Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: The always excellent Minimal Wave presents a rare EP from Greek electronic pioneers In Trance 95 here. Alex Machairas and Nik Veliotis formed the duo in 1988 and very much helped define Greece's early electronic scene with their minimal synth and EBM-inspired sound, all of it usually marked by analogue warmth, hypnotic melodies and a futuristic sensibility. This release captures their innovative spirit and cult legacy across six unreleased tracks recorded between the late 80s and early 90s in Athens. It sounds magnificent and is a long-overdue glimpse into their visionary archive for new fans, or a fine reminder of their roots for those who have always been tuned in.

Review: Cult English electronic duo I Monster aka Sheffield based record producers Dean Honer and Jarrod Gosling dropped Neveroddoreven, their second studio album, on 21 July 2003. A little later than first planned, it now gets a special 20th Anniversary re-issue on CD as well as this double gatefold. It incudes the original album plus three new singles and the much loved acoustic version of 'Daydream in Blue' which even if you don't think you know, you will, because ti has been rather ubiquitous in ad campaigns for brands including Ford and Magnum Ice Cream. Also helping to keep this band relevant after all these years was their single 'Who Is She' going viral on TikTok in 2023 and picking up 290M Spotify streams.

Review: Identity Theft is the solo electronic music of Michael Buchanan, commencing in 2011 with the album Night Workers. Having previously released on labels such as Oraculo Records, Treue Um Treue, Record Label Records, and Katabatik, here he continues to astonish with the atmospheric, brooding and liturgical electro opus, Omnia Vitas. Rooted in Dusseldorf-school electro with strong leanings towards the more abstract krautrock origins of the genre, Vanitas continues to flesh out the themes of surveillance and paranoia - themes endemic to his music from the outset - albeit this time he also works in samples culled personally from the posthumous sonic archives of several departed (and unnamed) producer friends.

Review: Onsen Music isn't just the title of Shoko Igarashi's second album, but rather a manifesto of sorts. The name refers to a "genre" of music the saxophonist, flautist, and vocalist has created. A strange, bouncy-yet-angular corner of the electronic music universe that feels like it's inviting you to a party thrown by Mr Soft and a flying unicorn. Sounds extend themselves, curve, wobble, warp, float, glitter, and do everything else in their power to make sure you know this is a safe listening space that's equally danceable. Ever bubbly and colourful, 'Rainy' represents the full blown nu disco end of the record's vast spectrum, while the likes of 'Ukigusa' come over far closer to Ryuichi Sakamoto's clean, crisp and cuddly pop excursions - staunchly leftfield and out there, but strangely familiar and universally likeable.

Review: Dark Entries takes it back to New York City in around 1982 for this previously unreleased record from Ike Yard. This cult crew was made up of Stuart Argabright, Michael Diekmann, Kenneth Compton, and Fred Szymanski and they worked in their own realm somewhere between proto-body music and No Wave peers in New York. They disbanded just a year after forming having dropped an EP on Les Disques du Crepuscule in 1981 and then a self-titled album for Factory in 1982. Using the Korg MS-20 and the Roland TR-808 they cook up plenty of hybrid electro-acoustic sounds and ramshackle rhythms that are underpinned by moody baselines and perfect to get bodies moving in the club. Whether you're a post-punk fan or lover of weird electronics, this is well worth checking out.

Review: The arrival of Il Quadro di Troisi could not have been more ironic. Anything but new faces on the music scene, the Italian electronic partnership of Eva Geist and Donato Dozzy debuted as the reality of living in a pandemic really began to hit home - November 2020. A month that usually calls for their brand of dark, Ital-disco-cold-synth stuff was void of the situations you'd want to hear it in. No parties, no clubs, no concerts - not even an opportunity to stick it on when getting ready to do something. Nevertheless, we've more than made up for it now, and having grown incredibly close betwixt that waking nightmare and today's chaos, the arrival of a new LP is an enticing prospect. As the notes explain, "everything changes, all things evolve, nothing stays the same... La Commedia marks the band's embrace of a more traditional song form, shaped by a very personal and distinctive musical style. The distinguishing elements of Il Quadro di Troisi's music meld into a unique mix that is both seductive and eerie, elegant and earthy, contemporary and timeless."

Review: This fresh new LP by Inconscio Viola, an experimental electronic duo from Greece, flaunts eight cuts of dark, ambient-atmospheric EBM and intersperses them with industrial and noise influences. Limited to just 50 copies, an aura of specialty adorns this one, with gothic gated snares and ghostly verbed-out shouts ricocheting across every track. Most riveting is the toothy saw line on 'Wounds', which sounds to peppered with the whispers and roars of a demon throughout.

Review: It is now five years since Nabihah Iqbal got widespread critical acclaim for her debut album Weighing Of The Heart, and finally, she is back with another. This one, Dreamer, was two years in the making and finds the London-born artist, curator, broadcaster and lecturer offering up her most reflective and raw work to date. This versatile talent has done everything from composing music for the Turner Prize to being involved in a performance as part of a major Basquiat retrospective. Here she reflects on pandemic experiences having let the ideas develop in her head before she even turned on her machines.

Review: Italoconnection deliver the second volume in their Midnight Confessions Italo trance albums series. The partnership of Fred Ventura and Paolo Gozzetti first saw the first edition of Midnight Confessions in 2021; three years later, a whole new fresh set of modern yet true-blue Italo sonics are unleashed. As Ventura's unmistakable lead vocals regale tails of optimistic liaisons and lost love, Gozzetti's monumental production style brings a torrential sheen to an otherwise well-known Italian dance style. On the likes of 'Cold War Lovers' and 'Systematic', we hear a further set of ruminations on current events, the former track marking a synthwave sojourn as Ventura laments the energetic anomie, the inhibitions of today: "we should be dancing, we should be dancing all night..." Released on a limited edition 2xLP via Bordello A Parigi.