Latest new releases on vinyl record, CD and cassette tape

This is a 2012 remastered CD edition of 1985’s highly treasured Technø Primitiv album from Throbbing Gristle spin-off Chris & Cosey (i.e. Chris Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti). Incredibly, it’s not been available on CD since the 1990 Wax Trax! re-issue, and copies are sure to fly out! 

OMG, WTF, LOL and other TLA (three-letter abbreviations).... thee gods upon high in industrial music heaven up yonder have truly blessed hardcore TG fiends with this. "Unofficial" document of Throbbing Gristle live at the Lyceum 8/2/81 yet kinda endorsed by Chris & Cosey as they've signed these copies... Of which we have a measly handful. One per customer - you snooze, ya lose.

Released in 1989 as the eventual follow-up to the all-time indie classic Skylarking, Oranges & Lemons saw XTC’s commercial fortunes revived for the first time in several years. Built on Andy Partridge’s insightful lyrics and a basic template of pop and rock, a number of more exotic elements, from jazz and reggae to Middle Eastern music, are mixed in. Housing the wonderful single ‘Mayor of Simpleton’, it’s now re-issued on heavyweight vinyl. 

As well as having a superb name, Clancy Eccles was an influential and successful singer, songwriter and producer. He had a massive reggae hit, both in Jamaica and the UK, in 1969 with Fattie Fattie. His debut album, Freedom, was then gladly put out by Trojan Records. It is now reissued on orange vinyl through Music On Vinyl in conjunction with Trojan.

Ennio Morricone’s score to 1979 Italian comedy Viaggio con Anita shows his versatility as a composer. The music is based in the genre of pop and is simple, but effective with its use of strings and woodwind. The film was directed by Mario Monicelli and stars Goldie Hawn and Giancarlo Giannini. 

After waiting over two decades for Rod Modell’s (cv313, DeepChord, Echospace, Our Lady Of The Flowers, Shorelights) collaborative ambient project with Chris Troy, Waveform Transmissions, to release new music, V 3.0-3.9 comes along comparatively quickly. Mastered by Noel Summerville, it arrives in a gatefold sleeve adorned with original artwork by Theo Ellsworth. 

Pathways & Passages by Cosmic Vibrations featuring jazz vocalist extraordinaire Dwight Trible who is the vocalist with the Pharoah Sanders Quartet and vocal director forHorace Tapscott Pan Afrikan Peoples Arkestra. This album arguably the ultimate experience in spiritual jazz, with woodwind, percussion and saxophone brought alive by Trible’s amazing voice. 

Schlammpeitziger (Mud Whip) is the recording moniker of Jo Zimmerman, who turns his hand to illustration and performance art as well as music. Ein Weltleck in der Echokammer (A World Leak In The Echo Chamber, apparently) is hsi 10th album. The music he’s been making since 1992 is best described as weirdo lo-fi eletronica-meets-krautrock. Here he even blends in some ethereal dub loops. Although according to his friend and reggae expert, Bettina Lattak, his music has always shown reggae influences. 

The Pretty Things singer, Phil May, sadly died in May 2020 - shortly after the completion of a new acoustic album by the legendary ‘60s band. Bare As Bone, Bright As Blood is the album. Fans may want to click on the ‘press release’ link as it features some thoughts on the album written by Phil May just over a week before he died.

A re-issue on vinyl for History Is What’s Happening, the second studio album from Dutch anarcho-punk outfit The Ex. Originally released in 1982, it rattled through 20 tracks concerning topics ranging from the squatter movement to the media’s role in politics in just over half an hour. This new edition comes with the poster and 24-page booklet found in the original release. 

Veterans of the global underground for over four decades now, Dutch anarcho-punks The Ex re-issue their debut studio album, Disturbing Domestic Peace, on vinyl. First released in 1980, it sold out of all its pressings in double-quick time. 40 years later, it comes packaged with the original accompaniment live 7” vinyl, 20-page booklet and inserts. 

Repulsion were the first grindcore group. This isn't the first grind LP, however, as it was released after the group split up, finding success in the UK with Carcass distributing a compilation of Repulsion's. The Flint, Michigan group blended extreme death metal with chaotic and fast-paced punk - it's a sound which inspired the likes of Napalm Death to start making music. 'Horrified' is one of the most famed records in the grind genre and will also appeal to fans of death metal, hardcore punk and thrash.

If it is psychedelics you want then Polymoon are possibly the place to go. The band play cosmic rock and out there psychedelia using fuzzy guitars and stacks of modular synths to take the listener to a higher plane of consciousness. This, we think, is the debut album from the Finnish band who are part of an explosion of similar artists out of their homeland. 

The Secret Migration was the fifth full length album by magical Disney-inspired and long running band Mercury Rev. When it came out it was just a single album but now as if by magic it has extended into a 5CD box set with B Sides, rarities, a live show and a CD of their soundtrack album Hello Blackbird. A bumper edition of an often neglected work.  

Having expanded from a solo endeavour from former Health Problems member Dan Shaw into a more fully-formed band project, Consultant is the second studio album on Born Yesterday from Landowner. With pulsing, nagging bass lines tightly locked on to spidery guitar patterns, it’s a mesmerising listen. 

Heavily (and quite harshly) derided upon its release in 1999, reportedly selling fewer than 100 copies, former Dexys Midnight Runners frontman Kevin Rowland essentially torpedoed his solo career with My Beauty, an album of intriguing covers with certain lyrics re-written by Rowland to reflect his battles with substance abuse. It now gets a limited edition re-issue on pink vinyl. 

Following the passing of the much-revered country-folk songwriter John Prine earlier this year, Oh Boy re-releases the late star’s 2000 studio album Souvenirs on vinyl. Housing re-imagined and re-recorded versions of Prine’s earliest work, it was originally intended for release in Germany only, but was extended through demand. 

Masked British psych-rock duo Dina and Faro (Diva Jeffrey and Alex Headford) return as Jadu Heart for their second studio album, following hot on the heels of last year’s debut Melt Away. Aiming to heal the listener via musical escapism, Hyper Romance builds on their mixture of psychedelia, R&B and electronica. 

Chiminyo is a percussionist who makes music that music wanders from its jazz foundations into the worlds of hip-hop, experimental electronic music and a sort of futuristic pop style. He has a drum kit laden with all sorts of tech which enables him to blend raw, live kit tones with electronic sounds and samples. It's all very Jordan Rakei (or do we mean Bonobo?). 'I Am Panda', Chiminyo's debut album, is released on Gearbox.

Bob were an English indie band who formed in 1986 and released a few singles that featured heavily on John Peel’s Radio 1 show. You Can Stop That For a Start is an album that the band recorded in 1992 but never released. The album comes with additional tracks in the form of demos recorded between 1988 and 1994. On Optic Nerve.

Another EP from the increasingly impressive psychedelic rock outfit Japanese Television. Recorded in a disused village hall in the wilds of Eastern England under the aegis of The Wytches’ Kristian Bell, III is constituted of five tracks of probing space-rock, primal garage-pop and krautrock rhythms. 

Cherry Red Records announce another exceptional compilation, this time exploring the contributions of female artists in the decade following the emergence of punk in Britain. Make More Noise! Women In Independent Music UK 1977-1987 features 90 tracks over four CDs including music by the likes of The Slits, Nico and Cosey Fanni Tutti, plus a hardback book which includes over 14,500 words of sleevenotes and an essay by Lucy O’Brien. 

Recorded around the same time as The Secret Migration, Mercury Rev’s soundtrack for Robinson Savary’s drama Bye Bye Blackbird, titled Hello Blackbird, was released in 2006. Building in classical and ambient styles into their lavish dream-rock aesthetic, it now gets a re-release on blue marbled vinyl via Cherry Red. 

Danish producer and DJ Rune Reilly Kölsch announces his fourth studio album, breaking with the themes of his ‘years’ trilogy of records in the 2010s with Now Here No Where and focussing on the present and the confusion of existing in 2020. As ever, it’s a collection of lovingly crafted techno, both melodic and lush. 

Having spent a quarter of a century alongside bandmate Rob Garza in electronic music duo Thievery Corporation, Eric Hilton strikes out on his own for the first time on Infinite Everywhere. While not terribly different from his work in his parent band, it’s nevertheless a relaxing, sharply-defined listening experience. 

What do you think this sounds like then? If you guessed at a black doom sludge with feedback-drenched guitars, terrifying gurgling vocals and a general feeling of post-apocalyptic nightmare then you've pretty much hit the nail on the head. This Denver Colarado band pull no punches with this churning and visceral sound. Anyone with a faint heart look away now. 

In Waiting is the debut studio album from Pillow Queens yet another terrific new independent band from Dublin. Picking up airplay on BBC Radio 6Music and securing support slots with Pussy Riot, IDLES and American Football off the back of just two demo EPs, their style is a messy, joyous concoction of punk energy and pop melodicism. 

The Hives haven’t released a studio album since 'Lex Hives' in 2012 but they’re still going strong, delivering searing performances wherever they end up. And one day they ended up at that there Third Man Records in Detroit. 'Live At Third Man' captures the Swedish garage-rockers on great form, performing popular singles such as 'Hate To Say I Told You So', 'Main Offender', 'Tick Tick Boom' and 'Walk Idiot Walk' and more to a crowd of 250 fans.

Just like LSD itself, this record by hip-hop artist Cambatta is a mind-bending experience. Keen to put his money where his mouth is, Cambatta actually took LSD for four years in order to make 'LSD: Lunar Solar Duality (Lunar Edition)' ... hopes are high, then, for what I'm calling my 'flapjack' trilogy. Anyway, back to the record; it's not just LSD that Cambatta is influenced by - the title refers to Lunar Solar Duality, which basically means light and dark. This is a vivid yet spiritualised listen equal-parts Outkast, clipping. and Shabazz Palaces.

One + One By One features the first two releases by Israeli post-punk band Minimal Compact. One, a mini album, was originally released in 1981 and features the classic opening post-punk funk track Statik Dancin’. One by One, a full-length album followed in 1982 and saw the band expand to a four-piece with the addition of a full-time drummer. For fans of Joy Division, Gang of Four, A Certain Ratio etc.

Released on 7” vinyl and housed in a beautiful picture sleeve is ‘Black Rabbit’, a monster psychedelic-reggae interpretation of Jefferson Airplane’s classic ‘White Rabbit’ by producer Prince Fatty and singer Shniece McMenamin. With a cavernous dub version on the reverse, it follows in the wake of other brilliant re-works, such as of Kraftwerk’s ‘The Model’ and Tom Browne’s ‘Funkin’ For Jamaica’. 

No Time For Dreaming was the debut solo album from Charley Bradley the Screaming Eagle of Soul. Bradley was a plumber who spent his nights as a James Brown impersonator before being discovered by Daptone records. His music was perfect for aficionados of the classic soul sound and his voice was a pained and emotional thing which showcased his years of struggle. It was the first of three studio albums before Bradley passed away in 2017.   

Charles Bradley, the Screaming Eagle of Soul, began his incredible journey from being down-and-out to soul singing sensation with his debut album No Time For Dreaming in 2011. Appearances at Glastonbury and on Later...With Jools Holland have only seen his stock rise higher. Changes is his third album and is named after the Black Sabbath track he covers with an emotional intensity that only Charles Bradley can.

Just like the 7.42 Skipton to Leeds service I Like Trains haven't been seen in about eight years but with humanity about to collapse there's no-one better to attempt to make the soundtrack for the impending doom. KOMPROMAT attempts to make sense of the chaos taking influence from the metallic post-punk likes of Joy Division, Gang of Four and the Birthday Party on a welcome return for this distinctive band. 

As well as working under the name The Yearning, Joe Moore has released music under a number of different names including The Perfect Kiss and Julie Et Joe. He has also experimented with a number of different genres. Only When I’m Dancing sees him landing somewhere between ABBA and the Bee Gees with an album of perfect ‘70s pop.

Axis​/​Another Revolvable Thing 2 is the second part of the next archival music from the late Japanese improvisational musician and noise pioneer Masayuki Takayanagi to be re-issued by Blank Forms. It’s taken from a recording of a September 1975 concert at Tokyo’s Yasuda Seimei Hall with his New Direction Unit. 

Following the slow-burning success of their 2018 debut album Phase, which won the patronage of Gilles Peterson and became a go-to record for DJs around the world, Mildlife present a more focussed and dancefloor-orientated take on their kinetic jazz/krautrock grooves on sophomore studio album Automatic. 

MMMD see their score for Lukas Feigelfeld’s Gothic horror flick Hagazussa - A Heathen’s Curse released by Antifrost. This is as dark as the ‘dark ambient’ genre gets before it turns into full-on doom. The record is full of unsettling drones, eerie plumes of sound and snippets of liturgical chanting. Might be a good idea to have some friends around when you listen to this one lest you become properly spooked.

With a title like that it might be figured that Fort Not have been influenced by Guided By Voices. It is perhaps somewhat wide of the mark as the duo seem more enamoured with the sort of indie lo-fi pop from the likes of Sarah and K records. Their world is lo-fi but the songs are lovelorn and with catchy choruses and guitars set to jangle. 

Following the plaudits for his first Chronovalve album Trace of Light back in 2013, you could scarcely have imagined that it would take Mike Engebretson a whole seven years to record another one. Light, at last, is with us, and reflects a philosophy of hope and enlightenment surviving in even the darkest of times. 

A celebration of the regeneration aspect of life’s cycle, Wake completes a beautiful trilogy of records from Małgorzata Łapsa-Malawska, Stijn Hüwels and James Murray as Silent Vigils. Acting as a soothing sonic escape hatch from our chaotic times, it’s a perfect companion piece to Fieldem and Lost Rites. 

Cenizas is the fifth album by New York-based Chilean producer, and Norman Records fave, Nicolas Jaar. It was recorded and mixed over a two year period with Patrick Higgins in New York. Not one to stand still, Jaar has worked in various genres with a wide range of people from FKA Twigs to Lydia Lunch and William Basinski. Released through Jaar's own label, Other People.

Featuring Debbie Googe of My Bloody Valentine on bass and backing vocals and his erstwhile Sonic Youth bandmate Steve Shelley doing some of the drum parts, By The Fire is alternative rock icon Thurston Moore’s seventh solo album. Completed in the short gap between his band’s tour of Europe and the coronavirus lockdown, it’s one of his most focussed solo efforts yet. 

Hen Ogledd is the kind of supergroup that we celebrate around these parts, comprising as it does the talents of Richard Dawson, Rhodri Davies, Dawn Bothwell and Sally Pilkington. 'Free Humans' is their second album and has an unsurprisingly eclectic range of influences - everything from ABBA to medieval composer Hildegard von Bingen, surreal pop star Hannah Diamond to artist Agnes Martin. Lovely old job.

Following his turn into more conventional songcraft with his widely praised last Profligate album Somewhere Else, Noah Anthony produces an even tighter collection for Too Numb To Know. Begun in L.A. but completed in Ohio after he lost the initial demo recordings to thievery, it’s a philosophical and emotional record. 

Aak'Ab is a project from Californian musician Justin Pinkerton, the drummer in Golden Void and the person behind Futuropaco. It’s an album of adventurous synthesiser music that falls somewhere between the jazzy minimalism of Terry Riley and the electronic ‘krautrock’ music of bands like Cluster. 

Jason Kohnen of The Kilimanjaro Darkjazz Ensemble starts up a new side-project titled Mansur, with Phurpha’s Dimitry El-Demerdashi and singer Martina Hórvath. Temple is their debut mini-album, consisting of five tracks that blend traditional instrumentation from around the world with modern electronica. 

Here we have two versions of 'As Long As I Have You' by American R&B singer Garnet Mimms. On Side A is the track's original 1964 album take while Side B is the single version. Unusually, the single of 'As Long As I Have You' is actually the longer of the two and was only ever made as a demo. Very rare stuff here - original pressings of these tracks go for £500 and £400 respectively. Deptford Northern Soul Club Records are re-releasing the tunes on 7" and for a more affordable sum. Both cuts have been remastered from the original tapes.

Sophia Loizou is a Bristol-based composer who, on this her latest album on Houndstooth, looks at sonic landscapes such as the noise made by animals or plants of the weather. The result comprises of ambient soundscapes with field recordings used and abused to make sonic textures. It's part of a wider project about the world, nature and our place as a little bit of it. 

Worldservice Project mix jazz, punk and sardonic lyrics in an unlikely, yet highly successful mix of joyful noise. Hiding in Plain Sight is the band’s 5th album. This time, band leader, vocalist and keyboard player Dave Moorecroft writes with an altered view of the UK having moved to Rome in the aftermath of Brexit. With the exception of Arthur O’Hara who’s been with the band for 5 years, all of the musicians are debuting their talents here, and what talents they have!

The result of a self-imposed challenge to make a double album that (he felt) didn’t have a single moment of filler within, Houses of the Holy is an impressive undertaking from Chris Schlarb’s Psychic Temple project. Taking a side each and using the support of a full orchestra and a gospel choir, he works with garage rockers Cherry Glazerr, the iconic Chicago Underground Trio, veterans Dream Syndicate and poet Xololanxinxo. 

Getting back together once more as a trio, having worked with ex-Sonic Youth guitarist Thurston Moore on a couple of projects, Cuts Open is another enthralling collaboration between Japanese noise music legend Merzbow, Swedish saxophonist Mats Gustafsson and Hungarian percussionist Balás Pándi. 

The first solo album from Arcade Fire multi-instrumentalist Will Butler in five years. With a more epic scope than the snippets that characterised Policy back in 2015, Generations is a searching record that finds its author questioning his place in American society, and where that society is going in these troubled times. 

A re-issue on vinyl for Son of G Rap, the 2018 collaboration album between hip-hop veteran Kool G Rap and producer 38 Spesh. Featuring new artwork for the re-release, the record includes guest vocals from Cormega, N.O.R.E., Meyhem Lauren and Freddie Gibbs plus production flourishes from Pete Rock, The Alchemist and DJ Premier. 

Bushpilot formed in Leeds in 1993 and feature none other than Norman Records’ head honcho Phil Leigh on drums. Their music is inspired by The Fall, Talk Talk and German bands such as Can. 23 was recorded in 1994 and is regarded as the band’s greatest work, although it has remained unreleased until now. On God Unknown.

The critically acclaimed Samurai Math Beats by Polish / American Bogdan Raczynski was originally released in 1999 on Rephlex, the second of three he released that year. The music within met somewhere between the weird experiments of Aphex Twin and Squarepusher and the more chilled sounds of Boards of Canada and Plone. Available on vinyl for the first time since its original release on Disciples.

The Brian Jonestown Massacre’s Anton Newcome here produces, not the soundtrack to a film, but a ‘soundtrack’ to the idea of a non-existent film in the vein of classic French New Wave directors. You know that'll sound lovely. Musique de film imaginé includes the vocals of SoKo and Asia Argento, and is released by ‘a’ Recordings on dashing pink vinyl (or less dashing CD).

Following their breakout into wider mainstream consciousness with 'Joy As An Act Of Resistance' back in 2018, beloved Bristolian post-punk outfit IDLES reveal their third studio album. Entitled 'Ultra Mono', this record finds the band bringing in hip-hop production aesthetics by working with Kenny Beats. But staunch punk heads need not fret - this is as scathing and vitriolic in its politics as the band’s previous work.

Bob Mould's previous album Sunshine Rock was a slab of feel good upbeat alt rock which saw the former Husker Du and Sugar frontman in buoyant mood. Not this one. Mould is inspired by the absolute state of things and has produced his most visceral and angry work in decades. Blue Hearts is explosive and confrontational but as always contains the big super loud hooks he has always been so adept at. 

Following a global smash a couple of years back with ‘Work It’, Marie Davidson unleashes a new album, made in collaboration with an entity known as L’Oeil Nu - in reality, Asaël R. Robitaille and her husband and partner in Essaie Pas, Pierre Guerineau. Renegade Breakdown represents a slight parting from club culture and the style that has seen Davidson relentlessly tour the globe, more songwriterly and less overtly dancefloor-orientated. 

No One Can Ever Know was the third full length album by Scottish miseries The Twilight Sad. It introduced a more keyboard-led sound without at all disturbing the atmospheric and emotional post-punk sound they'd been peddling until this point. It was produced by the sadly departed Andrew Weatherall who, if anything, made their sound even more claustrophobic. All their albums are worth a listen and this is no exception.   

Still House Plants hail from Glasgow. The three-piece, who make jazz-flecked pop, arrive at their sound through a lot of experimentation and visual art. Their second album, Fast Edit, has come about from building on various recordings of rehearsals and gigs from laptops, mobile phones and dictaphones.  

The seventh solo album from Düsseldorf-based artist Miki Yui, Aperio! is a collection of music that typically pokes and prods at the boundaries in our collective minds between the real and the imaginary. Keeping with the title which denotes the origins of the word ‘April’ (meaning ‘open’), these seven tracks have a hallucinatory, revelatory quality. 

The work of French poet Charles Baudelaire has influenced many 20th century music stars, from Jim Morrison to Scott Walker. On the beautiful and self-explanatory Baudelaire & Piano, Norwegian artist Susanna sets ten texts from his masterpiece ‘The Flowers of Evil’ to set simply to piano, recorded under COVID lockdown in a studio in Stockholm. 

Merbild Schwet, originally released in 1980 was the third album by prolific experimenters Nurse With Wound. The album was recorded by Steven Stapleton alone following a fallout with Heman Pathak and John Fothergill during the recording of the previous album To The Quiet Men From A Tiny Girl. Although Fothergill is credited in the sleevenotes, he played no part. The LP is pressed on blue vinyl and includes an insert newly designed by Stapleton.

To The Quiet Men From A Tiny Girl is the second album by experimental legends Nurse With Wound. It was originally released in 1980 on United Dairies. This much anticipated reissue, on Dirtier Promotions is pressed on yellow vinyl, comes packaged in a replica sleeve and includes a replica of the insert designed by Nurse With Wound main man Steven Stapleton. 

A kaleidoscopic meeting of sampledelia, psych and dance music, Texan producer and multi-instrumentalist Spencer Stephenson presents his first Botany album in four years. End The Summertime F(or)ever bears important themes of politics and protest, the importance of not letting complacency take a hold on society as it faces massive challenges. 

On 'Stateless' the Bhutan-born, US-based guitarist Tashi Dorji displays his distinctive playing style. This record sees Dorji frantically strumming, thumping, tickling and manipulating an array of six- and twelve-string guitars, finding not just sketches of melody but also percussive sounds and various rhythms in the process. Performed with power and grace, stylistically 'Stateless' is somewhere between William Tyler and Kaki King. On Drag City.

Axis​/​Another Revolvable Thing 1 is the next piece of music from the late Japanese improvisational musician and noise pioneer Masayuki Takayanagi to be re-issued by Blank Forms. It’s taken from a recording of a September 1975 concert at Tokyo’s Yasuda Seimei Hall with his New Direction Unit. 

As someone who’s found success writing songs for Paloma Faith, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Marianne Faithfull, it’s always been a crying shame that Ed Harcourt has never found commercial success in his own right. The ninth album in a career stretching back to the turn of the millennium, hopefully Monochrome To Colour can correct that. Featuring Portishead’s Clive Deamer on drums, it’s a beautifully crafted mix of ancient and modern instrumentation and styles. 

Emma Kupa is probably best known for being the front person of the likes of Standard Fare and Mammoth Penguins as well as being a bigwig at the annual Indietracks festival. It Will Come Easier sees her exploring more mature themes of life and love in your early thirties over music that takes '60s girl group pop, folk and electronic pop as influences. 

Hard Luck Stories (1972 - 1982) by Richard and Linda Thompson is a new 8 CD box set featuring all 6 albums the former husband and wife duo made in a ten year period, from the folk-rock classic I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight to Shoot Out The Lights. There’s a ton of outtakes, demos, rare and live cuts. It also includes a 72-page hardback book with sleeve notes and new interviews by Nick Drake and Richard Thompson biographer, Patrick Humphries and Sandy Denny biographer, Mick Houghton. 

Revered Icelandic composer Jóhann Jóhannsson sadly passed away in 2018. 'Retrospective II', which follows on from 2019's 'Retrospective', includes Jóhannsson's soundtracks for 'Sicario', 'Arrival' and 'The Theory of Everything' along with collaborations with Vikingur Ólafsson, Ryuichi Sakamoto and A Winged Victory For The Sullen. Also featured in addition to 'Retrospective II's eight (yes eight) CDs is a DVD which covers Jóhannsson's December 2016 concert at Berlin's Funkhaus.

New York by Lou Reed is one of his best-loved solo albums. Originally released in 1989, it is now being reissued as a deluxe box set with 2 LPs, 3 CDs, a DVD and a 12-page hardcover book. Extra tracks include early versions of album tracks as well as some live classics. The DVD features The New York Album - a concert film of Lou Reed performing the album in its entirety, originally released on laserdisc in 1990. The booklet features notes by Rolling Stone journalist David Fricke and producer / musician Don Fleming, who also co-produced the set for release along with Laurie Anderson, Bill Ingot, Jason Stern, and Hal Willner.

Former At The Drive-In and The Mars Volta guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López presents a triple-vinyl box set of three sessions recorded at the Clouds Hill studio between 2018 and 2019. The Clouds Hill Tapes Pts. I, II & III see Rodríguez-López performing with a range of guest musicians, with Johann Scheerer behind the production desk. 

Great news for all Prince fans who were rightly enthralled with last year’s 1999 box set - Warners’ excavation of The Purple One’s extensive vaults leads to this lavish re-issue of 1987’s masterpiece Sign O’ The Times. CD and LP box sets of various sizes are available, but the biggest one is a 13xLP / 8xCD + 1xDVD set that houses a grand total of 92 audio tracks, many of which have never been heard before. For those who want insights into the abandoned Dream Factory, Crystal Ball and Camille projects, this is the final word on this fantastic era for Prince. 

Laid down in February 1999 and released later the same year, Ryo Fukui Live In New York sees the beloved jazz pianist Ryo Fukui tackling classics from Charlie Parker, George Gershwin and others - as well as some original material - alongside bassist Lisle Atkinson and drummer Leroy Williams. It now gets a half-speed re-mastered reissue on We Release Jazz. 

Have you ever tried to run a record label? I have and it has been a nightmare. I might as well have walked down to the river and chucked bags of my hard earned money into its depths. But despite that it's still an incredible thing to do. The joy of seeing something reach fruition, the friends made and the sense of achievement. James Norman (no relation) has made a book about his experiences. It will make you laugh, it will make you weep. And like any good release these days it's severely limited.  

Their name deriving from a mis-heard Rolling Stones lyric, London neo-psychedelic band Green Seagull return with their second album Cloud Cover. Expanding on their songwriting team since their 2016 debut Scarlet Fever, they bring in mellow Seventies Laurel Canyon vibes into the mix this time around. 

British psychedelic rock band Sun Dial were formed in 1990 by Gary Ramon. To date they have released 19 albums. Mind control was their 16th album and was originally released in 2012. This Ultimate Edition features a whole disc of previously unreleased material recorded during the same sessions. On Sulatron.  

Electric Moon are a psych rock band from Germany. Live at Freak Valley Festival 2019 contains the band’s full concert from their second visit to the German festival, along with an acoustic bonus track that was recorded during an interview with the Rockpalast TV show. Electric Moon regard themselves as a live band, so this is how to experience their real sound.

Actually, unlike the regular adage, there are THREE certainties in life: death, taxes, and a new Oh Sees album every year. On top of a forthcoming album as part of a new group called Bent Arcana, it’s clear that not even lockdown can stop Dwyer from his furious creative output. For their 23rd studio record, John Dwyer’s merry men undergo yet another slight name change to release Protean Threat as Osees.

The classical composer that uses pop chord progressions and has over 2.4 billion streams on Spotify, Ludovico Einaudi is something of a contradiction. His new record, 'Einaudi Undiscovered', is a collection of lesser-known deep cuts handpicked by the man himself. There are live recordings, a remix, and even some hitherto-unreleased pieces. Out on Decca. 

Nouvelle Vague’s ongoing exploration of the punk explosion and its subsequent reverberations throughout the wider world of pop takes aim at the early-80s French scene on ‘Version Française’. Here we have sixteen tracks suffused with punk rage and frustration at the economic crisis but also possessed with the irrepressible spirit of pop. Of course, no matter the source material, everything on ‘Version Française’ is rendered in Nouvelle Vague’s chic, postmodern take on the Gainsbourg style.

Southern Californian four-piece outfit Movements embrace a much wider vision of their own artistry on their second studio album, No Good Left To Give. Produced with long-time creative foil Will Yip, it expands the post-hardcore sound that won them such acclaim back in 2017 with their debut Feel Something. 

Fans of 4AD mainstays the Wolfgang Press may have been forgiven for thinking they'd heard their last note from the band as they ceased operations in 1995. However this album exhumes tracks they started towards the end of their career making it to all intents and purposes the final Wolfgang Press album that no-one has heard yet. 

The early Pale Saints material was quite something and if you are only aware of the albums the Comforts of Madness and In Ribbons then you are in for a treat as this Japanese only compilation of early singles gets a vinyl issue for the first time. Contains all the tracks from their early EPs and some bonus stuff too. Brilliant indie/dream pop from a band at their peak. 

Provoked by a period of reflection following personal loss and grief for El Ten Eleven’s leader Kristian Dunn, Tautology is a mammoth triple album whose duration represents the grand arc of life. Traversing everything from attack-minded riffing to vast ambient landscapes, it’s being released digitally in three parts, but a triple-vinyl release in September will gather up all the movements in one package.

'What Is This That Stands Before Me?' finds the best of the Sacred Bones roster tackling a bunch of offerings from Brummie metal legends Black Sabbath. Expect to hear industrial punks Uniform taking on 'Symptom of the Universe', psych pair Moon Duo penning a celestial nine-minute version of the 'Paranoid' classic 'Planet Caravan', Thou drive 'Supernaut' into sludgey new territories, and Marissa Nadler brings out the haunting aspects of 'Solitude'. Elsewhere on 'What Is This That Stands Before Me?' you'll find The Soft Moon, Molchat Doma, Hilary Woods, Zola Jesus and Dean Hurley - that's a serious collection of talent!

Walter Bishop Jr. stood out among his peers, not just for being a tasteful jazz pianist, but for recording albums comprised entirely of original material. Coral Keys was his fourth album, but  first for the Black Jazz label, released in 1971. His band featured bassist Reggie Jackson, Idris Muhammad on drums, trumpeter Woody Shaw and sax & flute player Harold Vick. 

Semisonic return with their first new music since their 2001 album All About Chemistry. He has been busy in the intervening 19 years working with Adele, Pink, Taylor Swift, Dixie Chick, My Morning Jacket and Leon Bridges, to name but a few. You’re Not Alone is a five track EP that sees frontman and songwriter Dan Wilson feeling like his old self again, writing song for his band, again.

Emma Tricca’s first LP since 2014’s Relic is another record of delicate, dreamy folk-rock. Devendra Banhart and Jane Weaver spring to mind on tracks like the gorgeous, feathery ‘Julian’s Wings’. St. Peter also features a pretty star-studded credit reel - members of Sonic Youth, The Dream Syndicate and Paper Dollhouse all make appearances.

Pennsylvania-based folk duo Native Harrow deliver their fourth studio LP in double-quick time - 'Closeness' comes barely a year after Native Harrow's last outing 'Happier Now'. The band’s Devin Tuel says that 'Closeness' is about love and connections, a sentiment reflected in the timeless FM rock influences and orchestral pop decorations of its lead single ‘Shake’.  We're getting signed postcards for the first 20 customers who order the record.

The creative trio of Lisa Horton, Jan Robertson and Iain Ross present debut releases from two of their alter-ego bands on one transparent magenta vinyl. Move Motherfucker is an icy, electronic and stylised affair from Mega Emotion, while I Know You Know I’m Perfect is a grungey, earthy affair from Lady Di. 

Bent Arcana are a John Dwyer-led ensemble that features members of Sunwatchers, TV On The Radio, Flying Lotus, Feels, Prettiest Eyes and Mr. Elevator among others. They play improvised jams in the vein of ‘70s hard fusion, prog rock, krautrock and the ECM label. Fans of Oh Sees or any of the other bands mentioned within will love this.

Electronic musician Koji Itoyama bases himself in Saga, Japan. By mixing manipulated electronics and field recordings he creates droney ambient music that comes with a sort of hypnagogic feel. Saga released his debut album 'Sign' back in 2018, and this is followed up by the bvdub-ish 'I know'. 'I Know' was mastered by Home Normal founder Ian Hagwood, a man who knows a thing or two about ambient music.

Verbowen, which translates as Interwoven, is the debut album by Martina Claussen. She is a composer and also works as a Professor of Voice in Vienna, so it comes as no surprise that this album centres on the sound of her voice. The sounds she makes are intricately woven with electronics and electro acoustic sounds to create a thoroughly absorbing listen.

Originally released between 2016 and 2019 over four volumes, The Compleat Cromlech Chronicles gathers all four albums from Welsh psychedelic rock outfit Sendelica. If that wasn’t enough, this 6xCD box set includes bonus tracks, plus an extra disc of live recordings from Lucid Dreams Festival and Glastonbury PsycheFest and another disc of demos and out-takes. 

To contribute towards much-needed restoration work at The Cellar Bar in Cardigan where they hold their annual Dr. Sardonicus festival, the Fruits De Mer label releases a fundraising compilation. We Are The Cellar Bar Restoration Society has already sold out as an LP, but this extended double CD set includes around 100 extra minutes of music. 

Though Michael Cottone is a graphic designer by trade, his musical compositions as The Green Kingdom eschew the precise, sometimes emotionless lines of his working trade for something more esoteric and heart-wrenching. 'Springhill, The Green Kingdom's latest release, is a love-letter to Cottone's home (Springhill, Michigan), and it's autumnal acoustic hues are the perfect soundtrack to the comforts of whatever place you may live.