Track Listing: Highway Driveway, He Really Got Through to Advertising, Horse Fair When I'm 32, I Wish It Was Colder, Nebraska Broadcasters, Bluff Lake Forgotten, Silhouettes Astray.

I really wasn’t sure what to make of this CD upon first inspection. The environmentally friendly and attractively designed cardboard packaging intrigued me, but didn’t really let on what to expect from the contents of the CD, so I fearlessly fired up my cd player and tuned to track one. Almost surprisingly, it was not bad. The soundscape of instruments and electronic sounds borrows a little from dream pop, but slightly more digital.

The overall feel was something familiar and comfortable. As an album, I found the tracks fit together well to create a solid EP release.

For more info, visit the George & Caplin website or their MySpace page.

Track Listing: Every Single Time, Voice, Temporary, Dark Embrace, The End, Muscular, Sheep, Discord, Sbatrol, Memories, Throbbing Drone, Storm.

This all electronic endeavour features predominantly drum & bass and hardcore techno influences with droning, often heavily distorted vocals. The first thing I noticed was how inconsistent the production values are on this disc. There are some tracks where the vocals are right up front and clearly audible and other tracks where you can barely even tell they are vocals, because it is so muddied. The choice of voice filter seems to change from track to track, often even within the same track, which can get frustrating. The voice is also so heavily modified that the words are often unintelligible when they are audible. What words I could make out were often cliches that lost my interest quickly.

Overall, I found this album to be disappointing and frustrating. It took considerable effort and courage to convince myself to dive back into the pile of dross in search of gold.

For more info, visit the WCP page on Intolerance Records or their MySpace page.

Track Listing: See You Inside, Anarchid, Rifles, Fearless Vampire Killers, Against the Animals, Eye Thieves, War Tower.

The sparse soundscape of this album is what struck me immediately. The sometimes oppressively bright bass guitar tones on very open tracks like the first one create an eerie atmosphere that help make the band’s name appropriate. While the tone seems almost somber at times, there is also a certain playfulness to this album that helps keep the experience satisfying.

For more info, visit the their website or their MySpace page.

Track Listing: Mental Wasteland, Wonderland (Mad Hatter Mix), Oblican (Fire Mix), Six Days, Mantra (Shades of Grey Remix), Ex Oblivione (Original Demo), Dawn (On The Rocks Mix), Everything She Is (Original Demo), Voice, On The Wire, Nowhere, Walls, Corpus Christi (In Prayer Mix), Otherworld.

As an anniversary album for the period 1992-2007, this CD showcases some of the duo’s better tracks either in remix format or unreleased cuts. Songs like “Walls” and “Otherworld” have an almost danceable shoe gazer sound to them, while other tracks like “Corpus Christe” go straight for the traditional darkwave dancefloor sound.

For more info, visit the their website or their MySpace page.

Track Listing: Caught In The Groove, Empty Universe, Trading Water, Once in a Blue Moon, This Truth, Motherless Child, Sundrenched, Nocturnal Daze. Lovelight, Lazy Love Days.

This album has a dreamy, sometimes folk feel to it. Anji Bee’s breathy voice moans and croons out of the speakers to very soothing effect with minimal background accompaniment. The acoustic instrumentation blends masterfully with the vocals to create a nice synergy. Many songs, like “Motherless Child,” dig deep into the roots of modern music, borrowing from the blues and almost gospel even.

For more info, visit the their website or their MySpace page.

Track Listing: Light, Come Clean, Dirty Prophet, Omen, My Calling, Open Wide, Freedom, Know What You Know, Wish You Dead, Alumni, Pirate Radio, Salvation, Alive In You, Temple Life.

This mysterious duo has no information on their website about themselves except their names and roles in this musical endeavour. As someone who is not particularly a fan of the genre, I have to say some of the tracks on this EBM group’s 2005 album are catchy enough to be dancefloor smash hits. I am surprised not to have heard “Dirty Prophet” everywhere. This is one of the better kept secrets of dark dance music everywhere. Fans of Assemblage 23 and Negative Format should feel right at home with this album.

For more info, visit the their website.