Coldwave/Synth charts

Review: Elektronik Body Girl is the musical alter-ego of Shelbatra Jashari featuring production assistance from Brussels's soFa. The Belgo-Albanian postpunk pair cooked up sounds that accompany an imagined dystopian industrial wasteland with tons of improv and lots of raw, jagged rhythm. Dealing with the "empowering feminine" and its representation were key to the vision of Jashari as well as abrasive textures and stark atmospheres. Her vocals touch on her roots in Belgium and Kosovo from an outsider's position and label associate Toulouse Low Trax cooks up a brilliant beatdown mix to seal the deal.

Review: A new collaboration of Philoxenia Records founders Luigi Di Venere and Neu Verboten, Affekt Unit is informed by an aim to "spark new feelings on the dancefloor". The three track Discorgy EP celebrates their musical obsessions - Italo house, Frankfurt EBM-house and trance - with the result proving an electrifying crossover of these classic genres together with surprising new sounds. 'Oct-Opus' boasts a serious electro component, fused with progressive trance, UK bass, techno, transcendental rave and even a climactic outbreak of rave-era breaks. The title track 'Discorgy' draws from Euro dance and EBM, experimenting with a polyrhythmic bass line and bringing the kind of 'stadium house' that The KLF were always aiming for. Closing track 'Dreams Of Wrestlers' is cosmic house at its sweetest and beefiest, spruced here and there with Italo stabs and pianos, drum machine fills and some lovely subtle filtering. Not so much a case of something for everyone than everything from everyone, you might even say.

Review: "Hope is not passive. Hope is not blah blah blah. Hope is telling the truth." So said the world's most visible climate activist Greta Thunberg in her pre-COP26 speech in Milan, blasting world leaders for inadequate (or near-non-existent) responses to the environmental crisis. Given we're 12 months down the line and the vast majority of promises made at said 2021 climate summit have not been actioned, with emissions continuing to climb, it's unsurprising direct action has turned much more direct and disruptive this year, and people are now sampling the young orator to amplify her message through music.

If that sounds like it may lack subtlety, fear not. Renude19 have managed to achieve something pretty difficult - a protest dancefloor track that doesn't ram things down your throat and works very well without you knowing that context. Essentially a dystopian-vibed broken beat synth workout with electro-pop vocals and occasional "Blah blah blah" hook, it's timely and well executed.

Review: Los Angeles-based ASHRR are back with a new cut which comes from their forthcoming Sunshine Low album which they have re-interpreted as their ASHRR Soundsystem alter ego, while System Olympia also steps up with a remix on this fine new package from 20/20 Vision. In the hands of the latter, 'What's Been Turning You' is a remix with plenty of hi-fidelity cosmic details over mid-tempo deep nu-disco drums. The version from ASHRR is a chugging and Italo-tinged classic with loose-limbed and jumbled drum funk and plenty of bright, shiny arps. A great collection then.