Mannequin Germany 黑胶唱片和CD

Review: Sam de la Rosa from the Led Er Est band works here with Karen Sharkey from The Coombe for fours tuning wave tracks on Germany's Mannequin. It's de la Rosa's third release and is driven by a perfectly chilly TR-606, its ice cold sounds making for perfectly futuristic electro. The minimal spoken word beats add layers of allure and a dehumanised vibe that makes it all the more occult. 'Who Are You Today?' is a zoned out opener, while 'Slick People' is more creepy and subversive. The artwork is cool, too, and with mixing done by Marcos Cabral, this really is a wining package.

Review: 10 years after first starting out, June aka Tsampikos Fronas serves up a third full length on Mannequin Records that draws on all his years of musical exploration. The world that results is a dystopian one where machines have taken over and human life has long gone. Synths fizz with static electricity, drums and percussion automated by AI and the whole thing is like an exercise in cyber-transcendence. An arsenal of vintage analog synthesizers, drum machines and effect processors add retro-future textures that only serve to heighten the record overall.

Review: Mannequin really can do no wrong if you're looking for cold wave, synth oddities, EBM and the like. As this LFT outing goes to show. Born in a twisted, semi-industrial place that's packed with percussion, reverberated noises, growling basslines, and a kind of sinister sexual energy (or maybe that's just us?), it's timeless stuff providing your concept of time begins and ends in the modern era. A retro futurist palette with punk smeared across its face.

Nevertheless, variety abounds once you have started to pick things apart. There's the slow, hypnosis of 'Blood Vessel', a track that sounds like acid meeting a rather monotone political speech. Meanwhile, 'Narcissist', featuring the vocal prowess of Rosaceae, could be the product of Blondie spending a night at KitKat Club in the late-1980s. We could go on, but simply put it's a visceral adventure into dark synth pop, and a highly enjoyable experience from start to finish.