This week's hand-picked preorders

Here we have Detroit techno duo Drexciya operating under the name of Abstract Thought. The duo featured producer Gerald Donald who is also the main man behind Dopplereffekt. Their self titled EP. The three tracks here are previously unreleased and were recorded around the same time as the duo’s only album. 

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.

Before Johnny Jewel became famous for his soundtrack work (see Lost River, A Beautiful Now) he was a member of Chromatics. Night Drive was their third album and the on which transformed them from DIY noise rockers to sleek '80s influenced synth soundtrackers keen on Italo disco and leading to tracks from the album appearing on all manner of films and TV shows.  

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. 

East Village were an indie-pop band formed in 1986 by brothers Martin and Paul Kelly. Like a lot of cool bands of that period, they were influenced by the jangle of The Byrds and the melodies of The Beatles. They released a bunch of singles and one album, Drop Out, in their 5 year career. Hotrod Hotel is a compilation gathering together the best bits released on vinyl for the first time.

If you know ambient music then you'll know Eluvium. Matthew Cooper's project has long been known for its use of electronic minimalism and stark piano-based compositions. Here the artist soundtracks a temporary move into his garage studio which gave him a total different perspective being closer to nature and away from the gadgets of the modern world.  

Human Impact are a band made up from members of Swans, Cop Shoot Cop, Xiu Xiu and Unsane. As you can imagine from that mix of musicians their eponymous debut contains some gritty, post-industrial rock and punk. Whilst the band draw on the artistic successes of their past, they also give a new spin on it with their widescreen sonic assault.

Now apparently feeling 100 years old although he’s only 37, Manchester singer / songwriter Jim Noir releases his first album in 5 years, A.M. Jazz. You may remember Jim, real name Alan Roberts, from his success in the late ‘00s with The Beatles sampling song My Patch, other catchy Beatles-esque pop and for wearing a bowler hat. He’s chucked away the hat now and replaced it with a pair of slippers. You can judge the affect this has on his music by clicking 'add to cart'.

Jon Hassell is best known for his collaborations with non Western music and traditional African acts in a form of music he called Fourth World. On this his 1987 album Flash of the Spirit he records with Farafina - a percussion voice and dance collective. It was recorded by Brian Eno and Daniel Lanois and this is its first ever vinyl remaster.  

Parasite is the new film by South Korean director Boon Jong-Ho. About an unemployed family who become involved with a wealthy family. Jung Jae II is a South Korean singer / songwriter and musician. After lots of thought, he decided to go with an orchestral score here due to an orchestras ability to convey very different feelings with the same tone. Jung Jae II's other film score credits include Princess Aurora (2005) and Addicted (2002).

French ‘60s influenced indie-pop three-piece Juniore have been described as a cross between Cat Power and Françoise Hardy. Un Deux Trois is the band’s second album. It follows their highly regarded 2017 debut, Ouh là là. The band are led by Anna Jean whose dad just happens to be Nobel Prize winning author, J. M. G. Le Clézio.

Norwegian band Kvelertak have signed with Rise Records for their fourth album, Splid, which translates to Discord in English. The band run the gamut of guitar music from good ol’ rock and roll to black metal via punk rock. Let’s just say hey like to make a racket. The new album explores how stupid and greedy the human race have been and wonders where it will all end. Recorded with Kurt Ballou in Massachusetts. 

You have to hand it to Luke Haines. He keeps to the wayward path which he can then write about in his next tomb of prose.... "and you won't believe what I did next". Well what he did next was collaborate with R.E.M guitarist Peter Buck. Now, in the mid '90s a collaboration between the Auteurs and R.E.M. would have been exciting but unthinkable. The couple met when Buck bought one of Haines painting of Lou Reed and so began a musical journey which we hope yields fascinating results.  

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.

Moses Boyd is an award winning jazz musician mostly known for being one half of Binker & Moses.  He likes to blend genres to create innovative new sounds. He has previously collaborated with musician and producer Sampha, contemporary classical pop musician Kelsey Lu and played drums for Sons of Kemet.  Dark Matter is his debut solo album. 

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.

The second full length from Phase Fatale comes via Ostgut Ton. Phase Fatale is Berlin-based American DJ and producer Hayden Payne. He is known for his innovative take on techno, which brings elements of industrial electronics to the party, and his sound design. Scanning Backwards is the follow up to 2017’s Redeemer, which was released on Hospital Productions.

Fans of freaky fuzzed-up psych-rock please put your spliffs down for a minute, get up off your sofas and click BUY on a brand new album from masters of the genre The Cult Of Dom Keller. Hopefully the sleeve gives you some indication of what this sounds like  - head pounding, heavy rifforama to pummel your ears until they weep real tears. Edition of 600 in random colours (please don't specify - you'll get what you are given).  

It had to happen. Each continent has its own eternally creative ambient genius and there's nothing better than a cross Atlantic collaboration. For the Americas see West Coast-based tape hiss aficionado Benoît Pioulard and representing the UK is Prestwich by way of Haslingdon drone tinkerer the Humblebee (aka Craig Tattersall previously of Hood/the Remote Viewer/the Boats). This WILL be good - mark our words. 

I guess you could call The Taj Mahal Travellers an experimental psychedelic jam band. They were formed in Tokyo by Japanese Underground legend Takehisa Kosugi. Their flair for musical experimentation was not matched by their ability to think of imaginative titles. The album, July 15, 1972, is simply named after the day it was recorded, and the three lengthy tracks are simply named after the time they started and finished, take the opening track,'The Taj-Mahal Travelers Between 6:20 - 6:46 P.M.', as an example. Kosugi was also known for his involvement with Hi Re Centre and Group Ongaku.

Lament For The Rise And Fall Of The Elephantine Crocodile by Yoshi Wada is a prime piece of minimalist music which has been compared to works by the likes of Terry Riley and Pauline Olveros. It was originally released in 1982.  It involves the droning sounds of voice and bagpipes and was recorded in an empty swimming pool. A trip to Scotland ensured that the Kyoto-born, New York-based artist fell in love with the famous Scottish instrument enough to centre his debut album around it.