Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: Legendary British outfit Saint Etienne returned with their 12th studio album late last year, and now it lands on vinyl via Heavenly Recordings. A much-awaited follow-up to 2021's I've Been Trying To Tell You, this ambient collection offers a gentle, immersive experience designed to ease the noise of daily life. It was produced with Augustin Bousfield and blends songs, spoken word and rain-soaked textures into a seamless dreamscape, all recorded between Saltaire in the north and Hove down on the south coast. It captures the fragile space between waking and sleep with highlights like 'Half Light' and 'Preflyte'. As such, The Night is best experienced on headphones and is ideal for late hours, reflection and introspection.

Review: 'Conny' Schnitzler's name needs to be remembered by more people. Born on the cusp of World War II, he would prove instrumental in the post-war surge of sonic experimentation that took Germany by storm from the 1960s onwards, playing an integral part in West Germany's krautrock movement having already been an early member of seminal band Tangerine Dream and founding father of Kluster. But it's his solo work that really needs more attention. A proponent of the Dusseldorf school - arguably Germany's most important city for popular music in the late-mid-20th Century - in 1974 he released Blau, a bold record comprising two extended tracks, 'Die Rebellion Haben Sich In Den Bergen Versteckt' and 'Jupiter'. One feels like the late night synth soundtrack to rain-soaked city streets. The other as though we've opened the hatch and stepped out into retro outer space. Take from that what you will.

Review: Dark Entries picks up Severed Heads yet again for Ear Bitten, a double LP reissue of some of the band's earliest material. Pegged as early pushers of the Australian underground industrial scene, Severed Heads emerged in the wake of a former project also shared between three members, Tom Ellard, Richard Fielding and Andrew Wright: Mr. And Mrs. No Smoking Sign. The edgier name Severed Heads was also, conveniently, snappier, and the sonic result of this resignal act would soon prove it a good decision. Though they say they aimed simply to take after forebears like Throbbing Gristle or Suicide, Ear Bitten proves much more than the simple fact of stylogeny. The 22-track record was born of an anarchic assemblage of found domestic and street-larked objects (as well as specialist musical instruments) blurring the lines between the two: using every sound-making tool from cassette deck, to rare Korg or Kawai synth, to proverbial pots and pans, to open-reel (and thus implicatively fuckable-with) dictaphones, Ear Bitten offers a diabolical vision of the sheer, wordless length of the post-punk deserts parched by their 70s, New York precursors.

Review: Before becoming Belgian new beat and techno titans, Praga Khan and Chris Inger were collaborators in a new wave influenced band called Shakti. "Verboden Dromen" gathers together the best of the outfit's work recorded between 1987 and 1990, offering up tracks that join the dots between intoxicating synth-pop, moody new wave, hypnotic grooves and dark and sleazy dancefloor moments. All of the tracks have stood the test of time remarkably well, with highlights including the humid and exotic chug of "Kamasutra", the hallucination-inducing tropical fever of "Demonic Forces" and "Shanah", and the bustling, club-ready bounce of "The Awakening", which sounds like the Thompson Twins after one too many tabs of acid.

Review: Born from the success of Soft Cell's triumphant *Happiness Not Included record, the iconic and somewhat elusive - five studio LPs in 41 years - Soft Cell have decided to go all in with a package of alternative rides, previously unreleased mixes, and single-only B-sides. Nothing here featured on the original LP, and there are a few bonus workouts of stuff not from the source album, too. Cover versions of Fad Gadget's 'Back to Nature', X-Ray Spec's 'The Day The World Turned Day Glo', and a freshly minted take on the Cell's own landmark 'Last Chance' all elevate this, not that people were likely to have needed another reason to stick it in their basket. A great example of why less is more, but generosity is the secret to true satisfaction.

Review: In celebration of its 45th anniversary, Paste Magazine's esteemed #1 synth-pop album, Sparks' No. 1 in Heaven, receives an exclusive double vinyl release this Record Store Day. This seminal work, produced by Giorgio Moroder, set an early standard for electronic music. Accompanying this masterpiece is Sparks' lesser-known gem, 'Is There More to Life Than Dancing?' produced for LA-based singer Noel in 1979. Together, these albums epitomise the Maels' innovative electronic spirit and visionary foresight into the next decade. Revered by bands like Joy Division and Duran Duran, No. 1 in Heaven was hailed as the greatest synth-pop album ever by Paste Magazine. The anniversary release comes on coloured vinyl and rightly commemorates Sparks' enduring creativity.

Review: Alan Vega & Marty Rev's career as Suicide spanned an incredible four decades. During those years, they rarely if ever got much credit for their work but as is often the way, once time passed they started to get deserving plaudits and an ever growing status amongst fans and critics. Now said to be one of the most inspirational outfits of the 70s, they influenced everyone from Depeche Mode to Soft Cell. This brand new, remastered collection takes in tunes from all across the band's career and has plenty of big, raw, energetic and eclectic sounds with track from their first album in 1977 and most recent in 2002.

Review: Heads will know Suicide as the pioneering duo of electronic music and proto-punk from New York City, consisting of vocalist Alan Vega and instrumentalist Martin Rev. Fewer will know anything more beyond the pale of their debut album, though. 'A Way of Life', their third studio album released in 1988 via Wax Trax!, heard them escape the noise - exploring a more hypnotic, minimalistic synthpop sound. That being said, stonkers like 'Surrender', 'Jukebox Baby 96', and 'Dominic Christ' all still captured the doomy New York zeitgeist. This remastered edition contains a full remaster from its original tapes, as well as a brand new, never-heard-before live Bruce Springseen cover no less.

Review: Berlin-based synthwave and dark disco band Dina Summer return with a sanguine new seven-track record, continuing their reputation for making 80s nostalgist music fans ever more ravenous for their distinct take on EBM and its adjacent styles. Following 2022's acclaimed Rimini LP, this freak zone of a record brings gravely detuned, yet DJ-ready instrumental backings and stiffly but passionately delivered vocal recitations to a modern production palate. This approach reaches its ultimate conclusion on the natural midpoint 'Alien', a track perhaps best describable as a hi-NRG number made in a cryoponic chamber and lent an extraterrestrial theme.