Today Only: Coldwave/Synth sale vinyl

Review: Barcelona-based duo Silvia Kostance and Viktor L. Crux make visceral noise and raw industrial a real art form. They have done so now across lots of EPs and two albums on the likes of Mannequin Records, B.F.E Records and Magia Roja. They bring post-punk and EBM to their work but always with their own signature sounds at the core. Their renowned live shows inform their recorded music too and Toda la mentira sobre Dame Area is the first of two twin LPs that find the pair at their most explicit and emphatic. Their darkly seductive avant pop and mix of dub and insurgent noise all make for another superb album.

Review: Independent radio institution NTS has a lot to answer for. Not least introducing its legions of loyal listeners across the world to the mighty (or, perhaps more appropriately, curious Staalfagel). The result of some serious crate digging, as per usual for the platform, the Swedish post punk and New Wave outfit - Erik Fritjofsson, Petter Brundell and Micke Kjell - reflect how broad the digital station's music policy can be, and how important it is for things to be rediscovered and saved from obscurity.
Forming in 1980, the three piece only released two full length records in their time, alongside a handful of singles and EPs. Utan Rymddrakt Pa Uranus is among the most enigmatic and delightful, here presented in two parts with an edit by Gary The Tall. As early adopters of synths and drum machines, the cosmic dance-pop sound here might be rudimentary today, but also has this real sense of adventure and breaking new ground about it.

Review: Legendary Blackpool post-punk, later electronic band Section 25 - consisting of brothers Larry and Vin Cassidy - first formed in 1978. Initial associations with Factory Records and frequent touring partners Joy Division were more than enough to propel them into the limelight, and the ensuing glory translates well into the modern day - as evidenced by Retrofit, their seventh album. First released in 2010, the album features new versions of some of their classic songs, such as 'Looking From A Hilltop', 'Dirty Disco' and 'Girls Don't Count'. A nostalgic, dreamy, and honest Northern electro/synth sound predominates, harking back to an unmistakable golden age. Now reissued on Factory's Belgian counterpart Factory Benelux, we hear a fresh LP remaster and a new track, 'Uberhymn'.

Review: Film De Geurre aka Fred Laser, Max Whiteshoe, Victor Chon and Xenia dropped their self titled dark wave, post punk and minimal synth masterpiece back in 1981. It has become a cult classic ever since and is their one and only ever album. It now comes reissued with a 24"x24" poster & original insert with lyrics courtesy of Mental Groove. The rhythms throughout are stark but compelling, with jangling guitars layered up over the chilly synths and dark, deadpan vocals delivered up top in a matter of fact style. It has a steady pulse that keeps you locked in as the guitar strings ping about and the mood changes from curious and beguiling to more moody and direct

Review: Nobody could accuse Spanish producer JASSS of being backwards and coming forwards on this, her Ostgut Ton debut. The Berlin-based label, Berghain's recorded outlet, usually conjures sonic images in line with the stereotypical soundtrack of the club's main hall, but anyone who has spent a reasonable amount of time in the imprint's back catalogue will know that's a reductive assumption. The crew regularly veer into all kinds of leftfield electronic avenues.

Even so, JASSS' arrival marks one of the wildest rides this platform has ever offered listeners. From the resoundingly emotional and joyous opening wide bands of synth, 'Birds You Can Name', to the euphoric industrialism of 'Busto' and the operatic, neo-tropical pop of 'A World of Service', this is benchmark-setting curveball stuff we cannot get enough of.