Aural treats for the autumn

Summer may nearly be over, but there are plenty of good reasons to be looking forward to the autumn - as far as new music goes, at least.

First up, there's Natasha Khan's new project Sexwitch, a collaboration with TOY and producer Dan Carey that sees her reinterpreting out-there psych and folk songs from around the world. 'Helelyos', from Iran, is the first taster, though Green Man attendees got a preview of much more in the form of a surprise set - after which she chatted about the project (and more) with Pitchfork's Laura Snapes. It's good to hear there's a new Bat For Lashes album in the pipeline too. After the discernibly poppy edge of Two Suns and The Haunted Man, it will be interesting to see which direction she chooses to take - psych-folk would have been one of my guesses, but that may not happen now she's found an alternative outlet for that particular passion.

Meanwhile, Deerhunter's newie Fading Frontier is due to drop on 16th October, and, judging by the evidence of 'Snakeskin', is set to continue the stylistic experimentation of Monomania. I grew to love the latter despite its scattershot approach, but the oddball funk of 'Snakeskin' - albeit overlaid with Bradford Cox's typically tormented lyrics - has me a bit worried that this might be the point that I end up falling out of love with them.

Perhaps best to forget about that for the moment and just get blasted to smithereens by the first sample from Deafheaven's forthcoming album New Bermuda, 'Brought To The Water', which suggests a shift away from shoegaze towards more "conventional" extreme metal. The Soundcloud comments include one that reads "Fist me to this song". Lovely stuff.

To those three you can add new records from Lanterns On The Lake (Beings) and Low (Ones And Sixes). All told, it's set to be an expensive few months...