Back catalogue: All genres

Review: Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones head back into the studio and fire up the Eurorack modular synth for a third adventure into the great unknown of sounds and noises seemingly once heard in another dimension before being brought back to planet Earth with the hope of recreating whatever the rumbling or bleeping was. Electronic Music Improvisations Vol.3 is exactly that, building on the self-imposed musical parameters that guided the preceding two parts. Deep, otherworldly, vast, and unique, the beauty of Miller and Jones' Sunroof project is how it's also the opposite of all those words. Sparse, pared back, familiar, very much born of manmade machines, since these endeavours began we've crossed through the looking glass into a world that often feels like it's spinning out of human control, not least with the advent of music entirely made by AI. Here's proof people can still take complete charge of their creative process.

Review: It's hard not to feel moved by Swans. To quote Wayne's World, it's not just a clever name, but rather a band every bit as graceful yet ferocious, beautiful but strong as the bird borrowed from. Take "Annaline", for example. As the first track-proper of this spellbinding collection it's a stop-you-in-your-tracks masterpiece that could force silence on a stadium despite being softly spoken, subtle and serene. It's a motif the outfit seem focused on for this, their 15th studio album. Even at its loudest, title track "Leaving Meaning" mostly plays out like a deranged sermon in some temple of experimental rock. "Sunfucker", for example, has enough reversed-out refrains to make anyone feel they might be in over their head with forces they can't see, let alone comprehend. "It's Coming It's Real" is a display of dark hypnosis. "The Hanging Garden" paints nervous abstract pictures with psychedelic-leaning guitar hooks and manic vocal cries. Put simply, it's perhaps their tensest, most introverted and spellbinding work to date.

Review: The Beggar is a mightily impressive 16th studio album from Swans. It is founding member Michael Gira who has written and produced it with some fine contributions from both current and past Swans members, plus members of Angels Of Light a guest spot from Ben Frost. This record emerged from the lockdowns of 2020 onwards and the sense of isolation that brought. The songs came easily, says Michael, once he came to terms with that and were informed by the fact that he worried these might be his last new writings. I they are, they are some of his best.