Back catalogue: Experimental/Electronic

Review: British duo Raime are back with the first album since 2012's brilliant Quarter Turns A Living Line and their signature style of dark ambience and haunting imaginary soundtracks which incorporate jungle, dub and post-punk influences into the mix also. The album is said to be largely influenced by their side project Moin which incorporates rock and metal influences too. According to Blackest Ever Black "the DNA of dub-techno, garage/grime and post-hardcore rock music spliced into sleek and predatory new forms." Highlights include the moody subtractive rock of "Dialling In, Falling Out", the dub and post punk crossover of "Dead Heat" and the brooding mood-lighting of "Cold Cain".

Review: The mighty Hospital Records is reissuing Green Graves, a classic album from Rainforest Spiritual Enslavement from back in 2016. It's an album that, as the title suggests, soundtracks a trip through the jungle with steamy pads and humid atmospheres, distant animal sounds and deep tribal rhythms. It's full of ambient and experimental mystery and intrigue, with suspenseful pads over barely-there skeletal drums that snake through the undergrowth on cuts like 'Red Protection Against Black Magic'. 'Nocturnal Anatomy' is darker and more dubby, hitting at the arrival of humans and their machines who come to destroy the forest.

Review: We are honored to release 'A Boy Alone', a double LP set from Manchester electronic music pioneer Eric Random. Best known for his early recordings for New Hormones and Les Disques du Crepuscule and collaborations with Pete Shelley (Buzzcocks), Cabaret Voltaire and Nico. As an original member of The Tiller Boys with Shelley, Random injected a healthy dose of Krautrock into the dour Manchester post-punk scene in 1978/79 before going solo the following year. Random's first 7" "Subliminal"/"23 Skidoo" was released in 1981 via Les Disques du Crepuscule and explored ominous sonic surrounds. That same year also saw the release of a second 7" single on New Hormones, "Dow Chemical Company"/ "Skin Deep". Both tracks offered bubbling, rhythmic sound patterns, and were the first to feature other musicians that would become know as The Bedlamites. Consisting of Lynn Walton on vocals, Ian Runacres and Andy Diagram of Dislocation Dance, and bassist Wayne Worm, aka Wayne Sedgeman. Their debut 12" single "Subliminal Seduction"/"Bedlam-a-Go-Go" was released in 1982 through Plurex, mixing arid funk textures and sparse melodies. That same year the group contributed proto chill-out track "6.55" to Plurex compilation 'Hours' and the highly filmic track "In Cassette Conference" to the Touch cassette package 'Feature Mist'. In 1983, Random spent several months in the Himalayas with a group of musicians from the Kulu Valley and studied non-Western instruments such as tabla. On returning to Manchester, Random convened a new group of Belamites including Walton, Sedgeman and drummer Graham Dowdall aka Dids of Ludus. They released the 12" single "Mad As Mankind"/"Dream Web Of Maya" in 1984 on Cabaret Voltaire's Doublevision, embracing electronic, industrial and dub styles. In 1985 they contributed the soothing "Pure Power" to Food Records' "Imminent Episode One" compilation. Our reissue also includes 4 unreleased bonus tracks from Eric's archives recorded between 1981-1984. The whole set adds up to 115 minutes of sinister, somnambulant Random music. All songs have been remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios. Each copy is housed in a gatefold jacket designed by Eloise Leigh featuring a spread of ephemera, photos with liner notes by James Nice of LTM.

Review: Rave Angst is an alias of German producer Alexander Potthof. He invites us deep into his soul here with a superb double pack of deeply atmospheric sonics that features food for the mind, body and soul. Plenty of these cuts will challenge you as a listener but then reward you in equal measure. They are deeply emotional even when rather apocalyptic sounding and there is plenty to love here for those who enjoy the sounds of Aphex Twin and early Plastikman as metallic rhythms suck you into Potthof's unique sound world.

Review: Mute began reissuing some classic albums from Recoil last year and already they have vanished so this is another pressing of one of their best - from former Depeche Mode member Alan Wilder. 2000's Liquid is thought to be one of his best works as he delves into dark and involving electronic worlds with its hypnotic and deeply charged charm. Its moods - desire, fury, and violence - are paired with self-reflection that encourages you to go deep inside yourself while listening. There are haunting and ghoulish moments of intensity like 'Strange Hours' next to more soothing trip-hop cuts like 'Breath Control'.

Review: On their Eskimo album - which is in part famous because of its creepy artwork - The Residents explore with music, found sounds and sonic collages, the legends and myths of north America's native coastal tribes. The group travelled to the area to make field recordings, learn from and record with those peoples and then left for home with what they found. It took years for the album to come out and now it arrives with a booklet on double 12". It's pretty freaky to be honest - weird vocals, eerie synth whispers, distant animal grunts and breaking waves all make for unsettling and hugely evocative soundscapes.