Holodeck US Schallplatten & CDs

Review: Though now famed as a top-drawer live performer with a string of acclaimed albums to her name, there was a time when Marie Davidson's music was less widely appreciated. In fact, when this eponymous EP first appeared on cassette in 2013, she was pretty much unknown. As you'd expect, it's perhaps a little more lo-fi than some of her more recent work, but that's what makes the EP so appealing. Check, for example, the sleazy vocals, distant drum hits and cascading melodies of creepy opener "Ma Vie Sans Moi", the unsettling lead lines, ricocheting cymbal hits and powerful drone bassline of "L'unique" and the dystopian, high-tempo minimal wave-goes-bleep techno trip that is "Le Lieu Ou Vous Voulez Vous Rendre"; all three remain amongst Davidson's most arresting cuts to date.

Review: A Lou Rebecca full length has been on the cards for a while and now it lands a year after her breakout and self-titled "Lou" EP. The Austin-based Parisian synth-pop singer makes music that is nuanced with romanticism and driven by soft but decisive drum patterns that make you want to bop. There are vibrant songs with contemporary sensibilities, rich pop nuggets and darker tacks like "Break It Apart" but it is when Lou is at her most happy and outgoing that she sounds best for our money. Check the lovely, harmonically smooth ditty that is "Desire" for proof.

Review: A Lou Rebecca full length has been on the cards for a while and now it lands a year after her breakout and self-titled "Lou" EP. The Austin-based Parisian synth-pop singer makes music that is nuanced with romanticism and driven by soft but decisive drum patterns that make you want to bop. There are vibrant songs with contemporary sensibilities, rich pop nuggets and darker tacks like "Break It Apart" but it is when Lou is at her most happy and outgoing that she sounds best for our money. Check the lovely, harmonically smooth ditty that is "Desire" for proof.

Review: Nearing its tenth anniversary, and making us feel like 2008 was just yesterday, it's easy to forget just how much the Mannequin label has contributed over the last ten or so years. This album by Survival, from 2012, was a prime example of the imprint spreading its cold waves good and proper, and it's no wonder that the Holodeck label has decided to reissue it in all its glory. What's more, the record isn't just an essential must have for any fan of dark, brooding stoner rock, it's also a glorious specimen of modern post punk music; too often we've faced with expensive reissues from the 80s, but at least here we have the comfort of knowing that good music is still very much alive. The self-titled LP travels from electronica through to ambient and glitchy lo-fi with utter ease, but we're even more fascinated by its deconstructed sonics and rough, grainy shards of noises. Tunes like "Floating Cube" will no doubt please the bass heads looking for some rarity and glam in their sets, while "Hourglass" offers some wavy techno vibes, and others like "Shunting Yard" are brewed of the finest cocktail of industrial noise and climatic melodies. Heavily tipped!

Review: Signal processing and corroded elegance reign on the debut solo album by Christopher Royal King (film-score composer, lead guitarist of orchestral-rock ensemble This Will Destroy You, member of Austin's amorphous ambient collective Amasa-Gana). Organic sound-sources are meticulously transmuted through chains of modules and magnetic tape, and each successive stage creates a compounded quantity of detail and decay. Gorgeously tranquil and devastatingly heavy. Edition of 500, including download card.