Review: Pioneering Japanese psychedelic rock Acid Mothers Temple & the Melting Paraiso U.F.O. (AMT) were formed in 1995. Their relentless output has spawned various offshoots over the years, such as Acid Mothers Temple & the Cosmic Inferno and Acid Mothers Temple SWR, synthesising and alien cosmo-grammar in sound, one that perhaps only the most acid-casualtied tongues can interpret or speak. Now present through Rolling Heads comes their latest album for 2025: Holy Black Mountain Side comprises three psychedelic pieces, reticulating a series of recording sessions held down between 2021 and 2023, at one point reinterpreting a traditional folk song, and throughout enlisting guest bass from Taigen Kawabe of Bo Ningen. Each record comes wrapped in unique artwork by lead improvisor Kashiwagi Ten, adding an extra layer of veiled mystery to each: no two records are visually alike.
Review: Black Market Karma return with the second chapter in their two-part Fuzz Club album series. Written, recorded, and produced by Stanley Belton, it's the imperfections and unplanned happenings that are the real joy of this ode to 1960s and 1970s psychedelic rock & roll will modern beats. A striking follow up to Wobble, it's fuzzy, crackly, angular and strikingly human considering it's fundamentally electronic. "Mellowmaker was made immediately after Wobble, I kinda see them as two sides of each other", Belton has been quoted as saying. "With these two albums I've attempted to crystallise how it feels to be stuck between a feeling of amnesia of the soul and the earthly experience of piloting a meat suit... I'm still chasing that longing intangible 'Hiraeth' feeling. The sense of wanting to find our way home to a place that maybe doesn't exist."
Review: Swedish trio Death And Vanilla continue to carve out their atmospheric niche, blending elements of post-ambient electronica and spectral folk to craft something distinctly unsettling. Their latest foray into live scoring breathes new life into the eerie, folkloric narrative of a 1968 ghost story. As they shift seamlessly between stuttering tape loops, minimalist drum machines, and haunting choral effects, they create a tension that pulls the listener deeper into the supernatural. Tracks like 'Supernatural Breakfast' are pulsing with an old-school, Carpenter-esque vibe, while others, like 'Nightmares', evoke a sense of unease with their swirling winds and spectral sounds. The band's ability to inhabit these otherworldly spaces is a nod to their growing mastery of atmosphere, a skill that's increasingly becoming their signature. Even as they explore the boundary between the familiar and the uncanny, Death And Vanilla remind us that their sound can be as inviting as it is unnervingly strange.
I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me) (CD 2: Gold Medal - 2004)
Friends Like Mine
Don't Break Me Down
Fall Behind Me
Is That All You've Got For Me
It's So Hard
The Gold Medal
Out Of My Hands
It Takes One To Know
Revolver
Have You No Pride
Lost & Found (Digital bonus track)
Hyperactive (CD 3: singles, B-sides & live - B Side)
Rock 'n' Roll Machine (B Side)
Mam's Boy (B Side)
Play My Game (B Side)
Don't Break Me Down (acoustic)
Fall Behind Me (alternate acoustic mix)
I Don't Want To Know (If You Don't Want Me) (alternate acoustic mix)
Done With You (B Side)
Too Bad About Your Girl (radio remix)
Dancing With Myself (Billy Idol Cover)
Please Don't Tease Me (New York Minute OST)
Do You Want To Hit It (live At The Paradise, Boston August 2nd, 2003)
Take Me To The Backseat
Hyperactive - Too Bad About Your Girl
All Messed Up
Take It Off
5 O'clock In The Morning
Who Invited You
On The Rocks (live XFM October 3rd, 2003)
Take It Off
Who Invited You
Review: After rising through the ranks of the local punk scene in Palto Alto, California, during the late 1990s, all-female outfit The Donnas were whisked to national (and international) superstardom via a deal with major label Atlantic Records. This retrospective looks back on that period of the now-dormant band's career, combing their two albums from the imprint (2002's Spend The Night and 2004's Gold Metal) with a disc of singles, B-sides, rarities and live takes. That means heaps of heavy riffs, vocals espousing suburban teenage angst and hooky choruses on discs one and two, with the third disc delivering an attractive mixture of raucous pop-punk, nods to metal (one of their major infuences, fact fans) and becalmed and cheery acoustic versions.
The E-Types - "Put The Clock Back On The Wall" (0:47)
Who's The Butcher? (1:39)
Thee Neons - "LSD Got A Hold On Me" (0:45)
Horny & Unclean (1:52)
She Must Be Square (1:54)
The Vagrants - "I Love, Love You (Yes I Do)" (0:50)
Let's Hear It For Al Capone (2:33)
The E-Types - "Untitled" (1:29)
Where's The Acid Kid? (1:22)
Bit' A Sweet - "Out Of Sight Out Of Mind" (2:46)
I Enjoyed The Band (2:59)
Bit’ A Sweet - "Is It On, Is It Off?" (0:50)
Susie's Trip Out (1:41)
The E-Types - "Put The Clock Back On The Wall" (instrumental version) (1:11)
Where It's Always Been At (0:54)
The E-Types - "Clock-apella" (Stereo) (1:54)
It Was A Dream (1:46)
The E-Types - "Put The Clock Back On The Wall" (reprise) (0:50)
Review: Originally scored in 1968 by a loose circle of New York garage-psych acts, this reissued soundtrack finally lifts the veil on one of the strangest period films of the late 60s. The E-Types lead the charge with no fewer than four versions of 'Put The Clock Back On The Wall', ranging from a bright, full-band cut to a warped instrumental and stereo acapella. The Bit' A Sweet contribute the hazy, lurching 'Is It On, Is It Off?'ia woozy gem full of phased guitar and tape wobbleiwhile 'LSD Got A Hold On Me' by Thee Neons dials up the paranoia with raw, fuzzed-out intensity. The Vagrants offer a tight, harmony-laced soul ballad in 'I Love, Love You (Yes I Do)', adding contrast to the acid-drenched proceedings. While the film itself, shot entirely in greyscale, veered closer to surreal documentary than narrative cinema, the music functions as a mood-setting anchor throughoutiequal parts camp, dread, and weird sunshine optimism. This marks the first official pressing of these tracks and serves as both a time capsule of New York's outsider rock fringe and a highly playable psyche compilation in its own right.
Review: Drissi El-Abbass's Rai Sidi Bel Abbes - Volume 2 is a superb eight-track compilation that tells the evolutionary story of Rai music from the late 1970s to the 1990s. Released by Nashazphone on four sides of wax, it highlights El-Abbassi's soft vocals and innovative fusion of traditional Algerian music with electronic elements which came after he started his career with Les Aigles Noirs and later collaborated with guitarist Ahmed Zergui. El-Abbassi embraced synthesisers and drum machines to shape a modern Rai sound that has stood the test of time and tracks like 'Maak Probleme' and 'Datli Laakal' blend nostalgic melodies with bold production to offer a vivid portrait of Rai's creative transformation.
Review: Turning the clock back to 1991, legendary Welsh DIY pop band Ffa Coffi Pawb repress their second album for the modern listener. Recorded with experimental electronic studio head Gorwel Owen, in a flat, above a Post Office in Rhosneigr, on the island of Anglesey, it makes no apologies for its uptempo and cacophonous sound, swagging out the starting blocks like a Celtic Happy Mondays. Or, more accurately, Black Grape. Shades of Primal Scream are equally audible in at least some of the guitar riffs, although given the group were fronted by a young Gruff Rhys - who would go on to form Super Furry Animals before embarking on his own critically acclaimed and musically outstanding solo career - you can bet your bottom dollar this is far more original than any lazy comparisons would suggest. Or whatever that translates to in Welsh.
Review: Brooklyn-born Dennis Harte might only have been eleven when he picked up a Sears Silvertone, but the music on this anthologyirecorded between 1973 and 1974iis anything but juvenile. Collected here for the first time on a single release, these four singles originally appeared under shifting monikers (Dennis Harte, Harte Attack, Harte Brothers and Pure Madness), a strategy cooked up by mentor Carl Edelson to maximise industry exposure. The sound veers between garage soul, basement psych, and scrappy blue-eyed r&bian adolescent echo of The Rascals, The Youngbloods or early Spoonful. 'Summer's Over', written by Edelson, is the emotional peak: a world-weary soul lament, rendered uncanny by Harte's teenaged delivery. 'Running Thru My Mind' plays it cooler but still flickers with melodic instinct and wiry guitar interplay. 'Freedom Rides' charges out with organ-stabbed garage grit, a protest anthem wrapped in biker-jacket energy. 'Treat Me Like a Man' flips a Beatles-influenced B-side by Long Island group The Shandels into something looser and more ragged. Harte would go on to tour with Wilson Pickett, but these early 7"sinever before compiledishowcase a raw, regional talent teetering on the edge of real experience. Efficient Space lands another killer excavation from North America's fringe.
Review: We find ourselves lost in kosmische textures, dark jazz motifs and brushup drums, as Ivan The Tolerable (Oli Heffernan) edges us ever deeper into his singular sonic world with An Orphan Form, where wide scapes and underbrushed moodiness leaves us in an identifiable yet not entirely placeable place. There's a sense of constant movementicircular rather than linearias the music unfurls like a dream slipping just out of reach. Synth lines wobble and stretch, field recordings emerge from the mist, and the sounds of nature act as subtle anchors amid the abstraction. It's a spiritual detour after the cheekier tonalities of his various earlier cassette albums for the likes of Cruel Nature and Ack! Ack! Ack!.
Review: Aussie rockers King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's 22nd studio release continues their tradition of bold experimentation, featuring two expansive 15-minute tracks, including the highly anticipated fan favourite 'Hypertension.' The band's ability to push the boundaries of the rock genre is ever-present as they blend complex rhythms, hypnotic melodies, and immersive instrumentation in these sprawling compositions. An intricate sonic journey, showcasing King Gizzard's signature chaotic beauty and their continued exploration of sound in new, exciting directions.
Review: Wewantsounds continues its deep dive into Algerian music with the first-ever reissue of Les Abranis' sought-after-by-those-who-know 1983 long player, Album No. 1. Originally recorded in Paris and privately pressed in small quantities, the album, which is also known as Id Ed Was, fuses Kabyle rhythms with funk and touches of reggae. This reissue has been curated by Cheb Gero (of recent Sweet Rebels compiling fame) and features remastered audio, though it retains the original artwork. It's a great line document of Algeria's diasporic groove with a two-page insert featuring fresh liner notes by journalist Rabah Mezouane.
Review: Dominique Baumard's 2025 detective comedy drama, Les Regles de l'art, is a chuckle-inducing exploration of art theft and scandal, reenacting a legendary pilfering of paintings from the Musee d'Art Moderne in Paris in 2010. The plot centres on the trio of thieves who stole €100 million worth of works of art by Picasso, Matisse and Modigliani; they were sentenced to prison, but the paintings were never found. Now the OST by soundtrack artists Lionel LimiNana (more known for his chanson-adjacent project The LimiNanas) and David Menke (more associated with experimental electronica) surfaces. An intermixing of suspenseful legato syntheses and humoured pizzicati help them nail an eternal artistic conundrum - the tradeoff between authenticity of artifice.
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