Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: Surfacing from the back streets of greater Mancunia, mystery artist Belly arrives with the first record on their new Belly Dance label. With little more information to go on, let's focus on the music with the two original tracks from Belly making for interesting listening. Lead cut "Dark Autumn" is a slow beat sleaze production dominated by the vocals, big kicks and heavy synths that would go down well late into the night at Horse Meat Disco. "Farewell" is equally hard to pin down, taking on a more overtly hip hop style and is packed thick with textural and sampled detail. On the flip Rob Insinna turns in two New Beat style remixes of "Dark Autumn" that will appeal to the more adventurous selectors.

Review: It's been a while since King Midas Sound graced our ears with some fresh material - four years to be exact - and Aroo sees the trio of Kevin Martin, Roger Robinson and Kiki Hitomi trade Hyperdub for Ninja tune with a two track single ahead of a mooted new album! Arriving on a thick set slab of vinyl and accompanied by a silver metallic print, Aroo signals a change in approach for King Midas Sound ending their love affair with 21st century Lovers Rock and launching into "a great unknown". Martin himself as described the new direction as "My Bloody Valentine in dub" and this certainly feels apt on "Aroo" as the waves of sound come descending down on the channels orchestrated by Hitomi's vocal delivery.

Review: Having a debut that managed to possibly be the most regularly outed track by Andrew Weatherall as he dug deep to discover the sound that resonated as A Love From Outer Space, while at the same time seemingly slipping under the radar of practically everyone else and disappearing in to relative cult obscurity is some mean feat.
Unperturbed that the odd(disco)ball that was the acidic genius of Morodor In Milan was shamefully overlooked, Maurice & Charles have again taken time out from their daytime media and art enriched lives to hunker down and offer up another take on their twisted idea of what makes people groove. In Sofa Love, their ode to the marvels and pitfalls of the mega-city, bubbling 303 again underpins a twisted lyrical journey. Set against crashing percussion, this is their peaen to la Metropole. Ably supporting it is a driving, rhythmic workout from our own Jamie Paton, taking the original and stripping everything back to jack like it should. If that frightens off the less adventurous, then I,Carpenter will perhaps offer a respite. An off-kilter, acid-funk nod to the experimentations of Eno & Byrne, this quirky gem makes you wonder, why did no-one use that sample before? To end comes a solo debut from Soft Rock's Piers Harrison. His drum heavy remix straightens things up and lets the story unfold.

Review: Our favourite Soft Cell fact is that they formed on the dance floor of Leeds club The Warehouse while leader Marc Almond was working as a glass collector. Is it true? Who knows, but we hope so. Anyway, they reunited in 2002 for this album which now gets a reissue on white vinyl. It features new updated 2020 mixes of Monoculture, Together Alone, Darker Times, Last Chance and more , and is often said to be an overlooked masterpiece by many fans. The drums are unrelenting in their march forward, the vocals are honest and darkly humours, and the edgy, distinctive sound remains.