Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Uncollected Noise New York '88-'90 marks Galaxie 500's first new archival release in nearly three decades, presenting the most extensive collection of unreleased and rare material from the band. Spanning 24 tracks, this compilation includes the complete Noise New York studio recordings, outtakes and non-album tracks. The band meticulously compiled this collection, tracing their journey from their earliest studio moments to their final recordings. Featuring eight previously unheard tracks and rare, long-out-of-print studio material, Uncollected Noise New York '88-'90 offers a hidden history of the band's evolution from beginning to end. Produced and engineered by Kramer at Noise New York from 1988 to 1990, the album's packaging includes archival images and historical liner notes by the band. Galaxie 500's three studio albums include 'Today' (1988), 'On Fire' (1989), and 'This Is Our Music' (1990). 'Shout You Down' and 'I Wanna Live' are two standout tracks from this release with the band's raw and evolving sound on full display

Review: Elliot Galvin is a leading figure in UK jazz with four solo albums that have topped year-end lists in respected media outlets. He is also a member of the Mercury-nominated Dinosaur and has collaborated with key jazz cats such as Shabaka Hutchings, Emma-Jean Thackray and Norma Winstone. Known for his improvisational prowess, his latest solo album taps into that skill once more and is an entirely improvised record that takes in quiet beauty like the opener, more theatric drama on 'Still Under Storms' and world jazz sounds on 'High & Wide'.

Review: Gastr del Sol might have gone their separate ways some 25 years ago, but they have recently taken the time to dig back into their fine archives. As a result they now serve up an alternate view of their superb, boundary breaking and genre busting run between 1993 and 1998 with a title box set, We Have Dozens Of Titles, on Drag City. Returning like a reverberating bolt from the blue, this album reignites the essence of the group and immerses listeners back into the whirlwind of their transformative era. It comprises previously uncaptured studio recordings and meticulously preserved unreleased live performances that all offer a captivating glimpse into the band's journey.

Review: Norwich is much more than the butt of Alan Partridge jokes it appears. Having turned their back on London and relocated to the East Anglian city, the three-piece - Joe Barton, Mickey Donnelly and Louie Rice - set up a rehearsal studio and recording space in a former brutalist shopping centre and sound like they've found inspiration. Venturing into recording with the dazzling sense of experimentation that we associate with the experimental rock scenes in Germany and France in the late 60s, they've come out gleaming. This is a highly contemporary stretching of what a band built around drums, bass, and synth with deliberately abstract vocals can do. On 'Judas Gap' they tear up the rule book and let the hiss of analog tape provide atmosphere. The bass guitar sound would likely give engineers at Abbey Road nightmares, but it's sort of the point: it's an irreverent counterpoint to pop music and there's beauty in recording things how they sound without masking it. 'Misprint Maker' is a fever dream, intense and unsettling but thrilling at the same time. 'Gipping' has what sounds like a cow as an intro. It's absurd but feels like The KLF would be proud. They played their first gig at Cafe Oto in Dalston and immediately found a label to release this album - it's no wonder they were snapped up as they're truly fascinating in their approach.

Review: Even in the early days of Portishead it was apparent Beth Gibbons wouldn't just play the game and become an omnipresent star trotting out an album a year. Her reclusive nature adds to the enigma around her arresting voice, and it's allowed an album like 2002's Out Of Season to mature beautifully. It also means there's an undeniable thrill around the arrival of a new project, which takes shape here as Lives Outgrown. The lead single 'Floating On A Moment' sets the tone, sounding absolutely like the Gibbons we all know and love while heading into new territory, melding indie rock, folky romanticism and subtle sonic tweaks that assure us the wait has been worth it. This heavyweight vinyl addition comes with a booklet, as well as a download code.

Review: Beth Gibbons releases her debut solo album Lives Outgrown. Notably containing ten songs that were in total written over the course of ten years, the overarching mood is one of saying farewell and musing on the bittersweetness of loss. The English singer and notable Portishead member's solo efforts often operate with this affect, but Gibbons' latest is of special import, given the length of time over which these songs were crafted and occasionally performed over the years. As demonstrated by lead track 'Floating On A Moment', the palette is soft and reflective, hitting only the softest dynamic notes, as Gibbons sings of unique lifetime journeys and a dealt-with sense of friends suffering being left behind.

Review: Alabama post-rock trio Glories share An Expanse Of Colour, a medially lowercase and lo-fi cruncher that nonetheless still delivers effectively sublime washes of wordless extremophile rock feeling. Recorded between 2020 and 2023, we find it no wonder that these compositions took years, as they resound like hefty undertakings for a collection of tracks allegedly born of the threesome's respective basements. Dedicated to the memory of their friend, a mood of loss and finality is also, as is often the case with Glories, present throughout, with 'Sad As The Fog standing out especially as the glacial dirge descendent upon said wake.

Review: GNOD, the ever-evolving psychedelic noise-rock collective, returns with Inner Fucking Peace, a transformative collaboration with Portuguese vocalist MC Sissi. Known for constantly reinventing their sound, GNOD delivers an album that pushes new boundaries. Comprised of eight tracks for voice and electronics, this release merges experimental textures with Sissi's stream-of-consciousness Portuguese lyrics. The album showcases a broad sonic palette, from the minimalist tuned percussion of 'Stop' to the ominous electronics and crashing industrial drums on 'Get Out', reminiscent of GNOD's touring partners Harrga. Tracks like 'Tea & Eggs' delve into reggaeton-infused minimal synth, while 'Flute Theme' centers around chopped and screwed woodwind arrangements. MC Sissi's contributions, often improvised, bring an emotional depth to the album. Her irate vocals, mournful crooning and playful autotune add a new dimension to GNOD's industrial beats and spaced-out synths. With tracks ranging from hypnotic hand drum workouts to the gloom-laden 'Cannela Crematoria', Inner Fucking Peace marks another bold, unpredictable chapter in GNOD's extensive discography, leaving fans eager for what's next.

Review: Russia's Gnoomes (aka Sasha Painkov and his wife Masha Piankova) have really overcome some hefty odds to get out their new album Ax Ox - the pandemic, illness, depression and of course turmoil back home. But it was worth the graft as they offer up a potent and moving mix of melancholia and strident optimism. The mix up the hope of dream pop with the drive of Krautrock, the vidid melodies of transcendent music with plenty of great narratives about the troubled relationship the band has with their home country. This is an eye-opening and thought-provoking record that is very much reflective of the troubled global times in which we love.

Review: This underground post-rock classic is now available on double vinyl for the first time since 1993, with a fresh transfer by Frank Arkwright at Abbey Road from the original masters. The God Machine, formed in 1990, released two albums that helped shape the post-rock and post-metal scenes. Despite glowing reviews and live shows supporting the likes of Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds and My Bloody Valentine, they never gained wide recognition, often falling between indie and rock circles. Championing the band, BBC Radio 1's John Peel invited them for sessions in 1992 and 1993, cementing their place in underground music history.

Review: The God Machine were one of the hottest bands of the 90s. They were signed to Fiction records (home to The Cure) and released two astounding albums of dark and industrial-sounding alternative rock. This is the second and final album from the San Diego/London band, whose history has been blighted by grief. Shortly after completing this album, their bassist Jimmy Fernandez suddenly died from a brain hemorrhage, brining an abrupt, unexpected and tragic end to the band. However, their legacy lives on thanks to the power of the music they've left behind. Highlights from this staggering album include 'Tremolo Song', which has a punishing, dark, swaggering, Stone Temple Pilots-esque feel. And the pulsating, tense cut, 'The Love Song' and the stirring 'The Devil Song', with its post-rock finale, are gripping reminders of the band's superior quality.

Review: Purge is the much anticipated new album from rock behemoths Godflesh. The band is led by frontman Justin Broadwick - formerly half of Techno Animal with The Bug's Kevin Martin - who has expressed his discomfort at being quizzed about his music on social media. He battles with autism and PTSD and uses music as therapy and a release from the stress and isolationism that comes with those conditions. This record finds the band look back to their 1992 album Pure which is what first marked them out as special and it's raw, dense, unrelenting heavy rock with snarled vocals that offer comfort for the despairing.

Review: Godflesh are back with a new single taken from their new and upcoming album Purge which finds frontman Justin Broadwick - formerly half of Techno Animal with The Bug's Kevin Martin - using music as a way of processing his autism and PTSD. It is full throttle, dense post-rock music with his guttural vocals front and centre amidst walls of scuzzy guitar and industrial drum sounds. The original of 'Nero' comes remixed, and also as a dub and alternative version which is even more head-twisting. Not for the faint of heart, this one.

Review: The Canadian sonic soothsayers here deal out their shortest, and most immediate record since their 1997's debut, yet for all its 40-minute brevity, there's no shortage of the kind of monolithic intensity that the band have become renowned for. As orchestral and elegiac as it triumphantly amp-abusing, "Asunder..." is a masterclass in windswept atmospherics, powerful dynamics and apocalyptic grandeur, building to a climax with enough emotional heft to shake any listener's world on its axis. Existing more than ever outside of genre and comparison, Godspeed continue to inhabit an awe-inspiring sonic landscape that is theirs and theirs alone.

Review: RECOMMENDED
It's pretty much impossible not to get very, very excited about the prospect of a new Godspeed record. The outfit pretty much wrote the book on huge, epic, fantastical chamber rock with a punk edge when they first set about trying to soundtrack the decline of Western civilisation back in the late-1990s, and following reformation circa 2010 have only felt more relevant.

State's End! is a fitting addition to a back catalogue almost-entirely comprising landmark records, and while very much in the same vein as the band's previous, it's also original enough to confirm the group are still as incomparable as ever (albeit some have noted this album takes them one-step closer to a latter day Pink Floyd). Soaring, rousing, tense instrumental rock that also packs a vital message - the world needs to change tact before all is too late - it's likely this will be one of the year's most essential releases.

Review: The Canadian post-rock instrumentalists return with a demand for revolution, soundtracked by just shy of 45 minutes of orchestral aggression. As with all of their work, GY!BE convey their ideas articulately through evocative wordless music. The opener, 'Undoing a Luciferian Towers' sets a tone for the album with a monolithic and militaristic march. Passages of feedback open out into anthemic expanse on the three parts of 'Bosses Hang'. 'Fam/Famine' balances between harmonic assonance and dissonance, ramping up the tension before the final triptych 'Anthem Of The State' takes a more optimistic tone, with the movement away from noise providing some glimmers of light in the abyss. 'Luciferian Towers' is an impeccable and polished record, and possibly Godspeed You! Black Emperor's finest to date.

Review: Godspeed You! Black Emperor are back for their newest and most eagerly awaited album, No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead. This upcoming record, their first since 2021's G_d's Pee At State's End!, comprises six tracks that promise to uphold the band's renowned style of merging ambient textures with explosive crescendos. The album's title, steeped in the bleak realities of a world fraught with turmoil and disintegration, is echoed in the music itself. The compositions integrate field recordings, sparse instrumentation, and solemn hymns, embodying their anti-war and anti-capitalist ethos. Known for their dramatic contrasts and expansive, multi-part pieces, Godspeed You! Black Emperor continue to blend influences from post-punk, progressive rock, and avant-garde. No Title As Of 13 February 2024 28,340 Dead promises to deliver a compelling and introspective listening experience, staying true to the band's politically charged and dystopian themes.

Review: After over a decade away from making music, Greek-born musician and composer Giannis Gogos is back. It was the turmoil of the pandemic that allowed him to reconnect with making music after years working in photography and now he's combining analogue and digital sound with intricate melodies and plenty of keyboards, glockenspiel, kalimba and guitars. This latest album is enhanced by oodles of delay and reverb effects and makes for an ethereal journey inspired by Henry Corbin's Man of Light in Iranian Sufism. It explores light as a symbol of divine presence through serene, introspective soundscapes.

Review: This is the debut solo album by Italian-born, London-based composer, bassist and vocalist Ruth Goller. It was originally released in 2021 on Bex Burch's Vula Viel Records but quickly sold out with its detuned bass harmonics and dense vocal arrangements. Skylla introduced a sound both otherworldly and unplaceable and Goller's reputation soared as a result. That led to the critically acclaimed 2024 album Skyllumina on International Anthem while Skylla remains the genesis of her distinct style as it evokes the experimental energy of 1980s Downtown NYC or a Bjork-adjacent Icelandic project.

Review: Anches En Maat is the first new album from Grails in over a half-decade - following the masterful Chalice Hymnal in 2017 - and their first album recorded with all members in the studio together since Doomsdayer's Holiday in 2008. A strange mixture of 1980s softcore, daytime soap opera lounge and nods to musique concrete make this the group's most challenging full-length project yet, with the likes of 'Black Rain' and 'Sad & Illegal' seeming to toe the lines of everything from lost cinematic soul to elemental prog, with the spectre of film seeming to haunt its every lilt and impact.

Review: Recorded at Portland's Type Foundry studio i where American instrumental experimental rockers Grails' earliest records were born i Miracle Music is the band's 12th long player and weaves acoustic and electric guitars, synths, brass, woodwinds, percussion and samples into an expansive, cinematic tapestry. Drawing from early industrial textures, classical elegance and psychedelic ambiance, the album crafts a heavy yet ethereal mood. Tracks like 'Silver Bells' pulse with vintage electro urgency, while others invoke a sense of reflection and grandeur. This balance of boundary-pushing intensity and airy melodicism reflects Grails' quarter-century commitment to reinvention. As both a nod to their origins and a bold step forward, Miracle Music stands as one of Grails' most personal and profound releases i a key to their ability to transform eclectic influences into something singular and deeply moving.

Review: After three groundbreaking albums with black midi, including 2023's Hellfire, Geordie Greep has carved out time to release his debut solo project, The New Sound. This album showcases an eclectic and vibrant approach to alternative pop, granting Greep the freedom to pursue creative impulses without restraint. He reflects on this liberation, stating that without a band to answer to, he could fully explore his artistic vision. The recording process involved over thirty session musicians across Sao Paulo and London, blending diverse influences. Greep notes the spontaneity of working with local talent in Brazil, where tracks were recorded in a matter of days. Musically, The New Sound delves into themes of urban life and human experiences, juxtaposing light-hearted melodies with darker narratives. Songs like 'Holy Holy' merge indie pop with lush Latin arrangements, while 'Motorbike' features bassist Seth 'Shank' Evans in a poignant lament. Greep's ambition is evident throughout the eleven tracks, aiming to engage listeners with intricate lyrics and unexpected turns. He hints at future live performances, aiming to capture the album's dynamic spirit in various settings.

Review: Much more than just a solo indie project by an alt-music darling (though it does fall under that bracket), Priests' former punk frontgirl Katie Alice Greer presents her first full-length solo LP, 'Barbarism', following a slew of EPs detailing her crazed new electronic sound. An interesting sonic take on the absence of culture or civilization, the LP is a rapturous, entirely unique bridge between indie, art and noise rock, and is packed with rippling nuances and details that make Greer's voice sound quite literally drowned. A strange, dreamy and breathtaking take on a sound that Greer's built up over years.

Review: Michael Grigoni and Pan•American's latest collaboration is a series of contemplative reflections on the isolation, fractures and uncertainties that define today's world. The album delves into the emotional landscape shaped by political divisions, personal solitude, and the lingering aftereffects of the pandemic. Through its fusion of folk, country, bluegrass, and blues elements, paired with a modern, ambient atmosphere, the sound is both rooted in tradition and forward-looking. Tracks like 'Sun Morning Sun' and 'Silver Streams' carry a sense of quiet introspection, while 'Black River Song' and 'Mirage/Afternoon' showcase the duo's ability to merge organic instrumentation with spacious, textured soundscapes. The album's exploration of personal and collective experience creates a reflective space, asking listeners to pause and engage with the complexities of modern life. A musical journey that speaks to the heart of the American experience, offering an emotional response to an uncertain future.

Review: You might remember David Grubbs from Squirrel Bait, Bistro, or Gastr de Sol. Codeine, The Red Krayola, Bitch Magnet or The Wingdale Community Singers. New wave or punk. His own output or that of the label he runs, Blue Chopsticks. Whatever reference rings truest, the American composer, guitarist, pianist and vocalist is an enigma responsible for a broad back catalogue of credits, projects, experiments and other. Whistle From Above lands in February 2025 and immediately proves Grubbs' continued genius and refusal to sit still. According to the limited information we have, he began developing these new guitar pieces - best described as somewhere between Fender drone, ambient noise, and musique concrete - following "months of shutdown woodshedding" in which he became "reinvigorated". What resulted was a deep dive into some personal solo arrangements and opportunities to engage with fellow sonic explorers - Rhodri Davies, Andrea Belfi, Nikos Veliotis, Nate Wooley and Cleek Schrey.