Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: David Holmes' first solo album since 2008's The Holy Pictures, Blind On A Galloping Horse now comes to Heavenly Recordings. A politically-charged LP full of sonic interrogations of political disaster and turmoil, Holmes here joins the cast of artists using their art to provide solace to music fans suffering at the hands of the Uncertainocene. With updated versions of the previously released singles 'Hope Is The Last Thing To Die' and 'It's Over If We Run Out Of Love', as well as a recording of an unreleased song by Holmes' late friend Andrew Weatherall, we're reminded of conflict, migration and othering, as all manner of voices combine to form a diverse but unified whole against a backdrop of leftfield post-punk - be they the spoken word accounts from Afghan and Ukrainian refugees now welcomed as residents in Belfast, or the French and Irish observers of the UK's turmoil of recent years.

Review: "In Rainbows", Radiohead's seventh album, finally gets a physical release! It's one thing downloading this landmark album, but to actually hold this is something special. Not only do you get increased sound quality, but you also get the amazing artwork from Stanley Donwood. This album includes "Nude", a live favourite for many years that was originally written during the "OK Computer" sessions. More minimal that their "Kid A" period, "In Rainbows" does something that very few albums have done - its sound is distinct from previous Radiohead albums, but is still clearly Radiohead. Hail to the kings, they are back on top form.

Review: "In Rainbows", Radiohead's seventh album, finally gets a physical release! It's one thing downloading this landmark album, but to actually hold this is something special. Not only do you get increased sound quality, but you also get the amazing artwork from Stanley Donwood. This album includes "Nude", a live favourite for many years that was originally written during the "OK Computer" sessions. More minimal that their "Kid A" period, "In Rainbows" does something that very few albums have done - its sound is distinct from previous Radiohead albums, but is still clearly Radiohead. Hail to the kings, they are back on top form.

Review: British duo Raime are back with the first album since 2012's brilliant Quarter Turns A Living Line and their signature style of dark ambience and haunting imaginary soundtracks which incorporate jungle, dub and post-punk influences into the mix also. The album is said to be largely influenced by their side project Moin which incorporates rock and metal influences too. According to Blackest Ever Black "the DNA of dub-techno, garage/grime and post-hardcore rock music spliced into sleek and predatory new forms." Highlights include the moody subtractive rock of "Dialling In, Falling Out", the dub and post punk crossover of "Dead Heat" and the brooding mood-lighting of "Cold Cain".

Review: Beyond his most famous work in The Velvet Underground and as a solo rock artist, Lou Reed lived many other lives in and outside of music. While he's not readily recognised as an ambient artist, his early foray into Metal Machine Music proved he was more than capable of leaving traditional song structures behind. The music on his final solo album, Hudson River Wind Meditations, was originally composed as a private soundtrack to his Tai Chi practice, until friends and fellow practitioners asked for copies and he rounded it out as a full album now faithfully presented on clear vinyl by Light In The Attic.

Review: At 66 years young, Guiding By Voices main man Robert Pollard has a whopping 3,000 songs registered to his name with BMI, while outside of his primary project, he's released 22 solo albums as well as a plethora of lesser known works put out under obscure aliases. His latest alter ego, Rip Van Winkle, features a backing band shrouded in mystery on their debut EP The Grand Rapids, which redirects Pollard's eccentric and unique penmanship down the realms of neon-hued post-punk and frosted cold meets new wave machinations.

Review: Claire Rousay continues her compelling evolution with this stunning new album on Thrill Jockey. sentiment once again finds threads of instrumentation and field recordings interweaving with snatches of poetry, dialogue and of course rousay's heart-rending vocal turns. The lens on this particular record is focused on loneliness, nostalgia, sentimentality, guilt and sex, captured in moments of heartfelt songwriting and passages of experimental, ambient exploration. It's simultaneously challenging and immediately endearing, adding ever more depth to rousay's intriguing profile as she dabbles in pop without ever compromising her experimental instincts.

Review: Claire Rousay's Sentiment album is a captivating exploration of poignant emotional landscapes, encompassing themes of loneliness, nostalgia, sentimentality, guilt, and sensuality. Through a blend of experimental and ambient music, Rousay deftly incorporates textural found sounds, sumptuous drones, and candid field recordings to create music that celebrates life's banalities with granular detail. Rousay's vocals and guitar take centre stage, conveying a powerful desire for connection amidst a backdrop of resignation. The album that balances vulnerability with innovation, delivering anthemic yet deeply personal songs that resonate with listeners on an emotional level. Sentiment is a blissfully melancholic and undeniably sensual listening experience.

Review: Los Angeles-based Canadian-American experimentalist Claire Rousay has made a name for herself due to her unique approach to post-rock-inflected ambience built off of primitive DIY field recordings captured on a Zoom H5 Handy Recorder, resulting in a curious form of emo musique concrete or "emo-ambient". Following on from a myriad of collaborations, projects, and singles, Sentiment marks her first full-length to put her usually hidden voice front and centre; utilising auto-tune to craft emotive hyper-folk musings delivered with androgynous hues. Described as a "meditation of the poignant emotional terrains of loneliness, nostalgia, sentimentality, guilt, and sex"; Rousay uses fractured narratives and one-way conversations to deliver painfully relatable, often uncomfortable musings, smothered beneath layers of droning reverb, monotonous acoustic plucking, and everyday sounds almost too familiar to pinpoint. The end result is the musical equivalent to our inner monologue at its lowest ebb, nattering incessantly while the world moves on around us, while sonically, it's the culmination of all Rousay's experimentation thus far, yet simultaneously more fearless and fragile.

Review: Surprisingly, Arthur Russell's first posthumous collection of music, 1993's Another Thought, has never before been released on vinyl. With this gatefold double-album, Be With Records has finally set the record straight. It's well worth picking up, not least because the set, which was initially put together after raiding the legendary cellist-turned-producer's archive of unreleased recordings, is little less than superb. Full of hard-to-pigeonhole songs in Russell's unique style - effects-laden blends of cello, acoustic guitar, emotive vocals, twangy double bass and so on - Another Thought contains some of Russell's most refined and emotional recordings, including such classics as 'How We Walk on the Moon' and 'In The Light of a Miracle'.

Review: The unique voice of Arthur Russell was taken away from us all too soon after he was diagnosed with HIV in 1986, but it was in that year that he also dropped his career-defining classic 'World of Echo'. That's the only solo album he produced but he managed to make plenty more music in his final years. This album, Picture of Bunny Rabbit, features nine previously unreleased performances recorded during that same special era and have been taken from two unique test pressings. These are dramatic, exceptional cuts as you would expect from this cult hero.

Review: This album, Picture of Bunny Rabbit, is a treasure trove of Arthur Russell goodness that has been reissued and comes in several different formats. The record features nine previously unreleased performances recorded during the same era in which he wrote his best known album. The unique voice of Arthur Russell was taken away from us all too soon after he was diagnosed with HIV in 1986, but it was in that year that he also dropped his career-defining classic 'World of Echo'. That's the only solo album he produced but he managed to make plenty more music in his final years. These are dramatic, exceptional cuts as you would expect from this cult hero.