Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Hull and Leeds-based band bdrmm finally follow up their acclaimed debut album Bedroom - which was instantly passed as a modern day shoegaze classic - with a new EP. It features the recent single 'Port' as well as fresh remixes by the ever more essential Daniel Avery, plus Working Men's Club, A Place To Bury Strangers and others. That single, 'Port,' took the band in a new direction with a darker sound fun of distorted drones and beats, with howls of anguish and manic guitar frenzies. That is carried over into the rest of the EP next to some radical reworks.

Review: Argentina born producer and DJ Born has been serving up some fresh sonic treats for three or four years now and here makes the natural next step of starting his own label. Desencanto will become a place to hear Sebastian Rosas Bruno's freshest tackle as exemplified by this first 12" which collides techno, new wave, electro and new beat. Text with the tunes says the EP is the first of many that will "deal with the disillusions of today's world: political, social, economic and also those left by old loves." Concept aside, these are innovative and impactful cuts.

Review: Newly signed to Ninja Tune, Ebbb debuts with a five-track EP that shows great intent. Emerging from the same London avant-garde live scene that birthed black midi and Black Country New Road, the band has quickly developed a unique sound in just a year. Their music blends pulsing rhythms, immersive electronic production, sparkling melodies, layered vocal harmonies, and beats that range from ambient to industrial. Described by the band themself as "Brian Wilson meets Death Grips," the EP is experimental and unpredictable yet deeply considered and precise with an idiosyncratic hybrid of sounds that showcases Ebbb's innovative and tightly crafted music.

Review: The DFA debut of longstanding member Jayson Green also signals the revival of the classic DFA twelve-inch format, so you might playfully suggest it stands for Dying Formats Always. Jay has lent his vocals to various bands such as Panthers, Violent Bullshit, Cheeseburger, and the renowned hardcore group Orchid, always showcasing his wit and humor without veering into cynicism. Assuming a bandleader role, he presents a classic A-side here with the low slung funk of 'Local Jerk,' which was recorded during a lively party. It has tight disco drums, resounding claps and a groove-inducing bassline with big horns. On the B-side, 'I Need Love' unfolds as a darkly humorous nightlife satire.

Review: The Tetine trio started writing and composing together in the lockdowns of 2020 - no doubt observing all the arcane rules about hands, face and space as they did so. They have an intuitive style that now translates to this record which was written for cello, voice, piano, organ and electronics and was born as "a respiratory, meditative, and improvisatory piece of DIY tropical-mutant-punk "chamber music". They have succeeded in their mission to subvert here with plenty of subtle background sounds bleeding in from the nearby street as themes such as hearing loss, menopause, pollution and respiration all come up.

Review: When most people think of mid-1970s San Francisco, The Visitation is the kind of sound that likely springs to mind. Released in 1976 by a then-fledgling band called Chrome, the record is packed with the kind of psychedelic rock that invokes borrowed fantasies of floating high above the Gold Gate City, wings gifted through hallucinatory intake. Or in the throes of a tripped out party, waiting to board Jefferson Airplane. In reality, this was nought but a fleeting moment in the group's history, and what followed betrays a very different side to Frisco at the time, one defined by punk and post punk, giving rise to outfits like The Units. Relish in The Visitation then, because Chrome's brief flirtation with this sound is unarguably incredible and all-too rare.

Review: Loren Connors and Alan Licht's collaborative journey spanning 30 years culminates in their eighth album, At The Top Of The Stairs, is a great example to their enduring partnership and musical evolution. Recorded live in 2018, the album features two side-long pieces that showcase the duo's ability to create ethereal, abstract soundscapes with intricate arrangements. Throughout their collaboration, Connors' ghostly blue tones and Licht's meticulously crafted feedback and harmonic patterns have formed the core of their unique sound. At The Top Of The Stairs captures the duo's ascent through layers of atmospheric tension, punctuated by Connors' thunderous waves of effects. Connors and Licht have left an indelible mark on the experimental music landscape.

Review: The fables around this one are strong. To say the least. Corker & Conboy's album, In Leith of that Learnt Later was apparently recorded in a converted carpark in Battersea. Melding together cinematic post-rock, adult lullabies, dub-by folk, and new age, it's a marvel of escapist listening that transports you far from the brutality of the concrete London it was born into, out to some field in England or other, and then onwards to plains we are yet to become familiar with. On this two-tracker that sense of adventure remains very much in tact. Purelink steps up with a remix that could be the soundtrack to your next sensory depravation tank prep or cacao ceremony. All earthy bubbles and light, loose, tribalistic percussion. On the flip, find one of the originals from the LP - the lackadaisical guitar motifs of 'On The Dust and The Haze'.

Review: Opening on the grinding powerhouse of 'I', Kosmik Sun present three tracks of epic, cinematic heavy rock-metal which gives a nod to the likes of Mogwai and Explosions In the Sky. Albeit here things seem to have taken more of an influence from darker places, with each part of the triptych casting an eerie spell over the listener, transporting them to psychedelic, doom-laden otherworldly places. The side project of German aficionado Eugen Kohl, best known for the Crypt Witch project, Kosmik Sun also features members of Coven Spell and Devil Leaf, which, if nothing else, should let any newbies know exactly what they're in for. Steeped in deep stoner atmosphere, not to mention exceptional, gritty musicality, this is intensity for thinking people and it never lets up.

Review: It's not hard to understand why John Peel called Movietone in for a recording, or rather three. Firstly, the results are far-reaching stuff to say the least, informed by folk, electronic, grunge, jazz, and some otherworldly oddness, a sonic tapestry that feels very much like a journey. A layered adventure packing the spectrum of emotions. Secondly, Kate Wright and Rachel Brook are hidden gems, beloved by those who know, and strangers to everyone else. The perfect act for tastemakers to really get behind.

These recordings were originally made over three individual visits to the BBC's legendary Maida Vale studio, in 1994, 1996, and 1997, and it's a case of being sucked into a beguiling universe very quickly indeed. There's so much mood and atmosphere here, suggestions of seduction, moments of calm, and deeply textured sections in which you can't remember where the front door is, or whether the door is actually a window. Talent defined.

Review: Formed in Rome way back in 1966, Musica Elettronica Viva are something of an enigma: an avant-garde collective whose exact line-up is shrouded in mystery (it changed over the years by all accounts but confirming who founded the group has proved difficult) and whose released works tend towards the experimental and undeniably out-there. The Sound Pool was recorded in 1979 and surfaced on vinyl a year later. It's an undeniably odd but defiantly impressive four-part work that blends tape loops, avant-garde noise, distant drumming, discording free-jazz horns and pots-and-pans percussion. It sounds like it was recorded live, in a gigantic, reverb-heavy room, and is as experimental and avant-garde as they come. An under-celebrated classic of its type.

Review: Finish dub techno powerhouse Joachim Spieth welcomes UK artist Rhubiqs to his well-regarded Affin label for a debut appearance that sinks you into a widescreen world of ambient lushness. His Aegis of Silence album takes cues from divergent sounds like post-rock and soft ambient as well as drone and even modern classical. It's an ever-shifting soundscape with smeared pads and nostalgia dreams, half-remembered thoughts and a sense of mood that ranges from escapist and blissed out to more ominous and paranoid.

Review: Even if you've not heard Three Quarter Skies yet, this one should already be in the shopping cart. They had us at 'new project from Simon Scott of Slowdive', and we're not sure anybody has bothered to look back since. Eight gorgeous tracks that have grown out of last year's Universal Flames EP, which introduced this new moniker to the world, and was itself based on a semi-improvised live recording session. Here, though, things are resolutely more focused and planned. Depth of sound is a big aspect, with plenty navigating similar cosmic territories to the shoegaze Scott built his stellar reputation on. Close your eyes to the world then, and allow these sounds to wash over and immerse you - there's little chance you'll find anything quite so powerful this week.