Back in stock: Coldwave/Synth

Review: Broken English Club is the alias of techno veteran Oliver Ho and here he explores his signature industrial wave and post-punk sound with unflinching intensity as he lands on Dekmantel's UFO Series with Songs Of Love And Decay. It is a raw, brooding album dedicated to the late Juan Mendez aka Silent Servant with tracks like 'Crawling' and 'Death Cult' echoing his tribal techno roots. 'England Heretic' meanwhile channels eerie synthwave and Giallo vibes and 'Vessel Of Skin' delves into distortion-laced post-punk that contrasts with the stark futurism of 'Pacific Island Kill.' Ho blends cinematic textures with club energy throughout so makes for a dark, emotionally charged tribute that pushes beyond typical boundaries and is sure to resonate in the club.

Review: Walking on a Dream became Empire of the Sun's biggest hit, reaching number one on the UK Dance Albums Chart and achieving platinum status in Australia. The album remains a testament to the duo's experimental spirit and knack for crafting memorable pop anthems. Empire of the Sun's debut album, is a daring collaboration between Luke Steele of Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore of Pnau. Despite their divergent musical backgrounds, Steele and Littlemore share a flamboyant style and grandiose vision. The title track, with its infectious club beat and falsetto hook, showcases Steele's songwriting prowess, tempered by Littlemore's editing expertise. This 2024 reissue is lovingly pressed on matching mustard yellow vinyl in a beautiful gatefold design that makes the artwork really pop.

Review: Beaming into the future from the 1980s Belgian EBM scene, The Klinik (now reduced to two core members Marc Verhaeghen and Mark Burghgraeve) are a pivotal force. They helped found the underground, all while influencing a generation of EBM artists both locally and internationally. ‘Pain And Pleasure’ was their first blush, first released as an EP on Antler Records in 1986. Now recovered and “album-ified”, it takes on a new form as a full-length LP elongation, retitled Plague & Pain And Pleasure. With a new sado-leathered, plague doctoral, marble vinyl aesthetic, this is an electrifyingly chalky expansion pack taking after the original three-tracker, and which proves again the dark efficacy of their gluttonous, motoric overwhelmer sound, evidenced on the likes of ‘World Domination’, ‘Go Back’ and ‘Outside’.

Review: Q Lazzarus was always going to be a good fit for the cult synth and cold wave crew, Dark Entries, and so it proves here with this overdue debut. Diane Luckey was born in 1960 in New Jersey and created her iconic moniker while living in NYC's East Village. Her breakout moment came after meeting director Jonathan Demme during a 1986 snowstorm; he was captivated by her demo playing in her taxi. Their encounter led to the unforgettable inclusion of 'Goodbye Horses' in Silence of the Lambs. Despite its cult status, Luckey and collaborator William Garvey remained largely overlooked but surely that will change now as they offer up five unreleased tracks that have been newly mixed from original master tapes.

Review: Phaedra is the fifth studio album by German electronic group Tangerine Dream, recorded in November 1973 at The Manor in Shipton-on-Cherwell, England, and released in 1974 through Virgin. An icier, tempoless departure for a band otherwise better recognised for their sequencer-led, soundtrack-bred sound, this was a hidden moulin for frost-drone fanatics, and a deviant pupil of the otherwise strict Berlin School. Despite receiving little to no airplay, Phaedra gained significant traction through word of mouth when it was released by a rather more hippified Richard Branson's fledgling Virgin label, eventually reaching number 15 on the UK Albums Chart and remaining on the charts for 15 weeks. Its long-form pieces, such as 'Sequent C' and 'Mysterious Semblance At The Strand Of Nightmares', represent an indifference to constraints of timing, instead washing over the ears as diachronic, swirling, crisp ice ambient smirrs.