Albums added in December: 16,452

Major additions this month from the Metropolis Records back catalog, featuring Darkwave/EBM/Industrial acts like Clan of Xymox, Combichrist, Covenant, Haujobb, KMFDM, Suicide Commando, Velvet Acid Christ, VNV Nation, and Wumpscut.

Featured Selections

Cranes, Cranes (11)

Cranes choose their eighth album to go eponymous, four years after Particles and Waves. Alison Shaw’s child plaint remains a constant in their dream pop repertoire, backed with the familiar strumming of Jim Shaw, and accompanied by the bell-like tones from their more recent outings.

Gotan Project, Live (24)

As it says on the tin, live renditions of Gotan Project’s electronic-flecked nuevo tango add spice and uncertainty to their more battened-down studio versions. The album covers material from their tours supporting La Revancha del Tango and Lunático, plus two orchestral reworkings.

Sigur Rós, Med sud I eyrum vid spilum endalaust (11)

Translating as “With a Buzz in Our Ears We Play Endlessly,” the fifth release by Icelandic post-rockers Sigur Rós adds more upbeat whimsy than earlier Hopelandic laments and includes their first song in English, “All Alright.”

Hector Zazou, L’Absence (11)

A companion album to Strong Currents, featuring some of the same featured female vocalists (Nicola Hitchcock of Mandalay, Caroline Lavelle, Emma Stow) plus others including actress Asia Argento, and a rare male voice by the French singer Edo. Sadly, among the last of Zazou’s collaborative efforts before his untimely death late last year.

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