Long Reads

From upfront electropop and reflective spoken-word sonics, drawing on everything from jazz to dancefloor bangers, to her latest detour into mellow abstract moods as Whatever The Weather, we dare you to pigeonhole the musical whirlwind that is Loraine James

A band? An art project? A secret cabal of political provocateurs? Going about their subversive business for more than four decades, everything that this unique Slovenian collective does comes as a surprise. Absolutely everything. Brace yourselves as we are granted an audience with the entity that is Laibach

‘The Unfolding’ is Hannah Peel’s timeless collaboration with Paraorchestra. Inspired by the imprints of life beneath our feet, it’s a document of all of Earth’s incredible history – in 54 minutes 

Seven years on from his last outing, the inimitable and irrepressible Wolfgang Flür has a new album in the racks. Recorded with the help of an army of fascinating guests, it’s called ‘Magazine 1’ and it’s an opportunity for us to talk robots, romance, pacifism, money, sheep, rubbery legs and, inevitably, Kraftwerk 

When Edgar Froese changed cosmic address in 2015, you’d be forgiven for thinking that Tangerine Dream would follow suit. But working from his extensive archive of recordings, a new school of composers is keeping his flame very much alive

There’s no one quite like Keith Seatman. His new album, ‘Sad Old Tatty Bunting’, is a psychedelic joyride through a parallel universe, a dreamlike England full of alchemists and scarecrows and gated communities guarded by gnomes

The second album by Electribe 101 is the stuff of legend. Dismissed as “crap” when they were dropped by their major label in 1992, ‘Electribal Soul’ is nothing of the kind. When it finally saw the light of day, singer Billie Ray Martin proudly showed off this lost classic

Good things come in little parcels. And the new Metronomy album, ‘Small World’, is certainly a welcome delivery. Joseph Mount, the band’s de facto leader, gives us the lowdown on their finest outing since ‘The English Riviera’ 

Infused with the spirit of Woodstock and resolutely “bound to the mountains”, Midlake and Mercury Rev’s Jesse Chandler pays tribute to his late father on a second album as Pneumatic Tubes

Splitting up, getting back together (twice), a farewell gig that wasn’t quite goodbye… and now Soft Cell are making another welcome return. Marc Almond and Dave Ball remain as thick as thieves and ‘Happiness Not Included’, their first album for 20 years, shows why the duo are still the undisputed kings of twisted synthpop