(38:50; Regal Crabomophone) The way Icarus Peel (guitars) describes it, is that he was having a lovely dinner with his old friend Steve Palmer (soundscapes) and by the time they got to the cheese course they had decided they would create a new musical project containing four 10-minute-long instrumentals. It was only a matter of time until Jay Tausig (drums) and Rob Gould (keyboards) were persuaded to donate their time, talents and names to the project which they have described as being like a lost Harvest album from the Seventies, or possibly it is reminiscent of Gong or Barclay James Harvest. The band themselves say they may have been influences by Tangerine Dream, Burnin' Red Ivanhoe, The Damned, Steve Hillage, Jeff Beck, Krautrock, Canterbury Rock, Vertigo, Vegetarianism, Arthur Koestler and Gustav Klimt (although not all at the same time). I was intrigued to note that as well as a writer and a painter they have referenced an obscure (at least to me) Danish band who were formed ...

(72:00; Discus Music) This is the seventh album from OOTUA and is also planned to be the last, ending a journey which started all the way back in 2012. There have been a few line-up changes over the years,  but the one which appears here has been constant for a while, namely Martin Archer (woodwind, keyboards, software instruments), Steve Dinsdale (drums, keyboards), Lorin Halsall (acoustic and electric double basses, electronics), Yvonna Magda (violin and electronics), Andy Peake (piano, keyboards), Walt Shaw (drums, percussion, electronics), Jan Todd (vocals, voices, melodies, electronics, guzheng, electric Harp-E, lute harp, cross strung harp, hulusi flutes, metal Noisebox, waterphones, found sound recordings, electronic samples) and Terry Todd (bass guitar). As with previous releases, basic tracks, either using simple compositional ideas or freely improvised, were recorded live in the studio by the full band over a two-day period. These were then radically edited and collaged b...

(55:56; Reichenhall) Here we have the latest release from German Krautrock electronic keyboard band Reichenhall who feature Bernhard Wöstheinrich (sequencer, keyboards & synthesizer ), Lukas Radiomodul (loop machine, editing & production), Mathieu Sylvestre (looper and electronics, real-time sound transformations) and Volker Lankow (soundscapes & loops) along with guest Uschi Hugo (who provides voice on one track). Here we have a band who on this release have been heavily influenced by Tangerine Dream and early Kraftwerk, as they provide us with a concept album about traffic in many different forms of motion, including being stuck and no moving at all. In the middle of the album is the title cut, which is about a mythical creature that has lingered for aeons in the fog of the traffic jam between Kamen and Bergkamen and includes spoken word, radio noises etc. In many ways this divides the album into two halves, something which is accentuated by the opening and closing tracks...

(78:22; Invisible Hands [2026 Edition] ) What we have here is an extended reissue of 2018’s ‘The Sessions IV’ which is now more than 80 minutes in length and has just been released on double green vinyl. Captured at three different festivals on their 2018 tour, these four numbers are all “live composition” as Ulrich Schnauss (synth, sequencer), Hoshiko Yamane (electric violin, viola) and Thorsten Quaeschning (synth, piano, sequencer) bounce ideas off each other in the traditional Tangerine Dream manner. I must be honest, I wasn’t sure how this would work given that Edgar Froese died suddenly in 2015, but both Thorsten Quaeschning (who joined in 2005 and was named by Froese as his successor) and Hoshiko Yamane (2011) had played extensively with Froese and are now working with his widow to continue his legacy, and to my ears this is very fine indeed. The only way to truly listen to this is on headphones when one will not be disturbed and it is quite a shock to return to the real world wh...

(43:07; Moon Letters) Seattle-based psychedelic progressive quintet Moon Letters are back with their third album and have maintained the same line-up of John Allday (keyboards, vocals, trumpet), Mike Murphy (bass, vocals), Kelly Mynes (drums, percussion), Michael Trew (lead vocals, flute, congas) and Dave Webb (guitars, percussion). I thoroughly enjoyed their second album, ‘Thanks You From The Future’, but must admit this one does not hit me as strongly and I am not really sure why. They are very much a regressive band as opposed to progressive in that they are firmly rooted in the late Sixties/early Seventies period with some deliciously dated wonderful old school keyboard sounds, and there are not many keyboard players who can switch to a trumpet midway through a run, for which Allday should be applauded. I mentioned Gentle Giant in my review of their last album, but that influence is far more subdued this time around, apart from the harmony vocals, and there are times when this feel...

(45:57; Cuneiform Records) Mike Johnson will always be associated with the band he co-founded more than 40 years ago, the hugely influential Thinking Plague, so why pick 2026 to release his first ever solo album? The reason was that he wanted to do something which was deliberately more orchestral, using real musicians as opposed to sampling, and felt the name Thinking Plague may be too restrictive (which is quite a statement given just how groundbreaking they have been over the years). The result is a hugely expansive release which features performances by 19 musicians, some based in the States (Johnson, several Thinking Plague alumni, and more) while other are in Canada (Kimara Sajn), Portugal (Nuno Mourão), Spain (Pau Sola Masafrets), Sweden (Simon Steensland, Morgan Ågren) and The Netherlands (Oene van Geel, Pablo Rodriguez, César Puente Sandoval, George Dumitriu). The result is something which will of course be closely linked to Thinking Plague given it is such a core part of Johns...