Joanna Newsom
On her new orchestral album Ys, the Californian harper's epic tales have been enhanced by collaborations with Van Dyke Parks, Steve Albini and Jim O'Rourke. By Rob Young

Lasse Marhaug
Following another abundant crop of CDs, Anne Hilde Neset pins down the prolific Norwegian noisenik about Jazzkamer, Black Metal and the idea of North

Haunted Audio
Simon Reynolds sketches the spectral presences in the work of Ghost Box, Trunk Records and others, mining resonances from British post-war TV, film and library music

Christof Kurzmann
The Austrian laptopper and Charhizma label founder fuses pop song structures with electroacoustic improvisation. By Dan Warburton

Invisible Jukebox: Om
The San Francisco stoner Metal duo detect rhythms and repetitions in tracks by Mahavishnu Orchestra, Melvins, Tony Conrad and more. Tested by Edwin Pouncey

Cross Platform: Mika Taanila
The Finnish artist's retro-futurist collage films encompass robot soccer and utopian housing units. By Ken Hollings

Victor Gama
Louise Gray decodes the polystylistic Angolan-Portuguese composer and improvisor's harmonic bursts

Colleen
The French multi-instrumentalist's latest release finds new uses for vintage music boxes. By David Stubbs

Tovah Olson
The Dead Machines member tells Marc Masters about her untutored approach to noise

Global Ear
Ronni Shendar on the clashing contexts of music and politics in West Jerusalem

Epiphanies
A chance exposure to Public Enemy prompts Philip Brophy to reconsider the edicts of John Cage

Print Run
The Book Of Exodus: The Making & Meaning Of Bob Marley And The Wailers' Album Of The Century, By Vivien Goldman; Lee Morgan: His Life, Music And Culture, By Tom Perchard; The Bob Dylan Encyclopedia, By Michael Gray; Rough Trade, By Rob Young

On Screen
Einstürzende Neubauten: Listen With Pain DVD; Misha Mengelberg: Afijn DVD; Chaya Czemowin: Pnima... Ins Innere, DVD

On Site
Jem Finer Score For A Hole In The Ground, King's Wood, UK; Continuum: Weekend Des Arts Sonores, Dijon, France

On Location
Numusic Festival, Stavanger, Norway; Larsen & Friends Turin, Italy; Sound Forest, Riga, Lativa; Satoko Fujii With Itaru Oku Unit, Osaka, Japan; The Merce Cunningham Dance Company, London, UK; Wooden Octopus Experimental Musick (P)festival, Seattle, USA