Latest new releases on vinyl record, CD and cassette tape

If you want to catch up with what Manchester electronica label have been up to over the past five years then Age in Decline with give you a flavour alongside offering a smattering of new work for the pleasure of those already in the know. Artists include the likes of Prequel Tapes, Galaxian, Chrome Corpse and DJ Warzone. I've barely heard of anyone on this but isn't that part of the fun? 

Scottish musician Chris Thompson uses the name The Bathers to make a sweet brand of chamber-pop that has made him a bit of national treasure in his homeland. 'Kelvingrove Baby', the third Bathers album, originally came out in 1997 and runs with the sophisti-pop style of its two predecessors. The record features Thompson's pal, James Grant of Love & Money, on guitar and backing vocals. 'Kelvingrove Baby' is reissued via Marina (Der Plan, Josef K).

'Sunpowder' is the second LP by The Bathers and is the chamber-pop project of Scottish musician Chris Thompson. Originally released in 1995, 'Sunpowder' follows the lead of other Bathers albums by taking inspiration from a bunch of classic songwriters - Tom Waits, Leonard Cohen, David Bowie etc. Featuring the vocals of the Cocteau Twins’ Liz Fraser on two tracks, this 'Sunpowder' reissue is out via Marina.

The Bathers is the name that Scottish musician Chris Thompson gives to his chamber-pop project. He takes his inspiration from the likes of Van Morrison, Tom Waits, David Bowie, Tim Hardin and Leonard Cohen. 'Lagoon Blues' was the Bathers first album, originally released in 1993. Features Isobel Campbell on cello and comes reissued on Marina Records.

The debut LP from Savannah, Georgia's Baroness sent shockwaves through the extreme metal community upon its release in 2007. A stunning blend of gruff sludge-metal riffing and progressive rock, the group eschewed the belligerent, repetitive riffery of most groups in the sub-genre to offer a technical and psychedelic record. The guitar leads are buttery and smooth, the vocals are powerful and grizzly, the drumming is smart and intricate - fans of Mastodon, Kylesa, Red Fang, Torche and High On Fire will love 'Red Album'.

Continuing the theme of incredible sleeve illustrations from frontman John Dyer Baizley - and also that of naming their albums after a colour - 'Blue Record', the second LP from progressive metallers Baroness, picked up where 'Red Album' left off. It's a slightly more melodic affair than 'Red', with Baroness tightening up their sound and increasing the duel riffing and use of soaring vocals. It features many fan-favourite singles which they often play live - 'Jake Leg', 'A Horse Called Golgotha', 'The Gnashing' and 'The Sweetest Curse'. An essential sludge-/post-/prog-metal record.

Recorded in just five days immediately off the back of an exhausting period of touring that lasted almost a year, 'Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters…' (title intended to be repeated ad infinitum!) shows Frankie and the Witch Fingers in blistering, road-hardened form. More intense and ambitious than anything they’ve recorded before, their psych-garage sound goes from strength to strength here. At its most rabid ‘Monsters Eating People Eating Monsters’ resembles Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs while groovier numbers like ‘Cavehead’ verge on Goat.

A member of bands such as Acteurs, 90 Day Men and Bambi Kino Duo among others, Chicago-based artist Brian Case reveals his fourth solo studio album 'Parallel Voices'. Although it’s a fully instrumental work, 'Parallel Voices' is in some ways Case’s most revealing and personal album he’s ever released. The LP's haunted, shimmering drones land somewhere between Prurient and James Leyland Kirby.

Trumpeter Aquiles Navarro and  percussionist Tcheser Holmes have been friends and musical collaborators for many years, most recently collaborating as members of Irreversible Entanglements. Because of their friendship, they just seem to know how each other work and how to respond to each other musically. It is this telepathy that drives the latin and afro-carribean sounds that make Heritage of the Invisible II. 

Concerning his Catholic upbringing, 'The Hill' is the new album from Irish singer-songwriter Paddy Hanna. Backed by a band consisting of Adam Faulkner and Daniel Fox from Girl Band, Badhands’ Daniel Fitzpatrick and Jill Redmond, 'The Hill' uses the settings of abandoned railway stations and boatyards to give it a sense of time and place. Sonically it's got both the ramshackle energy of Fat White Family and harmonious craft of The Magnetic Fields.

The stated goal of new independent label SOS Music is to provide a showcase for forward-thinking electronic music by female artists from across the globe. With that in mind, 'SOS Music Vol. 1' presents fourteen diverse tracks from a range of international artists. It boasts an impressive lineup that includes rRoxymore, Violet, Nightwave, Umfang, LCY and Minimal Violence. 

Despite their long careers making groundbreaking ambient music, brothers Roger Eno and Brian Eno had never recorded a full album together until 2020’s 'Mixing Colours'. After that album they released a seven-track EP called 'Luminous', and now both recordings are available as Mixing Colours Expanded. On Deutsche Grammophon. 

The Moons are led by Andy Crofts - who, as well as being a singer / songwriter in his own right, earns his corn in Paul Weller’s backing band. Pocket Melodies is the band’s latest album, It features one track, Tunnel of Time, which was co-written by Paul Weller. Features the singles Riding Man and Today.

Singer / songwriter-turned-composer Keaton Henson has returned to his roots as a singer / songwriter with Monument. His gentle voice sings lyrics about grief and how to deal with it, whilst sparse electronic backing is fleshed out with a full band and, at one point, a full orchestra. Philip Selway of Radiohead, guitarist Leo Abrahams and composer and musician Charlotte Harding all lend a helping hand.

Fo Sho b/w Inner City Blues are the first new songs in two years from the Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio and will whet the appetite for their next album. The band play funky organ-led jazz that will please fans of Jimmy Smith, Soulive, New Mastersounds, Khruangbin and other artists in that musical sphere. On Colemine.

Dawn Chorus And The Infallible Sea are a US trio who make minimal music that blends guitar-led drone and modern classical music. Their influences include Windy & Carl, Auburn Lull and Stars of the Lid. Liberamente, their sophomore record, is an album that seems simple at first, but with repeated spins rewards the listener with depth and complexity.

After the global pandemic prematurely ended Big Thief’s tour the band's singer, songwriter and guitarist Adrianne Lenker decided to make some new music. 'songs and instrumentals' is two separate albums being released as a double-LP and double-CD. The 'songs' bit features - guess what - eleven new songs, whilst 'instrumentals' features - that's right - two instrumental pieces. Both records were written and recorded in April 2020, the early days of lockdown, and both exhibit the incredible balance of strength and fragility that has seen Lenker proclaimed as something of a modern-day Leonard Cohen.

Released across all formats and also in box-set editions, ‘Gimme Some Truth.’ marks what would have been the 80th birthday of John Lennon. Taken from his entire solo discography, including the posthumous ‘Milk And Honey’, the material here has been completely remastered from the original tapes, and shows off the thematic breadth and depth of Lennon’s timeless songwriting.

Highly innovative artist Wendy Eisenberg’s music has ranged from free jazz to experimental rock and off-kilter pop to metal. She is a guitarist of some repute, too. Inspired by Mark Hollis’ classic eponymous solo album and David Sylvian’s 2003 album Blemish, Auto sees her making her most soul-searching and cathartic album yet.    

Premiering in 1974 and released as a recording two years later, Ecuadorian composer Mesias Maiguashca’s innovative electro-acoustic work Oeldorf 8 has long since been a sought-after collector’s item. Re-mastered by Kassian Troyer at Berlin’s D&M, it now gets a second life on vinyl and CD. 

On Editions Mego so you should know what to expect by now. KMRU is Joseph Kamaru of Nairobi, a sound manipulator heralded as 15 East African Artists You Need To Hear by Resident Advisor magazine. Peel is is first album and is a blend of field recordings and electronics which do indeed 'Peel' in order to reveal rich tapestries of ambient sound. 

'Acoustic Storm' serves as an accompaniment to Elkhorn’s 'The Storm Sessions' from earlier in 2020, and represents a first-ever acoustic record for the New York duo. Recorded the evening before the aforementioned album, Jesse Sheppard and Drew Gardner are accompanied by fellow guitarist Turner Williams on two mesmerising, side-long compositions that hover between acoustic folk and psychedelia.

‘ashiato’ is one of two completely different-sounding solo albums from drummer Tatsuhisa Yamamoto, an accomplished and experienced percussionist who’s worked with artists as diverse as Japanese free-jazz legend Akira Sakata and American guitarist Jim O’Rourke - the latter of whom mastered this LP. 

Monolord are the boss of the low graveyard sound, thriving on destructive bass lines, or guitar riffs, with the guitars tuned in maybe drop-C so who really knows anyway. Vaenir has the killer nihilistic riffs, the warped vocals, the glorious emptiness that comes with repetition, and the slow whiplash-inducing-head-bobbing rhythm. Top tier doom metal.

'Your Card Has Been Declined' by Dangerwank is very much an album for our times. With song titles such as ‘Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area’, ‘When Will The Icecaps Melt?’ and ‘Rail Replacement Service’, Dangerwank is really tapping into the zeitgeist. Musically it arcs from melancholic ambience and effervescent IDM to catchy electronic pop songs.

As you might expect from the band name and the artwork, R.I.P. make sleazy grunge and doom metal that takes as much inspiration from the soundtracks of John Carpenter as it does from metal overlords like Black Sabbath. This is their heaviest work yet, faster and anxiety inducing with shards of guitar attack over the sludge/doom rhythm section. The faint hearted need not apply.  

Monolord have a habit of releasing their albums in instrumental format so you can either a) attempt to sing along or b) get a whole new listening experience. They've already done this with their debut Empress Rising to good effect now is the turn of Vænir. Once again it takes on a totally different shape to the original. This version was only previously released as a digital-only addendum to the album so now is your chance to get it as a standalone vinyl. 

Briefly a member of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds during their mid-Eighties blood-and-thunder period, Australian singer and guitarist Hugo Race now releases the first album in five years with his long-running backing band The True Spirit. A weighty double-album dealing with Australia’s bushfire crisis and the coronavirus pandemic, 'Starbirth' is an ambitious mix of post-rock, electronica and orchestral music.

Have you ever wanted to sing along to Monolord's debut Empress Rising then now is your chance. If your voice isn't up to it then there's still a reason to listen to this as taken as an instrumental album, the tracks take on a different hue  - it becomes more of an atmospheric stoner soundtrack that could be compared to classics of the genre such as Sleep's Dopesmoker. 

'Trash Heap' is a fascinating document of the creative process behind Portland-based psych/space-rock outfit Herbcraft. A collection of lo-fi four-track cassette recordings laid down by Matt LaJoie in late 2012, these tunes were lost in a forgotten box before being rediscovered earlier in 2020. Digitally transferred and remastered, 'Trash Heap's Spacemen 3-esque songs are now presented on vinyl. 

J.R. Bohannon, Ben Greenberg and Ryley Walker are a trio of guitarists who have collaborated to make the sprawling improvised album ‘For Michael Ripps’. Each artist brings their own style to proceedings - Greenberg is part of noise-rock band Uniform, Bohannon makes experimental rock in Gold Dime, and Walker is known for his jazz-flecked folk. Guitars intertwine here, breaking into riffs and repetitions that demonstrate how much the musicians are in tune with each others' ideas.

It's on Home Normal so you can guess at this being quality ambient music. The protagonist is one Brad Deschamps aka anthene who uses guitar and synth to create his dusty soundscapes. This is his second album following on from his debut Weightless which already garnered him some critical acclaim. Loving that sleeve art too  - I could look at that all day. 

The talented harp player Mary Lattimore isn’t slowing down after two great albums in consecutive years, 2018’s Hundreds of Days and last year’s collaboration with Mac McCaughan New Rain Duets. Recorded with Slowdive’s Neil Halstead, her unmistakable style now shares the spotlight with licks and flourishes of Halstead’s guitar, and the results on Silver Ladders are wonderful. 

'The Making of a Paracosm' is the latest album from Swedish production sensation Kasbo. This album features a range of collaborators, mostly with musicians from his native land (Noomi, Freja The Dragon and so on), and contains the sort of chart-friendly danceable pop that is all over the Radio 2 airwaves these days. With two-hundred-million streams he's certainly doing something right.

Gray were a band featuring celebrated New York artist Jean-Michel Basquiat who played his guitar with a metal file and filmmaker Michael Holman who played masking tape and ball bearings. Shades Of… is an anthology featuring songs from their limited self-release, previously unreleased tracks and remixes by the likes of Todd Rundgren, Hank Shocklee, Sal P of Liquid Liquid among others.

Elisa Ambrogio, Pete Nolan and John Shaw return with new Magik Markers music for the first time in over half a decade, at what seems like an apt time for them to bring their inspired noise-rock back. 2020 is heart-swallowingly urgent and ragingly loud, a perfect soundtrack for times of emergency and ignorance. 

Loma, a three piece featuring Emily Cross, Dan Duszynski and Jonathan Meiburg of Shearwater, were about to call it a day following the satisfactory success of one album and various gigs, but  when Brian Eno got in touch and told them he liked them, things changed. This led to encouragement and an offer of mixing their new work and Don’t Shy Away was born. Includes guest appearance from Jenn Wasner of Wye Oak.

Visions of Bodies Being Burned is the fourth album by experimental hip-hop trio, clipping. The material for two, inspired by horror fiction as much as classic  hip-hop, was divided into two parts. The first, There Existed an Addiction to Blood, was released last year. Visions of Bodies Being Burned was supposed to follow pretty quickly but with the pandemic ruining everyone’s plans the release was delayed until now.

Guitarist in Ride for three decades, Andy Bell releases his debut solo album The View From Halfway Down to coincide with his 50th birthday. Produced with the help of former Oasis bandmate Gem Archer, work began over four years ago but was sidelined by the reformation of Ride. Completed under lockdown, it’s a precise presentation of all of the influences that have informed Bell’s style, from the Stone Roses to Spacemen 3. 

Holding On / Letting Go is the seventh album by Sophia - the post-God Machine project of Robin Propper-Sheppard. The album is a pitch-perfect blend of gentle acoustic music and massive, aggressive noise. Sax player Terry Edwards, who has played with Nick Cave and PJ Harvey, makes a guest appearance.

Alternative rock band Chavez are led by guitarist and vocalist Matt Sweeney, known for his work with Iggy Pop, Bonnie 'Prince' Billy and Zwan. 'Gone Glimmering' was their debut album and was released in 1995. It was produced by John Agnello, Bryce Goggin and Bob Weston, who between them have made records with Dinosaur Jr., Pavement and Sebadoh - so that’s the kinda territory you’re getting into here.

The beginning of a re-issue series that ought send some much-needed recognition the way of jazz/folk/new age/ambient singer and composer Beverly Glenn-Copeland after he signed to Transgressive. Transmissions is a new career-spanning collection of songs, which also comes with a 7” vinyl of previously unreleased tracks. 

Picard is the latest spin-off from Star Trek and features Patrick Stewart in the titular role. The soundtrack for season one has been composed by Jeff Russo, who also composed scores for Fargo, The Night of and The Umbrella Academy, among others. Russo has been nominated for several Emmy awards, winning once.

The William Loveday Intention is the latest project by Kent garage king and man of numerous guises Billy Childish. People Think They Know Me But They Don't Know Me is the first in what will be a series of four albums released monthly throughout winter 2020-21 to keep you warm and toasty. James Taylor of JTQ and The Prisoners and Dave Tattersall of The Wave Pictures make guest appearances. On Damaged Goods.

I like that car with the double headlights. It sleeves the new record from Commando which is a further stretch from the producer away from the recent 'Loan Shark' record. It's interesting stuff with some offbeat sampling and heavy beats  - kind of cinematic. This is a three track 12" that you should check out if you are into dubstep/bass music with new weird sounds. 

The latest in Dutch label Rush Hour’s series of releases focussing on Japanese music exhumes a long-lost house gem. An EP taken from the album of the same name originally released in 1990, Kino-Moderno’s music was used in the video game ‘Video Drug 2’. This EP includes remixes from British house DJ Frankie Valentine, and an unreleased version of ‘Into The Future’. 

The latest in Dutch label Rush Hour’s series of releases focussing on Japanese music presents two highly sought-after edits from Colored Music and their 1981 self-titled album courtesy of Tokyo’s Chee Chimizu. This 12” release also includes an alternative take on ‘Heart Beat’. 

As it says on the tin, Music From Memory's 'Music For Dance & Theatre' series presents EPs containing music initially composed for use in the dance and theatre worlds. On 'Music For Dance & Theatre's second volume we have work from Craig Kupka, Ray Lynch and Scan Lines that veers from the rhythmic to the more ambient and atmospheric. 'Music For Dance & Theatre' is sure to be a fascinating series. 

A fusion of established acoustic genres with modern, digital sounds and cutting-edge production values, À l'ombre des roches is the beguiling debut release from Lyon-based duo Organizatisya. Sounding like the score for a video game that never existed, folk and orchestral strains rub up against elements of IDM. 

Camry Horses by Free Range is an album where heavy techno meets melancholy and savage electronics meets pop. It sees the electronic duo’s bizarre and alien electronic creations travel even further out there than their previous release on Osàre! Editions. We must point out that there is also a blues rock combo called Free Range - this is definitely not them.

Recorded in 1959, 'A Música Século XX de Jocy' represents something of an outlier in the extensive discography of Brazilian experimental composer and pianist Jocy de Oliveira. Seemingly an innocuous embrace of the contemporaneous bossa nova fashions, the musical style actually houses a critique of Brazil’s conservative society and politics. Here, 'A Música Século XX de Jocy' is reissued on vinyl for the first time. 

Created using the instrument built by Casio Corporation, CZ-5000 Sounds & Sequences Vol II is unearthed from the archive of musical experiments and tests conducted by Satoshi & Makoto, two brothers from Kawasaki, Japan. Analysed by the Safe Trip Institute in Amsterdam, it’s a colourful and vibrant collection. 

A re-release of the beguiling 1975 album Hypocrisy from little-known American singer Dwight Thompson, one of the most highly sought-after deep funk and soul records to have emerged in the Seventies. Originally released by the tiny Dutch label Poker, it now gets a timely re-issue via ReGrooved Records. 

Captain Sky recorded his debut album, The Adventures of Captain Sky in 1977 at the tender age of 21. He is highly regarded alongside the likes of George Clinton and Bootsy Collins for his Afro Funk stylings. His 12 minute epic 'Super Sporm' has been sampled by greats such as Public Enemy, Wu Tang Clan, Boogie Down Productions and De La Soul, to name but a few. Also, Captain Sky is a totally cool name.

Commercially, the reception to Captain Sky’s music was lukewarm. Other artists, however, have found him to be a rich source for samples with all sorts of rap and hip-hop acts from Public Enemy to De La Soul sampling his work. Pop Goes Captain Sky was his second album of Afro Funk grooves and was originally released in 1979.

Tommy Mandel’s main job was playing keyboards in Bryan Adams backing band. You’ve got to earn a living somehow, I guess. His real passion was for making esoteric synth music. Music For Insomniacs is an album-worth of such music, originally released on a private press cassette in 1984. Each track takes inspiration from waves of sleep. If you enjoy the work of Mort Garson, Woo, Brian Bennett, Angelo Badalamenti, Klaus Schonning or Bruce Haack then this is for you.

First-ever collaboration between Geins't Naït (aka Thierry Merigout and Vincent Hachet) and pretty-funny-on-Twitter-guy Scanner (who I once saw perform in the ladies glove department of a store somewhere in the Netherlands). Both outfits have a long history of works in the ambient/electronic/improvisation field, so it will be fascinating to hear what they come up with together on 'GN / Scanner'.

Gorillaz’ hugely popular Song Machine project, announced earlier this year, gathers together the output to date on this compilation. Season One - Strange Timez is released on regular and deluxe CD and vinyl editions, and contains 11 tracks in total featuring contributions from guest stars ranging from Slaves and Slowthai to Beck, Peter Hook and Elton John. 

'Where Does A Body End?' is an intimate portrait of perhaps the most intense, fearsome band ever to walk the planet - Swans. This film follows Swans from their confrontational roots through to their late-80s attempt to infiltrate the mainstream, subsequent break-up, and later reformation as grizzled veterans of the avant-garde. Featuring hours of unseen footage this is sure to be a fascinating watch for rabid fans as well as those interested in a good story.

Memory Drawings are led by dulcimer player Joel Hanson and include guitarist Richard Adams (Hood / The Declining Winter) and Sarah Kemp (Brave Timbers / Lanterns on the Lake). Their music blends neo-classical and post rock to create a unique, beautiful sound where hammered dulcimer is joined by strings, dubby bass, and splashing percussion. A Few Scattered Hours is their fourth album. Comes with a bonus disc which includes remixes by Giulio Aldinucci, Brendan Perry (Dead Can Dance), The Green Kingdom, Insides, Pin/Johnson (Piano Magic), Mücha and Yvonne Bruner. 

A new career-spanning compilation from Britpop icons Suede. Beautiful Ones: The Best of Suede 1992-2018 arrives on two clear vinyls, and takes a whistle-stop tour through their substantial career highlights, from their Mercury Prize-winning debut to their acrimonious split in 2003 via the chart-demolishing Coming Up, and then collecting together five tracks from their three post-reformation albums in the 2010s. Contains inserts with full lyrics and photos of fan-collected memorabilia. 

Chapterhouse managed to squeeze out two albums during their existence -  the second of which was 1993's Blood Music. It introduced more electronic sounds into their shoegaze palette and spawned hits that I can't remember in She's a Vision and We Are The Beautiful. This re-issue comes on red transparent vinyl on re-issue specialists Music On Vinyl. 

‘Serpentine Prison’ is the debut solo album from the National’s lead singer Matt Berninger. Commenced very shortly after the group’s last outing ‘I Am Easy To Find’, ‘Serpentine Prison’ feels like a natural outgrowth of that project, a collection of stately, collegiate indie-rock formed with contributions from his National bandmates, his EL VY companion Matt Sheehy and David Bowie’s guitarist Gail Ann Dorsey, on top of production from Booker T. Jones. 

A change of direction from the experimental dance music offered on his last album, British cellist and avant-garde musician Oliver Coates goes for violent, brutalist soundscapes on his latest effort, skins n slime. Forcing his string compositions through mangles of mod synths, it’s a striking listen. 

Legendary folk singer John Prine sadly passed away in April 2020. He recorded 18 albums between 1971 and 2018. Crooked Piece of Time: The Atlantic & Asylum Albums (1971-1980) is a CD box set which includes his first seven albums. His songwriting is revered by many and a diverse range of artists have covered his songs from Bette Midler to Evan Dando, Paul Westerberg to John Denver and Johnny Cash to Joan Baez. On Rhino.

Wallows are a US alt-rock band from Los Angeles, fronted by actors Dylan Minnette and Breaden Lemasters. 'Remote EP' is the band’s first new music following their 2019 debut album 'Nothing Happens', an LP which spawned the hit 'Are You Bored Yet?' (a tune which featured singer-songwriter Clairo). More peppy pop in the Haim mode.

Sam Amidon’s seventh studio album ranks as his most accomplished to date. A self-titled effort, it sees the American singer reunite with trusted lieutenants Shahzad Ismaily and Chris Vatalaro - as well as his wife Beth Orton on backing vocals - on an album of compelling originals and adapted traditionals. 

Fake It Flowers is the highly anticipated debut album from British singer-songwriter beabadoobee. Building up her massive fanbase off the back of a stream of excellent EPs since the beginning of 2018 - not to mention the viral sensation of ‘Coffee’ - Bea Kristi is one of the most promising young talents in a long time. 

Leeds-based label Fellow Outlaw Records presents the debut release from Bradford musician Winter Tree Industry. Providing a restful space of shelter from the collapsing world outside, ‘mirage mirror’ and ‘last’ are both gorgeous pieces of downtempo electronica which boast some beautiful flute playing to boot. 

The Dead C are an art-music trio from New Zealand. They formed in 1986 and were regularly name-checked in the ‘90s by the likes of Sonic Youth and Yo La Tengo, which makes them alright in our book. 'Unknowns' is their nineteenth album and sees them once again experimenting with two guitars, drums, distortion and feedback. On Ba Da Bing!

Frozen Dust is the latest studio album from Japanese producer Teruyuki Kurihara. His fifth record overall and released on the German techno and electronic label Mille Plateaux is inspired by nature, particularly the cycles of “destruction and creation”, and is characterised by industrial and experimental music cast in minimalist fashion. 

Not seen the name Mille Plateaux bandied about much of late (or am I not paying enough attention?). The latest album from Thomas Koner appears on the legendary imprint and as you may suspect is a collection of splintered and near undanceable electronic music. Koner experiments in producing music free of rhythm and timing and wonders aloud whether anyone could ever dance to this. 

Producer Glenn Astro has previously released beats and fuzzy textures on the likes of Ninja Tune and Apollo, but for his latest album he wanted to change tack somewhat from his earlier work. The electronic meditations and modern-day electro tones of 'Home Spun' saw the artist working to tight, self-imposed deadlines. What results is an eclectic work that contains homages to J Dilla, jungle and dub among its ten tracks. 

La Noche De Los Dioses is the first album since 2017 by 96 year old Mexican jazz drummer Tino Contreras. Contreras has been making music since 1940 and has shared the stage with the likes of Art Blakey, Louis Armstrong and Dave Brubeck. Despite his age, this album is one filled with contemporary jazz and fresh ¾ rhythms. 

Nordhem is the third album, and final part of a trilogy, by Swedish pianist Henrik Lindstrand. It follows 2017’s Leken and 2019’s Nattresan and like those two well-received albums, is a beautifully woven and soothing soundscape that seamlessly blends a number of genres into one complete piano work. Nordhem translates as North Home and the album honours his scandanavian roots.

Recorded via a long-distance exchange of demos between Carl Coleman and Caspar Hesselager while the former was living in Tenerife last winter, ...Keep Dreaming, Buddy is the third studio album from Palace Winter. Drawing down on hip-hop rhythms and soulful hooks for inspiration, it’s a beautiful listening experience. 

Beastie Boys - as you may know already - made music, and so 'Beastie Boys Music' is as good a title as any for this greatest hits collection. The album stretches from their early-days, VW badge-stealing bangers like 'Fight For Your Right' and 'No Sleep 'Til Brooklyn' to hits such as 'Intergalactic' from their later, more critically-acclaimed period. We miss 'em but this is a great place to start for those curious about Beastie Boys, or if you simply want all their best tunes in one place. 

Anamanaguchi might not be the easiest name to say after a week on the X Box but they are the purveyors of 8 bit behind the soundtrack for the Scott Pilgrim video game. Originally released in 2013, Endless Fantasy is a joyous splurge of instrumental music made using broken Nintendos and Game Boys alongside proper instruments. 

What is that on the sleeve? A coagulation of pig like creatures made out of fondue icing. This is the new album from the UK producer after the Heaters For the Seaters mixtape and featuring a bunch of collaborations with folk I'm too old to have even heard of. It's kind of a gothic and industrial influenced take on modern R&B from the Brixton based producer. 

London’s epic indie-rock band Palace follow their 2019 album life After with an EP, Someday Somewhere. All the songs come from the Life After sessions. It includes the single I’ll Be Fine and  bonus track, Trouble on the Water, which was previously available on Hoxa Sessions EP. On Fiction.

With the coronavirus preventing live shows from happening and Daniel Ek needing more product in order to pay bands half a penny for every thousand streams on Spotify then it's not surprising bands have been forced to put out hodge-podge collections to keep the coffers flowing, This interim release from Blossoms is half filled with covers and reworks recording in lockdown plus a live set recorded in their native Stockport. 

Better Person is the music-making alter-ego of Adam Byczowski, a Berlin-based musician who makes music influenced by power ballads, sophisticated pop ala Prefab Sprout/Talk Talk and Europop. All this might make 'Something To Lose' sound like a bit of a joke but it is performed with such sincerity and craft it turns any notions that this is a spoof record on its head. Produced by Ben Goldwasser of MGMT. 

Formerly the bassist in Fat White Family and They Came From The Stars I Saw Them, Taishi Nagasaka crafts an excellent solo statement with 'Misekake'. An album blending the chaos of garage-punk with the exploratory escapism of psychedelia sung in Japanese, it sees him truly make something stamped with his own personality. 

Moral Panic is the third album by Southend rock band Nothing But Thieves. The two singles from the album, Real Love Song and Is Everybody Going Crazy? have been getting some serious airplay on Radio 1. The album was produced by Mike Crossey who has helmed albums by Arctic Monkeys, Wolf Alice and The 1975, a man who knows how to make hit albums. On RCA.

Formed from hours of first-take, improvised jams laid down in a remarkable session back in early March 2020, The Disciple of Assent sees Sun River musician Martin Rude work with Causa Sui percussionist Jakob Skøtt gleefully colour outside the lines to make something that lies between jazz, psychedelia and folk. 

I'd better get on the blower to my dad as there's a new Bruce Springsteen album on the edge of town. A Letter to You is the first album he's made with his legendary E Street Band. It was made in just five days and contains nine new songs and three taken from his 1970s era of leaving his best work in the can. There's nothing like the E Street Band on full throttle so this should delight his fanbase. 

Arkansas-based doom metal band Pallbearer deliver their fourth studio album. In contrast to the complexity that characterised their last effort Heartless two years ago, Forgotten Days is a comparatively simple affair, emphasising meaty hooks and heavy grooves in an album thematically concerned with family, and its ups and downs. 

Featuring guest contributions from Corey Wilkes, Tomeka Reid and the late Hamiet Bluiett, 'America The Beautiful' is a heartfelt yet excoriating musical analysis of the divisions and crises besetting the U.S.A. by Kahil El’Zabar. Fusing various jazz modes - spiritual, Latin, post-bop - 'Kahil El'Zabar's America the Beautiful' is both urgent and melodic, hitting a new level of artistry for this immensely talented multi-instrumentalist. 

Lucidvox (no relation to Ultravox) are a big name in the thriving Russian underground rock scene. They are known for a mixture of psych-rock, heavy riffing and traditional music from their native land. They've already conquered their home city of Moscow and the environs of their country, 'We Are' - their first international LP drop - now brings them to the attention of the rest of the world. 

'Once Upon A River' is a film directed by Haroula Rose which she adapted from the novel by Bonnie Jo Campbell. It’s a story about a Native American teen who goes on search for her mother. The film's Original Motion Picture Soundtrack features a slightly dreamy, slightly folksy score composed by Death Cab For Cutie keyboard player Zac Rae along with songs by JD Souther, Will Oldham, Bridget St. John and Rodney Crowell.

Swedish guitarist and vocalist Henrick Palm is known for his work with bands such as In Solitude, Ghost, Pig Eyes and Södra Sverige, and he is held in high esteem by the likes of Converge and Repulsion. Palm is a bit of a musical shapeshifter, with his sound taking in eclectic influences such as Trouble, Celtic Frost, Throbbing Gristle, My Bloody Valentine and raw punk. 'Many Days' is his debut solo album.

I don't know what those things on the sleeve are but I know I'm not going to sleep tonight. La Locura de Machuca tells the story of Rafael Machuca a one time lawyer who released some of the most out there African music of the 1970s via his label Discos Machuca. This compilation picks seventeen of the strangest cuts from the back catalogue giving new listeners a flavour of whatever the hell he was up to. 

Two years ago the only place you could buy 'We’re Where We Were' by Tornado Wallace was on CD from a particular clothes shop in Japan. Now the producer’s psychedelic Balearic beauty, which is split into two side-long parts, is getting a worldwide vinyl release as his debut release on Mule Musiq. That's nice of them.

Ride The Fire is the upcoming fifth studio album from Icelandic alternative rock outfit Mammút. Boasting some striking Storm Thorgerson-esque artwork and with Árni Árnason of The Vaccines behind the production desk, the band lay down more of their trademark dense, atmospheric soundscapes. 

Possibly the best day of my life was when I heard Horace Andy's distinctive voice coming out of what I thought was a sound system at a reggae festival in Leeds only to look up and find the man himself stood on a nearby stage. Even if you aren't into your reggae and dub you'll know that quiver from various  Massive Attack records. This box set contains the records he cut in the '70s with Bunny Lee and sees his magnificent voice sitting above dub originals and recuts of his earlier standards. 

Following two blisteringly powerful studio LPs of post-hardcore, Belgian trio Brutus announce their first live album. Recorded at Handelsbeurs in May 2019, the double-album package 'Live In Ghent' showcases the band in their natural setting, with virtually every song in the setlist equalling or bettering their studio equivalents. 

The fact that it's on Echocord should tell you that this is in the minimalist dub techno field. Mathimidori is the alter ego of one Mathias Kaden who has used an assortment of collaborators on this long player which has that hazy dubbed out instrumental sound we all enjoy from the likes of Deepchord and Fluxion. One for a late night drive. 

Arizonan death metal band Gatecreeper are back with ‘Deserted’. This is an LP which incorporates sounds from all stages of death metal’s evolution, from the nascent scene in 1980s Florida via the Scandinavian sound of the ‘90s to the modern-day, through some vicious riffs and a thundering rhythm section. Unsurprisingly given that roll call, ‘Deserted’ recalls the likes of Bolt Thrower and Crowbar. Produced by the band along with Ryan Bram and mixed by Kurt Ballou from Converge.

The members of Warp Records luminaries Red Snapper present us with Number, a vital new project drawing together P Funk, twitchy disco arrangements, and skeletal dub. What's not to love? Their debut album 'Binary' is a barnstorming collection of tunes that would satisfy any fan of A Certain Ratio, Parliament, or The Brides of Funkenstein. Out on Sunday Best. 

Zazou Bikaye were a band that fused various traditional sub-Saharan African musical styles with analog electronics - their first album saw them favourably compared to Brian Eno and David Byrne’s 'My Life In The Bush of Ghosts'. Their second LP 'Mr. Manager', which was released in 1985, saw them blending electronics and afro-funk to not-dissimilar effect. Reissue on Crammed Discs.