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Review: Tokyo-based post/math-rock noodlers Toe have a habit of cleansing the palette of each subsequent full-length they release with a follow up EP. Just like 2005's debut album The Book About My Idle Plot On A Vague Anxiety was followed up with 2006's New Sentimentality EP, the group would return three years on from their stellar 2009 sophomore effort For Long Tomorrow with 2012's The Future Is Now. From the twinkling emo-inflected shoegazing noodles of 'Run For Word' to the more acoustic-driven psych-jazz of 'Ordinary Days', the four cuts purposefully meander and fuse differing elements from the band's arsenal whilst somehow increasing the dense technicality to absurd, near impenetrable levels.

Review: Felt may not have made the longest lasting impact on the common conscious, but nevertheless the UK indie set struck a real chord, and are still widely seen as cult icons among those who know. As part of the deserved celebrations for equally revered label Cherry Red's 45th anniversary, we can now dive into one of the band's finest moments, with this double-A 45" single. Opening on 'Primitive Painters' it doesn't take long to realise where we are on the sonic scale. Cocteau Twins' Elizabeth Fraser in a duet with frontman Lawrence, it's rightly considered one of the great British singles of the 1980s and one of the decade's most powerful collaborations, saturated in shoegaze and dream pop while still being resolutely part of a New Wave. Meanwhile, 'Penelope Tree' on the flip opts for a janglier but no less epic feeling.

Review: Seven Psalms finds Australia's most imperious musical misfit Nick Cave leaving his Bad Seeds at home and teaming up with frequent collaborator Warren Ellis for a limited 10". The spoken word pieces on this record are the result of a daily song writing practice over a week during lockdown - Cave himself describes them as "small, sacred songs," set to appropriately subtle musical accompaniment. Recorded during the sessions for Cave and Ellis' 2021 album Carnage, it's a rich work in its own right that offers a different perspective on Cave's considerable gifts as a soothsayer.

Review: Ride guitarist and songwriter Andy Bell drops this blue-splattered 10" with covers and acoustic versions of tunes that are said to have inspired his last album Flicker, which was released on Sonic Cathedral to great acclaim back in February. It is one of three such EPs and this one features an opening track written by Yoko Ono, a second cut by Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Danny Thompson, Terry Cox and Jacqui McShee, one by Raymond Douglas Davies and a closer by the late, great Arthur Russell. He brings his unique alternative and indie perspective to the originals and they serve as a great backstory and accompanying listen to the aforementioned album.

Review: This Record Store Day 2019 exclusive finds Mumford and Sons at work in the famous Electric Lady Studios in New York. It was there that they decided to serve up four carefully reimagined versions of tracks from their acclaimed Delta album. Each one shows a different, incredibly tender side. 'Woman' is first with its gentle piano keys and closely mic-ed vocals soothing the soul, while 'Guiding Light' has more upbeat but still lo-fi guitar riffs and 'Wild Heart' is another showcase of the beautifully raw and emotive vocals of lead singer Marcus Oliver Johnston Mumford. 'If I Say' is a rousing, heart swelling closer.

Review: Effective communication relies on being succinct. Boygenius clearly know this given their track record for naming things. 2023 saw the trio - Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus - drop their debut album, The Record, and now, a few months down the line, we have The Rest: an EP made up of the other bits that didn't quite make said LP.

If you're completely new to the band, then let's start by saying these offcuts that didn't fit would put many a group to shame, which tells you just how good the full record is. Here, though, we have the lo-fi, dream-indie-pop crackle and fuzz of 'Black Hole', a track of huge emotional resonance, heartfelt, heartbroken yet hopeful semi-folk on 'Afraid of Heights', and the delicate, tender, and incredibly personal letting go balladry of 'Voyager', just for starters. Sublime confirmation Boygenius are your new favourite thing.

Review: The 60s Liverpudlian rock quartet are famed for their song '6 Day War', which has been sampled from the likes of DJ Shadow in Tokyo Drift and Pusha T on his album released earlier this year. This track is undoubtedly a classic, written in the aftermath of the ongoing Arab-Israeli war of 1967, '6 Day War' is one of the best anti-war tracks of all time. The slow jam-rock ballad comes from the band's album 'Oh What a Lovely War!' released in 1973 which has not been released in Britain until now, making this a landmark pressing. The record is a psychedelic soft-progressive rock LP with emphasis on heavy guitars like in 'Lay it Down' and even pulls from folk rock in 'Dirty Delilha Blues'. Colonel Bagshot were almost criminally overlooked, though their music seems to consistently stand the test of time and it's easy to hear why. The sound is quintessential Liverpool rock, even down to the naming conventions being evocative of The Beatles.

Review: KC

Review: You can trace the roots of Fu Manchu back to the disaffected wastelands of mid-1980s US suburbia. Specifically Palm Desert, California - at the time, a quite unlikely focal point of a loose 'scene' defined by interferential rock & roll, drawing lines between early grunge, psyche, punk, metal and blues, the movement gave us Masters of Reality, Sleep, and, of course, Queens of the Stone Age. Stoner-leaning Fu Manchu were very much at the centre of that, and are now ready to celebrate 30 years since they emerged from the dry heat and bong water of the period, they've been putting out episodic 10" vinyls on limited pressings to mark the occasion. Musically, this is familiar territory, as hard and gnarly as it is exploratory, funky and infectious, which can only be a good thing when you're celebrating a big one.