Mecanica Poland Vinyl & CDs

Review: Who, or perhaps what, was Tomo Akikawabaya? In truth, nobody really seems to sure on the answer, other than the fact this mysterious Japanese artists decided to release a serious of incredible synth-driven singles during the 1980s, before vanishing back into the dry ice of whatever smoke machine they escaped from. A musical genie, here only to bestow a limited number of gems on us, and then disappear forever. Swerving interviews and photos doesn't help the search, but The Castle II at least allows us to explore his work in depth, across several tracks. These range from the twisted cabaret weirds of 'Objet D'Amour', to the driving electro-punk of 'Le Voleur', grand and decidedly 1980s-sounding synth rock on 'The April', and New Romantic-esque pop on The Castle (II). Essential stuff.

Review: Boytronic emerged in the early 80s in Hamburg. The group was founded by Holger Wobker (aka Bryllyant Berger) and Peter Sawatzki and they were initially producing soundtracks for seedy Hamburg sex shows as Kapitan Sehnsucht but soon shifted focus to pop music as Boytronic. Their debut single, 'You,' was influenced by New Order and Patrick Cowley and gained traction after a German TV performance so sold 80,000 copies in its first week and reached #10 on the charts. This success led to their debut album The Working Model. It was recorded in just 14 days in 1983 and is now a techno-pop classic that makes a welcome return here.

Review: Javier Revilla Diez, Chris Demere, Stefan Engelke and Torsten Engelke put out an incredible back catalogue as Cetu Java. Active between 1987 ad 1994, they took inspiration from the formative synth-pop years, but rather than replicating, added plenty to the formula that you could say was specific to this outfit. If that were't obvious back then, it's certainly clear to hear listening back today, 30 years after they disbanded and all-but-vanished from the spotlight (after the split, it would be a quarter century before they fave another media interview). Plenty of mythology around the group, then, Where Is Where was, in many ways, their magnum opus. First released in 1992, it not only calls on the group's European roots - with members from Spain, and a base in Germany - it also opens things up stylistically. So, while songs like the title track, 'Time', 'Sometimes' and many more are saturated in a classic synth pop sound, elsewhere the likes of 'Un Dia Normal', 'Dame Tu Mano' and 'Caribbean Dream' opt for something more exotic altogether, without jarring with difference.