Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: Anyone who has followed Emotional Rescue knows it has always does a fine job of documenting pock punk and UK punk dub's early years, in this case showcasing the previously unheralded work of Skinbat Scramble, who emerged from the mundanity of the Home Counties to converge on London during the early 80s. Core members Mark Eason and Fergus Crockford were simultaneously inspired by the speedy punk thills of the Roxy Club and the Two Tone scene of ska and reggae which ran alongside it, as well as counter cultural heroes of the generation before like Gong and Velvet Underground. They got to work distilliing slow tempos, experimental sounds, dub and much more into leftfield rhythms, and while the likes of 'Basement Voltaire' - all echoing electronics, high frequency blips and merciless drum machines - or the Clash-in-dub workout 'North By Northwest' are rooted very much in the Cold War/Thatcher years, their individuality and experimental vibe mean they've endured remarkably well. Scramble to get yourself a copy.

Review: As part of the Suede30 campaign, Demon Records will release Suede's fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth singles as collectible 7" picture discs, featuring the original cover art. Among them, 'We Are The Pigs,' released on September 12, 1994, stands out as the lead single from the Dog Man Star album. The single is a great blend of Bernard Butler's dynamic riff and Brett Anderson's haunting lyrics with the sing-along chorus that has a sinister twist. The single reached number 18 on the UK charts. The B-side, 'The Killing Of A Flash Boy,' while not included on the album, is considered a lost gem by Brett Anderson, reflecting its enduring appeal.

Review: This is a special ivory white vinyl version of Zani Diabate's Super Djata Band is another essential release from Numero Group. The band was a leading force in Mali's music scene during the 1980s when they blended Wasulu hunter music, griot praises, Senufo dances, Fula and Mandingo tunes with Western psychedelia, blues, and Afrobeat. Their 1982 album captures Diabate's virtuosity and is a showcase of his mastery of the guitar through eight compelling tracks. The resulting album is a gold standard in world music that confirms Diabate's place among the legendary West African guitarists and illustrates his unique ability to fuse diverse musical traditions.

Review: A remastering and reissue of the Jack Frost recordings, a collaboration between two acclaimed Australian songwriters: Grand McLennan from The Go-Betweens and Steve Kilbey, the lead singer and bassist in The Church. The Church are well-known for their hit 'Under The Milky Way', which made the Donnie Darko soundtrack. Included in this set is their two studio albums: The Snow Job (1995) has never been on vinyl before and the self-titled debut (1991) has been out of print for more than 20 years. There's also bonus material tucked in. This release comes as The Go-Betweens have been enjoying a renaissance recently, thanks to a successful reissue campaign, and The Church have been touring. Despite this being a side project, there's no sense it's an afterthought as the pair clearly thrived in each other's company and wrote melodic, wistful and affecting songs of the highest order. Noel Gallagher would likely have been proud to write the reverb-y love song 'Thought I Was Over You' and 'Every Hour God Sends' is up there with Echo & The Bunnymen's best stuff. Meanwhile, 'Ramble' has a stark arpeggio-laden beauty to it, building from its sparse beginning into something more textured and darkly atmospheric. There's an embarrassment of riches to delve into here and it cements the pair's reputation for being among Australia's greatest ever songwriters.

Review: Transporting us to a waking dream of Los Angeles, two enigmatic music makers from the City of (Fallen) Angels present a truly stunning journey into hazy half-memories, afternoon fantasies, borrowed recollections and thoughts of things yet to happen. In many ways, Salt & Sugar Look The Same feels incomplete; tracks, half-tracks, movements, bits and pieces feel like our minds often work. Was that what we think it was? Did this happen? According to the official release burb, these 18 brief but beautiful compositions combine finger-plucked guitar work, the lens flare of electronica, and warped samples to create a take on the American primitivism music movement. The result is something that transcends boundaries of sound, time and place, and exists in a world of its own creation.

Review: Israeli funk quartet Sababa 5 and Japanese singer-cum-bellydancer Yurika Hanashima join forces again on 'Kokoro', a combination of two song suites: four brand new concoctions and four beloved older tracks. Sababa 5's unique combination of Middle Eastern funk and Mediterranean rhythm makes a surprisingly sensational combination with Japanese Jazz-fusion sensibilities. Opening track 'Empty Hands' is a string-led proposition by Yurika: When your hands are empty, you hold everything you need. The guitars are expressive without overpowering Yurika's gentle vocals - it's the perfect track for a sunny drive home. The real selling point here is the clutch of tracks from Sababa and Yurika's storied past, namely 'Tokyo Midnights, a jangly, groove-filled song describing a smoke-filled, drink-fueled night through the capital. This version is pressed on classic black vinyl, but has been in high demand on the artist's own store - so act fast.

Review: Sandman Project's Royal Family EP blends West African rock psychedelia with Ethiopian jazz and is defined by its impressive improvisational vigour. Led by guitarist Tal Sandman from Tel Aviv's Jaffa, the instrumental group draws inspiration from Ethiopian jazz pioneers which is evident in tracks like 'Hamsa' with its evocative trumpet and moody Tezeta scale. Lead single 'Circles' exudes punk-like rawness with its gritty bass and driving rhythm. 'Savannah Trip' conjures Sun Ra in the Malian desert, offering atmospheric guitar explorations. Throughout all the cuts, Sandman Project's cinematic style invites listeners into a realm of playful melodies and mountainous textures.

Review: Kit Sebastian's upcoming album, New Internationale, set for release via Brainfeeder, marks a major step forward for the duo of Kit Martin and Merve Erdem. The lead single, 'Metropolis', blends Azerbaijani musical influences with Western funk grooves, using vintage synths and intricate choral textures. The track's samba-driven finale, complete with dual drum kits and processed horns and strings, creates a layered, cinematic soundscape. Lyrically, "Metropolis" explores the immigrant experience, delving into themes of identity, belonging, and artistic compromise in an unfamiliar world. Written while on tour, New Internationale features a rich tapestry of global instrumentsifrom Turkish clarinet to zither and harpsichordiwoven into a seamless mix of Anatolian psych, French pop, and Tropicalia. The album reflects Merve's personal journey navigating her Turkish heritage and Kit's eclectic musical influences, culminating in their most orchestrated work yet. It's a vivid exploration of multicultural identity, using lush, borderless soundscapes that bridge genres and histories, while pushing the boundaries of modern psychedelia and global fusion.

Review: Bridging the gap between guitar-driven rock and ambient techno - they would later become the first artist to bring guitars to Warp Records - Seefeel skillfully blended electronic loops with post-psychedelic basslines, mermaid-like vocals from Sarah Peacock and intelligent percussion. Their debut album for Too Pure in 1993 was both ahead of its time and timeless, offering a quiet revolution of repetition and downtempo somnolent soundscape, a record that remains beautifully undated. Tracks like 'Imperial'. 'Industrious' and 'Charlotte's Mouth' demonstrate Seefeel's knack for using guitars as electronic complements, layering hypnotic smears of feedback with Peacock's intimate whispers. The eight-minute opener, 'Climatic Phase No. 3', floats with barely-there percussion and a lazy, dreamy melody, while 'Filter Dub' delivers a sublime, drowsy bass line perfect for slipping into sleep. The album's structure leans into drone and quirky ambience, creating an experience more akin to a dream state than a traditional rock record. Quique feels proto-IDM, a precursor to the ambient-motorik noise-pop aesthetic that artists like Tim Hecker and Mouse on Mars would explore. Seefeel's early work remains a blueprint for electronic experimentation, demonstrating that the band's forward-thinking approach helped define a genre that continues to defy easy categorisation. Quique is not just a product of the 90s - it's a sonic vision that still feels fresh and boundary-pushing today.

Review: Out of many recent stirrings of hype (a sold-out Cafe OTO live show, numerous reissues of their Warp-era material, etc) Seefeel return with a renewed sense of solidity, delivering their first project since 2011. As ever with the pioneering electronica crossover band, Everything Squared combines the sonofantasmic dissociations of shoegaze and dream pop with the flashier and more sublime ends of Warp-era electronica and ambient dub. Mainly composed and performed by the core duo of Mark Clifford and Sarah Peacock, with bass on two tracks from Shigeru Ishihara, the record is a finely hewn intonarumori, working in original, but heavily pitch-bent vocals around light, but still scapular sound beds. An implied throwback to the chillout rooms of yore, the distinctively hoary hum of 90s analogue ambient still rings as truly as ever here.

Review: Sessa's Grandeza, his debut album, marks a fresh, minimalist approach to modern Brazilian music. Released in 2019, the album blends the rich textures of Brazil's musical heritage with a stripped-back aesthetic. Sessa's songs, sung in Portuguese, evoke the sensual lyricism of Caetano Veloso and the melodic grace of Tom Jobim and Arthur Verocai. Yet, the music's sparse arrangement draws comparisons to Leonard Cohen's bareness, enriched by hints of tropicalia, psychedelia, and the spiritual jazz of Moondog and Pharoah Sanders. Grandeza is an intimate exploration of love, the human body, and the vibrant hues of Brazilian music. Recorded between Sao Paulo and New York City, the album's delicate production emphasises Sessa's deep connection to Brazil's musical tradition while pushing into new, understated territory. Sessa is an amazing songwriter, known for his enigmatic and sensuous style. With Grandeza, Sessa solidifies his place as one of Brazil's most promising voices, weaving together a timeless yet refreshingly modern sound.

Review: Infamous, ill-fated and iconic all in equal measure, the Sex Pistols US tour of January 1978 has gone down in the annals of punk history as a chaotic state of affairs. Mismanaged by their team, stuck on a label only interested in their prowess for generating headlines and performing night after night to crowds more curious than engaged, the resulting jaunt would eventually lead to the band's total implosion. After years of these live recordings being distributed in piece-meal form, the recordings from this tour have finally been accurately sourced, re-sequenced and now delivered as individual live LPs with this pressing coming from their show at the Longhorns Ballroom in Dallas, Texas. The sheer exhaustion, frustration and oncoming burnout are evident through these feral performances, almost as if hearing the once youthful pioneers imploding in real time. Currently undertaking a costly world tour accompanied by former Gallows vocalist, Mr. Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes himself standing in for the now MAGA touting John Lydon, it's the closest fans will likely ever get to experiencing the Never Mind The Bollocks era, with these authentic real thing recordings coming in at a close second, delivered from the familiar comfort of your turntable.

Review: Jinxed By Being see Shackleton and Heather Leigh continues the run of great music initiated by their previous collaboration, Flesh & The Dream LP, this time enlisting the talents of Ben Chasny aka Six Organs of Admittance, resulting in a genre-bending masterpiece that seamlessly blends haunting mantras, tangly riffs and sub-heavy rumbles. Chasny's cosmic folk jangling intertwines with Shackleton's illusory, ritualistic rhythms, creating a sonic landscape reminiscent of Talk Talk, Sun City Girls, Comus, and Kluster. The album, influenced by the New Weird America movement, sees Chasny's fingerpicking immersed in Shackleton's fractal treatments, resulting in a hypnotic fusion of acoustic and electronic elements. Tracks like 'The Grip of the Flesh' and 'Stages of Capitulation impress, with Chasny's spectral vocals and manipulated guitar blending seamlessly with Shackleton's atmospheric basslines and dreamy keys. Jinxed By Being defies categorisation, offering a fresh direction for progressive psychedelic music, whether folk, rock, or electronic.

Review: Chicago-bred noise rock legends Shellac deliver their sixth studio album To All Trains, following up 2019's The End Of Radio Peel Session retrospective with an abiding, slowly-honed new full-length - their first original work in a decade. Though released to little fanfare, To All Trains is a totemic album, committing to themes of transience and dread; guitarist Steve Albini, drummer Todd Trainer and bassist Bob Weston do it properly here, promising a pristine new release born of long weekends, tireless sweats and, naturally, all-analog treatment at Albini's Electrical Audio studio in Chicago.

Review: Ballake Sissoko and Derek Gripper's collaborative album is a magical exploration of musical synergy and virtuosity. Recorded in just three hours, the album captures the spontaneous magic that arises when two masters of their craft come together. Sissoko's mastery of the kora, rooted in the traditions of West Africa, melds seamlessly with Gripper's classical guitar expertise, creating a captivating fusion of sound. Their musical dialogue transcends boundaries, with each artist pushing the other to new heights of creativity and expression. Gripper's reverence for Sissoko's skill as an interpreter of timbre is palpable, while Sissoko acknowledges Gripper's curiosity and openness as essential to their collaboration. This album a trip through ancient and contemporary realms, where the resonances of the Manding empire blend with the textures of the guitar to create something truly unique and special.

Review: Slowdive's Pygmalion stands as a profound yet overlooked gem in the band's discography. Released amidst the Britpop and grunge dominance of 1995, it was unfairly dismissed, leading to the band's quiet dissolution. However, if you revisit Pygmalion, it reveals a hauntingly beautiful departure from their earlier shoegaze roots. Now, pressed on vinyl, you can enjoy all the ways this release has stood against time and trends. The album is a minimalist masterpiece, stripping away their trademark wall of noise to reveal ethereal, ambient landscapes. Tracks like the opening epic 'Rutti' set the tone with its subdued guitar work and Neil Halstead's introspective vocals, evoking a sense of contemplative solitude. Throughout the album, space is pivotal - an expansive, cathedral-like atmosphere crafted through restrained instrumentation and atmospheric production. While critics of its time failed to appreciate its subtleties, Pygmalion now stands as a visionary work ahead of its time. Its influence can be heard in subsequent bands like Mogwai and Low, who embraced its meditative qualities and minimalist approach. In today's context, the album's tranquil melodies offer a refuge, resonating with listeners seeking solace amidst chaos. Slowdive's Pygmalion remains a shinning example to their artistic integrity and the enduring power of quiet introspection in music.

Review: First released in 1992, Slowdive's 'Blue Day' compiles the best of the band's earliest outings in the shoegaze genre, bottling them under a singly brittle, blue banner. Just seven tracks adorn its two sides, with the notable self-titled track 'Slowdive' signalling some hint of the band's origins (its wayward drumming getting at an especially happy naivete). Later moments on the record, such as 'Morningrise', are comparatively icier verging on frostbitten, with an overdriven crunch clipping off the most amped edges of the transient hits, suggesting an imperfect medium. On the B, the best of the lot is the slow colic of 'Losing Today', a song palpably packed with a sense of loss, most notably achieved via its soaring, cuspate guitar ogees, albeit ones which just about peek their heads above the shrednoise.

Review: The Smile's new album Cutouts on XL Recordings features several tracks already debuted by the band of Thom Yorke, Jonny Greenwood, and Tom Skinner on their UK tour in March. Produced by Sam Petts-Davies, the ten track album was recorded in Oxford and Abbey Road Studios alongside their previous album, Wall of Eyes and features some lush string arrangements by the London Contemporary Orchestra and cover art by Stanley Donwood and Yorke. Wall of Eyes back in January reached number three on the UK charts and received critical acclaim from Pitchfork, Spin, and others with this new one likely to follow suit.

Review: New York Blues Hall of Fame inductee Bette Smith returns with her third album, Goodthing, which blends soul, gospel, and rock & roll. Produced by Grammy winner Jimmy Hogarth, the album features anthemic soul rock sounds driven by Smith's raspy, soulful vocals and rather reminiscent of the late great Tina Turner, as well as Aretha Franklin and Etta James. Influenced by her childhood in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Smith merges street-corner soul with the gospel music her mother loved. Building on the success of her previous albums, Jetlagger and The Good, The Bad, and The Bette, this new work again showcases her powerful range and solidifies her as a dynamic and ever-rising soul artist.

Review: In celebration of its 45th anniversary, Paste Magazine's esteemed #1 synth-pop album, Sparks' No. 1 in Heaven, receives an exclusive double vinyl release this Record Store Day. This seminal work, produced by Giorgio Moroder, set an early standard for electronic music. Accompanying this masterpiece is Sparks' lesser-known gem, 'Is There More to Life Than Dancing?' produced for LA-based singer Noel in 1979. Together, these albums epitomise the Maels' innovative electronic spirit and visionary foresight into the next decade. Revered by bands like Joy Division and Duran Duran, No. 1 in Heaven was hailed as the greatest synth-pop album ever by Paste Magazine. The anniversary release comes on coloured vinyl and rightly commemorates Sparks' enduring creativity.

Review: The 40th Anniversary edition of In The Studio by The Special AKA celebrates one of the most unique and politically charged albums of the 1980s. Originally released in 1984, the album fused an eclectic mix of reggae, jazz, soul, and Arabic rhythms, with Jerry Dammers leading the band's bold shift in sound. Despite its modest commercial performance, In The Studio has since gained recognition as an underappreciated classic, thanks to its deeply reflective lyrics and innovative arrangements. The album's standout tracks, 'Free Nelson Mandela' and 'What I Like Most About You Is Your Girlfriend', blended infectious energy with serious political messages. This newly remastered, half-speed mastered edition, overseen by Dammers, gives the album the sonic depth it deserves. With its themes of social unrest and global awareness, In The Studio feels as relevant today as it did four decades ago, a testament to its enduring power.

Review: Konrad Sprenger, as any real heads will know, is a moniker of Jorg Hiller, who works in many fields including composing, producing and instrument building. His work seamlessly blends scientific exploration of sound with pop sensibility and humour. From the diverse instrumentation of albums like Miniaturen and Versprochen to the electric guitar explorations of Stack Music in 2017, Hiller's evolution is ever-captivating. Here he unites these elements into a playful, infectious epic performed by Hiller and the enigmatic Ensemble Risonanze Moderne with guest Oren Ambarchi weaving swirling harmonics into its vibrant soundscapes. These two side-long pieces feature polyrhythmic frameworks blending shimmering guitar harmonics, horns and synthetic bursts into a mix of avant-garde and techno wonderment. Hiller doesn't release very often but when he does, it's worth taking note.

Review: The Acoustic Sounds Series from Verve/Universal Music Enterprises reissues iconic jazz records, offering audiophile-grade versions of these historic works. One standout release is Sonny Stitt's Blows The Blues. Originally recorded in 1959 and released in 1970, this album features Stitt on alto sax, accompanied by pianist Lou Levy, bassist Leroy Vinnegar, and drummer Mel Lewis. Stitt, often unfairly compared to Charlie Parker, demonstrates his unique voice and exceptional talent on this record, especially on originals like 'Hymnal Blues' and 'Morning After Blues.' This reissue is meticulously mastered by Bernie Grundman from the original analogue tapes, ensuring the highest sound quality.c.

Review: Berlin-based synthwave and dark disco band Dina Summer return with a sanguine new seven-track record, continuing their reputation for making 80s nostalgist music fans ever more ravenous for their distinct take on EBM and its adjacent styles. Following 2022's acclaimed Rimini LP, this freak zone of a record brings gravely detuned, yet DJ-ready instrumental backings and stiffly but passionately delivered vocal recitations to a modern production palate. This approach reaches its ultimate conclusion on the natural midpoint 'Alien', a track perhaps best describable as a hi-NRG number made in a cryoponic chamber and lent an extraterrestrial theme.

Review: Sunfear is a project from Turkish multidisciplinary artist Eylul Deniz who now returns to Dark Entries with her sophomore album. Deniz has been making waves in sound since 2017 when she debuted her blend of ambient and experimental music using piano, guitar, voice and synths as tools for storytelling and self-expression. Inspired by Dante's Love That Moves the Sun and Other Stars, Pessoa's poems and Turkish poet Lale Muldur, this darker follow-up to Octopus channels some of her own personal loss and grief. Tracks like 'Above' pair sparse guitar riffs with swirling electronics, 'Bright and Wild' contrasts lush drones with jagged feedback and there are also hints of hope in the likes of 'Form Changed.' A great return.