Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: You might well have caught two thirds of Dina Summer lurking around modern minimal wave circles as Local Suicide, but now they're pressing on into further sinister synthscapes as Dina Summer. Following their standout debut LP Rimini in 2022, the trio are back with a seductive new EP that sees them strutting into 2024 with some of their best material to date. The synth hooks on 'Unter Strom' are towering triumphs of pop-minded sound design, with some discernible Italo throb happening in the low end. 'All Or Nothing' is a fierce and formidable peak time slammer, while 'Excess' is the kind of supersized electro-goth workout you'd equally expect from Miss Kittin & The Hacker.

Review: The birth point of ecstasy in British music is usually credited to acid house and the second summer of love: a cemented vision of kids sweating and vibrating in clubs, fields and warehouses in 1988, united by universal empathy and mind-popping sounds. However, in 1981, a couple of young men from Leeds went to New York, discovered the drug in its infancy, fused its' gritty synth pop to acid house's squelchy 303 groove and recorded an album - Soft Cell's Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret. The rest, as they say, is history.

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: Dark Entries looks to Portugal for this new and swinging collection of vintage Iberian synth, post-punk and wave. Rock Rendez Vous: Musica Moderna Portuguesa 1985-1986 is the sound of a legendary club which opened in 1980 and helped to usher in a new wave of sound for local emerging bands. They drew from national musical identity and fused it with contemporary international influences and came up with some of the prime indie tunes you hear here, from brooding post-punk 'Levante' from Jovem Guarda to more playful and Balearic-laced synth-pop stunners like D. W. Art's 'Mate'. This one is perfectly presented with a double-sided insert featuring lyrics and liner notes.

Review: The music of London's Blitz nightclub is celebrated with a new box-set curated by Rusty Egan, the man who, with Steve Strange, helped usher in a transition from the late 70s musical gloom into a glamorous, sonorous new 1980s. After their prior band, Rich Kids, disbanded in 1978, Egan and Strange saw through their enterprising excesses with a new venture, launching the Blitz club as a wine bar in Covent Garden. Bottling the unique, generic essence of the nightclub - at a time where the styles and sounds of David Bowie, Sade, Spandau Ballet, Boy George, Billy Idol, Ultravox, Visage, Marilyn and Gary Numan reigned supreme, yet were often not heard all in one physical place - this new reminiscence compilation brings both well-known and lesser-heard gems of the Blitz era to a fantastically fresh set of ears, proving that even you, too, can be a hero, just for one day.

Review: A compelling selection of unreleased tracks from influential Italian artists and producers who continue to shape the underground electronic scene. The project features a mix of electro, synth-pop and new wave, each track pushing boundaries and exploring new sonic frontiers. Rimini Metafisica, led by Paolo Gozzetti (known for Sigma Tibet and Italoconnection), presents a fresh exploration of sound, while TenGramsione of the Piatto brothers' aliasesidelivers dark, minimal synth with an essential edge. Diego Montinaro, aka Sandiego, contributes a cybernetic ballad, while Mono Han, another Piatto project, shines with bright, authentic synth-pop, powered by a Linn Drum and Roland Jupiter 8.Other standout contributions include Deep Field, a synth-pop venture from Danilo Carnevale and Castelli's new-wave disco track. Fogli and Ventura's collaboration brings isolationist minimal synth, while Through Twelve offers a post-punk-synth-pop blend with contemporary flair. Body System, a collaboration between Enrico Colombo and Ventura, aims to revive the EBM sound and Italoconnection, with Francesca Gastaldi, presents a "lost" track reinterpreted by TenGrams in a Kraftwerkian style. Spittle Italy continues to bring out some excellent compilations for their followers.