Experimental is a tag that can scare off listeners. Albums with this label can sound like something from the research and development wing of music: abstract, difficult or even weird. At first glance, Friendship Traces by Steven Lambke and Jimmie Kilpatrick looks like one of these records: it’s based around synths, drum samples and a melodica. There’s nary a guitar in sight. But right from the get-go, this duo shows themselves as open-minded, warm, and friendly.
Friendship Traces is a shade under half an hour long and the result of sessions of playing, overdubbing and tape manipulation by two Canadians: Lambke, a Canadian singer and guitarist, and indie musician Kilpatrick, formerly known as Shotgun Jimmie. Both have…
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…remixed from the original tapes in Nashville, TN by Brad Jones and Robyn Hitchcock at Alex the Great Studios in June 2025.
In Piers Haggards’ 1971 folk horror classic, Blood on Satan’s Claw, a remote, idyllic rural community has its peace burst into flames when someone unwittingly unearths a deformed skull from a freshly plowed field. Suddenly and with no warning, the town’s previously cloistered innocent youth turn to the dark side, guided by their beautiful, charismatic leader into wanton acts of lust and bloodshed.
1. The Soft Boys – I Wanna Destroy You
There is no warning and no chance to prepare. The instant you press play on 
Typically, when an artist stays out of our view, every public gesture he or she does make is loaded with extra significance. Think of the ways each demo, cover, or bit of extramusical trivia is instantly subsumed into the canons of D’Angelo, Fiona Apple, or Frank Ocean.
Convex was the only LP Conrad Schnitzler released in 1982, though he continued recording an untold amount of cassettes, as he did throughout his lengthy career. On this record, he utilized a sample-and-hold generator, which converted sounds into random sequences of tones. Using sequencers and generators rather than keyboard-based synthesizers, he created slowly unfolding pieces which were left up to chance. While the compositions often have an unhurried pace, they seem far from relaxed or tranquil, and it would be a misnomer to refer to them as ambient. They’re generally hypnotic and often quite busy, and even when they aren’t, they sound like an exploration of an alien planet. “Convex 2” contains high-pitched, semi-melodic pulsations over…
Control originally appeared in 1981 during an especially productive era in Conrad Schnitzler’s career. Inspired by his friend Peter Baumann (like Schnitzler, a former member of Tangerine Dream), he experimented with different sound generators, and attempted to incorporate traditional harmonic elements into his work. When the LP was originally issued, it simply consisted of two sidelong pieces, but subsequent reissues have divided the album into short tracks. Most of the pieces sound different from one another, with some being meandering drones, and others sounding much busier and more exciting. The most memorable ones demonstrate Schnitzler’s curious, playful side, with “Control 4” having sprite-like high-pitched melodic tones, and “Control 6” containing…
This is a very unusual Australian album, featuring the spoken and singing voices of Warlpiri elders Wantarri ‘Wanta’ Jampijinpa Pawu-Kurlpurlurnu and his father Jerry Jangala Patrick, who hail from the Aboriginal desert community of Lajamanu. They are backed by electronic composer-producer Marc ‘Monkey’ Peckham.
Few bands capture the absurdity of modern life with as much grotesque glee as Viagra Boys. On their feral fourth record, Viagr Aboys, the Swedish outfit distil their signature blend of scuzzed-out post-punk, sharp observational humour, and dance floor-ready grooves into their most refined – and deranged – work yet.
Few bands feel as tied to their hometown mythology as 
If you’re tapped into the right corners of the underground, 
At only 26, Jenny Hollingworth has already (incredibly) been making music for half her life. Having formed freak-pop project 
As a group who’ve always existed with a winning duality of punk and pop at their core, you can often gauge where The Cribs are about to land on that spectrum by the outside hands they’ve enlisted to help guide the ship. On 2017’s raw and grungy ‘24-7 Rock Star Shit’, legendary Nirvana producer Steve Albini sat at the desk. On new record ‘Selling a Vibe’, they decided to throw a curveball by bringing in former Chairlift member and Lil Yachty producer Patrick Wimberley. As guitarist Ryan Jarman told NME last year: “We wanted to try working with someone who specifically worked with more pop kind of people.”
It’s been a year and a half since 
San Diego in the ’90s was a great place to be if you were a weird punk kid. A conservative Navy town on the surface, the hardcore underground churned out innovative bands at a furious clip, with the bleeding edge of the scene revolving around Gravity Records and its standard-bearers, Heroin and Antioch Arrow. Balancing nihilistic fervor with a ragged poetic sensibility, these bands transmuted post-adolescent angst into timeless invectives against boredom and apathy. After Heroin broke up in 1993, guitarist Scott Bartoloni joined with vocalist Matt Goldsby, bassist Ryan Noel, and drummer Mario Rubalcaba to form