Features

Forty years ago, on Friday 18 May 1979, David Bowie released his 13th album, ‘Lodger’, 18 months after its lauded predecessor, ‘Heroes’.

“It was a fact of life as a little kid,” recalls Alexander Hacke, musician, producer, filmmaker and long-time Einstürzende Neubauten member, born and raised in Berlin and a major participant in the city’s post-punk, pre-rave scene in the 1980s. “I’d go out on the street and play, go around one more corner, and there would be a wall.”

In a world where it feels like there’s not much to celebrate, the uplifting, thoughtful pop of New York-based five-piece Barrie is sure to put a skip in your step

Call it ambient, call it deep listening – whatever you call it, the gentle noise and healing power of The New Wave Of New Age is taking over. We talk to some of the artists and labels and hear why this once maligned genre is experiencing such a healthy second wind

For his latest outing, Leafcutter John walked the Norfolk coast and recorded the sounds he heard along the way, mixing them with modular synth melodies for his latest album. Released on James Holden’s revered Border Community label, it’s his most direct and delightful work yet

Stepping into the solo world after a raft of collaborations, the delicate work of Erland Cooper

With the release of a retrospective of her melancholy collage-pop, Glasgow-based, Polish-born Ela Orleans tells us about the connections between concussion, creativity and catharsis