Elephant Stone: "Parallel and Contrary Motion" video

Canadian psychedelic raga band Elephant Stone have unveiled a video for Parallel and Contrary Motion, the centrepiece of their ASHA album, a song about the suicide of band leader Rishi Dhir's friend Christian Dorey: "Being torn apart by emotions it downed on him that it was about his friend's decision to take his own life. Horrible as that might be, it made him rethink and respect that choice." The clip was directed by John-Mark Lapham.

Age of Life: Epoch One

German musician Chris Burda, half of post-rock duo Collapse Under The Empire, has shared Epoch One, the first piece of his ambitious cinematic post-rock double album Emergence / Transformation by his Age of Life project, which will be released as two separate albums. Each track will be dedicated to evolutionary era, covering the 500+ million years that life has been roaming the planet.

His knack for writing cinematic, pulsating instrumentals enabled him to come up with a synth-driven piece that evolves slowly, feeling its way and becoming more complex as the track progresses, just like primitive life goes through the stages to the next level.

Jimi Hendrix: new album "Magic Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Berkeley (First Show)" in October

At long last the first show on May 30 at the Berkeley Community Theatre in Berkeley, CA by The Jimi Hendrix Experience will be released in full (well, almost, because Foxy Lady is missing). Magic Boy: The Jimi Hendrix Experience Live At Berkeley (First Show) is the long overdue companion piece for the Jimi Plays Berkeley DVD and the Live At Berkeley album (which only covered the second show).

Swansea Sound: Mean To Be Mean

Can you hold a grudge for a couple of decades? Amelia Fletcher can, getting even with an unnamed critic who wrote an unfavourable review about Heavenly, the band she was in back then. Now a member of jangling pop quintet Swansea Sound she came up with Mean To Be Mean, an upbeat put down song with appropriate swearing when you enjoy the album version that will be included on their new album Pre-post-truth. The radio-friendly version has to make do without them, which is a bit lame, but hey, it might improve their changes to get some well-deserved airplay.

The subject of her wrath is most likely long gone, but Heavenly made a comeback with an ace album, Highway To Heavenly, this year. Patience pays off in the long run.

Feutre: Les grands ensembles

French pop trio Feutre have released the title track from their forthcoming new album Les grands ensembles album, a happy sad song pushed forward by a smooth Fender Rhodes and chopped guitar notes, giving way to George Harrison's signature tone. Singer Elsa Leroyer is a pensive mood, on the fence between jazz and pop.