Back catalogue: Leftfield

Review: This sophomore album from Istanbul-born, Berlin-based electronic composer and sound artist Huma Utku explores psychological phenomena through a series of sonic essays. Drawing on her background in Psychology, Utku combines her academic and artistic practices in this ambitious release and includes recordings from her Elektronmusikstudion residency in 2020. The album also features synth intrigue, electroacoustic, experimental techno, industrial and spoken word all brought to life with piano, strings and vocals. Utku creates a dramatic, unsettling soundworld here while exploring themes of grief, consciousness, dream analysis and psychological symbolism. It's a truly intimate exploration of the human condition.

Review: Originally released in 2013 on Periferin, former Mayhem man Varg's debut album, Skaeliptom is a ride and a half. A ride to where is the question. It's dark and mechanical, but at the same time freed of Earthly constraints - the ambient techno equivalent of becoming uncoupled from the mothership during a space walk and calmly residing yourself to enjoying floating away into the eternal darkness. Even if there's a sense nobody comes back. It's not that there's a sinister vibe here, more of an unknown quantity. It's sparse and strangely quiet, patient yet edgy and always moving us onto new, previously unexplored soundscapes. Vast and somehow also very personal, Skaeliptom is a curious experiment in electronics that gives us perspective on just how much there might be out there waiting for us to find.

Review: Synthwave, or "outrun" as it is sometimes popularly known, is one of the defining micro-aesthetics of the 21st Century. Cornered then abrogated by filmmakers like Michael Mann and Nicolas Winding Refn, the style was expanded upon in the music imaginary sometime in the early 2010s (though seeds were sown much earlier). This Wagram compilation charts the earliest stirrings in the sound, from the circuit-breaking Moog experiments of Giorgio Moroder through to the nightridden vrooms of Kavinsky, and the fuzz-static analog snows set to sample-funked beats of VHS Dreams.

Review: The good folks at Discreet Music celebrate its five-year anniversary with a special compilation featuring new and unreleased tracks from an eclectic lineup of artists. As highlighted in the extensive liner notes, this release covers plenty of ground, all of it part of the essence of Discreet Music but with an eye on evolution into new territories. It's a carefully curated collection with endless highlights - Eftergift's 'Demotiv' captures the sombreness of a dark winter night, Shadow Pattern's 'One Of These' is flickering, candle-lit space with distant synth tension and Livskraft's 'Lat Mig Tro' is a new age ceremonial ritual

Review: ***B-STOCK: manufacturing fault not continuous play ***


Founded by Zach Frizzell aka zake of Past Inside the Present fame, Healing Sound Propagandist (HSP) is based in Indianapolis and has quietly amassed a catalogue of nearly 100 releases since its inception, all of them specialising in textured drone and experimental ambient music. To mark this achievement, Retrospective [2019-2024] compiles 76 standout tracks across a five-hour odyssey through the label's most significant works. The compilation features artists like James Bernard, Pallette, and Sean Evans who, along with many others, create a varied world of atmospheres through unique instrumentations. HSP emphasises a focus on deep listening and quality over gimmicks and this retrospective serves both as a tribute to the label's legacy and an introduction to its transformative, meditative soundscapes.

Review: The incredible post-coldwave label Light Sounds Dark are *rara aves* of the experimental music underworld. Here they again do what they do best, procuring a (literally) incredible full-length compilation record: these tracks are credited to no one. The titular Salt Line Continuum is an invented metonym; together with the cartographic front cover, it suggests 19th Century geopolitical boundaries, delimitations of national and international territories, potentially alluding to everything from Middle Passage slavery to freemasonry. LSD transmigrate to Eurasia and Africa here, apparently tracing the invention of whiteness alongside masonry; chivalric orders like the Knights Templar are known to have crusaded across the featured locations on the sleeve. Red tracer lines on a paleo-geographical front cover help us cognitively map roots of both of hatred and shadowy dominance, as uncannily cold, schismogenetic sound wafts from a minimal source-set, as we hear the sounds of bells tolling; kalimbas plucking; patinated metal screeching.

Review: In light of the latest Bridget Jones flick comes Bridget Jones's Diary: The Mixtape, a curated collection of unforgettable tracks from the beloved film series. Released alongside the fictional, happy-go-lucky 30-come-50-something's latest film, Mad About The Boy, this mixtape celebrates the final chapter in Bridget's story. Expect Robbie Williams, Kylie Minogue, and Ed Sheeran, facilitating a ride through love, laughter, and respite, as we watch the unforgettable Renee Zellweger portray a relatable conjuration of wit and error.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


A full Twilight soundtrack reissue campaign is well underway, once again bolstering the staying power of the teen emo-gothic vampire brand. As with the entirety of the series, the score for the first edition in the film franchise was overseen by music supervisor Alexandra Patsavas, with its original elements composed by Carter Burwell and also featuring curated songs from the likes of Muse, Paramore, Linkin Park and The Black Ghosts.

Review: Notoriously elusive, sophisti-thereal pop/post-punk collective Vazz answer to almost no-one. Emerging from the same late 70s/early 80s mutant formaldehyde mists that spawned This Mortal Coil and Crepuscule, yet bringing the dream pop sound to Glasgow, Hugh Small and Anna Howson are still going strong as a boutique bringing-together of mindful, magnetic musicians, pedigreed for the seemly discotheque. First released on Cathexis Records, we are indeed much cathected to both EPs in this collection. In sloshing but somehow still self-contained fashion, 'Your Final Word' swims in reverb nearly to the point of drowning its own harmonies, yet breathability is somehow still retained. 'Bleached White Skin' is the perfect storm of wavy wash, operatic doublings and ditzy drum machine, and 'Breath' brings spring-verb coldwave stylings to a languorous, pitchy closer. Then 'Feverpitch' and 'For A Reason' hear the compilation sprawl further into arpeggiating tumult, as we move on to material from the 1987 'Feverpitch' EP. This 40th anniversary edition collates both EPs and adds a handful of unissued minimal wave pearls.

Review: Returning to vinyl for a 40th-anniversary edition, the Glasgow duo's singular approach to post-punk and coldwave is sure find a larger fan base with its fantastic vintage sound. Originally released in 1986 and formed by Hugh Small and Anna Howson, Vazz carved out a distinctive space in the mid-80s. Their soundia fusion of skeletal electronics, atmospheric guitar and hushed yet striking vocalsimelds the austerity of coldwave with the melodic sensibility of synth-pop. Drum machines pulse beneath shimmering textures, while Howson's spectral delivery drifts through the mix, lending an eerie, romantic detachment. Key moments highlight their range: 'Your Final Word' bathes in cavernous reverb, 'Bleached White Skin' sways with layered vocals and murky waves and 'Breath' lingers in icy, stretched-out melancholia. More rhythmically urgent, 'Feverpitch' and 'For A Reason' build on cascading arpeggios and taut structures. Vazz's work has grown in stature over time, finding a home in the post-punk imagination for its ghostly charm and understated allure.

Review: For their new album Lust 1, Voice Actor's Noa Kurzweil joins Welsh producer Squu for a woozy, intimate exploration of ambient sensuality. Following the sprawling Sent From My Telephone, this 45-minute work feels more focused but just as dreamlike with Kurzweil's hushed, often unintelligible vocals hovering over Squu's glowing pads and dubby pulses. With additional glitchy textures, soft hits and melancholic drones, the work forms a world that teeters between erotic hypnosis and emotional exhaustion. Highlights like 'You' and 'Nekk' blend vague ambience with jolting detail while pushing the sung-spoke-whispered words to the brink of abstraction. This is an album rich in fleeting emotions, tactile textures and forgotten memories.

Review: According to the blurb we have for Doomed Utility, Alex Wang is a firm believer that if a tree falls in the forest and nobody is around, it still makes a massive noise. "Sound existed before there were human ears to hear it," we're told. Not to mention the fact we have now surrounded ourselves with machines and digital tools that immerse us in tones we don't necessarily derive pleasure from. Industrial, frenetic, electronic, post-club, deconstructed and, in moments, straddling that genius-lunatic border. Doomed Utility makes no apologies for its most intense moments, and panders not to our inherent desire to understand and make sense. These are beats, basslines, distorted walls of tormented chaos and abstract moments don't lend themselves to meaning making. Welcome to the future. It's confusing.

Review: This deluxe vinyl reissue presents the original Bride of Frankenstein soundtrack featuring remastered audio, new artwork, and estate-approved likenesses of Elsa Lanchester. Directed by James Whale and starring Boris Karloff and Lanchester, the 1935 horror classic is widely regarded as one of cinema's greatest sequels and was rightly celebrated as Whale's masterpiece. The movie was added to the U.S. National Film Registry in 1998 for its cultural significance and this historic release has been sourced from master acetates at Syracuse University and Universal's archives and marks the first time the film's original score is available on vinyl.

Review: 11 years after it first appeared in stores, sometime Kill Laura amd Misty Dixon member Jane Weaver's sixth solo album Silver Globe has been given the reissue treatment. This is undoubtedly a good thing, as it remains one of Weaver's most magical and consistent full length excursions - an inspired blend of neo-psych-folk, Elizabeth Fraser style vocals, kosmiche-influenced "motorik" grooves and cosmic effects. Lightly conceptual, it's packed with highlights, not least the driving and spaced-out 'Argent', the twisted cosmic pop meets jangly indie-pop of 'The Electric Mountain', the dubbed-out and densely layered 'Arrows', the glassy-eyed lo-fi dream pop of 'Mission Desire' and the effects-laden pastoral dreaminess of 'Your Time In This Life is Just Temporary'.

Review: London's Loraine James has built her signature sound through a mix of refined composition, gritty experimentation and intricate electronic programming. Under her Ghostly International alias Whatever The Weather, she explores emotional temperature and environment. Her second full-length offers a warmer tone compared to its predecessor by moving from an arctic cover photo to a desert scene. Mastered by Josh Eustis, the album blends hypnotic atmospheres and rhythmic textures with diaristic field recordings. The lead single, '12-C,' weaves melody and texture into a soul-stirring groove and is exemplary of James' imaginative and genre-defying approach.

Review: "One might thus regard the Welsh rarebit as a Machine in which a process is applied to the conditioning and perception of the world of bread and cheese." Suffice to say, John White might not have had the same ideas about what constitutes Machine Music back in 1976 as you do today. This is also the first time we've ever managed to get a reference to Welsh rarebit into the first line of writing about a record, so everyone is learning something today. "The Machines" White refers to are the individual tracks themselves, all recorded between 1967 and 1972 and all comprising different combinations of a thing. Six pairs of "bass melody instruments" made 'Autumn Countdown Machine', different permutations of "the articulations 'ging, gang, gong, gung, ho!'" comprise 'Jews Harp Machine'. And 'Son of Gothic Chord' is crafted from the sequential chord progression of four keyboard players, spanning an octave. Conceptual experimental and wildly imaginative stuff on the borderline of electronica, abstract, mathematical and something otherworldly.

Review: The most eminent British rock opera of all time, The Who's Quadrophenia, released in 1973, hears Pete Townshend, John Entwistle and Roger Daltrey conceive and narrate the angst of a young postroom worker, Jimmy, living in post-war Britain amid the schismatics of the mods and rockers, as they warred in converse step. Exploring rebellion, let-off steam, and alienation through music, the record firmly set the stage for the 1979 film adaptation of the same name, which popularised the thoroughfare connecting London-Brighton as a vital identificatory artery for a certain angst-ridden generation. The album features standout tracks like '5:15' and 'Love, Reign O'er Me', and remains one of The Who's most celebrated works. It's now reissued through Bespoke Editions, with two CDs of Pete Townshend's demos, and a 5.1 DVD-A remix of eight tracks, plus handwritten lyrics in a book and a 13,000-word essay from Townshend.

Review: BertBert's boundary-free TOPO imprint returns with a fascinating body of work from one of his nearest and dearest influences; Windu. A collection honed from hundreds of sketches, grooves and soundscapes written over the last eight years, Juxtapose is a beguiling blend of ambient textures, gritty technoid grooves and thunderous showers of breaks. At points bubbling with aggy rave energy ('Deck 16'), at others entirely disarming and likely to knock you horizontal ('Ti Si Isceljenje'), Windu (which stands for wave is not defined) has a refreshing ability to completely negate DJ formula, arrangement and genre trappings. A debut dispatch built up over years before unleashed into the wild on vinyl, this is a truly unique album.

Review: The music from Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize and 12-Oscar-winning film encompasses the original score by Gabriel Yared with the haunting vocals of Marta Sebestyen and Fred Astaire. It is a story which has successfully made its mark on every medium that counts a - a classic to beat all classics. It's a cathartic journey that explores identity, fidelity, and fate amid the chaos of World War II. Shot against the majestic backdrop of the Northern Sahara and Italy, Yared's score blends Hungarian folk tunes, baroque themes, and romantic orchestration and mirrors the emotion of the film's characters without relying on visuals. Period tracks by Fred Astaire, Ella Fitzgerald and Benny Goodman complement the emotional depth of the story.

Review: The 2019, full-length, 11-track album by Years Of Denial is said to have been written and produced in a country house once surrounded only by vast, empty landscapes and an endless sky. Despite the isolation feeding its making, the debut album Suicide Disco is still an inescapable somatic provocation; it's not where you are, but who you are inside. The duo of Jerome Tcherneyan and Barkosina Hanusova now hear their debut album for Veyl reissued here, not long after a second noose in the form of Suicide Disco Vol. 2 was heard strung up a in 2023. Suicide Disco was a comparatively greyscale exercise in delay and decay, the likes of 'The Pain I Meditate' and 'Contradiction' making for manic dust-clouds of post-industrial fallout; sonic , Industrial Revolutory sequelae, topped off by an expressionist vocal narrative from Hanusova.

Review: Stepping into the world of Hiroshi Yoshimura is like entering a tranquil garden, where every sound is a carefully cultivated element of the landscape. His music, originating in the 1980s, blurs the lines between ambient soundscapes and composed pieces, creating an immersive experience that evokes the serenity of the natural world. 'Over The Clover' whispers with the gentle rustling of leaves, while 'Flora' blossoms with delicate melodies. Yoshimura captures the essence of specific natural elements, from the unfurling of a morning glory in 'Asagao' to the subtle shifts in air pressure in 'Wind Echo'. He even finds music in the unexpected, as 'Maple Syrup Factory' introduces a surprising sweetness to the sonic landscape. But Yoshimura's work is not simply about recreating the sounds of nature. The Japanese musician and composer encourages a deeper listening experience, where subtle details and intricate textures emerge with each listen, definitely music that rewards close attention.

Review: Much to nerdy Japanese electronic lovers' delight, Temporal Drift reissued Hiroshi Yoshimura's Surround last year, and now carry on focussing on his work with the first-ever reissue of Flora, an overlooked gem in ambient music. Recorded in 1987 but unreleased until 2006, which was three years after Yoshimura's sad passing, Flora carries on in style where his acclaimed works Green and Surround left off. It's another sublime record that highlights Yoshimura's ability to explore the interplay between sound and ambience. He was a diverse talent who also created an album for museum playback, and composed a soundtrack for a contemporary fashion show.

Review: Hiroshi Yoshimura is having a moment. Originally released in the 1980s, this collection of environmental music from the Japanese musician and composer offers a tranquil listening experience, Yoshimura painting sonic landscapes that evoke the subtle beauty of the natural world. 'Over The Clover' unfolds with the gentle sway of leaves, while 'Flora' captures the delicate essence of blossoming flowers. Each track is a miniature portrait of nature's intricacies, from the unfurling of morning glories in 'Asagao' to the whispering breeze of 'Wind Echo'. 'Maple Syrup Factory' adds a touch of unexpected sweetness, a subtle shift in the otherwise serene palette. But this is more than just pretty soundscapes. Yoshimura's music invites active listening, revealing intricate details that might be missed on a casual listen. It's music that rewards close attention while simultaneously blending into the background of everyday life.

Review: And they say nobody makes amazing kids TV anymore. Or maybe that's just people who remember iconic series like The Trap Door, Button Moon, Pingu, Danger Mouse and Fraggle Rock? Either way, anyone who actually has children now will attest to the fact there are some great programmes doing the rounds. We fell pretty quickly for Octonauts, which focuses on a pack of underwater animal rescuers. Meanwhile Yukee, which presents the potentially terrifying prospect of a ukulele-wielding six year old, also won our hearts. Thankfully for us all, Yukee can play her instrument very well. So well in fact that this collection of songs from her first series is actually very enjoyable no matter your generation. OK, so maybe once you get onto the 25th play-through in a single afternoon there might be cause to switch things up, but overall these catchy folk-pop tunes are going to bring smiles to faces of all ages.

Review: Christopher Nolan's Dunkirk reimagines the war film as a tense, near-wordless "single-take" experience. Set during the 1940 evacuation from the beaches of Dunkirk, the film captures the claustrophobic chaos faced by Allied forces encircled by German troops. German composer Hans Zimmer's score centrally shapes the film's pressure-cooker atmosphere, as a ticking motif sampled from Nolan's own pocket watch circumvolves a Shepard tone, never ceasing to up the audiovisual tension. This limited edition release of 500 hand-numbered copies on dark green vinyl includes liner notes from Nolan himself, offering insight into the film's sonic and structural design. More than just a soundtrack, Dunkirk was marked out as a landmark in psychological intensity through sound, precision-engineered for immersive listening.

Review: Synth-pop duo Marina Zispin aka Bianca Scout and Martyn Reid lead you on a trip into nocturnal spaces with this new album Now You See Me (Now You Don't). It is a place where time and memory come together into shadowy worlds of mechanical groves, airy melodies and retro-future imagery. N 'Piece Of Mind' the ghost of bands like Jy Division lurk in the stark drums and melancholic guitar lines, while 'Penthouse Samba' taps into dark disco chug and 'Venus Opulence' is a more minimal, sky and experimental concoction that will freak you out if you listen to it one with the lights out.

Review: Bethesda Game Studios and Laced Records have teamed up to release the Starfield soundtrack on deluxe vinyl. Music is central to Bethesda's games and composer Inon Zur has worked with the studio since Fallout 3 in 2008. For Starfield, Zur crafted a blend of orchestral and electronic sounds to capture the vastness of space and human curiosity. Influences range from John Williams and Vangelis to Debussy and John Cage, and it was all recorded by the Budapest Film Orchestra. The score features sweeping melodies, cosmic textures and Aeralie Brighton's vocals which help bring it to life in HD sound.

Review: Bethesda Game Studios and Laced Records team up to bring the music of Bethesda's latest video game release, Starfield, to a deluxe vinyl edition. The anticipated follow-up record to titans in the open world genre, such as Fallout and The Elder Scrolls: Skyrim - also developed by Bethesda - the 2023 game makes ample use of orchestral scoring and motifs, befitting of the interstellar sci-fi genre it operates in. Suitably, they chose composer and producer Inon Zur for composition duties; Zur's deft electronic palette weaves astrally through orchestral and classical traditions, bringing several centuries' worth of musical convention into a single OST, backed by the Budapest Film Orchestra.

Notes: Inside the brand new issue:

Raven Chacon: The Dine/Navajo composer foregrounds unheard and silenced voices in his radical works for ensembles, electronics and noise. By Esi Eshun

Ingrid Laubrock: The New York based reedist creates settings for koans and poems as part of a unique new compositional practice. By Stewart Smith

Bastard Assignments: The radical new music ensemble get lost in the woods with their satire of the English countryside. By Robert Barry

Infinity Knives: From Tom And Jerry to sociopolitics, rapper Tariq Ravelomanana keeps it unreal. By Lucy Thraves

Cleaners From Venus: Martin Newell's songcraft and wordplay across many DIY albums evidence a uniquely wired mind. By Mike Barnes

Lukas De Clerck: Brussels musician extends ancient pipe instruments into the present moment. By Antonio Poscic

Penelope Trappes: Australian artist voices griefs past and present. By Spenser Tomson

Ciaran Mackle: Sample manipulator twists folk song into cubist forms. By Daryl Worthington

Invisible Jukebox: Jeff Mills: Will Detroit techno's great conceptualist be a wizard IDing The Wire's mystery record selection? Tested by Chal Ravens

Unlimited Editions: Robert Ridley-Shackleton's Cardboard Club cutouts

The Inner Sleeve: Loraine James on Circa Survive's On Letting Go

Global Ear: Osaka's proto-industrialists revitalise the city's experimental music scene. By Jere Kilpinen

Epiphanies: Golem Mecanique rewinds to a treasured VHS tape of Pier Paolo Pasolini's Accattone

Against The Grain: Mosi Reeves takes on underground hiphop's gender imbalance

Soundcheck: Laura Agnusdei, Anzu Quartet, Apparitions, Backxwash, Black Rain, Francois J Bonnett/Sarah Davachi, Brûlez Les Meubles, Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, Cliche Toupee, Clipping, Chick Corea, Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Earth Ball, en creux, The Ex, Ash Fure, Geologist & DS, Gnod & White Hills, Judith Hamann, Lonnie Holley, Imperial Triumphant, Eiko Ishibashi, Kafka's Ibiki, Kuunatic, Labyrinthe Des Esprits, Brandon Lopez, Brandon Lopez & DoYeon Kim, Lust For Youth & Croatian Amor, Masma Dream World, Will Mason Quartet, Zoe Mc Pherson, more eaze & claire rousay, Fred Moten & Brandon Lopez, Bob Mould, Jerome Noetinger, Conrad Pack, Panda Bear, Pink Must, Sophia Djebel Rose, Sandwell District, Colin Self, Sissy Spacek, Aleksandra Slyz, Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer, Spiral Deluxe, Huma Utku, Wolf Eyes x Anthony Braxton, Anna Webber, Zhu Songjie, Rutger Zuydervelt, Various Aggregate: New Works For Automated Pipe Organs

The Columns: Avant Rock by Joseph Stannard; Critical Beats by Misha Farrant; Dub & Reggae by Steve Barker; Electronics by Sam Davies; Hiphop & R&B by John Morrison; Jazz & Improv by Andy Hamilton; Modern Composition by Julian Cowley; Noise, Industrial & Beyond by Raymond Cummings; Size Matters by Byron Coley

The Boomerang: Cadentia Nova Danica; Tobe Hooper & Wayne Bell; Michael Gregory Jackson; Jaroslav Koran; Oksana Linde; Ted Lucas; The Saints; The Sex Pistols; Smegma; Smith & Mighty; John Tchicai; Various Disco Charge Presents More Sin: Box Of Sin 2; Various Volcanic Tongue: A Time-Travelling Evangelist's Guide To Late 20th-Century Underground Music

Print Run: 13 Ways Of Looking At AI, Art & Music by Jennifer Walshe; (A)tonal Adventures: A Chronicle Of Intakt Records by Patrik Landolt; Fusion! From Alice Coltrane To Moor Mother by Alex Coles; Volcanic Tongue: A Time-Travelling Evangelist's Guide To Late 20th-Century Underground Music by David Keenan; What Do You Call It: From Grassroots To The Golden Era Of UK Rap by David Kane; MC5: An Oral Biography Of Rock's Most Revolutionary Band by Brad Tolinski, Jaan Uhelszki & Ben Edmonds; Peter Brotzmann: Free-Jazz, Revolution And The Politics Of Improvisation by Daniel Spicer; Brotzmann In My Focus by eiga Koritnik; Remixing Wong Kar-wai: Music, Bricolage And The Aesthetics Of Oblivion by Giorgio Biancorosso; Dark Dungeon Music: The Unlikely Story Of Dungeon Synth by Jordan Whiteman

On Location: David Murray/Haker Flaten/Paal Nilssen-Love, London, UK; Jamaaladeen Tacuma, London, UK; Unsound, Brussels, Belgium; Dedicated Play: BEAM SPLITTER x Xiu Xiu, Berlin, Germany + London, UK; Deep Time: Basquiat & Cage 8424, Edinburgh, UK; Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio, London, UK; Ben LaMar Gay, Berlin, Germany; Catalytic Sound Festival 2024, Chicago, US; Alexander Hawkins, London, UK; Roscoe Mitchell, Houston, US; MENT, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Laurie Anderson, Manchester, UK

On Site: Breaking Lines, London, UK; Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal, Los Angeles, US; Tanat Teeradakorn: National Opera Complex, London, UK

Plus: Letters, Charts, Out There

Notes: ***B-STOCK: Tear on front cover, item otherwise in perfect condition***


Inside the brand new issue:

Raven Chacon: The Dine/Navajo composer foregrounds unheard and silenced voices in his radical works for ensembles, electronics and noise. By Esi Eshun

Ingrid Laubrock: The New York based reedist creates settings for koans and poems as part of a unique new compositional practice. By Stewart Smith

Bastard Assignments: The radical new music ensemble get lost in the woods with their satire of the English countryside. By Robert Barry

Infinity Knives: From Tom And Jerry to sociopolitics, rapper Tariq Ravelomanana keeps it unreal. By Lucy Thraves

Cleaners From Venus: Martin Newell's songcraft and wordplay across many DIY albums evidence a uniquely wired mind. By Mike Barnes

Lukas De Clerck: Brussels musician extends ancient pipe instruments into the present moment. By Antonio Poscic

Penelope Trappes: Australian artist voices griefs past and present. By Spenser Tomson

Ciaran Mackle: Sample manipulator twists folk song into cubist forms. By Daryl Worthington

Invisible Jukebox: Jeff Mills: Will Detroit techno's great conceptualist be a wizard IDing The Wire's mystery record selection? Tested by Chal Ravens

Unlimited Editions: Robert Ridley-Shackleton's Cardboard Club cutouts

The Inner Sleeve: Loraine James on Circa Survive's On Letting Go

Global Ear: Osaka's proto-industrialists revitalise the city's experimental music scene. By Jere Kilpinen

Epiphanies: Golem Mecanique rewinds to a treasured VHS tape of Pier Paolo Pasolini's Accattone

Against The Grain: Mosi Reeves takes on underground hiphop's gender imbalance

Soundcheck: Laura Agnusdei, Anzu Quartet, Apparitions, Backxwash, Black Rain, Francois J Bonnett/Sarah Davachi, Brûlez Les Meubles, Burnt Sugar The Arkestra Chamber, Cliche Toupee, Clipping, Chick Corea, Sylvie Courvoisier & Mary Halvorson, Earth Ball, en creux, The Ex, Ash Fure, Geologist & DS, Gnod & White Hills, Judith Hamann, Lonnie Holley, Imperial Triumphant, Eiko Ishibashi, Kafka's Ibiki, Kuunatic, Labyrinthe Des Esprits, Brandon Lopez, Brandon Lopez & DoYeon Kim, Lust For Youth & Croatian Amor, Masma Dream World, Will Mason Quartet, Zoe Mc Pherson, more eaze & claire rousay, Fred Moten & Brandon Lopez, Bob Mould, Jerome Noetinger, Conrad Pack, Panda Bear, Pink Must, Sophia Djebel Rose, Sandwell District, Colin Self, Sissy Spacek, Aleksandra Slyz, Wadada Leo Smith & Vijay Iyer, Spiral Deluxe, Huma Utku, Wolf Eyes x Anthony Braxton, Anna Webber, Zhu Songjie, Rutger Zuydervelt, Various Aggregate: New Works For Automated Pipe Organs

The Columns: Avant Rock by Joseph Stannard; Critical Beats by Misha Farrant; Dub & Reggae by Steve Barker; Electronics by Sam Davies; Hiphop & R&B by John Morrison; Jazz & Improv by Andy Hamilton; Modern Composition by Julian Cowley; Noise, Industrial & Beyond by Raymond Cummings; Size Matters by Byron Coley

The Boomerang: Cadentia Nova Danica; Tobe Hooper & Wayne Bell; Michael Gregory Jackson; Jaroslav Koran; Oksana Linde; Ted Lucas; The Saints; The Sex Pistols; Smegma; Smith & Mighty; John Tchicai; Various Disco Charge Presents More Sin: Box Of Sin 2; Various Volcanic Tongue: A Time-Travelling Evangelist's Guide To Late 20th-Century Underground Music

Print Run: 13 Ways Of Looking At AI, Art & Music by Jennifer Walshe; (A)tonal Adventures: A Chronicle Of Intakt Records by Patrik Landolt; Fusion! From Alice Coltrane To Moor Mother by Alex Coles; Volcanic Tongue: A Time-Travelling Evangelist's Guide To Late 20th-Century Underground Music by David Keenan; What Do You Call It: From Grassroots To The Golden Era Of UK Rap by David Kane; MC5: An Oral Biography Of Rock's Most Revolutionary Band by Brad Tolinski, Jaan Uhelszki & Ben Edmonds; Peter Brotzmann: Free-Jazz, Revolution And The Politics Of Improvisation by Daniel Spicer; Brotzmann In My Focus by eiga Koritnik; Remixing Wong Kar-wai: Music, Bricolage And The Aesthetics Of Oblivion by Giorgio Biancorosso; Dark Dungeon Music: The Unlikely Story Of Dungeon Synth by Jordan Whiteman

On Location: David Murray/Haker Flaten/Paal Nilssen-Love, London, UK; Jamaaladeen Tacuma, London, UK; Unsound, Brussels, Belgium; Dedicated Play: BEAM SPLITTER x Xiu Xiu, Berlin, Germany + London, UK; Deep Time: Basquiat & Cage 8424, Edinburgh, UK; Alexander von Schlippenbach Trio, London, UK; Ben LaMar Gay, Berlin, Germany; Catalytic Sound Festival 2024, Chicago, US; Alexander Hawkins, London, UK; Roscoe Mitchell, Houston, US; MENT, Ljubljana, Slovenia; Laurie Anderson, Manchester, UK

On Site: Breaking Lines, London, UK; Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal, Los Angeles, US; Tanat Teeradakorn: National Opera Complex, London, UK

Plus: Letters, Charts, Out There

Notes: Inside the brand new issue:

aya: New album hexed! explores sobriety and neurodiversity through radical tunings and transformed instruments. By Chal Ravens

Satch Hoyt: The one-time Burnt Sugar member's Un-Muting project opens museum archives of stolen instruments. By Francis Gooding

Ailie Ormston: The Glasgow composer moves away from the conservatoire to conduct the sounds of the city. By Abi Bliss

Joke Lanz: At 60 years old the Swiss improvisor still takes a punk approach to the turntable. By Daniel Spicer

Bios Contrast: Kolkata musician Nilotpal Das cooks up the concept of brahmancore. By Misha Farrant

Laura Cocks: Chamber music is the site of connection for the flautist. By Stewart Smith

MIC: Grime provides the setting for sci-fi storytelling in the hands of the London MC. By Lucy Thraves

John King: The composer playing the blues for Palestine's lost communities. By Kurt Gottschalk

Tran Duy Uc: The Vietnamese multidisciplinary artist curates the self-scape. By Daryl Worthington

Invisible Jukebox: Alvin Curran: Will the Musica Elettronica Viva member read maritime rites over The Wire's mystery record selection? Tested by Julian Cowley

Unlimited Editions: Meticulous design and sonics dovetail in New York new music label Greyfade. By Philip Watson

The Inner Sleeve: Seymour Wright on Anne Gillis's Lxgrin

Against The Grain: VAN magazine Editor Hugh Morris can't stand that jazzy sensation

Epiphanies: Surgeon gets all cut up by William S Burroughs and Brion Gysin

Soundcheck: Actress, Ahmed Ag Kaedy & Will Guthrie, Annie A, Peter Baumann, Lea Bertucci & Olivia Block, Biollante, Daniel Blumberg, Pierre Borel, Brutal Shift, Brutal Shift/Solar Yolk, Florence Cats, CBZK, Circuit Des Yeux, Anla Courtis Ja Lehtisalo, Kara-Lis Coverdale, Holger Czukay, Bryn Davis, Dead Pioneers, Divide And Dissolve, Dromedaries x Alexoteric, Dushume, Eska, Bryan Ferry & Amelia Barratt, The Great Learning Orchestra, Hieroglyphic Being, History Dog, William Hooker, William Hooker with David S Ware & Alan Braufman, HxH, Infinity Knives & Brian Ennals, Chris Jonas, Fergus Jones, Kid Spatula, Kinski, Das Koolies, Ed Kuepper & Jim White, Laibach, The Steve Lehman Trio & Mark Turner, Mclusky, Me, Claudius, Roger Clark Miller, Hedvig Mollestad Trio, Nahja Mora, Natural Information Society & Bitchin Bajas, Neptunian Maximalism, The Orchestra Of Futurist Noise Intoners Directed by Luciano Chessa, Anthony Pateras, Lucy Railton, Lee Ranaldo & Michael Vallera, Gryphon Rue, Laila Sakini, Kim Salmon & Masami Kawaguchi, Klaus Schulze, Slow Reading Club & Charlie Usher, Ches Smith, Sumac & Moor Mother, Neil Tennant/Mark Springer/Sacconi String Quartet, Throwing Muses, Penelope Trappes, William Tyler, Use Knife, Whatever The Weather, Various Soon I'll Run Out Of Air

The Columns: Avant Rock by Antonio Poscic; Critical Beats by Joe Muggs; Dub & Reggae by Steve Barker; Electronics by Leah Kardos; Global by Francis Gooding; Hiphop & R&B by Tim Fish; Jazz & Improv by Phil Freeman; Noise, Industrial & Beyond by Emily Pothast; Size Matters by Byron Coley

The Boomerang: Paul Bley, Paul Bley Trio, Stanley Cowell, The Creation, Q Lazzarus, Kali Malone, Pentangle, Steve Reich, Charlie Rouse, Royal Trux, Pharoah Sanders, Charles Tolliver's Music Inc, Various Strata-East: The Legacy Begins

Print Run: Hating Jazz: A History Of Its Disparagement, Mockery, And Other Forms Of Abuse by Andrew S Berish; Mood Machine: The Rise Of Spotify And The Cost Of The Perfect Playlist by Liz Pelly; Black Mystery School Pianists And Other Writings by Matthew Shipp; Erik Satie Three Piece Suite by Ian Penman; Small Town Joy: From Glam Rock To Hyperpop: How Queer Music Changed The Sound Of Scotland by Carrie Marshall; Alice Coltrane, Monument Eternal edited by Erin Christoval; The Sound Of Utopia: Musicians In The Time Of Stalin by Michel Krielaars (translated by Jonathan Reeder); Dmitry Shostakovich And Music For Stalinist Cinema (1936-1953) by Joan Titus; Blank Forms 10: Alien Roots: Eliane Radigue edited by Lawrence Kumpf & Charles Curtis

On Screen: Dietmar Post Mona Mur In Conversation; Jean-Cosme Delaloye Desire: The Carl Craig Story; Marie Losier Peaches Goes Bananas

On Location: Jules Reidy + Nina Garcia + Adam Soper, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK; Hekla + Dave Welder, London, UK; Sachiko M & Annette Krebs + Chris Pitsiokos & Axel Dorner, Berlin, Germany; Mamboat, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; Come Back, London, UK; Borealis, Bergen, Norway; Ghais Guevara, London, UK; Sonics 25, Hastings, UK; 160 Unity: RP Boo + DJ Spinn + Kode9 + Big Dope P, London, UK; Experiments in Opera, New York, US; CTM, Berlin, Germany

On Site: Joy Boy, A Tribute To Julius Eastman, Aalst, Belgium; Leigh Bowery!, London, UK; Outlaws: Fashion Renegades Of 80s London, London, UK

Notes: Seidel's groundbreaking book, which includes unique historical photographs, paints a vivid picture of the old Federal Republic of Germany, with all of its contradictions and struggles. What is now celebrated as Krautrock emerged in this environment, and at the time was an attempt to contribute the soundtrack to the revolution. As a fly onthe wall, Seidel recounts the squats, demos and first concerts of bands such as Cluster, Tangerine Dream and Ash Ra Tempel. Just as precisely and vividly, he recapitulates the influence of minimal music composers such as Steve Reich and Philip Glass, the origins of many Krautrock musicians in jazz and the role of the synthesiser.

Wolfgang Seidel delivers a captivating account on Krautrock that dispels many of the founding myths of the first genuinely German pop culture, which above all did not want to be German. In addition, the book is supplemented by a discography of the 50 most important Krautrock records, written by music journalist and Krautrock expert Holger Adam.

Translated from German by Alexander Paulick (member of influential Dusseldorf based avant-garde band Kreidler).

Notes: They say nothing good happens after midnight, but in the case of creativity, that's just not so. The night fosters a different kind of creativity: something urgent, spontaneous, carved out of necessity. Tracking the past, present and future of this complex dynamic, Selling The Night explores what happens when after-dark creativity influences wider culture and converges with everything from media, advertising, design and to gaming, fashion, hospitality, alcohol, beauty, tourism and far beyond. Also, as importantly, the implications of brands taking space within dance music as sponsors and supporters.

Author Andy Crysell speaks to DJs, promoters, marketers, academics, activists, archivists, policymakers, photographers, writers and designers. He samples KFC through to Fiorucci, Absolut and Red Bull, and moves from New York disco to the modern global underground.

Selling The Night witnesses how ideas migrate from subculture to influence the creative industries. It searches for lessons in improving the value exchange between dance music and brands, seeking something more symbiotic and less parasitic. All the while, it celebrates what makes after-dark ideas so special - the unique and democratising role they play.

Notes: Synthesizer Evolution: From Analogue to Digital (and Back) author Oli Freke returns with a new volume in his Synthesizer Evolution A6 zine series. The modular resurgence of the past 25 years has been a wonder to behold. Where musicians were once chained to their DAWs, we are now liberated once again to wire, patch, and modulate in the real world, choosing from a mind-boggling array of options.

Modular Greats celebrates the fusion of art, logic, science, and serendipity in modular synthesis, highlighting some of the best-selling, most creative, and most impactful modules of the 21st century. Featured manufacturers include Make Noise, Mutable Instruments, TipTop Audio, Intellijel, Rossum Electro-Music, Doepferiand many more!