<p><span><span><span>- Ambient music has a reputation -more or less fairly earned, who can say?- for being, at times, like aural wallpaper. Soundscapes full of intellectual pretensions and not a whole lot else. I can’t imagine this is an accusation I will ever be able to level at Timothy Fairless, a Meanjin/Brisbane composer whose already lengthy career has featured numerous releases that fall, at least partially, under the umbrella of the genre, but no two of which are very much alike.

- The relentless Raquel Solier is back and as busy as ever, maybe busier. The drummer for all the cool bands, most recently MOD CON, (but see also Palm Springs, Geoffrey O’Connor and so on), drummer and co-producer on projects with Racerage, Papaphillia and Kuya Neil, oh and working mother, somehow finds time to also be Various Asses and not ever come close to sounding like they're phoning it in. How?