Richard Skelton has been quietly amassing a small but deeply devoted following for the last five years with a series of beautifully packaged self-released albums under a constantly changing series of guises (the best-known of which being A Broken Consort).  With this, his second release for Type Records under his own name, he seems poised for much wider recognition as one of the most vital and singular artists in underground music. This is one of the most beautiful and essential albums that I’ve heard this year.

This reissue of their sixth album (not including those done with Brian Eno) is a most welcome sight. Often overlooked in favor of their '70s output (understandably considering how good those albums are), Curiosum remains a curiosity in the Cluster back catalogue. It is quite different to their earlier works, less serious sounding than previous albums. However, the variation of styles and approaches on this album means it comes across as more of a compilation than a fully fleshed out album. Yet, I argue that its disparate nature is part of its charm.

While the artist roster reads like the authors of an academic journal, anyone who has had their nose in modern experimental/electronic music surely knows most, if not all of the participants listed.  While originally issued in the early parts of this decade, this massive collaboration of guitar innovation and laptop artistry predates many of these artists' best known works and it shows that even in these salad days, these guys were (and still are) at the top of their game.

Working alone, Marchetti has solidly established himself as truly a shaman of sound.  His combination of worldwide field recordings and subtle treatments has created a world that is both alien and familiar, warm and harrowing.  Here working alongside Yôko Higashi, the two weave sound that goes from the industrial realm into the wilds of Africa, and then back again.

Combining country, American surf music and the classic Ennio Morricone Spaghetti Western soundtracks, this album sounds like a lost gem from the '60s. However, this trio (supplemented by some seriously cool guest musicians) are not just an ersatz tribute to the past. This is a brilliant homage to these various styles of music that has buckets of enthusiasm and passion to make up for its lack of modernity.

The world does not need another black metal band but the guys from Liturgy don’t care. This is fine by me as this is one of the best albums in the genre for a long time. Consolidating the ground won via their Immortal Life EP, the group has expanded in size and in scope. Instead of focussing on a scary aesthetic and not coming up with decent music, they have gone the opposite route of 99% of most modern black metal groups and actually made music worth listening to.

Released a few months prior on cassette (continuing the underground’s fetishization of that unreliable magnetic media format), this live recording appears on the wider CD format, remastered to take better advantage of the digital media, and continues this new but prolific band’s trek into dense, heavy drone that somehow manages to keep lighter, airy ambient moments appearing in the otherwise gray mist.

In interviews leading up to this release on Mark Kozelek's (Red House Painters) label, Justin Broadrick said he had intentionally set out to make a "pop" record.  Considering many of the prior Jesu EP’s (Silver, Lifeline, Why Are We Not Perfect) were already creeping into this territory, the fact this might be his most conventional release is not shocking.  However, with Broadrick’s return to organic guitar sounds, the combination puts this surprisingly as close to Godflesh as any of his recent releases have been.

This second volume of Analog Africa's excellent Orchestre Poly-Rythmo career retrospective is yet another treasure trove of lost Afro-funk gems.  While a bit slicker than its predecessor, the heavy voodoo grooves remain and should serve to further cement the Orchestre’s new-found international reputation as one of Africa’s most exciting and innovative bands.

This consists of five relatively lengthy works culled from an eclectic array of recordings by this renowned Aussie experimental guitarist. The unifying theme seems to be that all are rare or out-of-print, which should make completists quite happy (especially ones without record players). Those new to Ambarchi should probably go elsewhere first, but casual fans will likely find many pleasantly diverting (though not revelatory) moments here to tide them over until Oren's next album emerges.

Amberhaze is the solo project of an Italian expatriate currently living in Singapore, which seems to be an unexpectedly fertile ground these days for warm electronic music such as this.  However, Giulliano Gullotti also exhibits quite a healthy (and well-justified) passion for early ‘90s English shoegaze (which obviously Singapore is not as known for). Despite that substantial temporal and geographic disadvantage, this debut album combines those two loves with a sometimes stunning degree of success.

This reissue of the trio’s only album together fills in a gap in my Krautrock collection but unfortunately does not live up to the quality I expect from any of the artists involved. Heavily inspired by African rhythms, this 1983 album has dated badly and sounds and upsettingly reminds me of one of my most hated albums of all time (Paul Simon’s Graceland, a more harrowing record I have never encountered). However, there are still moments of brilliance shining through but overall this is an album that might have been better left in the vaults.

Sometimes I have to wonder how much life is left in rock and roll. How long before every possible note is exhausted? Then I think, who cares as long as albums like this exist. It is rough as sandpaper and about as original as any other retro-styled artist but this album rocks very hard. This is not surprising considering it is the work of Michael Polizze of Birds of Maya but this solo album has clicked with me even more than his main group already has; its guitar-heavy mix and hypnotising riffs tap into a primeval feeling of rock and roll abandon and it feels like a living fossil from a time when Blue Cheer and The Stooges were punk kids shaking things up.

Dean McPhee’s debut EP takes a divergent path from the current prevailing solo guitar trends, venturing into neither Fahey/Basho-inspired steel guitar virtuosity nor pedal-stomping soundscapes.  Instead, Brown Bear quietly captures the sound of a man simply playing a guitar extremely well, with little ostentation or outside artifice.

Take Me To The Water: Immersion Baptism in Vintage Music and Photography 1890-1950 is an astonishing document of 75 sepia photograph reproductions with a disc of 25 songs and sermons. As usual, the Dust to Digital label rises above concepts of social division and genre by including music made by both African-Americans and European-Americans. There's a primal appeal both to these sounds and to the haunting, almost other-worldly photographs.  

This, I believe, is the ninth full-length album that Tokyo’s Yasuhiko Fukuzono has released since 2004, but this young composer has somehow managed to balance his voluminous output with an unwavering elegance and painstaking meticulousness.  The glitchy pastoral ambience of Light in August, Later is certainly nothing new, but it is nevertheless done quite well…a bit too well, actually.  While technically flawless, there are too few cracks to allow very much emotion to seep in.

This vinyl only release is the work of Ann Matthews and it is a hazy mix of childlike experimentation, a far cry from her usual work with Ectogram. She discards any of the usual approaches from her day job and explores her methods of songwriting and musicianship from a very different angle. Although initially difficult to digest, the music here is a wonderful mix of disintegrated pop and primal improvisation.

The concept of a "true mask" is quite an oxymoron, because what could be a "true" façade?  I’m not entirely sure how that applies to this album, however, because while it is a very well done combination of black metal and power electronics/noise, neither of those seem like mutually exclusive genres.  Regardless of that, the sound is a good mix of lo fi crunch and metal burn that might not be anything new, it’s something familiar done well.

I always hearing a label with a distinctive "sound" trying new things: while the Hymen/Ant-Zen axis has been mining the world of industrial and noise tinged electronica for years (without becoming stagnant), something completely out of character can be either a rousing success or utter failure.  Thankfully, this disc falls completely into the former, with each track defying expectations and going even more “out there” than the one before.

It was inevitable that my quest for truly outlandish music would lead me to the deranged audio landscapes of Caroliner. Where my quest will lead me after exploring the many records in their unhinged ouvre I do not know. As for now I content myself with the warped cognitive dissonance they provide.