Ambient/Drone charts

Review: Old school Wisconsin based thrash-inflected death metal mammoths, Jungle Rot, make their Unique Leader debut with, A Call To Arms; the follow up to their crushing 2018 self-titled effort. With seasoned, visceral chops honed throughout the seminal nineties era, the band are an ironic outlier residing on a roster of slamming deathcore acts who all owe retrospective credence. Invoking their moniker and artwork with images of voodoo occultism, the decrepit, Lovecraftian design shrouds the jagged riffage, guttural vocals and claustrophobic percussion in a cosmic, otherworldly atmosphere.

Review: Armed with a Yamaha Reface, Korg MS20, 90s Casio and 70s Gem organ, Roland Space Echo, Melos delay and spring reverb, Liverpool producer Ancient Plastix took a deep dive with this stunning ambient album, capturing the whole thing on the wonderfully textured Japanese Sansui machine. A six-track tape he picked up from an old raver-turned-father who was finally ready to part with his gear. "Musically, this album is more patient in its approach to the predecessor," says Plastix. "Recorded towards the end of lockdown in my high street basement below a used record shop, the arrangements reflect the personal era. No responsibility, no reasons to adhere to the previous patterns in my music making. As a result the album is a patient trawl through new discoveries and possibilities presented by improvising with old technology."