Back in stock: Library/Archive

Review: Blue Foundation returns with another lush and immersive album that deepens their signature blend of dream pop, shoegaze and ambient electronics. Crafted over three years by the much loved Danish duo Bo Rande and Tobias Wilner, Close to the Knife explores themes of melancholy and introspection through layered textures and haunting vocals from Wilner and Nina Larsen. Guest appearances from Scarlet Rae, Helena Gao, and Sonya Kitchell enrich its emotional depth, while contributions from Chinese experimental noise band Wang's Xie Yugang and drummer Federico Ughi add complexity to this shapeshifting soundtrack.

Review: One of Norway's finest jazz artists, Alex Figueira, shares a surprise mini-album via Jazzaggression, whose solar-punky, psychedelic description of the record is as gleeful as the implied beam of light which emanates from behind the artist's front-cover printed visage, and on which the warped art nouveau typography detailing its title wafts: "a vibrant fusion of tropical rhythms layered with a dazzling array of synth-driven psychedelia." Said to have played every instrument on the LP himself, Figueira's ends are irreverent and sun-soaking; his ultra-obscure Norweigan tropical music scene is married well to the all-improv, time-pressed nature of the recordings going in, all of which were immured and hothoused behind the walls of Utrecht's Studio Pelto.