Leftfield charts

Review: Synthwave, or "outrun" as it is sometimes popularly known, is one of the defining micro-aesthetics of the 21st Century. Cornered then abrogated by filmmakers like Michael Mann and Nicolas Winding Refn, the style was expanded upon in the music imaginary sometime in the early 2010s (though seeds were sown much earlier). This Wagram compilation charts the earliest stirrings in the sound, from the circuit-breaking Moog experiments of Giorgio Moroder through to the nightridden vrooms of Kavinsky, and the fuzz-static analog snows set to sample-funked beats of VHS Dreams.

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.

Review: Desire once again demonstrate their prowess in the field of coldwave synth escapism with this new long player for Italians Do It Better. As soon as 'Black Latex' kicks into gear you know you're in for a red-lit thrill ride that captures all the seduction and mystery of nocturnal body music played the old-skool way. The kit list features such staples as the Jupiter 8, D-50 and Mellotron, while a revolving cast of ghostly vocals impart their message in English, French and Korean. This multi-lingual vibe only serves to take us further away from familiar territory into the displaced surrealism of the sound world Desire like to call home.

Review: Day-Glo Chaos Gets Physical, the third album by Hologram Teen (Morgane Lhote), is a tight, kaleidoscopic blend of 80s synthpop and quirky electro. Lhote draws from her obsession with arcade games and cinematic synths, building a vivid world where bright electronic textures collide with playful rhythms. It's no surprise she cites influences like Jacno's analogue electro and John Carpenter's dystopian scores - you can hear their pulse throughout the record, most notably in tracks like 'Midnite Rogue', which nods to Lhote's love of retro gaming with a rhythm as driving as an Outrun arcade session. The album thrives on its sharp production and colorful arrangements, creating a sense of motion and energy that's both nostalgic and forward-thinking. The inclusion of everything from Sega Master System-inspired sounds to a custom synth designed in Ableton (cheekily named after prog-rock legend Rick Wakeman) showcases Lhote's playful approach to electronic music, while still maintaining a sense of sophistication. Tracks like 'Teen Beats Highway' and 'Valley Nights (Burnin')' tap into that irresistible groove, perfectly balancing punchy, rhythmic hooks with atmospheric melodies. This isn't just a retro throwback; Day-Glo Chaos updates and modernises the nostalgia, offering a nuanced reimagining of synth music's neon-glow past. It's meticulously layered yet fun, upbeat without being overbearing. Whether you're drawn in by the danceable beats or the sonic tributes to old-school gaming and 80s cinema, this album brims with personality and an unmistakable charm.

Review: Berlin-based Dina Summer - a synth-loving trio fronted by the suitably sassy and no-holds barred singer Dina P - impressed with their Italo-disco and turn-of-the-millennium electroclash inspired debut album, Rimini. Three years in, they return with an arguably even stronger set - the notably darker, more stylish and more new wave-influenced Girl's Gang. Many of their trademark elements remain to the fore - Dina P's dead-eyed spoken word vocals, the use of vintage drum machine rhythms and sequenced basslines - but this time round come accompanied by black mascara-clad nods to post-punk, New Romantic, goth-rock and Depeche Mode style synth-pop sounds. As previously stated, it is genuinely stylish and impeccably observed stylistically, but what makes it stand out is the substance behind the sheen.

Review: Who doesn't love a picture disc? Sure, they might be a nostalgic hit of old school teenage record collecting joy but why not. This one from Laser Media is a Depeche Mode 7" featuring a pair of the moody miserablists' darker cuts. 'The Sweetest Condition' has snarling, dark vocals of noir beats and spangled guitar lines that make for emo-electronica par excellence. On the flip is the all too short 'It Doesn't Matter Two,' a song from the 1986 album Black Celebration that sounds like a live version here with crowds whoops coming next to the melancholic keys and pained, tortured vocals.

Review: .It's pretty much impossible not to fall in love with Desire, no matter where you arrive in their discography. Formed by Johnny 'Chromatics and Glass Candy' Jewel and vocalist Megan Louise, and formerly synth-drum maestro Nat Walker, the group debuted on Jewel's now-legendary Italians Do It Better in 2009, and their first record, II was heralded as one of the decade's finest. More than ten years later, Escape reflected how things had developed during the years betwixt. Still saturated in a kind of borrowed nostalgia, yet focused firmly on crafting innovative arrangements, few outfits can simultaneously sound so polished and yet born to play in the reddish glows of darkened rooms in grimy DIY spaces. As unique today as the record was when it landed, and the outfit were when they initially emerged.

Review: Avant! enlist the services of roster-shifting Italo disco project Male Tears to envisage the 'Paradisco', a clever portmanteau that invites us into further speculate on the term as a thought experiment. Indeed, a disco thrown in paradise is the obvious imago; less obvious is the observation of a very real zeigeist; that all discotheques today occur in a sort of para-situation, in a space that is a cut above normalcy, thrown in discrete fantasy spaces. Male Tears know this all too well, with such escapist flights of fancy as 'Sex On Drugs', 'Regret 4 Nothing' and 'He Wants Everything' eliciting surreal extremes of emotion, with their reverb-laden voxsynth patches, insouciant masc-femme vocal switches, and longing hooks reminiscent of Talk Talk or Liquid Sky.

Review: The Outer Edge reckons that this first release on their label is one of "the rarest and simultaneously best-recorded independently released German new wave singles in history." Bold words, but probably not far wrong. 80s outfit Total wrote it as the first and title single for an album deal they signed. It's a killer cut with hints of 'The Message''s hip-hop rhythm and alluring female vocals over a lush bassline from the Jupiter 8 keyboard and DMX drum machine funk driving it along at such an inviting mid-tempo. The withering cosmic keys add extra spacey goodness and here it comes with a couple of alternative mixes, though the OG is really the one.

Review: Bordello A Parigi is back with more of their sublime electro jams this time from Heinrich Dressel. The EP kicks off with 'Galatograd', a slow and steady jam with shimmering chords and lazy baselines. 'Eden Olympia' then picks up the pace a little with still skill drums and celestial keys that take you on a jaunt through the cosmos. 'Remoria' brings many layers of lush and futuristic synth work and timeless electro rhythms that are comforting and subtly celebratory and 'Mylos' shuts down this most lovely EP with another classy sound.