Drag City US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: For all her otherworldly talents, even hardcore fans of Joanna Newsom will likely be relieved to hear that 'Divers' marks a very slight move back from the artistic brink compared to 2010's 'Have One On Me', an exhausting triple-album embarrassment of riches which few ever made it though in one go. Yet there's no hint of compromise on the deliriously thrilling 'Divers', despite its slightly more concise approach - the elegant yet baroque wordplay, ornate and innovative arrangements and Newsom's unique voice are all present and correct - yet more, these emotive and engaging ditties may mark the most accessible thing this iconoclastic and mercurial artist has thus far summoned from the ether.

Review: Singer-songwriting wrapped up in the dusty acid wash denim of Americana doesn't really get more authentic than what Bill Callahan of Silver Spring, Maryland, can deliver. His latest LP, a mass saunter through 20 tracks of smokey spoken word and lightly sung lyrics, falls upon a picturesque bevvy of humble and acoustic instrumentation. Callahan's songs croon with romance, metaphor, and folky yarns that find their place among fingerpicked guitars and light melodies that enjoy a contrast with the darker musings of Callahan's own world of experience and storytelling. It presents the artist with his first studio in some five years, and a sound that is looser than a typical Bill Callahan missive but full of melodrama that centres around life and death. Our pick, Callahan's cover of the Carter Family's "Lonesome Valley".

Review: Four new amorphous cuts from Bitchin Bajas, a Chicagoan trio active since 2010, and operating in the circle of freeform, longform, largely formless improv electronica. A staple of the North American music circuit, their live show is a mammoth operation involving tapes and guitars, and their music sounds something akin to what would happen if Terry Riley's Buddha on the front cover of 'Shri Camel' were given an extra bionic limb. 'Amorpha', 'Geomancy', 'World B. Free' and 'Quakenbruck' are rhythmic, humble forways through 'waves', 'phases', 'stratospheric arcs' and whatnot, leading to a fantastical musical enlightenment.