By Will McGuirk

Oh man I could listen to this Belgian metalgaze act, Slow Crush, new album “Hush” all day long, and all night. Pummelling Thor hammer like beats stomp and swashes of ethereal guitars, its a bloodied My Bloody Valentine, a deafening Deafheaven, a Portishead smashed in. Powerful stuff. Dig out their debut ‘Aurora.’

Mdou Moctar, Altin Gun, Orions Belte, Somali Yacht Club, and of course Khruangbin, are some of the bands bringing some width to the rock ’n roll. Etran de L’Air are another act I’m digging into. Such celebration and optimism to their sound, known as it is as ‘Desert Blues’. Etran de L’Air (the Stars of the Air) are from Northern Niger and the music they play is strongly associated with weddings, baptisms etc, all occasions of joy and the tunes bring it all.

A working class hero is something to be so Hurray for the Riff Raff. The HRR aka Alynda Segarra are a collage of influences, nips and tucks of references, some Bowie, some New Order, some Leonard Cohen, some Kate Bush, but as is the way with fragments, step further away not closer to see the picture, and you get all of this. Go macro not micro.