While the final studio release from Khanate seems to be in cold storage, two essential live albums have been given the remaster and reissue treatment. Recorded a year apart from each other, these two discs provide a couple of vivid snapshots of an imposing live band. Both performances see Khanate in top form, destroying all hope with their sub-bass despair. It is exhilarating to hear such a ferocious racket channelled with such precision and purpose, yet utterly depressing that the group responsible is now no more.

Originally released in 1971 as a tiny private pressing in Japan, this rare psychedelic album finally makes it to CD for the first time. Apparently it took a couple of years to track down the material, but the effort was certainly worth it. Great musicianship, excellent production, and the skillful mixture of various styles make this album enjoyable from beginning to end.

One of the most revered musical pioneers of the 20th century, Erik Satie also had connections to the avant-garde of other artistic disciplines. This album contains primarily his collaborations with Picasso and Cocteau, as well as a couple of other seldom heard works. Performed by Bojan Gorisek, who has recorded Satie's entire piano oeuvre, this is a playful and entertaining collection that presents another fascinating side of this eccentric composer.

I doubt anyone would disagree that following up last year's stellar In the Maybe World would be a difficult feat, so Young God and Lisa Germano decided to reintroduce this scarcely available 2003 release (ironically frequently heralded as her best release to date) to a larger audience, adding a bonus disc of home demos and live recordings.

This 3-CD compilation of singles, non-album tracks, and unreleased material by Amp stays true to their mantra of honoring composition and accident equally. The resulting harmony is by turns uplifting, somnambulant, frustrating, lush, raw, glorious, and imprecise while a hollowness seems to lurk beneath the distorted beauty.

Porn Sword Tobacco's delicate new album reminds me of flexi-discs that once came stuck on the front of music papers, containing excerpts from a band's forthcoming album. Similarly, it succeeds in creating an intrigue disproportionate to its miserly length.

While the poppier approach taken by Justin Broadrick on the recent Conqueror album has received a mixed response Jesu fans, this double A side EP should restore faith in anyone Conqueror naysayers (myself not included). These two lengthy songs sound more like Jesu's self-titled debut than Broadrick's recent work, slowly building up the pressure before a loud and mighty release.

Despite sharing a rhythm section with Graveyards, this Mêlée release feels like a completely different unit. Having recorded Bare those Excellent Teeth pt. I as part of the Graveyards trio, Ben Hall and Hans Buetow have utterly revitalised the idea. With Mêlée's third member, Nate Wooley on trumpet replacing John Olson's sometimes barbaric saxophone, the slate is cleared.

The material that makes up Her Name was recorded across the world over 2006 and features vocal contributions from local musicians that treats the voice not as much as a means of communication, but as a unique instrument unto itself.

While looking at the instrumentation one would expect a jazz album (saxophones, guitar, percussion, electronics), the result is more of a jazz damaged electro-acoustic improvisations that manages to be both extremely minimal, yet surprisingly complex.