Back catalogue: Coldwave/Synth

Review: Desencanto is carving out its own sound world with its first releases and this one again taps into a loved-up deep house vibe that puts beautiful melodies and serene moods front and centre. 'Pipina' kicks off in the form of an Acqua mix that is downbeat and blissed out. 'Miss U Too' then brings some retro 80s synth work and taught basslines under celestial keys. 'Temptation' has more glassy melodies making for a rather haunting and eerie mood and finally, 'Last Kiss' is a suspenseful ambient soundscape that floats you up amongst the stars with reverential flutes encouraging nostalgic dreams.

Review: Luke Wyatt's Torn Hawk project has always been hard to pigeonhole, with the American producer frequently combining admirable experimental instincts and a love for dusty, distorted sounds with a desire to foreground melody and associated musical niceness. Both sides of his musical personality combine on this six-track EP for Fixed Rhythms. The highlight - for us at least - is the surf guitar solo-laden moody epic 'Oh Yeah (Cop Collab)', where waves of gritty, psychedelic and weirdo noises rise above dense sonic textures and rolling beats. That said, there's plenty to set the pulse racing elsewhere across the EP, including the outstanding-fi workout 'Make Things So Complicated', the dubbed-out beat science of 'Dirty Black Satin' and the experimental breakbeat madness of 'Sulking In The Hallway Outside The Cafeteria'.

Review: Known for their cover versions - having re-read Sly Stone, Plastic Bertrand, Les Chats Sauvages, and many more over the years - Telex managed to tread a fine line between comedy and innovation. Focusing heavily on a lo-fi synthesised sound, the Belgian alt-poppers would use plenty of humour in their work, but never allowed this to outshine or overshadow the musicality of it all. Released in 1980, Neurovision is a case in point. According to the band, this was their tongue-in-cheek entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, for which they were chosen as representatives for their home country in the same year. Deliberately banal lyrics, mostly referring to the competition itself, married to the glittering wonder of a proto-electronic soundtrack, mark it as a work of bold daring and a little genius. Sadly, it failed to secure them last place in the tournament, as they hoped, forcing them to settle for 17 out of 19.