Finesse and Runway is the joint project of Miami natives Dino Felipe (already active on Schematic with solo releases) and Melba Payes and their self titled CD is their first album. Immediately at a first listening the tracks sounds fresh, energetic, musically kinky just like the good stuff, back in the '80s (like the lushy Soft Cell songs). Even if Finesse and Runaway sound is son of punk, electronic just like a good mixture of USA punk (Crime, maybe could be the right name for their attitude) and The Normal (do you know their unique and basilar 1978 single "Warm Leatherette"?) but Dino and Melba know very well how to mix experimental solutions with melodic impetuosity and a little bit of disco fashion. The result is really convincing me and if you have just bought your copy of the last Le Tigre album (just like me) asking yourselves were all the energy and ideas went, try this album. There aren't guitars but tracks like "Steam n' suds" or "New materials" will convince you to try something more varied and full of good intuitions. Finesse and Runaway aren't the quintessence of pop but if you also dig bands like Adult, this could be the right move!

"Visualize" is Provision new debut album a follow-up from their previous critical acclaimed "Evaporate". Breye & Co. really knows how to make wonderful synth-pop music. The music is energetic, fun, full of tension, up tempo, bouncy, well sequenced, and very well written. Breye's voice is filled with strong emotions and feeling. An enjoyable album to listen to. Not one track on disc can be ignore. Now I can see why it was the best seller on A Different Drum label. Provision is brilliant when comes recording, producing, and mixing. I heard so much about their live performance at clubs and music festivals. Hopefully I get a chance to see them live and give them a godly bow for making good synth-pop music. The disc also comes with a bonus cd that feature remixes from different artists; Cloudless, Rename, Glow, Fr/Action, Hajas and Halovox; and two B-side tracks; "Insecurity" and "Replicate". Provision songs varies on many subjects that is emotionally touching. "Visualize" is defined well-crafted and danceable.


Disc 1

1. Could've Had It All
2. Obsession
3. Untrue
4. Obvious
5. Each Second Suffering
6. Chemistry
7. Visualize
8. Illusion
9. Neverending
10. Destiny
11. Intruder
12. Flood Of Emotion

Disc 2

1. Insecurity
2. Could've Had It All (Cloudless Mix)
3. Replicate
4. Flood Of Emotion (Rename Mix)
5. Untrue (Glow Mix)
6. Obvious (Fr/Action Mix)
7. Visualize (Hajas Mix)
8. Each Second Suffering (Halovox Mix)

Echo US self titled album is the second full lenght of Ethan Matthews. Even though Ethan is only 25 the tracks mix typical melodies of '80s music (his pop taste recalled me a lot bands like Japan, A Flock Of Seagulls and Frankie Goes To Hollywood) with trance, ambient and modern electronic arrangements. For example "Her heart's army/White wednesday" has got elements of dance electronic along with vocals a la Holly Johnson on the first part while the second part is an ambient track just to form an 11 minutes long song full of good moments. Production and sounds are kinda amatorial but they don't ruin the goodness of the tracks (I appreciated most of them and liked at least half of them). There are also powerful guitar arrangements on "I radiate I" but sometimes the mix creates a little of confusion and this is a pity. Just a little more of sound production and Echo Us would be ready to spread its mix of pop dark melodies to a wider audience.

"Action Music" is the second sequel in a trilogy of Little Tin Box releases gathered together under the title "The Event", in which the electronic-pop husband and wife duo sound can be used for a Life Time cable television for women movie soundtrack. A beautiful cd this is. Songs about love & verbal confrontation. The character in the songs is about a woman who's explaining how she's feeling. This is a drama for your melodrama album. Ethereal vocals from Kelly brings out her deep emotions on the tracks, while Charles constructs the beautiful catchy dramatic melodies that is often with piano accompaniment. The disc kicks off with the anthem "Opening Theme". Some of the tracks are mid-tempo to the fast tempo. "A Couple Of Changes", "Drive", "Dwell", "Romantic", "Warning Shot" and "Seek" is a powerful thought provoking interesting complex piece that is brilliant and the relaxed of time signatures and synth counterpoints. The drum 'n' bass "This Dance" is definitely a hard-hitting romantic love club track that even blends with a classical piano Charles playing. Little Tin Box veers from standard to complex electro-pop style. Kelly & Charles Sadler make a good team by producing exciting, though rough around the edges, promising and a flawless album that is a challenge for them. They're certainly not an average electronic-pop band either. They are way beyond that. LTB can convert a drama/melodrama soundtrack with dance music. So try to supplement them for your daily intake of electronic-pop with a regular dose of the beauty of piano classical/easy listening music now and again and enjoy it.

Taking inspiration from electro e.b.m. bands like Apoptigma Berzerk or Front 242, Ng-Pro (formed by the duo Niels and Gewin), produced a demo back in 2001. The year after they moved on by releasing a mini cd titled "Burn" which entered the Dutch Underground Charts, staying for sixteen weeks. Convinced by several good results, the band moved into the studio at the end of 2003 just to record their first full lenght NEO OMEGA. The ten tracks span through melodic electro, industrial instrumentals, e.b.m. powerful tracks with distorted guitars, synthpop, etc. For example "Amy" or the closing "Shelter" (with the vocoder filtered vocals) are a mixture of Kraftwerk and Front Line Assembly while the instrumental "Welt", sometimes remember early Wumpscut. The good thing is that Niels and Gewin do it with extreme confidence of their skills and because of this the album sounds convincing from every angle. Re-processing every influence was the right move and I can't imagine how the next one will sound. I hope, good as this one!