Mute Vinyl & CDs

Review: When Cabaret Voltaire returned to the release schedule in 2020 as the one-man Richard H Kirk show, fans were relieved to find that mind-bending meld of 1970s Kosmische, techno, dub, house and space-age experimental electro was as pure as it ever has been - the results being a typically fresh and forward-thinking record the man in question summed up as "no nostalgia... normal rules do not apply. Something for the 21st Century. No old material."

Less than six months later and the big CV has more next level business to offer us, coming in the form of Shadow of Funk, a new EP that offers something of a counterpoint or extension to last year's full-length, Shadow of Fear. Based on 'Billion Dollar' alone - an acid-driven big, dark room banger that closes this EP -this release looks set to make an equally heavy impact, but as with anything this man touches, the joy is in discovery. So, let's leave it at that.

Review: Most of the time you expect Terence Fixmer to deliver a steely strain of techno which reliably moves monolithic crowds in any temple you care to mention, but on this album for Novamute he's purposefully opened his palette to the EBM and industrial sounds which sparked his imagination as a teenager. It's instantly apparent on the abrasive jackhammer sonics of opening track 'Test of the Times', while 'In Synthesis' comes on with the sort of tough but sexy arpeggios you'd readily associate with Nitzer Ebb or Front 242. There's still a dancefloor functionality in these tracks, but pure techno is not the order of the day, and the results are thrilling from start to finish.

Review: Pole's 2022 album Tempus featured one particular track, 'Stechmuck' which was centred on the sound of his dying Minimoog. It's a tidy continuation of the faulty Waldorf filter which inspired his project name in the first place, and now Stefan Betke has taken the inspiration of his broken gear further by inviting a heavyweight cast of remixers to reversion the track. You might not have expected UK electro punk agitators Sleaford Mods to be crossing paths with German minimalist dub, but here we are and the results are incendiary. Elsewhere, Rrose delivers a textbook slice of writhing, tactile techno and Alessandro Cortini brings his grandiose synth expertise to bear on the track.