Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Fat Dog make a riveting return to the spotlight with new single 'All The Same'. Following up their 2023 debut 'King Of The Slugs', their latest track is a hardcore stadium-crusher, hadron-colliding motifs of coldwave, EBM and anthem punk for an electronic statement reminiscent of Scalping or Yard Act, but to an end all of their own fashioning. It's no wonder this cold-punk five-piece group of lads are billed as "music to grow your hairline to"; despite the huge sonic histrionics present in their music, the track somehow manages to provoke the release of cortisol and oxytocin in the brain at the same time, nailing that ever so delicate blend of humour and tension.

Review: The good folks at Compost have put together a second volume of their Future Sounds of Kraut compilation and once again it is packed with exciting new takes on the age-old genres. Compiler Fred Und Luna features a couple of times including with the celestial synth charms and light electronic rhythms of 'Monotonikum' and elsewhere tried and tested talents such as Thomas Fehlmann with his widescreen cinematic cut' 'Permanent Touch' and minimal favourite Roman Flugel with his delightfully melodic and innocent 'Rules' bring plenty of class the adventurous and accomplished double album. There is plenty to get stuck into here for those who like their sounds sleek, atmospheric and star gazing.

Review: Fred Frith is simultaneously a singular musical figure and a collection of musical lifetimes. He's the composer who wrote fragile avant-garde music in the tradition of John Cage and Earle Brown, the innovator who created new concepts of underground rock with his colleagues in the band Henry Cow, and the improviser who developed his very own language on the guitar. The many facets of Frith's musical oeuvre shimmer in vibrant and unique colors, but stand as one rainbow monolith of musical creation, never disintegrating into esoteric eclecticism. Always musically curious and unbiased, he develops his ideas in the moment, demonstrating in real time how his creative process, while free of old hat conventions and tricks, creates an immediate yet unrandom and committed music. At the core is his unique guitar playing, which is on full display across these two records. His debut, Guitar Solos (1974), opened up a space beyond rock and improvised music and now, 50 years later comes Fift (2024), a new solo guitar album that sounds completely different and yet familiar, adding to his monolith of musical creation with another new vibrant color.

Review: Canadian experimental hardcore collective Fucked Up have grown into underground heroes throughout the years, thanks in no small part to their prolific slew of challenging, conceptual EPs and stellar full-lengths. Originally released in 2008, and described by their label as "an expansive epic about the mysteries of birth, death, and the origins of life (and re-living)", the band's sophomore LP The Chemistry Of Common Life has gone onto become one of the most adored post-hardcore works of the 21st century. Angular and angst-riddled yet exuding nuanced melodies and astute lyrical ponderings, this timeless album is still heralded by many as one of the all time essential "thinking man's" punk projects, and celebrates its 15 year anniversary with a vital reissue.