Stress – Conspiracy Theory LP [DE027]

August 9, 2012February 13, 2026 hipodromealan rider, album, dark entries records, electro, minimal synth, new wave, phil clarke, post punk, stress, synth popLeave a comment

Stress is the duo of Alan Rider and Phil Clarke from West Midlands, England formed in 1981. Stress combined electronic rhythms and keyboards with bass guitar, vocals, percussion, and cut-up samples. They created catchy electronic pop songs that fused accessible & experimental elements with a pointed lyrical edge. “Conspiracy Theory” is an 11-song ‘best of’ compilation album featuring tracks from the first two cassette albums with “The Prayer Clock” from Third Mind Records, ‘Life At The Top’ compilation LP and “Tear It Down” from the ’Compulsory Overtime’ compilation LP. Each song has been carefully remastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley.

Mick Wills – Demo Mix CD #17

July 26, 2012March 1, 2016 hipodromechicago house, demo mix, mick wills, minimal synth, technoLeave a comment

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Kontravoid – Native State [CITI006]

July 26, 2012August 25, 2021 hipodromecameron findlay, cititrax, industrial, kontravoid, minimal synth, minimal wave records, synth waveLeave a comment

KONTRAVOID - Native State

The name Kontravoid belongs on a limited run cassette circa 1980-something, the type of tape buried in lost upstate dustbins of pre-MIDI analog electronics, wedged between Cabaret Voltaire and Das Ding. The dark industrial and new wave influences are strong on ex-Crystal Castles drummer Cam Findlay’s new project—his voice is scary, like an echoing underwater growl—but the underlying pop melodies always afford a degree of breathing room.On his debut self-titled album, Kontravoid turns to analogue synths to create a dark, brooding pop masterpiece. His brilliant vocals emit a dystopic low-grown, often running through warped effects accompanied by exceptionally stirring arpeggiated synths and washes of sound. Modern touchstones could parallel the likes of John Maus or Trust, but Kontravoid’s vision is a much more twisted one, embracing goth influences and yielding a monstrous result that is harder to define. Despite its sonic vampiricism, Kontravoid’s music leaves plenty to dance and lose your mind to, but the imagination here goes way beyond these activities exclusively.The tracks Native State and Cut To Cleanse are exclusive 7” only versions.

VA – Les Annees Folles [GOOILAND01/ET016]

July 26, 2012October 18, 2022 hipodromeelectronics, enfant terrible, gooiland elektro, minimal synth, sololust, synth pop, terminal twilight, tobias bernstrup, velvet condomLeave a comment

This record is a soundtrack for excentric nightlife, bringing back to life images of wild parties at artists workspaces in Paris in the 1920’s, early mornings in Belgian nightclubs in the late 1980’s and driving classic Italian sports cars during long hot summer nights.

VA – So Click Heels [DOWNWARDSCLICK001]

July 25, 2012November 13, 2023 hipodromeantonym, deathday, downwards records, minimal synth, pink playground, richard h kirk, sandra electronics, shoegaze, silent servant, synth wave, the kvb, tropic of cancerLeave a comment

Downwards’ collect the best of their DO series, together with a handful of exclusive aces on ‘So Click Heels’. Since 2009 the label’s affections for the miasmatic drizzle, sonic innovation and repressed violence of post-punk and shoegaze has manifested itself in some twelve releases veering between the scuzzy basement noise of Collin Gorman Weiland, the blissful feedback blooms of The KVB, and swaggering rock’n’roll from DVA Damas. A good proportion of them feature here – including Richard H Kirk’s droning remix of Tropic Of Cancer’s ‘Be Brave’, the desiccated drum machines of Sandra Electronics (Regis), and Pink Playground’s powdered-glass shoegaze bloomer ‘Ten”. Unreleased bits: the phet-clenched twitch of Deathday’s ‘Dropped Into Obscurity’ or V West’s ‘Catching Me Cold’; the excoriating sludge of The KVB’s ‘Dayzed’; a mighty slab of monochrome, motorik punk from Silent Servants (Juan Mendez); the psychoactivated rock ‘n roll of Green Screen Door; and not least an insidious Electro cut from Antonym, or the graphite surfaces and choking dust of Six Six Seconds’ ‘Tearing Down Heaven’.

VA – Electric Voice Compilation [EV034]

July 25, 2012September 6, 2016 hipodromeambient, beau wanzer, electric voice records, horrid red, htrk, innergaze, jef barbara, jeff & jane hudson, minimal synth, new wave, pink playground, shoegaze, soft metals, synth pop, the kvbLeave a comment

Electric Voice Records presents a collection of 18 pop-rock post-punk tracks. With contribution by Innergaze, The KVB, Soft Metals, HTRK, Jeff & Jane Hudson, Horrid Red and others.

Heinrich Dressel – Sighing Melodies Thru The Graves [MNQ027]

June 4, 2012January 19, 2022 hipodromeelectro, heinrich dressel, mannequin records, minimal synth, valerio lombardozziLeave a comment

DRESSEL, Heinrich - Sighing Melodies Thru The Graves

New release of Heinrich Dressel aka Valerio Lombardozzi, mind of one of the best Italian techno-electro labels around, MinimalRome. Heinrich Dressel is finally celebrating the use of vintage synthesizers and driven electronic machines, holding elements of electro and ambient at the same time, but breaking from the genres too, deeply inspired by Heinrich Dressel, the pioneering German archeologist sent to study in the holy city in Monte Testaccio, who drew what is now a major tool for study of Roman amphorae, the ”Table of Dressel. Heinrich Dressel is placed in a sort of limbo where John Carpenter meets Drexciya, a sonorous journey through the darker side of the electro, taking the commands of the Elka Synthex, one of the most impressive polysynths in the history of music, planned and manifactured by Mario Maggi in the early 80s, as the commercial brother of the MCS70, synth that gave birth to a masterpice album like ”Automat”. “Sighing Melodies Thru The Graves” musically speaking can be described as a captivating hybrid of styles, mixing the chilling-menacing mood of the 70s / 80s lo-fi funkadelic horror soundtracks to outerspace synthesised soundscapes in a pure classy vein. This is cryptical-kosmische psychedelica with a nice electro retro touch and avant-minimalist vibes.

SURVIVE – Survive LP [MNQ026]

June 4, 2012March 26, 2014 hipodromeadam jones, album, cold wave, kyle dixon, mannequin records, mark donica, michael stein, minimal synth, surviveLeave a comment

Mannequin presents an 8 track LP from full-analog-synth quartet S U R V I V E aka Adam Jones, Kyle Dixon, Mark Donica and Michael Stein, considered as one of Austin’s (TX, US) most important live electronic mainstays.

Ssleeping desiresS – A Voice [FLEXI004]

June 4, 2012October 19, 2015 hipodromedark wave, electro, flexi wave, minimal synth, ssleeping desiress, synth pop, synth wave1 Comment

Flexi Wave presents some rough synth dark wave from San Fransisco.

In Aeternam Vale – Dust Under Brightness LP [MW036]

June 3, 2012May 19, 2022 hipodromealbum, electro, in aeternam vale, industrial, laurent prot, minimal synth, minimal wave recordsLeave a comment

Minimal Wave return to their self-professed “First French love” In Aeternam Vale with a second LP-shaped trawl through the band’s sizeable archive of cassette only releases. The Brooklyn imprint first introduced us to the work of the hugely prolific Lyon band with an eponymous LP of remastered material in 2009, and Dub Under Brightness proves to be just as important a release. The label points to an article on the band originally published by the Douche Froide magazine in 2002, where the journalist nails their appeal in the opening gambit – “There are bands that have been acting ruthlessly in the shadow for years, in a completely confidential manner, then one day chance (but does chance exist?) makes you find one of their recordings, listen to it, and at that moment you could kick yourself for not having discovered these soundscapes earlier and you try to find all of them”. If you haven’t indulged in the sounds of In Aeternam Vale yet, this eight track selection makes for a perfect introductory primer.

In Aeternam Vale – Dust Under Brightness / Highway Dark Veins [MW03612]

June 3, 2012May 19, 2022 hipodromeelectro, in aeternam vale, industrial, laurent prot, minimal synth, minimal wave recordsLeave a comment

The Minimal Wave label present this 12″ accompaniment to Dub Under Brightness, the freshly released trawl through the cassette-only archives of their favourite French act of the 1980s, In Aeternam Vale. The full unedited 12-minute version of the title track is presented here, pressed on a thick slab of vinyl at 45rpm for the DJs and is complemented by “Highway Dark Veins”, a brilliant example of proto industrial techno. If you are not familiar with the A Side, it presents the Lyon group led by Laurent Prot at their lolloping finest, a hypnotic sideways Minimal Wave throbber replete with cavernous and near indecipherable vocals and industrially charged synth waves. It’s the B Side that makes this release all the more special, sounding every bit like the paranoid martian techno opus that inspired the Mills series Something In The Sky and was a definite highlight of Ron Morelli’s descent into Industrial Nihilism on a recent Beats In Space show.

Mick Wills @ Alchemy, Vicius Club (Rome) 05.05.2012

May 28, 2012December 9, 2015 hipodromealchemy, chicago house, disco, jakbeat, mick wills, minimal synth, vicius club1 Comment

Track artwork

Forward Strategy Group – Labour Division EP1 [TPT052]

May 19, 2012September 1, 2025 hipodromebleaching agent, factory floor, forward strategy group, minimal synth, nikki colk, patrick walker, perc trax, smear, technoLeave a comment

Companion EP to Patrick Walker and Smear’s imminent debut album as Forward Strategy Group, featuring two of its heaviest cuts, one exclusive track and a brace of remixes from Factory Floor. ‘Labour Division’ is a low-slung but shark-eyed warehouse number with shades of Luke Slater’s LB Dub Corps project, while ‘Mandate’ explores darker, more minimal territory, with killer snare edits and scruffily dubbed-out chords, and ‘A Greyed Out Life’ is lush synth dreamscaping a la C2, Klaus Schulze, Tangerine Dream and even early Human League. Factory Floor’s remix of ‘Nihil Novi’ is an interesting synthesis of post-DFA dub-disco drum patterns, analogue synth spurts and industrial accenting; better still is the version of the same track by the band’s Nik Colk Void, a compelling, skin-crawling work of beatless and bass-heavy electronic abstraction in the spirit of Suum Cuique, Mika Vainio and TG.

Newclear Waves – S/T LP [DSR028LP]

May 18, 2012June 21, 2024 hipodromealbum, alessandro adriani, dark wave, desire records, mannequin records, minimal synth, newclear waves, oksana xiuLeave a comment

Hailing from Rome – Italy, Newclear Waves is essentially the solo project of Alessandro Adriani, mind and boss of Mannequin Records, one of the most important synth wave / cold wave labels around, with contributions from Oksana Xiu, an academic russian musician devoted to analog synths. Deeply influenced by the works of the early minimal electronics sounds on Mute Records and 4AD, Newclear Waves is exploring droned out electro pop territories with an interest for a refreshing hyperactive 80s New Wave. Having turned out releases on Mannequin Records, the duo is now presenting a full‐lenght ten tracks collection of caliginous pure analog minimal synth on the way on Desire Records, french Cold Wave and Electro Wave label, focused both in new artists and stunning reissues from 4AD like Mass, In Camera and Dance Chapter.

Pye Corner Audio – Black Mill Tapes Volume 3: All Pathways Open [PCA003]

May 18, 2012June 29, 2021 hipodromealbum, ambient, black mill tapes, martin jenkins, minimal synth, pye corner audio, synth pop, the head technicianLeave a comment

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Right then, our Head Technician has sworn that he will have the next instalment of Black Mills Tapes ready for us by the end of January. Volume 3: All Pathways Open comprises a further twelve tracks lovingly transferred from those now fabled 1/4″ and cassette tapes. The Advisory Circle kindly lent a hand and retransferred ‘Electronic Rhythm Number Eighteen’ for which we are very grateful. Our Head Technician tells us this particular segment had been giving him a fair bit of trouble, so the help was appreciated.

Tropic Of Cancer – Permissions Of Love [MNQ023]

May 18, 2012July 17, 2019 hipodromeabstract, camella lobo, cold wave, dark wave, mannequin records, minimal synth, post punk, tropic of cancerLeave a comment

Brand new 12” from Tropic of Cancer, one the most important realities in the modern post-punk and darkwave scene. The band consists of Camella Lobo and John Juan Mendez. Though Tropic Of Cancer’s sound has been called gothic, cold wave and drone pop, the band’s take on their influences is anything but nostalgic. Lobo and Mendez have managed to imbue their own elusive gaze and craft a strangely beautiful and intoxicating sound in the wake of their predecessors. The three tracks on this new 12” take us gently by the hand into a slowed-down opium dream – it’s like watching the desert from the same stark corners where Lyciastood many years ago. This EP gathers the primal thrust of their bleak Post-Punk (think about Cultural Decay shaking hands with Section 25 in their psychedelic/buddhist years) and Minimal Wave aesthetics with this entirely new dimension in the music of TOC – heartfelt and deep. Cold waves have never been so warm.

Josh Cheon – Who are you Dark Entries?

April 22, 2012July 18, 2014 hipodromedark entries records, dark wave, hartzine, interview, josh cheon, minimal synth, synth pop1 Comment

Track artwork

UV PØP – No Songs Tomorrow [MNQ028/SBR3009]

April 13, 2012June 21, 2024 hipodromealbum, dark wave, electro, mannequin records, minimal synth, sacred bones records, uv popLeave a comment

Mannequin and Sacred Bones are honoured to join their forces to offer you one of the best UK New Wave reissues from the 80’s. UV PØP were an early post-punk group from the South Yorkshire region of England. Their sound was regionally bleak and they used staccato, angular guitars lines, with vocals ranged from spoken repeated mantras to whispered and shouted political poetics. ‘In the 1980s there was nothing to smile about. The person whom some called wrongly the iron lady brought vengeful spiteful selfishness and a narrow-minded out- look into all our lives. The sound of UV PØP has always been a sophisticated blend of sadness; with morose North Country sense and a humorous confrontational sensibility. UV PØP were as certain as anybody there was a strong possibility there might not be anything left with which to make a tomorrow…

Twilight Ritual – The Factory Scream [OS018]

April 13, 2012November 22, 2023 hipodromealbum, electro, geert coppens, minimal synth, onder stroom, peter bonne, synth pop, twilight ritualLeave a comment

Twilight Ritual was/is the main project by Geert Coppens and Peter Bonne. During the early eighties they were involved in many other bands including Autumn and The Linear Movement, but Twilight Ritual is by far the most inspired project. The spirit of the band lingers on beneath the work of Autumn through A Split Second. The work of Twilight Ritual is diverse, yet consise. Their pioneering album Rituals inspired other musicians and became an underground cult classic in the minimal synth genre. “The Factory Scream” is a compilation of varied works recorded during 1984 and 1986.

White Car – Everyday Grace [HIT015]

March 24, 2012October 19, 2015 hipodromealbum, electro, hippos in tanks, minimal synth, synth wave, white carLeave a comment

Hippos In Tanks’ carefully assembled roster, White Car are the label’s darkest, sexiest operators. Hailing from the Pilsen neighbourhood in Chicago, their debut album ‘Everyday Grace’ channels that Eurotic undercurrent of Techno/Wave/drug music which has fuelled the city’s subterranean scene since the earliest days. Like an hallucinatory audio version of the scramble suits in A Scanner Darkly, their chimeric, cyberdelic fantasia assimilates elements of 30 years + of debonaire, thrusting automatik funk, from DAF to NIN to CTI, to ’80s Bowie, Prince and way beyond, refracting each glint until it becomes an amorphous nebula of digital info masking an ice-cool, thermo-controlled interior. The stuttered vocal of central figure Elon Katz expounds ideas of bodiless cybernetic sex and binary sensuality, melding his urging physicality into a virtual matrix of jagged, shoulder-jerking rhythms and writhing synthlines saturated in bacchanalian dissonance.