Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: Minimal Wave has put together a special 18th-anniversary reissue of its first release, namely Oppenheimer Analysis's self-titled EP. It now comes on limited and hand-numbered 180-gram vinyl with a poster and makes just as much of an indelible mark as it did almost two decades ago. It has been rather elusive since then and features the original remastered version of 'The Devil's Dancers', some tracks from the pair's 1982 cassette 'New Mexico' and two previously unreleased tracks that are all presented as a tribute to the late Martin Lloyd, one half of Oppenheimer Analysis, who passed away back in 2013.

Review: "Hello. My name is Ohama, and I live on a potato farm in Western Canada" went the memorably deadpan opening to "The Drum", Ohama's contribution to Minimal Wave Tapes Vol 2 earlier this year, and it's also the opening track on this full length exploration of the Canadian producer's work from Minimal Wave. What's most striking about The Potato Farm Tapes however is the sense of paranoia and detachment that Ohama clearly felt recording these tracks from his studio basement beneath his parents' potato farm in Rainier, Alberta, during the latter stages of The Cold War. Intriguingly, Ohama's lyrics are heavily focused on technophobia and the subversive power of television and mass media which stands in stark contrast to the techno centric nature - with keyboards, drum machines, vocoders and analogue reel tape all utilised to create complex productions that blended found sounds with audio lifted from TV. Some of Ohama's earliest recordings from his first cassette only release Midnite News form the basis of The Potato Farm Tapes along with rare tracks that previously appeared on compilations. Furthermore, the label have printed a must read interview between Ohama and Brandon Hocura on the inner sleeve that offers some brilliant insight into this collection.

Review: For fans of minimal wave and DIY electronic pop, Oppenheimer Analysis's self-released 1982 debut cassette, New Mexico - little more than an extended demo cassette - has become something of a collector's item. While it has been reissued digitally since, it never received a vinyl release. In tribute to Martin Lloyd (the other half of the duo, alongside Andy Oppenheimer), who passed away recently, Minimal Wave has decided to make New Mexico available on wax for the first time. While the sound quality is appropriately dusty (it was badly recorded in the first place, of course), the music remains magical - bubbling, evocative, left-of-centre leftfield pop created with home-made synthesizers, modular hardware and little else. It's no wonder many consider it a classic album (even if was never officially released first time round).