Back in stock: Leftfield

Review: ***B-STOCK: Slight split on top of outer sleeve, poster and inner sleeve damaged due to being glued to each other***


Canadian singer, songwriter and visual artists Allie X - real name Alexandra Ashley Hughes - is a great representative for the resurgent live electro-synth scene. Emerging from the Toronto indie circuit in the mid-2000s, it was a relocation to Los Angeles, a heartland for neon sounds, and early work with producers Circuit and Billboard that first saw an identity begin to form, which is as retro as it is futuristic, picking up scores of fans along the way, including Katie Perry no less. Girl With No Face is her latest long form, and sees the artist again stick her flag confidently in the ground. Tunes bounce, track, soar, step, pump and - at times - fall apart, emotionally speaking, with clear references to the likes of Ladyhawke, Madonna, Kraftwerk, Cocteau Twins and a-Ha, among others. Definitely one to watch, if you're not already.

Review: Canadian electro-industrialists FLA really do understand what consistency is. Having put out 12 official studio albums since their inception in 1986, they have remained at the top of their niche game since first landing on the scene, making tracks with this dystopian dancefloor energy, rooted in the cold and unfeeling factories of the future and deceptive humanism of warm synth work.

Nerve War was their now-legendary first mixtape, released the year they got together, and it set the bar so high its any wonder any of what followed managed to live up to these standards. Suffice to say, the fact subsequent stuff did is testament to the band's genius. Presenting everything from strange and unnerving sonic collages ('Thy Glory'), to gritty slo-mo builders ('To The World') and grand sci-fi themes with shades of neo-Gothicism ('Front Line').

Review: Without a doubt, one of the most anticipated reissue compilations of the year is this collection of Future Sound of London side projects. In 2007 this was a CD-only compilation of early 90s tracks as well as unreleased ones from the same age. As the lore of FSOL continues to grow over the past 30+ years, their side projects have gotten more and more attention from the people who love those early rave sounds. Now for the first time, a vinyl version of it with no less than a 3x12 to harness all this early 90s techno goodness. All the tracks are by Dougans and Cobain and the aliases are the same. This 2007 album however has a wealth of new material from the same time period as Earthbeat. It is amazing that one release like this by two producers can be such a prime example of the UK sound that changed dance music forever. If you want the 90s UK rave reissue of the year, here it is!

Review: Galvanica's 'Nightlights In Japan' dropped in 1987 and was a perfectly dreamy post-rave comedown soundtrack with heavenly pads and angelic whispered vocals. It came with various different remixes that repurposed it for different moments. The remix dance version is more driven by classic and crunchy analogue 80s drums with tumbling melodies and plenty of feelings of subtle euphoria. The single version tweaks that just a touch and the maxi instrumental turns up the drums and strips out the vocals for something more rock and club-ready. Tip!

Review: Swiss producer Ben Kaczor joins Dial for the release of his new album Petrovo Uho, an 11 track opus that comes hot n the heels of his last album only back in April, Sun Chapter One. He taps into the classic sound of Dial here with bottomless and heady depths. The artist says a trip to Dubrovnik in summer had a big influence on the album as he was inspired by the sound of a foreign language and tried to reflect the sounds and atmosphere of the trip in the music here. There are just 250 copies of this so move quickly.

Review: L.F.T. lands on Pinkman with a six-tracker of conceptual electro and dungeon synth, aimed squarely at the dancefloor. 'Electric Vampire' is the contemporary counterpart to Nosferatu; rather than transforming into a bat, this hematophagic harpy has no problem traversing the fibre-optic cables and electric wiring that make up our telecoms and wi-fi systems. The idea of an electric vampire, a version of the 'energy vampire' trope that pervades folk consciousness at the moment, likewise pervades the six tracks on this blood-boiler. The EP mutates progressively into more and more grotesque forms; by the time we reach track five, 'Demonic Toys', we're deep into the blood sacrifice, having lost fourteen pints, provided nothing resembling a tourniquet. How could you possibly stem this badboy record's flow?.

Review: Poetic Hovering Synth Tinkerer.

Review: ***B-STOCK: Creasing to corner of outer sleeve but otherwise in excellent condition***


In anticipation of Nouvelle Phenomene's forthcoming album, Bordello A Parigi concomitantly announce the reissue of their acclaimed debut LP Glory Of Romance, almost ten years after its initial release. An emotively depth-scouring work of contemporary synthwave-via-darkwave, the musical quadrangle of Angela Santa, Fanni Santa, Peter B. and Zsolt Dziba first produced this impressive studio project under the ambit of Russian indie label Other Voices, giving rise to the likes of 'Glory Of Romance' and 'Caresse', both excellent singles venturing into a well-established sound, yet colliding it with a fabulously fresh thematic locus, such as modern-day fatigue and artifice. Truly an ever-new phenomenon, Nouvelle Phenomene's style - that of gothic-sonic art nouveau - is a newness that nevertheless does not forfeit timelessness.

Review: There are few borders to NTHNG's sounds. His debut album 'It Never Ends' made a big impression back in 2017 as it mixed up dub, deepness and techno and he has since impressed with plenty of lo-fi sounds and ambient bliss-outs on labels like Lobster Theremin and Lobster Sleep Sequence as well as dropping his more raw techno Delsin. Here he is in soundscaping mode again but also drops some slick electro, downbeat and Balearic sound on There Is A Place For Me on Transatlantic. It is a cosmic work of widescreen design and immersive effect.

Review: Mysterious techno artist Rrose presents their first ever CD release, and their second full-length project to date. Following 2019's Hymn to Moisture, Please Touch features 11 slippery slinkers, flaunting Rrose's penchant for hypnotics and minimalisms; the likes of 'Spores' and 'Spines' refuse to indulge too many novel sounds, preferring to allow their more immersive textures to rattle and ricochet over each mix, producing a delugey wash. Thematically, the LP deals with themes of touch, intimacy and embodiment, doing some of the work to bridge the schizophonic gap that's remained open since the dawn of recorded music.

Review: Dino Sabatini returns to his own Outis Music label with another mesmerising selection of deep electronic sounds that seem to take plenty of influences from dub, downtempo, ambient and trip hop. The open has a creeping melodic sequence that is forever subtly shifting and brings a sense of eeriness to the smooth and unhurried dub rhythms below. 'Inenarrabilis' is then a double quick flurry of tiny synth loops and trippy effects then 'Plena Lunae' allows you to breathe once more and sink into a vast dub soundscape. 'Ego Experior' shuts down with some paranoid baselines bubbling up through a slowly churning groove. Some quality work here for sure.

Review: The second studio album from Yello was added to the pantheons of weirdo electronic pop some time ago. In fact, some 31 years ago to be exact. While not by any stretch the outfit's most famous effort, that belongs to fourth album, Stella, and in particular the 1980s movie anthem 'Oh Yeah', in many ways that track doesn't encapsulate the spirit of the band anything like the tunes here.

At times low slung ('Ballet Mecanique') and occupying a space somewhere between roots and fairground, in other moments tragically epic and approaching New Romanticism ('Quad El Habib'), while the music itself is wildly varied and unarguably original, the overall magic is still found in how much fun it sounds like they were having, and how much fun we have hearing it.