Ananda Shankar ‘Ananda Shankar’ (Reprise, 1970)
In Ananda Shankar’s relatively short lifetime, the Indian sitar player was never afraid to push boundaries.
Gavin Bryars ‘The Sinking Of The Titanic’
As the inaugural release on Brian Eno’s Obscure imprint, ‘The Sinking Of The Titanic’ has inspired generations of artists and listeners alike. Yorkshire composer Gavin Bryars reveals how he penned, or rather, “put together” this iconic composition
Pierre Bastien
On ‘Baba Soirée’, his new collaborative album with Michel Banabila, mechanical instrument maestro Pierre Bastien revels in unusual ways to manipulate the sound of his cornet. His influences are a steady diet of artistic rule-breakers… and tiny circuses
Emma Anderson: Out Of Her Shell
It’s 35 years since Emma Anderson formed shoegaze behemoths Lush, but her new album ‘Pearlies’ is her first solo record proper. As both a paean to independence and a work of darkly beautiful psychedelic pop, it’s a triumph. What’s on her mind these days?
Hyperdawn: Imperfect Storm
From the heart of Manchester’s thriving electronic scene, Hyperdawn’s asymmetric, future-facing music moulds tape loops, cut-up sounds and strange effects into wonderfully wonky experimental shapes
Lol Tolhurst x Budgie x Jacknife Lee: Stick It Out
What do you get if you bring together ex-Cure drummer Lol Tolhurst, former Siouxsie And The Banshees sticksman Budgie and uber-producer Jacknife Lee? An exploratory and brilliantly inventive “electronic head-fuck”, that’s what
Martin Rev: Proto Punk
Rooted in fervent, free-form experimentation, Martin Rev’s formative 1970s cassette sonics not only fed into the arch-provocateur’s work with influential New York synth-punksters Suicide, but also his distinctive solo oeuvre. With a new release of archive recordings, he reflects on those gritty early years
OMD: Stepping Up
Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys of Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark are still coming up with the goods 45 years in. Their new album, ‘Bauhaus Staircase’, a glorious collision of hook-laden electropop and artistic sentiment, finds the synth pioneers in perfect sync
Teeth Of The Sea: Cosmic Thing
Steeped in sci-fi dystopia, avant-garde sensibilities and a multi-genre assault, Teeth Of The Sea exist in an “alchemical headspace” where sonically, almost anything goes
Andrew Weatherall: “I’m a sponge, I want to soak up everything”
The first interview with Andrew Weatherall outside of his role in the band Bocca Juniors, which was originally published in the UK weekly music paper Melody Maker on 17 August 1991