February 24, 2012
Various Artists - 'The Minimal Wave Tapes Volume Two'
Wonky should-be pop classics
7 / 10
Minimal wave, cold wave, potayto, potahto – it’s all the same to us: steely, off-its-rocker, bare-bolts synth music that made barely a dent in the ’80s, but, like a hardwired northern soul for nerds, now enjoys cult status and wields influence over Grimes, Factory Floor and plenty more. This second volume of rarities and remasters, compiled by minimal wave excavator Veronica Vasicka and Peanut Butter Wolf, is a wonky, Teutonic thing full of outré drama (Edne Shneafliet’s ‘Animals From Outer Space’) and should-be pop classics (In Aeternam Vale’s Suicide-like ‘Annie’ and Aural Indifference’s ‘Theme’). Brrr, it’s chilly though.
Chris Parkin
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