cold wave
VA – Underground Wave Volume 7 [WR020]
Again, a unique compilation by the leading Belgian re-release label Walhalla Records, specialized in minimal synth, cold wave, electro, and more. Following the widely acclaimed — and mostly sold-out — previous Underground Wave releases, totaling six albums so far and counting, there is now Volume 7. This release features Dutch and Belgian bands, each filling one side of the record. It offers a wealth of ultra-rare and previously unreleased material sourced from cassettes, deeply rooted in the electronic scene of the 80s and 90s.
Adam Tristar LIVE @ Ombra Festival 2024
VA – Sing Me Something Sinister [SEJA024]
“Sing Me Something Sinister” is like a cinematic sound document from outer space, featuring a collection of European underground artists from the coldwave/industrial scene such as Das Noir, Sololust, Bragolin, Adam Tristan and others covering a wide range of coldwave, electro, post-punk, and EBM. An ultimate overview of the European dark underground scene pressed in limited edition by Seja Records
VA – Selected Works 2025 [FREE DOWNLOAD]
Cold Transmission Music presents a compilation featuring 23 songs released in 2025 by the label, including artist like Grey Gallows, Kalte Nacht, Kay-Chi, Nightcrawler, Oliver Decrow, Rina Pavar, S Y Z Y G Y X, SIIE or Years Of Denial.
Jennifer Touch – Aging At Airports LP [FP007ALP]
Jennifer Touch releases her next LP ‘Aging at Airports’ on Fabrika Records. The idea for the record title came before the music even existed as Touch was spending an increasing amount of time in airports while touring. In her own words: “It felt like I waste a large part of my life waiting for the next show to come, to entertain and perform my music and build timeless moments with others. This waiting, the slowly ticking time at the gate, was in complete contrast to what I want to do as an artist: to be in flux, to create things that will last forever. The airport, as a busy hub, was like a symbol of this ambivalence. And a reminder: every second, whether waiting or on the move, I have to accept that I am fading, that my creative power, my face, and my body are fading. As a (performing) artist, everything feels like a strange contrast. While you want to stay true to yourself and speak authentically from the soul, you are also expected to appear forever young, and powerful. Artists are often wanted to distract people, but creating this art forces me to confront my own transience. I feel the struggle to fit into this powerful artificial framework that the world has set and the desire to break free from it.”
John Maus – Later Than You Think LP [YO422LP]
Two decades into a boundary-pushing career, American musician, composer, and academic John Maus releases his most powerful work yet: Later Than You Think. Arriving via his new label Young, the album explores themes of justice, confession, rebirth, transformation, and spiritual warfare, further expanding the liminal space where outsider art collides with art-pop, raw emotion, and intellectual depth. A 21st-century philosopher-musician, Maus has earned a mythic reputation for his fierce belief in the emotional weight of sound, eccentric interpretations of pop and baroque, and legendary, cathartic live shows. Holding a degree in experimental music from CalArts and a PhD in political science from the University of Hawaii, he’s been dubbed a “philosopher pop star” and “nostalgic futurist” for the way he merges academic rigor with lo-fi synth-pop aesthetics. His influence spans high and low culture—from UK grime icon Skepta, who sampled his track “I’m Only Human,” to Josh Safdie, Natasha Lyonne, nettspend and collaborators like Panda Bear and Molly Nilsson.
ULTRA SUNN – Beast In You LP [ARFA4701]
ULTRA SUNN, the Brussels-based EBM/coldwave duo, unleash their highly anticipated sophomore album, The Beast In You, on Artoffact Records. Building upon the success of their impactful debut, US, the new record promises to delve deeper into the raw, primal energies that define their signature sound. Drawing heavily from their Belgian heritage, The Beast In You is a potent distillation of classic electronic body music and the hypnotic rhythms of Belgian new beat. Listeners can expect the unmistakable throb of analog synths and precisely programmed industrial drum machines. ULTRA SUNN expertly channels the aggressive power and driving force of their influences, infusing them with their own contemporary edge.
Grey Gallows – Dunkelheit LP [CTM]
With the album ‘Dunkelheit’, Grey Gallows have experimented exclusively with the electronic sound using analogue and digital synthesizers and tried to expand their musical boarders into different genres and styles, keeping their artistic signature in every composition from the early 80’s EBM to the modern electronic sound.
Evelyne / Masao – Testpattern LP [DE-330]
Evelyne/Masao bring ‘Testpattern’ to Dark Entries for the label’s first foray into vintage Japanese electronics. Masao Hiruma and Fumio Ichimura’s project Testpattern is known for their release Apres-Midi, a cult slab of synthpop perfection released by Yukihiro Takahashi and Haruomi Hosono’s legendary Yen Records in 1982. While Hiruma and Ichimura parted ways following Apres-Midi, Hiruma’s musical endeavors would continue after recruiting French/American model and vocalist Evelyne Bennu. The duo spent time performing in Tokyo clubs while recording at Hiruma’s home studio throughout 1984 and 1985. The album Testpattern comprises seventeen of these songs, which have never been released previously. The Evelyne/Masao duo continues building on the soundworld of Apres-Midi: lush, sophisticated electronics with intricate yet minimalist production. Tracks like “Sakuramochi” and “Bird Island” bear influence from Hosono most clearly, their soaring melodies revealing a subtly ironic redeployment of East Asian musical tropes. But Testpattern is more than homage to Yellow Magic Orchestra. “Tabac” and “Le Soleil Se Leve” display oddball sensibilities closer to Sky Records icons Asmus Tietchens or Cluster. Elsewhere, the project shows affinity for the punkier ethos of continental DIY electronics, like on the quirky “Alien Go Home” and a positively skewed cover of “Singin’ in the Rain.” Bennu’s vocals provide a common thread through these explorations, as she alternates deftly between New Wave deadpan and unhinged chanson singer—check her waxing maximally Francophone on “Au Clair de Lune,” based on an 18th century French song. Testpattern will be available on both double LP as well as CD, and includes a fold-out poster with liner notes with lyrics. This album is dedicated to Masao Hiruma, who passed away in 2011.
Factory Floor – Tell Me [PH146]
Factory Floor return to Phantasy with a new single, ‘Tell Me’. As propulsive and direct as anything the cult UK electronic group has ever released, ‘Tell Me’ continues to perfect the dynamic in the band’s current lineup of Gabe Gurnsey, Nik Colk Void, and Joe Ward, with additional drum tracking by Stephen Morris of New Order. Situated between the sonic promise of enduring indie culture, yet naturally imbued with the band’s relentless forward-thinking ethos. Throughout, Colk Void’s inquisitive vocal guides the listener through an elastic square-wave bass groove that forms the rhythmic backbone to Tell Me, before Gurnsey and Ward’s frenetic drumming breakdown rains with pure abandon, exemplifying the band’s personal alchemy between genre, scenes, human, and machine.
Shadows Hold – Nexum EP [CTM]
Shadows Hold is a Dark Wave/Post Punk solo project based out of Los Angeles, USA. Emerging from the underground music scene, Shadows Hold creates a blend of Darkwave, Post-Punk, and EBM throughout his tracks characterized by ethereal vocals, atmospheric sounds, and strong leads. After several independent releases, Shadows Hold returns with ‘Nexum‘, a 3-track EP that expands on the project’s distinct sound. The music uses reverb and mood to give shape to feelings that are hard to put into words.
Jing – Artificial Salvation LP [MNQ163]
Mannequin Records presents Artificial Salvation, the long-awaited next chapter from Taiwan-born, Berlin-based artist Jing. A visceral journey into fragmented identity, post-human desire, and sonic disobedience, the album marks a bold evolution in Jing’s unmistakable language—where rhythm is weapon, voice is distortion, and silence is political. Known for her uncompromising DJ sets and past releases exploring industrial textures, field recordings, and haunting spoken word, Jing now delivers her most narrative-driven and confrontational work to date. Artificial Salvation lives at the intersection of club dystopia and spiritual unease: glitched-out techno structures collide with ghostly chants and collapsing machinery, echoing themes of surveillance, digital exile, and existential displacement. Crafted between Taipei and Berlin, the album draws from a palette both hyper-modern and deeply ancestral—melding broken beats, noise, and vocal manipulation into an unflinching statement of intent.
Gina X – Greatest Fits [DE335]
Gina X makes her way to Dark Entries for Greatest Fits, a compilation of gems and jams from the eccentric New Wave icon. Gina X Performance was formed in Cologne in 1978 when art history student and chanteuse Gina Kikoine teamed up with synth wizard Zeus B. Held. Inspired by Patti Smith and Lou Reed, Kikoine aimed to create “the absolute union of music, poetry and travesty,” a lofty goal that she most certainly would achieve. 1979 saw the release of the classic first LP, Nice Mover, which put Held’s lush electronic production in dialogue with Gina X’s deadpan delivery. Songs explore androgyny, decadence, and avant-garde art in a fashion that is stylish, sexy, and more than a touch transgressive. Nice Mover quickly became a cult favorite thanks to tracks like the euphoric “Nice Mover” and the dancefloor bomb “No G.D.M.”, dedicated to queer icon Quentin Crisp. Three more LPs followed in the coming years: X-Traordinaire in 1980; Voyeur in 1981; and Yinglish in 1984. The duo continued their genre deviance throughout, exploring uptempo space disco on “Strip Tease,” punk-laced New Wave on “Babylon Generation,” and icy electro-pop on “French Lift.” Greatest Fits is the first-ever double LP compilation of Gina X material. The 17 tracks on Greatest Fits were selected by Kikoine and Held, reflecting the duo’s most cherished moments from their wide-ranging catalog.
Closed Mouth – You Don’t Need A God [OR140 ]
Catalan label Oráculo Records presents “You Don’t Need A God” by Closed Mouth, the musical project of Yannick Rault (France). The music is influenced by coldwave, dark wave and post-punk.
Toba Moarte – Nihil Sine Rodeo
Toba Moarte is a Lo-fi / Post-punk duo based in Bucharest, Romania. ‘Nihil Sine Rodeo’ is a 45 minute album of songs created and recorded between 2022 and 2025.
Plague Pits – Escalator To The Abattoir LP [YCR204]
Swiss coldwave DIY collective Plague Pits deliver their third full-length ‘Escalator to the Abattoir’ on Young & Cold Records. “One skill that you master while working at an abattoir is disassociation. You learn to become numb to death and to suffering. Instead of thinking about cows as entire beings, you separate them into their saleable, edible body parts. It doesn’t just make the job easier – it’s necessary for survival.”
Ascending – Guanto nero [DR-049]
“Guanto nero” is the long-awaited new album by Ascending, including six great new Synthpop songs.
Orphia – Beau Discours LP [LDMLP9]
With ‘Beau Discours’, Orphia dives deeper into the shadows, crafting a sound where cold wave and electro collide in a saturated whirlwind. Darker, more organic, this six-track EP marks a major shift in his approach, designed as much for introspection as for the club. Far from a mere stylistic exercise, Orphia records on tape, pushes saturation to the limit, and lets the raw material breathe, capturing rough, grainy textures. The vocals, buried under distortion, remain minimal and sharp. Balancing tension and nostalgia, Beau Discours captures a sense of urgency, reflecting a chaotic era where analog and digital intertwine in a relentless dance. Dancing on ruins, embracing sonic violence, channeling rage into razor-sharp beats—that’s what Beau Discours is about. A record that seeks not clarity, but impact – between synthetic coldness and dancefloor fever.
Venice Affair – Ascension [RWCLTR028]
Venice Affair seeks only to give humans a look into their own lives, history, suffering, and peace, all while providing a backbeat sprinkled with sexuality, romanticism, and especially entertainment. The concept of “Ascension” is much larger than a description of upward motion; it is the human description of our evolution from four to two, from caves to high rises, from child to elder, and from stardust to flesh. This collection of songs has been in the works since 2021 and meticulously arranged to provide the best possible lens into Venice Affair’s concept of human existence.
The Hipodrome Of Music 