GARY NUMAN 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Already 13 albums deep, Gary Numan unveiled Pure in November 2000, a pivotal year in world history even if we all thought its significance was just the passing of one century, and millennium, into the next. We hadn't seen it, but the decade that followed served to bookend modernism itself, landing us in a very different time - post-analogue, post-truth, post-physicality, post-recording industry, and, in many ways, post-human. What better way to mark the transition than with this electro-synth-goth collection?

Well, it depends who you ask. Arriving to mixed reviews at the time, with comparisons to Trent Reznor and Marilyn Manson not meant favourably (artists critics said had already explored these sounds before Numan dived in, despite his veteran status), listening back now those comments seem more unfair than ever. The reality is, Pure marks the next stage in a long-evolution of a mastermind who, over decades, has continued to venture further into darkness, never even considering to step back.

Review: Ah Mr. Numan, so pleased you could rejoin us. In an era that feels increasingly void of legendary musicians capable of really living up to the word 'legend', an Instagrammed nightmare inhabited solely by memes, a new record from the Prince of Dark Electronica is always going to make you feel slightly less fatalistic about the future of the planet. Or at least culture. How ironic.

Sinister, at times melancholic and driven as much by emotions as it is instrumentation, Numan's coming of age record (studio album #21, get it?) is a fantastic summary of everywhere he has been and everywhere he might take us next. A benchmark of alternative neo-goth pop, Intruder does exactly what you were hoping for - leaving no prisoners in its search for the most blissful tragedy.

Review: It has been eight years since Gary Numan gave us 'Hybrid', and we need the frustrations, anger, rage, anxiety and sinister moods that pervade this growing and snarling masterpiece now more than ever, even if that's just to help let it all out. Logically titled - this is perhaps Numan's most inter-referential and genre-colliding record - thankfully you could hear the album daily and its impact would never wane.

From the post-apocalyptic breakbeats of 'Hybrid' itself, through the menacing, operatic epic that is 'Dark', 'Torn''s metal electroclash and the emo-goth New Romanticism of 'Down In The Park', it's a breathtaking experience taking it all in, one that compares to the most charged, challenging but fundamentally life affirming art. A schooling from a genuine genius whose studio track record remains impeccable.