_'s description of this album is as follows

"You hear this album and will feel boring.
Contact me, if the other thing is felt.

The 32nd music played the folk song of the place where I live in"

That vague, mysterious message somehow fits perfectly with the music contained within.

_'s sound is probably best described as warm, organic, experimental fragmented collages, placed together in unison, to form music that is not all about song structure. It reminds me of the likes of Daisuke Miyatani, Sinebag, and others linked with the Ahornfelder or 12k labels.

Soothing guitars, hypnotic whirls, clicking, distant drumming, metallic hooks swinging in the distance, static, psych guitar strums, summer sounds, field recordings - these are a few of the notes I jotted down, and I realise that I'm not even a third of the way through this beautiful 33 track debut.

The latter half of the record retains some sounds and elements of the opening half, however, you do get the sense of a beginning, a middle, and an end, as the album progresses the difference between the opening tracks, and the latter tracks will be clearly evident to the listener. It is as though you are being told a story, but without any words. The listener is left to fill in the gaps.

If _ believes that the listener will be left feeling bored, then his inbox will soon be brimming telling otherwise.

Psychedelic pop must come easy to the youth of Cincinnati, Ohio, as Dark in the Fields seemingly untested, has managed to put out a blissfully surreal acoustic offering.

This ambitious, and strange recording is part Animal Collective, part George Harrison, and fully listenable.

The opening track is perhaps the standout, "Cat Cappy", which confusingly has a chorus which is the name of the second track. The fresh guitars, and gorgeous overlays will have your head spinning in no time.

Just too meet you 2, is an intriguing love song, which seemingly stops halfway through.....pauses.....before transferring its energies into another casual beat.

If your summer hasn't already started, then it soon will.

I always like to hear what an artist says about their own albums, you either get straightforward to the point responses, or over the top gesturing. When asked to describe this album, The if people were paper simply said "it has some cheesy sort of synthetic percussion and horns and shit. I don't know".

It is also his shortest release to date. Two releases have appeared on Rack & Ruin, and hopefully there will be more to follow. This is a poppier, less improvisational album, put to "Rotten Sugar" (RRR034). The album on a whole is heavier on the acoustic guitars, than the previous effort, but the sound is still highly recognisable.

Despite The if people were papers claims that this is a poppier record, do not expect easy simple listening. This is still as dark and haunting as the previous release. "God is Old" features some backwards vocals, and the track in a whole wouldn't have been out of place on a Twin Peaks dream sequence. "Asleep" had me convinced that it was going to be Xiu Xiu's cover of The Smiths song before a note was played - it wasn't, it was however a track that surely has some influence by the former.

The album starts straightforward enough, as The if people were paper may claim, but the deeper you get, the more the twists appear. The final track seems to threaten to restore normality, but then "click" it is cut, leaving the listener looking forward to the next offering.

The fact that this album has lay for two years without people being able to lap it up, is in itself a huge injustice. Fortunately, we are lucky enough to be able to bring it to Rack & Ruin records.

One track, Owls, previously appeared on a compilation album released by Now Hereness Records, but the other tracks lay unreleased, until now.

Campfire Fight, the rules: 1. No fighting allowed. 2. Buy a pack of beer and some snacks. 3. Grab some mates and head to the park. 4. Bring a guitar, a tambourine, some boxes, anything that can be used as a drum. 5. Watch the sunset. 6. Bash out some beautiful, acoustic instrumental tunes as the birds in the trees sing their last songs of the day. That’s Campfire Fight: chilled out acoustic loveliness!

The Sonic Minefield blog, recently made a post about Japanese musician _, on his debut offering it was written, " _ is a very modest Japanese artist who makes a kind of ambient noise that sounds like a soundtrack to a as yet unmade film, maybe by Gus Van Sant about someone bumbling along with beautiful arty shots and not much dialog."

If that offering was for the beautiful arty sequences, then this offering, which is a combined effort from _, and UK musician *, is probably the nighclub scene. But instead of actors playing the roles, they have been replaced by anime caricatures.

None of the tracks really threaten to be laid back ambience, the heavy use of samples, and upbeat drum beats remove that chance - despite the odd tinkling of the piano. bunny and the electric horseman, could quite easily be the soundtrack to a disturbing childrens stop motion film for instance, whereas in complete contract the following track, john lennon vs the martians is an upbeat dance number.

_ is a mystery, as is his UK collaborator, *, but what wondeful mysteries.

To say that I am delighted to able to put this out to the masses is an understatement. This compilation album of various Rack & Ruin artists covering more mainstream artists, is as good an introduction to Rack & Ruin as you are likely to get.

Rack & Ruin prides itself on promoting artists that they find to be interesting, which does cover a vast spectrum of sounds, and to hear a selection of these sounds here - with the bonus of covering more well known artists is a real treat.

Whether you like the garage rock sound of Moon Runners, who cover an unreleased John Maus track, the indiepop bliss of Tyson Brinacombe's Spice Girls cover (which in all honesty could probably reach number 1 in 36 different countries), or the experimental noise of Roger Haddad taking on Interpol, there is one thing that is for sure - there will be something on this album will which suit your tastes.

To end with, Attacking Plaque invited other Rack & Ruin artists to sing along to a cover by The Unicorns. A mean feat on its own, but to say that these other artists have never met, and live all over the globe is an outstanding achievement.

The prolific Roger Haddad returns to Rack & Ruin, this time with a collaborative effort with Patrick Hussey. Despite being a collaboration, this is also a good introduction to Roger Haddad's other releases, encapsulating the loud, and the quiet, the clean, and the distorted. That being said, on the opening track, "Piano Loop", it appears to myself that the opening track is much more calming and laid back that Roger Haddad's previous works - perhaps Patricky Hussey is the man behind this opener. But towards the end of a dreamlike opener, it blends into crackling, distortion - a telltale sign of Roger Haddad's touch.

As the album develops, then sounds blur into one, leaving you hypnotised with the swaying ethereal rhythm gradually being nibbled away at by rumbling distant echoes of distortion.

This is an excellent 40 minute excursion into two refreshing minds coming together, to form an inventive example of what can be done when warm dreamy ambience, is mixed with crackling overlaid noise.

We, at Rack & Ruin are very pleased to be able to welcome PJE to the label. PJE is UK based artist Phil Edwards, writer and producer of melodic, melancholic electronica. His style is created using organic keyboards, simple percussion and beats, field recordings, samples and various guitar effects.

Phil has already had two releases out, one "In perspective EP" (sold out) was released in 2007 on October Man Recordings, and another EP "A different place" is available for download from the Cold Room netlabel. It is a priveledge to be able to put out "Multiply", his debut album.

The opening track, is the forementioned album title, and "Multiply" is as fitting a name as you could hope for. Starting with some background loops of children and parents chattering, before being overlaid with more and more layers, growing, expanding, on repeat listens of the opener there is almost a guarantee that you will hear something that you had previously missed. The friendly warm keyboard sounds may sound welcoming, but there is also an air of sadness and melancholy which threatens to cut through.

As the album develops, the pattern of anodyne melodies continue, but the underlying unsettling sadness is always never far from bubbling to the surface. The clever use of samples, and field recordings throughout, only add to the eerieness - not too dissimilar to the sort of feeling that you may get from having an all day session listening to artists from the Ghost Box label.

That is not to say that the album is downbeat, the upbeat and spacey "Convex" for instance is a solid and fascinating track. That, coupled with the nice pace throughout the entirity of this album, make this marriage of melancholy with snippets of hope, a poetic unity.

Rob Bridgett returns to Rack & Ruin, with this static hungry, uptempo offering. Unlike previous offerings, Londra perhaps contains more drumbeats, and mechanical hits than his previous works on Rack & Ruin.

Londra has a sound of industry going throughout, whereas the soft organic tones are still there (in places), the mechanic chitters, whirls, and bashes are certainly more domineering.

The title track is a gorgeous offering, seamlessly morphing an almost minimal-techno sound, into a blissful hypnotic anthem, with ethereal female vocals cooing in the background.

The penultimate track is also one which deserves a mention, with its droning cascades, and dramatic textures. It leaves the listener wondering what to expect as the track develops - half expecting a bassy drum beat to break into the noise. What is guaranteed is that the sounds that are heard, will surely take you by surprise. That is one of the strong points for Rob Bridgett, he manages to surprise, in a field that is often a little short of surprises.

This is a clever release from Rob Bridgett, it has enough here to please his current audience, and yet also offers a different side to reach out and grab others.

The brand new full-length from TASRU isn't all that brand new. 12 tracks of early recordings from Thomas Grathwol's high school days, the product of procrastination, thinking way too much about girls, and an attempt to make some sick ass music.

TASRU have already put out one of Rack & Ruin's most downloaded EP's, and this will surely follow suit. It is another fantastic display of melodic dance indiepop. This release is a collection of songs recorded over a 4 year period of Thoms life.

I really don't need to write any more - you will download this - you will love it - your friends will download it - they will love it. It will become one of Rack & Ruin's most downloaded albums.