Album review: Matchess’s ‘Sonescent’: an irresistible flow of experimental, meditative drone recollection and conscious absence

Read More

Album review: The Jazz Butcher – ‘The Highest In The Land’: one final pop postcard from Northampton’s foremost gent

Read More

Album review: Black Flower – ‘Magma’: a perfumed souk of North African psych jazz from the Lowlands quintet

Read More

BERLIN’S Mouse on Mars, the playful and textural duo who have been seducing us for many a year with their particular brand of off-kilter sonic wobble, have announced a new album, AAI (Anarchic Artificial Intelligence), which will be out on Thrill Jockey on February 26th. Jan St Werner and Andi Toma’s new album promises to be their …

LOVELY electronica pop outfit Hot Chip, who seem to straddle the tectonic plates of pop, indie and electronica in a universally-loved way not seen since New Order in their pomp, have got together with Sheffield legend Jarvis Cocker for their new single, “Straight To The Morning”. Watch the video, below. It’s got that effortless and cute …

NEW JERSEY’S gorgeous jangly guitar outfit Real Estate have just released a video for the sunlit harmonic breeze of “Gone”, taken from this year’s lovely album The Main Thing – which sees Martin Courtney and the boys performing … from inside a fridge. You can see them jingle-jangle out some beauty among the groceries below. …

NEW YORK’S Still Brothers, who announced their signing on the dotted line for Hoxton’s Lewis Recordings back in midsummer with the uplifting jazz breaks of “The Deep” (we took a butcher’s, here) have just dropped their second delicious missive, “Wake Up”, for which they’ve called on the services of Brazilian cantora Marina B. Take a …

CANADIAN songsmith Patrick Watson, who leads the band of the same name, somewhat flies under the radar on UK shores – and that’s bordering on criminal once you dive into his world of beautifully arranged music. You may know him as the man behind (well, the man upfront, since he composed, sang and played piano …

ARIZONA’S atmospheric Tex-Mex outfit Calexico have returned after last year’s collaborative album with Iron & Wine, and have announced a new album whose songs are very much concerned with this time of year in the shape of Seasonal Shift. The album is a celebration of the wider winter and festive season and will be released …

AFTER two singles dropped on the drove road through the autumn in the shape of the swirling and funky “Naturalise Me”, and the graceful boy/girl synthpop of “Old Flames”, which we took a butcher’s at here and here, respectively, Ed Seed and his band have decided to bare their dancefloor teeth as they descend the …

SO, BRASS tacks: Bleach Lab, the upcoming dreampop who formed in Buckinghamshire but who moved to a new operating base south of the river; they’re bloody lovely. Now we’ve got that firmly established, we can move on. Agreed? They’ve been around for a little while, and they’ve released three singles since 2019, including the beautiful, …

NOT CONTENT to rest on their laurels following the release of ACR Loco, that rich, irresistible return of an album from September, A Certain Ratio have just dropped the animated video for a new single, “YoYoGrip”: yes, that’s right, two of the highlight tracks from that album blended sweetly in a soundclash orchestrated by UK …

THE Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMA), now in their eleventh year, is an annual celebration of the best in new leftfield Scottish music. This year’s live ceremony will take place online at 6.30pm on Wednesday, November 18th, in partnership with live streaming platform Twitch. The ceremony will include live performances from Glasgow quintet Walt Disco, who are known …