Joyful Noise Us Vinyl & CDs

Review: The master and his student - not that we're trying to label Kramer as a novice producer given he could easily school even some of the most accomplished studio hands. Nevertheless, Laraaji is considered one of the true godfathers of ambient, having been there way, way back in the early 1980s, releasing on Brian Eno's Day of Radiance imprint and gracing us with an inordinately good back catalogue since then. The point being that Kramer, like almost everyone stepping into this space in the past 40 years, has certainly learnt something from that living legend. At least some of that is put to excellent use on this collaborative joy, which uses three distinct movements to draw us deep into a simple yet compelling sonic odyssey.

Review: The Drones' frontman Gareth Liddiard struck out solo with Strange Tourist in 2010, recording a stripped back set of minimal, acoustic songs with Burke Reid which threw his songwriting into sharp relief with scant distractions. Reportedly throwing himself into the process by fervently absorbing written material, literature and internet anomalies and then channelling it all out into the resulting songs, the album's tense and confessional atmosphere speaks for itself. Now Joyful Noise are giving the record a proper double LP pressing to give this modern folk classic the release it deserves.