Natural Snow Buildings, Shadow Kingdom (Blackest Rainbow)

Over the last year, it has become one of my favourite British labels. I’ve bought their LPs of twelve-string ragas. I’ve bought their cassettes of minimalist electronic drone. I’ve bought their CD-Rs of twisted analogue noise. Are there any other formats that Nottingham’s Blackest Rainbow want to try and sell me? Oh, here is one: a comic. About vampires. Yep, this excellent new double album (triple on vinyl) from Natural Snow Buildings comes housed within a glossy sixteen page lovingly-illustrated comic book on the subject of the Vampires of Roumania. Now, do I look like the sort of person who reads comics? Do you think I’m some sort of geek? Probably one with long hair? Who has “trouble finding the right girl”? Who spends way too much of his money on limited-edition cultural ephemera? Eh? Er. Um. Right. So how much do you want for one of these again?

The Spontaneous Cosmic RawXtra, Kings Place, 26/10/09

To Kings Place, the apostrophe-light home of the left-leaning Guardian, the liberal-minded London Sinfonietta, and for tonight, a new free-thinking jazz ensemble. This was to be the first public sighting of a constellation of 12 stars drawn from across the UK jazz galaxy under the curatorship of Orphy Robinson. Expectations of musical supernovae were high by virtue of their none-more-luminous name: The Spontaneous Cosmic RawXtra.

Vladislav Delay “Toive” video

Hypnotic new video for “Toive” from Vladislav Delay’s excellent recent Tummaa album on Leaf. He plays London’s Union Chapel on 12 November. Tickets are going fast. Don’t, erm, delay.

Bill Orcutt, A New Way To Pay Old Debts (Palilalia)

Miami’s Harry Pussy featured an improvisatory core of the phenomenal drummer Adris Hoyos (a huge influence on the likes of Chris Corsano* and Brian Chippendale**) and her husband, the incendiary guitarist Bill Orcutt (supplemented at times -as if he needed it – by a second guitarist). They exploded in 1997, leaving a still-twitching corpse and a discography full of what-the-fuck free-punk-jazz-noise. Since then, little has been heard of Orcutt, but this coruscating blast of solo guitar is ample reminder of just how important that band – and Orcutt – were.

Radian, Chimeric (Thrill Jockey)

I was beginning to give up hope of ever seeing another Radian album, given that 5 years have elapsed since the sublime Juxtaposition, and given how busy the band – in particular Martin Brandlmayr and Sylvian Nemeth – have been with their extra-curricular activities (Trapist, Polwechsel, Lokai, and Autistic Daughter to name but a few). So long has it been that this almost feels like a reformation. In fact, so different is much of this from their previous work that at times it actually feels like it is by another band altogether.

Sun Ra Arkestra, Cafe Oto, 20/10/09

The combined age of the Arkestra must be getting pretty close to that of the planet itself. Their tectonic plates continue to shift, with new and returning members filling spaces vacated by the old, overlaying new patterns on ancient structures. At the core remains the octogenarian Marshall Allen, who in his last appearance at Oto showed that he is still a white hot improvisational presence. Tonight, he led a twelve-strong Arkestra on a glorious two hour dig through the Sun Ra catalogue, in front of a never-more-packed Café Oto.

Ben Frost, By The Throat (Bedroom Community)

Ben Frost’s debut for the Bedroom Community label, Theory Of Machines, was one of my favourite records of a few years back, a skilful blend of ambient drones and electronica with much harsher, processed sounds. So which direction will he go in for the follow up? Well, it is called By The Throat. The front cover has a pack of wolves on it. What do you reckon?

GAS at the Barbican, 16/10/09

With hindsight, the fact that the Barbican chooses to locate its cinema in what it charmingly calls “The Pit” should have given ample warning that this hour spent in the company of Wolfgang Voigt wasn’t going to be an uplifting one. For music birthed from the German techno scene, Voigt’s GAS project is a dark and at times unsettling one. His avowed aim is to “bring the forest to the disco”, and at times little light penetrates through the thick canopy he constructs – however the experience is an unforgettable one.

Simon Scott, Navigare (Miasmah)

Once again I find myself opening a review by talking about the convoluted and surprising course the artist has plotted to get to this place. Simon Scott is probably most famous for having been the drummer in shoegazers Slowdive in the early 90s. Since then his creative explorations have taken him in several new directions, taking a lead role in the bands Televise and Seavault, stewarding the fine Keshhhhh label, and now launching his debut solo release for the ever-essential Miasmah label (which is captained by Erik Skodvin). And while this is a denser and less composed-sounding release than most on Miasmah, it has that haunted cinematic feel to it typical to the label.

The Wire presents Into The Vortex: New Realms Of The Uncanny, 11/10/09

Sometimes I really wonder why I don’t just move to Dalston and be done with it. I’m spending so much of my time riding the 236 these days that my clothes are beginning to smell of bus. Or maybe the bus smells of me. Either way, it isn’t pleasant. Unlike tonight’s particularly fresh-smelling gig, in which the Wire’s three day celebration of the new slipped into the Freudian, slapping its Oyster Card against the reader for a voyage into the realms of the uncanny.