Back in stock: Coldwave/Synth

Review: After over four decades out of print, Henry Badowski's 1981 debut Life Is A Grand finally comes reissued by Caroline True Records. Despite cult status, this is a can't unhear record whose privies are never lost on those who love it. Badowski built a quiet reverence for himself over the years, eluding mainstream rediscovery while gathering admiration from those drawn to its peculiar charm. Though he eventually slipped away from music and began a succession of other jobs - fans often wondered how such a gifted musician could just disappear - Badowski was known to have been a teenage bassist in Chelsea briefly linked to The Damned, later stepping away from punk's sharp edges to craft something far more whimsical and idiosyncratic. Drawing on his affection for Roxy Music, Ian Dury and Jethro Tull, he wrote, arranged and played nearly everything on the album himself, rom the baroque pop of 'Swimming With The Fish In The Sea' to the instrumental strut of 'Rampant'. Rich in synth flourish, sardonic lyricism and melodic invention, and now pulled up by the pinky and thus saved from the gorge of obscurity, Life Is A Grand returns with its sly wit and strange beauty completely intact.

Review: Swedish EBM icon Celldod returns to Electronic Emergencies with a new album pressed on striking transparent magenta vinyl. Pa Liv Och Dod is a superbly emotionally charged release that channels the raw energy of D.A.F. and Front 242 while blending dark electronic beats with intense lyrical themes. It has collaborations with Leroy Se Meurt and Michael Zodorozny, plus Anders Karlsson's haunting Swedish vocals exploring death and life's meaning also appear across tunes that are both urgent and dance floor directed. Pa Liv Och Dod will force you to confront fear and chaos head-on while offering a soundtrack that offers some catharsis from it all.

Review: Breakcore don DJ Balli and tropical electro purveyor Sindaco team up on the aptly titled Mutant Goth Italo. True to its name, the Italian duo deliver a batch of oddball, high-energy Euro dance filtered through a nocturnal lens, with affecting vocals from Ossydiana. The twisted pop sensibilities of opener 'Pizzeria Brigada Rossa' set the tone i a feverish pace, shimmering synths, and a searing vocal top-line. The gorgeously sleazy 'Febbre' is a standout, driving yet restrained, while 'Ricatto' impresses with its sinister synths, crisp drums and undulating bass. Closer 'Fedeli Alle Linee' lets it all hang out, pairing singalong melodies with snappy rhythms and snarling bass arps.

Review: Dystopia seems to reign supreme in electronic music today. Saatseinde, Dutch EBM-ers-cum-synth-punks, embrace the idea of hurtling into some form of end days with their mini-album, Artificial Intelligence. Bursting out of the hard drive and into your ears, darkness runs through the foundations of these eight tracks, as do the kind of rhythms that insist on movement. Touches of Italo remind us of just how much club potential is here, while the overall atmosphere seems to cry out in the night, yearning and calling for an escape from the heated and feverish sense of claustrophobia that seems to be almost-omnipresent here. It's powerful stuff to say the least, and makes no apologies about its core emotions - agony, ecstasy, passion, love, desperation and loneliness. As the lyrics to Suicide Tuesday repeat: "Oh let me out. Oh let me out".