Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Elliot Galvin is a leading figure in UK jazz with four solo albums that have topped year-end lists in respected media outlets. He is also a member of the Mercury-nominated Dinosaur and has collaborated with key jazz cats such as Shabaka Hutchings, Emma-Jean Thackray and Norma Winstone. Known for his improvisational prowess, his latest solo album taps into that skill once more and is an entirely improvised record that takes in quiet beauty like the opener, more theatric drama on 'Still Under Storms' and world jazz sounds on 'High & Wide'.

Review: Norwich is much more than the butt of Alan Partridge jokes it appears. Having turned their back on London and relocated to the East Anglian city, the three-piece - Joe Barton, Mickey Donnelly and Louie Rice - set up a rehearsal studio and recording space in a former brutalist shopping centre and sound like they've found inspiration. Venturing into recording with the dazzling sense of experimentation that we associate with the experimental rock scenes in Germany and France in the late 60s, they've come out gleaming. This is a highly contemporary stretching of what a band built around drums, bass, and synth with deliberately abstract vocals can do. On 'Judas Gap' they tear up the rule book and let the hiss of analog tape provide atmosphere. The bass guitar sound would likely give engineers at Abbey Road nightmares, but it's sort of the point: it's an irreverent counterpoint to pop music and there's beauty in recording things how they sound without masking it. 'Misprint Maker' is a fever dream, intense and unsettling but thrilling at the same time. 'Gipping' has what sounds like a cow as an intro. It's absurd but feels like The KLF would be proud. They played their first gig at Cafe Oto in Dalston and immediately found a label to release this album - it's no wonder they were snapped up as they're truly fascinating in their approach.

Review: After over a decade away from making music, Greek-born musician and composer Giannis Gogos is back. It was the turmoil of the pandemic that allowed him to reconnect with making music after years working in photography and now he's combining analogue and digital sound with intricate melodies and plenty of keyboards, glockenspiel, kalimba and guitars. This latest album is enhanced by oodles of delay and reverb effects and makes for an ethereal journey inspired by Henry Corbin's Man of Light in Iranian Sufism. It explores light as a symbol of divine presence through serene, introspective soundscapes.

Review: This is the debut solo album by Italian-born, London-based composer, bassist and vocalist Ruth Goller. It was originally released in 2021 on Bex Burch's Vula Viel Records but quickly sold out with its detuned bass harmonics and dense vocal arrangements. Skylla introduced a sound both otherworldly and unplaceable and Goller's reputation soared as a result. That led to the critically acclaimed 2024 album Skyllumina on International Anthem while Skylla remains the genesis of her distinct style as it evokes the experimental energy of 1980s Downtown NYC or a Bjork-adjacent Icelandic project.

Review: You might remember David Grubbs from Squirrel Bait, Bistro, or Gastr de Sol. Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet or The Wingdale Community Singers. New wave or punk. His own output or that of the label he runs, Blue Chopsticks. Whatever reference rings truest, the American composer, guitarist, pianist and vocalist is an enigma responsible for a broad back catalogue of credits, projects, experiments and other. Whistle From Above lands in February 2025 and immediately proves Grubbs' continued genius and refusal to sit still. According to the limited information we have, he began developing these new guitar pieces - best described as somewhere between Fender drone, ambient noise, and musique concrete - following "months of shutdown woodshedding" in which he became "reinvigorated". What resulted was a deep dive into some personal solo arrangements and opportunities to engage with fellow sonic explorers - Rhodri Davies, Andrea Belfi, Nikos Veliotis, Nate Wooley and Cleek Schrey.