An introverted revolving door collective of six-stringed misfits and effects pedal junkies, slowly orbiting around the mysterious, and I assume anonymous, Rory Storm, and an ex-Double Leopard now residing in Dunedin, New Zealand. The equally mysterious Invaders peek above colourful, self-generated clouds of bubble'n'blur only for the time required to take a breath before plunging back into their communal thrum. Disenchanted youths wandering in clusters and huddling for protection. Dark and entrancing. CAMPBELL KNEALE

When it comes to the psychic transportation of a live audience through mere vibrations of air molecules, nobody in the whole 'New Zealand Freenoise Thing' comes within spitting distance of Sandoz Lab Technicians... and this beautiful live show (recorded in the cavernous dome of the Robert McDougall Art Gallery) comes with free tickets to ride that bus. Discovering the most delicate balance between being sophisticated musical shapeshifters and plonking primevil troglodytes, 'Everything's Fifteen' catches Sandoz in their finest form... filling the room with billowing swuzz and then barely resurfacing from their own haze to chase another clarinet out of their case and into your wide-awake dream. Lay back, let go, fly home. CAMPBELL KNEALE

Another step toward the infinite nothingness. Having solidified once-and-for-all as a duo and on the eve of their Australian tour, 1/3 Octave Band present perhaps their finest recorded moments. As the title would have you believe, this is a dark ride through a vast landscape with only the merest shreds of light to guide you through to the other side. Point by painstaking point is mapped out across the ever-nothing of the southern sky. The danger is not so much the uncertainty of your destination, but in the knowledge that you have completely forgotten how you got in here in the first place. Lost, aimless, wandering, and going back is no longer an option.-Campbell Kneale