Back in stock: Coldwave/Synth

Review: Italian's Do It Better drop another super cool release - "Beatbox" by Glass Candy. This is cool synth driven pop with vocals from Ida No.

Review: Following the breakaway success of her debut album The Internet, Glume returns to Italians Do It Better with her hotly anticipated follow-up, Main Character. As you would rightly expect from Johnny Jewel's label, seductive synth noir is the order of the day once more, but moving on from her first steps she's become a much broader sort of pop concern. There are some surprising collaborations with the likes of Rufus Wainwright, STRFKR and of Montreal, while Glume produced the album with Jewel and Sean Ono Lennon. It's an album which boldly reflects and develops the identity of a fascinating character on the alternative pop circuit.

Review: Berlin-based producer JakoJako aka Sibel Kocer's debut album for Mute - after appearances on a stream of leading German labels including Tresor - is described as a distillation of ideas that she's been exploring for many years. In reality, that means working on a minimal set up, away from the computer while restricting herself to just a Eurorack and a Waldorf Iridium Core, in the search for spontaneity. She found it, for sure, as the results - recorded in Vietnam during the Tet Lunar New Year celebrations - are a feast of glistening arpeggios and lush modular textures, stripped back but full of expression and personality. 'Ghi-ta' will appeal to fans of vintage perky ambient productions the Pete Namlook/Mixmaster Morris collaboration Dreamfish, while 'Gio' has a touch of Tangerine Dream's classic widescreen sensibilities. Bold tones, bold debut.

Review: French composer Jean-Michel Jarre, world renowned for pioneering electronic music on a grand scale, emerges here in his formative years, already pushing at the edges of sound. Created in 1972 while working at the Groupe de Recherches Musicales, this early studio project captures a young innovator experimenting with an EMS VCS3 and a Farfisa organ. Tracks like 'Music Box Concerto' and 'Synthetic Jungle' weave eerie melodies into mechanical rhythms, while 'Rain Forest Rap Session' and 'Exasperated Frog' embrace playful abstraction. Jarre himself called it a "pirate record," assembled in his student room and smuggled from GRM's studios after hours. A raw, unfiltered glimpse into his early creative instincts, it foreshadows the expansive, cinematic style that would later define his career.

Review: Breakcore don DJ Balli and tropical electro purveyor Sindaco team up on the aptly titled Mutant Goth Italo. True to its name, the Italian duo deliver a batch of oddball, high-energy Euro dance filtered through a nocturnal lens, with affecting vocals from Ossydiana. The twisted pop sensibilities of opener 'Pizzeria Brigada Rossa' set the tone i a feverish pace, shimmering synths, and a searing vocal top-line. The gorgeously sleazy 'Febbre' is a standout, driving yet restrained, while 'Ricatto' impresses with its sinister synths, crisp drums and undulating bass. Closer 'Fedeli Alle Linee' lets it all hang out, pairing singalong melodies with snappy rhythms and snarling bass arps.