Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: Reissued over two decades since its original release, the second full-length from Liverpool's Ladytron still thrums with the same sharp-edged futurism that made it such a cult touchpoint. Tracks like 'Seventeen' and 'Evil' captured a tension between robotic detachment and raw emotional charge, anchored in the band's icy synth palette and minimal, deadpan vocals. While 'Blue Jeans' flirts with glammy melancholy, 'Turn It On' and 'Fire' dial up the menace, tapping into something more volatile. There's something surgical about the sequencing tooi'Cracked LCD', 'NuHorizons' and 'Cease2exist' stretch into more abstract terrain, before folding back into hook-laced electro-pop with the closing title track and 'The Reason'. With Daniel Hunt and Mickey Petralia co-producing, the album took shape in Los Angeles but never lost the European chill that defined their sound. It's a record that helped redraw the map for synth-pop in the early 2000sineither retro-futurist pastiche nor pure nostalgia, but something sleek, cinematic and entirely their own.

Review: Le Couleur consistently sidesteps complacency with each new album presenting a fresh musical experiment without ever losing its familiar foundation. With Comme dans un penthouse, the band takes its biggest leap into musical exploration yet as they revisit elements of 'Voyage Love' while delving deeper into disco infused with new wave nuances. The result is a cooler, more distant vibe compared to their previous work. The album crafts a narrative universe around Barbara, introduced in 'POP,' as she seeks excess, pleasure, and happiness amidst frenetic rhythms. From the Krautrock-inspired 'Autobahn' to futuristic tracks reminiscent of Das Mortal, Le Couleur deftly balances innovation with familiarity here on another sublime-sounding album.

Review: Futurespective is a carefully remastered compilation showcasing the finest work of Les Animaux Sauvages, the legendary Bulgarian band known for their blazing blend of post-punk, new wave and dark wave. For the first time, these classic tracks are available on vinyl, which is literally music to the ears of fans of Eastern European underground sounds. The band is a trio of artistic kindred spirits who united in 2014 with Ivo Stoyadinov Charlie on guitar, synths and programming alongside Sibylla Seraphim, who brings her haunting vocals and synth work to the mix. Together, they craft a moody, atmospheric sound that is distantly lo-fi, with prowling and sleazy guitars that Andrew Weatherall would love, chugging dark disco groves and tripped-out machine soul and wiry electronics.

Review: Wearing 1980s synth pop influences on their sleeve, and sounding exactly like they belong on the mighty DFA, Brooklyn's Light Asylum were rightly praised at the time they put out their debut - and, to this date - only studio album, circa 2012. Critics noted that, at a time when dance-punk crossover was everywhere, driven by LCD Soundsystem and many of the acts frontman James Murphy signed to DFA, the New Yorkers manage to differentiate themselves from the pack in several ways.

Taking a hint of Depeche Mode (well, maybe a bit more), a pinch of Nine Inch Nails, and parts of Throbbing Gristle, Gary Numan, and other pioneers, Light Asylum managed to introduce some much-needed light and spatiality into the often claustrophobically dark and oppressive industrial synth world. In doing so, they offer a sound that's somehow both universally accessible and niche, which is never an easy line to tread.

Review: On The Screen: an LP from the Belgian band Linear Movement originally slated for release in 1983. Linear Movement is mastermind Peter Bonne (A Split-Second, Twilight Ritual, Autumn) joined by Peter Koutstaal, and Lieve Van Steerteghem on vocals for several tracks. Some tracks appear on the exquisite Pulse Music cassette while the rest are previously unreleased. Linear Movement was featured on V/A The Lost Tapes compilation LP with their highly acclaimed The Game, described as an "unstoppable pop song". Linear Movement have been called "a more primitive, cold wave Visage", and have been compared to the Human League. Peter differentiated LM from his other projects TR and Aut by the distinct sound of the compositions: they were poppier.

Review: Electronic soul innovator Liv.e followed up her acclaimed Girl In The Half Pearl with PAST FUTUR.e last year, and it's now dropping on vinyl. The surprise seven-track project was made in just 24 hours and announced via a post on X. It's a lo-fi synthwave collection that betrays her genre-defying instincts and trades neo-soul smoothness for raw, hallucinatory energy. She bellows like a dancehall toaster and delivers fragmented narration over fuzzy, pulsing synths that echo Gang Gang Dance's experimental spirit. Is it an EP, album, or mixtape? It doesn't matter-PAST FUTUR.e is an unfiltered transmission from one of r&b's most inventive voices, and it's wildly unpredictable.

Review: .The last time we fell in love with Kedr Livansky it was October 2021 and the world was looking up. Lockdowns were over, and Liminal Soul brought us a celebratory embrace rooted in dance music and post-club night warmth. "Trance-tipped, heart-on-sleeve dance music that's never shy and still always chilled out enough to sit back and contemplate," we said at the time. Myrtus Myth is a very different thing altogether, but thankfully feels no less optimistic. Definitely sitting closer to pop, a kind of soft-yacht-rock, electronic-jazz-chill, and beach bar downtempo compared with the dance floors we were so keen to revisit three years ago, a few things have survived - all of them wonderful deep. Another stunner, to put all that another way.

Review: Hyperspace Communications drop a fresh remix package of cult US new wave trio Los Microwaves' debut LP, What's That Got To Do (With Loving You). Remixed by Kit Watson from the original 24-track analogue tapes, the release features two discs. Disc One is a 45 RPM dancefloor-ready EP with six reimagined cuts from Life After Breakfast, including 'deadpan vocals and punchy cold wave grooves Time To Get Up' and 'TV in My Eye.' Disc Two runs at 33 RPM and adds four instrumental versions tailored for film/TV sync and live remixing. It's a great addition for collectors or an introduction for anyone new to these California synth and techno-punk disrupters.

Review: Danish artists Niels Lyngso and Morten Sondergaard initially bonded over their mutual love of DIY electronic music experiments, before realising that they were both poets. On the same day in 1992, they both released their debut poetry books and this collaborative album - a now sought-after obscurity that has been remastered and reissued by brand-new imprint Sunny Crypt. It's a fascinating and surprisingly on-point collection that effortlessly flits between keyboard solo-sporting instrumental street soul (the deliciously loved-up 'Dromte Mig En Drom'), tactile, organ-sporting slo-mo synth-pop ('Variete'), beat-free synth-tango ('Tango Del Amor'), poodle perm-sporting Scandinavian metal ('Vagvisa'), music concrete ('Edektronika', 'Babylon Gebbesogt') and hard-to-pigeonhole electronic soundscapes ('No. 8').