Pareidolia is a subtle and teasing record, beautiful and sometimes bewildering. It has an engrossing element that resembles the arc of a story, which is difficult to achieve in improvisational music but which gives you an insight into how closely and how well Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O’Rourke work together, and how much background work they put into this intuitive, cohesive album.

In his new album Só Ouço, German-Spanish artist Wolfgang Pérez chronicles a two-year journey through Rio de Janeiro that profoundly reshaped his musical perspective. The project, which started as a formal study, evolved into a full immersion in the city’s rhythms and culture. The result is a vibrant musical dialogue between his European roots and the complex soul of Brazil, born from unexpected collaborations.

Newcastle legend Nev Clay shares “I flew a flag” – “I’m mindful that it’s a topic that’s been in the news, but the song’s about something else entirely. I’ve been thinking a lot too about my friend and local musical hero George Welch, who passed away last week.” Nev also has a Newcastle show on September 4th with The Burning Hell and Jon McKiel…this will be a bit special.

American musician and intermedia artist M. Sage has released a new single and video, “Wading the Plain,” from his upcoming album Tender / Wading. He directed the accompanying video, which he calls a form of “excavation.” Through arranging objects and light, he seeks a “congress” between things that creates a logic “beyond human.” He has several US tour dates planned with and without Patrick Shiroshi.

Following a diagnosis of a degenerative nerve condition and told he would no longer be able to play guitar, Amit Dattani taught himself a new way of playing, and, several years on, defiantly returns with ‘Wrong Kind of One’, an album that’s as strong as his debut and deserving of further glowing accolades.

With Patterns, Katy Pinke & Will Graefe nail the perfect cover album, hitting an impeccable balance between variety of material and consistency of tone. While covering well-known songs by Bobbie Gentry, The Beach Boys, Elliott Smith, SZA, Frank Ocean, Paul Simon and Jeff Buckley, you could come to Patterns without knowing any of these songs, and it would still be an entrancing and rewarding listen.

“I feel like I’m looking a little bit more outward now,” confesses Brian Christinzio, aka BC Camplight. And with good reason. He talks to KLOF Mag about “A Sober Conversation”, his fifth album for Bella Union in a decade, his seventh overall, which has been universally acclaimed, praised not just for his songwriting chops and musicianship, but also its subject matter.

Thirty years ago this month, Will Oldham released his third full-length album, Viva Last Blues, under the moniker Palace Music. Oldham proved that a DIY aesthetic could be married with American folk traditions to create something new and profound. The album’s lasting impact is not about its specific sound but about its radical artistic ethos: a record doesn’t need to be pristine to be a timeless masterpiece.

New Orleans-based artist Thomas Dollbaum returns with his latest EP, Drive All Night, a six-song collection, out on September 26th via Dear Life Records. Inspired by a personal journey, Dollbaum excavates and reconstructs a sense of place from his past. The EP marks a poignant reintroduction to a stirring and singular voice on the southern landscape; watch the music video for his lead single “Angus Valley”.

This week’s Monday Morning Brew playlist features music from Mama’s Broke, Joseph Decosimo, DUG, Ian Humberstone, Lewis McLaughlin & Beth Malcolm, Dean Johnson, The Deep Dark Woods, James Yorkton & Nina Persson, Madi Diaz, Brad Klolodner, Sally Anne Morgan, Cameron Knowler, Paper Wings, Early James, Lucy Dacus, Jeff Tweedy, Cut Worms, Chantal Acda, P.S. Lucas & Florent Manevoh, The Desoto Caucus, Heron, Pharis & Jason Romero, and New Dangerfield.

Ustad Noor Bakhsh plays End of the Road this month; his debut album, ‘Jingul,’ was a breathtaking journey through sound and history. This Benju maestro’s music, from Pakistan’s Makran Coast, masterfully blends influences from Africa, Persia, and Arabia. Joined by Jamadar Goharam and Rahmdil on the traditional Damburag, watch them performing ‘Sanj’, a tune composed by the legendary Bilawal Belgium.

KLOF Mag’s Gareth Thompson chats to Pneumatic Tubes, aka Jesse Chandler (Midlake and Mercury Rev), about his new album ‘Runner’s High’, referencing “a feeling you can’t get on drugs.” He shares that when he started running, “It coincided with the birth of my first child, my daughter Nico. It’s strange that my dad began running when my mom was pregnant with me.”