The first time I heard Pole, I recall, I vividly sensed an odd feeling of simultaneous warmth and cold, washing over me in wave after wave of dubwise potency.

On this three-track food/petrol/strings funding release the band continue their rock and roll d/evolution. What the Markers do maybe easy to flippantly sum up, but it’s spat out as complex improvisational process. This trio take the roots of musical cultures, personal experience and labels and feed them with a row of cocktail shots and composted Ginsberg instead of the same old generic watery rock moves. The thing about Magik Markers is that while they refuse to stick the tried and tested templates, they are happy to batter new life into traditional trio instrumentation.

A monologue labyrinthine enough to confuse David Lynch is performed by Anna Chancellor to open this album. The narrator could die at any moment, there is an organized operation controlling metaphysical principles beyond human recognition, and data is being processed in order fulfill some clandestine goal; Barry Adamson is still one strange customer, his music as varied as his imagination and resumé.

From what I had heard about the Yellow Swans, I expected this album to be harsh, with plenty of layers of static and distortion washing over all other sounds. While those elements are present to a certain degree, Drift is much more varied and better than I had hoped.

Bastard Noise, Sissy Spacek, and Sunn O))) member John Wiese concocts an arsenal of blistering eruptions that’s sure to blow both eardrums and speakers alike.

England's Eden Maine might appear all bluster and bark from first look: a blood-red album cover and song titles which hit on everything from Satan to homicide to strongly-worded exhortations not to breathe. It seems a little bit contrived and postured. But once past the introductory wispiness of "Solstitium," Eden Maine's bite becomes painfully apparent. And yet the bark persists.

Instrumental band Ten Past Seven have been a take them or leave them band whenever I’ve encountered them live. On disc they are a different beast: complex song structures with strong metal, jazz and post punk influences make for a fascinating and fun listen.

This double live album is another impressive release from Keiji Haino. For this concert he was joined by Sitaar Tah! (a twenty strong sitar orchestra) and a throat singer by the name of Fuyuki Yamakawa. It’s as good as it sounds.

Ex members of Windsor for the Derby contribute to this pretty little single, the first from their debut album Fear Is On Our Side: the result is a number catchy enough to have me singing along even though I can't find the lyrics to the song anywhere.

This mystic, free rock crap really loves to wander without going anywhere. Three and four minute songs end up sounding like ten minute excursions in the name of ambivalence or pure wanksterism and songwriting is sacrificed for "exotic" arrangements and instruments. First Nation try to blow that stereotype out of the water on their debut and they come damn close to outright embarrassing everyone around them.

For the most part recorded live in Vienna, this album is a consolidation of Nurse With Wound’s most recent output into one piece. The results speak for themselves; the different resources integrate with each other perfectly to give an exceptional piece of music.

Recorded in one day, then processed over three years, here is an orgasmic maelstrom. Transmitting as much calm unease as bewildering force, Aufgehoben's third release is beautifully fleet-footed, intensely musical, tantalising ugly and almost tangibly sexual. As if a winged piledriver were coupling with a steel drum, in a furnace.

This album is a collection of deceptively simple, melodic songs performed on electric guitar and bass by the composer and player who has worked his singular magic on so many of Current 93's most memorable records.  Cashmore makes use of a minimal instrumental palette to create a suite of haunting melodies that seem stuck in some hazy, half-remembered, sepia-toned corridor of memory.

Maintaining a consistent level of excellence during improvisational collaborations is a difficult task. Sometimes even when the musicians and the audience find the results cathartic, they don’t always translate well to recorded media. Unfortunately, After at Once is one of those instances.

Despite a clear admiration for the ambient tradition, some irksome excesses such as sonic squiggles and skittery noises mar the intrinsic beauty of this composition.

This live CD-R (recorded who knows where) is yet another powerful example of how the Sunburned bunch turn potential chaos into coherent jams. The word ‘shambles’ seems to lazily follow this collective around for some reason, but they always spend more time being melodious than they do rambling.

My only exposure to Three Lobed Recordings was the Davenport disc, an absolute oddity of found sound recordings and story telling. Pete Nolan (member of bands like The Magik Markers and The Vanishing Voice) is writing that style of music his own way, with sullen guitars and analog equipment enough to give Lustmord an erection.

Although their name implies aspirations both dark and esoteric, this Australian brother and sister duo instead create an album that's surprisingly inviting. By avoiding any form of indulgence, their hypnotic songs are oddly comforting, if not calming, while retaining enough strangeness to make their approach fresh and inspired.

This is the third tribute album to surface since Jhonn Balance passed on. Produced by Dutch radio station Kink FM, it is a mixture of artists who knew and worked with Balance and artists who have no relation to Coil whatsoever. Some of the songs are fitting tributes to the man but others are an insult to him and his art.

This is the best musical recording Rjyan Kidwell has ever taken part in. Collaborating with seven other players including both members of Nice Nice, Actual Fucking is an achievement. Unfortunately the lyrics and singing get so bad sometimes they're painful to my ears.