I've been listening to the so-called Electroclash New Wave revival with pleasure as I found some artist like Miss Kittin & The Hacker or Ladytron really had the spirit of the 80's; daring, frivolous, energetic and open-minded.
Also I'm a keen watcher of reunions of acts who dare to comeback after x years like OMD, Ultravox, Blancmange, Visage ... not necessarily always successful musically or financially.
Jones & Logan are connected to the later, Logan Sky was Keyboarder in the final line-up and Steve Strange introduced them to each other. They work together since arround 2015 and released 4 albums to date.
Accomplished Musicanship meets Neo Romanticism quite succesfully here on the sample of 'European Lovers' I got for review. When Gary Barnacle adds Sax to "Sons Of Hallucinations" paired with french vocals by Charlotte Condemine it's a great pairing immediately revoking past spirits.
Steve Logan himself as main singer is a different chapter, his voice is capaple only of a limited range which he uses cleverly, never mixed too far in the front and kept in sonor timbre it fits the general mood of a slightly decadent and sentimental background drop for late nights.The lyrics might be meaningful but even in the ballad "Past & Future Lives" they leave no lasting impression. In my ears Steve Logan still need to find his voice and perhaps a little more passion, otherwise a whole album full of sentiments without the daring touch is just too much at least for my tastes.
Available as DL and CD with 6 additional tracks and mixes.

Perse is a new project by Marco Milanesio (aka 9Cento9 or DsorDNE) and Emiliana Voltarel (Braconidae). Together they had already issued an self-titled single on Marco's own label HUM_an last December which captured the Winter mood perfectly.
The Exile In H EP, published via the Lyon based Bamboo Shows label (podcaster and enterpreteur of events) continues with atmospheric and poetrical pieces which recall positively some of DsorDNE's work of years ago, updated with more current audiotools and a wider field of sounds and experimentation in various degrees.
Half of the six tracks have lyrics dealing with atmospheres and trends today. Recorded during 2020 the occuring themes are isolation, memories, despair and how to get along if I interpret them correctly with the aid of an online translator.
These are reflective songs in the widest sense, "Nel blu e nel rosso" is a slow opener to lure the listener in. Without a break "Guardavamo davanti" follows in an decent upbeat structure with again more spoken than sung lyrics from Marco by Emiliana. His O.F.F. associate and Larsen member Fabrizio Modonese Palumbo guests with ebow to accomplish the drift and it could go on but the track ends sooner than I would have liked it.
The following "Sin" gives an instrumental post-industrial noir tingled break where the wind howls through the empty city. Mere abstract, "INFF" inverts the impression to thoughts running circles inside one's head but that's just one possible interpretation it's all left to the recipent. "Corde risonanti" is the third and final vocal track, hushed and hunted close to breathless the lyrics counterpoint the instrumental pseudo calmness. The closing "Vento Da Sud" evolves the theme of a desert wind running through the landscape but it's not an utter bleak world, at least not yet.
The talents of both musicians supplement each other really well and it's great to hear the results of their collaborative effort. I hope Perse will not be lost in time soon and follow this up with a few releases when the time is right.
This is serious music for the hearts and minds in a rarely lit corner between various electronic styles and poetic expression.

Exile In H is also available as limited tape, only 46 copies where made - so good luck if you're want a physical copy!

4 tribal, percussion and drum fixated pieces from Mike Blackbeat, a drummer who's working with experimental sounds and musicians since a few years. He's also part of the duo HAU (Human Restlessness and Oppression).
Besides the first piece "I Sit Here, Watching..." which sort of explains the EP's title with lyrics added in a distant voice all tracks are purely based on drums and percussion and surprisingly for a mere experimental release groovey in a tribal way. This reminds me somewhat of MC 900 Ft.'s "Dancing Barefoot" which is of course something different. "The Stream Of Your Hunger" is a bit undecided and might have gained from additional input but tracks 3 & 4 which are explicit mastered finish the EP on a high. Not sure if I'd make it through an whole album though but this is a different form of minimal which is well worth a listening.
A brave EP issued by the long running Bulgarian Netlabel Mahorka which is definitively worth a deeper investigation. And btw: it's issued as 'Pay What You Want' like many of their releases so nothing should stop you to give it a try.

Sónno Blu is a surprising sidestep by Dino Tagliaferri who was more know for dubstep and dubreggae in the past but considering the recent times he ventured into a reflective mood, expressing his personal POV in a micro composition with three acts.
Multiple layers of sound create an not necessarily dark ambience, in search of the balance between loneliness and insecurity there is always a movement but it remains unclear where it will lead to. The tension of the center piece 'Giovane Diavolo' builds slowly a bridge into the deeper areas of one's mind without giving any clues away what to make of it.
In an accompanying note he declares this work as personal reading of the recent times, in which the only possible epilogue is a ritual fusion with nature to generate new forms of consciousness.

A short but impressing soundscape where the feelings expressed remain comprehensible while abstract.

Swiss citizen Nadia Peter has been already active as DJ and event curator but Upon The Deep is her first outing as solo musician. She works towards an ambience to let the mind flow and as many good ambient releases it's mood supports self-reflection.
The centre piece of this 3 track EP "Nebula" is obviously influenced by an dystopian classic whose importance to todays culture can't be overlooked. With it the music leaves the sphere of the known and starts asking for more attention, a flow into the space of possibilities with a nod to the past. Mastered carefully by Marco Milanesio the sound has an impressive panorama quality which illustrates the additional titles "Blue Orbit" and "Hidden Rivers" as well.
It will be interesting to hear Perpetual Bridge expand and perhaps develope some more longform tracks as this seems to be the most promising forte.