Castle Face US Vinyl & CDs

Review: Last year, former Fall guitarist (and now celebrated radio broadcaster) Marc Riley stumbled on a rare bootleg recording of a concert the band had given to a sparsely populated audience at St Helens Technical College in the spring of 1981. To celebrate the gig's 40th anniversary, the recording has now been re-mastered and pressed to wax. It's a brilliant document of the Fall at their post-punk era best, with legendary front man Mark E Smith talking, singing, yelping and shouting has way through a series of raw, post-punk era workouts built around raucous, fuzz-toned guitars, low-slung basslines and loose-limbed drumming. For fans of Smith and his long-running band, it should be an essential purchase.

Review: It may only be January, but we already have a firm contender for time warp classic of 2017 here - this self-titled debut from Once & Future Band, somewhat contrary to their very name, is a veritable smorgasbord of sugary '70s prog-pop, indeed the kind of thing that Jeff Lynne continues to have fever dreams about to this very day. The harmonies here may bring to mind The Beach Boys, yet this meticulously constructed yet never precious album triumphs through its ability to conjure up an expansive and wonder-filled era of sonic grandstanding without ever sounding like tired retro pastiche. It's almost enough to have one wondering how that Jimmy Carter presidency will work out.

Review: John Dwyer is rapidly approaching the level of modern-day icon, after years of hammering out the jams in insalubrious basements with the likes of Coachwhips, The Hospitals, Yikes and around 467 other bands. Thee Oh Sees may remain his most accessible outfit to date, but on the evidence of 'A Weird Exits', there's no danger of him diluting his garage-fuelled attack any time soon - indeed, herein he can be found extrapolating the band's trademark fury via trips to the stratosphere awash with psychedelic abandon and krautrock radiance. All told, another triumph for a modern day master in the Spinal Tap-approved fine line between clever and stupid.