Various Artists/ Cold Waves & Minimal Electronics Volume One

Various Artists
Cold Waves & Minimal Electronics Volume One
(Angular Recording Company)

Proving yet again that the post-punk era was a fertile battle ground for musicians keen to invent the future, this Angular Records compilation charts the rarely-explored genres of cold wave and minimal wave, both of which evolved around Europe in the period 1981-85.
Things kick off with the cold but funky electro clashes of Absolute Body Control, and later on we're introduced to the paranoid pulsations of The Vyllies and Numan-esque analogue synth-pop of The Actor.
It's impossible not to listen to this awesome compilation without seeing just how indebted to this era the hipster musicians of the day are. This is one wave that's worth surfing.