synth wave
VA – FAKE1-THE ABSENCE [FAKE#1]
The first release on FAKE imprint is a nice VA compilation of 10 wave, electronix and ambient tracks.
Phase Fatale @ HÖR (Berlin) 20.02.2020
SDH – Against Strong Thinking EP [AV!068]
SDH return with the Against Strong Thinking EP. The band continues to explore the musical language as a poetic form and trying to discover new questions that allow the great categories of thinking to be undone. Against Strong Thinking talks about the importance of facing all that categorical, dogmatic and conclusive thinking. There is a need for dialogue with everything that seems unquestionable. Again, the questions guide all the songs and, again, there is no single answer. Sometimes this doubt is fertile, sometimes it is painful and involves a total and profound loss.
Interstellar Funk @ Red Light Radio 19.02.2020
Solitary Dancer – Postlude [PP01]
‘Postlude’ is the second release on Solitary Dancer’s new imprint, Private Possessions. Private Possessions was borne out of a desire to control all aspects of output pertaining to the development, creation, and dissemination of their music, video, and other media. Following their debut LP ‘Rites Of Passage’, ‘Postlude’ is a three-track affair which juxtaposes two of the album’s floor-focussed cuts with an extended version of ‘Test Dream’. The latter has been processed into a 15-minute “Devisualization” using degradation techniques that slowly destroys the piece over time, harkening the ever-changing lucidity and memories of our own dreams.
Ian Martin – Neo Modernist [PNKMN035]
Ian Martin’s Neo Modernist is an exercise in introspection, where things aren’t always rosy. Confronting your anxieties and fears may not be pleasant but sometimes necessary to escape deterioration. Ian Martin’s music channels these feelings, and gives beauty to something that expressed in words can seem depressing. One of Rotterdam’s best kept secrets comes through with maximum emotion and prowess. Take notice.
Retrograde Youth – Mass Asphyxia [PNKMN034]
‘Mass Asphyxia’, Retrograde Youth’s new record comes in the form of 6 tracks to satisfy the escapist desires of troubled minds and souls. The Colombian artist operates in a sphere of his own where the lines blur between different styles, fusing oddball techno with deranged acid, industrial elements, ethereal synth and haunting vocal samples. The sound aesthetic is just as diverse with atmospheres meandering between sci-fi, disaster and retro-futurism. Retrograde Youth once more shows his nonconformity and ability to surprise in great style.
Daniele Cosmo says Yes
Borusiade – Fortunate Isolation [DE266]
Dark Entries Records presents ‘Fortunate Isolation’ the sophomore album from Borusiade. Born and raised in Bucharest, Romania, Borusiade aka Miruna Boruzescu started dj-ing in 2002 as one of the very few female DJs in the city’s emerging alternative clubbing scene. Influenced by a classical musical education, a bachelor in film direction and fascinated by raw electronic sounds, Borusiade first combined these universes in the construction of her DJ sets and starting 2005 also in her music production. A sound of her own has slowly crystallized, often dark with poignant bass lines, obsessive themes and by all means melodic. ‘Fortunate Isolation’ is perhaps Borusiade’s most personal release to date. Eight songs that capture a bystander witnessing the world as it undergoes drastic changes. We have disconnected ourselves from ecology, humanity, preservation, care for what surrounds us, for what is still alive. Borusiade adds, “| know that this place, our home has went through so many other extinctions, but | believe things will find their own way on this planet only once we are gone. Entropy creates a time-line but also a transformation – a new beginning.” The album’s sound is gloomy and powerful mixing sonic film sequences, rhythmic excursions and soothing yet obsessive vocals that touch one’s deepest senses. Lyrically the songs tackle themes of forgotten memories, spirituality, mortality, and destruction.
VA – Techniques. A Techno-Pop Selection From The USA: 1982-1990 [MEC051]
An exquisite and meticulous selection of underground “techno-pop” bands that emerged during the 80’s in the United States. Each one of these acts is considered a cult, although several even only edited an EP or one single, a demo tape or just appeared on compilations. A total of sixteen songs from eight bands. Some classic hits together with rare or even unreleased tracks. A compilation that will help many to discover a slightly explored side of alternative electronic pop music from America.
La Luna Sotto Il Ponte – L’alchimia Dell Svanimento 1983-1988 [ILG003]
For its 3rd release Infoline showcases never heard compositions of Marco Repetto (former Grauzone). La Luna Sotto Il Ponte is a 2×12” compilation and a never used alias of Marco Repetto. The compilation features tracks written between 1983 – 1989. Some years after his break up with Grauzone (1981), Marco went on a darker and more industrial path, which was a common route for experimental composers at that time. Expect a solid mixture of unreleased Industrial/EBM cuts. The bonus EP replaces La Luna Sotto Il Pontes grim and dark compositions for a much more utopian mind-set and movement in its heyday. It’s 1988/1989 – Acid House is everywhere.
Lena Muir – Go [MT0025]
Malka Tuti delivers a new 7” by mysterious artist ‘Lena Muir’. Two cuts of Post Punk infused dance floor bonanza for your weirdo selectors set, or your next car chase. Sounding like they were taken out of a Robert Rodriguez movie, the 2 tracks push relentlessly forward, with a quirky drum machine, heavy bass and kick-ass guitar riffs.
Mondowski – Sholay [SC&P007]
Mondowski makes his full label debut on Snap Crackle & Pop with an electro inspired turn. Dancefloor orientated lead track Sholay finds a mesmerizing path somewhere between extroverted 80’s electro and celebratory spiritual transcendence and gets the remix treatment from Kris Baha who subverts the original by turning the electro backbone up to 11. The EP’s B-side, Negative Space, voyages into darker electro territories with Kraftwerkesque synths, rolling pads and a motorik bassline, all of which provides the launchpad for Multiple Man to turn out a pitch black EBM banger.
FR Fels – Second Escape / O-B-E [XXL03]
Daniel Holt – Phormix Podcast #164
Severed Heads – Clean [DE265]
Dark Entries’ first release of 2020 is a deluxe 2xLP reissue of Severed Heads’ debut 1981 album ‘Clean’. One of the longest surviving bands to emerge from the Australian post-punk independent music scene, they began in Sydney in 1979. Severed Heads is basically a nom- de-plum for Tom Ellard, who incorporates elements of ‘industrial’ noise-generation, tape cutting & looping and electronic sound synthesis. As the project developed song-structures and vocals were employed in a more-or-less recognizable mutant electro pop style. ‘Clean’ was amongst the first vinyl releases under the Dogfood Productions banner of Terse Tapes, previously a cassette-only label. For this records Tom used an array of synthesizers (Kawai 100F, Casiotone, Roland CR78+SH1+CSQ100), sequencers, tapes and occasional guitar and violin played by Garry Bradbury. Severed Heads have a language of their own, music that juxtaposes all sorts of noise, in all sorts of ways so that a structure evolves, (fragmented) melody and rhythm being almost a by-product. As one reviewer said in 1981, “It is an ugly album that you simply cannot ignore, it thuds and screeches and makes you stare just to wonder what kind of people would procure such an album.” For this deluxe reissue we’ve included a bonus disc featuring 13 songs, 5 of which have never been released before, culled from live performances, the ‘Side 3’ cassette and a ‘Clean’ demo tape that only surfaced last year, plus “Food City” missing from previous reissues. All songs have been remastered by Tom Ellard, with vinyl EQ and lacquer cutting by George Horn at Fantasy Studios in Berkeley.
Trenton Chase – Planar Array [AD009]
Following his debut LP in June 2017, Trenton Chase returns with “Planar Array”, a 7 track LP on Artificial Dance. As half of Manie Sans Délire and the co-owner of June records, he’s known for his uncompromising sound that touches a wide range of genres. The release is heavy-hitting with distorted vocals, industrial textures and dagger-like synths, a satisfying array of wave, EBM and experimental music. From Transit Decay with the clunky bassline and depth at its core to the aggressive electronics in Narked. From the title track, Planar Array’s melodic high synths to the dreamy contracting offbeat of Doppler Shift. Trenton Chase brings the smoke out of the machine, progressively getting harder, faster and more destructive.
Daniel Holt – EKT-PODC-008
Kris Baha – Barely Alive [EES035]
Emotional welcomes Kris Baha with ‘Barely Alive’, his first 12″ for Especial. Remixes start with Timothy J Fairplay who laces his trademark echoplexxed wash for a cold wave mover. Next, prodigy Job Sifre builds on his acclaimed debuts with a remodel that goes straight to ‘that’ basement, mixing his love of electro, new wave and industrial. To close, the legend of Das Ding creates a re-alternate remix, fusing his unique fuzz with Baha’s ode for a brittle finale.
The Hipodrome Of Music 