Side one of this tape is a flowing sequence of pieces using Sachiko's voice, looped and layered into a lovely sort of chorale. It seems a bit strange to write this, but the one thing it reminded me of was the closing track on my own Phosphene album with Lol Coxhill and Raymond MacDonald, not that I'm suggesting this was any influence! Side 2 has spiraling spacey drones and a harsher electronic piece too. Another good Sloow Tape release. (JC)

casio pop from Norway in the Micromars vein that delves into the dinky soundtrack cheesiness of Plone and the Shibuya-esque kitsch chic aesthetic

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)

The See See 7" (Great Pop Supplement) 3.75

Featuring ex-members of the Eighteenth Day of May, Soledad Brothers and Pete Greenwood, the See See turn in two lovely slices of sun-kissed guitar pop in the vein of Teenage Fanclub.

Seht - Hrry LP & 3" cdr (Digitalis) TBC

Another fine installment of laptop-generated drone from Stephen Clover. The tracks on the vinyl are shorter than his usual slowly creeping epics but the subtly shifting repetition, dub overtones, distant foghorn drones and disjointed computerized voice build into an ominous presence of slowly asphyxiating unease that lingers long after the disc has finished. Limited to 150 copies, this comes with a black and silver poster fold-out sleeve.

Selvapyy & Pyy Pivossa 3" cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 1

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. 

The Shitty Listener is Jason Honea of the Franciscan Hobbies and the Child Readers. The 9 tracks on here are a mix of '90s US lo-fi aesthetic and the rural psych of the Jewelled Antler collective. Honea's songs are unstructured to the point of almost falling apart: he will sing one line, you wait for the next one and instead organ drone and feedback fill the void, amidst a background of field recordings and coughing.

• Constant Stranger cassette (Digitalis) 5

A collection of stuff previously found on super-limited cassettes. Semi-structured lo-fi guitar / vocals songs with some field recording / lots of background hum from Jason Honea, of Franciscan Hobbies / Child Readers.  

Helsinki's Shogun Kunitoki are, according to their website, "a band with a mission to help electronic music regress back to a more human state, the time of the tube organ and the ring modulator, the spring reverb and the test oscillator". If you enjoy the sonorities of the Circle or Stereolab, this is bound to appeal. Less motorik, but still infused with memorable motifs, their "regression" sounds joyously fresh to me! Recommended. (JC)

Shores of Darkness - In the Shadow of Distant Nights cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

Excellent release by Dublin-based electronic artist Cronin Drumlish. This is a real voyage into the abyss - deep bass drones, lots of delay and feedback, nauseous throb; electronics with a black heart. The sleeve is inspired by the diamond ring effect during an eclipse - gold glitter on black card. Very nice.

Wally Shoup, Chris Corsano & Paul Flaherty - Bounced Check LP (Records) 8

"Wally Shoup, Chris Corsano, and Paul Flaherty make up this Screamin' free punk-jazz-liquid-solid-noize trio captured LIVE in your face-style in Seattle, WA. Totally improvised double sax and drum explosions that break down into duos and solos and re-ignite as trio howlin' paint splattered maddness gone butt-naked wilder. Recorded at an art gallery with Artwork melting off the walls and frightened fans nervously mopping their furrowed blood-stained brows (they were especially afraid one or both of the sax players would expire...... it did feel like attempted sax suicide), this limited LP, which will be the final volume in the RECORDS label plan, represents one half of the concert that emerged on that unsuspecting evening. The other half is being released at the same time (relatively) on the Tyfus label in Finland as BLANK CHECK. Thus creating another pair of sister releases much like the LAST EYES (RECORDS #8) & STEEL SLEET (TYFUS) LP pair released in 2005. The 'CHECK' pair will serve as the document of the only event this trio has played to date, and it presents another blistering historical document of an underground movement that continues to go un-recognized and even un-noticed in most of the so-called civilized baby starvin' world." (Spirit of Orr)

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

Silent Land Time Machine -

• & Hope Still cd (Time Lag / Indian Queen) 8
• & Hope Still LP (Time Lag / Indian Queen) 12

Silent Land Time Machine is a one man project from Texas (Indian Queen being his label).  Gently lysergic pastoral chamber psych sculpted from sweet strings, acoustic guitar, unobtrusive electronics, percussion and buried vocals. The sound merges into a gorgeous haze that evokes late summer evenings. Heavy vinyl (for the LP) with a fold out cover and insert.

Silmaril - Voyage of Icarus cd (Locust) 3

This album compiles hyper-rare progressive folk (a self-released lp run of 300 copies in 1973) with material by Silmaril never heard before on record. There's also an extensive liner note, explaining how this Milwaukee band came together and how they eventually split, a fascinating story that begins in a catholic youth retreat and winds up in a gay cowboy band in Texas . Anyway, the music, which often draws on religious lyrical themes, has many-a-harmony, guitar and mandolin and a quality that lends itself to candlelight and wine.... that'll be altar wine, for sure! (JC)

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

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) 5

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.

"In May of 2008, Amsterdam-based clarinetist Gareth Davis and American guitarist Steven R. Smith convened at Worstward Studios, in Los Angeles to collaborate and create music together, the results of which have been titled Westering. Gareth Davis is a dedicated performer of contemporary music while at the same time works with improvising musicians such as Jon Balke and Terje Rypdal as well as electronic artists including Machinefabriek and Ryan Teague (Type Records) and has recently completed the Rabbit at the Airport series of LPs with Martin Stig Andersen and Robin Rimbaud (aka Scanner). Steven R. Smith has been releasing a steady stream of solo records for over the last decade as well as playing in various improvisational groups including Thuja, Hala Strana, and most recently Ulaan Khol." (Important) A beautiful textured record of melancholic layered clarinet dirges and more abstract pieces of broken guitar feedback and guttural bass clarinet which evokes the winter wind in a forest. Screen-printed sleeve.

Social Junk - s/t limited cd & cassette (Digitalis Industries) 5

"Social Junk have blasted through walls, east & west, over the past few years cranking out some serious sparklers along the way. Now after dropping a megaslice of deliciousness on Not Not Fun last year, this duo follow it up with a journey through the mother earth canal. "Born Into It" stretches across the lands with thudding percussion and hypno synth excursions. Waves of swirling vocals from both Heather Young and Noah Anthony. You may have just been born, but stretch those wings baby because it's time to fucking fly. There's no going back once you take the first plunge on "Born Into It." Immediately, through no fault of your own, you'll be drawn in and tied down. At times it feels like Young & Anthony are scouring the lands, taking in whatever technological progress they can find and chewing it up and spitting it out into a gloriously dissonant pile. This is music for the next wave; music to find your way back to the sun. Social Junk are soaring like never before and "iBorn Into It" is their latest testament to a new world." All my copies come with the "Champs 09" cassette. (Digitalis)

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

Empty Mirror / Seen Through / Glory Fckn Sun member Ben Spiers turns in an impressive full-length of degraded guitar / amp meditations. There's a warm buzz to the sound at odds with the emptiness and ill-ease of the sounds which have an "end of the universe" feel to them, mournful feedback tones and burrowing oscillations and intensely focussed meditations on single notes.

• Smokers Please 7" (Yoko Ono Tribute Weekend) 4.50

The latest from New Zealander Ben Spiers on his new label. Ben has recently moved to England and has altered his approach to recording, now using a 4 track and overdubbing. Side A finds him on familiar territory with guitar, amp fuzz and hum and viola layered into a monolithic distorted drone. On the flip there's more distortion with guitar strumming a 2 chord dirge and the nasal whine of stylophone. 

also: Seen Through, Glory Fckn Sun

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.

• Schmetterling cdr (Spirit of Orr) 5

One hour -long recording of Sunburned Hand of the Man's gig in Munich from last year's European tour. This is the second edition after a super limited first edition of 30.

• Cheap Blood cdr (Blueberry Honey / Manhand) cdr 6.75
• Tailwind cdr (Blueberry Honey / Manhand) cdr 6.75

A couple of cdrs capturing sounds from recent SHOTM tours.

Repress. Gorgeous mesmerizing sunbursts of layered shimmering sound (keyboard / guitar / drone / various hums and fuzzes) in a Cluster vein with the occasional delve into more fuzzed-up guitar territory.

Duo of Phil French & William Giacchi, who both play in Magic Lantern, and Phil runs the Stunned label. Maximal ecstatic drone with sunlit organs swirling into a mesmerizing cloud of sound and wordless vocals. This sounds like the music for a sun-worship ritual of a idyllic lost world. Gorgeous. 

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)

Nicholas Szczepanik - To the Moon and Back Again 3" cdr (Rural Faune) 2

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.

Taiga Remains - Wax Canopy cd and 3" cdr (Digitalis) 8

Special edition of the latest album from Alex Cobb which comes with a 3" of exclusive material. This is Taiga Remains at his finest, orchestrating hum, electricity, feedback and shifting tones into expansive droneworks. Excellent stuff.

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)

"Mr Teller's main operation is this combo also featuring double bassist Soren Gorm and drummer Tobias Kirstein and they are a band of highly charged experimental musicians who can dodge between solid rock and out-jazz, often without warning. Each of the three is worth your time individually, Together they are quite a storm of life and power. There are studio sessions recorded from the time we spent together, this is a recording of our set at Daemons Port." (Spirit of Orr)

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.

Thee Doom Riot - Let the Lights Come Down 2 cdr (Rural Faune) 5

A double disc of drone delights from Denmark's Claus Haxholm who, aside from his own name and Thee Doom Riots, also performs as Dead Black Arms, Kanada Brothers, Satanism Around Hollywood and more. Disc one begins with thunderous slow booms and a fuzzed keyboard drone which pans around the room, using stereo to its full width. There's an acoustic 12 string piece and a darker drone work to Finish, then disc two goes all flutey with a haze of melody which hangs in the air like heavily scented sonic perfume. Very fine! (JC)

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 

• Regine Flory cd (Sparrows & Wires) 7
• Regine Flory LP (Sparrows & Wires) 12.50 

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. 

• Parade Room LP (Sparrows & Wires) 9

Stunning follow-up to These Wonderful Evil's amazing debut "Regine Flory". Solo project of Zak Boerger, the sound recalls Alastair Galbraith / Peter Jefferies with extended ragged ballads, a psychedelic feel and oodles of fuzz. Add to that some Flying Saucer Attack moments with folky acoustic guitar awash with swirls of feedback. Add to that a real outsider / loner feel and you have another great album.

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.

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 

Tomutonttu 

• Tomutonttu  cd (Fonal) 10

"Fonal Recods is re-releasing this long sold out debut Tomutonttu originally released on LP by Beta Lactam Ring records. Tomutonttu (“dust gnome”) is a human called Jan Anderzén, a visual artist and the leader of a respected avant-garde sound group Kemialliset Ystävät. Toy reed streams, mutilated vocals and groovy loops of animal noise are some of the colours used to create the whirling mess that is the lonely song of Tomutonttu. It is like a confusing detail of the Kemialliset Ystävät freedom flow, a microcosmos of strange sound creatures and dirt flying around in the stereo space and interacting with a logic all of their own." (Fonal)

• Tomutonto cd (Fonal) 10

Reissue of the long out-of-print Ultra Eczema LP. Jan Anderzen (Avarus / Kemialliset Ystavat) with some particularly demented electronics: from the psychedelic Dennis Tyfus / Anderzen sleeve to the equally weird and wonderful cut-ups inside everything about this LP is so vibrant it makes my head hurt - a strobing collage of tormented analogue synths, either squalling and duelling or swarming in a seething mass. Great stuff.

Tonal Wasteland - Desolate cassette (Digitalis) 5

More blasted synth wastelands from Digitalis, this time from Australian Ben Lynch. This opens with an infernal onslaught, a wind tunnel of modular synth fizz and doom that sucks everything up into its bleak centre. There are some haunting fragments of melody snuggled alongside the maelstrom so we can conclude that Ben's heart is not entirely black.

AKA Ghost Brames.

Following on from their Great Pop Supplement single, this cdr features 7 tracks of gently burbling electronics & electric sitar. Music for your lava lamp to groove to. Cover features hand-sprayed spots.

• II cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.75

This disc is a rather lovely way to spend half an hour! Japan's Tranko mix the sounds of traditional Ainu instruments from Hokkai with sitar, tabla, some rather trancey beats and voices, ethereal in places and a chant-like song to close. (JC)

3rd release on Reverb Worship from Japanese band Tranko. 8 musicians contribute to this one, playing guitar, sitar, tabla, drums, harmonium, electronics and bass. The result is a mellowed out Far Eastern take on lounge psych. 

Turner Cody - Buds of May cd (Digitalis) 2.50

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)

Hanna Tuulikki 

• 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 the other night 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

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. 

• The Jonah cd (Camera Obscura) 7.50

Excellent new album from Dublin-based collective United Bible Studies who were inspired by Richard Youngs' Ilk recordings to make a prog album. Certainly the album starts off very prog-like with sweeping synth and spoken vocals courtesy of Current 93's Richard Moult. It continues into the incredible 16 minute centrepiece of this album "The Jonah" which morphs from Peter Gabriel-era Genesis to demonic metal posturings to melancholic English folk (Genesis meets Burzum?!!). The rest of the album is full of pastoral loveliness and the Colohan-sung tracks remind me of Roy Harper which is always welcome. Sharron Kraus lends her vocals on a duet for the traditional "The Lowlands of Holland". Highly recommended.

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

• Shiva Blues cdr (Om Ha Sva Ha Ksha Ma La Va Ra Yam) 3.50

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.

• 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.

• Mental Connections cdr (Housecraft) 4.25

Recorded in Finland in March 2008, this is another fine disc from Uton. Alchemical bubblings, ethereal oscillations, subaquatic undertow.

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.

Beautiful new album from lute-player Jozef Van Wissem, sometime co-member of Brethren of the the Free Spirit with James Blackshaw. Like Blackshaw, Van Wissem's compositions are elegant and circular although his style is somewhat more minimalist. The result is endlessly hypnotic. 

"abstract synthesizer works from this Professor In Usable Knowledge and full-time McD's clientele, Floris Vanhoof. while being a core member of R.O.T. and an independent movie maker, recently he started to consentrate more on his love for technique and synthesizers. this album is a repress of his first self-released tape, released a while ago, but only gotten into the hands of museum programmers and synth music forum nutters. strange, abstract and minimal sounds, codes and unusuables, made with the ems vcs3 synth." (Taped Sounds)

Reissue of a self-released cdr on heavy vinyl, 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.

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.

• s/t cdr (Ikuisuus) 3.50

Live performance from the band who also form Keijo's Free Players. Recorded in Tampere, Finland, 2008, with an ensemble of 15 players including Keijo. The result is a loose and spacious cosmic free-jazz tinged improvisation.

Vega Stereo - Festival 3000 cassette (Digitalis) 2.50

"vega stereo is another side to the story that is alexey AKA analog concept.  once again, this comes straight from russia with a bullet.  vega stereo is a duo with his wife, nastya.  this one is just as synthed-out as the analog concept double, but you're in for a whole different ride.  laced with minimalist beats and vague, nu-age stylings like a bed of golden feathers, vega stereo is going to whisk you away.  it's obvious these cats grew up on detroit techno and hypnotic ambient waves.  beautiful stuff from the rough & tumble. " (Digitalis)

Velvet Hour - Demo cdr (Fictitious Sighs) 6.50

One of 3 releases on Tim Coster's new label. Duo comprising Tim with Shannon O'Brien, recorded live in Christchurch, February 2009. Guitar pounds out a monotonous percussive growl and casio, melodica and percussion loosely hang around its dirge-like drone. 

Venereum Arvum - A Pentacle of Pips cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

A band name and album title that surely can only mean prog-folk! Venereum Arvum is a duo featuring Rachel McCarron and Sean Breadin; the latter also records as Sedayne and that serves as a useful reference point to this release. Using instruments like banjo, harmonium, crwth, kenence, citera, goose pipe and shruti box, the pair create a magical and haunting take on English folk. Recommended.

Venison Whirled - Deaf Sponge cdr (Curor) 1

Skull-borrowing primitive electronic noise from texan Lisa Cameron.

Vibracathedral Orchestra / Infinite Light split 7" (Krayon) 4.75

"Vibracathedral drop straight into a heads down fully tranced narco-dust trail, with guitar-born fireflies leading the way through a never-changing backdrop heat haze of low-lying smoke-mist and earth-veined throb. Fx tweets and rattlesnake percussion shakes as mystic keyboard spirits blow in a weightless drift. The first cut from Infinite Light is a section lifted from a show featuring Barry Dean on guitar, Mick Flower on guitar and organ and Pete Nolan jamming the traps, and its a full, free-rock, psych-out captured through a heavy veil of no-fi smog. By the sounds of this they must have blasted open the trans-dimensional portal to some out-of-time temple rituals. Part two is the opposite, exchanging blasted group workout for a solo piece of harmonic guitar vignettes wrapped around a falsetto vocal cadence fluctuating at the point of saturation. Art by Barry Dean, design by Mick Flower." (Krayon)

Ville A.E. Suopajarven Puiset Heilat 3" cdr (267 Lattajjaa) 3.50

Delightful folk-psych songs where the expected ingredient (fuzz guitar) is offset by the surprise (whistling!). If you like FSA (particularly very early stuff, Alphane Moon and Dan delion Wine, this will almost certainly spend lots of time in your cd player. The last track is an instrumental cloud of shimmery, warbly analogue keyboard and is just lovely. So are the grainy photos of ponies on the cover. (JC)

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. Highly recommended. 

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

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

Julia Vorontsova - Our Garden Circle cdr and dvdr (Foxglove) 8

Russian bard singer Julia Vorontsova (with previous releases on Abaton) skeletally accompanied on guitar: the Russian sung songs are haunting, melancholic and atmmospheric. There is also a dvd-r featuring live performance, a photo slideshow and sketchbook work. Long sold-out at source.

• Long Lost Tapes 1970 cd (Tompkins Square) 10.25

"Peter Walker came up in the Cambridge MA and Greenwich Village folk scenes of the Sixties. He recorded two albums for the Vanguard label in the late Sixties in a style best described as American folk-raga. He studied with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, and was Dr. Timothy Leary's musical director, organizing music for the LSD advocate’s “celebrations.”" These tapes were recorded in Woodstock in 1970 but languished unheard for nearly 40 years. Intoxicatingly free electrified ragas with a band comprising flute, alto sax, clarinet, bass and percussion.

blistering static noise bursts from this Maine duo

Warmer Milks - The Figure 3" cdr (Rural Faune) 4

5 fragmentary tracks of looping circuitry, incantations, bells and deranged vocal loops.

Wax Ghost 

• The Halo of Mt. St. Helens cdr (Foxglove) 4.50

Delicate beat-less electronic melodies that have all the wide-eyed simplicity of Raymond Scott's 'Soothing Sounds For Babies' - gorgeous sounds from Eden Rose (also of Corsican Paintbrush / Sunmilk).

• Adze cdr (Cook an Egg) 6.50

It's been too long since the last release from Eden Hemming Rose (also of Sunmilk and Corsica Paintbrush). This is beautiful and surpasses her last 2 cdrs - with a rolecall of instruments that reads like a list of my favourites - piano, autoharp, thumb piano, hand percussion, violin, glockenspiel, melodica, chord organ - Eden creates fragmentary lullabies that it sounds almost obtrusive to overhear. 

also: Corsican Paintbrush, Sunmilk, Gold Leaf Branches comp, Akhet, Eastern Fox Squirrels

John White - s/t cd (Last Visible Dog) 2

A thoroughly charming record of gentle, wistful songs. Mr White's voice is a bit like the guy from Tahiti 80, but the similarity ends there, as this record has 'cello, accordion and the tinkly percussion isn't powered by anything electrical. There's a song about a bear called Mogwash, whodeserves a mention as he appears on one of the sleevefronts (this is essenially two albums on one disc) and after 16 short-ish vocal tracks, we get a 23 minute instrumental, which is rather fine too. (JC)

Ralph White - Narasota River Devil Squirrel LP (Spirit of Orr) 5

""Ralph White of Austin, TX has been a part of the more forward-moving country-blues activities of this planet for quite some time. From his work & endless touring with Bad Livers to his duets with Amy Annelle in the outfit Precious Blood, Mr. White has shown that he is of the intuitive and insightful ilk that can 'pick n' shred' beyond the earthly. As you may suspect, few documents have appeared that demonstrate his powers and poetries as a soloist, where he is only peered with the most revered. Armed with fiddle, fretless banjo, kalimba, & button accordion, and his subtle and magnificent 'new high lonesome' croon, we are brought to a rare mirror. Yet another place where borders are erased and music is the only language. An intense & visionary outsider, for sure. This record is a reissue of his first CD-R. It should surprise and win over even the most cynical record-hording ogre. A co-operative effort by Mystra & Spirit Of Orr, 600 copies total, hand-glued cover art."" (Spirit of Orr)

White Crime - Ruining America cassette (Teosinte) 5

New duo featuring Brad Rose (North Sea) and Eden Hemming Rose (Wax Ghost). Some of this sounds like a really primitive take on Joy Division and other parts like a black metal worshipping, barbiturate-dosed Jesus & Mary Chain. Unexpected and most welcome.

The Whole Voyald - Live at the Heeley Institute cdr (Singing Knives) 5

Excellent live improvisation between the Serfs, Pascal of Stuckometer and trumpeter Stuart from Smear Campaign. Expansive drones and ecstatic clatter.

Adam Willetts - Live cdr (Fictitious Sighs) 6.50

Recorded live at the Lines of Flight festival in Dunedin, 2009 and sounding like a one-man Kraftwerk. Melodic synth magic that should soundtrack sunrise.

tracks compiled from self-released cdrs by Julian Williams, member of Hi God People, Solids, Above Ground Pool and Bamboo Sel - intense electrified hum & drone a la Gate, muttered mumblings and sprawling composition make this a singular and fascinating listen

Fine, stomping American folk from the man who says he took up banjo because he liked Earl Scruggs' closing music from Bonnie & Clyde. There's banjo here, alongside various homemade instruments including the enticingly named TurboDiddly & Voodoo Box. Take your partners - do-se-do! (JC)

Saturated guitar noise bleeding from the speakers - hand-painted sleeve and just about out of stock at source.

Woodcraft Folk - Trough of Bowland LP (Great Pop Supplement) 8.50

It's a while since I've enjoyed an album of melodic electronica as much as this one. Pretty synth melodies abound with some voice and even a spot of trombone in the mix. There's one track with acoustic guitar and harmonium too. The sleeve is screenprinted by hand and although this was released a while ago on Earworm, this new vinyl edition sounds and looks spot on, so you might be tempted even if you have it on cd already! (JC) 

A Wooden Door - s/t cdr (Reverb Worship) 5.50

22 instrumental tracks by guitarist David Kellett, recorded at home with a nice lo-fi fuzz. Finger-picked nylon strings, fuzzed-up improv and pastoral strums, sometimes accompanied by recorder.

The 4th Wooden Spoon release is rather more akin to his piano pieces from the previous cdrs than his guitar picking. It's more drone-orientated than before as well with the 2nd track being the focus here - a harmonium's slow exhalations creating a soporific fogged drone. The piano pieces are cyclical and lulling. Lovely.

Wrecking Ball - Grunt Work cdr (Deserted Village) 1

"Wrecking Ball is steve fanagan. 'Grunt Work' by Wrecking Ball is a collection of improvisations for voice, microphone, effects, amplifier and a bell. It is 35 short bursts of sound, performed and recorded at home, straight to mini disc. There are no overdubs." (DV)

Jack Wright - Indeterminate Existence cd (Last Visible Dog) 2

Jack Wright has that rare knack in free sax playing of being soulful even at his most ear-crunchingly wild moments, and there are plenty of them in the seventy one and a half minute solo set. It's music from - I think - the late 80s, which Jack now sees as a chapter in his life and playing which is in the past, but far enough away that he can listen objectively and let it be heard by those who still crave this form of expression from him. His main focus these days appears to be collaboration and, as someone who took free music to places it had never been heard before and encouraged so many young players, his importance in that area is inestimable. You may not hear him play like this today, so The Indeterminate Existence serves as a snapshot of a true great in full flight. (JC)

Young Boys / F.M. Face split cassette (Digitalis) 5

The tape with its black and white cut & paste style comes straight out of punk fanzines. Young Boys are a dead-ringer for early Jesus & Mary Chain. On the other side F.M. Face's fuzz guitar, drum machine and distorted holler sound like a crazed cross between Bauhaus and Dr Mix & the Remix.

Yuko x Chino - Sensory Deprivation Techniques cdr (Rural Faune) 6

Monolithic distorted guitar from Danny Sasqrotch - it howls and squeals and is mightily black.

Carter Thornton is the person behind Zashiki Warashi and before I even listen, the cd has caught my attention because it comes in a sack cloth bag. There's a feel of European chamber music (Schnittke might be a reference point) in a piano and 'cello piece here. Another track has a guitar phrase repeated at different pitches with much space between, there's fuzzed electronics too and a loop of field recording which I can't quite pin down. Actually, the whole thing is hard to pin down! Diverse, intriguing and limited to 80 copies. (JC)

The zorna is a traditional Kurdish instrument that looks like a chanter with an open end and sounds also not unlike a chanter. The music is breathless and hypnotic; I'm sure Zecharia must be using circular breathing! He is accompanied by a relentless drum keeping the beat. This really is incredible music that will transport you to other places and other mind states. 

a whirlwind of white noise and piston-pulses that won't let up from Phil Todd (Ashtray Navigations) and Lasse Marhaug