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Review: First released 22 years ago at the turn of the millennium, Constant Shallowness Leads To Evil has been described as one of Coil's most "mind-altering creations"; given the fiercely experimental and often otherworldly nature of their catalogue, that's some going. The album, which has now been fully remastered, was one of the first things Coil recorded following their relocation to Weston-super-Mare, and sonically it's as bleak, windswept, and barren as the town itself seems out of season. It's full of droning tones, modular blips, metallic melodies, slowly shifting ambient textures and musical motifs that lap in and out like waves. Furthermore, the album's standout moment, the near 14-minute 'I Am The Green Child', is like some mutant, experimental sea shanty crossed with a hypnotic ambient-industrial raga.

Review: You should never assume too much when it comes to Eartheater. Powders on Mad Decent and finds the maverick modernist at her most vulnerable and exposed. Where she's so often warped and manipulated her voice as part of her hyper pop experimentation, here she comes through in strikingly direct terms whether soaring over elegant threads of synthesis (on gorgeous opener 'Sugarcane Switch') or covering System of a Down's 'Chop Suey' in fragile, acoustic fashion. Even after so many albums, it feels like we're still in the process of understanding the many dimensions of the Eartheater creative universe, and here is but one new galaxy to explore.

Review: RECOMMENDED
If 2020, and the coronavirus pandemic, did anything good for music it was forcing a long overdue reevaluation of the role technology plays. Video games had a bumper year, and it didn't take long for the historic relationship between computer entertainment and contemporary musical compositions to start finding favour with content-starved editorial teams.

They say there's no turning back, ever, and as such the smart money is on albums like Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice not just becoming more commonplace, but taken more seriously going forward. Soundtrack to Activision's critically acclaimed video game of the same name, in which players take on the role of a shinobi in feudal Japan, as you'd expect it's a deeply atmospheric collection that invokes misty mountaintops, shadows dancing off bamboo and patient heroics. An OST equal to any major movie.

Review:  Mental Groove offshoot Music Pour La Danse knows a thing or two about tieless techno. And they don't come much more vital than the self titled 1994 debut album from Jonah Sharp (aka Spacetime Continuum) and David Moufang (aka Move D). It never quite got the props it deserved back then and has been an underrated gem ever since but this reissue should put paid to that. It is a holy meeting of lush ambient design, cavernous dub spaces, hints of glistening IDM melody and deeper than deep techno drums that leave you feeling cleansed inside and out.

Review: For the first time ever, this new silver vinyl release combines the iconic music from all the three Hobbit films into a comprehensive collection all masterfully performed by The City of Prague Philharmonic Orchestra. Howard Shore's award-winning compositions for this as well as The Lord of the Rings trilogy have captivated audiences worldwide, often accompanied by live film screenings. The meticulous attention to detail in bringing Tolkien's world to life through music is legendary, incorporating diverse musical styles and instruments to evoke the rich landscapes and characters of Middle-earth. From 'Song Of The Lonely Mountain' to 'Protector Of The Common Folk', this journey through cinematic composing is truly extraordinary.

Review: Mika Vainio's "Olento" is one of the key albums from his fine discography and now, finally, it is available on vinyl for the first time. The sophomore album first landed in 1996 and laid down a new blueprint for minimal techno that has rarely been bettered since. The album is also a fine summation of the Finnish artist's sublime and singular style - icy ambient tundra that are vast in scale but minute in detail, warped synth oscillations that sound at once futuristic but also somehow like field recordings from a lonely part of the arctic circle, and brain melting sine waves that lock you in a trance. Essential.

Review: French label Wagram have pulled together a great compilation here featuring 12 essential funk and soul tracks from the Baxploitation era. Out was a time define, musically, by a groove heavy strain of soul throughout the 70s so makes for a n all killer no filler collection. Incredible Bongo Band kick things off with the high speed funk of 'Bongolia,' All The People bring more raw, soul infused styles on their 'Cramp Your Style' (feat Robert Moore) and Lafayette Afro Rock Band work up a real psyched out sound with 'Darkest Light,' which has an iconic lead riff.

Review: Music From Memory's last epic compilation, 2017's Outro Tempo, did a terrific job in uncovering the dusty, rarely visited corners of Brazilian electronic music. Uneven Paths offers a similar service to those interested in the eccentric, often inspired fringes of European pop music. Of course, compilers Jamie Tiller and Raphael Top-Secret are not interested in run-of-the-mill or commercial synth-pop, but rather "deviant pop" - melodious, left-of-centre curiosities that some may describe as "Balearic". This is pop music from the outer limits, where tracks variously draw influence from spoken word, global rhythms, post-punk fusion, jazz, new age ambient and kosmiche. It goes without saying that the crate-digging duo's selections are spot on throughout, with genuine surprises around every corner.

Review: Coldwave excursionist Shari Vari aka Void Vision finally comes through with her highly awaited Sub Rosa LP on the gorgeously on-point Mannequin imprint. The taster EP "Sour" out earlier this year was a taster of what's to come from Vari in terms of diversity and quality. Sub Rosa contains a little of everything when it comes to the electronic dance edge, where "Everythin Is Fine", for example, takes a techno beat and slaps down some vocals all over its makeup, while "Hidden Hand" is a true Drexciyan electro number. Then there's more abstract moments such as "Slow Down", "Vulgar Displays" with its rolling stabs of percussion and "Queen Of Hearts" with that humungous swell of low-end and quirky, heady melodies. Yum.