Latest new releases on vinyl record, CD and cassette tape

It seems totally insane that it has been ten years since Animal Collective's high watermark Merriweather Post Pavilion album. To celebrate, the band are issuing this 3LP live album containing tracks from the album and other favourites performed in concert on their 2009 tour.  A fascinating document of a unique and mind bending band at their peak.

Squarepusher is fairly prolific with 18 albums under his belt and a load of singles and EPs too. It shouldn’t surprise us, then, that he has an EP out so soon after his recent album Be Up A Hello. It is called Lamental EP and it features Detroit People Mover from that album plus three new tracks. On Warp.

Kaffe Matthews comes with a zoology degree and an apprenticeship from time spent with Graeme Park at the Hacienda. A seasoned traveller, she had never lived in one place for very long so she decided to move to Berlin and become a Foreigner, which happens to be the inspiration and title of her new LP. The album sees her utilising the Italian Elka organ and making music that shifts, morphs. Rolls, stops and changes.

Flat Worms return with their third album in around four years, and on Antarctica, the group’s already punishing sound continues to get harsher and more brutal. Recorded in just six days with the help of Ty Segall and Steve Albini, it seeks to provide bleak yet darkly humorous commentary upon the state of the world today. 

Inwards is the music-making moniker of Kristian Shelley from Worcestershire. He is an experimental multi-instrumentalist and music programmer whose spontaneous and free-sounding music has also been described as a childlike soundworld hiding psychedelic undertones. Bright Serpent is his latest album, released on Small Pond.

Baltimore quartet Horse Lords have been seen as kind of wandering minstrels of experimental music. Taking in influences as disparate as Albert Ayler, the Ex and Glenn Branca they follow an idiosyncratic path marked by a strong political ideal. The Common Task is their fourth album and continues the studio experiments and hypnotic rhythms of 2016's acclaimed Interventions. 

One of the most acclaimed rappers of his generation, a reputation established by his work over the last 18 months, Denzel Curry begins the ‘20s with a brand new full-length titled Unlocked, produced by Kenny Beats and laid down in a manically intense three-day recording period following Curry’s appearance on the producer’s YouTube show ‘The Cave’. 

Viscerals by Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs Pigs, or Pigs x 7 if you prefer, is the band’s third album, following 2018’s King Of Cowards and their 2017 debut Feed The Rats. The album sees the heavy psych-rockers really hitting their stride. A leaner, more direct sound with catchy songs built on rocking riffs. Viscerals is an apt title.

Death Ship 2047 by electronic composer (and high jumper?) Andy Fosberry was inspired by the 1997 space horror movie Event Horizon. It is very dramatic and full of dark synth textures which recall the tense horror of the movie. The album took shape as it was announced that another branch of the Event Horizon story was being made. It got Fosberry thinking about how much he loved the original. Available on cassette in two different colour ways.

The debut EP release on Fat Possum for Blair Howerton’s creatively blossoming project Why Bonnie, and her third EP altogether, Voice Box is another demonstration of her forceful singing voice, her equally striking lyrical style, and the gentle Snail Mail-esque guitar pop she uses to propel them. 

A distillation of the highlights of the 2014 compilation released on a three-LP box set, comprising an audio ‘sketchbook’ of German electronic music composer Hans-Joachim Roedelius during the so-called ‘Forst years’ working closely with Cluster and Harmonia. Tape Archive Essence 1973-1978 boils the set down to a one-vinyl release. 

A whopping four decades after he released his first ‘Self Portrait’ album in 1979, after which a further seven instalments followed in the time up until 2002, another instalment in Hans-Joachim Roedelius has arrived. Selbstportrait Wahre Liebe is a timely reminder of the power of the German’s solo work outside of Cluster and Harmonia. 

Australian composer Daniel McCagh has already worked commercially with the likes of Volkswagen but this is the first of more experimental work from the musician. He manipulates acoustic instruments to make ambient music with an industrial, machine-based edge to it. A fascinating opening statement from an ambient practitioner to keep an eye on. Just 250 copies of the clear/smoke vinyl edition. 

'The Only Fun In Town' is the first, last, and only album from Scottish post-punkers Josef K. It's an album that gets straight to the point, clocking in at under half an hour. It's angular and sharp, with screeching guitars and fizzy drums all underpinned by Paul Haig's yelpy, tremulous vocals. Reissued on lovely clear vinyl by Les Disques du Crepuscule. 

As well as enjoying their own individual careers, Sean and Sara Watkins present their second Watkins Family Hour album, brother sister. Coming half a decade after their self-titled joint album, this new ten-track effort sees them yet again explore the bluegrass and folk sounds they enjoyed growing up. 

Marking her move to Wax Nine, American singer-songwriter Johanna Warren’s last two studio albums - a pair of thematically related albums titled Gemini I and Gemini II (released in 2016 and 2018 respectively) - are being re-issued in a deluxe, 2xLP package. There are bonus tracks in the shape of ‘The Garden’ and ‘Maya’, along with instrumental versions of the studio albums. 

Junk food-themed rock ‘n’ rollers MFC Chicken announce their fifth studio album, Fast Food & Broken Hearts. Formed a decade ago in a flat on Holloway Road above a chicken shop that gave them their name, they’ve established a great reputation as a live act for their riotous shows, something that this album captures perfectly. 

For their first new music in almost a decade, The Little Hands of Asphalt are rolling out a new album titled Half Empty in five instalments of pairs of singles. Aside from the novel manner of release, Sjur Lyseid’s group are pretty much picking up where they left off, dealing in dusty nuggets of Americana and alt-folk indebted to everybody from Bob Dylan to Conor Oberst. 

Mndsgn as you may or may not guess is pronounced Mind Design and is the alter ego of producer Ringgo Ancheta. He's already released several lovely records for Stones Throw but Bed is something different entirely. Originally issued on limited cassette it explores sleep and the places it takes us and also features a heartfelt tribute to Acheta's deceased cat. 

Quetzalcóatl was the 1977 era solo debut from Mexican musician Tito who like Kraftwerk or Vangelis was a bit of a synth fanatic.  He used the likes of the Mini Moog and Arp Odyssey to create eclectic and inspired composition. This album has been out of print for years and is the sort of rarity that will get analogue synth fans everywhere frothing at the mouth. 

Innocent Country was born from a close kinship, in both musical and personal terms, of rapper Gavin Christopher Tenille - better known as Quelle Chris - and producer and composer Chris Keys. Burning through a dozen tracks in under 33 minutes, the collection is vivacious fun yet also clear-eyed and philosophical. 

You or Someone You Know is the third album by American punk rock band Worriers. The Brooklyn four-piece have made boundary-pushing album with the assistance of veteran producer John Agnello who has worked with giants such as Sonic Youth, Dinosaur Jr and Kurt Vile. The album asks how the state of the world affects out relationships with one another.

I've said it before about Devonte Hynes (Blood Orange, Lightspeed Champion etc etc)  that he gets where water won't. Last year alone he released a Blood Orange 'mixtape', directed a video for Beck and got a place in a list of the 100 Most Creative People. Now he's onto soundtracks and his first stab is for this American crime drama that follows to African Americans after they go on the run after killing a cop. 

Composed by frequent Rockstar musical collaborator Woody Jackson and featuring pieces from the likes of Arca, Colin Stetson and David Ferguson among many others, the incredible score for smash hit PS4 game Red Dead Redemption II is finally available on double clear vinyl, courtesy of Invada Records. 

Pokey LaFarge, real name Andrew Heissler, is a country / blues / folk singer based in Los Angeles. Rock Bottom Rhapsody is his eighth album. He describes it as a mix between Roy Orbison, Bob Dylan and 40s French Jazz. Joel Paterson played guitar, Scott Ligon played keyboards, Jimmy Sutton, played two types of bass and Alex Hall featured on drums. It was produced by Chris Seefried (Counting Crows, Lana Del Rey, Joseph Arthur) who also co-wrote some tracks.

Originally released in 1994 and arguably representing the pinnacle of Alison and Jim Shaw’s gothic minimalist aesthetic, building in elements of alternative rock, shoegaze, dream-pop and darkwave, Cranes’ excellent third studio album Loved is re-issued on blue-and-gold marbled transparent vinyl. 

Chapterhouse's debut album 'Whirpool' is an unsung gem of shoegaze. The Reading group were never afraid to look to the dance sounds which crossed into alternative music at the time, seeking influence from baggy and the wall of sound structures of acid house. Heavy grooves, distorted yet melodic riffs, lust ambience; it can only be a 90s shoegazing album!

In calling out Morrissey for racism waaay before it become blindingly obvious he had some pretty unsavoury views, being a multi-ethnic indie band in the white boy dominated '90s, having an actual number one hit with Brimful of Asha, Cornershop have already done it all. Yet 30 years after forming, they still have a commitment to the cause with the release of their ninth studio album England is a Garden. Expect the usual splicing of styles including disco, funk, Indian raga and glam rock. 

Jackie Lynn is a band made up of Cooper Crain, Rob Frye and Dan Quinlivan of Bitchin Bajas and Haley Fohr of Circuit des Yeux. Their self-titled debut album from 2016 promised much, with the electronics of Bitchin Bajas melding with the song-orientated approach by Haley Fohr. Everything had seeming gone quiet, but now they return with a second album, Jacqueline. Lead single Casino Queen takes the electronics of the first album and injects them with a blast of steroids for a pumped up motorik sound.  

No McDonald and Loggins this time but Thundercat follows up the expansive, at times baffling 'Drunk' with another tour de force of his nimble-fingered funk, soul and hip-hop. Fifteen more tracks of blissful, laid back sunshine vibes topped off with his distinctive sweet vocals and virtuoso bass playing. He's roped in a tantalizing array of artists, here working with Childish Gambino, Steve Lacy, Steve Arrington, Ty Dolla $ign, Lil B, Zack Fox & Louis Cole. Four (count 'em) different vinyl versions to choose from at the time of launch. Released through Flying Lotus' esteemed Brainfeeder label (naturally). 

Following its digital release back in January, whereupon it reached the top of the UK charts and attracted universal acclaim, the second studio album from British rapper J Hus comes to vinyl. On the heels of his Mercury-nominated debut Common Sense and his much-publicised stint in jail, Big Conspiracy is a career-defining moment. 

Loveblind are typical of the modern band in that none of the members have ever been in the same room. Instead, Saint Marie records owner Wyatt Perkins teamed up digitally with Josh Garman (Crash City Saints) and Dorian Electrique (Seasurfer) as well as Mikel Wegener and Neil Burkdoll. The quintet shared files and chatted over the interwebs in order to realise their vision which takes in dark synthwave and shoegaze. 

The short-lived but much-loved Manchester indie outfit Metro Trinity (whose number at one point included future Doves guitarist Andy Williams) earn a re-issue of their Die Young EP, originally released back in early 1987 on their own Cafeteria label. Here, three of its four tracks are pressed on white 7” vinyl via Optic Nerve. 

Arrrgggh! Spider! Don’t worry, it’s only a picture. The theme of the LP and book combo Tarantismo: Odyssey of an Italian Ritual is Tarentism is the uncontrollable need to dance when bitten by a Tarantula, apparently something that has happened for centuries in Southern Italy. It is the latest musical project from FLEE, following their album and book of Kenyan Benga music. 

Definitely in the world's top three Basils (alongside Fawlty and Brush) is legendary sound manipulator Basil Kirchin. Those intrepid folk at Trunk have found a bunch of unheard 1960s and 1970s era recordings by the great man and here are three separate and very different tapes pressed onto vinyl. Perhaps the most exciting thing is that there are further found archives to come.  

Loads and loads of Karen Dalton here in this handsome box, which is attractively designed to look like an old studio tape box. Three LPs and Three CDs contain beautifully remastered versions of the live album Cotton Eyed Joe, the home recordings of Green Rocky Road, and a tantalising collection of previously unreleased (!) home recordings. Plus a book of treats from the Dalton archives and a T-shirt. Get stuck in.

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. 

Zero Dollar Bill is the debut 5-track EP from Nottingham punks Do Nothing. Their music mashes, or maybe even smashes, together the sounds of Talking Heads and LCD Soundsystem. They like to do everything with a sense of humour and general mucking about, so they take influences from the comedy world too. Features the singles LeBron James and Fits. 

Jean-Gabriel Becker is a film score composer from Paris who has worked with Massive attack and John Foxx. He is also the Becker part of this new super-duo.  Susumu Mukai hails from Osaka in Japan, but is now based in London where his skills as a musician are highly coveted. He has worked with Floating Points, Vanishing Twin, Alexis Taylor and Fimber Bravo, among others. He forms the Mukai part of Becker and Mukai. Time Very Near features original, well produced sounds, mixing African instruments with spacey synths.

Lyra Pramuk is a trained opera singer and electronic musician whose music is imbued with pop sensibilities. She makes what has been described as Futurist Folk Music. Thematically her debut album, Fountain, traverses non-binary, post-human understanding. She is known for collaborating with Holly Herndon and Colin Self and has opened for Sunn 0))).

Friday Forever is the follow-up to the Mercury Music Prize nominated eponymous debut by Everything Is Recorded. It is released through XL Recordings, which is rather convenient as the man behind this particular mask is XL head honcho Richard Russell. There are guest spots for some new artists such as Aitch, FLOHIO and Berwyn, Maria Somerville, Kean Kavanagh, A.K. Paul, James Massiah, Infinite Coles and well-known names such as Ghostface Killah and Penny Rimbaud of Crass - a varied bunch. I think you’ll like this. Yes, you, reading this.

Melbourne's fierce and distortive three-piece continue their ascension the politically-focussed 'Far Enough'. The 8 track record, including bangers such as 'Tell Them Where To Go' and 'Sandcastles', is characterised by its pulsating rhythms and 70s hard rock influences. Eyebrow-raising stuff from the trio. 

Nearly five years after we last heard from them, Megan James and Corin Roddick announce their third studio album as Purity Ring. Womb, with a loose thematic thread of a search for comfort and peace, finds the duo forging cutting-edge production techniques with their irrepressible knack for melody and harmony. 

Savage Mansion hail from Glasgow. They are led by Craig Angus and play melodic guitar-based indie rock. Support slots with Frightened Rabbit piqued the interest of Johnny Lynch, AKA Pictish Trail, who signed them to his Lost Map label. BBC 6 Music’s Lauren Laverne, Marc Riley and Gideon Coe rate them highly as does Bob Nastanovic - the auxiliary drummer / shouting guy from Pavement. Weird Country is the band’s second album.

Will Archer, previously known under the name Slime, returns with a new album and recording moniker, Wilma Archer. The album, A Western Circular, has been cooking for the past five years or so as Archer has been a busy fella. He has contributed to albums by Sudan Archives, Nilüfer Yanya,Celeste and Jessie Ware. Here, he builds up from his acoustic beginnings making an album influenced by artists as disparate as Frank Zappa, Robert Wyatt, Yasuaki Shimuzu and Arthur Russell. 

Jarv Is is the new band Jarvis Cocker formed along with Serafina Steer, Andrew Mckinney from James Taylor Quartet, Jason Buckle from All Seeing I and Adam Betts from Three Trapped Tigers. When they first performed House Music All Night Long it caused Jarvis Cocker to crowdsurf for the first time in his life. This has now become a habit. Oh, and Jarvis Cocker used to be in a band called Pulp. 

Dave Bloody NYZ. The Australian based, UK born scientist of noise returns with an archive release of some of his oldest bleeps. This is a 2LP worth of vintage tunes from the '87 to '93 period which pre-dated similar noises coming out of Autechre, Aphex Twin and the Rephlex laboratories. A wide ranging blast of techno, acid, hardcore and breakbeats from a leader in his field. Essential. 

A 20th anniversary re-issue for Vocalcity, the debut album from Vladislav Delay under his Luomo moniker. Previously renowned for dealing in dub-influenced techno, the album was a surprise to his fans, revealing a set of soulful deep house featuring Johanna Livanainen’s occasional vocals. It now gets a new life on this triple-vinyl set. 

A split edition from Bernard Fort spanning almost forty years. The first side is given over to Fractals (1981) - a series of endless music pieces that Fort intended to be approached from any angle the listener wants  - forwards, backwards, at different speeds. Over on the flip is Brain Fever improvisations using analog synthesisers and feedback devices inspired by South India and recorded in 2018. 

Disruptions of Form is the latest album from enigmatic Manchester-based producer Echium. He is known for his hermit ways and making some precise ambient electronic music. This album is no exception, mixing ambient pop and cosmic electro-acoustics in a painstakingly arranged manner. It’s his first album for sferic since 2017’s Synthetic Space. It sees him rejoin a stable that also includes Space Afrika, Perila and Jake Muir.

A pioneer of noisy techno as one half of the iconic Smersh alongside Chris Shepard in the Eighties, Mike Mangino is still putting out quality material in the 2020s. Coisas is released on Joachim Nordwall’s iDEAL imprint and is a superb coalescence of dub, deeper shades of house and techno. 

The press release describes Ringo Deathstarr as shoegaze pioneers. That's funny as I can't remember them being around in 1988 when Kevin Shields was making good use of his guitar pedals.  The truth is, Ringo Deathstarr make sounds you've heard before but that doesn't mean they aren't good at what they do. They blend new shapes into the genre injecting psychedelia and ambience into their familiar sound. 

Vancouver-born Serbian singer Dana Gavanski  releases her debut album, Yesterday is Gone. It was recorded with Toronto psychedelic musician Sam Gleason, who was apparently responsible for the tunes and Mike Lindsay of Tuung and Lump who developed the sound of the record. A beautiful psych-folk affair that lands somewhere between Cate Le Bon and Weyes Blood.

New History Warfare Volume 1 is the third album, and first for Aagoo, by American saxophonist and firm Norman favourite Colin Stetson. Stetson’s career as a musician has seen him dabbling in various genres from jazz to avant garde to experimental and indie rock with Arcade Fire and Bon Iver. All this feeds into the genre defying songs and musical virtuosity on this album.

Sweden’s Hollow Ship gave us a hint of their psychedelic rock built on a foundation of fractured funk in 2019 with their debut single We Were Kings. Now they arrive with their debut album, Future Remains. It sees the band bring a fully formed and original sound that seamlessly blends retro with some sort of weird future. It was produced by the band along with Mattias Glavå who has worked with Swedish giants Dungen.

Mmmm wine. The Wine Dark Sea is a phrase that coms from the writings of Homer (not that one) who described the sea as such leading to speculation he didn't fully understand colour. The Wine Dark Sea is Christopher Bissonnette's fifth album and sees the artist move away from a purely synth-based approach to using more acoustic instruments and textures. Very limited edition on Dronarivm. 

Piano Textures is a series that Argentinian pianist Bruno Sanfilippo has been working on throughout his 20 year career. Here we have Piano Textures No. 5 which explores patterns in contemporary classical music, minimalism, the beauty of quietness and reflection. The Piano Textures series is the work most representative of Sanfilippo as an artist. As usual with his albums, we expect this to be very good.

Irma Vep - a play, a film and the musical project of Glasgow-based Edwin Stevens. His fourth album, Embarrassed Landscape, was recorded in two days with regular collaborators Ruari Maclean and Andrew Cheetham. Clattering indie rock with nods to The Velvet Underground, Pixies and mid-’70s Bob Dylan filtered through Glasgow’s very musical veins.

Cellist Clarice Jensen has already collaborated with the late composer Jóhann Jóhannsson amongst others on earlier work but for her second album goes it alone on a record which uses the cello and nothing else as a sound source. The album uses the instrument to create loops and electronica that veer far in the direction of more dance-orientated practitioners like Actress. Seems she's doing for the cello what Colin Stetson has done for the sax. 

If You’re Dreaming is the second album by Detroit singer / songwriter Anna Burch. She started out as a touring member of Frontier Ruckus before quitting music to return to college. It wasn’t long before music got her back. If You’re Dreaming follows her 2018 debut Quit The Curse. Her music is ‘60s influenced indie-pop / folk-rock. She has previously cited Elliott Smith and Alvvays as influences.

Four years after their debut EP Object Relations comes the first full-length album from the immensely promising London-based DIY four-piece Es. Dealing in dark, mutated synth-punk, Less of Everything was recorded last summer after the band were briefly split between England and Scotland, and should be one of 2020’s most exciting debuts. 

Singer / songwriter Ren Harvieu was discovered via MySpace when that was a thing. She was nominated for the BBC Sound of 2012 which is also the year she released her first and until now, only album, Through The Night. It’s taken a while due to a horrific injury but now she’s back with Revel In The Drama. The album was co-written by Harvieu and Romeo Stodart of The Magic Numbers, so you can expect a catchy tune or two.

Following up on the brilliant reception afforded to their 2017 debut album Glue, Andrew Ferguson and Matthew McBriar return with a new Bicep track on 12”. A six-minute exploration of undulating synth lines that traverse broken-beat landscapes interspersed with cut-up vocals, ‘Atlas’ is an unmistakable banger. 

New York's Josh da Costa and Jamen Whitelock were doing pretty well for themselves as Regal Degal but were preferring the after show dancing to the actual performances so they aligned their music accordingly, made a swift name change to CMON. The resulting debut album aligns their old band's atmospherics with a kind of kinetic four to the floor dance music reminiscent of Drugdealer or Mild High Club. 

Heaven To A Tortured Mind is the fourth album by Yves Tumor, aka American experimental electronic producer, Sean Bowie (no relation). It is the follow-up to his critically lauded album from 2018, Safe In The Hands of Love, which was his debut for Warp. They thought it was so good that they’d let him make another, and we're delighted. I think It’s worth noting that he has also performed under the name Yvsie Ray Vaughan.

Finally delivering a proper sequel to his massively acclaimed debut album Hud Dreems from back in 2015 (on top of the gargantuan number of mixtapes released over the last ten years), Grammy-winning hip-hop producer Glen Earl Boothe (known under his moniker Knxwledge) releases the much-anticipated 1988. 

Inner Space was made by Sven Libaek to soundtrack a 1973 documentary series on whatever it is that lurks under the sea. It started what became known as 'underwater jazz' - a swirling aquatic take on jazz exotica that is beautifully melodic. The soundtrack got a second lease of life in 2004 whebn several tracks were used in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zizzou.

Esterno Notte is the name given to a series of compilations that explore through the lost backwaters of Italian cinematic groove music, lost jazz funk and urban disco. Volume three contains tracks from some names you'll know from the Italian underground including Alessandro Alessandroni, Pippo Caruso (as performed here by Goblin) and Stelvio Cipriani. 

Bernard Parmegiani was a French experimental composer who, by the looks of photographs of him, regularly thinks hard into his beard.... probably about avant-garde music. This selection of 1960s and early 1970s performances is a perfect example of how he uses breaths, minimalist microsonic sounds and field recordings to push forward his theories. This edition comes cut by Rashad Becker with layout by Stephen O'Malley of Sunn O))).

The Pathfinders were a couple of guys from Manchester Polytechnic in 1981 who after seeing the Human League play bought some primitive synthesizers and goofed around with them in their flat to no particular end. Cut to nearly 40 years later and we can now hear what they came up with. It's playful early day synth recordings with nods to Cluster and Throbbing Gristle amongst others. 

Illusion of Time is a collaboration between acclaimed electronic producer Daniel Avery and Nine Inch Nails collaborator Alessandro Cortini. The project has come together over a number of years. Before they’d even met, they had communicated the idea that they wanted to work together and started working separately, without theme or deadlines. The album came together when they were both part of the Nine Inch Nails touring set up in 2018.

Will Baxter Dury ever escape from being described as Ian Dury’s son? Not here. He has, however, made a significant contribution to music. His new album, The Night Chancers, is his sixth. The album tackles subjects such as social media stalking, bloggers, insecurity, those that lack awareness and self-deluded types.

Fu Manchu are among stoner rock's most eminent sons. Their strident vocals, thick distortion, and mammoth riffs rightfully earned them a place in the rock pantheon alongside groups like Sleep and Kyuss. Their classic third album 'In Search Of...' has been given a shiny new limited edition reissue + never before seen photos + a bonus red/black splatter 7”. 

Post-rock-inspired outfit FACS formed in Chicago a little over three years ago, in the aftermath of the break-up of Disappears. Guitarist Brian Case and drummer Noah Leger have come a hell of a long way in that time, already on their third (and, again, different-sounding) full-length. Void Walker is arguably their most melodic and direct to date, while remaining faithful to the post-punk minimalism of previous efforts. 

The lofty American guitarist and experimentalist Sir Richard Bishop (Sun City Girls, Rangda et al.) or Sir Rick to his friends, returns after fives years of travel and exploration with Oneiric Formulary. It is his first album since the rather brilliant Tangier Sessions. His last two albums have been based around specific themes. Here the theme is much looser as he creates a collection of dream states, using different instruments on every track, drawing on different sounds from around the world.

Marla Hansen has moved out from the shadows of Sufjan Stevens, The National and My Brightest Diamond to put herself in the spotlight with Dust. Her move to Berlin has played a part in how Dust sounds too. There’s her Americana influences mixed with the strings of the Oriel Quartett, the synths of Barabara Morgenstern and the drums of The Notwist drummer Andi Haberl. 

Trimeter Records presents Family Songbook, the latest record from Tanya, Petra and Rachel Haden. As its generation-spanning title might suggest, it includes four recently excavated tracks from the triplets’ grandfather, Carl E. Haden, recorded and written during the Great Depression, on top of new originals from their brother Josh, takes on Americana standards and even a Kanye West cover... 

Two excellent artists who love an extended psychedelic guitar jam have teamed up to indulge each others fantasies. Chris Forsyth, who hasn’t had the same line-up backing him for quite a while now, has chosen New Jersey jam band Garcia Peoples to be his backing band for and LP they’ve called People Motel Band. 

The Skatalite is a twelve track collection taken from the archives of popular Jamaican group the Skatalites. Not intended to be a 'best of' as such, the album is more like a sampler featuring the prime cuts from the career of the much heralded ska and reggae band. A perfect place to begin for the new and curious listener. 

Composer extraordinaire Jóhann Jóhannsson had been working on Last and First Men since 2010 but at the time of his untimely death in 2018 had yet to finish it. Berlin composer Yair Elazar Glotman helped to finish the piece which is a multimedia project with a film and narration by Tilda Swinton. An ambitious work which serves as a perfect epitaph.  

Sufjan Stevens takes a step into the world of New Age music with Aporia. It is a collaborative album made with Lowell Brams of Carrie & Lowell fame who co-owns Asthmatic Kitty records and also happens to be Sufjan Stevens’ stepfather. What we have here is the soundtrack of a non-existent sci-fi film that takes its cues from the likes of John Carpenter, Wendy Carlos and Mike Oldfield. This isn't something Sufjan Stevens has made on quiet weekend when he had nothing else to do, this is a proper, fully realised work.

Manchester’s Slow Readers Club get themselves back to the recording studio following their Live From Festival No. 6 LP for their fourth album proper, The Joy Of The Return. The album was written whilst on tour, a change in method for them, which allowed more time for the songs to evolve. Rest assured, the pulsating drums, searing guitar lines and sky-reaching choruses are all present and correct.

Although he’s not released a new album of originals in over half a decade, Andrew Carthy is still very much active under his much-beloved Mr Scruff alias. Incredibly, this is his first DJ-Kicks mix, and it marks the 25th anniversary of !K7’s fabled series. Carthy’s 31-track selection also includes one brand new and exclusive Mr Scruff track! 

Patrice Rushen was perhaps better known as an arranger and pianist who worked behind the scenes with other artists at the time of her 1980 album Posh but she had released a series of low key records under her own name throughout the 1970s. She was working with a small group of musicians who she trusted and it is through loose jamming that the ideas for Posh would come about. She went on to be better known for her subsequent hit Forget-Me-Nots. A classic if ever there was one and a record that Posh paved the way for. 

Boston band Vundabar return with Ether Light, the follow-up to 2018’s Smell Smoke. It sees the band, a traditionally an off-kilter indie rock band prone to wig-outs, trying out some new sounds. They dabble with drum machines, loops, samples and synths and used the vocal talents of Slow Pulp’s Emily Massey too. It was produced by Patrick Hyland who has worked on the last three Mitski albums.

Her fixation with all things science-fiction, as well as the distinctive Scouse brogue of her vocal delivery, have made her one to watch over the last year or so, and now singer-songwriter Zuzu presents her latest EP, How It Feels. Presented on 12” vinyl, her latest effort houses her four most recent singles, including the brand new one ‘Skin And Bone’. 

Having signed to Gilles Peterson’s Brownswood label a couple of months back, London-based musician Forest Law introduces his self-titled debut EP for the imprint. Just like the work that generated such attention initially, the three tracks here are sonically eclectic yet warm and human, with Brazilian influences laced throughout. 

4 Mosche Di Velluto Grigio (Four Flies On Grey Velvet) is a 1972 film by Dario Argento. The soundtrack was composed by the legendary Ennio Morricone. It is in turn, manic, tense and discordant with moments of jazz rock. It was orchestrated by Bruno Nicolai and features the vocals of Edda Dell’Orso. A fantastic late night listen.

A long-awaited vinyl re-issue of Super Liminal, the debut album from Afrolatin collective Penya which was originally released at the start of 2018. While the band are in the studio working on a follow-up album, they deliver a new EP in collaboration with Msafiri Zawose alongside this timely re-pressing of their debut, a whirlwind of rhythms and different production techniques. 

Released at the height of the music press’s fascination with ‘trip-hop’, George Evelyn’s second Nightmares On Wax album Smokers Delight gets a lavish 25th anniversary re-issue, a minor masterpiece that passed under the radar in commercial terms back in ‘95 but which remains a cult classic to this day.

Stumbleine is the musical project of producer Peter Cooper. Sink Into The Ether is his 7th album and the music within provides the perfect soundtrack for doing just that: hazy, dreamy and melodic. One for lying down and not doing much to. Features guest vocals from Midas Fall vocalist Elizabeth Heaton on a surprising cover of the Hole track Malibu.

Warm Digits is a lovely, comfortable, cosy name for a band, don’t ya think? The Newcastle-based duo return with Flight of Ideas. Bouncing synths, a blizzard of guitar and some day-glo jittering funk are topped off with guest vocals from Paul Smith of Maximo Park, The Lovely Eggs, The Orielles, Rozi Plain and Emma Pollock.

The long-awaited second studio album from tētēma, the collaboration between Faith No More’s Mike Patton and Australian composer Anthony Pateras. Half a decade after their debut, necroscape grew naturally from Pateras’ tape loop and analogue synth compositions and mixed with Patton’s distinctive vocals, Erkki Veltheim’s violins and Will Guthrie’s percussion.

The first Sun Araw full length album to be recorded live-to-midi, drummer Jon Leland, synth player Marc Riordan and frontman Cameron Stallones have outdone themselves on Rock Sutra. Concerning the subjectivity of how we experience life, it’s a truly epic achievement in the field of space rock. 

After they were shortlisted for the 2018 Welsh Music Prize for their debut Trunks and bagged support slots with IDLES and The Lovely Eggs, big things are rightly expected of Seazoo’s second album Joy. Specialising in grin-inducing, heart-leaping indie pop, their exceptional live form has accurately been captured by producers Ben Trow and Mike Collins. 

German composer Ulrich Schnauss has a number of claims to fame under his belt - there’s his highly respected musician status, of course, he’s currently a member of German electronic legends Tangerine Dream, and he was sampled (illegally, as it turned out) by Guns N’ Roses. Now he’s remastering his whole back catalogue. The latest installment is his 2001 album Far Away Trains Passing By. Fans of Brian Eno, Tycho and Jon Hopkins, take note.

Vinnie Paz is a Sicilian born rapper once known as Ikon the Verbal Hologram and about a thousand other aliases. Now trading under a more easy speak moniker he is onto his fifth album of gritty, politically aware rap. As Above So Below follows on from 2018s The Bridge and the Abyss and contains 18 collaboration-heavy tracks. 

A frequent collaborator and a part of Hrns, Purga and the 00:Nekyia group, Portuguese artist Afonso Ferreira delivers his debut solo album as Farwarmth for the Planet Mu label. Momentary Glow finds Ferreira in his element, its seven tracks built up over four years - processing the sounds of friends & family, cello, flute and accordion into fresh, emotionally resonant new forms.

Erik Nervous follows his 2018 album, Assorted Anxieties, by teaming up with a backing band, The Beta Blockers, and importing influences from The Minutemen, Bogshed and Andy Gill of Gang Of Four. There is also an underlying influence hardcore punk running through Erik Nervous and the Beta Blockers with some Saints and Pere Ubu thrown in for good measure.