Mat Smith

Mashing up trip hop, drum ’n’ bass, techno, metal and drill, Bristol’s Scaler unleash a pounding sonic brew

Early 1980s synthpop outfit The Mood should have been contenders, but misfortune and mismanagement got in the way.

Having met at an Aphex Twin listening party – as you do – New York’s AM Boys deploy synths, drum machines and vocoders to craft enticingly languid pop and electronic instrumentals, imbued with all-essential “space echo”

With their promise of exhilarating retro-futuristic adventures, Barry Gray’s defining soundtracks for Gerry and Sylvia Anderson fizz with bombastic brass, sweeping strings and daring electronic innovation 

Surreal and enigmatic, San Francisco avant-garde collective The Residents have been redefining art with their radical output for over five decades. Blending operatic form with macabre humour, their new work is another experimental triumph