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Review: First-time vinyl pressing for Bardo Pond's 'Volume 3', one of the many self-released CDs in the 'Volumes' series from the Pennsylvanian psych-rock-gazers, first released in 2002 after a period of flirtation with Matador Records. The six tracks on this EP are the product of various rare, raw jam sessions, many of which last over 15 minutes long, after the period in which the band defected from songwriting and went full drone. Save for the lucky few that got to cop the CD when it first came out (in all likelihood, it circulated among the most rabid of fans and confidantes only), most of us haven't heard the album in its entirety until now.

Review: Bardo Pond's extensive archive recordings series opens up once again with Volume 9, an incisive journey into their hypnotic sound. Recorded in the early 2000s, this one's a heady mix of acoustic ambience and menacing distortion. Infamous purveyors of longform stoner rock, Bardo Pond embrace their sludgestorms with graceful nods to Hawkwind, Earth and My Bloody Valentine. For anyone uninitiated with the band's tranquilizing sound, Volume 9 leans into their mesmeric practise with reckless abandon. Featuring two tracks recorded with ace percussionist Michael Zanghi and the seminal two-parter 'War Is Over', a lilting Floydian strum that's invaded - quite literally - by unreconstructed noise. The Zanghi collaboration, meanwhile, is an Eastern-facing mantra with percussive flurries and distorted modal shifts.

Review: The Chills' 1987 debut Brave Words sees a double-LP remaster, including a disc of unheard extras. Renowned as totemic purveyors of New Zealand's finest jangle pop, The Chills retained a large cult following in their homeland of Dunedin - not least as some of the earliest proponents of what was then known as the Dunedin sound, which later went on to influence some of indie rock's best-known stars including R.E.M., Yo La Tengo and Pavement and going on to contribute to the formation of the indie rock genre as a whole. Brave Worlds brings jubilant cynicism to the sound, deliberating on the contradictions of modern life, while building on the sonic palette already laid down over their various EPs and live shows. Remixed and remastered under the supervision of Martin Phillipps, this special release will feature brand new and reimagined artwork by Martin.

Review: Are you a dreamer? Swedish band Death & Vanilla ask across eight contemporary takes on German Krautrock, French Ye-ye pop and 60s psychedelic. Vocals are breezy, their moog synths fat, with guitars drenched in reverb and delay. At times the band's sound aligns with other kindred groups like Goldfrapp, Portishead or even Bjork (with "Vespertine") through their subtle take on downbeat, alternative '90s pop and this is heard most in "Let's Never Leave Here". "Are You A Dreamer?" delivers the Malmo trio a fifth studio LP following last year's conceptual soundtrack for stage and screen entitled "A Score For Roman Polanski's The Tenant", and this time around, our highlights include the spacey western riffs of "Eye Bath" and the ever-so dreamy "The Hum". Esoteric modern pop for sure.

Review: Sweden's vintage gear loving Death and Vanilla continue to defy expectation with their singular take on pop music as they present this new album Flicker. It's a record that holds a mirror up to these difficult modern times in which awe live and mixes up an array of different sonic foundations to do so. They are dub reggae, motorik Can kicks, Philip Glass's minimalism and dreamy but dark pop spins from The Cure. Add in elements of Spiritualized and Talking Heads with a hint of Brian Eno and you chose have a good idea of what to expect here.

Review: Josephine Foster and collaborator Daniel Blumberg produced Domestic Sphere as "an altar cloth of songs stitched together as liturgical music for a restless homestead." Foster plays only on the acoustic guitar and does wondrous things with her voice and a wide range of frequencies. She conveys true feelings with every note and it adds up to a rather transcendent experience. Field recordings reflecting daily life in a Spanish village are mixed into the music as is a cameo from her late great-grandmother. The melodies on this one will stay with you long after the record finishes playing.

Review: It takes about a minute to fall head over heels for 'My Lights Kiss Your Thoughts Every Moment', the first track on Rushing, a collection of compelling and utterly spellbinding work by Bristol-based singer, sonic artist, and general visionary Lucy Gooch. A sublime concoction of ambient refrains, deep, moody, muffled keys, and perhaps the most spectacular voice we have heard this decade, creating something serene but powerfully emotive.

It sets a real precedent, but what follows proves every bit the match. The title track looks to focus more on production trickery, taking those sweet vocal tones and developing them into loops and layers while still ensuring the original words take centre stage, a backdrop of strings adding the sense of build and expectation. Throw in the almost church-like feeling of 'Sun', cosmic rays of melody that make up 'There Is A Space In Between' and we're sold. Well, we already were.

Review:  The Lemonheads' 'It's A Shame About Ray' is one of those albums that defines the early 90s, landing after grunge - with which it shares a certain stoner, slacker attitude but less distortion and angst - and before Britpop hit. It's lasted pretty well too, and three decades on this new special collector's 30th Anniversary edition features a bonus disc with additional goodies including a hitherto unreleased 'My Drug Buddy' from a KCRW session featuring Juliana Hatfield and B-sides from singles 'It's A Shame About Ray' and 'Confetti' among others.

Review: Evand Dando and co broke through to the mainstream with the sublime, sunny songwriting of 1992's It's A Shame About Ray, then managed to sustain their time at the top the following year with the Slade-referencing Come On Feel The Lemonheads. It's an altogether bigger and superfically impressive prospect, with guests like Rick James and Belinda Carlisle making the contributors' list and a production job from The Robb Brothers which elevates it beyond the slacker rock tag they'd had until the is point. It also spawned their biggest ever single - 'Into Your Arms' - and a host of other chart successes, including the excellent anthem 'Big Gay Heart', which saw them neatly distancing themselves from the jock rock category that other contemporaries like Nirvana quickly found themeslves slipping into.

Review: The Lemonheads' Come On Feel The Lemonheads is 30 years old and to mark the birthday it is getting reissued in various formats and across different coloured vinyl, although this is a straight black version of the album - their sixth, from 1993. Led by Evan Dando, The Lemonheads have been making catchy, easygoing, melodicentric hits since the late 80s. 'Into Your Arms', 'It's About Time' and 'Big Gay Heart' all feature, not to mention guest appearances by Belinda Carlisle and Rick James - it's a stew that contributed readily to its stonking commercial success. This reissue comes with a download code - something unimaginable at the time it was first released.

Review: For the first time since their Four Against Fate album, Nightingales have recorded new music. 'Ten Bob Each Way' / 'Use Your Loaf' is a limited 7" single. The A-side is a beguiling bit of lo-fi post-punk energy, and the b-side features Stewart Lee and Nick Pynn serving up a cover that was originally intended for a Nightingales tribute album. This release kick starts what is said to be a lengthy campaign of reissues by Robert Lloyd's band The Nightingales after they've been returned to the spotlight thanks to the Stewart Lee-written film King Rocker. It told the fascinating tale of the unique band over a four decade career and was recently shown on Sky Arts.

Review: Perhaps the most abstract, clangorous and genre-defying entry in the formidable Royal Trux catalogue, 1990s Twin Infinitives is a sprawling, tactile odyssey punctuated by Neil Hagerty's acerbic guitar stabs and Jennifer Herrema's sleazy vocal free association. Through the thick squalling gauze witch Hagerty and Herrema superimpose on each track, ghosts of A/B song form emerge and disintegrate, with blues licks and disarmingly gentle croons offset by rumbling mechanical loops and sonic shrapnel. It really feels like the ground zero, the most amoebic and uncompromising launchpad for what would become the Royal Trux sound. Highlights include the Henry Flynt-esque 'Ice Cream', the cavernous flute peals of 'Osiris' and the rollicking, fuzz-damaged 'Glitterbust'. One of the best from one of the best!

Review: The Vanishing Twins first surfaced in 2016 with their Choose Your Own Adventure LP before taking some years away to magically re-appear like ghosts can do with The Age Of Immunology. The album brings together space pop with African spoken word and poetry, odd-ball percussion and strangely inspired UK synth pop made to fit a world of other exotic musical styles. There's no denying the unique sound that the band have conjured and it's something for those Broadcast, Pram and Stereolab fans out there in need of new, inspired material. At 10 tracks long it's a magical carpet ride for the ears and you'll never know what part of the world you'll end up.

Review: There is, quite simply, so much to like about Vanishing Twin. In many ways they can be your everything, providing that everything is sitting in a room packed with psychedelic patterns, contemplating mind expansion beyond opioids. If you're looking for abrasive sounds, this ain't for you. However, those searching for a woozy combination of 1960s hippy and weird prog folk will find themselves at home.

Even that description feels reductive. 'Light Vessel', for example, sounds like the unearthed tapes from electro-pop year zero. Or not. 'Tub Erupt' is a spy film intro on adrenalin, while 'The Lift' comes across like a religious cult got lost and wound up at Woodstock. Or maybe Woodstock was the cult? Either way this is one of those 'buckle up' jobs.

Review: Vanishing Twin's groundbreaking album 'The Age Of Immunology receives a limited edition pressing on pink and teal vinyl here and it remains an essential exploration of psych-pop futurism that will resonate with fans of Broadcast, Sun Ra, and Ennio Morricone. The album marked the band's debut on Fire Records, and it showcases their innovative spirit. Led by Cathy Lucas, the group's evolving lineup includes Valentina Magaletti, Susumu Mukai, Phil MFU, and Elliott Arndt. Produced by Lucas in unconventional settings, tracks like 'KRK (At Home In Strange Places)' evoke Sun Ra's 'Lanquidity', while 'You Are Not an Island' and 'Invisible World' exude enchanting lounge and Jean-Claude Vannier vibes. Recorded in abandoned mills and live sets, the album captures a captivating blend of psychedelic soundscape and experimental flair.

Review: The experimental supergroup Vanishing Twin - named after its founding member Cathy Lucas' experience of the eponymous "syndrome" after her identical twin sister was absorbed in utero - have kept up a steady stream of danceable dream pop, cantankerous-contemporary-cosmic, and prodding post-punk since at least 2015. Now their newest album Afternoon X seeks again to break the mould, having been built upon "a vast constellation of instruments, samples, and unclaimed sources", conjuring comparisons to David Axelrod and Scott Walker. Though the songs throughout still get at that feeling of janky dreaminess that Vanishing Twin always nail, it's this reclamation of long-disused cultural reference points - a musical-ideal version of squatting, if you will - that makes this album special.

Review: "Herd immunity" was certainly a phrase banded about during the pandemic, and we all know what it means, but what about if / when the phrase is taken figuratively? Cathy Lucas, Susumu Mukai, Elliott Arndt, Phil MFU and Valentina Magaletti make up the quintet that is Vanishing Twin, whose latest album The Age Of Immunology metaphorically attempts to answer this question. Today's tribulations, often of humanity's own doing, nonetheless require of us that we adapt, regardless of any long-term psychic damage this causes; whether one finds any sense of poetry in the literal reflection of this in the doling out of vaccines en masse remains to be decided by you, the listener. Psychopolitical ramblings aside, The Age Of Immunology follows up the band's yetmost experimental album Magic And Machines, and hears them emerge from the other side through dreamy post-punk cinematics ('KRK'), wahhing, whirling instrumental disco-kraut ('Cryonic Suspension May Save Your Life'), and boinging, 'Ashes To Ashes' style summer psych balladry ('Magician's Success'). All ironically work as temporary salves for the soul, reflecting a surreal fantasy space that almost certianly works to simultaneously reflect and deflect the era we find ourselves in now.

Review: Six new tracks from one of the finest talents in the north of England, or indeed the entire UK, will always sound like a pretty appealing offer. And the Widnes-born vocalist, songwriter, composer and musician certainly delivers on the deal, and drafts some incredible names from her home region to work on stellar remixes. A great argument for the current strength of the 'M62 scene', then.

Presenting a kaleidoscope of pop sounds, all leaning into a summertime electronica vibe, we have the incredible 'Sunset Dreams', a woozy slice of laidback downtempo psyche-tinged stuff that lulls you from the off. Andy Votel, who co-founded Twisted Nerve Records with Badly Drawn Boy, a welcome addition to the tracklist. Elsewhere, 'Solarised' received a healthy extended mix from Henry Broadhead, although the real winners in terms of re-rubs must come from incredible WH Lung (also, 'Solarised'), and another Manchester live name to remember, See Thru Hands.

Review: 
Jane Weaver's Love In Constant Spectacle stands as a pivotal moment as it presents the artist's most heartfelt, direct, and personal collection yet. Bursting with vivid imagery, the album captures the very essence of the artist, pushing her distinct sound and poetic vision to unprecedented heights. While evoking the nostalgia of her early work, it boldly explores new realms, weaving intricate tales with vibrant hues, shapes, and languages. Teaming up with acclaimed producer John Parish, renowned for collaborations with PJ Harvey and Aldous Harding, the album strikes a delicate balance between familiarity and innovation. It's a surreal odyssey through the human experience that showcases the artist's ceaseless evolution.

Review: Following on from her latest Fenella project The Metallic Index, genreless folktronica oddity Jane Weaver, returns from the land of muted synth lines and hypnagogic instrumentals to deliver the first full-length baring her name since 2021's exceptional Flock. Her 12th album overall, Love In Constant Spectacle offers up Weaver's most succinct, direct and straightforward compositions in well over a decade, with the the beauty of these cuts lying in their simplicity. Motorik synth patterns, fuzzed out neo-psychedelic guitar lines and lush bubbles of digital fizz bounce around Weaver's melancholic musings on the trials and tribulations, big and small, of everyday life and love.

Review: British label Fire return with more retro antics. Virginias Wings perform a cover version of Suzanne Menzel's lost pop classic "It Starts Again" with Jane Weaver on vocals. Noveller Aka Brooklyn based Sarah Lipstate performs a rendition of John Carpenter's "The Thing" and Malmo based dream pop trio Death and Vanilla re-imagine Bert Janschs "Moonshine" on this first edition of the new Lost Library series: conceived by the label boss James Nicholls and designer Luke Drozd. Featuring new tracks from their acclaimed female fronted roster.