Jeff Gburek has, in the past, collaborated with the likes of Tom Carter. Here we find him solo, working mainly with electric guitar, under the name Saiko. I say mainly, as there are touches of voice and synth, but the principal element apart from guitar is space: there are two tracks of two minutes silence! I like the guitar tone here, as it sounds like the treble control is turned all the way up. This makes for a slightly crunchy offset to what is often very reflective music and also suits the times when the feeling of blues influence bubbles up. Maybe it's just me, but I think I hear a tinge of Bo Diddley in there too. (JC)

The last record by Jukka Raisanen, aka Sala Arhimo, soon became one of my favourites of 2006 so I had high hopes for this new one - and they're entirely fulfilled. There's a lot of saxophone here and it has a jazzy looseness with something of a chamber music feel too. There's a real sense of delight in this music and the keyboard (possibly chord organ) has moments of fairground feel. If you're looking for a point of reference for Jukka and you happen to have a copy of Gong's Magick Mother Invocation to hand (and I'll bet some readers do!), try playing it back to back with track 7 of this album… very interesting, packaged by Time Lag (which tells you all you need to know) and highly recommended. (JC)

also: Islaja

Sand Snowman

• The Twilight Game cdr (Reverb Worship) 4

The last Sand Snowman record I reviewed here was, as I recall, all instrumental. This time there are vocals galore from singers with names like Moonswift and Nyx. There's something of an early '70s prog-folk/Wickerman feel to this music and it is delightful stuff. (JC)

• I'm Not Here cdr (Reverb Worhsip) 5.75

Another gorgeous album of magical sounds from Sand Snowman. It opens with the earthy croaks of rooks and a Wicker Man-esque recorder / acoustic guitar / female vocals madrigal. Most of is minor-key and female-sung (by the wonderfully named Moonswift and Nyx) with a prog-folk feel to it. The sleeve is as lovely as the music: suitably mystical with hand-painted moons. Destined to fly out the door as fast as the last one I reckon.

Sandoz Lab Technicians - The Western Lands cd (Last Visible Dog) 5

Brand new album from Tim Cornelius, James Kirk and Nathan Thompson consists of one long piece ("Western Lands") and 2 shorter pieces. "Western Lands" itself is astonishing - piano dominates the first part, sounding like a seriously far-out Alice Coltrane, huge luscious chords sweeping over autoharp glissandos and growling electronics. The piece later ebbs into autumnal improv textures with clarinet, wheezy tones and deep drones sounding like a cold north easterly shivering through trees. The two tracks that bookend it are both led by improvised organ / keyboard (inc the starry plink of Fender Rhodes - lovely) over scatterings of percussion and scraped bowings. Highly recommended.

Seht - Dead Bees cd (Pseudoarcana) 6

It's a while since we've had anything from Stephen Clover and this new album delivers with an opening monolithic drone masterpiece. It begins with an ebbing and flowing synth drone with ominous undertow; as the piece progressed the undertow starts to win out and it feels like the dark waves are overwhelming you. The second track is not quite drone-based but is a utterly focussed repetition of some jerky cinema-organ notes until they are submerged in an icy hiss. No-one else does this quite like Seht.

Selvapyy & Pyy Pivossa 3" cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 3

This is pretty wild: mushroom-damaged pop that sounds completely all over the place. Surf riffs, ghostly improvised piano, garbled goblin vocals, dub echo melodica, swells of distortion. 

A live recording captured in Seattle in October 2005. There are three free pieces here, the third taking up the whole of side 2. Full throttle intensity contrasts with mellow, reflective moments and the rather roomy sound has been tweaked into good shape for this heavy grade piece of vinyl. (JC)

Another great Fonal release, this is the sort of polyphonic synth wizardry that demands the wearing of a silver cape. A wondrous carousel ride through Krautrock and English prog with lovely analogue sounds and all the crispness and lightness of midsummer at the Arctic Circle. Lovely packaging as always.

A subtle and inventive collection of pop songs. The vocals and harmonies - very fine they are too - struck me as sounding a bit like Tahiti 80, but the instrumentation steers clear of hard beatboxes and more towards Elephant 6 territory, with a nod to the 1970s here and there. (JC)

Siddhi 

• In The Wind cdr (Akoustic Disease) 6

Released on the Italian label run by the guy who also records as ThrouRoof is this cdr by the mysterious Siddhi. Cosmic guitar drifts and plaintive meditations. Lovely.

• Goabdesajigge cd (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Italian sound artist Siddhi creates a mystical cosmic drift on one long track. Ethereal woodwind, ritualistic bells, melancholic acoustic guitar and gong.

Silvercords - Divergence Eve cdr (Time Lag) 2.50

Bass-heavy rumbling infernal drone from Sara & Nicolas of Family Underground with flickering synths hissing in and out of earshot and liquid metal tones menacing high overhead. 

also: Family Underground

• Dispersed Royalty Ornaments LP (Wabana) 8

Brand new Skaters LP, recorded at the Jowai River. It's another wonderfully vibrant splurge of messed-up, blurry sound - cheap casios, hand percussion, almost unhuman vocals and effects. This is one of their most ecstatic and out-there recordings to date and as such comes highly recommended.

• Physicalities of the Sensibilities of Ingrediential Strairways LP (Eclipse) 8

After a stack of solo projects from James Ferraro and Spencer Clark, it's great to have another slab of Skaters' sound. This was recorded in Mexico and is a cacophonous brew of synth hypnosis, masses of hand percussion and unearthly vocals - hellish rituals on bad acid, as scarily psychedelic as it gets. Excellent.

also: Splash, James Ferraro, Arecaceae

more superb packaging from this South African label: this is a duo featuring Righard Kapp and Mark on guitar and drums. 17 fairly short tracks of noise-inflected rock with some great titles ('DIY Slayer' is my favourite) and a fondness for a bit of metal

also: Righard Kapp

Sky City is a four piece featuring Robert Horton, Tom Carter, Texan percussionist / noise artist Lisa Cameron and vocalist Lee Ann Cameron. This is a fascinating collaboration: one of Horton / Carter's finest. Eerie outer space blues featuring slide guitar, Horton's homemade boot, Lisa Cameron's vibrating cymbals hovering menacingly and Lee Anne Cameron's almost Opalio-esque cosmic babbling. 

I was about to write that "Spitrobot Goes Shopping" is the electrifying scream of indignation an oscillator might make if it was immersed in a tank of water but I've just read the insert which tells me I've just been blasted with a scouring wall of guitar feedback. The B side features more tortured guitar but is the disorientating sound of malfunctioning Commodore computers taking over the world. 

Chris Smith - Bad Orchestra cd (Dead Valley records) 8

Imagine this: Crazy Horse are running through one of those rather sad Neil Young sea shanty/waltz type things in the boxcar of a moving train, only instead of Neil, Stefan Neville (Pumice) is singing. That'll give you an idea of the opening song here. The rest of the album is mainly instrumental, although voices come from radios and atmosphere tapes. There's one track which has a Morricone-esque harmonica and high'n'lonesome sounds contrast with frenzied walls of guitar further down the line. Everything is concise and if this record is infused with bleakness (and I suspect it is), it still makes a highly compelling listen. (JC)

Brand new album from Steven R Smith of Hala Strana / Thuja etc. More similar to his "Crown of Marches" cd on Catsup Plate than his Eastern European folk experiments, this also features his first vocals. The guitar playing is sparse and soulful, warm, often mournful tones with some slashes of heart-piercing distortion; the vocals weary meditations. Nice packaging too with printed card covers.

piano improvisations displaying a fondness for block chord atonality which seems to nod in the direction of Michael Finnissy with a hint of Cecil Taylor (JC)

Brian comes from Galway, Ireland. Brian lives in Seoul, South Korea. Brian describes his early musical attempts as "god awful" or "utter shit", but concedes that "recently it's been getting a little better". Brian is too hard on himself! These songs are mainly very short and sound quite distinctive in a good ole' fashioned 4 track bedroom punk pop (with a twist) kind-of-a-way. If you can imagine a halfway point on a bridge between Boyracer and Pumice, this might just be it… looser than one; tighter than the other. There's some nice off key 'cello, wonky piano and what has to be a homage to Calvin Johnson too. Mmm… smiles all round. (JC)

Softwar - s/t cd (Digitalis) 4

New collaboration from Jewelled Antler regulars Loren Chasse, Christine Boepple, Kerry McLaughlin and Geoff Koops. Meditative folk drone with layers of organs / keyboards weaving an almost impenetrable veil of smoke. Some of it has a similar nocturnal feel to AM, while the tracks featuring vocals remind me of the Erika Elder-sung MV/EE stuff. One of the best Jewelled Antler-associated releases.

also: Kyrgyz, Loren Chasse, Ov

Freeform psychedelic rock of from members of Sunburned Hand of the Man and Feathers. Loose drumming with flailing tentacles of guitar strung over it.

also: Sunburned Hand of the Man

The Solo Joint 

• s/t cdr (Foxglove) 2.50

Another lovely cdr on Foxglove of meandering folk from Spain (after that lovely Raro & Apenino cdr from earlier this year). Acoustic guitar, scattered percussion, piano, flute and occasional vocals form into a spontaneous wash of freeform pastoralism. 

Soon Clyde - Solace cdr (Cook an Egg) 7

Yet another winner from Cook An Egg. Soon Clyde is Baltimore based artist Greg Pardew (with some violin from Jenn Hutt on this record) and he plays some lovely acoustic guitar, has a line in elegaic songs which make me think of "More" era Pink Floyd and extends his themes with some fine twists of strangeness. (JC)

4th instalment in the Music Fellowship Triptych series: Spiderwebs is Tom Carter (Charalambides) and Sandy Ewan (Weird Weeds) with some divinely beautiful guitar pieces - rings of e-bow swoon and ringing harmonics. Mike Tamburo & Matthew McDowell (both ex- Arco Flute Foundation)and their contribution is a 20 minute-plus drone of epic peacefulness which opens with melancholic guitar picking and ends with by evoking the blurred whir of a musical box. Finally, 3 magnificient pieces of steel-rattling and warping from Keenan Lawler and his National Steel Resonator guitar. I'd recommend this cd for each of the 3 artists alone - this is a great release.

also: Tom Carter, Weird Weeds

Ben Spiers runs the Transient label, is in Empty Mirror and Seen Through and recorded a collaborative cdr for CPP with 1/3 Octave Band's Bill Wood. This cdr is a collection of guitar and violin improv, ranging from nocturnal meanderings to flurries of obliterated notes.

• Artwork Temporarily Removed 3" cdr (Transient) 4.50

  Degraded guitar buzz and wail from New Zealander Ben Spiers. Breathes of feedback harmonise mournfully like the death gasps of a mangled guitar & amp. Individually block-printed manila sleeves.

   

• Spin You cdr (Transient) 6.25

  more late night string caressing from Mr Spiers: title track "Spin You" is gorgeous - solitary notes dropped into a gloom of taut scraping and "Trinh Has Gone" sombre violin drone disintegrating into atonal screech. 

• And Then cdr (Transient) 6.75

Appropriately enough "The Dreams of David Crosby" opens up with the ululations of a myriad of pipes! These, along with the hand-drums, establish a suitably dosed atmosphere to fill the dreams of the Great Ego. These tracks are all live recordings: the first side is filled with mostly hand percussion jams. Side B finds SJB in full-on cosmic drone mode with fiddle and harmonium.

Spires That in the Sunset Rise 

• s/t cd (Eclipse / Graveface) 3

4 women from Chicago who create the strangest music - the most psyched-out communal folk oddness shrouded in witches' lair creepiness: harmonium, banjo, violin, guitars, bells, incantations and insane cackling

also: Travelling Bell, Tar Pet, Kathleen Baird

This is a fascinating collaboration between clarsach player (Scottish harp) Catriona McKay (currently a member of the Glasgow Improvisers Orchestra) and electro-acoustic composer Alistair MacDonald. I saw this pair play a magical live set last week for the first time.  Catriona uses her harp more as an instrument of percussion than the sweet notes you would expect and Alistair manipulates the sounds live using laptop.The result is a haunting ambience with huge sweeps of silvery electric sighs, percussive flurries of notes, notes bent out of shape and scraped metal. It's a sound that would fit nicely on the CLaudia label. Nice fold-out card artwork.

one long piece of drone that unwinds rather malevolently with warped guitar strings and a weird undercurrent that sounds like possessed muttering one minute and an airplane propeller the next

rampaging noise splurge from Stoke-on-Trent

Antony Milton (Nether Dawn, AM) and Stefan Neville (Pumice) both record some fantastic music on their own - together they are Sunken and this album draws from their fuzziest, haziest sides with both playing reed organs with various effects. The result is gorgeous - an amorphous and bottomless sea of wheezy drone that casts you adrift from reality and out into the ocean. Nice card gatefold sleeves too. 

another winning combination from the people behind the Foxglove label: Brad Rose (North Sea, Golden Oaks, Cone Bearers, Corsican Paintbrush) and Eden Hemming Rose (Wax Ghost, Corsican paintbrush) with Keith Wood (Hush Arbors) - this is an outbreak of joyous spontaneity on acoustic guitars / banjos and a toybox of percussion

also: Autumn Galaxy, Wax Ghost, Golden Oaks, Corsican Paintbrush, Juniper Meadows, North Sea

A collection of ten songs, some in Spanish, set within fairly minimal arrangements. There's a splash of harmonium, banjo and piano, but nothing detracts from Sutherland's voice. This founder member of Cerecrus Shoal delivers powerful and heartfelt music, ranging from personal reflection to what I can only call protest songs. In these, Sutherland's voice has a snarl which is in parts P.F. Sloan and Steve Earle. Quality material throughout. (JC)

Antony Milton in yet another disguise: this compiles songs from cdrs released a few years ago on Wire Bridge and is his most song-based project, lo-fi campfire pickings that exist somewhere between Alastair Galbraith and old-time country / folk. 

also: Antony Milton, Nether Dawn

Preston Ari Swirnoff - Maariv cd (Last Visible Dog) 4

A stunning album from this sometime collaborator of Ilya Monosov and member of The Shining Path. Exploring dense organ / piano drone, early electronic experimentalism and 20th century minimalism, this recalls Charlemagne Palestine (yes, that good!). It opens with rolling piano chords and ominous electronic undercurrents. The second track is an even more threatening headache-throb of atonal organ tones. The tension eases on the 3rd track with guitar harmonics tinkling like a thousand stars in a crisp winter night sky - gorgeous. Finally a short(ish) track of the whir and feedback from 4 tape machines. Excellent stuff. 

Nicholas Szczepanik - To the Moon and Back Again 3" cdr (Rural Faune) 4

Ambient smoke signals from this Washington DC sound-artist. The kind of dream-drift that sounds like the lingering image of a sound long departed, similar to Andrew Chalk.

Talugung 

• Flooded Fields cdr (Foxglove) 2.50

Another undiscovered gem from Foxglove, this time from Canadian Ryan Waldron and his array of homemade and strange ethnic instruments, mostly stringed instruments or percussion (of the xylophone / gamelan variety). This is a gloriously exotic blend of free improvisation and Far Eastern folk music, similar to Henry Kuntz.

Chimes and twangs lead off here with a pretty yet ominous quality: all doll's house darkness, old perfume (thanks to the late Syd for that line!). Across the 32 minute piece, things get much more full on, with chanting voice, organ, fuzzy guitar and electronics. It's like a big fairground of sound with a sacrificial rite being conducted somewhere just behind the waltzer! 66 copies with twigs inside the packaging. How can you resist? (JC)

also: Matthew McDowell

this is a reissue of a self-released cdr by Taralie Dawn of Spires That in the Sunset Rise - the music shares a similar air of lost-in-the-woods bewitchment but is more introspective: thornily clawing guitar, weaving flute and cello, jangling percussion and shiver-inducing vocalising. 

also: Spires That In The Sunset Rise

A half hour, divided into two untitled pieces, of heavy duty, drone filled, overdriven, bone crunchin' noise music from Dayton, Ohio. The first piece has the feel of heavy industry, the second more like the sound of some sort of sub-aquatic installation piece. (JC)

Murk indeed. Temples is Kevin Richards from Denver who records guitar and layers and overlayers the resultant sounds on tape to create a swirl of disorientating murk at times. The final track (and title track) finds the guitar a distant rumble, minimal and melancholic. 

Denver's Kevin Richards has already had one cdr out on Pseudoarcana, the appropriately titled "Murk". The source sounds on this release continue to dwell in the shadows and the background sounds become the almost oppressive foreground through which the source can seem like a distant light in a thick fog. An absorbing listen.

Textured Bird Transmission - Panda Heads on Staggering Crystal Seas cdr (Gold Soundz) 1.50

Disorientating swarms of vocal hum and effects, comes in a hnd-made, silver-sprayed sleeve. Ltd to 50.

These Are Powers - Silver Lung 7" (Elsie and Jack) 3.50

"These ex-members of LIARS, KNIFE SKILLS & NO THINGS express their abrasive avant noise rock w/vigour over this 3 track 7". This is their 1st vinyl after several well received tapes & cdr's. Anna's primal screams & ghostly whispers, Pat's nursery rhyme chanting w/surging bass & Ted's near motorik beats run riot like a crazed Plastic Ono Band filtered through that Brooklyn/NYC haze. This is E&J's first foray into the lair of lacquer, pressed on heavyweight white vinyl presented in a beautifully printed & laser etched black card sleeve w/additional colour transluscent vellum insert."

These Wonderful Evils is Zak Boerger and this is a wonderful album of loner psych. The opening track reminds me of Alistair Galbraith: Zak's weary vocals waver in the midst of an incredible ragged guitar and sparse percussion. Other tracks have more of a folk / pastoral feel with heavily reverbed acoustic guitar and vocals, reminiscent of Flying Saucer Attack's less feedback consumed moments. Highly recommended. 

Eric Thielemans - A Snare is a Bell LP (Ultra Eczema) 6

"This is the first in a series of solo percussion LP's on Ultra Eczema, titled STS! A meditative psychedelic experience is what I would like to call this, though I realise I make it sound like a silly zen blowout, and that's not what it feels like at all! 
When I first saw it live in a giant church in mechelen/belgium, I was yelling "THIS IS THE BEST SHOW OF THE YEAR". I thought there wouldn't be an end to it and didn't even feel a build-up to a more tense sound or a drone. There was a difference in resonating sound and it definitely changed, but as with more constructive minimalists such as Steve Reich or maybe even Terry Riley, you can't tell when things change... That experience got enlarged as well by the scenography he played in, a splendid eye-torturing construction..."  That experience got enlarged as well by the scenography he played in, a splendid eye-torturing construction, built especially for this piece by Antwerp based sculputurist Filip Metten. On record it feels different of course, as you can skip the needle up and down to the end and back, you can hear an enormous tension and sound difference. Though this piece is written for only a snare drum and a tiny bit of vocals (resonating with the snare drum) it sounds like either 20 people on a snaredrum, like if Glenn Branca would invite 567 people playing the exact same snare roll, or like a choir, and by the end definitely like the sound of a Whitehouse LP; building up strongly to the point of absolute silence, which feels like a relief! This piece is based on a snare roll which changes 3 times.
Live, this piece can go up to an hour or longer, on this record, it is one full side. The B side is a psychedelic etch!" - Dennis Tyfus. This record is limited to 500 copies, has an insert and comes in a duo coloured psychic design by Dennis Tyfus.

Thingumajigsaw - Awake in Whitechapel cd (Deserted Village) 5

This record has the ethereal wail of the musical saw on it. What more do you need to know? Alright, maybe you're not so easy to sell to on this point as I am.... aside from the saw, there's banjo, flute and rather spooky female and male vocals. Now, if you think you have an idea of some dark folk music here, the lyrics will take you in another direction entirely. Try to imagine what it might have sounded like if Momus had written words for Incredible String Band songs. Improbable idea? maybe, but it's the best description I can come up with and if it intrigues you at all, the album is recommended. (JC)

Thousand and Bramier - The Sway of Beasts cd (Arbouse) 1

This music seems to breathe such an atmosphere of the Southern United States - white columned wooden houses, sound of cicadas at dusk (in my mind, not on the record, I must point out!) - but as far as I can gather, this duo got together in Paris. To these ears, this music could be informed by Townes Van Zandt, Gene Parsons' Kindling album, Michael Nesmith in his Papa Nes phase and maybe Palace Brothers. There's great warmth to this set of songs, recorded in a very direct and intimate way, so it communicates very directly and is a good listen. (JC)

"Improvisational Bay Area quartet Thuja create aural landscapes that capture the reverberations of wood and wire, the sounds of breaking sticks and scraping stones, and the ambience of their surroundings into a shifting, dynamic musical framework. The members of Thuja play off each other and the space they inhabit with a natural instinct, succeeding in conjuring spectral compositions which are at once abstract yet inviting. For this self-titled release, their sixth full-length and first for Important Records, Thuja have assembled recordings from various live performance spaces (the Hemlock, the Oaklandish Gallery, Pehr Space, Kains Greenhouse) and have welcomed a variety of guests into the fold to help assist and expand their microscopic psychedelia toward a new plateau. After eight years, the semi-annual gathering of the members of Thuja is almost traditional, but new clearings are still to be discovered in its thickets of sound." (Important website)

Sounds and found objects manipulations recorded on a beach on Re island in France.  Nocturnal music concrete: scratchings in the undergrowth and some occasional blasts of pure noise.

Heidi Diehl and G Lucas Crane (Non Horse) from Vanishing Voice. Sprawling downer dirges and a improv / electronics duet that sound like they've been beamed from another world.

sparse and strange folk wrapped in some unsettling organ drones - intriguing and atmospherically charged stuff. Handmade packages. 'Stitches' is a departure from the sparse folk of their debut - drone-based experimental folk-psych-pop with a real magical if slightly uneasy quality. Strange, captivating and beautiful.

also: Hand/Eye comp

Shogu Tokumaru - L.S.T. cd (Active Suspension) 1

A collection of very pretty pop songs with notably fine vocals. It's a bit of a lazy option to align stuff like this to the Beach Boys, although I've seen it done in connection to Tokumaru and I think he is a fan. However, the playfulness here is closer to Harpers Bizarre. There's some lovely instrumental sounds on this too, especially the musical saw… I've yet to hear a record with one of those on it which fails! (JC)

a hopped-up 4 tracker that could be the end of year coursework from a bunch of snarling and grinning students from the Kill Rock Stars academy of punk pop - think Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bangs, Bis, Sonic Youth, Huggy Bear with a bit of late 70s Rough Trade 

Antti Tolvi - Tanan cdr (Peippo) 3

One long track of harmonium drone from Antti of Lauhkeat Lampaat: a dense and homely wheeze with immense bass tones. Lovely. 

Tombi - Black Humid Mist cdr (Students of Decay) 1.50

Overloaded synth and electronics from Ry Wharton, who also runs the Twonicorn label. The first track pairs pulsing ringing tones with an undercurrent of static hum, while the second longer track is a full-on charged blast of pure electricity.

This cdr blasts off harshly with swarms of ululating vocals amidst the noise onslaught, then follows that up with creepy warped ambience and eerie clanging. Comes with a free badge!

Towering Breaker with Dylan Nyoukis - Visions Versions cdr (Blackest Rainbow) 1.50

Collaborative cd of feverish acid-fuelled atmospheres full of rumbling tape loops, Skaters-esque vocal wow and vocal gibberish.

Toymonger - The Night Vision LP (Munitions Village) 7

This is a split release between Irish labels Deserted Village and Munitions Family. Gavin Prior (United Bible Studies) is one of the members of this duo. Heavy ambience, heavy synth buzzes, some clarinet and metal machine screech - dank oppressive atmospheres. Hand assembled stencilled spray-painted covers.

You may well be judging this on your idea of a 1970s travelling Christian commune, but if you're expecting saccharine bible songs, listen further as the fayre here is.... very unusual. What we have is an original lp from 1975 topped up to 2 seconds short of maximum time on the disc with other material from that era. There is much instrumental loveliness here: sitar, whistles and drums, with their love of ISB shining through. Much of this sounds pretty dark, but where the real oddness trips in is in the singing. A lot of this breathes spookiness like the music from Children of the Stones, plus the odd bit of atonality (intentional? I'm not sure!) which adds to the disquiet and then we get the Chant for Pentecost. This is sung in a disturbing monotone which only rises as the drum accelerates at the end... scary biscuits!! There are no close ups of commune members, so I can't see if any numbers are embedded beneath their hippy hair. Great packaging too. (JC)

Treetops is Mike Pollard who also runs the Arbor label. The sound of infernal gloom with occasional wordless moans cutting through the heavy atmosphere. The clattering percussion lends it a air of ritual too. Sleeve by Bethany of Pocahaunted.

• Cool Runnings cdr (Digitalis Ltd) 4

The sound of infernal gloom with chilling wordless moans, detuned guitar growl and brittle piano cutting through the heavy atmosphere. Handpainted sleeves, ltd to 84.

Trihornophone - At First I Thought It Was The End cdr (Bottlenote) 2.50

Two saxophones - alto & baritone - one trumpet and drums: that's Trihorniphone. Between them, Sean Og and friends come up with the kind of loose-but-together grooves that invoke shadows of the Charles Mingus band and John Tchicai. This is a jazz record which sings of so much that's great about the form without the chin strokey-blokey nonsense the word all too often implies. Recommended - it's even got a big brass car horn on the cover… parp-parp!! (JC)

also: Wailing Bones Volume 7 comp

Turner Cody - Buds of May cd (Digitalis) 5

Buds of May had a small run cdr outing in 2004, so this Digitalis issue will hopefully bring these songs to a wider audience than they've had so far: they certainly deserve to be heard. Cody, also known as a member of Herman Dune, has a bittersweet quality to his voice which would appeal to fans of, say, Vic Cestnutt. Before I found that he grew up in Boston, the title track was making me think of Jonathan Richman too. A good, concise album of songs with many memorable lyric lines. (JC)

Alexander Turnquist - Sleep Chapter 3" cdr (New American Folk Hero) 4.25

Beautiful drone textures in a Stars of the Lid style built from guitar sounds: extended floating and resonating tones to lull you into slumber. Lovely packaging with vellum inserts.

Turnstone - s/t cd (3 Lobed) 5

Three way collaboration between Tom Carter, Robert Horton & Michael Shannon, with the occasional presence of Henry Kuntz on gamelan / saxophone. I've been thoroughly impressed with all the Carter / Horton collabs to date, and this is mighty fine too with an impressive array of instruments from dilruba (similar to an esraj), lap steel, Horton's homemade boot and various household appliances and most intriguingly "Cornish school of Music ladies' room string-board". Sounds range from hypnotic spectral blues to the doomy hinterland of the final track with its distant clanging gamelan and infernal guitar rumble.

Hanna Tuulikki 

• Call and Response cd (Gleaners) 9.50

a document of a sound installation by Hanna Tuulikki (Nalle / Scatter) recording the interaction between two humans and wildfowl. Hanna plays clarinet, flute and sings and Chris Hladowksi (also Nalle / Scatter) plays clarinet, while a live recording of Hanna singing "Polly Vaughn" plays. A squeaking cacophony of woodwind and bird calls and Hanna's unique interpretation of te traditional folk song "Polly Vaughn". Another lovely package: gatefold card sleeve with insert and paste-on art. Limited to 30.

• Kensington Cradle Songs cdr (Gleaners) 7

Compiled from performances at Hanna's installation in Liverpool in October 2007. Hanna asked people from the Kensington area of Liverpool to sing lullabies that they were sung by their parents or that they sing to their children. The participants then took part in a collaborative "deep-listening" experiment where they sang their songs very slowly and the result is a harmonious blend of vocals where the singers become more and more focussed on the whole sound than on their individual songs. It reminds me of past Alejandra & Aaron discs where they collected songs and sounds from their environment. This cdr features 9 singers and then the final collaboration. 

• Black & White Drawings book 9

I saw this at Nalle's Glasgow gig sitting on the merchandise table all on its own and pounced on it, thinking it was the last one. Luckily Hanna had a few more lurking underneath and I have a handful of a small edition of 50. This compiles some of Hanna's wonderful folk art from covers for Nalle, Family Elan, Ben Reynolds and the " Garden of Forking Paths " albums to tour posters and plenty of other drawings. Birds, bears, animals, trees, boats, the sun, the moon, the sea and the stars. Highly recommended.

also: Nalle

• The Shore That Fears the Sea cd (Deserted Village) 7.50

another lovely release from United Bible Studies and a departure from the free-flowing nature of their earlier cdrs with structured songs. Pastoral folk with some lovely instrumentation and vocals - blissful and serene.

beautiful semi-improvised instrumentals with a free-flowing pastoral folk feel and an evocative use of instrumentation (some particularly lovely clarinet and bugle playing) from the Deserted Village collective. A reissue of a cdr from 2003 on Deserted Village.

• The Northern Lights and The Northern Dark 3" cdr (Rusted Rail) 4.75

6 tracks which highlight United Bible Studies' wide range of styles and sounds very well. Their distillation of folk and collective free music is always welcome and, in addition to the songs, there are wordless group vocal pieces which suggest magic(k)al adventures round the fire! (JC)

• Airs of Sun & Stone cdr (Deep Water) 5.50

Reissue of an earlier UBS release. 'Airs' is a return to free pastoral folk - recorded live in a church in Limerick using harp, guitars and percussion and it's utterly gorgeous. 

also: Arkhangelesk, Murmansk, Cubs, Wailing Bones Volume 10, Cosmic Nanou

last in the LE 'wage slave' series and appropriately packaged in a wage packet: recorded live in Glasgow 2003, nigh inaudible improv jam featuring laptop, disabled percussion, dismantled trumpet, stringless guitar and a whole lot of hum - turn up for maximum effect

mysterious drones from Tampere, Finland, built from layers of synth, whistles, bells and wordless vocals. At their densest Uton sound like Ash Ra Tempel mapping the forest interior instead of the outer reaches of the cosmos.

• Background Music for Silence cdr (Rural Faune) 6

Leaves and string ... it must be Rural Faune! Two tracks on this, one featuring Kulkija. One was a background tape for Uton's first live show and is a dense piece of drone with frenzied string scraping, AM radio loops & shortwave, cavernous "om"s and bells. The other track is a weird mix of synth and drone that sounds like "landing on the alien planet" music from one of those '60s / '70s sci-fi shows.

• Live in the centre of the World cassette (Black Horizons) 1.50

  Nice packaged tape (gold printed on platinum vellum) featuring an Uton live show. Pulsing electronic drones, warped guitar drones ... flip the tape and it all goes backwards!

• Radio Olio Metaphysical 2cdr  (Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Va Ra Yam) 7.50

Double cdr that comes in a silk-screened cloth sleeve with a small booklet. The first disc was recorded last summer and as well as the usual Uton drone & bowed scrapery, there are some weird easy listening in outer space type electronica moments and also feedback fizzle and digital noise thrown into the mix. The second disc was recorded in early 2006 and features contributions from J.Koho (from Kulkija, Free Players, Tulasi etc.), Vanessa Rossetto (Mighty Acts of God, Pulga etc.), Brad Rose (the North Sea etc.), Maxime Primault (Enfer Boreal) and Magnus Olsen (Elektronavn). This disc seems to delve deeper and deeper into a dreamstate of fogged cloudsound and unanchored drones.

• Shiva Blues cdr (Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Va Ra Yam) 5.25

Another great Uton recording on Jani's own label, this time recorded back in Finland. Heavy minimalism on guitar with harsh bowed strings floating amidst overtones of feedback. The first track reminds me of the hillbilly mantras of Henry Flynt with its frenetic concentration. Handmade sleeve.

• Pearls and Glory 3cdr (Taped Sounds) 14

Three disc set that comes with a booklet of drawings by Jani Hirvonen of Uton. The first disc features 3 live sets recorded in 2006 and featuring Bridget Hayden on two tracks. Disc 2 was originally released in a limited edition on Sloow Tapes. Disc 3 contains 5 tracks recorded in Finland, the first performed with Kulkija.

• Straightedge XXS LP (Dekorder) 9.25

""Straight Edge XXS" is the 2nd vinyl album by  Finland's Uton released in a strictly limited edition of 500 copies on the Dekorder label. It comes in a gorgeous full-colour  collage sleeve assembled by Hirvonen himself.  While Uton's last Dekorder album "Alitaju  Ylimina" (and most of his other recorded works respectively) are hazy lo-fi drone masterpieces for the most part, this is a completely diffferent affair. Recorded straight to  tape within one month, right after returning from a 6-month trip  to India, these songs (if you could call them songs) are completely out-of-this-world; very short and crazed sketch-like pieces sounding like a Nonesuch Explorer LP of long lost field  recordings from an as yet unexplored continent. Or is it World Music from an unknown planet recorded by those Sublime  Frequencies guys from mysterious short wave transmissions? Well, it is all that and more. It is pure ecstatic expression channelized through Psychedelia, Free Jazz, Noise and rural ancient Folk Music from all over the world in a completely naked,  predominantly acoustic setting. One of the purest forms of music you could imagine; while all the  familiar Uton elements remain evident in a hazy backcloth."

• Shiva Blues cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Heavy minimalism on guitar with harsh bowed strings floating amidst overtones of feedback. The first track reminds me of the hillbilly mantras of Henry Flynt with its frenetic concentration. This is the second edition which is limited to 50 copies with a slightly different napkin (it protects the cd) and insert from the first edition on Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Ka La Yam.

• We're Only In It For The Spirit cd & cdr (Digitalis) 8.75

Four tracks from Jani Hirvonen, with J. Koho (Vapaa), originally issued in a tiny quantity as a tour cdr. Luckily it's been made widely available as it's a real gem. Sonorous vocal "oms" resound, strings are scraped and bowed and primitive electronics bubble away creating heavy subterranean mantras and haunted space electronics. This is one of the limited copies and thus comes with a cdr of live recordings.

• Attack of the Aether Sun cassette (Housecraft) 3

Another excellent Uton release. Side A is mostly electronics-based to begin with, exuding a poisonous cloud of drone & hum. Flute and plucked piano strings join forces later for a spooked ritual. On side B Henry Flynt-esque violin squalls away under an ear-shredding wall of high end feedback.

Features two slabs of solo MV action - one from around the time of "Space Shanties" and sounding like it would have fitted nicely on that album. The other side is and sounds more recent - echo-heavy cosmic folk meditations. Offset printed two-tone heavy card sleeve.

Also featuring The Golden Road (Asa Irons, Doc Dunn and Samara Lubelski on this occasion). The A side has a real retreat to the country '68 feel to it and could have fitted in on their "Green Blues" album. The B side is laid-back in the sun slide guitar and harmonica. Good-time pastoral psychedelia at its best.

Completing a triple bill of MV / EE releases this week comes this fantastic reissue of a previous self-released cdr and cassette on Fuck It Tapes (both very limited). It's a return to the days of cosmic ragas, heavily meditative and utterly out-there. All my copies come with a cd version of the LP plus "Total Loss Songs", new material recorded with the Golden Road.

2nd in the series of live recordings, this one comes from Oklahoma City 11th Feb 2007, and features some excellent strung-out versions of "Death Don't Have No Mercy", "I Got Caves in There", "The Burden", Hammer", "Summer Magic" and "Environments".

A stone-cold classic double album of lysergic rural raga and bucolic country blues from Matt Valentine, Erika Elder and the Bummer Road (featuring Nemo Bidstrup, Tim Barnes, Sparrow Wildchild, Mo' Jiggs and Samara Lubelski) and another stunning package from Time Lag (gatefold sleeve). The album opens with some of Valentine's most cosmic guitar tanglings and oscillator careening skywards, then veers sharply into the beautiful ' Cold Rain', one of several great songs on this, a lovely wayward MV / EE duet. Also features some pretty stoned arrangements of Mississippi John Hurt's "Payday", Charley Patton's "Banty Rooster Blues" and a side-long reworking of the Reverend Gary Davis's "Death Don't Have No Mercy" that you could become so lost in, you'd hope to never resurface. Highly recommended

also: Bummer Road

Swedish singer-songwriter with a fondness for purple frilly shirts and a passing resemblance to David Crosby, who lists among his influences Linda Perhacs, COB and Tim Hardin. I'd add Townes Van Zandt to his list. Melancholic and elegant songs with great arrangements of strings and piano.

Reissue on cd of the Gipsy Sphinx vinyl, itself a reissue of a self-released cdr, from Vanishing Voice without Wooden Wand and Satya Sai: one side is a long and loose tranced jam. The other side features three tracks: one a possessed piece of hazy campfire finger-picking, another an almost dub-esque array of sounds orbiting the central chanting and pounding and the last lifts cosmos-bound with strobing trumpet, over-saturated effects and quavering high-pitched vocals. Great stuff.

also: Wooden Wand and the Vanishing Voice, Nonhorse, Time Life

5 live performances from Keijo's Free Players, all from 2005. A magical merging of guitar / bass / drums / synth into a psyched out wash of meditative sound.

live recording: starts soothingly with a dense electronic buzzing which then disappears into muffled murk. Second part of the disc had my prog-loving friend nodding in approval - dizzying overloaded guitar intricacies. Very limited and sold out at source.

a hypnotic gem that toes the line between post-rock, field recordings and electronica beautifully with Damo Suzuki-like blissed out vocals breathed over intensely driven rhythms and repeated motifs. Inventive and vaguely reminiscent of a French and more organic Leila. .

Venison Whirled - Deaf Sponge cdr (Curor) 2

Skull-borrowing primitive electronic noise from texan Lisa Cameron.

Vibracathedral Orchestra 

• Dabbling With Gravity & Who You Are cd (VHF) 5

Amid much scraping of strings and rattling and clanking of percussion, Vibracathedral Orchestra are one of the best bands around at locking into a hypnotic communal groove. 

• Tuning to the Rooster cd (Important) 4

  Amid much scraping of strings and rattling and clanking of percussion, Vibracathedral Orchestra are one of the best bands around at locking into a hypnotic communal groove. This features tracks that appeared in abridged form on Textile Records, Misplaced Music, Great Pop Supplement and Head Heritage and comes in a colour gatefold sleeve.

also: Julian Bradley, Sunroof!, Misplaced Pets comp,  Qbico U-Nite Bruxelles II comp, Flower Corsano Duo, Astral Social Club

Rather different to any previous Ville Moskiitto releases, on this cdr he creates his wintry folk-ish soundscapes from all acoustic sounds - scraped strings, recorder, guitar, melodica and primitive percussion. Some of the tracks are minimal repeated tunes, so intimate you feel like an eavesdropper. Others are hugely atmospheric bowed drones. Lovely stuff.

also: Autumn Galaxy, Wailing Bones Volume 6 comp, Love Missile F2 comp

Visitations cd (Time Lag) 10

Great new release on Time Lag from this Maine trio. Haunting acid folk with a real quietly apocalyptic feel, like some early 70s private press LP straight out of some besieged commune in the woods. Heavy acoustic strumming leads you into a trance and siren-like female vocals lead you deeper still, while a listless male vocal intones "I can hear the horsemen coming". Music with a really timeless intimacy and spellbinding atmosphere. Great intricate artwork from the band, heavy vinyl. Highly recommended. 

Vluba 

• =???-.:._ cdr (Foxglove) 1

wild lo-fi Argentinian noise-psych of distant squalling and vocal moans that teeters on the edge of breakdown. Great packaging: spray-painted tape, coloured beads and insert in a plastic bag.

• cdr (23 Productions) 1

nightmarishly quiet landscapes populated with rattles and scrapings, distant improv squallings and moanings that make your skin crawl

also: Los Pranks

Vodka Soap 

• Oceansion Island cdr (Pacific City) 5

Cdr reissue of an earlier tape release. Another dream-like treat from one of the never-ending Skaters side-projects, this one Spencer Clark. Tape loops and cheap synths woven into ritualistic meditations.

• Shee Ro Gateway Temples cassette (Pacific City) 4.50

More wonderful tranced explorations with cheap synth mantras layered into a tropical rainforest blitz of insect-like buzz and melodious song.

Another great release from Rick Tomlinson, put together for his recent tour. It is bookended with two pieces of '70s Kraut-ish acid rock - the first heavy riffing and wah-wah guitar headed straight for oblivion, the last track more cosmic. In the middle is an unexpected piece of abrasive but subdued drone. Silk-screened sleeve. 

Volcano the Bear 

• Egg and Two Books cd (Vivo) 10.50

After a quiet time, the mid 2000s have found VTB most definitely back with a bang, There's a hymnal quality to a lot of this that's a bit like a crossroads between a Gaelic service in Scotland's Western Isles, temple sounds from the far East and a free music freakout, with the emphasis on "out", as in "far…". Those who get it will leave with a big smile, those who don't with an expression of utter bafflement. Thing about Volcano is they have no quarter for the middle distance - and they're all the better for that! (JC)

• The Mountains Among Us cd (Beta Lactum) 11

A beautifully packaged re-issue of an album which first appeared in 2002. Although it came out in 3 different editions then, the total number of copies was still only something like 190, so this music will come to many listeners (me included) fresh and previously unheard. The two pieces, Supreme and Sublime & Dragon or Emperor, have clearly been devised with lp sides in mind, as shorter episodes flow together into each longer track - and what fine long works they are: soundtracks to unseen movies of glacial labyrinths, exotic dancers replete with snakes, the electronic and (mainly) acoustic sounds conjuring many images and colours. Although we are not treated to a free plastic insect, as with one of the original lp runs, the hard bound cd case is quite a piece of art in itself. Recommended. (JC)

also: Insight comp, Jar, The Noise is All In Your Head comp, Rewriting the Book comp, Aaron Moore, Dragon or Emperor, One Ensemble