Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: The hugely prolific and endlessly touring Australian rock band King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard's latest is Rave Gizzard: Live in San Francisco 2024 via Reverberation Appreciation Society, a hefty triple-LP capturing their legendary first-ever full synth set. It was recorded live at The Regency Ballroom on November 6, 2024, and is a nine-track set with technicolour performances of tracks like 'Theia,' 'Gilgamesh' and 'Extinction' all reimagined with razor-sharp synth textures. It was an epic show lapped up by fans who revelled in the overwhelming bass and immersive, rave-like energy, all of which is conveyed when listening back. This limited-edition bootleg is a document of the band's adventurous leap into synth-driven psychedelia that is sure to swiftly sell out.

Review: Futurespective is a carefully remastered compilation showcasing the finest work of Les Animaux Sauvages, the legendary Bulgarian band known for their blazing blend of post-punk, new wave and dark wave. For the first time, these classic tracks are available on vinyl, which is literally music to the ears of fans of Eastern European underground sounds. The band is a trio of artistic kindred spirits who united in 2014 with Ivo Stoyadinov Charlie on guitar, synths and programming alongside Sibylla Seraphim, who brings her haunting vocals and synth work to the mix. Together, they craft a moody, atmospheric sound that is distantly lo-fi, with prowling and sleazy guitars that Andrew Weatherall would love, chugging dark disco groves and tripped-out machine soul and wiry electronics.

Review: If you at first mistakenly read the title of the new Pye Corner Audio box set as "Where Things Are Now: No Tomorrow", you're not alone - Martin Jenkins' effortless blend of retro-nostalgia and forward-facing production is a keen match for reflexive cynicisms like this. His use of sizzling vintage audio-tropes could only have been achieved in the 21st Century and helps foster a reinstated optimism. The name of the full series is actually Where Things Are Hollow; and while two volumes have been released already, a third original one now comes added here, on top of a full remix roundoff featuring Alessandro Cortini, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith and John Talabot, producing this rather banging four-volume set.

Review: Xmal Deutschland commemorate their influential 4AD years (1983-1984) with a brand new release, literally presenting us with Gift. The collection celebrates the band's profound impact on British audiences in the early 80s, marked by a unique and half-devised lyrical language, as well as a magnetic feminine mystique commandeered by the women in the group. Their breakthrough support slot with Cocteau Twins accompanied the first two albums to come out via 4AD, which grabbed audiences by the collective ear with a painter's stroke of hard-graded darkwave and goth. Gift brims with a penumbral presence, while the titular "gift" is intended as pharmakon, both a present and a poison; Xmal's music is appropriately contradictory and complex, skating thin ices of beauty and elusivity. This limited-edition 3xLP boxset includes Abbey Road remasters of their albums Fetisch and Tocsin, along with tracks from related releases like Incubus Succubus II and Qual, packaged with striking artwork and a photo booklet. The magic of Xmal Deutschland lingers like radiation and has an indelible half-life.