Blanc Check 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Since Stephen Luscombe stepped aside to deal with health issues, Blancmange founder Neil Arthur has delivered some of the band's most potent material in decades. "Wanderlust", his follow-up to 2017's "Unfinished Rooms", is another fine collection of cuts in the band's distinctively icy, analogue-rich synthpop-style. While there are a few bold, early Blancmange style sing-alongs present (see "TV Debate" and "White Circle, Black Hole"), much of the album's most magical material is rather melancholic and bleak in tone. Given that Arthur says he was inspired by, "the pretence of a normal world being erased", it's perhaps unsurprising. Regardless, his bleak inspirations have resulted in some seriously good music.

Review: This is a second release from the familia collaborative duo of Kincaid and his dad Blancmange. Their first EP made a big mark when it landed on Moscoman's Disco Halal imprint and now they back it up with more sludgy electronics, deconstructed dark disco and coldwave synth styles. "Late For Sum" opens in mysterious, spacious fashion before a Kincaid version reworks it into something more propulsive for the club. The darkened mood and trippy synths continue on "What's The Time?" while the b side offers exotic Middle Eastern disco, cosmic melodies and stark electro-techno with real panache.