Camera - Prosthuman (Bureau B)

 

I only discovered Camera a few weeks ago, in time to grab their fifth studio album ‘Prosthuman’ when I saw that it had just been released. The Berlin quartet have spent the last decade trying to bring Krautrock back into fashion, with their propulsive metronomic rockers and abstract soundscapes, and I for one am thankful for their efforts. These mostly instrumental tracks are superb, and re-capture the genre perfectly.     

Camera - Kartoffelstampf

Elephant9 - Arrival Of The New Elders (Rune Grammofon)

After the excellence of 2019’s 'Psychedelic Backfile' releases, a new album from Norwegian jazz-rockers Elephant9 was always going to be a treat. While the 2019 albums were master-classes in lengthy fusion workouts, the new album sounds more thoughtful, with nothing over 7-minutes in length, but the stellar musicianship still shines through on this collection of top of the range jazz-rock fusion instrumentals.    

Elephant9 - Arrival Of The New Elders

The Besnard Lakes - The Besnard Lakes Are The Last Of The Great Thunderstorm Warnings (Full Time Hobby)

Canadian psyche-rockers The Besnard Lakes have been quiet for far too long, and so their first album in five years is a cause for celebration. It’s their first double album, being an 80-minute rumination on death and the afterlife, but if there's one band that can pull that off then it’s these guys. With scorching guitar solos, swirling synths and the dual vocals of Jace and Olga, it all builds up to the stunning 17-minute title track.     

The Besnard Lakes - Raindrops

Arc Of Life - Arc Of Life (Frontiers Music SRL)

 

Arc Of Life are a new band, and this is their debut album, but you should recognise the names of Billy Sherwood  and Jon Davison, both current members of Yes, in the line-up. With a pedigree like that, the band have a lot to prove, but this album pulls it off in no uncertain style, with a sound both familiar and fresh at the same time. Some songs do hark back to later-period Yes, but mostly it’s fine modern prog.         

Arc Of Life - Life Has A Way

Goat Girl - On All Fours (Rough Trade)

I raved about Goat Girl’s first album back in 2018, as it seemed so fresh and uncompromising, but over the years of playing it I felt that there were too many short, unfocussed sketches of songs on it to make for a fully satisfying listening experience. It’s great to be able to say that on this album all the songs come fully-formed, with their new-found maturity evident on every track, elevating them to another level.   

     
Goat Girl - Pest

The Weather Station - Ignorance (Fat Possum Records)

The Weather Station is the brainchild of one Tamara Lindeman, who has been working under the name for twelve years, and for her fifth album has written a batch of songs that revolve around both personal and planetary concerns. She put together a band who understood just what she wanted, and the result is an album of some beauty, though opening with the four best songs could overshadow the rest of the album.     

The Weather Station - Robber

WAWAWOW - Pink Elephant (Bandcamp)

I featured WAWAWOW in New Band Special back in 2017, acclaiming their King Gizzard-like take on psyche-rock, and now they’ve finally delivered their debut album. The outfit also inject some electro into the mix, and so ‘Elephant Bird' bounces along with a suitably psyche-tinged vocal, random bleeps, and is overlaid with a commentary on the titular beast! It’s weird and wonderful stuff, and oddly compelling.    

WAWAWOW - Pink