Album: Bat For Lashes
‘The Haunted Man’ (Parlophone)
We nearly didn’t get this third album from Natasha Khan but if she’d actually quit music (due to writer’s block) we’d have really missed out. Whilst not as instantly arresting as its predecessors, ‘The Haunted Man’ is a more grown up, take-me-as-you-find-me offering. Gone are the quirky hooks that made ‘Fur & Gold’ so instant and in their place is a raw, emotional openness. The electronic beats of ‘Rest Your Head’ don’t jar with the gentle, melancholic, soul-searching tone, while even at its poppiest – stand out track ‘Laura’, a melodramatic piano ballad in the vein of ‘Sad Eyes’ – things stay bravely fragile. (JK)

Album: Bunty
‘MOS1’ (buntycamp.bandcamp.com)
This is the first instalment of Bunty’s seven-part multi-media release ‘Multimos’, in which she meets the many-headed King Zacky and the listener is a Third Party Force. Madder than seven boxes of frogs, but it sounds great. Colourful Bunty is part of the Beatabet Collective and has more creativity than could be contained in one genre. She works fantasy stories sung in her old-fashioned vocals with samples recorded on the streets, synth beats, giggling, harmonies and progressive percussion to make something equally weird and wonderful. (JMM)

Single: Ambassadeurs
‘My World’ (ambassadeurs.bandcamp.com)
Local producer Mark Dobson, or Ambassadeurs, had one of Brighton’s smash hits last year with ‘M.O.P.E.’, a progressive beat-laden track which is deliciously rhythmic. This 12’’ release sees ‘M.O.P.E.’ and the gasping, computer-music-driven ‘Duke Red’ on one side, and two entirely new tracks on the other. Ambassadeurs’ unique style takes from glitch, techno and drone, but somehow remains light, smooth and accessible. Leading the pack of talented Brighton producers, Ambassadeurs is representing us very well indeed. (JMM)

Album: Memotone
‘I Sleep. At Waking’ (Black Acre)
Memotone’s new to Brighton, but has been one of electronic music’s most original artists for a while. Eschewing typical pre-recorded samples and synths, Memotone creates his atmospheric, dark songs by layering the sounds he creates using a harp, harmonica, violin, piano and very imaginative use of a field recorder in the countryside. ‘I Sleep. At Waking’ is a lesson in capable experimentation: the haunting, wan depth of ‘Rooftops’ contrasts with the breakcore-influenced ‘Djakka,’ and the album as a whole is a voyage you’ll definitely want to keep repeating. (JMM)

Demo: Al Chamberlain
‘Train Song’ (soundcloud.com/alchamberlain)
“Out of the blue, a girl said to me, ‘Sadness is the track and happiness is the station, that’s why life doesn’t live up to most people’s expectations.’” Wise words from Al Chamberlain’s ‘Train Song’, a heartstring-jerking journey through a rolling acoustic landscape, telling the tale of a drunk girl in a bar who has begun to talk in worrying metaphors.  For anyone who likes their music as raw and brutal as a First Capitol Connect, this is for you. (NJF)

Album: Hidden Orchestra
‘Archipelago’ (Tru Thoughts)
‘Archipelago’ is the sumptuous second album from Tru Thoughts’ Hidden Orchestra and with it they’ve achieved something few similar bands do, a record that not only reflects how incandescent their sound is live but also provides the listener with a new experience. The album is richly diverse, from the unassuming piano intro of ‘Vorka’, which shifts into shuffling high hats and hushed beats, to the distant and eerie distress signal of ‘Reminder’, that blips out of range only to return with a jazz-meets-didgeridoo groove. (ZC)

Single: Fear Of Men 
‘Mosaic’ (Too Pure)
Dreampop quartet Fear Of Men hop labels again for another one off 7”, this time on super blue vinyl. If you’ve been tracking their releases so far, you’ll know the drill here: liquid Cocteau Twins guitar, soft, melodic bass and sighing, drifting vocals. A disembodied, found-sound rant cuts through the mix, but otherwise it’s delightfully effortless business as usual. Which is fine by us. If you’ve not been keeping up, a compilation, ‘Early Fragments’, comes out in the new year. (SH)