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With tracks going from the sweet and gentle, into power punk within the space of a minute, it can only be the latest release combining the efforts of Steve Bromley (Gnomefoam), Bunny and _ (err... _).

Horror Punks is a wild fun 'epic', that has more twists than your average M. Night Shyamalan flick. The opener is the delightful "Evergreen no niwa ni kirisame", with it's sweet Japanese vocals, it sounds like it could be a Maher Shalal Hash Baz offshoot, before introducing new vocals which aren't too dissimilar from The Field Mice's Robert Wratten.

When you are all expectant of what to expect, you are shocked to hear the title track. A lo-fi power punk trip with snotty nosed vocals, and anthemic chorus.

The 'anata' trip continues, whistling through styles and genres at breakneck speed. This is a fun, exciting, and varied adventure that the 'anata' boys seem to take in their stride. Nonchalantly skipping from one catchy chorus into a blast of noise that will catch you unawares.

This is an exciting project that is already receiving praise from certain fields. And with another EP out on Bearsuit, the future looks very bright.

nervous is the first Rack & Ruin release from Anna Bradley. This EP was completed in six weeks, and was created entirely by NYC's Kipling, except for one guitar part, one bass part, and the drums (which were played by three different friends).

The EP was recorded on home equipment onto Garageband, and then mastered by a friend with Logic. In the words of Kipling, "I guess you could call it lo-fi, though the sounds wouldn't really corroborate with that assessment. The music is guitar and vocal-melody driven, with lots of feedback. I would consider it indie rock; and perhaps the buried vocals could be considered shoegaze. The only thing I would say for certain is that a lot of heart went into it."

We cannot dispute that accurate assessment. Four mesmerising tracks that are fitting to the Rack & Ruin output.

On Magnavox's two previous Rack & Ruin releases, those EP's showed delicate shades of light and shade, allowing the listener to hear a varied mix from Kevin Cardinales' vast repertoire. With "Found Vibrations", Cardinal manages to not only build on his previous work, but to bring them together in beautiful unison.

Influences run deep throughout this album, from the catchy pop of "Man, Ick", the repetitive nursery rhyme 'this-will-stick-in-your-head-ness' of "Go To Sleep", through to the straight up tropical beats of "Jungle Rave", Cardinale not only approaches each song with seemingly fresh ears, but he still manages to blend them in together to make this an 'album album', and not one of thoses where you can just listen to the occasional song here and there.

Of course there are still the heavily layered sounds, and repetitive loops, but it is the intricate construction, and attention to detail, that rewards the listener every time they double click the .mp3 files.

"Found Vibrations" is unashamed, easily digestable music that the casual listener will love, but also it has more than enough going on to please the connoisseur needing to find their next fix of overwhelming and inspirational music.

Chad Golda's solo album may surprise a few fans of his starstarstar project, but it is certainly won't alienate them. A dark droning build-up that stirs throughout the opening few tracks may be reminiscent of the opening moments on the starstarstar track 'Loust, before the tempo is upped a notch, with the head nodding, foot tapping, 'original 4'.

The album certainly feels like an auditory novel, a bleak and barren story which grows into one of hope, and optimism. Along with the new, and often unexpected directions there are some moments which have the sweet familiarity of old, like a warm cozy evening with familiar faces. In its entirety, this is an album without words - although even without them it still feels rich in storytelling.

As with starstarstar, Chad Golda is more than willing to share his thought process, and influences when making this album. In his own words this is an 'electronic inspired sound medium', it contains 'acoustic arrangements of human movement', with an 'original blending of times past'.

Everything you hear is performed, ordered and sythesized by Chad Golda. The beautiful freeflowing artwork comes courtesy of himself, along with Samantha Ruiz.

"Raised by Best Friends", is the Crayons first assembled album. The album is a collection of songs they made together over the years and songs they made for performances. These songs reflect the group's ideals about music and also act as a reflection on each other’s experiences.

Lyrically the album is defined by vague honesty and lightheartedness, although as The Crayons put it, "we do not want to over describe it for everybody responds differently to musical things".

Outside a musical connotation, "Raised by Best Friends" can best be described as a reflection of the musical and non-musical friendship of its members, as the songs were made over the course of its most instrumental period. The music embodies the notion that being honest with yourself is fostered by your friends whom shape you more than one might think.

But "Raised by Best Friends" is a music album first, so of course the first intent of the album is to get everyone to swing with catchy melodies, moving beats, and harmonic vocals. The production is honest, the words are honest, the intent is honest, and the result is personal; a personal piece put together by three friends, for you.

Kriva's new EP "Keep Breathing" is the second EP release from Kriva, and follow-up to his earlier LP "Charis". "Keep Breathing" is however the first release on Rack & Ruin records.

This EP is very heavily influenced by Kriva's work in a hospital, in which he encounters sick and dying people
on a daily basis. The songs have been described as "how I imagine the world sounds when you're slipping into
a coma," and when asked his thoughts, Kriva responded that he liked to think that's fairly accurate. He then went on to say, "How you interpret the songs, however, is up to you."

So interpret I will. This EP is brimming with heartbreaking piano melodies, punctuated by melancholic distant echoes, and forlorn cello. This is an EP of stark, raw emotion. Intricate, reflective and thoroughly mesmerising.

My life is made so much easier when the artist describes his work in his own words. Not only does it give more of an insight to their inspirations, but it really allows you to know the thought process involved and what goes into the music itself. With that in mind, here is what Sub-Woofer Special had to say....

The EP “Beware of Bi-Polar Bears” is the first “test” of Sub-Woofer Special’s new sound. After listening to a lot of acoustic artists such as Lightspeed Champion and The Dodos, the idea of bringing in an acoustic guitar came into play. Once the guitar was brought in, other instruments began to come to mind as well like the violin, cello, etc. As stated before, this EP is just a test to see if people like it. A huge thank you goes out to Lightspeed Champion, The Dodos, Matt & Kim, and Islands for their inspiration. Work on the next (hopefully) full length CD has already begun. The release date for the said album, however, is still unclear.

After casually listening to Jason the Swamp, Olivine was suddenly inspired to make music and actually record it. So she jumped out of bed, made an EP, and decided to perform under the name “Hungry Owl.” A simple, straight-forward tale in how musical projects are formed.

Hungry Owl makes music that often barely reaches the one minute mark. Folkpop tinged guitar strum along anthems that have the knack of sticking in your head for an entire day, (as happened to myself with "Go Home").

Perhaps the only downside to this blissful EP is the fact that it is criminally short, six 'blink and you'll miss them' tracks in just over five minutes. Although no doubt it will seem longer, as once the last track has finished you will be sure to hit play again.

As a sign of gratitude, Hungry Owl chose the front and back covers to be of Jason himself.

Cutthroat Convention are a mysterious bunch. Their faces hidden away behind peasant hats, their music equally masked behind unconventional yet compelling patterns. Much has already been written about the band from various sources, including the established voices such as Time Out, as well as BBC Radio 6. But a quick summary of this act would probably mention the keywords, "London via Japan", "eclectic", and probably "strange".

Denizens of the bath house, is a very unconventional record, like fellow Rack & Ruin artists "anata wa sukkari tsukarete shimai", who incidently are another Japan/UK bunch, the twists are turns in this record are unexpected, creative, and rather unique.

Blending discombobulated alternative rock with mini-epic violin driven post-punk may sound quite an undertaking, but Cutthroat Convention do it with such style, and confidence to boot.

Witch Porn is more of a project than an album or a band. It was started around the beginning of the summer by Taylor Ross (America Del Sur / Picayunes) with the intention of releasing a noise rock full length on Halloween, which Taylor says is his favorite holiday.

At first the album was to be solely about zombies and other horror subjects, but it was soon realized how novel the whole idea was and instead opted for serious subject matter. So on this album you will find songs about zombies, songs that are indirectly about zombies, and songs that are not about zombies at all.

All of the songs were written and recorded by Taylor with the exception of the intro, interlude, and outro, which were the result of a drunken grindcore recording session at Haunted Barn (the name given to a friends guesthouse on the premise of his giant farm in St. Augustine.) These sessions featured Ben G. (real name Tory Coates) on drums, Taylor on guitar, and Matt Kozdras on vocals, who hadn't ever picked up a microphone before that fateful night, but had just weeks prior completed boot camp and clearly had a lot of pent up anger to release.

Musically this album has all the trademarks you have come to like from Taylor's other projects. There is still the lazy summer vibe that follows, and yes, I will mention Pavement as I regularly do when discussing his music. The intermissions are a whole different kettle of fish however, being more heavy Rollins than lazy Malkmus.