Uncut

Previously unreleased Zappa album exclusively available in new surround sound format

Ninth album by veteran Austin-based bard of disenfranchised America

Eclectic New Yorkers triumph over the punk-funk hype

Imagine Stephen Foster—or at least Van Dyke Parks—armed with a laptop and you're close to understanding the extraordinary charm of Californian duo Matmos' fifth album. Like 1999's The West, The Civil War negotiates a fragile entente between Americana and electronica, but does so on a bigger, constantly astonishing scale. Fireworks explode, battlefield drummers march across John Fahey's porch, Dr John is reconstructed out of glitches, an entire track is made from samples of a rabbit pelt, and "The Stars And Stripes Forever" is reduced to a postmodern shambles.

Guitar-led jazz from large ensemble in multifarious styles

A Derbyshire-bred, Manchester-based group formerly known as the Dakota Oak Trio. DOT loiter pleasantly at the dewy, bucolic end of post-rock. Fridge are, perhaps, their closest contemporaries. And just as Kieran "Four Tet" Hebden's solo output outshines his work with Fridge, there's a sense DOT's Dave Tyack and James "Pedro" Rutledge make much better records on their own. Plenty of ramshackle virtuosity, crafty folktronica hybrids and limp singing amongst these 10 tracks, but the earth remains resolutely unshattered.

Formerly linked to the late-'90s big beat movement, Barry Ashworth's Dub Pistols have become one of the UK's leading exponents of political dubtronica. Jamaican Studio One veteran (and sometime Massive Attack collaborator) Horace Andy adds guest vocals to opening track "Sound Clash", eclipsed in the surprise stakes only by the appearance on "Problem" of former Specials frontman Terry Hall, making his first outing over a ska beat for decades. Electro, jazz, dancehall, hip hop—everything's here, mashed up in a smoky dub haze.

Enjoyably unhinged debut from club promoters/DJs turned recording artists

Kraftwerk's first 'proper' album since 1986, plus ex-member's solo outing

Comeback for '90s freeform indie-rockers