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Review: It's hard to underestimate the impact made by Mogwai's debut album, 'Young Team', on its initial release in 1997. Released at the height of the Brit-pop nonsense, it eschewed contemporaneous trends within indie-music in favour of a hazy, immersive and endlessly inventive 'post-rock' sound. All these years on from its initial release, the album still sounds spellbinding (and, thanks to a sterling remastering job, more sonically detailed than ever). For proof of the album's majesty, look no further than instrumental opener 'Yes! I Am A Long Way From Home' (which gets more intense and psychedelic as it goes along), the insanely good, near 12-minute post-rock noise opus 'Like Herrod', the echo-laden piano track 'Radar Maker' and the vast, 16-minute, album-closing opus that is 'Mogwai Fear Satan'.

Review: Rita Ora recently described her hotly anticipated third album, You & I, as "like my diary of the last few years". Masterminded in collaboration with executive producer Oak Felder and featuring Ora as a credited co-writer throughout, the album has been trailed as loosely chronological musical wander through the highs and lows of relationships and falling in love. Ora is in fine form throughout, singing confidently (and sometimes passionately) atop backing tracks that offer a 21st century synth-pop take on dance music culture - as has been the fashion for a number of years. It also contains a genuine club anthem in the shape of 'Praising You', an inventive, hands-aloft, festival-friendly banger that makes extensive use of Fatboy Slim big beat classic 'Praise You' (for which he gets a 'featured' credit).

Review: The latest volume in Soul Jazz's Boombox series, which focuses on the formative years of hip-hop culture, delivers a notably deep dig into some of the innovative and inspired disco-rap, electro and proto-hip-hop records released by independent labels, mostly based in New York City, between 1979 and 1983. It's a genuinely eye-opening affair that boasts a mixture of little-known debut singles from now legendary acts (Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five, Funky Four Plus One More), inspired obscurities (see 'Get Live '83', a rare recording by a Chicagoan high school band), bona-fide dancefloor gems (Mike T, Sangria, the electrofunk-rap of Silver Star), and deliciously deep cuts. Throw in Soul Jazz's usual exhaustive, expansive liner notes, and you have another essential collection from the quality compilation specialists.

Review: The title of veteran singer-songwriter Jonathan Richman's latest EP, Yatasamaroun, is an Arabic word that, roughly translated, means 'lovers talking softly together in the moonlight'. It's perhaps fitting, then, that the title track is a gorgeously exotic, steamy and moonlit affair that fuses North African, Andalucian and Middle Eastern instrumentation with spoken word monologues and Arabic singing. It's a fine, intoxicating musical brew that makes an even greater impact in the included 'Extended Mix' form. Elsewhere across the CD single, 'En La Discoteca Reggaeton' is a jangling, bluesy chunk of global musical fusion that's bold and infectious enough to suggest that it could work on open-minded dancefloors, while 'I'm In a Dancing Mood' sees Richman add his David Byrne-esque lead vocals to a Flamenco-inspired workout.

Review: Last year Detroit techno stalwart Jeff Mills launched a new project, The Zanza, an ever-changing collective of jazz, Latin and electronic musicians who could help him explore his love of a wide variety of styles and genres. Following on from the project's debut release, Mills has now delivered a debut album that once again proves not only his versatility as a producer, but also the vivid, widescreen nature of his musical vision. Wonderland is not an ambient or techno album - though it does contain multiple nods to the latter - but rather a hybrid affair that draws great influence from Latin music (and samba in particular), jazz in many forms, dubbed-out electro, jazz-funk and, on the rushing 'The Time Is Tight', organ and piano-heavy gospel house.

Review: Conway the Machine, the Griselda MC and CEO of Drumwork Music had fans waiting on tenterhooks for the arrival of his new album and when it dropped, Won't He Do It certainly did not disappoint. Producer and longtime collaborator Daringer worked on the album with him and the bars are raw, unapologetic and full of insight into street life. His own rags to riches journey is at the centre of the narrative, as is the loyalty he has towards his team. Plenty of his Drumwork associates feature as do top names like Benny The Butcher, Westside Gunn, Fabolous and Dave East to make for a vital new album that sits at the heart of the modern hip hop landscape.

Review: Two years on from the release of her acclaimed mixtape-style full length debut, What We Draw, Kathy Yaeji Lee returns to XL Recordings with her debut studio album With a Hammer. Conceived (lyrically at least) as an examination of the singer-songwriter-producer's relationship with anger, the album sees Lee expand on her house/hyper-pop-influenced trademark sound via nods to trip-hop, rock, drum & bass and more, with the addition of - for the first time in her career - live instrumentation. Of course, amongst the musical tweaks and collaborations (Lorraine James, Nourished By Time, K Wata and Enganet all feature), there are still plenty of nods to her pop-leaning productions of old, not least bi-lingual vocals (she often sings in Korean as well as English) and a sense of sonic style that has always been one of the aural hallmarks of Lee's work.

Review: 30th Anniversary Edition of the Cure's best-selling, Grammy-nominated album 'WISH.' This deluxe 45 track edition - compiled by Robert Smith - features 24 previously unreleased tracks & 4 new to CD tracks across three discs. And that's not to mention their four tracks that appeared exclusively on the mail-order cassette 'Lost Wishes', released in 1993, which have never appeared on CD or digitally, the previously unreleased song 'A Wendy Band', a previously unheard mix of the epic fan favourite 'From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea', five rare 12" mixes, and an unheard live version of 'End' from Paris Bercy in October 1992.

Review: Earlier this year, Defected offshoot Glitterbox Recordings delivered its first documentary, Where Love Lives, a loving tribute to the power of "dancefloor expression and liberation" which was filmed over 18 months in Paris, Ibiza, New York and London. This expansive three-disc set showcases cuts from the film's soundtrack, with Defected boss Simon Dunmore and Glitterbox A&R chief Seamus Haji acting as curators. The 52-track set is little less than a whirlwind tour of revivalist disco, nu-disco and modern boogie, with reworks of classic cuts sitting side by side with celebrated contemporary cuts and future classics - all rippling with a mixture of squelchy basslines, electrofunk synths, sweeping disco orchestration, crunchy cowbells, fluid piano solos and heady, life-affirming vocals. If you dig disco, you'll definitely dig this.

Review: Ezra Collective has described their hotly anticipated second album, 'Where I'm Meant To Be', as "a thumping celebration of life". As with their previous work, it's rooted in the band's love of on-stage improvisation - call-and-response instrument solos abound throughout - and peppered with contributions from guest vocalists including Sampa The Great, Emeli Sande and Nao. Musically, it's undoubtedly joyous, blurring the boundaries between contemporary UK jazz, afrobeat, hip-hop, dub, Latin rhythms and soft-touch electronics. The plentiful highlights include steppers-powered dub-jazz workout 'Ego Killah', sparkling opener 'Life Goes On' and the Afro-Cuban brilliance of 'Victory Dance'.

Review: Polar Moon (aka Jonny Radtke) is back with a new album Where Have All The Wolves Gone on Past Inside The Present, a true world to get lost in and that leaves an indelible emotional impression. It's a delightful mix of overlapping piano lines and organic rhythms that range from curious to dread-fulled and are never less than intriguing. Radtke finds real art in crescendo and release throughout this record which ebbs and flows with real intensity. Standout track 'Sky People' has a mellow piano line peppered with pizzicato strings that give the effect of a twinkling star way off in the distance. Sublime.

Review: Two years on from the release of their fantastic debut album, Wolo So, Balimaya Project returns with more inspired fusions of polyrhythms, percussion, heady horns, "virtuosic kora styles", contemporary jazz and traditional Mande music. It's a uniquely sweet, deep and gently sun-soaked sound - all emotive vocals, tapped out tribal rhythms, frazzled solos, dreamy acoustic guitars, glistening highlife-influenced electric guitars and sultry, soulful intent. The London-based collective has long been hard-to-pigeonhole, and it's this impeccably realised but sonically adventurous approach - along with the quality of their musicianship - that's been the key to their success. When The Dust Settles will only enhance their rising reputation - it really is that good!

Review: We all know and love Ron Trent as a house music maestro, but as his elevated productions have betrayed over the years, his chops reach well beyond the simple demands of functional club stuff. In line with his more eclectic output, What Do The Stars Say To You heralds his WARM project in a frankly stunning burst of musicality that harks back to the glory days of 70s and 80s studio prowess. This is still music driven by a groove, but it's certainly not a house by numbers affair. Instead you get soaring violin solos (from Jean Luc Ponty no less), infinte threads of nimble keys work and enough downtempo, slinky grooves to buffet a yacht from the Balearics to the Florida Keys and back again. Featuring members of Azymuth, Gigi Masin and Khruangbin amongst others, this is a return to the craft of exquisite album making, as handled by a true master in his field.

Review: Given that Isle of White twosome Wet Leg (AKA late twenty-somethings Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers) broke through with an insanely infectious chunk of monosyllabic rap-sporting post-punk pop, the stupidly catchy 'Chaise Longue', it seems fitting that the song lands early on their self-titled debut album - track two, to be precise. While the set features little else quite as upbeat, energetic and unashamedly joyous, it's still a boisterous and at times brilliant debut full of tongue-in-cheek lyrics, low-slung post-punk intent, raucous references to vintage '80s and '90s indie, weighty guitar riffs and ear-catching melodic motifs. It's the kind of set capable of pushing them towards super-stardom and will undoubtedly be warmly received by critics.

Review: Sharon Van Etten is in a philosophical mood on her sixth album, We've Been Going About This All Wrong, offering up a series of songs concerned with considering "how we feel, mourn and reclaim our agency when we think the world may be falling apart". While her lyrical inspirations may be weighty, the American singer-songwriter has a knack of cloaking her deeply personal words - delivered emotively, as you'd expect - in beautiful arrangements. Some of these bristle with her trademark "dark drums" and breath-takingly poignant synth sounds, while others are sparse and stripped-back, with just an acoustic guitar backing Van Etten's voice. She's kept the album under wraps - refusing, surprisingly, to release any teaser singles - but it's definitely been worth the wait.

Review: Dredd Foole and the Din (the latter an alter-ego of a band called Mission of Burma) only recorded a handful of releases in the early to mid 1980s but are regarded in some quarters as one of that era's most underrated outfits. We Will Fall, the latest CD in Corbett vs Dempsey's dig through the short-lived band's archive, comprises music recorded - but never released - back in 1983. It offers a neat snapshot of their unique approach, in which pre-determined chords and lyrics provided a bed for all manner of improvisation. All of the material was recorded "live" from the sound desk with no post-production, much (though not all) at gigs within their home city of Boston. It's a gloriously freewheeling affair that joins the dots between heavy post-punk rock and more experimental, noise-influenced freeform workouts.

Review: Despite the style's influence and enduring legacy, shoegaze has not been celebrated with a raft of compilations and retrospectives. Waves of Distortion attempts to set the record straight via two discs of classic (and occasionally overlooked) shoegaze gems recorded and released at different points between 1990 and 2022. It offers a neat overview of the sound and some its greatest practitioners, flitting between the glistening, reverb-laden dream pop of Slowdive, the bowl cut-sporting loved-up swagger of Ride, the densely layered country-shoegaze haziness of Telescope, the jaunty jangly-ness of AR Kane and Spirea X, the psychedelic heaviness of Ringo Deathstarr, the tactile bliss of Beach House and the slow-burn, post-rock majesty of Mogwai.

Review: Given their Radiohead connections Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood make up two thirds of the band), there's always been an enormous amount of interest in The Smile - a lockdown-born project that has plenty of potential. Wall of Eyes, the trio's second album, is certainly impressive. For proof, check the moody, suspenseful and slowly unfurling title track (all pulsing, low-slung semi-acoustic grooves, eyes-closed vocals, dense electronic textures and soundtrack strings), the heady, subtly jazz-flecked wall of sound that is 'Friend of a Friend' (listen out for the music concrete-style sound collage sitting in the background of the White Album era Beatles-esque 'Friend of a Friend'), and the lo-fi, string-laden headiness of the largely beat-free 'Bending Heretic', whose cut-glass horror strings and Nine Inch Nails style guitars are impressively intense at times.

Review: Fans of luxurious, bittersweet, grown-up synth-pop rejoice - Junior Boys are back with their first album in six years! The Canadian twosome's music has lost none of its depth and sparkle, with Waiting Game containing the same key ingredients as its predecessors - namely dreamy, warming chords, soft-focus drum machine rhythms, melancholic melodies, occasional guitars and the distinctive, evocative vocals of front man Jeremy Greenspan. It's a formula that rarely fails if truth be told, so it's no surprise to find that Waiting Game is a genuinely strong set. Our picks of a very strong bunch include the simmering, sunset-friendly warmth of the CD-closing title track and the hushed, ultra-deep shuffle of 'Night Walk', where bubbly electronics, woozy pads and lo-fi electronic drums catch the ear.

Review: Through his work with revivalist soul band the Indications, Durand Jones has already proved that he's a serious talent - a vocalist and lyricist whose impressive range and impassioned, emotive delivery mark him out as a genuine star in the making. Wait Till I Get Over, his debut solo album, will only enhance his reputation. Framed as a love letter to his hometown of Hillaryville, with thoughtful lyrics that reflect not only on his own intriguing life story but also the history of the town's black community, the collected songs veer from string-laden, socially conscious ballads and fuzzy rhythm & blues workouts, smoky slow jams, nods to Sly Stone and righteous, reverb-laden gospel winners.

Review: A decade after making his major label with Doris, all all-star affair featuring contributions from the RZA, Frank Ocean and Tyler The Creator, Los Angeles MC Earl Sweatshirt delivers album number six - a two-way hoedown with acclaimed beat-maker, Cypress Hill affiliate and fellow LA resident The Alchemist. It's a musical marriage with great potential, all told, as Earl Sweatshirt delivers distinctively enigmatic lyrical flows in his distinctive timbre over impeccable beats that draw on an impressively diverse range of samples. Compare and contrast, for example, the sparse, bluesy brilliance of 'Vin Skully' and the West Coast synth-funk influenced smoothness of 'Heat Check', or gospel-influenced Vince Staples hook-up 'Mancula' and the slow-motion drowsiness and aural beauty of 'Sirius Blac'.

Review: Hot on the heels of the release of his critically acclaimed autobiography, long-serving pop experimentalist Momus delivers his 29th solo set, Vivid - an album that's already being praised as one of his finest in years. It's certainly an enjoyable set, with the Scottish singer-songwriter musing on a variety of topics - many related to the current global Coronavirus pandemic - over eccentric, soft-focus musical backdrops notable for their varied and in some cases unusual blends of instruments (think lo-fi drum machine rhythms, wayward jazz horns, snaking electronics, accordions, folksy string quartets etc.). It's a hard album to pin down, but with Momus on top form lyrically and vocally, that's no bad thing.

Review: Despite her superstar status, gained in the years following her 2002 debut, Norah Jones has refused to stick to the same musical script, instead choosing a wide range of collaborators while applying her song writing talents to a variety of genres. On Visions, she's once again evolved her sound further in cahoots with producer Leon Michels - founder of revivalist funk-soul stable Big Crown Records and long-time member of the Dap-Kings. What's on offer is pleasingly fuzzy and nostalgic in tone, with the pair conjuring up songs and sound worlds rooted in late 60s garage-soul, psychedelic dream pop, and a brand of Americana rooted as much in black American music as country. For proof, check superb recent singles 'Running' and 'Staring at the Wall'.

Review: On the latest volume in the Late Night Tales series, Don Letts has dug deep into his crates to present a selection of some of his favourite dubbed-out reggae cover versions, alongside dub style remixes of more contemporary covers. It's a simple concept, brilliantly executed, with Letts offering up some exclusive, dubplate style remixes amongst the classic cuts and recent gems. Highlights include, but are in no way limited to, the full vocal dub of Capitol 1212's take on Joy Dvision's 'Love Will Tear Us Apart', Mad Professor's insanely weighty 2021 dub of John Holt classic 'You'll Never Find Another Love Like Mine', Blackbox Recorder's oddball reggae-soul version of 'Uptown Top Rankin' and Easy Stars All Stars' deliciously mystical interpretation of The Beatles' 'Within You Without You'.

Review: A quarter of century has now passed since the release of Up, R.E.M's 11th studio album. It was a set that perplexed some critics on its original release in 1998, in part because it was more experimental in tone (while remaining a fine, song-based set) and saw the band employ drum machines and electronic instrumentation to expand their sound palette. As this anniversary reissue proves, Up has aged well and is arguably ripe for reappraisal by those critics who initially panned it. Even so, what makes this double-disc celebratory edition special is CD2, which boasts an 11-track recording of a surprise set the band played in Los Angeles in early 1999. As well as featuring fine versions of tracks from the album ('Daysleeper', 'Lotus'), we're also treated to storming run throughs of such favourites as 'Losing My Religion', 'Man On The Moon' and 'It's The End of the World As We Know It'.

Review: Of all the artists past and present who claim to let their music do their talking for them, Burial is one of the elite band of whom this truly is the case. In fact, so reluctant is he to engage with the cult-of-personality hoopla that surrounds almost every modern producer and musician of merit, that he remains a genuine recluse; he has never appeared live, only one obliquely-angled publicity photograph is known to exist, and the number of interviews he has given can be counted on the fingers of one hand. Yet despite this, his music speaks loud and wide, and the world has been listening ever since his 'South London Boroughs' EP debut on Hyperdub in March 2005. His eponymous album, which began life as a low-key release in May 2006, is now widely regarded as the benchmark release of the ever-widening dubstep genre, picking up unanimous critical acclaim along the way, and ending the year heavily featured in many 'best of' polls. Now Burial returns with 'Untrue', a new record of weird soul music, which lovingly processes spectral female voices into vaporised R&B and smudged 2step garage. Vocal lines are blurred, smeared, pitched up pitched down and pitch bent until their content is cast adrift from their original context and they whisper their saccharin sweet nothings into the void. The album continues with the debut's crackle-drenched yearning and bustling syncopations, haunted by the ghosts of rave, but also reveals some new Burial treats with a more glowing, upbeat energy. Kicking off with the skittering 2step syncopations and vocal science of 'Archangel', 'Near Dark' and 'Ghost Hardware', before long it descends into a space of radiant divas and ambience. Where 'Burial' first was humid, suffocating and unrelentingly sad, 'Untrue' is less sunless. Many of the tracks are so sweet, they become toxic, underscored by the almost geological rumbles of growling basslines. Unlike the overpoweringly melancholic prevailing mood of before, Burial's sound is now better defined as a downcast euphoria typified by the epic, muted optimism of the album's last track 'Raver'. Forget central heating the radioactivity of this album is all that you'll need to keep you warm this winter. 'Untrue' is available as full 13 track digipack CD, including recent underground hit 'Ghost Hardware', and 9 track DJ friendly double vinyl set, from which some of the beatless pieces have been edited.

Review: Very little is known about the collective of musicians behind the SAULT project, but their music in many ways speaks for itself. Earlier in the year they delivered Untitled (Black Is), a heartfelt, angry and righteous set of soul, funk, drill and spoken word tracks that provided a brilliant commentary on what it means to be black in 2020. It's a contender for album of the year, for sure, and the good news is that this speedy follow-up is every bit as essential. It's undoubtedly more celebratory than its predecessor, but every bit as musically detailed, combining cutting-edge electronics and all manner of infectious rhythms with enlightening vocals and all manner of live jazz, soul, punk-funk and jazz-funk instrumentation (as well as some seriously evocative orchestration).

Review: Harald Uunk's take on techno may be angular, electronic and refreshingly avant-garde, but his creative inspirations are far more natural. Unseen, his expansive debut album, was not - as some may assume given its sonics and largely dystopian feel - influenced by the urban environments in which he lives and works, but rather his frequent adventures in the countryside. That's not immediately evident, but if you close your eyes and listen intently, the various off-kilter polyrhythms, distorted electronic motifs, ghostly electronics and dubbed-out textures soon conjure mind images of stumbling around dark woods and fields in moonlight and pre-dawn drives down deserted rural roads in the Netherlands' most isolated spots. More importantly, it's a hugely enjoyable and evocative beast, even if it does tend towards the dark, intense and unsettling.

Review: Under The Influence is Z Records' effort to document and preserve lost, forgotten soul-and-funk-feeding-into-house finds. Rahaan, from Chicago, here gets their attention and praise; a DJ and early progenitor of Chicago house, these tracks (unearthed from the vaults) are expensive and weighty forays through italo, disco and new wave, all carefully chosen by the man himself.

Review: Skep Wax's first Under The Bridge compilation, released in 2022, reunited the bands, songwriters and producers who populated cult early '90s indie label Sarah Records. This hotly anticipated follow-up repeats the trick, presenting 20 recently recorded cuts from the Bristol-based imprint's original roster of artists. It too, is a hugely successful - and understandably nostalgic - exercise, with hi9ghlights including the bright-and-breezy indie jangliness of Action Painting's 'Just Who Are The Cockleshell Heroes', the shoegaze-influenced dream pop haziness of Soundwire's 'Everything Is Real', the near Balearic soft focus shuffle of 'Double Nine' by GNAC, and the saucer-eyed excellence of The Orchids' 'A Final Love Song'.

Review: There's something undeniably tactile about Japanese composer Ikeda's Ultratronics which here comes as a special Japanese Edition on CD. The bass is metallic and dense, the grainy and glitched-out synths ringing out in a mathematical tempo on tracks like 'ultratronics 05'. There's a philosophy of high art, a scene that Ikeda has dabbled in before with installations and exhibitions, that is a hallmark of Japanese electronica composers old and new. The album has just as many pared-back moments (like in 02 and 07, scattered throughout vocal samples of rocket and space radio transmissions) as it does hardcore electronic industrial thrashing (06 and 14 spring to mind for mind-blowing explosions of synths).

Review: By his own admission, Daniel Avery's previous albums have been inspired by escapism and a desire to avoid focusing on the growing darkness of the world outside his studio. On Ultra Truth, he's flipped the switch, "directly looking into the darkness, not running away". That doesn't mean that he's left the dancefloor; far from it, in fact. While some of the aural textures, chords and melodies tend towards the melancholic, moody and overwhelming, they still feature club-ready rhythms or beats that tend towards the bold. Basically, it's heavy and dense, but sonically attractive enough to work outside of nightclub environments, with the contributions of various friends and contemporaries (HAAi, Kelly Lee Owens and Sherelle included) only enhancing the album. For proof, check out ultra-deep D&B roller 'Higher', the sparse and spooky electro shuffle of 'Chaos Energy', and the intergalactic breakbeat hustle of 'Wall of Energy'.

Review: Festival favourites and working-class heroes Sleaford Mods hail from the East Midlands and have become the voice of the oppressed and the pissed off. Their gritty, lo-fi, raw and stripped-back music is powered by punky electronic beats and overlaid with bars spat out with real anger and ire. They have churned out plenty of it by now, subtle tweaking the template each time but never losing the visceral appeal. This new album UK Grim - a play on UK Grime? - is more dancefloor focussed than before it with the angst and pitfalls of modern life all addressed. It's another winner, no doubt.

Review: Dutch party-starters Kraak & Smaak have always been hard to pin down, with their vast catalogue containing everything from jubilant nu-disco, funk-fuelled breaks and Afrobeat to club-ready hip-hop jams, revivalist electrofunk, purple P-funk and slow-motion Latin treats. What unites their output - as this expansive two-disc 20th birthday celebration proves - is a hard-headed commitment to making sure everyone has a good time (something also proved by their occasional live shows). As best of collections go, Twenty is inspired, not least because it not only contains their biggest singles and fan favourites, but also some of their most notable collaborations. Look out for killer cuts with house legend Romathony, soul sensations Durand Jones, Mayer Hawthorne and Izo Fitroy, and yacht rock-loving Aussie nu-disco band Parcels.

Review: Ten years after she made her debut on Greco-Roman, singer-songwriter Tirzah drops her third studio album, a collection of imaginative and sugar-free love songs crafted with the help of frequent collaborator Mica Levi. Trip9Love, which was recorded over the course of a year at their homes and "various studios around South-East London and Kent", is relatively minimalistic in terms of the musical elements employed - think looped piano motifs, beats that sit somewhere between lo-fi hip-hop and hyper-pop, and Tirzah's now familiar voice - but still sounds surprisingly "big". It's a great example of a simple idea, executed brilliantly, with standout cuts including the infectious 'You All The Time', the ambient pop style 'Their Love', the gritty and crunchy 'Stars', and the flash-fried '2 D I C U V', where Polly Jean Harvey-esque guitars catch the ear.

Review: Thanks to countless reissues of her impeccable new age ambient masterpiece, 'Through The Looking Glass', many more people are now familiar with the work of Japanese percussionist, producer and composer Midori Takada. Even so, 'Tree of Life' remains one of her lesser-celebrated albums - despite being a genuine masterpiece of minimalism and melodic percussion instrumentation. Here reissued on CD for the first time since the album's initial 1999 release in Japan - and this time with a new audiophile-friendly mix from Takada - the set blends xylophone, marimba, kalimba and other percussion instruments with Japanese style strings, strong melodies and nods towards the American minimalism of Steve Reich and Philip Glass.

Review: Transmission Impossible charts the early career of American alt-rock masters Tool via performances recorded for radio broadcast - and the odd snippet of the accompany interviews. A majority of the tracks featured were recorded for radio stations across the US (and on a couple of instances, in the UK) between 1991 and 94, though disc three also boasts cuts laid to tape in 1998 and 2000. The band's original line up (which features throughout) was known for its loud, dynamic and energetic performances - all ten-ton guitar riffs, sweat-soaked drums, heavy bass and wild lead vocals - and these recordings capture their live sound perfectly. For fans of Tool, it's a genuine must-have collection.

Review: Given The Cure's particularly brittle sound in their early years, it's an added joy to hear it compressed with a tape-borne level of saturation for this excellent collection of three radio broadcasts. Disc one is given over to a recording from Philipshalle, Dusseldorf in 1981, capturing the band during their seminal run of early, gothic new wave. Disc two comes a few years later at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, and you can already hear the evolution of the band while still very much ensconced in their funereal splendour and jangling guitar sound. For a greater leap still, head to disc three and the recording from Praca Da Apoteose, Rio De Janeiro in 1996, which was right around the time they released Wild Mood Swings, and marvel at the evolution of one of the finest bands of the era.

Review: By now, we should all know what to expect from the popular Too Slow To Disco series, namely glassy-eyed, pitched-down disco, boogie, yacht rock, blue-eyed soul and AOR with a distinctive soft-focus flex. Naturally, there's plenty to savour on the series fourth edition, much of it either obscure or previously overlooked. Our picks of a predictably strong collection include the horn-totin', much-sampled Pleasure classic 'Nothin' To It', the lusciously loved-up cosmic soul of Prime Time Band's 'Fall in Love in Outer Space', the eyes-closed, Rhodes-sporting AOR soul of 'Stay The Night' by the Farragher Brothers, the slow release swell of Alan Price's 'Groovy Times' and the sun-splashed jauntiness of Max Leake's 'Tell Me The Reasons'.

Review: Alan Myson's latest album as Ital Tek - his eighth for Planet Mu since debuting in 2008 - is an album of contrasts, offering aural darkness and light, intensity and becalmed beauty - and sometimes within the same track. It's rooted in ambient, experimental electronica and what would once be called IDM, but Myson has gone to great efforts to avoid stylistic cliches and well-worn tropes. As a result, it's unpredictable but addictive, with distorted creep-outs ('Heart String') and unsettling soundscapes ('Darking') sitting side by side with cuts smothered in glacial beauty ('The Next Time You Day') and melancholic, slowly unfurling sonic bliss ('Shattered').