Lightning Bolt

Ann Margaret Hogan

Honeysuckle Burials

Ann Margaret Hogan's 'Honeysuckle Burials' effects a beguiling evocation of another world, finds Cathi Unsworth

An Exchange Of Feelings: Felicia Atkinson’s Baker’s Dozen

Soon to play at Portugal’s Semibreve Festival with Violeta Azevado, Felicia Atkinson guides Alex Rigotti through thirteen eclectic albums that have informed her musical practise the most

Blood Orange

Cupid Deluxe

Eyal Maoz and Eugene Chadbourne

The Coincidence Masters

Two guitarists improvising freely sound only rarely like guitars (and often quite comical), finds Antonio Poscic

Organic Intelligence VI: Iranian Pop On Caltex Records

In our subscriber only series, Mariam Rezaei revisits her childhood introduction to the glorious world of Iranian pop via Caltex Records

“Stupid Things Are Best”: Conny Plank – The Potential of Noise

A new film by the producer's son charts Conny Plank's mastery as a producer – and failures as a parent

Lamin Fofana

Works In Metal

The Sierra Leonean artist welds and solders his sonic materials on an album inspired by the writings of activist and Surrealist Suzanne Césaire

25 Years On: Tricky’s Maxinquaye Revisited

David Bennun interviewed Tricky several times for Melody Maker in the 1990s and reviewed Maxinquaye on its release. He assesses how his relationship to this landmark album has changed over the intervening decades

LIVE REPORT: Recombinant Festival

Our man in San Francisco Ned Raggett ponders Demdike Stare, GAS and more at this winter's Recombinant festival. All photographs courtesy of Sahra Jajarmi

The Strange World of… Mike Vest

From demon-riffing drone-lords Bong to gruelling, piledriver punks Drunk In Hell, power trident-pronged psych outfit Blown Out, experimental soundtracking with Artifacts & Uranium, the atomic noise rock of Melting Hand and the crushing cosmic doom of 11Paranoias, plus a plethora of collaborations with luminaries from the Japanese psych underground, Mike Vest’s discography over the last decade is as dizzying as it gets. Ryan Walker attempts to deliver a guide to the 10 best points of entry

Let it Rot: Snapped Ankles Interviewed

Returning with their first album in four years, the masked electro-punk group speak to Alastair Shuttleworth about defecating statues, jaded audiences and pitting Brian Eno against Conny Plank on AI music. All portraits by Louise Mason

Liam Andrews of My Disco and Eros Shares New Track from Aicher Project

Andrews has a new album under the moniker on the way via Regis' Downwards label

I want to Mwng with you: Super Furry Animals interviewed

Dan Ross meets up with Gruff Rhys and Huw Bunford to discuss SFA's Welsh language, "career suicide" album

Low Culture Essay: Arusa Qureshi on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater Soundtracks

Arusa Qureshi was never allowed a skateboard, but the soundtracks to Tony Hawk's Pro Skater series of computer games were a vital introduction to music – one that, she argues, was far more effective than today's algorithm-driven discovery mechanisms

Xiu Xiu Detail New Duets Album, ‘OH NO’

Grouper, Chelsea Wolfe, Twin Shadow and more feature on the LP

Provoking An Emotional Response: Michael Mayer Interviewed

Kompakt co-owner and Cologne lynch-pin Michael Mayer has released a new album, Mantasy. John Doran catches up with him to talk lions in clubs and why he's not goth. Picture courtesy of Carlitos Trujillo