Search dance music

Review: In the summer of 2017, New Order returned to Granada Studios in Manchester - the site of their first TV appearance - to perform a special concert. With the accompaniment of a "12-piece synthesizer orchestra" and a stunning, ever-changing stage set designed by Liam Gillick, the legendary Manchester band delivered an extended set featuring radically reworked versions of tracks from their back catalogue. This evocative live album presents the recording of the concert in its entirety, with Bernard Sumner and company mixing bona fide hits ("Shellshock", "Bizarre Love Triangle") with album tracks, lesser-celebrated songs and the odd stunning soundscape (a particularly beautiful version of "Elegia"). As you'd expect, it's superb and a cut above most live albums.

Review: Kris Baha had a big year in 2019 with the release of his debut album on CockTail d'Amore and an EP on Pinkman, and now the Australian body music man in Berlin is back with a high-pressure heater for [Emotional] Especial. "Barely Alive" is the kind of sinewy proto-industrial cut that will appeal to fans of Ministry's earlier work, when the synths reigned supreme and there was pop to match the noir. Especial then call on a cast of remixers to interpret the track in different ways, from Timothy J Fairplay amping up the dystopian disco tropes to Das Ding creating a sleek electro-funk twist with the original's gothic undertones intact.

Review: Suicide are generally referenced in terms of their earth-shattering late 70s debut, but of course Martin Rev and Alan Vega did work together after that. A Way Of Life was their third album, released in 1988 when the world around them had changed so much from when they started out, and yet their sound was still devastating and imposing amidst the culture of bands they'd influenced. Recorded with The Cars' frontman Rip Ocasek, the resulting nine industrial pop songs are as brilliant as anything from their fabled earlier works, and in this special expanded edition we're also treated to a fully remastered version including a clutch of additional tracks including their live cover of Bruce Springsteen's 'Born In The USA'.

Review: Sean Bowie's fifth full-length as Yves Tumor arrives with an epic title (the academically minded will be debating its meaning for years to come), a grandiose electro-rock/post-punk goes-electroclash sound, and a bagful of valedictory reviews. It's basically an extension of Bowie's previous work with a few twists, but that's no bad thing; after all, the artist's distinctive sound and strong songs have always been an impressive calling card. Highlights are plentiful, from the fizzing, 21st century punk-funk of 'Lovely Sewer', and the Prince-does-Nine Inch Nails-flex of 'Parody', to the alternately jangling and sleazy 'Operator', and the post-ESG dancefloor heaviness of 'Fear Evil Like Fire'.

Review: Sam de la Rosa from the Led Er Est band works here with Karen Sharkey from The Coombe for fours tuning wave tracks on Germany's Mannequin. It's de la Rosa's third release and is driven by a perfectly chilly TR-606, its ice cold sounds making for perfectly futuristic electro. The minimal spoken word beats add layers of allure and a dehumanised vibe that makes it all the more occult. 'Who Are You Today?' is a zoned out opener, while 'Slick People' is more creepy and subversive. The artwork is cool, too, and with mixing done by Marcos Cabral, this really is a wining package.

Review: Richard H Kirk was rightly praised for 2020's Shadow of Fear, his first album since turning Cabaret Voltaire into a solo project back in 2014, and his recently follow-up EP, Shadow of Funk. Both distilled the essence of the Cabs' club-friendly industrial funk sound, re-formatting it for the 21st century. Dekadrone, though, is a different proposition altogether. Focused not on clubs but on immersive home listening, the four-phase, single track set removes Kirk's clanking, often paranoid beats in favour of dystopian aural textures (think dark, droning tones, abstract electronics, apocalyptic ambience and dirt-encrusted samples). Those who prefer the Cabs' more experimental, ambient-leaning works will love it.

Review: Tsampikos Fronas is June, and on this fresh new LP for Artificial Dance he rather sips away from the dance sounds of his earlier career. The material here was recorded between 2018 and 2020 by the Berlin based innovator and it is an exploration of more sparse soundscapes than previously. It has a cyber punk feel and dystopian overtone with each track filled with tension and plenty of nods to sci-fi movie soundtracks. It is all crafted from analogue sequencers and analogue polyphonic synths as well as modular synthesizers which lend it an ice cold rhythm and haunting sense of futurism.

Review: During the making of Arkhon, her ninth solo album as Zola Jesus, Nika Roza Danilova found herself in the middle of an almost crippling creative block. Listening to the album, you'd never know. Crafted with the help of a small number of hand-picked collaborators (producer Randall Dunn and drummer/percussionist Matt Chamberlain included), it's a confident, ear catching and constantly invigorating set, with Danilova's trademark vocals seemingly soaring above backing tracks that, while rooted in the darker and more atmospheric end of electronic pop, defy simple categorization. Highlights are plentiful, with our picks including the percussion-laden power pop builds of 'The Fall', the alternately dreamy and breathlessly intense 'Into The Wild', the tactile, slow-build opener 'Lost' and heart-aching piano ballad 'Desire'.

Review: Back in 2005, Depeche Mode recorded a special live set for broadcast on US radio that - much to most people's surprise at the time - featured fewer synthesizer sounds. Instead, it saw the Essex outfit reproduce many of their classics hits and fan favourites using traditional rock instrumentation (think electric guitars, drums, bass guitar and electric piano), with the addition of more electronics as the set progressed. Now finally released on CD, the set is genuinely excellent, despite the pared-down, altered musical set-up. Highlights include fine renditions of 'Personal Jesus', 'Behind The Wheel' (which here sounds like a post-punk disco throwdown) , 'Enjoy The Silence' and - after a partial take ruined by sound problems - 'I Feel You'.

Review: Fans of luxurious, bittersweet, grown-up synth-pop rejoice - Junior Boys are back with their first album in six years! The Canadian twosome's music has lost none of its depth and sparkle, with Waiting Game containing the same key ingredients as its predecessors - namely dreamy, warming chords, soft-focus drum machine rhythms, melancholic melodies, occasional guitars and the distinctive, evocative vocals of front man Jeremy Greenspan. It's a formula that rarely fails if truth be told, so it's no surprise to find that Waiting Game is a genuinely strong set. Our picks of a very strong bunch include the simmering, sunset-friendly warmth of the CD-closing title track and the hushed, ultra-deep shuffle of 'Night Walk', where bubbly electronics, woozy pads and lo-fi electronic drums catch the ear.

Review: Ever-changing Slovenian collective Laibach seems to have mellowed with age, with the band's inherent desire to court controversy (see their 2015 performances in North Korea for a relatively recently example) currently curtailed. Love Is Still Alive, which marks their first new music since the release of last year's well-received album Wir Sind das Volk, is actually an "extension" of the music they wrote to soundtrack the 2019 film 'Iron Sky -The Coming Race'. It is, they say, a "trip through space music genres of recent decades" (albeit with bonus nods to country, pop and so on) that loosely tells the story of a spaceship full of post-apocalyptic survivors making their way across the solar system. It's a lot of fun, all told, with the band expertly showcasing the breadth of their musical knowledge as well as skip-fulls of imagination.

Review: A warm welcome back to perennial genre-benders Hot Chip, who return to stores after three long years with their eighth album, some 21 years after making their debut. Freakout/Release is no dramatic change in direction, but instead a further distillation of what has always made the band so appealing - a trademark fusion of synth-pop, loved-up house sounds, lilting and sometimes melancholic lead vocals, loose-limbed organic drums, nods to Prince and an ability to craft killer hooks. There are highlights aplenty, from the gravelly live hip-hop funk of 'The Evil That Men Do' (where rapper Cadence Weapon delivers a star turn) and the subtly post-punk influenced, saucer-eyed brilliance of 'Hard To Be Funky' (featuring Lou Hayter), to the classic Hot Chip sing-along flex of 'Time' and the krautrock-tinged 'Out of My Depth'.

Review: We're big fans of the great work that ZYX has been doing recently and it seems as though that is going to continue into 2023 if this first release of the year is anything to go by. Paul Crazy's 'Believe Me' is an Italo disco classic hit from back in 1984 that gets a top reissue on 12" vinyl. This version includes both the original vocal and the instrumental as well as, as is often the case with reissues from this label, a fine remix from Flemming Dalum. He flips the original into a more rigid and chugging disco stomper while a lush Victor Ark remix brings the dreamy arps.

Review: The world is full of heart-rendering electronic pop. So much so, you sometimes have to ask yourself if we can handle - or indeed actually need - any more. Rendered almost-immune to the emotionally barrage that seems to haunt our airwaves, playlists, and Made In Chelsea episodes, anyone who still has feelings in 2023 is doing well by all accounts.
Then along come Synthia, billed by the Big Crown label as a 'supergroup', comprising production don Leon 'El Michels Affair' Michels, and vocalist Claire Cottrill, AKA Clairo. Debate over what constitutes a 'group' aside, So Low, a startling double-A is enough to make you forget everything we just talked about, throw away the idea of overkill, and dive right in. As if born to score something cool, reflective, thought-proving and devastatingly romantic, fans of Electric Youth, Cocteau Twins and Almagris should be here already.

Review: The next release on Persephonic Sirens comes from Inventory With Hamilton, which is the new project of label chief Michael Wollenhaupt (aka Ancient Methods) with Wahiba Khadri - who collaborate for the first time since 2018's The Jericho Records. Parting Galaxies On A Forlorn Leaderboard features four diverse sonic excursions that are presented in a singular style, yet still consistent with the label's dark aesthetic. From the electrifying imaginary film score of 'Petit Oratorio Des Oiseaux Migrateurs' which leads into the pitch black EBM pulse of 'Angstblute' over on the flip, and ending with the haunting cold wave of 'Lethe' - prepare to enter the void!

Review: New Zealand's Strangelove crew serves up this brilliantly wide-eyed and genre non-specific album from CCCVVV to take you back to warmer days as winter really hits. The Brussels based duo of Clara Vellin and soFa Elsewhere have a retro-future take on electronic music that takes in slow motion sounds, comforting ambient bliss, lush downtempo instrumentals and plenty in the weird and wonderful spaces in between all that. There are decidedly cosmic affairs like 'Generationen' with its lush chords and pillowy pads, and more sun-kissed and beachy pieces like 'Bacin Bacetto' with its gently breaking waves.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Sleeve damaged but otherwise in excellent condition***


For a four track electronic music EP, there's a lot here. Opening with 'Burning Fields' by Aphonia, the uninitiated might expect the whole package to nod to that classic electro sound, highly detailed but lo-fi, packed with dark atmosphere but all about dance floor energy. Skip to track two, though, and Angles of Pompeii present mutant indie-punk-dance in the vein of Detroit Grand Pubahs at their most guitar-y, and minimalistic.

Elsewhere, 'Retreat' is a slow mo maximalist triumph, acid lines flailing over the top of a muffled cacophony of noise that places the emphasis on a lunging, head-nodding bassline. Add 'Athma', Odopt's sinister low end and drum machine tune up that could almost be an accidental piece from the movie They Live and you've got not only a complex release, but one boasting replay value set to last for years after the investment.