Two of ambient music's greatest strengths are conjuring up isolated locations and immense timelines. In Time Frost, Robin Storey uses them to imagine a Europe chilled by ocean currents altered by global warming. It is easy to be cynical about climate change as an artistic subject considering its status as Hollywood's pet-cause of the moment.  Time Frost does something far more satisfying: it calls to mind vivid images that do not need to be interpreted through an ideology.

The second album since the adoption of the more formal sounding name of Carter Tutti is a strange beast. The title of the album made me expect a more violent and frenetic style but the duo show that being feral is not all about bared teeth and naked aggression. Feral can be more beautiful and tender than any tamed creature or thought. The music is wild in that it is free from much outside influence. Immediately it is obvious that no matter what the name on the CD case is, this is the same animal at heart.

I cannot say I am a hip hop guru (hip hop is for the most part is one of those "must investigate at a later date" areas of music for me) but I know what I like and I like Northern State. Although their new album is not consistently great, the bits that shine are bright enough to obscure the weaker moments. The album is fairly formulaic but these ladies have a charm which lets them carry the songs off.

Coming so soon after their exquisite Vintage Burden and their Electricity Ghost outtakes collection, this is an album that Charalambides could have done without dropping. The solo work of both Tom and Christina Carter is evolving at a furious pace, releases coming monthly that both investigate and fulfil their countless ideas. If rumor is to be believed, these songs were recorded live in one take and then overdubbed with numerous effect and layers. It is in this extra work that the fault lies, leaving Likeness in the void between song and improv.

A solo work from Hototogisu/Double Leopards member Marcia Bassett sounds exactly like the photo on the cover:  dark, gray, and sinisterly mysterious.  And it excels at living up to these adjectives.

Travel as a theme in art is practically as old as whatever art form in question itself.  The idea of moving from a known place to a foreign one can be seen as fascinating, alienating, exciting, and completely frightening.  Those adjectives are also surprisingly well fitting to describe this compilation as well.  Though it is focused on traveling by plane, the same feelings are there and, just like a flight, it is fascinating, interesting, and yes, occasionally boring and mundane.

This japanoise supergroup was formed in 2003, pooling the talents of Hiroshi Hasegawa (Astro & C.C.C.C.) on voice and synth, Maso Yamazaki of Masonna on guitar and voice, and Nobuko Emi on drums. This is their debut album and features four live recordings taped in various venues in Osaka and Tokyo between 2003 and 2006.

Listening to Amidst the Noise and Twigs is like wandering lost in the middle of a forest after discovering that the breadcrumbs leading home are actually beetles that then scamper away and vanish. Luring the listener deeper into the wood are mesmeric melodies and hypnotic chants that both welcome and warn. The siren call is addictive and disorienting, and it's a delirious place in which to be lost.

Ephemera Blues reflects a metaphysical journey through issues of mortality. These superb songs frequently emphasize death's cyclical aspects more often than its dire ones, lending vigor to the search for personal enlightenment. The album is mellow but never dull, earnest and cathartic in its yearning for transcendental validation.

Edited down from hours of recordings, this collaboration between America's Sunburned Hand of the Man and Finland's Circle is a thrilling collection of improvisations and jams. Not only is it a great first time partnership but I like it better than a lot of either band's previous recordings. With any luck this is the start of a long-lasting and prolific relationship.

Ben Chasny returns with his tenth album under the Six Organs banner. There is a slightly softer approach compared to The Sun Awakens from last year but thankfully the electric guitar (which has improved the already formidable Six Organs sound no end) has been retained. There are few bands who use such a limited palette of instruments (i.e. just a guitar) for so many albums without sounding repetitive but Chasny can always be counted on to breath new life into those six old strings.

This EP, snuck on the unexpecting listening populace after a great deal of speculation that there may never be any additional output from the band, seems to herald yet another reinvention.  If the sound on this EP is any indication, the forthcoming studio album may very well be the modern Chairs Missing to Send's Neo-Pink Flag.

A titan of the Japanese noise scene and a long time member of both Hijokaidan and the Incapacitants, Mikawa has only made very few solo works without the participation of other parties.  Here is one of the rare opportunities to hear everyone's favorite banker in his own personal element.

When a label as esoteric as Sedimental describes a release as their "most challenging," adventurous listeners should know they're in for something fascinating.  The disclaimer should not be ignored because it is a difficult excursion into dense, hostile worlds of sound with a complexity that makes additional listening mandatory.

Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings' third full-length is proof positive that musical quality will always triumph. Their subtle take on soul and funk is terrific fun for everyone and their success mocks any attempt at narrow definitions of genre, beauty, the female form and what is hip.

Angelo Badalamenti is one of film and television's greatest composers, and his association with David Lynch over the past two decades has yielded some of the most haunting, beautiful, dark and unsettling soundtrack music ever produced. Of all these collaborations, arguably the finest is Badalamenti's music for the cult TV show Twin Peaks, and this disc finally collects all of the great music inexplicably left off of the heretofore released soundtracks for the series and its film prequel Fire Walk With Me.

After recovering from the sonic assault of the  Consumer Electronics LP on Carlos Giffoni's No Fun Productions label, these ears are primed for the label debut and first ever CD release from Nate Young (Wolf Eyes) and Steve Kenney's (Isis & Werewolves) Demons project. The title, Evocation, suggests this is not going to be for the faint hearted. Bring it on...

Ten years following its initial release, the debut album from Christian Fennesz gets the reissue treatment. Sometimes quite different from the joyous nature of his subsequent albums, it hints at the possibilities of what was to come. It is an interesting−if not altogether brilliant−document of his early work, some songs being mere experiments in texture and others where all the elements gel together to hit home.

Judged solely by his recordings, Wyatt seems a low-key, wry, extraordinarily loyal and honest person. Yet opinions about his work probably cover a range comprising love, surprise that he's still alive, disinterest, and hate. For sure there are conflicting verdicts on his voice. Love it, like it in small doses, or loathe it, Wyatt's hasn't changed a great deal since the late 1960s. It remains a singularly unadorned expression of our flawed humanity. 

It has been over ten years since their first album and, granted there has been a big shift in the personnel on board, the group are barely recognizable in terms of sound and volume. This fifth album is their quietest, with all muted moods and introspective songs. It is a solid release by the band and, although sharing on paper many traits with the folk revival/fad of recent years, sounds like its own little world. The songs here are calm and tender; the album has a soothing effect on me from the moment it starts.