A career-spanning retrospective, Decades Apart catches marginal punk icons The Stranglers at their best… but also, rather unfortunately, at their worst.

London guitar-and-drum duo Dead Days Beyond Help aren’t the usual mess of faux-garage clichés; Access Denied! is studded with avant-post-rock gems.

Free from their major label fetters, Sonic Youth return with The Eternal, fifty minutes of unmatchable majesty that’s a great entry-point for new listeners.

“No Not Ever” is another short sharp shock of a single from Nottingham post-punk-proggers Nephu Huzzband; blink and you might miss it.

Still very much in business despite never quite meeting their hype, … And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead return to Portsmouth with a pocketful of chaos.

The latest single from New York anti-folk new-New-Wavers Bear Hands is released by the Too Pure Records singles club… “What A Drag”? Not at all.

New Yorican stalwarts The Walkmen release “In The New Year”, a sterling second single from their long-released (but still worthwhile) You & Me album.

Brighton’s Engine Room plays host to a yin-yang double headliner from post-metallers Russian Circles and prog-post-hardcore nutters These Arms Are Snakes.

One-man-band The James Orr Complex blend post-punk, jazz-folk and Brazilian beats on Com Favo… with only limited success.

The Walkmen’s latest single “The Blue Route” utterly fails to impress with its plodding rhythms and New Yorican whining.