Latest new releases on vinyl record, CD and cassette tape

Texan art-rock icons ... And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead end their five-year silence with their tenth studio album. Grandiosely titled X: The Godless Void and Other Stories, sees the band sounding as fresh as they ever did, delicately balancing swirling, dream-pop noise with widescreen songcraft. 

Montague Armstong is duo Jude Cowan Armstrong and Matt Armstrong. The make music that can only be described as anachronistic ...with a twist. Jude plays organ, like your auntie Edith might have done in 1961 while men drank pints of mild, and Matt plays bass. Cheerful and different. The pair are also artists who own a shop selling ceramics and prints.

Fifteen years after her Richard Hawley-produced debut, A Girl Called Eddy AKA Erin Moran releases her second album, Been Around. Her debut album got her some top notch support slots and a whole host of famous fans, but the follow-up seemed like it was never coming. Apart from a 2018 collaboration with FUGU under the name The Last Detail and a few appearances as a session singer with acts such as Ron Sexsmith and Super Furry Animals, She has done very little musically. You will find out that Been Around, inspired by Van Morrison, Steely Dan, Laura Nyro and Prefab Sprout has been worth the wait.

With the imminent arrival of Everyday Life, Coldplay’s first album in four years, we have a two track 7” single to whet your whistles. It features two new songs - their first new songs in two years - Orphans and Arabesque. The fans are already referring to these songs masterpieces, apparently.

Who wants a sneak preview of the new Jeff Parker album? Well all those with hands up are in luck as here he is teasing by way of 7" parts one and two of Max Brown a track taken from his forthcoming as yet untitled album. This Tortoise guy is known for his blending of jazz, R&B, hip-hop and electronica and is way big on J.Dilla so strap in for a smooth ride. 

Singers Nosisi Ngakane and Siya Makuzeni, percussionist Gontse Makhene, bass player Ariel Zamonsky, João Orecchia and string player Waldo Alexander got together to form Spaza. The Johannesburg-based group did no preparation for their self-titled LP, just turned up and let their avant-garde sounds coalesce into a beautiful mass of jazz, afro and electro, recording the whole LP in one day.

Towards the end of the ‘80s Pale Saints, from Leeds, were part of a new movement in British indie known as shoegaze. Bands such as Ride, Slowdive and 4AD labelmates, Lush joined them in their quest, and would ultimately become better known. Perhaps Pale Saints are due a resurgence, like the bands that they broke through with initially have enjoyed of late. Comforts of Madness was their debut, originally released in 1990, and it’s a bit of classic. This expanded reissue includes unreleased demos and a Peel Session from 1989.

Retro lounge funk outfit Badge Époque Ensemble haven’t wasted any time in following their self-titled debut with more new music. Nature, Man & Woman is a three-track EP clocking in at 29 minutes. Like their debut, the EP features one vocal track, Zealous Child, and also features their flute-led version of Cream’s Badge, retitled Badge Theme.

Georgia Barnes, better known simply as Georgia caused a stir back in 2015 with her self-titled debut. Seeking Thrills is her latest album, a dancefloor focused album that aims to kick off 2020 with some pop-punch. If you’ve heard her recent single, About Work The Dancefloor (included here), it gives you a good idea of the vibe on this album. Also includes the single, Never Let You Go. 

Following a couple of acclaimed EPs that now date from more than half a decade ago, 'Dream On' is the long-awaited debut album from Swedish singer-songwriter Alice Boman. Her music has also recently been on ‘13 Reasons Why’ and ‘Wanderlust’, but 'Dream On' opens up a new avenue of collaboration, mainly with producer Patrik Berger.

Following his very successful tribute record 25 Nights For Nujabes last year, Perth-based artist Ta-ku returns with a collaborative EP with Canadian producer Matt McWaters under the name Please Wait. The result of sharing musical stems and Tik-Tok links for several years, Black & White was reportedly a cathartic experience for both of them. 

Rebetika is a form of urban Greek music. The Sun Is Setting On The World collects together songs from the rebetika movement recorded between the 1930s and the 1950s. The songs are all dark in their subject matter with sorrow, loss, poverty and the end of the world hanging heavy in their lyrics. Tape on Death Is Not The End.

This is the first North Atlantic Drift release on vinyl, and the first album the duo have recorded remotely (between Toronto and Walkerton, Ontario). Pillars consists of 9 pieces for guitar, synthesizers, strings and samples and brings subtle changes to the minimal ambience of the Departures Vol. 1 and 2 albums released on Polar Seas and Sound in Silence.

The Big Moon made a big splash in 2017 with debut album, Love In The 4th Dimension, which contained catchy hits such as Cupid. Now they’re back with their highly anticipated sophomore album, Walking Like We Do. Their previous success shows here as they were shipped off to Atlanta to record with renowned US producer Ben Allen III. Expect big things from The Big Moon.

So what has happened to her eye then? Looks a right mess. People have streamed her music billions of times, she's been on the cover of things, got GRAMMY nominations and all sorts. This, her second album, sounds like a mellow Kate Perry to me but I'm sure the younger members of our office will tell me she's a brilliant subversive pop artist that I'm too old and jaded to enjoy.   

Dan ‘two Ls’ Willson rose from the Edinburgh music scene as Withered Hand in the early 2000s after plying his trade in a number of bands. He released his debut album, Good News, to great acclaim in 2009. Ten years later he revisits four tracks from the album, re-recording them with a string section for the appropriately titled EP, Ten Years.

2020 marks the 40th anniversary since multi-instrumentalists Peter Becker and Martyn Bates started working together as Eyeless In Gaza. The title of their new album is a couple of analogies for their artistic endeavour together. Ink Horn suggests an implement dipping into a well of creativity whilst One Star marks the prime focus of their creative quest. Loved by all sorts of people from Neil Tennant & Bob Stanley to Simon Armitage & Alan McGee.

Squid came to being when the members all converged on Brighton. The young five-piece now base themselves in London. Their brand of post-punk and disco-funk is getting tongues wagging in the biz. They’re a typically wacky bunch who cite Captain Beefheart and pickle among things they like. Their latest EP, Town Centre is produced by Dan Carey and will be released on his Speedy Wunderground label. 

Essence is the 2018 era album from long running neo-folk group Death In June. It was their first album since 2013's The Snow Bunker Tapes and their 21st in all (we think). It comes in an array of different coloured vinyl pressings including camouflage, violet and black all with laminated sleeve and lyric sheet.  

Sylvain Chauveau is French but lives in Brussels. He's one of the slightly lesser known neo-classical composers and is often used as a footnote if folks talk about Max Richter or Nils Frahm. Here is the first ever vinyl pressing of his collection of work for film and rare and unreleased tracks. It is an essential document of a 'much praised but not as well known as he should be' composer.   

Bill Fay was once called the missing link between Nick Drake and The Kinks when Uncut magazine described the quintessentially English orchestral folk rock songs on his 1970 eponymous debut. After a second album 1971, he seemingly disappeared. He popped up again 2012 with Life Is People, his debut for Dead Oceans. He’s back again now with his third album in seven years, Countless Branches. Some of the backing tracks on this album were recorded up to 40 years ago. 

Deleter is the fifth album by Canadian Electronica band with the naughty name, Holy Fuck.The album goes from reletively minimal sounds to rapturous crescendo via krautrock’s motorik beats to deep house. Features guest performances from Hot Chip’s Alexis Taylor, Angus Andrew of Liars and Nick Allbrook from Aussie band Pond.

Dealing with the sadness and optimism that comes with the inevitable passing of time, Layers of Memory in the Quiet Voice of Motion sees experimental artists offthesky and Bill Seaman collaborate. This CD-only edition comes housed in bespoke stamped and numbered cases, and with scented unique handmade artwork on top of vintage ephemera, photographs, prints and negatives. 

A new year a new Guided By Voices record. Last year they managed to release three albums - one of them was double too. They really are the most prolific of bands. What we have here is Volcano, an anthemic ballad and the first single to be lifted from Surrender Your Poppy Field. Includes a non-album b-side.

Debut album of the short-lived dream pop band. Galaxie 500 are the kind of band whose mastery of texture and unrepentant slowness makes them an ideal salve for the mind. I don't know how hectic life is on a Tugboat, but if I was on one, I'd be content knowing this calming trio were at the helm. 

On Fire was the second album from legendary US slowcore merchants Galaxie 500 and is an album that has often been cited as the band's definitive statement. For the uninitiated Galaxie 500 played a kind of slow moving dreamy sprawl influenced by the Velvet Underground and Jonathan Richman, slowing the tempo down to crawling pace and spawning a slew of imitators in the process.  

Glass Bead Game was the debut album from long running dream pop band Breathless. For the uninitiated, their sound is akin to that released on many a 4AD record in the '80s (singer Dom Appleton guested on This Mortal Coil records) and is often compared to the likes of Cocteau Twins and the Cure. Long out of print, this hidden classic is back out on 1972 records. 

Pitched somewhere between new wave, shoegaze, drone rock and hardcore, the pleasingly vague Teener release their new 7” single on Third Man. While its lead track is the highly melodic ‘Auger’, the band squeeze on three tracks on this brilliantly valued package, with the heavy ‘Market Value’ also on the A-side and the atmospheric ‘Flavor’ on the flip. 

Rose City Band hail from Portland, Oregon and play some laid-back strums. Their eponymous debut was produced by Eric 'Ripley' Johnson of Wooden Shjips and Moon Duo and mixed by Chris Cohen. The aim was to make an album that straddles the past, present and future, simultaneously organic and cosmic. On Jean Sandwich Records.

Muslimgauze was an utterly fascinating musician leaving the planet with scores of releases that blended together ethnic music, British electronica and underground noise. With over ninety releases to his name getting on the Muslimgauze train can be a daunting affair but Lalique Gadaffi Handgrenade is one of his most spellbinding works. This contains three long form ambient tracks with wordless female singing and looped percussion.  

Just because they are Guided By Voices they are releasing two singles from their forthcoming album Surrender Your Poppy Field on the same day. Here we have Man Called Blunder, which according to Robert Pollard is GBV’s best ever performance. It is backed with She Wants To Know which is a rerecorded version of the track from Forever Since Breakfast, the band’s 1986 debut album.

A solo album from recent Oh Sees addition Tomas Dolas, who records under the moniker Mr. Elevator. Given the thumbs up from the great John Dwyer himself, who is releasing the album on his own Castle Face imprint, Goodbye Blue Sky is all streamlined and sparkling, with Dolas utilising his skills as Dwyer’s keyboardist to strike out on his own. 

This is the live album recording of David Byrne's American Utopia. The show has played on Broadway as well as across the world and features Byrne alongside a myriad of musicians, dancers and choreographers. Featuring songs from both Byrne's recent American Utopia album and his extensive back catalogue, the show has had rave reviews across the globe for its showmanship and dazzling musicality. Now is your chance to get it on vinyl. 

Although they’re as much maligned as they are worshipped, Courteeners are undoubtedly one of the very last of the old-fashioned Big British Guitar Bands. In January 2020, Liam Fray and his faithful lieutenants will release their sixth studio album, with the bold but ambiguous title More. Again. Forever. 

Keeley Forsyth is an Oldham-born actor-turned-musical artist with an exceptional, raw and emotional vocal delivery. You may have seen her in all sorts of things from Coronation Street to Luther, but these days it’s all about the music, which, in turn is mostly all about her voice, and for now her debut album, Debris. RIYL Scott Walker, Aldous Harding, Nico, Cat Power, PJ Harvey and stuff like that, really.

Secure As Fuck is a posthumous release of experimental sessions from Jack Medley’s Secure Men, which the late Brixton promoter recorded with Dom Keen. After Medley’s passing in May this year, a GoFundMe campaign was set up to release the results of that unique session, presented here on a limited run of black and pink splatter vinyl. All proceeds will go to Music Minds Matter. 

A luxury white vinyl re-issue of what some regard to be Bert Jansch's best work. Avocet was initially released in 1979 and is a gorgeous instrumental album inspired by British birds. It shifts his brilliant, twisting guitar playing away from traditional folk and more towards a kind of proto neo-classical sound. This 40th anniversary edition comes with bonus tracks and writings by collaborator Danny Thompson. 

OOIOO are led by Boredoms and Saicobab founder YoshimiO. The percussionist also counts the super cool Kim Gordon, Susie Ibarra and Robert Lowe among the artists he has collaborated with. Nijimusi is their first album in 6 years and sees them making a psychedelic, shouty, distorted, record that’s precisely played with instrumental breakdowns that all good records of this ilk are prone to.

This is no mere pulling together of random samples and throwaway ominous tones. Concerned Londoner Kate Carr has pieced together 'Heatwave' - a six track of recordings taken over a searingly hot weekend in the capital. The result is an exploration into both the prosaic and more concerning aspects of global warming.

The title translates as "a patch of shade under the zaqum tree". How delightful. The intention here seems to be to use modern electronica, R&B and grime to convey a sense of ancient Arabic existentialism. Compared to Scott Walker and Omar Souleyman,  MSYLMA singer uses Islamic poetry to tell the story of a life from childhood to adulthood all sung in a form of classic Arabic. 

Perhaps one of the lesser heralded psych-rock bands of the later '60s era were the Electric Prunes. Underground was their second LP released in 1967 and continued their tight 'n' heavy scuzzy acid psych sound. Like its self titled predecessor, it features fuzz-toned guitars and an array of psychedelic effects. Do not underestimate the influence of this one on today's array of heavy psych bands.    

Babylon was Dr. John’s follow-up to his classic debut Gris-Gris. It was recorded to a backdrop of political and civil unrest with the Vietnam war ongoing and the deaths of Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy fresh in the memory. Dr. John was also being pursued by police for a number of misdemeanors. This heavy time for the good doctor found him mixing the swampy voodoo blues of his first album with free jazz and Beefheart-influenced avant-garde elements.

Coltrane 'n' Cherry together at last. The aptly titled album sees the duo play several Ornette Coleman compositions accompanied by Charlie Haden and Ed Blackwell. The result can definitely be described as 'out there' and the musicians stretch their genre to its limits with oddball tempo changes, accents and melodic phrases that at the time proved a bit much for some people but now can be seen as a template for deconstructed jazz.   

Lustra was the third album by Echobelly, released in 1997. Their previous two albums were released amid the Britpop frenzy and garnered the band more attention. This album is no less valid, though.They hired Pixies producer Gil Norton to toughen up their sound and, in front woman Sonya Madan, they had a singer with a voice of gold and lyrics to match. 

Neo-pop chart-botherer Mura Masa drops his second LP ‘R.Y.C.’ - stands for ‘Raw Youth Collage’, which is definitely a thing you can say with a straight face. The first single for this LP is called ‘No Hope Generation’, a track in which Mura Masa sings about having no hope while smashing together Jamie T’s Poundland Billy Bragg thing with pop-punk and drum ‘n’ bass. Slowthai, Clairo and Georgia are among the guests. Fine.

Having built up a large and dedicated fanbase over the course of four excellent albums before their hiatus in 2014, the mighty Bombay Bicycle Club will finally break their silence with their fifth LP Everything Else Has Gone Wrong in January 2020. Frontman Jack Steadman says it’s “an album for anyone who’s ever turned to music in a time of need”. With things being the way they are, I think we could all do with that. 

Tenebre is one of the many Dario Argento masterpieces in the Italian film directors cannon. His films were usually set to the music of Italian prog band Goblin but they had disbanded by 1982 when this film was made. He did, however, convince Claudio Simonetti, Fabio Pignatelli & Massimo Morante, formerly of the band, to record the score - a mindblowing disco-prog workout.

Guitarist and songwriter Shirley Tetteh AKA Nardeydey has played with various jazz bands from Domino Records’ excellent collective Nerija, to the Mercury Music Prize Nominees Seed Ensemble and Maisha, who were signed to Giles Peterson’s Brownswood Recordings. This self titled EP takes influences from pop, jazz, folk, afrobeat, soul, gospel and electro-pop to create some pin-neat genre-straddling songs.

Nathan Johnson has scored all of Rian Johnson’s films, including Brick, Looper and The Brothers Bloom. He’s stuck with him for his highest profile film yet - the highly rated murder mystery, Knives Out. The soundtrack blends the futuristic chaos of the Looper soundtrack with orchestral strings to create the perfect backdrop.Vinyl feature three extra tracks.

Tom Holkenborg composed the score to Terminator: Dark Fate. You may know the Dutch composer from his soundtrack to Mad Max: Fury Road or his work under the alias Junkie XL. Holkenborg has an uncanny knack of scoring action, so he’s the ideal man for this. He also manages to doff his cap to Brad Fiedel who scored the first two Terminator movies. 

North London’s experimental pop band The Chap release their 7th album, Digital Technology. The word on the street is that it is their most beautiful yet. It follows their 2015 politically charged album, The Show Must Go. It features the song Pea Shore, the lyrics of which are basically a love poem to Mark E. Smith of The Fall.

Double Mixte are a French duo of Clara Apolit & Thomas Maan, newly signed to Johnny Jewel’s Italians Do It Better label. They make music influenced by 70s French film soundtracks with evocative lyrics. Romance Noire is their new album, and because he’s the boss, Johnny Jewel produced it in his own inimitable style.

Manchester’s Whyte Horses ply their trade in psychedelic pop. They are fronted by Dominic Thomas who also runs the reissue label Finders Keepers. They have a few highly regarded albums behind them now and Hard Times is another future classic to add to their oeuvre. Includes a cover of Plastic Bertrand’s Ca Plane Pour Moi.

Gavin Miller started worriedaboutsatan as a side project to Leeds post-rockers Johnny Poindexter was back in 2005. 'Crystalline' is the sixth full length recorded under that name, and continues a proud history of atmospheric ambient and electronica. Sophie Green of Her Name Is Calla features as a guest vocalist.

Test Card is the musical project of Lee Nicholson, an English musician who is now based in Vancouver, Canada. Nicholson has previously spent time in Preston’s Formula One and Brighton’s Domestic4. Music For The Towers is his second album for Sound In Silence following on from 2017’s Reddifusion. He mixes ambient, post-rock and electronica in a way that should go down well around here.

A Higher State Of Body And Mind is a live recording by Lebanese sax player Christine Abdelnour and Swedish electronic experimentalist Joachim Nordwall. This is the kind of music, as you might imagine from the title, is to be enjoyed whilst lying down and allowing the sound to move through all your senses and the music traverses the frequency spectrum. 

Well hopefully by now you've picked up the stunning trilogy of EPs Netherfield Works, Springhead Works and Nunroyd Works by Craven Faults so you should be impressed enough to get this, the first full length missive from the reclusive producer. The vibe with all these releases seems to be West Yorkshire kosmische  - a kind of rugged, rural take on the synth explorations that emerged out of 1970s Germany. Stellar stuff indeed and fans of CDs will be pleased that the 3CD box set contains all tracks from those aforementioned vinyl-only EPs.  

Two Conversations by emo band The Appleseed Cast was originally released in 2003. Initially, it split critics for lacking in experimentation, in comparison to its predecessor Low Level Owl, and having songs about relationships. The fans seemed to love its honesty and rockin’ tunes, though, and it’s been their best selling album to this day. Reissued on coloured vinyl for your delectation.

A 28-track, double vinyl package on Tiger Lab Vinyl for Death Note, a part post-rock and part orchestral score that’s been written, arranged and produced by Hideki Taniuchi and Yoshihisa Hirano. Breathtaking in its scope, it's also the start of a new series of planned records of the same name from the record label. 

Released a few months ago in the summer, Tough Love was the much-anticipated full-length debut album from Erin Anne, and delivered on all the promise that her early output with REGI RKT had promised in its lo-fi yet determined energy. This new edition, via Carpark Records, comes on Coke bottle green coloured vinyl. 

Forest Drive West (aka Joe Baker) prepares to drop 'Parallel Space' - a murky 4 track slab of techno. It's opening track, Creation Dub, kicks things off with off-kilter and fizzing percussion aside nuanced soundscapes and sparkling pads. It's a soothing concoction, suitable for both dancefloors and candle-lit rooms.

Richard Donner’s Christmas classic, Scrooged, is based on Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and stars the one and only Bill Murray along with Bobcat Goldthwait and David Johansen who used to ply his trade as singer of the New York Dolls. The score, which we have here on vinyl is by Danny Elfman who has composed music for Tim Burton films such as Edward Scissorhands, Batman and The Nightmare Before Christmas - so you’re in good hands.

Lil Fam’ill by Too Many Ts mixed old skool hip-hop, guitar-lrd funk, dub and electro. Each track has the influence of a different producer. The album features a veritable who’s who of French including Atili, ASM, Chill Bump, Chinese Man, Djar One and many more. It’s all made into one coherent album by the Ts whose experiences are detailed in the lyrics.

Sonora Casino were a ‘60s exotic, experimental psychedelic band from Peru. You may already be thinking after reading the opening sentence that this means their album 1972 album, Trompetoros, is a previously hard-to-get-hold-of  and highly sought after obscurity, and you’d be right. This is the first ever reissue, so sharpen your elbows and get ready for the rush.

The soundtrack to cult horror comedy Elvira’s Haunted Hills has been out of print for a long time. Here we have a spiffy new reissue curated and sequenced by composer Eric Allaman and the actress who played Elvira, Cassandra Peterson. The score is performed by the might of the Russian State Symphony Cinema Orchestra.

Who wants some slightly sophisticated French synth pop? Polycool have taken influences from the likes of Metronomy and Unknown Mortal Orchestra to craft an all analogue album of vintage pop experiments that can be played out on the dancefloor or at home with headphones clamped to ear. Cool and unique they tie all this in with multimedia experiments in comic books and a snazzy website.   

Pan American is Mark Nelson, formerly of post rock group Labradford. A Son is his latest album, built on ideas such as tracking down his origins, looking back rather than forwards. It is inspired by working out how uncomplicated and straightforward music can be and a diverse range of artists such as June Tabor, The Carter Family, Suicide and Jimmy Reed. A Son is a fairly stripped back affair, on which Nelson feels as though he has been as emotional and honest as he can be.

Love Drums From The Ghetto by Malaku Daku is an afro-funk rarity. Malaku Daku, a percussionist from Philadelphia, uses the drums for deeper meaning. In the west, drums are just about music. In African society they mean much more - from the ritualistic to the spiritual to communication and passion. You can feel everything going on in these grooves.

Pet Sematary is a 2019 horror film based on Stephen King's 1983 book and who better to get to compose a suitably terrifying soundtrack than Christopher Young (A Nightmare On Elm Street 2: Freddy’s Revenge etc). He uses synths to create a particular kind of dread that suggests something really terrible is going to happen. Kinda like I felt before playing the new Elbow album. Comes on pink haze vinyl with liner notes and printed insert.  

The Apostles formed in Nigeria in 1973. They are essentially a funk and soul group but other elements creep into their sound such as pop, rock and reggae. They released Black Is Beautiful in 1977. It has become a defining album of the Afrobeat scene and is therefore essential if you’re into such things, or if you just want to make your record collection more diverse.

Neil Landstrumm first appeared on Cocoon with the track, Flesh In A Prison, his contribution to Cocoon’s compilation album S. The electronic veteran has recorded for Planet Mu, Tresor Records and Peacefrog Records in his time, but for now he's staying with Cocoon for a three-track EP, Sun Universe. It takes us back to the time in the ‘90s when speed garage was becoming the result of blending rave, jungle and house.

Eze-Nri Royal Drummers were a percussive group from the Nigeria region of West Africa who play a traditional form of African music featuring several forms of drums and percussion. This is seen as a particularly culturally significant release as the music remains unchanged from the music that was made in the region thousands of years ago.   

Following their triumphant return back in 2017, reformed post-hardcore veterans Cursive deliver another new studio album, arriving in early 2020. Growing out from the same sessions that produced Vitriola, the 11 songs that make up Get Fixed address America’s continued slide into nativist ignorance. 

Manuel Pessoa de Lima has made music to accompany a wide range of media such as cinema, television, contemporary dance and theatre. The Brazilian composer and sound artist has, with Realejo, made a collage of sounds from instruments he’s played, found sounds of security guard whistles and YouTube videos, and elements of his own earlier work. On Black Truffle.

Bergsonist is Selwa Abd, a Moroccan-born New York-based musician and founder of music podcast Bizaarbazaar. Middle Quest is her new album and first for Glasgow label Optimo Music. If you were smart you’ll have caught her digital-only single on Optimo inprint Optimo Music Digital Danceforce. It was that slice of brilliance that got her this gig on the main label. Abd feels she tells her life story through the music on this album, unconcerned with which genre she might fit into and just going with the flow.

Entropy Noodle is the first proper LP from The Nag’s Head, AKA Brighton-based Stephen Maskell. It follows a trio of cassettes and marks a step forward in his music-making capabilities, mixing emotion and humour into his dance beats. In case you were wondering, he has taken his recording moniker from the pub in Only Fools & Horses.

Since 2014 Yamaneko has been reinventing ambient music, adding in elements of techno and grime - music usually regarded as being too angular for the ambient world. His latest album, Spirals Heaven Wide, sees him making some of his longest, most ambitious pieces yet, interspersed with his signature, shorter nuggets. 

Just in case it hadn’t clicked, of course Mythic Sunship are a psych-rock band. They play fuzzed-out psych with songs that are as long as the distance between here and their hometown of Copenhagen. On their last album they found themselves in the world of spacerock-meets-free jazz - an undoubtedly difficult place in which to win new fans, but they’ve stuck to their guns and continued in the same vein for their latest LP Changing Shapes. I suggest you climb aboard the Mythic Sunship and enjoy the ride.

Bait is a new film directed by Mark Jenkin about two brothers, one who works hard as a fisherman, and one who uses his father’s old fishing boat to make money from tourists. This causes a rift in the family with progression challenging tradition. Jenkin also composed the score from drones that wasn’t originally intended to be the film’s soundtrack, but he realised it went with it rather well as they matched the movement of the sea.

Scottish indie-pop band The Just Joans return with The Private Memoirs and Confessions of The Just Joans. The album title is a play on the title of a Gothic horror novel by Scottish writer James Hogg. The band are led by brother and sister David and Katie Pope whose dual vocals give their music a certain beauty. They have been described as a cross between The Magnetic Fields and The Vaselines.

Under the Oval moniker, electronic veteran Markus Popp pulls some organic feel out of the computer he’s used to create his latest opus, Scis. Popp describes it as ‘new vintage’ a way of making old things new and new things seem familiar. All in all it’s another cracker. On Thrill Jockey.

See You Tomorrow is the 12th album by Pennsylvania indie-folk types The Innocence Mission. It is their second for Bella Union after 2018’s beautiful Sun On The Square. Sufjan Stevens is a big fan of the husband and wife-led three-piece and has even covered their song ‘Lakes of Canada’.

Fuzz Club would love you to experience the best bits of their 2018 psych festival in Eindhoven, Netherlands. Here’s a 3LP set featuring bands that made the festival a special place to be. Features tracks by The Telescopes, The Warlocks, The Oscillation, Snapped Ankles, Teeth of the Sea and a load more. There are previously unreleased tracks, covers and remixes which all add to the wonderful package.

Algiers hail from Atlanta, Georgia, apart from drummer, Matt Tong, who comes from Bloc Party. They mix disparate styles such as post-punk and gospel into one rocking sound. The band also take influences from non-musical sources such as southern Gothic literature and politics. There Is No Year is their third album.

Back before he was writing scores for films like The Chronicles Of Riddick and Lara Croft: Tomb Raider, Graeme Revell made mischief in Australian group SPK. 1986’s Zamia Lehmanni (Songs Of Byzantine Flowers) was pretty much a solo record on Revell’s part and saw him attempt to push the group’s industrial sound into ‘post-industrial’ territory. The hypnotic reveries he came up with come off like Arvo Pärt teaming up with Chris Carter. This new Cold Spring edition of Zamia Lehmanni (Songs Of Byzantine Flowers) represents the first physical releases of the record for over twenty-five years.

Having released three previous studio albums to date, American indie stars Pinegrove begin the new decade with their debut for Rough Trade. Described by lead singer Evan Stephens Hall as bearing a “heart-first” perspective, Marigold is the most ambitious take on their distinctive blend of folk, indie and country yet, as well as being their most empathetic and humanistic. 

Lightning Bolt have been described as ‘loud guitar rock’. That's underselling their ferociousness somewhat. Their eponymous debut album was originally released in 1999 and has never been repressed - until now. This time it comes as a double LP with a second LP, recorded during the same sessions, being previously unreleased on vinyl. Listening to this record is the closest you’ll get to experience them live without actually being at a gig.

Dan Levy does a lot of things. He is a musician, being one half of the electro-pop duo The Dø, as a producer he’s worked with S+C+A+R+R and he is an actor - you may have seen him in Schitt’s Creek on Netflix. He is also the son of comic actor Eugene Levy. Here we have his soundtrack to the Netflix animated film I Lost My Body. It is a film directed by Jérémy Clapin about a hand that escapes from a lab and searches Paris from its body. 

Written and recorded on a basic 4-track cassette recorder by Kevin Boog between touring with Meatbodies and released under the name Oogbogo, ‘Oogbogo’ is a true curate’s egg, consisting of just four tracks but providing a suitable home for lots of disparate musical ideas that didn’t belong on any other musical project. 

The precocious Billie Eilish drops her debut LP. WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO? - no need to shout, Billie - is a family affair, with Eilish’s brother Finneas O’Connor co-producing the record. Music-wise the songs here lean into Lana Del Rey’s dark-Disney Americana while also incorporating EDM and Adele-ish balladry.

Special Edition Part 1 is the new studio album by Fat Freddy’s Drop. It is the first album in four years from the New Zealand 7-piece. The band play an energetic blend of reggae, dub, blues, soul, jazz and techno. This is, as you might have guessed, the first part of a two album project, with part two still being cooked.

One of the final three releases from Chicago-based experimental music label Patient Sounds, who decided to call it a day last summer, Spencer Adam Grady’s Passive Extremities (for Konrad D​.​) is a tribute to the artist’s grandfather, and is described as ““a devotional study in remembrance”. 

The rumbling distortions during the opening bars of Lasse Marhaug's 'Gjota' is just a taste of the DIY boundary-free creativity to come in the Norwegian's latest slice of avant-garde noise/drone. It's an ominous release, for listeners that enjoy getting lost in a microcosm of dark rippling atmospheres.

The grey, depressing landscape of the early ‘80s. We know what it was like in the UK and the US, and it seems there was little difference in Belgium. What else was there to do for the youth other than start a band? Both Organized Pleasure and Satin Wall were formed by disaffected youths. In 1981, following a few gigs, they got their chance to record. Tropical Stumble and Dans les profondeurs were recorded in 1981 and are a document of two bands keeping punk alive that bit longer.

After a short hiatus, Christelle Gualdi reignites her Stellar OM Source project for Dekmantel on this new four-track 12” EP. I See Through You is like four years haven’t passed at all, picking up exactly where she left off with clear, hip-hop-inspired productions and retro rave aesthetics coursing through the EP’s veins. 

You will probably know Alaxis Andreas G from French electronic group Le Syndicat Electronique or perhaps the labels he set up Hiératique and Invasion Planète Recordings. As he clearly likes to keep himself busy, he has a new project, De Sang Froid. Vox Dei mixes cold wave and electro making for a bunch of ace tunes. RIYL Dopplereffekt, Beta Evers, I-F, Umwelt and Legowelt.

Not to be confused with the equally wonderful soundtrack album that featured Marilyn Manson, the Prodigy and Rage Against The Machine, this is Don Davis’ original music composed for 1999’s iconic sci-fi smash 'The Matrix'. Davis noticed that mirrors were a recurrent image throughout the film, and used that as the inspiration for his score. 

Oh lord my favourite the Durutti Column record on vinyl at last. Fidelity was one of Vini Reilly's his later and lesser known works but it should not be underestimated. It places his trademark guitar sound amidst sleek electronica and breakbeats. A gorgeously atmospheric album  - steeped in Manchester  - that shown an artist unwilling to stand still. This clear and blue vinyl edition features new cover art and two bonus tracks.   

Something about the word moist or moisture, unless I’m talking about cake, makes me want to have a shower immediately. It’s clearly not the case for Rrose, AKA Seth Horvitz FKA Sutekh FKA Suite K with debut album, Hymn To Moisture. The experimental producer shows influences from bosses of techno such as Jeff Mills, Pan Sonic, and Plastikman along with famed electronic composers such as Eliane Radigue, Laurie Spiegel, and Phill Niblock to make an album as cerebral as it is visceral.

Opening with a beat-less backdrop of relentless and gliding electronic noise, 'A Pastime for Semi Gods' is Ekman's latest delve into off-kilter underground dance. The release soon gets going after two minutes, hyper hi-hats and glugging bass synths driving the piece into something more acidic. A great pastime for Gods, Semi-Gods and nobodies alike.