JD Twitch
Optimo’s JD Twitch on the first and last albums he bought, plus an all-time favourite
Bas Jan: Swamp Things
The new album by London synthpop quartet Bas Jan deftly combines the everyday and the esoteric. Examples? Fonts on British road signs and the tragic history of Irish witchcraft...
Universal Harmonies & Frequencies: Making Waves
As Universal Harmonies & Frequencies, Hieroglyphic Being and Jerzy Maczyn´ski have delivered a soul-enriching electro-jazz record – a celestial fusion of synth, sax and mystical futurism
Fever Ray: Free Radical
Always striving to challenge the status quo, Swedish enigma and visionary Karin Dreijer does things very much on their own terms, artistically and musically. Here, they open up on electropop experimentation, identity politics and the “visceral confection” that is Fever Ray
Ambient: From A To Zzzzz
A curated snapshot rather than a definitive list, welcome to our alphabetical deep dive into the atmospheric and immersive world of ambient music. From key artists to strange concepts and beyond, prepare to see ambient in a whole new light
Howard Jones
It’s 40 years since Howard Jones first crashed into the Top 10 with ‘New Song’. To mark the occasion, Cherry Red have issued a superb career retrospective, ‘Celebrate It Together’. And it all started with the coolest teacher in High Wycombe
Luc Van Acker ‘Taking Snapshots’ (Self-Released, 1982)
“These track names were created by the people who bought the album in 1982”
John Cage and Marcel Duchamp
In 1968, John Cage and Marcel Duchamp played a game of chess involving pieces that generated electronic sounds and a very expensive bottle of wine. The details of what actually happened that night were pored over by historians for years after
David Baron
Vintage synth guru David Baron on the first and last records he bought, and one he always returns to
‘Seven Songs’
Resident archivist Jack Dangers reaches for an old favourite – the foundational industrial output of 23 Skidoo from their 1982 album, ‘Seven Songs’