Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: A collaborative new single by sampletronic master Kieran Hebden (aka. Four Tet) and guitarist and composer William Tyler, two acclaimed musicians and both longstanding friends. Part of a recent spewing-forth of Hebden-adjacent material to hit the shelves after the artist's oft-reported-upon "agent of chaos" phase, these two tracks, pressed to a furtive 12", provide a neat counterpoint to that assessment. Rather than a pair of riddim bangers, the record flaunts Hebden's signature electronic textures and Tyler's guitar into a hypnotic, nominally dark soundwhirl, reminiscent of the earliest days of Text, but with a unique edge - a sonic corner never quite scoured before by either artist.

Review: People are not over-egging it when they try and tell you that Polish composer Andrzej Korzynski was an exploratory artist. Words like 'mind-bending', 'cosmic', and 'immersive' are often used in the same sentence as any reference to his name, let alone musical output, which remains some of the most sought after among fans of what can only really be described as staunchly experimental psyche.

For many, The Devil Tapes is the holy grail of Korzynski. Made to score Andrzej ?u?awsk's film, The Devil, by this point the pair had already worked together on the movie soundtrack to Possession, and cracked the collaborative process. Having been asked to make music that was "totally unique, like something from another planet", the composer took his initial taped experiments and pulled the vari-speed down, then layered hallucinatory effects over the top, resulting in something that's beyond a mere accompaniment, and very much integral to the film itself.

Review: A collaborative EP between 2 Australian rock giants, this limited one-sided collectors disc comprises the 19 minutes long 'Satanic Slumber Party' split into three sections. 'The Chairman's Portrait' intro is a dark, heavily distorted spoken-word piece backed by dark rumbling guitars that explodes into the head-banging electronic banger 'Midnight in Sodom'. The angry lyrics are paired with awesome melodic guitar solos and chiptune noises, before shifting into noise rock territory. 'Hoof and Horn' takes up most of the runtime at a hefty 12 minutes, in which ambient drone begets experimental sound effects that are reminiscent of the liquid bass and synths favoured by producer SOPHIE. The track evolves into a demonic lullaby that wouldn't feel out of place in an episode of American Horror Story, and fans of 2 Mello's 'Atmospheric Horror Music Vol.1' will greatly appreciate this track. The EP is all-in-all a camp experience. An Avante-Garde, quintessentially fun blend of two incredible groups.

Review: The second solo releases from Edward Ka-Spel to appear on the Lumberton Trading Company label offers eight spectacularly original compositions from the outsider artist. These are tracks that bore their way into the heart and mind through startlingly personal moods and meanings. The atmosphere is often tense, and, when it's not, 'surreal' is the word that springs to mind - albeit more unusual hallucination than comical experiment. 'Platform 5' might be the best example of how unnerving things can get, the low, rumbling synth bassline underpinning spoken word, distant, almost inaudible harmonic refrain and eerie chorus. 'No Show Tomorrow' asks "what if they had a war and nobody showed up' to seemingly disconnected tones, notes and noises. 'They Seek Her Here' ups the tempo with a synth-wave-breaks trip through dystopian spaces.

Review: A surrealist's favourite from the new Montreal band Kadef comes sauntering our way, courtesy of Estonian label RR Gems. Aiming to consciously, and specifically, fuse three genres of music together: jazz, krautrock, and Gnawa music (a form of Moroccan religious music characterised by its repetitious phrases), 'Kadef' is a life-to-death transitory album, full of "honour for the sacred boundaries of human beings and the intelligence of the Universe", not to mention frank bass phrases, rapturously wordless vocals, and hypnotic guitar circulations. It's unlike anything we've ever heard before!

Review: Ask Vatn Strom, Eskild Myrvoll and Ingvald Vassbo are hardly the kind of trio you can take lightly. The Norwegian heads blew many of us away with their 2018 debut album, 'Windborne', and seem intent on continuing to deliver the same powerhouse fare on this next long form offering. Psychedelic progressive rock fusion is one label that has been used in the past, and we'd struggle to summarise the work better. Comprising six grand and ambitious tracks, it's easy to start reaching for jazz-y references given the freeform feel of this collection.'"Shades Of Yes' are just about audible on opener 'Worlds Together', the appropriately titled 'Mountain' is a huge affair that grows and builds to a staggering scale, while the likes of 'Worlds Apart' reveal Kanaan's ability to deliver bonafide steel and concrete heaviness with those guitars.

Review: Fans of twisted sonic bedlam rejoice as the drone-doom supergroup of James Plotkin, Alan Dubin (OLD), Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God) and Stephen O'Malley (Burning Witch, Sunn O)))) have surprise released a brand new full-length titled To Be Cruel. Their first LP since 2009's Clean Hands Go Foul restores every inch of the malevolent, industrial-tinted noise-doom that originally made Khanate such an underground darling of early 21st century experimental and extreme metal. While no official reunion or tour dates have been announced, the band have revealed that all four previous albums would be receiving the reissue treatment in the near future, delighting avid followers of aurally debauched soundscapes the world over.

Review: It feels like every couple of years a new reissue of Kikagaku Moyo's magical 2013 album Forest of Lost Children comes around, but we are not moaning. This group is "a musical union between five free spirits" or in less poetic terms, band founders Go Kurosawa (on drums and vocals) and Tomo Katsurada (on guitar and vocals) plus bass by and Akira also on guitar. Their sound is as unique as any, with psychedelic, folk, prog-rock, psychedelic-folk-mixed-with-prog-rock and more all collided into one another on an album that keeps you on your toes and guessing at what might come next even within each track, let alone across the whole album. If you're a new interested party this is a great primer for what the band is all about.

Review: When it comes to creating musical soundtracks to contemporary urban decay, Gary Mundy has more experience than most. He's been releasing music as Kleistwahr since 1983 (though he did give the project a break between 1987 and 2009) and is a genuine master of creating heady, post-industrial soundscapes. 'Common Values', his 14th Kleistwahr album, is another masterclass in texture, mood and slowly shifting melody. There are moments of bittersweet, melancholic brilliance (see the immersive, reverb-laden ambience of 'Heaven Maybe Never') and pulsing, creeping minimalism (the brilliant, bleak and mournful 'Towards New Land'), but also fuzzy, guitar-laden soundscapes ('In a Blood Covered Land', 'All of Death To Lie' and the squally 'Common Values') and enveloping audio worlds subtly influenced by shoegaze ('Time To Realise').

Review: The ominous clangs and thuds grow louder and louder, louder and louder, atmosphere of increasing tension turning into borderline panic as timbre's brooding menace threatens to erupt into snarling aggression. Suffice to say, like a good chunk of Diabel, 'Wedding Dance Macabre' is disinterested in niceties and would likely run anyone through who is looking for background music. The fact this is one of Andrzej Korzy?ski's scores for one of Andrzej ?u?awski's movies only makes that feat more phenomenal, given the role soundtracks often play in cinema.

Of course, it's not all so foreboding and intimidating. Tracks like 'Through the Door - Theodor' are in fact downright playful, tune comprising high pitched 'boing' noises, like springs recoiling in harmony, while 'Your Father Is Dead Young Lord' is a masterclass in emotionally captivating piano. Nevertheless, the point remains - these were never meant to accompany a visual piece, but instead play leading parts in the narrative of Diabel.

Review: Opening on the grinding powerhouse of 'I', Kosmik Sun present three tracks of epic, cinematic heavy rock-metal which gives a nod to the likes of Mogwai and Explosions In the Sky. Albeit here things seem to have taken more of an influence from darker places, with each part of the triptych casting an eerie spell over the listener, transporting them to psychedelic, doom-laden otherworldly places. The side project of German aficionado Eugen Kohl, best known for the Crypt Witch project, Kosmik Sun also features members of Coven Spell and Devil Leaf, which, if nothing else, should let any newbies know exactly what they're in for. Steeped in deep stoner atmosphere, not to mention exceptional, gritty musicality, this is intensity for thinking people and it never lets up.

Review: Kreidler return to Bureau B and not without good reason. Their seventh outing on the highly respected label follows suit on previous exploits, exploring some outer limits of cosmic-leaning, guitar-led, electronically augmented stuff. Tracks that feel made for the hidden dancefloors of weird basements as much as the soundtracks to avant garde science fiction. And if that's too much of a stretch, let's just say 'mesmerising' and have done with it. Comparing and contrasting the warm bleeps and filtered hooks of 'Diver', for example, with 'Tanger Telex' and its strange, smoky brass trip into downtempo smoky heaven serves as a quick example of just how broad yet coherent Twists is. As does 'Arthmetique', a strange, patient thing of rhythmic licks and spoken word, when considered next to the fuzzy, dub-tech-meets-math rock of 'Mount Mason'.