Back in stock: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Acopia's second album is a captivating journey through diverse electronic landscapes, blending Balearic and downtempo styles with atmospheric depth. Opening track 'We Evolve' sets a haunting tone with its echoey soundscapes and ethereal vocals, creating a serene yet mysterious atmosphere. 'Be Enough' follows, adding a slight techno edge, blending smooth electronica with subtle rhythmic pulses. The vibrant 'Holding On' channels synth-pop and synthwave influences, offering a nostalgic 80s vibe, while 'What I've Been Looking For' builds on dynamic electronica with a stronger retro energy. 'Take You For Granted' slows things down, leaning into a chill-out mood with a mellow, reflective sound, while 'This Conversation Is Getting Boring' introduces a melancholic drum & bass rhythm that reflects a deeper emotional undertone. Acopia successfully crafts a rich downtempo album. The Australian act continues to evolve, offering a record filled with thoughtful nuances and sound textures.

Review: Out of stoner rock miasma traipse David Eugene Edwards (Wovenhand, 16 Horsepower) and Al Cisneros (OM, Sleep) with two new sludge-offs, 'Pillar Of Fire' and 'Capernaum'. With leeward, mountainous horror vacui depicted on the front cover - and a 10" press signifying that the musicians intend for this to be a maestro's statement, not too invested in the magnanimity of a full LP and yet still knowing full well that you'll lap up the sense of terse completion such a record promises - these tracks are estivate delights, both their meditative experimental-bass workings evoking barren, anxious wanderlust.

Review: After a 40-year hiatus since his last album, Kevin McCormick has returned to recording with this new album Passing Clouds which builds on his retrospective works Light Patterns and Sticklebacks, both of which were released in recent years through the Smiling C label. The artist's daily obsession with writing music and exploring sound reignited his inspiration and this album, he says, reflects his love of sky watching and peaceful places. Across several sessions, he used electric and acoustic guitars, bass and simple analogue equipment like valve reverb, tremolo and tape delay while a violin bow adds drones and ambient textures through a tape looper. The result is some superbly heartwarming Balearic sounds.

Review: It should come as no surprise that the latest from Icelandic musical fantasists Sigur Ros was originally composed in either the 14th or 15th Century, and is written in the Edda tradition, a term used to describe to manuscripts that together make up the main sources of Norse mythology and Skaldic poetry. After all, this is a band that have been singing in their own imagined tongue since before most people cottoned on to them.

It's certainly the group's most gothic effort to date, an orchestral epic that also features the artists and composers Hilmar Orn Hilmarsson, Steindor Andersen and Maria Huld Markan Sigfusdottir, whose collective CV includes pioneering musical composition with computers and Rimur chanting. Their combined efforts feel steeped such timeless atmosphere your peripheral vision might as well be catching torchlights flickering off solid stone walls. Another work of extraordinary beauty, then.

Review: Nearly a decade since the Swedish trio's last full-length Casino (2014), brothers Andreas and Johan Berthling, along with Tomas Hallonsten, ease back into the fold with Preludes, a five-track collection that reaffirms their mastery of delicate, genre-blurring soundscapes. Following the promising 'Refrains' 10" in 2023, this new release is a comforting reminder that Tape's signature blend of acoustic instrumentation and electronic processing remains as singular and stirring as ever, as they continue to weave hypnotic textures that feel both ethereal and earthy. 'Opener Lights Out' is a tender folk threnody where repeating guitar patterns create a meditative haze. 'Naukluft Plateau' drifts with ruminative piano over cascading tones, while the brief 'Golden Gain' mixes huffing harmonium and subtle electronic scrums. 'Tangential Thoughts' is quintessential Tape, a dreamy two-chord motif, rustling organ and delicate percussion all evoking wistful reveries. The closing track, 'On The Accordion Bus', sways with glitch-like textures and gentle rhythms, blurring the line between transit and reflection. There's a unique warmth to their balance of melody and abstraction here, reminiscent of Aphex Twin's ambient pop or Susumu Yokota's textural elegance. Praise indeed, but sometimes the quietest returns make the deepest impact.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


The 70s were a superb time for Krautrock and Walter Wegmuller's Tarot from 1973 is one of the classics. Now for the first time, it has been remastered from the original tapes and comes in a no doubt highly sought after deluxe box set. Bern born Wegmuller was the son of Roman travelers and himself spent much time roaming around Europe and India making jewelry as well as painting. Helping him to record this album when he settled back in Bern were legends of the scene like Klaus Schulze, Ash Ra Tempel members Manuel Gottsching and Hartmut Enke, and other musicians known as The Cosmic Jokers.