On her second album on the Hymen label, Tonikom’s Rachel Maloney continues to refine her blend of danceable electronic abstraction with elements of ambient and even slightly poppy approaches that can work just as well for the dance floor as for close attentive listening.

Back from a long hiatus after a single critically acclaimed release (Trace Elements, on Colin Newman’s Swim~ label), Paul Thomsen Kirk reappears from his Hiroshima based enclave with a new, lavishly packaged album that blends electronic atmospheres, old school industrial textures, dubby bass, and breakbeats with compelling virtuosity.

I'm never sure whether I should dance, laugh, or squirm to a Gary Wilson record. All three are understandable reactions to his porno lounge sound, a fact that makes his music all the more uncomfortable. Lisa Wants To Talk to You comes on strong with saccharine keyboards and guitars, but is full of strong melodies and the same compellingly bizarre lyrics that have always characterized Wilson's obsessive world of women and loss.

A basement pioneer in his own right, J.D. Emmanuel has had a resurgence of sorts in recent years, making his a real synth Cinderella story. Spurred by a record collector who suggested he post his work on the internet, Emmanuel's 1982 Wizards was soon reissued by Bread and Animals' Lieven Martens, whose own Dolphins into the Future project is among many currently drawing inspiration from the meditative arpeggiations practiced by Emmanuel over 25 years ago.

Humorous though their name may be, Blue Sabbath Black Cheer actually sounds like anything but. Primarily the duo of wm.Rage and Stan Reed, this collection pulls from several out of print releases while also adding two unreleased tracks. Call this fine collection a "best of" if you want, but be warned: this is some brutal material. Perhaps "best of the worst" would be more apt.

Hailing from the northern reaches of Europe, Sweden based Skull Defekts return here, further honing their distinctive blend of tribal hard rock into a taut set of highly focused songs. Seeking to tread the line between overt psychedelia and more prog-based power rock, the group's aesthetic finds some deep pockets of funky groove along the way while also setting foot into trenches that perhaps lie a little too close to a brand of pop-rock that a group of this caliber certainly has the capacity to avoid.

Subtitled Minimal Compositions, Instrumentals, and Experiments 1980-1983, J.G. Thirlwell's CD-DVD retrospective casts an entirely new and surprising light on his already diverse and infamous Foetus moniker. Some of these songs are close to being 30 years old, however they share more in common with Thirlwell's Manorexia and Steroid Maximus projects than with anything found on albums like Hole or Nail. Steeped in the theory and aesthetics of modern composition, Limb is a revelatory collection that adds even more depth to Thirlwell's already rich musical history.

Although still in his early 20s, Jon Borges has long been a dominant and influential figure in the American noise underground. Austere is the first new Pedestrian Deposit release in three years (due to a shift in focus towards his more ambient Emaciator project) and the first to feature a second band member (cellist/violinist Shannon Kennedy). As expected, it is well worth the wait.

 

Cold Cave's brilliant yet cruelly brief set at No Fun Fest most closely resembled a low-fi New Order perverted by (un)healthy doses of bleak intensity and menace. Regrettably, this compilation of early releases does not sound anything like that, so I must content myself with mere memories until a release emerges that more accurately captures Wes Eisold's current vision. Thankfully, however, Cremations is still a fairly compelling and unusual release in its own right.

In Trunk's catalog are many bizarre treats. The label has issued obscure soundtracks, musique concrète by an ex-Spitfire pilot, poetic porn, tunes from forgotten children's TV shows and much more. Now comes their very first CD release of easy listening sunshine pop adaptations of Church of England hymns, which has long enjoyed a cultish following and bootlegged life since its original 1960s release. These swinging arrangements of traditional melodies are amusing, perplexing creations; they are by turns delighful and repulsive.

Heavily sourced from both field recordings and guitar, the material on this disc gives the natural color of its geographic location:  an ammunitions bunker and its surrounding wilderness the spotlight.  As a whole the pieces are staunchly minimalist, allowing the core sounds to be the focus rather than a great deal of electronics or processing, which is surely artist Cameron Webb’s intent with this work.

While he first made a name for himself with the balls out psych rock of Loop, Robert Hampson always had an inclination towards the esoteric and avant garde.  The slide away from rock into musique concrèt for him is pretty obvious to anyone familiar with his Main project, which began as a krautrock inspired industrial band and ended with the pure sonic abstraction that has segued into this new solo work.  Rather than working with guitar (as Loop and Main were based upon), these works, two of which were commissioned by GRM, instead allow for a wider sonic palate to be used, and the results are captivating.

Some album titles are more apt than others but this is one album whose name rings true. With the heart stopping slabs of guitar paired with some serious musical exploration, Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley have looked beyond their usual extreme music surroundings and recruit some truly surprising collaborators for their most ambitious album to date.

One of Robin Storey’s many strengths has been to the ability to translate the genius loci of his north England homeland into musical artifacts. Listening to Dark Rivers put me in a headspace of animistic communion with the internal and external landscapes he evokes. As the title suggests, they were mostly of an aquatic nature. These songs are fluid, amorphous, ever shifting, snaking like water from creek to river to ocean, and layered in time (spanning from monolithic rock glyphs to the military-industrial complex of the Cold War) as well as in space.

Based upon their childlike and almost self-parodyingly reductionist name and rather Dungeons and Dragons-inspired cover art, I expected Dark Castle to either be unintentionally hilarious or the most abrasive, evil, soul-withering doom metal band I have ever heard. Much to my surprise, they were neither. This male/female doom-psych duo has crafted an impressive, assured, and surprisingly melodic debut.

It's dark outside, the windows are open, and the light in the room is slowly bleeding into the shapelessness outside. A trickle of sound pours out of the speakers and evokes a half-frightened reflex; it isn't clear whether something just moved outside the house or if Haptic just added a new element to their droning melancholy. In slow, measured steps, and with liquid ease, The Medium plays out like a subdued, but troubling soundtrack to an unreleased David Lynch film. It's filled with both tense uncertainty and cool atmospheres drowned in low-end heaviness.

Omar Souleyman's work inhabits the blurry region that separates "embarrassingly misguided and inept pop" from "brilliant outsider art."  Despite that, this cadaverously aloof Syrian is the reigning king of his country's cassette kiosks and an extremely popular wedding singer (and rightly so).  This is bizarre even by Sublime Frequencies standards.

As part of a campaign to reissue the neglected discography of Manchester post-punk label Object Music, LTM's Boutique Label presents this collection of the entire recorded output of Grow Up, the project of Spherical Objects guitarist and Manchester Musicians Collective member John Bisset-Smith. A six-piece featuring brass and woodwinds, Grow Up combines stripped-down, youthful pop-punk with sophisticated chamber pop and hints of Beefheartian skronk.

Another chapter in LTM's Boutique Label reissue campaign of obscure Manchester post-punk label Object Music, this collection presents more than 100 minutes of experiments, improvisations, skewed pop, drone-laden blues, minimal electronic synthpop and weird, dislocated Nurse With Wound-style audio surrealism. A reissue of a double-album originally issued in 1980—a collaborative release by labelmates Steve Solamar (Spherical Objects) and Steve Miro—Sheep From Goats was certainly the most adventurous release by Object Music during its brief existence.

This vinyl-only release from one of Japan's finest psych bands has truly snuck out without fanfare. Currently only available as a very small run LP (although the label appear to be planning to repress it), this is the best releases in Up-Tight's already impressive catalogue. This LP sees them thrust their sound into the abyss and they jump fearlessly in after it.