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Review: This massive anthology box set compiles all five volumes of the Stereolab Switched On series: 94 non-album tracks and sought after deep cuts by the group. Beginning with the original Switched On compilation LP from 1992, the series that ensued - though entirely comprised of deep cuts - still makes for a comprehensive jaunt through the Anglo-French auteurs' oeuvre, which never once lets up on quality. Every track here could've appeared on a full-length, so it's a testament to the band's work ethic that they simply had this much material to follow up with. Warp's comprehensive new 8xCD includes experimental highlights such as the original weirdo-chanson 'Plastic Mile', an Autechre remix of 'Refractions In The Plastic Pulse' and the stripped back 'XXXOOO', among many other gemstones.

Review: Smoked-out Texan psych troupe Khruangbin have picked a pretty apt moment to release this recording of their live show at Villain, Brooklyn. For starters, it's summer 2020, and if it weren't for a global pandemic there's a good chance a few of us would be recovering from the night before to a late-afternoon, or better yet early-evening performance from this lot at some festival or other. Secondly, because of said health crisis, we're all starved of the unique qualities that come from a band playing in the flesh. Dinner is definitely served here, then, via generous helpings of Laura Lee's bass-laden grooves and gorgeous, intoxicatingly airy vocal delivery. First laid down in 2018, when Khruangbin were touring in support of their second album, while 'Con Todo El Mundo' provides the majority of musical moments here, really 'Live At Villain' is a self-contained record - an hour or so of the band's typically magical and engrossing stage stuff, captured for keeps.

Review: English alternative-garage psyche rockers (and that barely comes close) Spacemen 3 had a serious reputation for their live shows. Inducing the kind of trance-like states in their audiences we more commonly associate with the endless spirals of dance music, for some the trio are godfathers of shoegaze, writing the book on that epic guitar opera long before people really knew what to call it, helping set the tone for the more exploratory side of 1980s rock. Simply put, they were a group you'd feel lucky to have experienced live, and even this five track opus of mind-melting rhythms, discordance and pent up energy is a pretty incredible thing to behold. Recorded live at Melkweg, Amsterdam, and originally released in 1989, once you've lost a few minutes in the refrains, builds, and crescendos you'll understand the cult status of this release - thankfully now repressed.