Back catalogue:

Review: Froid Dub return to the dubbing fold full of cold sang-froid with new one 'Tears Maker Chant'. The landmark 50th release for the label and editorial Ransom Note, this new progeny of Paris duo Stephane and Francois, known both for their own distinctive productions and self-released Delodio label curations, offer a stripped-back, slow-smouldering blunderbuss of bass-heavy minimalia with the sliest of sly nods to Italo disco on the B, creating what they call "low-slung mood music. Measured, murky, magnetic. It's a debut outing on Ransom Note for the duo, and a sharp alignment with the label's taste for genre-blurring system oddities.

Review: In the wake of unprecedented flooding that devastated Rio Grande do Sul in May 2024 - claiming over 170 human lives and countless animals, and submerging entire cities -local artist Carlos Ferreira created Flux as a means to survive. Composed and recorded in just one week during the height of the crisis, the album began as a personal coping mechanism but soon evolved into something more: a sonic document of a region in trauma. Born of catastrophe, Flux manifests as a twinkling sonic blanket despite it, buoyed by dreams of alterity and belonging, its incredible Max granulations matching the pockets of hope implied therein. Stark, urgent textures mirror the patent despair of the moment, yet embedded within are quiet meditations on endurance, reflecting a labile openness to change from the guitarist-composer and longtime AvantRoots resident.

Review: Turning the clock back to 1991, legendary Welsh DIY pop band Ffa Coffi Pawb repress their second album for the modern listener. Recorded with experimental electronic studio head Gorwel Owen, in a flat, above a Post Office in Rhosneigr, on the island of Anglesey, it makes no apologies for its uptempo and cacophonous sound, swagging out the starting blocks like a Celtic Happy Mondays. Or, more accurately, Black Grape. Shades of Primal Scream are equally audible in at least some of the guitar riffs, although given the group were fronted by a young Gruff Rhys - who would go on to form Super Furry Animals before embarking on his own critically acclaimed and musically outstanding solo career - you can bet your bottom dollar this is far more original than any lazy comparisons would suggest. Or whatever that translates to in Welsh.

Review: Fine Glindvad Jensen's Rocky Top Ballads is an album that feels as though it's suspended in time, capturing moments that are both timeless and ephemeral. Fine's lyrics, often vague in their specifics, convey a sense of days slipping by, with an urgency to grasp reality through songwriting. Drawing from the Copenhagen scene, where she's collaborated with Erika de Casier and Astrid Sonne, Fine's music under her solo moniker defies easy categorization. While hints of Mazzy Star and a touch of "countrygaze" permeate the album, her sound is also rooted in the traditional folk music of her upbringing. Rocky Top Ballads is a deeply personal and intuitive collection, blending sample-based production with organic instrumentation. The result is a debut that feels both assured and strangely new. Tracks like "Days Incomplete" capture a yearning that is both fervent and detached, while 'Losing Tennessee' and 'Big Muzzy' explore themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. The album's beauty lies in its ability to evoke emotions and leave lingering questions, keeping listeners entranced.

Review: Built on two decades of collaboration between drummer Sam Hobbs and bassist Neil Innes - no relation to the Monty Python and Rutles man of the same name - the pair's new ATA project blends rootsy Jamaican groove with the syncopated strut of New Orleans funk. Though technically a new release, it's more a continuation than a debut: the lineup includes jazz organist Bob Birch and session guitarist Chris Dawkins, drawing from deep wells of soul, rocksteady and r&b. Tracks like 'Grafter' and 'Bust Up' land squarely in the crossover zone between Studio One and The Metersiraw but slick, with a tight pocket and loose-limbed flair. 'An Autumn Sun' leans sweet and sentimental, while 'Strong Fish' pays organ-heavy homage to Jackie Mittoo's Hot Milk-era work. Elsewhere, 'Power Cut' and 'Night Bus' arrive with horn motifs that seem tailored to I Roy-style toasting, and 'Tough Swagger' is a heavy-lidded jam that could've wandered in off a Bunny Lee tape. But it's 'Iron Fist' that best captures the group's method: groove-first, melody-second, built on intuition and the friction of mismatched rhythms. Despite the vintage touchstones, it never feels like pasticheithe record balances reverence with invention, keeping one foot in Kingston and the other in Treme. For a group with so much history, it sounds impressively fresh.

Review: Robert Forster, co-founder of the Go-Betweens and one of Australia's most acclaimed singer-songwriters, releases his new album on Hamburg's stellar Tapete Records, which is the pop arm of Krautrock label Bureau B. What's clear is Forster's ear for jangly 60s pop is as refined as you can get. He's up there with Creation Records legend Pete Astor, who influenced Ultimate Painting. It's the softer more melodic side of indie pop, but ultimately, hard to argue against as an approach to songwriting. In terms of highlights, 'Tender Years' is a must-listen as it has a darkness to it thanks to the minor chord guitar twang that underpins the rambling lyrical explorations perfectly. This is up there with Nick Cave's best stuff.