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Maja S. K. Ratkje

Sult

The latest from Maja Ratkje on Rune Grammofon combines euphoric vocal refrains with playful organ melodies

Funk In A Cold Climate – The Strange World Of… A Certain Ratio

Factory Records stalwarts and pioneering groove alchemists A Certain Ratio take Ed Power on a guided tour of their strange, thrilling and sometimes humorous adventures in pop

Angel-Ho

Death Becomes Her

For her debut album proper on Hyperdub, Angel-Ho flips the lens on pop's appropriative tendencies, finds Bob Cluness

Magic Number: The Story Of 3 Feet High And Rising

30 years ago, four school friends from Long Island changed the world. Angus Batey pieces together the story of De La Soul, their groundbreaking debut, and what happened afterwards

Mexican Excellence: Carnaval De Bahidorá Reviewed

Patrick Clarke takes a trip to the depths of the Mexican countryside, and finds one of the most beautiful festivals on earth. But Bahidorá's lessons for an overstuffed British circuit go far beyond just its lovely location

Preview: Thirty Years of Sonic Youth’s Daydream Nation

Sonic Youth’s fifth album – and defining statement – is being given the tribute it’s long deserved with a new film by Lance Bangs and a new cut of Charles Atlas’ seminal doc, Put Blood in the Music

Very, Very Online: Fernando Sdrigotti’s Shitstorm

The first in a new series of novelettes from Open Pen, Shitstorm by Fernando Sdrigotti reads like flash fiction for the news

Once Upon A Time In America: The Violence Of Cady Noland

John Quin sees a terrific artist making America grate again at the Museum für Moderne Kunst, Frankfurt

Albums Of The Month: Music We’ve Loved This February

From Xiu Xiu to Sleaford Mods, Efdemin to Cosey Fanni Tutti, this is our favourite music of the last four weeks

Noise And Fury: Jesus Hopped The ‘A’ Train At The Young Vic

Tom Bolton reviews a new production of Adly Guirgis' prison drama at the Young Vic, London

Errant Monks

Psychopposition / The Limit Experience

In two new releases from Manchester's Errant Monks, Noel Gardner finds strong contenders for the UK underground’s top scorchers of 2019

Vulnerability Is Power – Little Simz’ Grey Area Reviewed

The prolific Little Simz is back with her best album to date, and one which ought to make the mainstream sit up and pay attention, says Anna Cafolla

Sleaford Mods

Eton Alive

Sleaford Mods new album is a huge leap forward and a welcome exploration of the nuances of masculine identity, says Luke Turner

“I Enjoy Silence!”: Michael Rother’s 13 Favourite Albums

With a show at London's Under The Bridge on 5 April, Michael Rother of Neu!, Harmonia, and a newly-boxsetted solo career takes Patrick Clarke through his life in 13 records, from Little Richard to Fuck Buttons, even though he doesn't really listen to music any more

Noel’s Straight Hedge: Your Punk & Hardcore Reviews For February

Noel Gardner says hello to Low Life, Drinking Boys And girls Choir and Muro, while saying farewell to Maximum RocknRoll...

Living In Another World: Remembering Mark Hollis

Following news yesterday of the loss of Mark Hollis, Talk Talk's mastermind, Wyndham Wallace pays tribute to a man who truly understood music's magic and mystery

After The Flood: Talk Talk’s Laughing Stock 30 Years On

A triumph of art over commerce or ruthless, selfish exploitation? On the anniversary of its release, Wyndham Wallace looks at the complex story behind Talk Talk’s final, legendary album

Polar Shift: An Interview With Pulled By Magnets’ Seb Rochford

After the end of jazz outliers Polar Bear, their leader Seb Rochford underwent monumental personal change. He speaks to Patrick Clarke about re-connecting with his Indian heritage, studying under master musicians in Mysuru, and the ancient texts that informed his staggering new project

Black To Comm

Seven Horses For Seven Kings

Black To Comm’s latest is a masterpiece of sound design, and that’s no backhanded compliment, says Bernie Brooks

The Sky Would Open Up: Twenty Years of Sleater-Kinney’s The Hot Rock

Len Lukowski explores what Sleater-Kinney’s uncompromising album of emotional extremes meant to a teenage queer in 1999, and what it means now, on the twentieth anniversary of its release

The Plotters: A Beautifully Balanced Korean Noir

In The Plotters, the first of Korean author Un-Su Kim's books to be translated into English, Hannah Clark finds a novel to linger on

Marshmallow World: Henry Hudson At Hannah Barry

Allan Gardner steps into a winter wonderland at Hannah Barry Gallery, Peckham

Nothing Is Trite: PJ Harvey In A Dog Called Money

Neil Fox looks deeper into PJ Harvey's process as revealed by new film A Dog Called Money

A Chance To Cut: Ed Atkins Curates Stan Brakhage, David Kamp

John Quin finds the first cut is the deepest at Berlin's Schinkel Pavilion

Spellling

Mazy Fly

Lessons Learnt: Joe Mount Of Metronomy’s Favourite Albums

As Metronomy reissue 'Nights Out' for its 10th anniversary, their frontman Joe Mount sits down with Patrick Clarke to pick his favourite records, and explain how they shaped him

Ugly Songs For Ugly Times: Xiu Xiu’s Girl With Basket Of Fruit

Xiu Xiu return on the wonderful Upset The Rhythm label with another album of dissonant, angry songs about the current state of global awfulness

Desperate Journalist

In Search Of The Miraculous

Sculpt A Rodin From Mashed Potato: On Tour With Ecstatic Material

Outlands is a new network of promoters, arts organisations and curators putting on strange and wonderful performances in the corners of New Weird Britain. Their last tour featured Beatrice Dillon making a racket to splatter sculptor Keith Harrison's Play-Doh - Jennifer Lucy Allan reports

Columnus Metallicus: February In Heavy Metal Album Reviews

Kez Whelan looks at the good, the bad and the very very ugly (hello Pissgrave) when it comes to the best heavy metal albums released this month. This feature contains very NSFW imagery

King Midas Sound

Solitude

Kevin Martin and Roger Robinson team up for the heaviest King Midas Sound yet, a bleak telling of a love gone wrong

In An English Country Garden: The Much Missed Radicalism of Derek Jarman

A quarter of a century after the death of Derek Jarman in February 1994, Adam Scovell looks back at one of the most radical artists of his day, and wonders where we might find his ilk today. All images courtesy of the BFI.