Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: James Bernard's 1994 ambient masterpiece Atmospherics is now 30 years old. To mark its anniversary the landmark record has been meticulously remastered and paired with a brand-new, track-by-track reinterpretation by Bernard's longtime friend and collaborator, bvdub. Together, these works span four slabs of wax and offer a profound exploration of ambient soundscapes that honour the original while also presenting some fresh, emotive perspectives. A must-have work for your ambient section.

Review: Civilistjavel's 1 hears a reissue for the second time, following the mysterious ambient dub artist's resurfacing in 2018, after the late Low Company stumbled on their stuff and somehow managed to gain permission to do so outside of the artist's 'private tape / CDR trading networks'. Now it appears that 'Civilist' has taken the reins on their own work, officially reissuing the album directly from the source. It would go with the territory, not least since a spate of recent live performances by the artist seems to have signalled something of an 'opening up'. We're just as blown away by 1 as we were before; with its sensitive melodies and stumbly analog tone loops, building to slow-burning near-nothings.

Review: Depeche Mode's latest album Memento Mori is one that has been madly anticipated by fans. The record - which comes on wax and in a lovely embossed sleeve here - centres on the mood of grief after the passing of the band's founding member Andrew "Fletch" Fletcher, this is the first LP by a Depeche Mode made up of only two remaining members: Dave Gahan and Martin Gore. The band's progression in their latest years have heard them move into darker, peakier, sadder and more industrial themes, as they make do with a future-present that wasn't promised to them in the 80s, while drawing on deathly topoi and nodding to Ingmar Bergman.

Review: Now that's what we call an album title 2021. As the name implies, we're skirting the edges of 1980s Japanese pop, opting to explore the strange, sci-fi hued, traditionally rooted noises that weren't necessarily dominant in the Far East country at that time, but certainly found favour with more explorative listeners. And it's not hard to hear why.

Tracks like 'Days Man' by Yoshio Ojima could work well in a slo-mo house or electronica set today. While preceding effort 'Hikari No Ito Kin No Ito' from Mishio Ogawa is like a strangely innocent hybrid of lullaby and pop song. Elsewhere, the twinkling synths and wet snare hits of Naomi Asai's 'Yakan Hikou' further accentuate the surrealism running through so much of what is here. One for the trophy cabinet, collectors take note (and form a queue).

Review: For the last ten years Japan's reissue market has blossomed into one of the most fruitful for western listeners eager to explore very rare Japanese releases and artists from the 70s and 80s specifically. In no other genres has this been most displayed then in the new age, ambient, folk and synth realms. Alfa/Yen Records 1980-1987: Techno Pop & Other Electronic Adventures In Tokyo follows this fantastic era of passing on to a new generation. This compilation features many luminary figures in the Japanese scene with an extra emphasis of it honing in on Yellow Magic Orchestra and its members. After the popularity of similar compilations in the past five years, this looks to be one of the most successful reissues of Japanese electronic music in 2024!

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.