Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Pierre Bastien has a strong team record of interesting collaborations. He's done stuff with fashion designer and scent mogul Issey Miyake, legendary singer and composer Robert Wyatt, and the enigmatic electronic producer and reality-shifter Aphex Twin, releasing no less than three full length records on the latter's landmark label, Rephlex. "A mad musical scientist", the Guardian once quipped, and C(or)N(e)T doesn't break from that tradition. Instead, it offers some of the most abstract and strange, beguiling and fascinating sounds we've heard in a while. At least a few of which have been made on self-made, bespoke pieces of equipment. At a push, you might label this jazz, for the simple fact it's so free-form and avant-garde. Realistically, though, it sounds like the noises that might happen if someone attempted to tame a pack of rogue electronic hubbub-chatting things in a vaguely structured way. "Thank fuck for Pierre Bastien", the Quietus once said. We happily concur.

Review: Miami-born contemporary guitarist Bill Orcutt is known for his infatuating blend of blues, punk, trance and noise. With the release of Four Guitars Live on CD, he could've easily convinced us of this being a rare and long-forgotten artefact, of a proto-drone artist from the Deltaic 1960s. In reality, this was first incarnated in 2022 under the recorded name Music For Four Guitars, and Orcutt's establishing brand of doom-blues-trance-minimalism could invite artistic comparisons as far-fetched as Steve Reich or Rachika Nayar. But his sound is more nostalgic, seeming to predict emo and pysch both "before" and after the fact of the genre's establishment. Fittingly Reichean, Orcutt forms one part of a quartet here, performing the record in its entirety live at Le Guess Who? festival in Utrecht, 2023.

Review: BC, NR are now onto their third album. The Ninja Tune-signees gained attention for not posing as if they're in a band, but looking like an ordinary group of students, or twentysomethings house-sharing. Their bold look, where they're smiling in the press pics, as opposed to donning a moody pout, has thankfully been backed up with some terrific music. Their debut, For The First Time, earned them favourable comparisons to post-rock trailblazers Slint and their second album Ants From Up There is the Gen-z equivalent of Arcade Fire's Funeral, thanks to its grandiose anthemics. Famously, singer and lyricist Isaac Wood left the band on the even of the release of their second album, which sparked outcry and paranoia from their ever-growing army of fans about what that might mean for their future. But the band have kept at it and the remaining six members have chosen to share frontperson duties, thus relieving the added pressure that comes with being a designated frontperson. This third album - and first post Isaac Wood - is proving to be a striking new chapter, with the lead single, 'Besties', an immediately likeable way of introducing it to the world. Georgia Ellery, also of Jockstrap, takes lead vocals here and offers an unforgettable off-kilter indie pop cut reminiscent of Aldous Harding. Zutons-y sax stabs scattered in make for a beautiful touch and leave us feeling that this is the album that's going to send BC, NR onto a stratospheric level, where they're spoken about in the same breath as Radiohead as one of Britain's finest bands.

Review: James Ford is one of the most important unsung heroes of contemporary pop and rock. As a studio producer, he's helped craft and hone incredible work from Fontaines DC, Arctic Monkeys, Depeche Mode, Blur and more. As an artist in his own right, he's perhaps more incredible. So, his impact on the latest and long-awaited new addition to Black Country New Road's catalogue should not be underestimated. Nor should the result of splitting the songwriting and vocal duties between members Tyler Hyde, Georgia Ellery and May Kershaw. "It's definitely very different" said one of the trio about how this compares to preceding long form outings. We'd say it's definitely very different to most music you'll hear this week. It's folk, soft rock, experimental garage something, and none of the above, with tracks that almost seem at odds with themselves, chopping and changing, evolving and progressing, until you hear them as a whole.

Review: Every once in a while, you get a band emerge from the vibrant London music scene that you notice aren't like all the other bands. You sense they have something a bit special. BC, NR are like that - they offer something so rich musically that it appears immune to any potential threat that could come from changing trends. This third studio album of theirs comes under what looked like difficult circumstances from the outside. Their lead singer and songwriter Isaac Wood left the band shortly before the release of their second album. But they've withstood the pressure incredibly and are on top form here. There's more emphasis than ever on sharing the role of frontperson so the album is like a smorgasbord where you sample different voices and songwriting styles that exist within the group. Lead single 'Besties' is violinist Georgia Ellery's. It thrives off of its dynamism with explosive Phil Spector-esque wall of sound moments set in alongside elegant indie folk. A truly massive chapter awaits.

Review: A split release featuring two distinct yet complementary compositions by Francois J. Bonnet and Sarah Davachi. French composer Bonnet's 'Banshee' is a journey to the edges of the old world, where the boundaries between nature and human presence blur. Drawing on field recordings made in the Inner Hebrides, he weaves an aural tableau where the calls of seabirds intertwine with the mournful wail of the wind and the gentle lapping of water against the shore merges with the distant drone of a boat engine. The piece unfolds in seven interwoven movements, each capturing a different facet of the landscape's character. Meanwhile, Canadian artist Davachi's 'Basse Brevis' is a minimalist exploration of timbre, space and duration. Through subtle shifts in texture and harmony, Davachi creates a work that is both precise and evocative, its slowly evolving soundscapes inviting deep listening and contemplation. The piece's restrained yet poignant character creates a gentle tension, blurring the lines between instrumental and concrete approaches to sound. A compelling example of the power of sound to evoke place and emotion, offering two distinct yet complementary perspectives on the relationship between humans and the natural world.

Review: You know we're all in trouble if Daniel Brandt starts making albums about the Doomsday Clock - now closer than ever to midnight, and Armageddon - and whether or not the Earth will survive us. More than just a record, not only does this reflect the darkest of the Brandt Brauer Frick legend's oeuvre, thematically and in moments aurally, it also represents the latest in his long list of defining work and groundbreaking projects from the artist. The LP is one aspect, an apocalyptic live rave show another, where fans and masochists alike can indulge in a multimedia presentation of end times. Sticking to the sounds, though, Brandt again shows himself to be a true electronic maestro here, from the earthy wooded percussive loops of 'Resistance', to the droning string funnels on 'Addicted', 'Steady''s rolling post-club depth, and the opening alarm call future tech-step of 'Paradise OD'. So, if it does all come down to this, at least we're bowing out on a sonic high.

Review: Melancholy maestro Brock Van Wey aka Bvdub returns with more immersive and beautifully sad sounds on his latest album In Iron Houses. It is an ambient work that is far too evocative to serve simply as aural wallpaper. Opener 'Madness To Their Methods' for example has a vocal swirling about the synthscapes that is utterly arresting and conveys great emotional pain. 'The Broken Fixing The Broken' is another lament of epic proportions and 'Iron Houses At Night - Star Track' has a little sense of hope in the brighter melodies and another vocal, which this time carries love not loss. 'Perpetual Emotion Machine' shuts down with subtle celestial celebration.