Back catalogue: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Tara Jane O'Neil's latest album, The Cool Cloud of Okayness, is a poignant reflection on transformation amidst adversity. Recorded in the aftermath of the devastating Thomas Fire, the album embodies resilience and renewal. O'Neil's ethereal vocals and spectral guitar work are complemented by a talented ensemble, including drummer Sheridan Riley and multi-instrumentalist Walt McClements. Together, they craft a sonic landscape that blurs boundaries between genres, challenging easy categorization. The album's themes of grief and hope are palpable, underscored by deft production and rock-solid bass lines. Each track feels like a journey, offering both solace and introspection. The Cool Cloud of Okayness is a powerful album of music used to heal and inspire, reminding listeners that even in the darkest moments, there is light and possibility.

Review: Led by the incomparable Sami Albert "Witchfinder" Hynninen (Reverend Bizarre, The Puritan, The Candles Burning Blue), Opium Warlords are the lo-fi, sultry, genre-less playground where all of the sonic auteurs most insightful and bizarre predilections come to life. Described as an audible melting pot of "pussy techno, sludge, industrial pop, hardcore punk, drone, shamanistic pulse, noise, heavy metal, old school gothic rock and march music", Strength is the sixth full-length from the mysterious project which essentially guarantees from the outset that you're entering into an utter mess of ideas, yet reliably reigned into one cohesive vision. While compared to the oppressive gloom of 2020's Nembutal, the material here benefits from brighter synths and glossier production yet underpinned with a macabre and alienating dissection of Machiavellian and Nietzschean philosophies of strength and elitism. That's when the lyrics aren't directly pulled from the back of shampoo bottles. Confused? Good, that's the only requirement for entry

Review: Life Go's On's reissue of Organisation's Tone Float sheds light on a pivotal moment in music history. Known as the precursor to Kraftwerk, Organisation's debut album offers a blend of avant-garde experimentation and early German prog. Featuring Ralf Hutter, Florian Schneider, and Klaus Dinger among others, the album combines acoustic instruments with bold electronic elements, creating a cerebral yet immersive sonic experience. Tracks like 'Vor Dem Blauen Bock' showcase the band's innovative approach, bridging natural and synthetic textures with ethereal flutes, majestic organ and varied percussions. Tone Float remains a gem of musical innovation, capturing a moment when boundaries between genres blurred, setting the stage for Kraftwerk's iconic future.

Review: Offering a gentler approach than his previous releases on R.I.O. and brokntoys, Philipp Otterbach comes to Music From Memory with an album of inward ambient reflections in which the guitar takes centre stage for the first time. Otterbach's sound is broad and inquisitive, folding field recordings and snatches of speech in amongst dexterous synth lines and expressive guitar, creating a thoroughly satisfying, mellow trip through beatless pastures. The predominant mood is a hopeful, upbeat one, although shot through with a playful surrealism which keeps things interesting rather than one-dimensionally pleasant. It's as rich a listening experience as you'd expect from a Music From Memory release.Alexis 'Lex' Blackmore.

Review: San-Fran experimental rockers Oxbow dedicated their eighth album Love's Holiday to familial renewals, marking the point at which guitarist Niko Wenner's two children were born shortly after his father's death. Despite the immediate inspirations, the album also cycles through many of the more all-encompassing kinds of live humans may encounter, from romantic to tragic. We hear the band segue through gargantuan plains of looping guitar and reverb-drenched vocals from lead vocalist Dan Adams; ostensibly, it sounds closer to an exploration of grief than commonly received ideas of "love", although relatively few pop-cultural ideas of love keep it real enough to reflect the strife that comes with it.