Another ten releases to explore…
Old Saw – The Wringing Cloth
The Wringing Cloth is the final document from New England collective Old Saw. Recorded on 1/4″ tape in various locations around New England, the double LP captures a sound both “familiar and obscured,” like a memory “weighed down with sensory information but no identifying details.” The unique ensemble—featuring fiddle, banjo, reed organ, harmonium, pedal steel, and “metal objects”—continues to trace the boundaries of form rather than aiming for the target outright.
While previous records only hinted at song-shapes, The Wringing Cloth “makes at least glancing contact” with them, all while retaining the “layered haze and drawl” that defines their sound. Described as “active and sculpted” rather than purely ambient, the music manipulates and unwinds with a warped precision. It’s a fittingly uncanny farewell from the group, walking off “further into that geographical dream without time or language until it’s just a speck of light.”
Poder del Alma – Poder del Alma (remastered)
In 1972, a devastating earthquake ravaged the capital, Managua. In the aftermath, Latin-rock superstar Carlos Santana organised a famous free benefit concert to raise funds. To open this massive event, a new “supergroup” was assembled from the absolute best musicians on the “Nica” scene. This nine-member, all-star band was called Poder del Alma.
What was intended as a one-off gig transformed into the nation’s most beloved 70s act. The band travelled to Guatemala to record this debut LP for Dideca in just one week. Despite a low budget, they captured a raw, explosive sound. The album is a “holy grail” of psychedelic Latin-funk, packed with fuzzed-out guitars, heavy percussion, and blazing horns. Tracks like “El Valle del Ayatimbo” and “Zúmbale” created a powerful, gritty document that remains a legend among collectors.
Mélanie Pain – How and Why
Mélanie Pain, known worldwide as the iconic voice of French collective Nouvelle Vague, is set to release her fourth solo album, ‘How and Why’, on November 21, 2025. This new record marks a shift toward intimate, raw folk, a stripped-back sound centred on acoustic guitar and Pain’s distinctively soft, elegant vocals.
Recorded live with her longtime band, it explores themes of melancholy and rebirth and also features a hypnotic duet with Brian Lopez (Calexico) and a sensual cover of Duman sung in Turkish.
Ryan Davis & the Roadhouse Band – New Threats from the Soul
Ryan Davis’s “New Threats from the Soul” cements him as what guitarist and composer Nathan Salsburg calls “one of the greatest songwriters of his generation.” Backed by the sprawling, “crackerjack” Roadhouse Band, Davis tackles the “perplexities of human efficacy” in an absurd world.
Despite the philosophical depth, the album is far from severe—Salsburg notes it’s “a shit-ton of fun,” filled with “earwigs” and thrilling arrangements. The lyrics are a masterclass, earning harmony support from heavyweights like Will Oldham and Catherine Irwin. Davis masterfully reduces the sublime to the prosaic, making you “laugh through a lump in your throat.”
Thomas Dollbaum – Drive All Night
Thomas Dollbaum follows his acclaimed 2022 debut Wellswood with Drive All Night, a six-song EP that excavates memory and place. Serving as a reintroduction to his singular, stirring voice, the EP was inspired by a drive from New Orleans to Tampa and the sudden death of an old friend. Dollbaum’s compelling lyricism—once compared to Springsteen and Arthur Russell—is sharper than ever. Tracks range from the hushed tragedy of “Whippits/Trailer Lights” to the closer “William Duffy’s Farm,” which, inspired by a James Wright poem, reflects on the ambiguity of “wasted time,” a central theme of this poignant collection.
Madala Kunene & Sibusile Xaba – kwaNTU
kwaNTU is a landmark collaboration that brings together two generations of South African guitar mastery: the revered elder Madala Kunene, ‘King of the Zulu Guitar’, and his student, the internationally acclaimed Sibusile Xaba. The album, whose title translates to “the place of the life-spirit,” is a meditative and deeply rooted dialogue recorded in Zululand. It finds the two musicians weaving a rich sonic fabric that honours the Zulu guitar tradition while moving resolutely outward. A powerful demonstration of musical lineage, the album captures the inimitable space of sound and spirit shared by the teacher and his student.
Lady Queen Paradise – Horoscope
A steadfast participant in the DIY music circuit since 2014, Lady Queen Paradise operates with a folk-punk ethos while thriving on contradiction. They cherish lo-fi voice memo recordings, which they champion not as demos but as “completely unfettered, private moments,” yet their live performances are an exercise in staggering presence. On stage, LQP’s delicate guitar and wide-spectrum voice deliver a genre they term “ariacore,” leaving audiences “wrecked, rattled, and disarmed.” According to their bio, this “multiplicity”—balancing folk intimacy with the grandness of opera (they are currently workshopping two)—has earned the Seattle-based artist a unique cult following of transsexuals, classical aficionados, and dusty folksingers.
Dominie Hooper – In This Body Lives
Dartmoor-raised artist Dominie Hooper has just released her compelling debut album, In This Body Lives (October 31, 2025). Produced by Ben Hillier (Depeche Mode, Blur), the album’s sound is rugged and dramatic, reflecting Hooper’s Dartmoor roots while drawing comparisons to the raw intensity of PJ Harvey and the brooding swagger of Richard and Linda Thompson.
Prominently featuring textured cello, guitar, and layered choral arrangements, the album is fleshed out by Hooper’s core band: drummer Dave Hamblett, guitarist Phil Self, and bassist Twm Dylan. Hillier’s collaborative production helped Hooper embrace rough edges, resulting in a free-flowing, powerful sound. Tracks explore themes of magic, metamorphosis, and the complex beauty of the countryside. Hooper describes the album as an offering to “celebrate living” and “all that I am.”
Jessica Moss – Unfolding
Jessica Moss’s new album, Unfolding, marks a shift toward her most meditative and ambient work, described as a “portal to collective mourning.” Deeply influenced by the “escalated genocide in Palestine” and her work with Musicians For Palestine, the album functions as a “searchlight… seeking one another out in the dark.”
Produced by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh, the record features deeply emotive, long-form compositions. The 13-minute centrepiece “One, Now,” featuring Tony Buck (The Necks), exemplifies this. It begins delicately with bass, chimes, and doleful violin lines drawing from Jewish and Arabic modes. The track slowly builds, layering violin melodies, field recordings, and ambient noise into a mesmerising dronescape, vitalised by Buck’s “paintbrush drumming.”
While ambient, the album draws from Moss’s distinct amalgam of post-classical, drone, minimalism, and Klezmer influences, creating a prevailing atmosphere of incantation and mournful restraint.
Daudi Matsiko – Dead Bird Dream
British-Ugandan singer-songwriter Daudi Matsiko’s 2024 debut album, ‘The King of Misery,’ received wide acclaim, described as a hauntingly beautiful exploration of depression, bipolar disorder, and finding hope in that experience. His new EP, Dead Bird Dream, drops later this month on Nov 28th, and the first single, Tiger’s Dream (featuring Tiger Cohen-Towell), dropped last month. If you haven’t come across Daudi’s music before, I highly recommend getting in early on this new release.