Back catalogue: All genres

Review: BOOM! Our favourites, Cititrax, roll the third editions of Tracks out onto our shelves, and the results are unsurprisingly strong on this excellent various artists comp. It's a mixed bag of skills, as per usual, and the sounds are those of a new NYC, fuelled by a new sort of post-industrial sensibility. Amato Y Mariana open with the tight beats and groove of "Queires Bailar", followed closely by the ominous compositions of the EBM-flavoured "Montgat" from The Sixteen Steps. On the flip, His Dirty Secrets bleeps out some morphed acid on "Structures", and "Another Stranger" from Further Reductions churns out a slow, mild-mannered house experiment with its roots clearly planted in the coldest of waves. Sick.

Review: Harlem, the Stockholm-based duo, return with an eight-track exploration of dark, pulsating electronics. Drawing on influences ranging from King Tubby's dub to Robert Hood's minimal techno, they craft a sound that defies easy categorisation. Echoing the no wave dissonance of early ESG and the industrial edge of Cabaret Voltaire, they fuse these disparate elements into a potent sonic cocktail. 'Shut Your Body' opens with a muscular intensity reminiscent of Nitzer Ebb, its driving rhythms and gritty textures setting the stage. 'Fantasy Scan' picks up the pace, a dancefloor-ready jam that recalls Underground Resistance's hypnotic grooves. 'Blow By Blow' channels a nihilistic energy, its sparse arrangement and spoken-word vocals evoking the cold wave sounds of Kas Product. The B-side continues the sonic exploration with 'Dummy Up', a track that evokes the frenetic energy of a cult gathering, its electro and body influences recalling the darker side of the 80s underground. 'Sleuth' takes a more introspective turn, its repetitive grind suggesting a relentless search for the unknown. 'Contact High' brings back the seductive energy, its dancefloor-ready rhythms and infectious melodies reminiscent of early Detroit techno. The album closes with 'Wiggle Walker', a melancholic track that suggests a journey into the unknown. Harlem's music is a thrilling ride through a landscape of sonic extremes, a sonic experience that is both exhilarating and unsettling. Visceral but thought-provoking, this is a potent blend of genres and influences that defies expectations.

Review: IDM powerhouse and still-fresh Brainfeeder signee Hakushi Hasegawa returns with Mahogakko, the latest mindmelter to paint the perpetually morphogenic work of art that is their... ahem... music. Once again, this is a broad set of bad-apple, black MIDI-influenced compositions, all of which push the sonic limit to the floating point of timeline-breaking cacophony, verging on sugar-rushing ideasthetic noise. Imagine an alternate universe of techno-faeries all aflutter in some forest grotto out of conscious sight; despite meaning well and maintaining a vivid glee, this pixie-hive's demeanour defaults to a wild, puckish, erratic and swarming fever, to the point of grave danger for the human visitant. We hold this image firmly in mind, as it concurs with the news of Hasegawa's recent grand gestural face reveal, after which interpretations of their music will never be the same. A thoroughly dynamic record, Hasegawa is unafraid of the contrast between loud and quiet, in a totally singular fashion that bucks the expectation usually laid at the feet of electronica artists. Every sound here, from 'Boy's Texture' to 'Forbidden Thing (Kimmotsu)', is as machine-elven, fidgeting and hyperrealistic as would be expected, yet also unexpected, of today's zeitgeist, that of TikTok-dancing phantasmagorias and disgust-threshold broaching cute slime aesthetics. Everything is so crisp and glossy that the sonic metal deployed in its making sound to have far surpassed their liquidus points, not long before having been strained into a kind of magick philtrum set aside for the braving of fatal fairy realms and fatal fairy realms alone.

Review: Ever since Los Angeles noise-rock trio HEALTH provided the score to Rockstar Games' Max Payne 3, both their sonic and career paths have veered down a direction that avid early fans still have trouble reconciling. Shifting from predominantly instrumental, spasmodic chaos to a unique form of laser-focused, industrial metalwave; their 2019 opus Vol 4: Slaves Of Fear newly established them as the ultimate electronic act for metal fans. While lockdown led to the Disco 4 collaborative albums, split into two separate volumes and boasting a remarkably dynamic array of features from the likes of alt hip-hop guru JPEGMAFIA, trap-metal phenom Ghostemane, hyperpop absurdist duo 100 Gecs, industrial overlords Nine Inch Nails and even groove metal legends Lamb Of God, their fifth full-length Rat Wars draws on the insidious influence from these more aggressive collaborators while simultaneously offering some of their most vulnerable, melancholic and fragile material to date. Complete with a Godflesh sample, it's rather fitting when considering HEALTH's attempts to marry such disparate yet equally punishing sonics mirrors Justin Broadrick's forays from decades ago. Grinding, mechanical percussion fuses to ethereal, androgynous vocals all drowned within EBM sickliness, whilst unpacking utterly nihilistic worldviews. Imagine Placebo or The Pet Shop Boys writing an album with Ministry, and you may start to have an idea of the war you're heading into...

Review: LA based industrial trio HEALTH have had quite the curious trajectory from their confrontational noise-rock beginnings, to providing the acclaimed score to Max Payne 3, all the way to redefining themselves as a gritty, synth-metal behemoth on 2019's Vol 4: Slaves Of Fear. Following on from their lockdown-inspired two-part Disco 4 collaborative project which boasted cuts written in tandem with artists ranging from a multitude of differing sonic spheres, such as alternative hip-hop (JPEGMAFIA, Ghostemane) to hyperpop (100 Gecs) and even grindcore (Full Of Hell), their latest endeavour appears to be taking cues from both their more vicious experiments as well as their newfound collaborative ethos. With features from the likes of Godflesh and Willie Adler of Lamb Of God, whilst embracing both their metallic and techno-leaning indulgences simultaneously, Rat Wars promises to distil the myriad of components essential to the sonic makeup of HEALTH into one oppressive, melancholic, hellish, absorbing and vital collection.

Review: Labyrinthe! stands as a singular achievement in Pierre Henry's illustrious career, showcasing his ability to craft music even when deprived of his usual sonic resources. The sounds for this piece were supplied by GRM collaborators, each bringing their own unique qualities and textures. Despite not being his own material, Henry's distinct voice and musical vision quickly come to the forefront. Through this intricate soundscape, Henry constructs a maze of audio, focusing intently on the development and manipulation of the sounds provided. His clarity of purpose and deliberate approach is evident throughout, as he shapes the contributions of others into something unmistakably his own. The piece is built upon the interplay of disparate elements, all meticulously woven together into a cohesive sonic journey. Henry described Labyrinthe! as a collaborative venture, a fusion of 58 sound fragments from seven different composers, forming a work that feels both expansive and tightly intertwined. His harmonic sensitivity ensures that the diverse sources never clash but instead create a complex, interlocking sound world. Labyrinthe! is a brilliant testament to Henry's mastery of electroacoustic composition and his remarkable ability to turn limitations into creative triumphs.

Review: Oakland, CA trio Houses Of Heaven draw on elements of industrial pop, post-punk, electro and experimental on their latest full-length Within/Without, their second LP for label Felte. Channelling the production prowess of Matia Simovich (INHALT) - and featuring top-of-their-game guest vocals from Douglas McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb) and Mariana SaldaNa (BOAN) - Within/Without marks a turn away from the dub-infused movements of their prior 2020 Silent Places, going full-on weighty and noir cyberpunk, but with an extra ear for texture that most other releases operating in said style cannot claim to match. Opener 'Strange Temptation' prefers its shutdown Reeses and crunching arp sequences, while mid-record peaktimer 'Deserve' proves itself unafraid of rapturous verbs and washes; the lust could go on, but all tracks here have a remarkable ability to both strike fear into the hearts of us puny humans and simultaneously make us prance.