- Birdz is a rapper who’s been making waves out of Melbourne since a bit before his debut full-length, Train Of Thought back in 2017. His polished skills underwrite conscious hip hop full of sadness, anger and strength. These feelings return in force on his new EP Place Of Dreams, putting muscle and sinew on another steely-eyed review of race relations in Australia and continuing to tell the story of what it’s like to be a black man, trying to make your way through it all.

- Californian political punk legends Bad Religion are back with Age Of Unreason – astonishingly, their 17th studio album.

Fans of the band will be reassured within 30 seconds of album opener Chaos From Within that all the familiar Bad Religion ingredients are present – fast skate punk riffs, group harmonies, and a chorus that rhymes “existential” with “elemental”.

- With Useless Coordinates, the frenetic forthcoming debut album from Leed’s dark pop darlings Drahla, we are delivered, dazed and delighted, to the meeting place of jangly art rock, no-wave & pulsing post-punk. After teasing out a string of saccharine sweet, critically adored and instantly infectious singles since 2016, Drahla finally satisfies our cravings for a full-length release; one which is plump with musings on mysticism & modern anxieties.

- My favourite Big Thief songs have names. They’re about a Paul, a Lorraine, a Matthew. On UFOF, the Brooklyn band’s frontwoman Adrienne Lemker gives us new characters to revel in, and it’s arguable they’re central to the record’s success.

- The breadth of Russia’s underground electronic scene makes delving into it a daunting task. DIY collectives like John’s Kingdom are borrowing from Western influences and try to bring worldwide attention to the largely neglected scene. It was on this label where Moscow’s Kedr Livanskiy first appeared in 2016 with her debut EP January Sun. Since then she has emerged as one of the faces of the bourgeoning scene.

- The new collaborative album Transforma by Avina Vishnu is out shortly on WeMe Records. Both of those names represent a new project from Heinrich Mueller (aka Gerald Donald, member of seminal electro/techno groups Drexciya and Dopplereffekt amongst others) and Aina (whose identity remains cryptic). On Transforma they meld synthetic sounds with more naturalistic ones to make an interesting album of ambience.