Back catalogue: Modern Classical

Review: Alfa Mist and Amika Quartet share a new ennead of never-heard-before tracks, alongside a few expansions on earlier releases: Recurring. An eternal return of saintly jazz and storytelling hip-hop, the record comes hot on the heels of Mist's recent Variables LP (2023) and the Manchester quartet's Amika's earlier 'Exist' release from earlier in 2024. The latter group have toured extensively with Alfa Mist in recent years, and the new live record notably foreruns its full release with a new exclusive, 'Checkpoint (Violence)', on which Mist not only drums, but at the same time MCs, with verve and flair. Here Mist concept-checks everything from modern-day apartheid to astrology (and exasperations thereof - "don't ask me your starsign"). Amika, meanwhile, embellish each mix with searing string arcos and long fibrous tugs, which seem, ironically, to assure us about the future, though they do lend the songs a demure mood: "don't fret".

Review: Vrioon was the first ever collaboration album between Alva Noto and legendary synth man and composer Ryuichi Sakamoto. 20 years after it became the first instalments of V.I.R.U.S.'s five records together it gets the full reissue treatment. The original tracks from the album are joined by an all new composition 'Landscape Skizze' which was laid down in 2005. The record is defined by alternate piano chords, lush electronic tones and quivering timbres that are delicate yet impactful.

Review: Laurie Anderson's latest album, Amelia, marks her first release since the well-received Landfall (2018) and is inspired by the tragic final flight of aviator Amelia Earhart, featuring 22 tracks that delve into her much storied legacy. Collaborating with the Czech orchestra Filharmonie Brno, under Dennis Russell Davies, and a roster of notable musicians including Anohni and Marc Ribot, Anderson crafts a deeply evocative narrative, while the album reflects Anderson's distinct style, blending lyrical introspection with innovative soundscapes. Drawing from Earhart's personal diaries and communications, Amelia explores themes of adventure and disappearance, providing a poignant auditory journey. A renowned avant-garde artist, Anderson's career spans music, visual art, and performance, recognised for her boundary-pushing work and poetic storytelling, and this album continues her tradition of merging the beautiful with the bizarre, as well as offering a fresh perspective on an historic figure.

Review: Arv & Miljo's new album delves into radical environmental activism and draws from the Swedish Plogbill movement's early 90s actions alongside Earth First! and Earth Liberation Front. Mixing monologues, interviews, protest songs, and site recordings with raw kosmische synth music, the pair crafts a mesmerising audio collage. Chaotic yet harmonious, disorienting yet soothing, the album reflects dedication, passion, and the spirit of change. Originally a limited CDR release in 2021, it quickly became a highlight in Arv & Miljo's discography. Now on, Jorden Forst offers a multi-faceted journey through environmental activism and the human spirit's resilience.

Review: After two albums on A Strangely Isolated Place as Comit, James Clements returns under his ASC alias and does so with yet another brilliantly fresh and introspective approach. Original Soundtrack shifts focus to the piano and so invites you to construct your own interpretations within an imaginary cinematic framework. Known for his mastery across genres from autonomic and jungle to ambient, techno and IDM, Clements narrows his focus here with great results. Crafting eight evocative pieces centred on the piano is not something he has done before but it results in another deeply personal and immersive work that adds a new dimension to ASC's artistry.

Review: Emerging from the ether in July 2024, Surfacing is the third collaborative long player from ASC and Sam KDC. Producers known for their ability to create and set moods with comparatively abstract ambient soundscapes, their latest is no exception. A collection of work which opts for an un-rushed approach to creating big feelings and moments from relatively consistent sounds and noises. Not much seems to happen, until you realise how much has been happening. In many ways, it's a maximalist thing - attempting to pick apart tracks like 'Mirage' and 'Shimmer' reveals the density of these sonics. Walls of sound that are acoustically and melodically light enough to float on air, yet actually so thick they swallow the listener hole, with little hope of escape until the final refrains fade.

Review: French artist Felicia Atkinson invites us to a new type of mind space, one in which silence ushers in clarity and allows us to focus on the grand design of existence. Like gazing up at the night sky and realising its vastness and beauty, Space As An Instrument is as mysterious as it is compelling and enlightening. Less conceptually, it's also musically accomplished, with the artist described recording sessions as "meetings" between her and piano, instrument and player communing in these elegant, hypnotic tracks. According to Atkinson, her music sits "on the verge of understanding and not unerstanding," which speaks volumes about how deep the rabbit holes go. In many ways, here listening is an exercise in trust - she has faith in us to have faith in her, and it's this mutual respect that ultimately acts as a guiding light to the soundscapes that emerge.

Review: The ambient husband-and-wife duo is an effective formula, one which here reawakens in the form of Awakened Souls. James Bernard and Cynthia Hall Bernard join forces for the making of Unlikely Places, a mini-album of Californian swells, field-recorded wonderments and guitar-drenched accompaniments - ultimately a washed-out ode to the creative possibility in all things. Centring on the idea that inspiration can be found anywhere, this is an album of relentless, gazy, waterfally gushings, from the hopeful 'It Could Be Wings' to the moodier 'Moonbeams'.