Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: Belgian label nacht and The Pilotwings (Louis & Guillaume) present a compilation of works created in the STELPLAATS venue in Leuven, early 2022. In November 2021, right before the second Covid lockdown. Guillaume and Louis were invited by the nacht crew in Leuven to play their first dj-set together since the start of the pandemic. At the time, the nacht crew had just received the first physical release on their brand new imprint, and the team was eager to get the record out into the world. For the second release, however, everything was possible. Before the show, somewhere between the obligatory nasal swab and the third drink, the idea of an unusual collaboration sprouted. Leuven Works compiles five tracks that flowed out of the sessions in STELPLAATS and is a testament to the week that Louis and Guillaume had under the STELPLAATS roof. During their stay, the blood brothers got looked after with love by the nacht team, who provided homemade pizzas and a well-stocked fridge full of Duvels, allowing The Pilotwings to truly root into the Leuven soil and enrich the local landscape with their colourful presence.

Review: Hailing from Philadelphia - currently up there with the most artistically arresting cities in the US (having spawned the nickname 'New York's most exciting borough' among those wanting weary of the Big Apple's gentrified shell) - Plastic Ivy make music that's pure drama on disc. Or digital file, depending on your chosen format. Founded by singer, songwriter and guitarist Lira Marie Landes, when teamed up with bassist, producer and engineer Daniel James Shields, the duo are something real to contend with.

Here we're given four pieces of compelling evidence proving that point. Original versions ooze a kind of affected sexuality, a retro-tinged electro-punk ride through the experimental side door of a night in the club, nodding to influences from Kitten to The Human League. Remixed, though, 'Superior Corruption' is nothing short of a banging electro number filled with attitude and cheekiness. Essential.

Review: Martin Jenkins aka Pye Corner Audio kept existing fans happy and won over many more new ones with his Let's Emerge! album in summer. As it often the way it now gets remixed with a Sonic Boom twist. The three cuts are all fresh and original fusion of cold wave and synth with analogue textures and enveloping sub bass, heady sound designs that make you wonder how and plenty more besides. 'Haze Loops', 'Saturation Point' and 'Warmth Of The Sun' are all classics in the making.

Review: As part of the 2016 Ghent Film Festival, the first ever 'greatest hits' album for Ryuichi Sakamoto's soundtrack work was released. This retrospective LP compiles the best selections from the entirety of his career, from Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence to The Revenant. Now reissued 5 years later by Silva Screen, the album sees a wider, exclusive white vinyl edition, capturing the swelling pangs endemic to Sakamoto's music for screen.

Review: RECOMMENDED
Every once in a while you get hold of an album with a title that couldn't be more fitting. Pioff? is one of those moments. Quite what this music is, or where it comes from, is anyone's guess on first impressions, making for perhaps the best use of a question mark we have seen in some time. As jaunty and upbeat as it is robotic and regimented, here's proof that German funk is all about that mechanical strut.

Whether it's 'Pass Auf!', a track that boasts one of the most infectious stepping beats you could ask for, the sublime e-funk pop of 'In Der Nacht', or the woozy guitar and synth odyssey 'Schau Dich Doch An', the fact of the matter is Pioff make tunes that could have been made at any time in human history - past or future. Kraut-slo-mo-chug-electro-groove might be one way to put it.

Review: Perhaps slightly better known for his dancefloor-enlivening electro productions, this is actually the third full length ambient album from UK producer Emile Facey under the Plant43 moniker. He's been writing and storing up atmospheric synthesiser experiments alongside his dancefloor oriented output since his last ambient LP The Countless Stones released in 2020, and the eight tracks here are meditative, ethereal affairs, Facey carving out a beautiful set of vivid emotions out of crystal clear pure sounds and arpeggios rolling like gentle waves lapping at a shore. Imagine classic Tangerine Dream combined with the balance and poise of Global Communication and you're getting close.
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Review: Colin Potter has a unique approach to electronic rhythm that is fully laid bare on this Ago long player. His signature sound design defines the six cuts which were recorded in the mid-80s and late-90s at IC studio in Tollerton in North Yorkshire. Various bits of classic hardware were used in the making of these tunes - an Akai S950 sampler, an Emulator II, Roland TR727 and Yamaha RX11 digital drum machines, a Roland Juno 60, and more, and the results are mind-melting cuts that fuse bleep, electro, EBM, techno and acid.

Review: Back in 2016, Martin Jenkins unveiled the first instalment of a "loose trilogy" of vaguely conceptual albums for the Ghost Box label. Entangled Routes is the third and final part of this trilogy and lands two years after its predecessor, Hollow Earth. Though not expressly acknowledged within the music, Jenkins' inspiration this time round was apparently "mycorrhizal networks" - subterranean networks of funghi that transfer water, carbon and other minerals and nutrients to the roots of plants. Musically, what's on offer is intoxicating and far-sighted, with Jenkins mixing up trippy ambient psychedelia with modular-rich, melodious electronica, throbbing, arpeggio-driven dancefloor cuts and what would once have been called IDM. As usual, the album is full of great ideas, beautifully executed, and sequenced in such a way as to provide a genuine aural journey.

Review: Analogue synth spooks rejoice, Pye Corner Audio is back with further explorations of the sweet spot between nostalgic fuzz and circuit-borne futurism. Ghost Box is a spiritual home for Martin Jenkins' flagship project, and he continues to edge out the scope of the Pye Corner sound without derailing the fundamental atmosphere. On The Endless Echo, warm, pulsing melodics set to eerie keys abound, and there's a fine balance between gorgeous ambient atmospheric pieces and sinewy, danceable rhythms, but Jenkins manages to sound fresh and inspired even while reliably holding true to the overall project aesthetic.