There was an almost unnerving promise displayed on Once Now, Then Again, the breakthrough EP from Vermont based singer-songwriter Lutalo. A hushed confidence accompanied their intricate – at times lo-fi – arrangements that displayed a seasoned approach to composition far beyond their years. Off-kilter folk rubbed up against plaintive indie ruminations as Lutalo tested and found their voice.
And the intervening couple of years have merely served to embolden the artist who now returns with their debut LP The Academy, an eclectic and immediate affair stripped of any past insecurities. Named after their former school The Academy, is an intricate exploration of young adolescence set against the backdrop of a frightful and…
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Expanded reissue of the 1988 EP Hammer now includes a newly compiled “Echo” side of lost recordings. Out on vinyl, CD and digital with liner notes by Tom Cheek, and rare archival material. In 1988, Athens, Georgia’s Kilkenny Cats released Hammer, a fierce and atmospheric EP that captured the moody heart of the late-’80s Southern underground. More than three decades later, this cult classic returns in expanded form as 
Modular synth-based music, once the domain of acid-fried German hippies, and, later, burnt-out basement noise freaks, has morphed into something unrecognizable.
…year to year, the air is growing swiftly warmer around the world. This is the impetus for forms of minutiae‘s Ice Series, produced in association with UNESCO & WMO’s Art for Glaciers Preservation. Now in its fourth (of five) installments, the series continues to underline both the beauty of glacial sounds and the threat of their extinction.
The post-rock supergroup Speed of the Stars has released their long-awaited second album. The band features Steve Kilbey of Australian psych pioneers The Church; Frank Kearns of Irish alt-rockers Cactus World News; singer-songwriter Hugo Race, and Barton Price of 80s Aussie chart stars Models.
Sooner or later, everyone who loves dub techno becomes acquainted with the gossamer tenor of 
The best ambient music has two distinct ways of pulling you in. On one hand, the genre’s purpose is to wash over you or to pass you by. The clue is in the name: ambient music is in the ether, it is furniture, made for semi-conscious immersion rather than immediate connection. But it can connect. There are those rare albums that achieve a second way, albums that, despite their slowness or their beatlessness, somehow become utterly engaging or even transcendent.
Music is by its very nature a mysterious phenomenon. The question of what drives people to make it (and what drives people to listen to it) has occupied philosophers, anthropologists and scientists for centuries. And it raises other questions, such as why do different people like different music? Why does one of my children like vaporwave while the other one likes Yann Tiersen? How is it that some artists become immensely popular while other similarly talented ones remain in relative obscurity?
Over the past decade, European archival label Flee has been unearthing some of the globe’s most distinctive sounds. Reissuing out-of-print rarities along with new interpretations from contemporary artists, their albums have included 2017’s exploration of Kenyan Benga music, a 2021 recording of the oral traditions of Gulf pearl divers and most recently a catalogue of Greek orthodox singing from the monastery on Mount Athos. 
Welsh musician 
To mark its 25th anniversary, The Virgin Suicides reissued as a new edition entitled 
The closer you listen to the stories 
The opening of Prize Hunter, the lead song and single from Emma Pollock’s first album in 9 years, is sung over a sprightly bass line that belies a rich compendium that is the songwriter’s most personal and expressive collection to date. Recorded over five years against a backdrop of personal tumult, family grief and self-revelations, 
There are no half-measures in the do-or-die world of VLURE, whose uncompromising first two singles (‘Shattered Faith’, ‘Show Me How to Live Again’) set this precedent back in 2021. Blurring the lines between jagged post-punk, euphoric synth melodies and an industrial heart, the intensity of the Glasgow five-piece is a product of the catharsis that shapes it, spearheaded by Hamish Hutcheson’s thick, tough vocals.
For decades, Sir Richard Bishop has been a formidable force in the world of experimental guitar music. From his foundational work with the Sun City Girls to his extensive and eclectic solo career, he has consistently defied categorisation, drawing from a global well of musical traditions to create something uniquely his own. His most recent offering, 2020’s Oneiric Formulary, continued this exploration of a “spirited polytheistic” approach to the guitar; described in these pages as “a roller-coaster of a success” and a “beautiful and brilliant riot of a record.”
The list of releases for Record Store Day 2025 includes a standout item: a new 
Originally released in the UK on September 19th, 2005, 
Saxophonist