Just listening to Beak's new one, >>, and it's great. Both albums are well worth a spin: kind of mostly instrumental (well, no discernible lyrics), a bit like Third-era Portishead, maybe? Eerie and lovely, and very peculiar.

The (unused) soundtrack for the new Dredd film, Drokk, is ace too. All done with antique synths, this is like evil Vangelis or something. Great work music, I'm finding, but it bears close listening too. Sometimes you want something outside of the normal 'box' of 4/4 beats and words and stuff, and this does nicely.

Quakers was a top album: a great big Madvillainy homage, with varied production styles, short tracks and mostly chorus-less verses. And the instrumentals disc is like a bonus Donuts on the side! I rate this as one of the best hip-hop albums of the year, for real.

Who knows when the next Portishead will arrive, but there's plenty to be going on in the meantime.

Geoff Barrow: the West Country Madlib?