DFA US Vinilo y CD

Review: Delia Gonzalez and Gavin Russom have worked together successfully on a number of releases but their most standout work was this album, The Days of Mars. It came on the legendary DFA label and was one of the best of its early era so gets a deserving reissue here, cut at 45rpm no less. The four tracks are fusions of cold wave, ambient, experimental electronic soundscapes and kosmiche. Each one goes long so serves as an escapist and futurist meditation whether dropped into an adventurous DJ set or to get lost in while wearing headphones at home.

Review: Wearing 1980s synth pop influences on their sleeve, and sounding exactly like they belong on the mighty DFA, Brooklyn's Light Asylum were rightly praised at the time they put out their debut - and, to this date - only studio album, circa 2012. Critics noted that, at a time when dance-punk crossover was everywhere, driven by LCD Soundsystem and many of the acts frontman James Murphy signed to DFA, the New Yorkers manage to differentiate themselves from the pack in several ways.

Taking a hint of Depeche Mode (well, maybe a bit more), a pinch of Nine Inch Nails, and parts of Throbbing Gristle, Gary Numan, and other pioneers, Light Asylum managed to introduce some much-needed light and spatiality into the often claustrophobically dark and oppressive industrial synth world. In doing so, they offer a sound that's somehow both universally accessible and niche, which is never an easy line to tread.