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Review: Hyperdub founder Kode 9 has always operated at the vanguard of his own musical world. The author of the hugely dense and academic Sonic Warfare boss approaches making music from a different perspective and shows that again here. This new 10" on Flatlines features two 12-minute plus tunes. the first of which 'Astro Darien" (part 1)' opens with a dialogue about space travel before glassy melodies, solar winds and cosmic ambiance take over and another dialogue starts. There are no beats on 'Astro Darien' (part 2) either - it's another atmospheric bit of cinematic mind-movie music.

Review: These days the Fury name is most often associated with traveling families and world championship boxing. But in the 60s, Billy Fury was the heavyweight champion of proto-indie pop. This reissue of his Three Saturdays with Billy album pulls together a collection of live recordings he did on TV with the BBC. Most such things used to get deleted as soon as they were aired and only eight tracks from 1967 to 1970 have since appeared, while nothing from 1968 and '69 was known to have survived, until now! The sound quality is good and tunes include his own special versions of David Bowie's 'Silly Boy Blue' and the Bee Gees' 'One Minute Woman' amongst others.

Review: 'Blues & Rhythm, Exotica & Tittyshakers' - if ever there was ever an album sub-title we could buy into, it's probably that. The fifth instalment of the celebrated Gibble Gobble blues compilation series lands and brings with it some of the farthest reaching tracks from the heyday of a sound which, let's face it, seems incapable of ageing, even if it often sounds like the era it was produced in.


Bringing together a stack of iconic names onto one expansive album, everyone will recognise artists like Earl Hooker, Howlin' Wolf, and Bob Callaway, while only the die-hard will be drawn to this collection by the inclusion of The Voodoos and Touissaint McCall, talent that goes someway towards explaining why we're recommending this one 'til we're blue in the face. A record that will introduce new generations to forgotten greats.

Review: The Advisory Circle (Cate Brooks) is a central cog in the machine that is Ghost Box, one of the most compelling labels to operate in the genre of hauntology in modern times. Brooks' too-perfect muzik is uncanny, reflecting on the grey memories of attempted architectural utopias and 80s library music for TV. These are slow instrumental electro ballads that inspire something of a failed sense of wonder in the listener, and they form a perfect addition to Brooks' extensive catalogue.

Review: As the title suggests, all of the material on this new album from Shibuya Station was recorded at the eponymous station in Japan. The music has previously been flawed as part of various compilations but has never been in one place before. It's leftfield minimal synth with an electronic brightness and cold but alluring rhythms made on gear such as various Korgs, Moog Little Phatty, Moog Voyager, various Roland keyboards and VST synthesisers such as the ARP Odyssey. All that defines the vintage textures of the sounds across six captivating tracks.

Review: Recorded at home in Ringo Starr's Roccobella West studio, the former Beatles drummer has drafted a number of long-term partners in crime for his latest release. Those names include Steve Lukather, Linda Perry, Fave Coz, Jose Antonio Rodriguez, and Bruce Sugar, among others. But, ingredients aside, what's the end result actually like?

Well, for one thing, it feels like a record made with camaraderie. The appropriately-titled 'Everyone & Everything' has a definite Fab Four vibe to its outro, requesting that all in earshot get involved in a chorus designed to get everyone and everything singing along. 'Let's Be Friends' takes that atmosphere to the after party, "Ya, ya, ya, ya" vocal hook making the whole thing sound slightly madcap. Meanwhile, closer 'Free Your Soul' invites us into smoother and sexier surrounds via sax and tropical beats.

Review: Brussels label By the Bluest of Seas is a secret gem of the free jazz and improvisation scene that should get plenty more eyes on it in the wake of this new album from Delphine Dora and Mocke. it is their second long player after one on Okraina Records and it invites you to slip into a dreamstate as languid guitar strumming and drawn out vocals stretch to infinity. Melancholic arpeggios gently rise and fall, there is both tension and tears and a churchy architecture to this which places you at the centre gazing up in awe - no shock really given that it was recorded in an old church in the village of Mauzun in the Puy-de-Dome.

Review: There's not a huge amount of background we can share on Mysterium, a startlingly beautiful and complex self-titled six-tracker on the always reliable Silver Arrow. A collection of music that lulls you with its blissful moments but still manages to maintain an air of uncertainty about it. A guitar-led dreamscape filled with achingly serene sections, yet underpinned with a real atmosphere that's neither relaxing nor intense, but is ever so-slightly unsettling at times. At least that's true of 'April Food' and 'I Am The Chaos', two tracks that open scoring here. Both seem to build a subtle darkness in comparison with closer 'Turn In', with its quietly rousing and affirming key changes. Taking elements of shoe gaze, beach pop, psychedelic rock, trip hop and more, it's an intoxicating ride through a spectacular unknown.