shpongos’ Buckley uses his network of modular synths to reflect the complex work fungi do in delivering vital nutrients to other plants and trees. The way each action influences the next sets up a similar chain of events, one organically, one electronically. 

Following two years of acclaimed EPs and singles, London-based musician and poet Arlo Parks announces her debut full-length ‘Collapsed In Sunbeams’. Examining her adolescence and young adulthood in terms both microscopically personal and universally relatable - we're talking early King Krule as a point of comparison.

Following the party-orientated indie rock success that was 2018’s ‘Wide Awake!’, Parquet Courts explicitly embrace dance music culture with their eighth studio album ‘Sympathy For Life’, billed as a dance-rock hybrid in the vein of Talking Heads or Primal Scream albums and constructed from lengthy, improvised jams with the dancefloor in mind.

Former Nortec Collective member Fernando Corona releases a mammoth triple-LP under his Murcof moniker. The product of three years of work, ‘The Alias Sessions’ is a marvel of sound design, consisting of spectral, minimalist electronic music bordering on post-classical composition in its atmosphere and construction. It’s also Corona’s return to The Leaf Label for the first time in over a decade.

'Isles' is the second album by London-based electronic duo Bicep. It follows on from their 2017 eponymous debut, an album which was a success both critically and commercially. 'Isles' features the singles 'Apricots' and 'Atlas' - the latter being Nick Grimshaw’s record of the week on his Radio 1 breakfast show and Annie Mac’s Hottest Record - and generally fronts more festival-ready tech-house euphoria.

A concept album about the city of Berlin, its unique history, culture and populace divided into three distinct sections, ‘Bright Magic’ is the fourth studio album from Public Service Broadcasting. Based on archival audio works as is the trio’s MO, this record finds them in a more impressionistic and abstract mood, eschewing the narrative arcs of previous albums. Walter Ruttman’s radical 1928 Berlin tape-artwork ‘Wochenende’ provides the key thematic text for ‘Bright Magic’, sampled on three of its tracks.

‘Sometimes I might Be Introvert’ is the fourth LP by London rapper Little Simz. The LP’s theme is based around the difficulties of being introverted in an industry filled with extroverts. After a period of reflection ‘Sometimes I Might Be Introvert’ sees Little Simz opening up on relationships and various personal issues. Cleo Sol and Obongjayar make guest appearances.

Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan is a musical vehicle for English musician and academic Gordon Chapman-Fox. ‘Interim Report, March 1979’ examines the gap between the shimmering vision and failed reality of these two Cheshire post-war new towns, set to music recalling the IDM of classic early Warp artists.

The debut record by insane Swedish rockers Goat, highly recommended for everybody who loves squealing guitars, screaming ladies, and catchy afrobeat grooves. Combining psychedelic rock with lots of ethnic rhythms, World Music scored highly in many of 2012’s end-of-the-year lists. Great volumes of tribal distortion on this one.

Recorded off the back of an American tour with Beastie Boys’ producer Mario Caldato behind the desk, ‘Seeking New Gods’ is the seventh solo album from Gruff Rhys. As has been his tendency with recent solo offerings, the Super Furries frontman builds his music around a concept, this time of a mountain (specifically East Asian active volcano Mt. Paektu) and how it develops a mythology and personality for those who live nearby.

2020 needed a damn good kicking and who better to administer it than perennial Norman faves, Sleaford Mods? You all know the drill/formula by now: caustic lyrics delivered with angry panache from Jason Williamson, backed up by Andrew Fearne's superbly sparse music. After a good while in the game it should be getting a bit boring by now, but somehow the Mods continue to evade that grisly fate. Featuring guest spots from Aussie punk Amy Taylor (Amyl and the Sniffers) and the very much up-and-coming Billy Nomates.

PJ Harvey’s vinyl reissue series reaches 2000’s ‘Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea’. Passionate, electrifying and bold, this album was a drastic change from the withdrawn, insular ‘Is This Desire?’ and deservedly won the 2001 Mercury Prize. Features three brilliant singles in ‘Good Fortune’, ‘A Place Called Home’ and ‘This Is Love’, plus a duet with Thom Yorke called ‘This Mess We’re In’.

Arriving just over a year after they reached the summit of the UK Albums Chart in 2020 with ‘Ultra Mono’, modern punk icons IDLES present their fourth studio album ‘Crawler’. With guitarist Mark Bowen behind the production desk alongside Freddie Gibbs and Vince Staples producer Kenny Beats, this hard-hitting collection is thematically bound up with the mental and physical travails of the pandemic.

Lindsey Jordan presents her second Snail Mail album. A little over three years on from 2018’s captivating debut ‘Lush’ - a record whose incisive and emotionally devastating lyrics were all the more impressive coming from a seventeen-year-old - ‘Valentine’ is a refinement of all the same methods and techniques, consisting of ten perfectly sculpted indie-rock tracks that display enormous sonic range and emotional depth.

On a cold February day back in 2013, totally and utterly out of the blue, a new my bloody valentine album arrived after a 20+ year hiatus that had itself become a thing of legend. And what a way to announce that you're back. Kevin Shields always had a knack for torching expectations, and m b v was no exception - starting with Loveless-esque tracks that lulled listeners in, ending with 'Wonder 2' obliterating all sense of any lineage to anything they'd released before.

‘Coral Island’ is the tenth LP by The Coral. ‘Coral Island’ is the band’s first record for three years and it’s their first double album. ‘Coral Island’ takes its influences from twangy guitar hero Duane Eddy, rock ‘n’ roll trailblazer Chuck Berry and the cynical, disillusioned DC Comics creation John Constantine. 

Jane Weaver’s ninth studio album proper 'Flock' is the one where she feels she got everything just right. It’s a psych-pop album with a difference, influenced by years of listening to under-the-radar records and music from all over the world - Lebanon, Russia and Australia (and Prince). Of course, the cosmic prog elements she has become known for are there too.

Recorded immediately following the burst of creativity that spawned the project’s acclaimed debut ‘Interim Report, March 1979’, Gordon Chapman-Fox brings back Warrington-Runcorn New Town Development Plan. Concerning the economic boom in industry in the Lancashire area in the late Seventies that’s long since collapsed, ‘People & Industry’ is a melancholy expression of faded optimism.