Back catalogue: Psych/Garage Rock

Review: It might be getting cold and dark and wet here in the UK but music will always be able to transport us to warmer, sunnier, happier climes. And so it is with this new 7", which includes a booklet, from Discodelic. It's a two tracker from Cizana and La Nueva Generation that is flame hot and bristling with energy - Cizana's 'She Sold Her Soul' kicks off with its joyous flutes, hand drums and percussive Latin grooves then La Nueva Generacion slow things down and up the brass with their carnivalesque Afro-funk workout 'Uhru Sasa'.

Review: Sometimes it's just too difficult to contain our excitement; we're quaking in our boots at news of Khruangbin's next release, with the Texan three-piece this time lending their alt-indie-funk mastery to vocal frontage by Leon Bridges. The humorously titled lead single 'B-side' is emblematic of their stated aim here - to redefine "how people perceive Texas music i that beautiful marriage of country and r'n'b i and really paying homage to that." The sonic result? Bubbling bass and wahhy riffs, over a ghostly and misty relaxers' beat. Its hook digs into our thighs deeper than a Sheriff's steel spurs, and fittingly, it's music video is themed after a 19th Century western town.

Review: Several years before Uzi Kinrot, we were lucky enough to attend a cultural exchange, of sorts, between Lithuania's burgeoning electronic scene and Israel's fertile alternative music community. The results were staggering, and in addition to presenting the Balkan state as an epicentre of leftfield dance, it also made a strong case for the Middle East as a hotbed for the kind of music makers destined to score some Quentin Tarantino or David Lynch movie. Back up to date, and Les Dynamites, whose reputation has long reached beyond their Jerusalem hometown, have returned to emphasise the latter point. Uzi Kinrot is a groove-packed double-A side that feels alive with energy, perhaps thanks to the single-take recording process. It's twangy, psychedelic, nostalgic and yet utterly timeless stuff that yearns to be heard on a beach while you hide from the heat of afternoon sun.

Review: Bolivian psyche-surf rock, anyone? Welcome to the world of Los Laser, a beguiling yet immediately infectious outfit. Vuelven! first hit in the 1970s, at which point most of our fact-checked knowledge about this release comes to a sudden stop. And all the better for it. Rather than getting bogged down in brief biopics, then, let's just say this is definitely one for the guitar-loving diggers, who won't find it many other places. Sonically speaking there's plenty of reference points to what was happening across South America musically at the time. While steeped in conservative traditions (often due to the enforced religion through colonialism situation), the decades after World War II were fertile ground for anti-establishment youth movements across the world, and this continent was no different. So, while the exotic lyrics and jangling six strings don't scream "smash the system" today, you'd better believe this was well against the grain back in 1971.

Review: Les Abranis are a pioneering Algerian band known for having mixed up traditional Berber music with Western rock, folk, disco and funk. At the same time they never lost sight of their Kabyle heritage and as such really made a mark on the Maghrebi music scene all across the world from Algeria to France. This new collection Amazigh Freedom Rock 1973-1983 comes five years after Chenar le Blues / Avehri and is a deep dive into the band's discography. It spans everything from their early garage-rock experimentations to lush orchestrations and North African fusion gems from the 1980s.

Review: Formed in 1967 at Kyoto's Doshisha University, Les Rallizes Denudes were pioneering in the same way as The Velvet Underground, but their music remained a cult concern through a lack of official releases and a spread of bootlegged recordings. Fronted by enigmatic singer Takashi Mizutani, they presented an untamed noise-rock approach before the genre existed, fusing furious blasts of intensity, psychedelia and free jazz with melodic, folk informed passages. On this reissue, we're taken back to their time playing at shortlived but seminal rock club OZ, which captures this incendiary, little known group as their musical might was growing.

Review: Formed in 1967, Les Rallizes Denudes had high expectations. A group of students from the Doshisha University, Kyoto, they intended to release studio music, booked recording time, but were then disappointed with the results, so decided to only play live. Lead singer Takashi Mizutani, apparently partly spooked by a 1970 Japanese plane hijacking, only really emerging from solitude for occasional shows.
Nevertheless, there are a handful of bootleg records available to buy if you look hard enough, but this is the first time the outfit's 67-69 Studio Et Live has been released. It's certainly a wild trip, conjuring the spirit and sound of a time as we're told to remember it. A mixture of raucous and sweaty rock 'n' roll, almost spiritual folk, otherworldly blues, cacophonies, feedback and white noise.

Review: Entry #7 in The Madlib Invazion Music Library Series features the collaborative work of composer, producer, and arranger Mario Luciano alongside vocalist Lauren Santi from Polyphonic Music Library. The collection explores a fusion of psychedelic jazz, experimental soul and cosmic fusion. Initiated by Madlib and Egon, this series provides a platform for their creative peers to explore diverse musical genres which is what happened here and then some with standouts like 'Expressions From The Ear' and 'A Piece For Reflection' showing the two different poles of sound that are explored.