Gryn Brvs / Siblings of Plasma split cassette (Digitalis Ltd) 2

A split featuring two groups that share some members. Gryn Brvs' side is a freeform percussion / acoustic guitar sprawl that seems to lost its way several times but when it's good, it's gloriously good. Siblings of Plasma explore similar territory but with less emphasis on improv and more on hypnotic ritual.

Anthony Guerra & Matthew Nidek - nb cdr (Seedy R) 5.50

extraordinarily loud live show from Australian guitarist Guerra and American drummer Nidek: fuzzed-up guitar and drum mayhem that simply slashes its way out of the speakers - superb

also: It's Over, We Don't Care comp, Stern / Guerra, Green Blossoms

Gulliver - Boujouba 7" (Pickled Egg) 0.25

lovely melodic songs from the man they call the French Momus ... I'd say a Noel Coward for the synth pop generation

Steve Gunn 

• s/t cdr (Abandon Ship) 5.50

A reissue of Steve Gunn's (Magik Markers / GHQ) cdr on Onomato from a year or so ago. Magical zoned ragas on banjo and acoustic guitar, with some psych guitar flights. Heidi Dahl sings on one track.

• Boerum Palace LP & bonus cd (Three Lobed) 16.25

"boerum palace represents steve gunn’s first full-length release on vinyl and second album. the album starts off with a headlong rush into the hypnotic “mr. franklin”. gunn’s fluid playing style, especially as portrayed withing this track, provides ample space for the development of infectious musical themes. the track ends in a dextrous duel between gunn’s guitar and guest marc orleans’ (of d. charles speer & the helix, sunburned hand of the man) vicious pedal steel. the album mixes gunn’s long-form blues / raga / psych explorations alongside briefer cuts that equally display his songcraft. these tracks, such as “variation ii” and “jadin’s dream,” demonstrate that gunn is equally confident with shorter or longer compositions. gunn's voice is joined by an ethereal turn from the vanishing voice’s heidi diehl on the album’s central and haunting “house of knowledge.” the track opens with a building central guitar theme. this theme allows gunn to layer on further guitar explorations. the tone set by these musical themes builds into the duo’s vocal delivery that delivers volumes despite being uttered in gentle tones. other highlights include “cryin’ eyes,” an inspired reworking of j.j. cale’s “crying eyes” featuring backing instrumentation from marc orleans, and the richly textured album finale “mustapha’s exit.” boerum palace is pressed on 180g RTI vinyl and housed within an old-style stoughton sleeve bearing new original artwork from mike pare and some of gunn’s photography. the album will be accompanied by a download coupon for high quality DRM-free MP3s of the album. Accompanied by a glass-mastered CD titled too early for the hammer (tlr-074) presenting new, scarce and previously unheard gunn material that is not available separately." (TL)

Steve Gunn / Shawn David McMillen - End of the City LP (Abandon Ship / DNT / Abaddon) 13

Excellent split LP featuring GHQ's Steve Gunn on one side with an acoustic guitar figure, heavy on repetition and with a gorgeous warm sound. The sound around the guitar builds up with bowed strings and electric guitar into a lovely piece of hypnotic American blues / folk. Shawn David McMillen is a member / ex-member of Ash Castles on the Ghost, Friday Group and Iron Kite. His side explores ethnic and primitive folk in a more experimental way with barbiturate spiked accumulations of strings and metal.

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Sam Hamilton - Sooty Symposium cd (Tumbling Strain) 8

Hanage Youchien - The Children of Ganga cdr (om ha sva ksha ma la va ra yam recordings) 4

Another limited edition cdr from Jani Uton's Indian trip. Jani Hirvonen (Uton) with a Japanese couple he met in Laxman Jhula, Rishikesh. Instruments used include ravanhattha (traditional Rajasthani instrument), violin, percussion, flutes and vocals. Child-like jams and improv trances.

Hands of Sun - Clay Dreams cdr (Nothing Out There) 5.50

This is the second instalment of the Odomez Series; the first being that fine cdr from Robert Horton from last year. "Odomez... it's a small town up north in France, inside which is located a huge and beautiful land of strangeness. Before 1965, it was a chemical-textile factory. After that, no one really knew. Like a quiet jungle of metal and plants. The Odomez Serie aims at keeping the memory of that place alive, now that it is doomed to demolition, and to call for musical and visual collaborations. Every artist contributing will be sent an artwork related to the place as an inspiration." Hands of Sun is English sound artist Mark Peter Wright and his contribution is an evocative mixture of musique concrete and field recordings, adrift in a huge haze of wind tunnel drone. The cdr comes in an outsize envelope with a postcard / photograph featuring the work of Constantin Dubois who runs the label.

Hanging Thief - s/t cassette (Digitalis Industries) 4.25

A collaboration between Altar Eagle (ex-Corsican Paintbrush) and Barn Owl. Gorgeous drifting moonscapes of long lunar guitar notes, delay and feedback echoing to the back of beyond, synth and electronics.

Harappian Night Recordings - Non Euclidean Elucidation of Shamanic Ecstasies cd (Ikuisuus) 7.50

This is possibly even further out than the Bo'weavil album from earlier this year. Harappian Nights is Dr Sayed Kamran Ali, also a member of Hunter Gracchus. This is a head-on collision between ethnic ritual music and percussion-driven free jazz / folk clatter that sometimes results in the most vicious over-loaded shamanic garage punk such as the appropriately titled "Anarcho-Ambic Makane Punko". Excellent.

Gareth Hardwick / Eyeballs split cassette (Blackest Rainbow) 3.50

Nicely matched split featuring one side of Hardwick's glacial drift - tones merge like clouds on the horizon - and the other features Richard Dawson (Eyeballs). On this side I can hear distant melodies beneath the drone haze but it sounds like they've been suppressed beneath layers and layers of fog or buried deep underground and it's an effect that's deeply unsettling (but in a good way!).

Gareth Hardwick / Machinefabriek split LP (Low Point) 7

Another great pairing featuring Mr Hardwick. This time his piece is recorded on lapsteel and the gliding notes elongate into longing tones that ebb and flow. Its meditative qualities remind of chorale music. Beautiful. Dutch musician Machinefabriek sculpts his drones from static and hiss and latterly the piece becomes a ghostly counterpoint to Hardwick's more classical tones. Highly recommended and on clear vinyl. 

The Hare & the Moon - s/t cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Anglo-Scots duo who specialise in gothic folk complete with talking ravens. There are a few traditionals on here and the mood is similar at times to Stone Breathe.

Harps of Fuchsia Kalmia

• The Angular Acceleration of Light in the Unsound Mind of my Uncle Dead in Michigan cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Harps of Fuchsia Kalmia is the alter-ego of Salvatore Borrelli (also of Etre). Loose improvised folk clutter utilizing a lot of exotic stringed instruments such as saz, ectara, israj, dulcimer, egyptian harp and celtic drone harp as well as the wheezy drone of harmonica / shruti box / organ. Valerio Cosi contributes saxophone to one track - a strange collage of queasy jazz and dusty Victoriana.

• Fractal Psych Obsessions For Rural Chaos cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 5

Harps of Fuchsia Kalmia is the alter-ego of Salvatore Borrelli (also of Etre) and he is joined on one track on this by Valerio Cosi. A beautiful amorphous collage of exotic stringed instruments and digital manipulations. Midway between electro-acoustic improv and avant-folk.

Harappian Night Recordings - Non Euclidean Elucidation of Shamanic Ecstasies cd (Ikuisuus) 7.50

This is possibly even further out than the Bo'weavil album from earlier this year. Harappian Nights is Dr Sayed Kamran Ali, also a member of Hunter Gracchus. This is a head-on collision between ethnic ritual music and percussion-driven free jazz / folk clatter that sometimes results in the most vicious over-loaded shamanic garage punk such as the appropriately titled "Anarcho-Ambic Makane Punko". Excellent.

Heathen Prayers - Behind the Patterns cdr (HP Imprint) 3

• A Day-Moth Cling cdr (Chironex) 4.25

Communal zoned improv similar to some of the stuff Singing Knives has been releasing (Part Wild Horses Mane on Both Sides / Hunter Gracchus). Percussive plucked and ringing guitar strings, blasts of clarinet and lots of wordless wails and deep oms. An offshoot of Towering Breaker.

• Thickly Grown cdr (Iorram) 5

Another lovingly handmade package from Iorram, this time housing a cdr by Helhesten. Excellent ritualistic improv centred around the demonic free vocalisations of Ben Knight. Blasts of free clarinet blowing, tape scree and scratchy viola playing add to the cultish atmosphere.

Nils Helstrom - Discarding All That Was Before cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.75

Expansive drone-works with an uneasy undertow.

Jason Henn and Joe O'Connell - Mingus Plays Electric Guitar 7" (Luddite Rurual) 1

home-recorded 'tape chess' - ping-pong collaboration from members of Elephant Micah

also: Elephant Micah

Chris Herbert / Felix split 7" (Low Point) 2

A lovely split on Gareth Hardwick's Low Point label. Chris Herbert has an LP due on Kranky and one out already. This track is dedicated to the ghost of Basil Kirchin - this starts out with Chris processing electric guitar into drone layers, haunted by a collage of field recordings and a sense of unease. The other side features Felix: a duo of Lucinda Chua on piano / vocals and Christopher Fummerlin on guitars. It is an intimate recording with 'cello underpinning the hushed piano chords and Lucinda's semi-sung, semi-spoken vocals and sounds like Empress recording for Kranky. 

Victor Herrero - Anacoreta (10 Songs for Spanish Guitar) cd (Bo'Weavil recordings) 7.50

Victor recently collaborated with Josephine Foster on her "This Coming Gladness" album but this album finds him on 6 string (nylon) acoustic rather than electric guitar. The result is a fascinating collection of Spanish folk, flamenco and classical traditions.

Herons - Walk Upright cassette (Housecraft) 2

Dense drifts of bowed strings, feedback and the kind of indeterminate sound that generates unease and reminds me of Lanterns. 

High Wolf - Incapulco cdr (Winged Sun) 6

Hypnotic hand-drum & casio trance-outs similar to Monopoly Child Star Searches with added fuzz wah-wah guitar.  

Hobo Duo - Across Great Distances cdr (Ikuisuus) 3.25

On this cdr, dedicated to Harry Partch, the duo of Bruno Duplant and Kevin Cosgrove who use a variety of homemade instruments to create a cosmic improvised blues on lapsteel and percussion. 

Homescience - End the Year 7" (Pickled Egg) 0.25

quirky US lo-fi pop with an epic heart

Robert Horton

• If I Can't Play My Boot, I Don't Have A Leg to Stand On cdr (Nothing Out There) 9

A welcome return from one of America's finest sound-makers. Horton's home-made guitar, the Boot, features on every track here, forming a spectral haze of strings. Bells, harmonium and a keyboard that reminds me of Dolly Collins' flute organ breathe sunshine into the stringed fug. Two tracks near the end are monolithic drones: "Dirge for the Court of the Sow Bug", featuring bagpipe chanter, fizzes and swarms like a huge cloud of insects and the final "Tune for the Great Wood" exhales in slow chordal wheezes. Gorgeous. 4 panel artwork.

• 30 Years of Tape Music cassette (Gold Soundz) 5.75

A delve into the treasure trove of Robert Horton's recordings from the last 30 years. Imaginative splicings, harmonica breath, android covers of bubblegum pop, space hum ... there's never a dull moment on any of Horton's releases.

Robert Horton / Sindre Bjerga - Broken Wisdom on Its Wild Lone cdr (Striate Cortex) 6

A reconstruction of Sindre Bjerga's solo release "Broken Wisdom" by Sindre and Robert Horton. The result is an endless shimmering subtly evolving dronescape of synth, gong, boot, tapes and effects. It's hard to see where one sound ends and another begins on a journey into infinity. Nice homemade packaging.

Hotem - Trans-science: Live @ Illokivi cdr (Foxglove) 1

Trans-science was recorded at the Praesens improvisation music venue in Ilokivi, Finland and it runs as one continuous, near 50 minute, piece. The venue has a lively acoustic and it suits the four players and their chosen instruments (much percussion, Jew's harp and, lierally, bells and whistles) very well. There's no technical point-scoring here, so the intervals and spaces are savoured and when the music falls into a groove, you can tell these people are in it for enjoyment and feel, rather than chin-stroking analysis. Indeed, when the drums and didgeridoo get going, this becomes funky… and, however much you may love improv, you can't say that too often about this sort of free music! (JC)

The Hunter Gracchus  - Sacred Object of the Yiye People LP (Chironex) 14.50

Hush Arbors - Live, Heeley Institute / Death calligraphy cdr (self-released) 5

Two reissues in one: first the Blackest Rainbow live set from Sheffield, then the 3" that came out a while ago on MYMWLY.

Hush Arbors / Wooden Wand  - Swappin' split 7" (Great Pop Supplement) 3.25

Split featuring one new song each, "Light" from Hush Arbors and "Breather" from Wooden Wand. Recommended.

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The Idle Suite - Up Two Sticks Road cd (Last Visible Dog) 1

Iibiis Rouge - Pink Hybrid cdr (Winged Sun) 6

Collaboration between High Wolf and Astral Social Club - 6 tracks on here and a forthcoming LP on Dekorder. Seriously high-octane stuff that comes on like a cracked meeting point between Neu! and Monopoly Child.

Impromptulons - Beat It / Beat Off 3" cdr (Black Petal) 4

Abstract improv revision of Weird Al Jankovic's version of "Beat It" by Joel Stern, Will Charlton, Alan Nguyen, Rin Healy, Marek Rygalski and Adam Bark.  

Indoor Park - The Neutral Mile cd (Deep Water) 6.50

An album of mainly instrumental electric guitar and drum pieces which confounds any thoughts of beard-strokey post rock. Instead, there are hints of krautrock, nods to instro rock'n'roll and really fine melodic sounds and fuzzed soloing. Sampled spoken word interjections are used to great effect, especially on The Long Boy and the Fat Boy, which I just can't stop playing. A welcome surprise find and one I'd recommend to you. (JC)

Inhibitionists - Concessions Strings cdr (MYMWLY) 2

Abstract sound impressions from Christian Kann, often built from rattling strings into a frenetic throb. Some tracks utilize percussion and drums echo around a weird unearthly hum. Others get darkly glitchy. Nice packaging with felt inside.

Isaac Willow - Santimonious Rhythm & Rouge cassette (Housecraft) 2

Crazed improv finds itself buried under a mountain of hyperactive tape debris. Sold out at source.

Islaja 

• Palaa Aurinkoon cd (Fonal) 9
• Meritie cd (Fonal) 9

exotic and beautiful avant-folk from Merja Kokkonen who also plays with Kemialliset Ystavat & Avarus: an astonishing array of instruments are plucked and bowed, the vocal harmonies are haunting, the arrangements sound vaguely archaic and the result is utterly sublime if rather unsettling

• Ulual Yyy cd (Fonal) 8.50 / LP (Fonal) 8.50

Brand new (third) album by Merja Kokkonen, also of Avarus / Hertta Lussu Assa. This is truly extraordinary experimental pop that is extremely hard to pin down; it seems to exist in an entirely different world and time - I suppose it makes me think of Can's "Ege Bam Yasi" without really sounding like it. It has a similar tranced feel and a dubby edge to it at times. Merja's vocals are astonishing -  up-front and disconcertingly double-tracked. A few tracks towards the end sound similar to older Islaja songs but this is a bold step into something entirely unique. Highly recommended.

also: Maan Matoset comp, Sala-arhimo

Iversen  - 42 Minutes cdr (Foxglove) 1

Jan M Iversen - Live Klubb Kanin 2 x 3"cdr & dvdr (Striate Cortex) 7

Four live tracks recorded as an accompaniment to short films at Klubb Kabin. All my copies have a dvdr featuring the films. Very limited.

Ixchel - Dreams of cdr (Leaf Trail) 4

Duo featuring Dubliners Timothy Hurley (Quetzolcoatl / Bonecloud) and Barry Semple. Of all Hurley's projects, this comes closest to being song-based with Hurley's blissed-out vocals drifting high over layers of fogged sound. "Clockwork Castles" sounds like Skaters play something off "Pet Sounds" - nice! I've been a fan of everything Hurley has done to date but this is his finest moment.

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James Bloodbeard - s/t " cdr (Rural Faune) 3

Four-piece featuring Steven R Smith (Thuja, Hala Strana etc), Jason Honea (Child Readers) and Mark Williams and Brian Lucas, both of Father Beard. Free strumming, the insistent wheeze of melodica and spaced-out vocals.

Jane Austen - Wish Wash cassette (Clean Teeth) 4

Solo project of Angeline Chirnside who has also been in Currer Bells, Wyntr Raven and Lost Roman Legions. Strange and magical lo-fi home recordings. Distorted bells that sound like they're ringing from underwater. Sea shanty drones. Strange piano sounds that sound like gamelan music.

Frank Janiurek - Electric Sex Goddess cdr (self-released) 2

Stunning solo guitar from one half of Red Kites, soaring arcs of ringing feedback and the purest of tones, reminiscent of Mazzacane Connor's electric guitar recordings.

David A Jaycock - A New Love Song 7" (Great Pop Supplement) 4

This single is a delight in every way. The artwork is fabulous with a gold sprayed bird on the leaf-cut cover and a printed insert. David A Jaycock is also a member of Big Eyes Family Players and the B side of this single could easily have graced one of their albums with its melancholic chamber folk. The A side is a song with a real early '70s English singer-songwriter feel. Lovely stuff.

Jazzfinger - Mole & the Morning Dew LP (Spirit  of Orr) 7

5 track LP from Newcastle duo of Ben Jones and Hasan Gaylani. Burning guitar fuzz, a thick haze of static and crumbling electronics - degraded drone from Newcastle. 

Jazzfinger / Culver & Fordell Research Unit LP (Blackest Rainbow) 9

"Brand new split LP featuring heavy hitting UK bleak dudes... A-Side is Jazzfinger's 'Killed In A Clear Sky', one solid slab of fucked up tapped guitar drone and distant eerie whir... like a storm of electric feedback, slashes and cuts. Far out, and a real killer 20 odd minutes to make you lull out. B-Side is a collaboration between Culver and Fordell Research Unit, another side long piece, that starts off with some bassed up doom chugs and slogs that sound like fucking something that could lay down by some Southern Lord brutality, but then it punches you in the face with its distorted churning hell. Limited to 275 white label LPs."

Jennifer Gentle 

• A New Astronomy cd (A Silent Place) 4

The official release of a cdr released in an edition of 100 on Sub Pop in 2005 and dedicated to 19th century amateur astronomer Giovanni Paneroni who held a staggering number of nutty ideas, including that the sun is a 2m in diameter silver ball. Luckily "interesting" ideas translate better to the arts than sciences as this cd, perhaps JG's strangest release, testifies. Sounds range from cosmic drone to sweet but warped pop, like hearing Joe Meek productions in your dreams to ragged VU-esque drone / raga jams to damaged acid pop to an out-and-out Meek tribute "Me and Joe on the Moon". Fantastic.

• Live In the House of God LP (A Silent Place) 7

This solo performance by Marco Fasolo was recorded, as the liner informs us, "in a little church somewhere in Italy on July the 31st 2003". It seems like an omen of things to come, as nowadays Jennifer Gentle is Marco's solo project. A Vox Jaguar organ is played through a variety of effects and the music created really thrives in the echo-y acoustic of the church. At times it's almost as though an ancient choir was being channeled through the organ! This is on single sided white vinyl - a lovely thing to look at as well as fine music. (JC)

Jennifer Gentle & Kawabata Makoto - The Wrong Cage cd (A Silent Place) 5

In case the very combination of these forces isn't enough to tempt you, here are a few details. All the music was recorded live in 2002. Makoto plays a wild and wonderful solo piece on sarongi, and the collaborations are flowing psych-outs. The bonus track - 18 minutes-plus of it - is a fuzz-fest freakout which could psychedelicize the very foundations of your home... or the internal walls at least! Highly recommended. (JC)

Jerusalem & the Starbaskets / Bengal Traitors split 7" (Great Pop Supplement) 4

Two earthy and refreshing rockin' tunes with, at times, flavours of Bo Diddley (the guitar at the end of the Jerusalem song especially) and Medicine Head about them. This is a highly attractive 7" on opalescent vinyl with a spiral pattern printed on the sleeve and fronted by a separate print of the spiral on clear plastic: if you move this against the background, you can simulate the opening sequence of Jon Pertwee-era Doctor Who shows in the comfort of your own home... fab! (JC)

John Henry Calvinist - King Soloman Hill cdr (Foxglove) 1

Solo cdr from one of the members of the Lost Domain: autistic blues on acoustic slide guitar, lonesome feedback howling across parched wood-knocks and guitar squall that makes my head throb.

Another gorgeous ambient / drone release on Gareth Hardwick's Low Point. P Jørgensen is a sound artist based in Copenhagen who composes for ensemble, theatre and film. Soft-hued tones shift and merge and form dense chordal clouds. Jørgensen has a fondness for a warm, fuzzy ambience which suits listening at sunset on a cold autumnal night. This is one Low Point's finest releases to date.

Joshua - Life Less Lost cd (Spirit of Orr) 9.50

Reissue of Joshua Burkett's second album, originally released on his own Feather One's Nest in a folded-paper black and white sleeve. Woozy late-night loner folk. Highly recommended.

also: Pewtr Trust

Members of Feathers, Red Favorite and Supreme Dicks. Full moon goblin warblings, folk abstractions and Amon Duul I-esque communal jams. 

"Sounding like Laddio Bolocko playing Aufgehoben's songs, this amazing quartet shares a seriously mindblowing connection with the huge  underground noise scenery in the United States.  This half-an-hour free-form session between these Ohio-based dudes  is a long electroshock torture which features Yeh (experimental violinist/electronic musician with a highly growing reputation around the world) playing bass here, Jewell (experimental drummer/electronic musician also involved in Pink Reason and Psychedelic  Horseshit) on drums/electronic junk and John Rich/Jon Lorenz  (Wasteland Jazz Unit) totally immersed in a hyper-amplified and nihilistic sax playing. File under sparkling brutality." (Dreamsheep)

Otherwise known as C Joynes, who released a couple of albums on Bo'weavil, with 2 extra initials. There are 3 instrumentals on here and the disc opens with a fascinating take on what sounds like an Appalachian folk tune played on zither, prepared piano, cello and music box. It's utterly charming. Next up is a long reworking of the spiritual "Lay You Down O My Brother" (used in part on ISB's "A Very Circular Song") which also draws in elements of Hildegard Von Bingen's "Columba Aspexit" - the mid-section of this develops into the kind of celestial elegance James Blackshaw's 12 string playing manages. Finally Joynes rounds the disc up with a melancholic meditation, on nylon strings.

Julie's Haircut hail from Italy and have accompanied Can's Damo Suzuki, so the Krautrock feel in their music isn't surprising. However, it seems rather unusual to hear Sonic Boom involved here. I say unusual, but I also mean very welcome, as his electronics sit very neatly within the tight rhythms and alongside some very funky Hammond organ! (JC)

Juniper Meadows - Grand Sonora 3" (Palustre) 2.50

Reissue of a 3" that originally came out on Imvated (now Bread and Animals) - hesitant banjo and ukulele pluckings, bowed strings and the soothing wheeze of one of my very favourite instruments the melodica. Sounds like it was improvised late at night under the stars. Gorgeous. Hand-made packaging.

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Keijo 

• Just Enough cassette (Digitalis) 6

8 track cassette from Finland's Keijo Virtanen. This is his droniest work in a while with the guitar work kept fairly sparse. Harmonica haze, vocal oms and singing metal create a meditative air and Keijo's cyclical guitar weaves magic through that.

• Reduce Snow cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 5

Latest from Keijo Virtanen. Minimal blues and hypnotic repetitions on guitar, harmonica and jaw harp.

also: Invisible Pyramid, Maan Matoset comp, Kheta Hotem, Robert Horton / Keijo. Magick Travelling Backpack Band

Keijo and the Free Players - After at Once cd (Digitalis) 2.50

also: For the Dead in Space II & III comp, Maan Matoset comp, Avarus, Hand/Eye comp

Kitchen Cynics 

• Dust cdr (self-released) 4.50

Another beautiful collection of bedroom psych-folk from Alan Davidson. Includes a cover of Kevin Ayer's "O! Wot a Dream".

• Hoodie Craw cdr (self-released) 4.50

intimate folk-psych, mostly unadulterated guitar, a bit of keyboard and Alan's gentle lilt. This features covers of 'Vegetable Man' (Syd Barrett), 'Josephine, for Better or for Worse' (the Strawbs) and 'Gently Johnny' from the Wicker Man

• Dumbfoundlings cdr (self-released) 4.50

Another new cdr from Aberdeen's prolific Alan Davidson of purely instrumental tracks, every bit as lyrical and bewitching as his songs. Cascades of harp-like strings like summer rain, Alan's lilting guitar playing, a bit of music hall, some lovely instrumentation (zither, chanter, phono-fiddle, psaltery, clarinet) and the usual great titles ("Double Line for the Gentleman's Comfort" being a favourite).

• Master Of The Fuzzy Fadeout cdr (self-released) 4.50

Aberdonian Alan Davidson has been quietly making some lovely records for over a decade now  - intimate bedroom psych-pop, in a similar vein to Robin Hitchcock but a slightly folksier feel  - includes covers of Fairport Convention and Bridget St John

• The Aberdeen Typhoid Outbreak of 1964 cdr (self-released) 5

Another journey into the magical mysterious folk-psych world of Alan Davidson. This is a cd of instrumentals based on the typhoid outbreak in Aberdeen in the '60s which may sound like you're in for a grim listen, but this is as lyrical as I've heard from the Kitchen Cynics. 

• A Tune-a-day the Kitchen Cynics Way cdr (self-released) 5

In 2007 Alan Davidson ran a subscriber series of cdrs featuring as you might guess one tune for every day of the year. This compiles 31 of them. Bewitching and lyrical bedroom psych-folk. Adrian Crowley plays on and co-wrote one track.

• Disconnected cdr (self-released) 5

This gathers together some songs that originally appeared on compilation cds that came with Dream & Ptolemaic Terrascope magazines, some different versions of old favourites ("Hoodie Craw", "Here Comes the Bump" are particular favourites of mine) and a bunch of other stuff. There's a cover of "Black is the Colour" and Alan's cover versions are always something special. It's rare that someone as prolific as this manages to maintain such quality and I never fail to be amazed at how he manages it. Magical storytelling psych-folk-pop that should soundtrack your dreams.

• A Tune-a-Day the Kitchen Cynics Way 2 cdr (self-released) 5

In 2007 Alan Davidson ran a subscriber series of cdrs featuring as you might guess one tune for every day of the year. This second volume compiles some more of them. Bewitching and lyrical bedroom psych-folk. 

• I Went to an Alehouse cdr (self-released) 5

Join Kitchen Cynic Alan Davidson on a tour of Aberdeen's hostelries. Recordings of pub conversations are set to music and interspersed with Alan's own songs. Susan Matthew (his bandmate from the Matricarians) plays piano and co-writes on some of these and there are a few covers - two traditionals and a Moondog song. To listen to any of Alan's albums is to enter a captivating world of intimate psych-folk and haunting ballads. And if I am ever in Aberdeen, I shall know to avoid the Snuggery! This comes with another Kitchen Cynics cdr - of Ivor Cutler songs.

also: Rory MacIntyre & Kitchen Cynics, Nihil Project

Kompleksi - (I Ain't No) Lovechild / Moscow 1980 7" (Lal Lal Lal) 0.50

Sharron Kraus - Right Wantonly A-Mumming cd (Bo'weavil) 8

Kungen - Cub In 5 10" (Intercontinental) 0.25

I can't find the blurb about this but from memory it's someone from Hermann Dune doing a sample-strewn electronic thing that ranges from fairground cheesiness to hip-hop prowl to rawer early drum-machine / fuzz guitar & organ stuff 

Stefan Kushima - Your Purple Breath cdr (Ikuisuus) 3

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Laissez Faire - Asylum cassette (Abandon Ship) 0.50

One sided tape of music from Peter Friel (JKTapes / Widening Horizon). A collection of electronic squiggles layered into one seething mass of machine scrawl drone.

Lakes - Monument of nests cassette (Digitalis) 5

Lakes is Sean Bailey who also runs the Inverted Crux label and has also been involved in Paeces, Lamp Puffer and Waster Truth. Lo-fi pop distorted through a weird malevolent prism and an octopus on the drum machine.

Lamppukello - Kaahumatti Kaheskanneski, Yyjo Ite Yheskanneski cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 1

perhaps the most deranged thing to come out of Finland - this is a similar idea to the Kneale Kneale Kneale project on CPP: one anonymous Finn and his 2 kids create mind-melting sounds with casios on stun and child-babble looped to crazed infinity - yikes!

also: Gold Leaf Branches comp

Keenan Lawler 

• The Strange Tale of Eddy Westport 3" cdr (New American Folk Hero) 1.50

Leafy Green - Songs cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 1

Ten songs from America "Recorded in a cool room during a hot week in a southern town" by Leafy Green, aka Barrett Jones. These are gentle, wistful guitar based pieces and if you value the heartfelt over exact vocal pitch (and who doesn't?) they may move and soothe. (JC)

Part of the Odomez series, in which sound artists record their reactions to objects found in the abandoned Odomez factory in the north of France. L'Enfant Meduse recorded these songs at the factory and the result is 3 loose improvisations of acoustic guitar and (mainly wordless) vocals (vaguely reminscent of "Sapphie" era Richard Youngs). Nice handmade packaging: outsize card with a photograph and a metal cog (from the site).

Les Beyond is the work of Erin Jane Ward - 6 tracks of melancholic delayed guitar repetitions. Shades of a more minimal Yellow 6.

Here's a highly unusual release - actually, I'd go as far as calling it unique. The label on the clear sleeve containing this picture disc dubs it "An oddly disturbing & humorous Rabbit Love Story". However, as the songs are in German I can't really comment on this, except to say that Ain't She Sweet, that 1927 hit revived by the Beatles in Hamburg and I Don't Want To Talk About It are among them, sung by Leukers in what could be the style of a cartoon rabbit. One side of the disc has a couple of rabbits coiled up with their tongues out - soixante-neuf indeed! - whilst the other is heavily etched and also illustrated by A.L, who is best known as a visual artist. Listening to this made me think of Fred von Jupiter, but I suspect this dips into darker terrain... translations are welcome! Comes with a free magazine (JC)

Li Jianhong - Lovers With Cloisonne Bracelet LP (Tipped Bowler) 14.50

Follow-up to the Archive cd from a year or so ago from Chinese guitarist Li Jianhong. Full-on distortion oblivion comparable to Hototogisu.

Light of Shipwreck - When I Hold the Ashes cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Nothing to do with cricket and everything to do with Ben Fleury-Steiner, previous releases on Peasant Majik and Crucial Blast among others. He creates mysterious fog-like drones full of threatening distant rumblings reminiscent of Bjerga / Iversen. Other tracks are pits of  infernal feedback.

Loachfillet - In Random Selekt Volume II 3" cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 0.50

Half science-geek electronic shriek and shimmer and half-effects pedal swirls and squeals from Californian sound artist Loachfillet 

Harvey Lord 

• Weighted Down cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Impressively crisp finger picking guitar flows throughout this album and I suspect Mr Lord sees himself as an instrumentalist first and a singer second. However, his gentle vocal style compliments the folk-blues tinged music well. I suspect he is well acquainted with Bert Jansch's back catalogue and I'm guessing that Weighed Down might be a reference to Skip Spence. Whatever, it's a good record. (JC)

Lost Domain - The Mystery of the Lost Domain cdr (Cook an Egg) 6.50

Second edition. The duo's ragged ballads are played acoustically on guitar, drums, bells and vocals and it gives them an even more fragile and post-midnight feel than their recent album on Important.

Ludo Mich / Blood Stereo - From Tapes & Throats LP (Giant Tank) 6

"Glasgow got consumed by the collective throats of Antwerpian weirdo Ludo Mich and Brightonian/ Lothian noise-family farmhands Blood Stereo a couple years back. remember? relive the night terror inducing Nosferatu yap which melted the minds of the Instal '06 festival audience on side A before necking the most truly OUT swallie of post-everything sound poetry and tape-dirt manipulation ye''ll chug all year on Side B." (Giant Tank)

"Following several releases on labels such as Fi-Sci Records, Clinical Archives and tara Records, comes the latest album by Tim Chaplin's electronic / experimental project Luminous. Eight tracks of edited one-man jams, using more traditional instrumentation than previous Luminous recordings." (267)