Wrapped in glossy paper, with a minimal artwork in red and white, comes this stellar split LP between Led Er Est and Ancien Régime. Led Er Est is an all-analog trio hailing from Brooklyn and one of the pivotal bands of Wierd Records. Their style bridges the gap between the first Cabaret Voltaire's lo-fi approach on pop and a more straightforward europop attitude. “Ps 18” is an instrumental track with nasty synthlines and a perfect groove that will push your brain from side to side, if listened at the proper volume (a personal favourite). The second one is “Lonesome XOXO” and shows them dealing with a brighter kind of synthpop compared to the one played on their debut “Dust On Common”, which came out just 6 months ago. “A Darkness In My Soul” is a great cover, originally from Solid Space, one of the most obscure and underrated minimal synthpop bands (fingers crossed for a reissue...). “Ants” harks back into their experimental roots (well documented on their untitled tape that came out on Throaning Tapes) and the last one is another cold-pop gem called “Orange”. The b-side was a total blast to me, Ancien Régime is one of Italy's best kept secret! They are a young band from Rome and they play a dark post-punk soaked with lots of synths and vintage drum machines. The incisive singing flows perfectly in the mix with new wavey guitar and pounding bass structures. “Brief Encounter” and “When They Fall” are heartfelt anthems and i bet they both work fine when played live.“The Phantom Chariot” is a more brainy affair and takes a little more to get under your skin. Ancien Régime are a huge revelation and i have the feeling that this band is moving towards something big, let's just wait! Edition of 500, be quick.

"Judged by 12, Carried by 6" is the first album by Blessure Grave and it is out on CD on Canada's finest Alien8 and on limited LP on Release The Bats. They mix goth aesthetics with an extremely good songwriting. Yes, you've read that correctly, somebody is taking it where Theater Of Tragedy left many years ago. You'll find a claustrophobic drumming similar to Crisis (can't help mentioning them as a standard, i might be a little obsessed) and deathrock-like lyrics, often tinged with a pitch-black humour which takes us back to the californian tradition (Reyna and Toby are from San Diego). The sound on this LP shows a slight more refined studio work, which doesn't alter the "live" feel of their previous recordings. "In The First Place", also out as a limited 7" on Holidays Records, leads us back into our beloved old smoke-filled, scarcely lit room with crumbling walls and blood dripping everywhere. "Open Or Shut" and "Hope For The Worst" could be instant anthems for the lost boys (yeah, the movie). Being goth or post-punk in 2010 means being open to a wider and different audience, that's why this album and the previous singles and tapes were out on labels dealing with experimental, noise or whateveryouwanttocallit. The cd version comes with the striking "Learn To Love The Rope" EP as a bonus. Just great.

Canada is the home for some of the best experimental musicians, just think about Tim Hecker or Aidan Baker (also known as ARC and Nadja) . This new album by AUN goes straight to the olympus of canadian ambient virtuosi. "Motorsleep" shows some major changes from the past, you can read the review of his previous works on these pages. Martin did a tribute to Klaus Schulze's Irrlicht in collaboration with Allseits and i guess he's been listening a lot to the kosmische heroes because the music on "Motorsleep" points skyward. There are beautifully unsettling tracks like "Erzot" which sounds like Tangerine Dream on a bad acid trip! There are also some warm feedback based tracks like "Neiges", not so distant from the first works of the aforementioned Tim Hecker. No wonder if Martin describes his own music as "blight-metal", outsider metal mixed with shoegaze. This album is mixed by James Plotkin, a well known expert for bleak ambiences.