ALBUM: Stoddler- Cinema Cave

Stoddler, formerly Toddlers, have been busy improvising lately. This is the basis of Cinema Cave, which describes itself as "Selected Wednesday Improvisations". There's a load of different jams which have been tirelessly edited together into two sides of tape. The tape works out something like an ambient-rock cheeseboard; dipping in and out of different grooves and soundscapes, a taste of this jam, a piece of that improv.

The improvs themselves are awesome, deep-cut spirals of the best kind of wonky rock. There's real high points in the tape too; like the hilariously bleak introduction story, the slow groove that dominates the end of side A, and the jazz-fuelled beginning of side two. All the individual instrumentation if nicely held back, working together towards endless progression. It's definitely one to listen to. A prog-rock wine tasting for people who prefer the unexpected.

Cinema Cave is available now on Tape and Download from Double Dot Dash

Telescopes and Telstar

Happy monday! It's International Astronomy Day, but if you don't fancy buying a telescope you can make do by listening to Space Rock instead. It's is a pretty good alternative because a) It's not as expensive as a telescope, and b) it completely rules. As a genre it's basically a more interesting way of saying "good prog"; there was a load of awesome bands making long spacey jams in the early 70s- Pink Floyd, Joe Meek, BBC Radiophonic Workshop and the mothers of space-rock, Hawkwind.

These were bands that moved away from traditional chorus-verse rock music to create a more fluid, ambient sound. There's a whole tonne of improvisation, stoner jams and songs that cross the eight minute mark. All these things really pissed off the Punks who convinced a lot of people not to listen to prog-rock. Which is a shame, because it's awesome, enjoy.

ALBUM: Carla Bozulich- Boy

Any album that starts with a traditional gospel song is going to be either really regressive or really interesting. Fortunately Carla Bozulich's latest effort is the second of these; from the muted repetition of 'Drowned to the Light' to the twisted swing of Lazy 'Crossbones' it's not easy to see what's holding these tracks together. From the moment the needle drops, 'Boy' is a tightrope walker, teetering on the edge of chaos; everything slides together just loosely enough to avoid falling apart.

The result is a feverish nightmare of warped Americana that will appeal to fans of Torres or Grouper. Not an a great record for predrinks or good times, but sometimes things are gloomy and when that happens Carla's 'Boy' is waiting helplessly for you.

Boy is out now CD, LP and DD from Constellation Records

Happy Easter

Hope everyone had a good Easter (also Record Store Day). Why not stay in the spirit of the holidays by listening to Patti Smith's Easter over and over again? It has some of her more pop-stuff, and if you get bored you can just drift off into the endlessly satisfying realms of proto-punk itself. Bands like the Stooges, MC5, Velvet Underground and the Modern Lovers are some of the best there were. Rock out with a mouth full of Easter Egg.

GIG: Richard Bishop, Stoddler, Sun Skeletons

Otherworldly brilliance from Richard Bishop tonight at South Street Art Center. It's £10 on for doors to see the ex-Sun City Girl playing acoustic with support from Krautrock-inflused drum and bass and keyboard trio Stoddler and the psych-awesome of Sun Skeletons. Don't be a square.

TRACK: Courtney Barnett- Anonymous Club

The impossibly charming "Sea Of Split Peas" came out in October last year and if you haven't heard it yet that's something you can and should amend now. It's OK, you're amongst friends and I won't tell anyone. Why not start your journey to being cooler next time with the latest video for 'Anonymous Club' which has cool animation and monsters that something tells me are fine really because that's just the world that Courtney Barnett lives in.

Sea of Split Peas is available now on Milk! Records

ALBUM: OFF!- Wasted Years

The present's great- it's pretty hard to resent a time where we have access to all the worlds cultural information from our sofa. But every so often, part of me kinda wishes it was 1978. Something tells me OFF! feel the same way.

Something this fatally non-progressive is never going to be a big splash in the music pond. But it's well worth a dip if you want to feed there's an east-coast punk somewhere deep down that's trying to break free.

Wasted Years is available on LP, CD and DD from OFF!

Slacking and Whatever

Happy Monday everyone! It's No Housework Day, which seems like the best excuse imaginable to do as little as possible. It's hard to think of a better soundtrack than slacker ambassadors Pavement. Here in the UK, Pavement never seemed to have same impact as they did across the pond. It's a massive shame because they're easily a contender for best alt-rock group of the 90s. So slack off, avoid the housework and get this down your ears so we can all start talking about how awesome Pavement were:

GIG: Rhapsodaisical

I have literally no idea how to pronounce the name of Rhapsodaisical. You can ask them in person if you like at Rising Sun Arts Centre tonight. If you do its way cheaper to get tickets in advance (£4/6 vs £8). Entry's at 20:00 for anyone that wants to know what Parliament would sound like if they were all white folks who listened to folk music. Get yourself down.

TRACK: The Horrors- So Now You Know

Maybe it's something to do with the decision to build up a dedicated cult-following and then u-turn on their sound completely, but The Horrors never seemed to really get the attention they deserved. It's a shame because, like most of their output, their latest single So Now You Know is an instantly loveable display of krautrock-infused pop. Massive slow-burner of a track with nice big washes of synth waves.

Luminous is out on May 5th on XL, CDs, DDs and LPs are available to pre-order now

TRACK: Vince Staples- Nate

It's Staples name on the track, and his vocal delivery is a nice balance between endlessly smooth flow and raspy edge. From the first few seconds, it's clear this song owes a lot of it's success to producer Scoop DeVille, who delivers one of the best beats of his not-too-shabby recent output. Pure West Coast excellence.

Staple's mixtape 'Shyne Coldchain Vol. 2' is available for free download from DatPiff