All the bands and side projects in the yoyo oyoy collective—including Fjernsyn Fjernsyn, Blob Back Farenheit and Kirsten Ketsjer: The Rock Band—contain one or more of Slütspürt's members. This brilliant EP on Ninth World Music demonstrates a fierce improvisation associated with sometime labelmates Evan Parker and Peter Brötzmann, all-too-fleeting echoes of 1979 Manchester/Cleveland, and a brief prettiness that could hide in plain sight on the Songs of Green Pheasant record.

A late-period Force Tracks artist aids in resuscitating this once feared lost patient, though like many stroke or heart attack survivors, life after near death is never quite the same.

CocoRosie has spread its seed and this is the result. This trio of musicians try to separate themselves from their obvious influences, but fail at doing so just before putting me to sleep. It's an effort staying awake from beginning to end and not because it's a relaxing listen.

Bryce Kushnier fuses his experiences in Winnipeg’s electronic and indie rock scenes for his latest full-length as Vitaminsforyou. A nod to a hill in Manitoba known for saving townspeople from 19th Century floods, the result is a huge, sprawling electropop epic showcasing the best of both worlds.

Veteran producer Sherard Ingram, perhaps best (un)known as the mysterious Drexciyan DJ Stingray, drops a full length of delectable abrasive electro that honors the memory of James Stinson while challenging conventions and often experimenting wildly.

Nils Erga is absent and gone with him is his viola. In his place is Anders Hana, member of Ultralyd and Moha!, and some tight underwear presumably hugging a woman's ass. Hana has some big shoes to fill with Erga gone, but manages to make great use of his guitar, summoning electric freak outs to accompany the band's mucky delivery.

Dave Pajo has historically been known as the go-to man for guitar ability and sound: when Billy Corgan told Matt Sweeney "I want to get that guitar sound in Slint," Sweeney's reaction was simply, "Why don't we just get the guitarist from Slint?" On his second release under his last name, Dave has taken things further and demonstrated he has mastered the technique of total songcraft, something deftly exhibited on Pajo but perfected here.

Barbara Morgenstern's whirlwind world tour inspired themes of changes and the nature of time on her first album since 2003's Nichts Muss. Her arrangements are frequently minimalistic, yet she strikes a delicate balance between warmth and precision that indicates a maturation of her pop sensibilities.

Christian Kiefer’s latest album is a mostly instrumental exploration of the Russian revolution. Among other instruments, he uses guitar, strings, and field recordings to create a stunning work both vivid and haunting in its cinematic evocations.

Another outstanding mini-release from Newcastle’s Jazzfinger collides with another undeniably gorgeous piece of Low Point artwork. Rarely do things that look this good, sound the same. Playing as both their standard duo, and expanded trio team, this two tracker 3" CD-R reveals further facets to their sound.

Dedicated to “individuals who burn the flags of nations,” Gjöll’s debut is a concept album in five parts about a character’s anger arising from the state of today’s materialist society, blaming its oppressive politicians and advertisers alike. Dark and brooding, the album is heavy on atmosphere that’s perforated by bleak lyrics.

Zach Condon has been hailed as a genius and practically drooled upon since Gulag Orkestar was released. He deserves it in part, any 19 year old musician with this kind of talent deserves to be recognized for his achievements. With A Hawk and a Hacksaw in tow, Condon has written one of the most attractive, if flawed, pop records of 2006.

A man of extremes, Kirkegaard’s last Touch record was noisescapes recorded in the Earth’s crust. Four Rooms is a record of silent feedback, silence played back into more silence, in four rooms in Chernobyl, Ukraine.

Even though this second album from the trio of Jennifer and Laura Rogers and bassist Miyuki Furtado doesn’t cover a lot of new territory, they still manage to get a lot of mileage out of their material with an album of energetic, anthemic rock songs.

Evocations of past albums litter this new EP. Plangent piano sonatas filled one album, alchemic wisps of water in air another, and submarine drones a third. When I Live by the Garden is not simply an omnibus compilation of past works, but rather a recombination of efforts showing how past works were not simply stand-alone products but all part of a larger concept.

Frequent collaborators Tom de Geeter, aka Siaz, and Marcus Graap team up again for their first album as Zucchini Drive. Assisted by a different producer on every track and a revolving door of musicians, this smorgasbord of talent concocts hip hop cuisine that’s uniformly good but rarely excellent.

I expected more from an album that not only advertises sexuality, but also has referential song titles like "Tubular Belles" and "Moi Non Plus." Netherlands-based Trespassers W talk a lot about sex, use plenty of risque language to describe sex toys and sexual acts alike, but none of it sounds very arousing.

Flowing Seasons is the solo debut from Luca Di Mira of Italy’s Giardini di Miro. At times orchestral, beat-driven, or ambient, the emphasis is on lush beauty, a quality these mellow songs rarely lack.

Ielasi’s eponymous second Häpna release doesn’t come as the refining or summarizing work one might expect from the prolific artist and collaborator. Despite being his most technologically demanding work yet, its compositions are more linear and inviting than ever before, and sonically the record is beautifully, meticulously meshed.

This 'album' crams 13 songs into the shortest long player since the early days of Napalm Death. Each track is a blistering blast of heavy metal mayhem for the sampler generation, and a salute to short attention spans.