Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Experience two of Joy Division's iconic post-punk tracks like never before with exclusive 7" vinyl from Numero Group. Codeine's 1994 rendition of 'Atmosphere' captures the essence of solitude with a melancholic yet melodic twist that marked the iconic Manchester band's poignant farewell. Meanwhile, Bedhead from Dallas offers a fresh perspective on 'Disorder' and transforms it into vibrant indie rock. Encased in a sleek black and silver sleeve adorned with embossed braille lettering, these twin readings pay homage to Joy Division's enduring legacy while inviting listeners to explore new interpretations of their timeless classics.

Review: David Michael Tibet's exploration of the arcane mysteries through Current 93 are an intriguing subculture all of their own, sat somewhere to the side of Coil and the other mystics of the post-industrial scene. In Menstrual Night was released in 1986 as two long form pieces that layer up voices into a mesmerising swirl. The cast of collaborators on the project include such luminaries as Steven Stapleton, Keiko Yoshida, Rose McDowall, Boyd Rice and the late John Balance. Now House Of Mythology have created a faithfully recreated picture disc vinyl edition, sure to be quickly gathered up by the faithful followers of this fascinating corner of electronic music.

Review: Talk about adaptive design. Zoh Amber, Chris Corsano and Bill Orcutt are anything but household names, but rank among the finest musicians in the US today. All three have carved a name for themselves as improvisational maestros, capable of working with others on-the-fly to create powerful sounds and soundtracks in a display of artistic talent you just don't get to see - or hear - everyday. Corsano and Orcutt were no strangers when Flower School was recorded, around spring 2023. Nor were Amba and Corsano - the pair had just finished a joint tour of the US West Coast. The three had never engaged together, though, but they probably should have. An album that represents each individually, but also shows how they can create something greater as one, this is a freewheeling, freeform exploration of sounds between jazz, industrial, grunge, alternative rock, blues and noise.

Review: John Cale's Word For The Dying album was first released in 1989 on the Opel label. It was produced by Brian Eno and is Cale's "heartfelt response to the Anglo-Argentinian War." It takes the form of Cale's favourite Dylan Thomas' poetry set to music and the lyricism and melodic phrasing throughout is truly sympathetic and complementary. The compositional qualities of this album are astounding and make for a resonant listen. This reissue comes via All Saints on limited clear vinyl and a download code is included.

Review: Captain Beefheart - AKA Don Glen Vliet - was apparently looking to right some of the wrongs that accompanied the release of his previous records with this 1972 outing. Although catapulted into the cult premier league with Trout Mask Replica three years earlier, and delivering three very good records between then and this, commercial success had continued to evade the arty blues master, something he went out to rectify here.
Failing to chart in the UK, and peaking at 191 in the Billboard 200 Albums Chart stateside, it's hard to make any big claims about him achieving that goal. Nevertheless, Clear Spot is a timeless slice of evidence in support of his legendary status, with the raw, grizzled sound we love him for defines everything here, not to mention incredible guitar riffs and genuinely innovative song craft (see the broken and surreal 'Golden Birdies' for one example.)

Review: Palto Flats and Putojefe Records present the first ever reissue of a truly mysterious record from the experimental extreme of folk, drone and experimental dulcimer. Dorothy Carter only released a small handful of records, but Waillee Waillee has since attained a mythical status amongst those in the know. It's not hard to understand why from just one listen, as the lilting bed of zither and dulcimer forms a dense blanket of harmonious drone upon which Carter's voice soars with a choral serenity. It's stirring and spiritual, calling to mind the powerful effect of Laraaji's music but tipping more towards a folk tonality which makes the music entirely unique.

Review: .By its very nature, Tenkiller is a very different beast to Chat Pile's other releases. Recorded in the winter of 2020 to be the soundtrack to Tenkiller, an indie movie about the lives of ordinary people in small-town America, it sees the noise-rock/post-hardcore combo focus on mood and tone, rather than form and function. As a result, fuzzy and forthright cuts of the sort you'd expect come supplemented by dystopian, industrial-influenced soundscapes, lo-fi alt-country, guitar-laden mood pieces, low-slung and effects-laden creepiness, intense electronica and the kind of slow-burn ambient-not-ambient that was once the preserve of cult bands such as Labradford.

Review: Here comes a reissue of Cherubs's 2 Ynfynyty album on a rather impressive and unique jawbreaker vinyl. It is one of a bunch of reissues of this metal band's best work including special 30th anniversary editions of their Icing album. This one has not been on vinyl since its original release back in 2015 and at the time it was the cult band's first new music in 20 years. It was an immediate hit with older fans as the cult noise rock kings headed into new territory but not without foregoing plenty of the hallmarks of their definitive early sounds.

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Review: German outfit Cluster were pioneers in the world of prog rock, Kraut and experimental early electronic music some 50-odd years ago. Their music still resonates to this day - and fetches high prices for those willing to pay it - but thankfully reissues like this keep it available to those of us more interested in the music than the format or the investment value. This one is rooted in cold wave and synth elegance, with its loose-limbed rhythms and bendy chords, cosmic intonations and ever-optimistic melodies all making for a brilliantly unique listen and cosmic journey.

Review: Codeine were a short-lived band whose exacting nature and hyperpfocused craft, while cementing their early success in the early 1990s, might also have contributed to their downfall. Dessau was the band's second LP, and their last project to be released, before their split due to creative differences (the album was originally shelved). The eight-track album is nevertheless an early slowcore gem, packed with melodic elysia, colossal and crisp drumming, and revolutionary ideas for an emo renaissance.

Review: A classic album in the category of slowcore - which emerged in the late 80s and early 90s as a reaction to the fast and noisy music of punk and hardcore - Codeine's The White Birch is the band's final project. Whereas their first project was a proto-slowcore album to say the least, this finale came at a time in which the genre had fully formed and found its corner. The band by now were building on the bare bones of the sound, adding more melodic variation and extra-ambitious arrangements to an already refined vision. The up-close-and-personal feel of cuts like 'Smoking Room' in particular make us feel like we're right there in the recording studio with Codeine, as if to convey the true rawness of the emotions they'd always tried to convey, but could only accrue the resources and expertise to do during their last hurrah. Fans will be pleased to hear Numero Group are locking in a full reissue bundle of their first and last albums, of which this version of 'The White Birch' is a part.

Review: Numero Group have embarked on a reissues bundle of slowcore pioneer band Codeine's first and last albums, as well as an intermediary EP. 'Frigid Stars' is the former, and made for a remarkable debut album, epitomizing the late-80s-to-early-90s sound that still continues to influence trailblazers in the genre to this day, from Deathcrash to Bardo Pond. Codeine laid it bare before its name was coined: proto-slowcore is heavy, but not aggressive; quiet, but not silent; its vocals are hushed but present, perhaps reflecting the mood of doom that had set upon the local music scene in New York, where the band originate from. Thematically, the LP deals with angsty themes from loss to despair, with choice cuts like 'When I See The Sun' lumbering through ultra-reverb, gothic melodic lulls and guitarry plods to the death.

Review: Numero's mammoth reissues campaign of the work of the band Codeine continues. This time around, it's their 1992 EP 'Barely Real', which heard the slowcore group expand their repertoire from the formerly rather sparse debut LP Frigid Stars into a quartet-backed tearjerker. First intended as material for their album The White Birch, various mishaps led to the bad only having enough for an EP. That said, it's no less beautiful, with tracks like 'Barely Real' and 'Realize' revelling in "whiny" vocals, dubiously emotive rumble-chords, and deep womps of bass - electric earthquakes setting the scene for a huge lament.

Review: Pascal Comelade's Le Non-Sens Du Rythmefinds the French artists play almost all of the many instruments it features. He has been active since the 1970s, crafting ever evolving and ways moving rhythms from a mix of toy instruments, French chanson, folklore and underground sounds. The sometime painter has worked with the likes of PJ Harvey, Robert Wyatt and The Liminanas ever since goring up as a child of the frenzied rock sounds of there 60s. Here he fuses the Rickenbaker e.bass, Indian harmonium, keyboards and a tin can into something utterly unique and strangely compelling.

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: Liverpool's Courting are a breath of fresh air, totally breaking from the received traditions of their home city with an overarchingly alt-rock album, New Last Name, with sounds distinctly informed by the emo and punk sounds known to have developed in the USA, though in reality it weaves between indie and dance-pop too. New Last Name is unabashed in its melodic sensibility and high-fantasmic references; unrestrained and chaotic, the album always meanders stylistically but always brings it together, largely by way of its notable use of autotune on every track on Sean Murphy O'Neill's vocals. An amazing sophomore record to complement 2022's Guitar Music.

Review: Cuckoo was their second full length from Curve - Toni Halliday on vocals and guitar with Dean Garcia - and saw its release in 1993. This album was heavier, focused and featured stronger, more aggressive rhythms that evolved from their first album. Heavily influenced by bombastic urban and electronic beats but favouring shoegaze effects on the guitars, making for a unique combination that made Cuckoo stand out from the rest, ultimately predating similar sounds from bands like Garbage. This album holds key tracks like the amazing 'Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus' as well as the singles 'Missing Link' and 'Super Blaster'. The effects of Curve are still being felt today by those who discover them and fans of the producer Flood should definitely be aware of this album if they are not already. This reissue comes on limited numbered 180- Gram pink & purple vinyl LP complete with an insert.

Review: Curve are best known among music lovers as one of the few English 90s bands to span the cross-section of industrial dance music and shoegaze and to bring that sound to the alt-mainstream. Their debut studio album, Doppelganger, was the splash album that defined this sound; a maximal, euphoric statement in walls of crunching chords-n'-drums from Dean Garcia and a set of barely-skating-the-mix vocals from Toni Halliday. Purely noisy, cathartic and determined in its slice of style, the likes of 'Lillies Dying', 'Split Into Fractions', and 'Ice That Melts The Tips' all evoke sonic seances of the wildest kind, as if each calling out to some extradimensional, omniscient beast.