New releases last two weeks: Post Rock/Experimental

Review: Gothenburg trio Amateur Hour is Hugo Randulv, Julia Bjernelind and Dan Johansson, and Gar I Kras is their fourth album. It builds on the expansive Krokta Tankar Och Branda Vanor from back in 2022, and though still experimental and out there, it might also be their most accessible and polished work yet. Dreamy lo-fi pop meets gritty electronics and sound collage throughout as damaged linger above humming basslines and grimy guitars underpin detached vocals. It's a haunting but beautiful soundtrack for outsiders who like music from the fringe but that retains a sense of human warmth and soul.

Review: Talk about appropriate names. There's something about Helen Island that sounds as though it has been cast adrift, washed up, and left to establish its own thing. The Parisian enigma's work feels ghostly, haunted by a past that has vanished into the ocean mist. Whether they'll ever be reunited is the real question, but mystery is the joy here. Whether it's at the uptempo, synth pop hued 'Hot Zone Regular Day', or the weird and wonderful psyche-electronica-field style 'Forever Starts Today', breathy samples on 'Indivisibl' or the innocent contemporary classical-cum-ambient plucked strings and keys of 'Restless Lovers' and 'Gore Lore', the whole thing is a strange and beguiling ride through the outer reaches of popular music.

Review: Welsh noise-rock royalty Mclusky make their decrepit return on their majorly anticipated fourth album The World Is Still Here & So Are We, marking their first full-length in over two decades, following on from 2004's The Difference Between Me & You Is That I'm Not On Fire. While the Cardiff legends have reformed for brief reunion runs in the past, this time they seriously mean it, revealing their first taste of new material in 19 years through their 2023 EP Unpopular Parts Of A Pig, with the title-track and 'The Digger You Deep' both announced to be featured on their (at the time) as-of-yet unannounced comeback record. Arriving courtesy of Ipecac Recordings, the outsider-rock label ran by vocal absurdist Mike Patton (Faith No More, Tomahawk, Mr. Bungle) and working in the past with the late, great Steve Albini, with the band even supporting for Shellac one fateful night in London's Scala, the chaotic noise-merchants haven't lost one tooth of their bite or snarky cynicism during their long respite, made abundantly clear on blistering lead single 'Way Of The Exploding Dickhead'.

Review: Cardiff noise-rock legends Mclusky make their long-awaited return with the highly anticipated The World Is Still Here & So Are We. Serving as their fourth full-length and first since 2004's The Difference Between Me & You Is That I'm Not On Fire, the album comes following numerous sparse reunion shows and tours since their initial disbandment two decades prior. First revealed through the release of the Unpopular Parts Of A Pig EP during the latter half of 2023, which would mark their first newly recorded output in 19 years, both the title-track as well as 'The Digger You Deep' were said to be the first tastes of their fourth LP, now making good on that promise with a release set for distribution via Ipecac Recordings, the label of musical absurdist Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle). Having worked in the past with the late, great Steve Albini, even opening for Shellac one fateful evening in London's Scala, the iconic noise-merchants seemingly haven't lost an iota of their bite or shitheaded cynicism during their time away, evidenced as such as in the blistering lead single 'Way Of The Exploding Dickhead'.