Valium Aggelein - Hier Kommt Der Schwartze Mond (1998)

A side project of the members of Duster, Valium Aggelein was the spacey, lo-fi, indie rock/slowcore/space rock brainchild of Dove Amber, Clay Parton, and Jason Albertini. Almost entirely instrumental, this album is full of subdued guitar and spacey soundscapes. Listening to this album feels like walking down the street in the middle of the night, breathing in warm air, and hearing cars speeding away on a highway off in the distance. This is an album that doesn't quite "rock" but still possesses a certain intensity that I can't quite describe in words.

the blue ribbon winner

the king and the telesonic

slow motion

Bound & Gagged - Bound & Gagged (1980)

Great bouncy, angular, female fronted post-punk, quasi-no wave almost. That pretty much summed up the EP in one sentence though it doesn't quite do it justice. There's a name for this genre of music I found out about a few months ago: "zolo" though I don't really know exactly what it means. Either way the album is super catchy, super hyper, super fun. Definitely worth a listen.

I WISH I COULD BE FREE
OF CHAINS AND POLYMERS

Portion Control - ..Step Forward (1984)

Excellent old-school EBM album out of London. A bit more on the synth-punky side of EBM, but the group also have this very distinct pop/new wave influence to them, and they even throw in kind of a tribal feel into some tracks. The song "Havoc Man" even reminds me of a more industrial/angry version of New Order's "Temptation" and surprisingly enough, they don't even remotely butcher that concept, in fact "Havoc Man" is one of my favorite tracks off the album. Definitely a really great EBM album and perhaps even a good starting point for those interesting in that genre. It's also a decent starting album for industrial music (albeit a more industrial rock than a Throbbing Gristle kind of industrial) and for synth-punk, as it delves into all of those genres. Definitely worth checking out.

There is hope; and there is vision

Angry looks pass me by

Cradled in your indecision

I really wonder; wonder why

Oppenheimer Analysis - New Mexico (1982)

Absolutely gorgeous and lovely synth-pop. This old school synth-pop album has some incredibly luscious synths, the juicy synths on this album make it such a comfy listen. The album was very politically fueled (which you can even tell from the band's name) and has quite a few songs about the ever-present threat that the Cold War was, the last track is a real testament to the growing fear of the time. Honestly it's everything one could wish for in a synth-pop album: dreamy female vocals, super catchy and all around fantastic synths, great production, and so on. It's one of my favorite synth-pop albums and for good reasons; I highly recommend it.

What's the use of being free
All that's left is you and me
Trapped from the start
Tear each other's world apart