***One-man, UK-based, atmospheric and dark synth. Their debut LP. “No Longer Stranger is a collection of moody, atmospheric tracks, driven by vintage machine beats and warbling arpeggios. Combining late 70s synthesizer cinema music (the kind of stuff in horror and Sci-Fi movies in the years just before the music the SynthWave scene adores kicked off) and the metronome sparsety of early Cabaret Voltaire, with a little whispered Soft Cell sleaze, SOFT RIOT deliver something, not to make you move on the dancefloor, but to soundtrack your walk home after the club has shut, through dark city streets. Pulsating analog basses and white noise snares provide the basis for haunting, glowing melodies and Soft Riot’s enigmatic growl, from the Numanoid Your Secret Light Shines At Night to the acid nightmare SynthPop of Your Strange New Career via the dystopian psychedelic of Tragic Magic, No Longer Stranger isn’t always comfortable listening, but ultimately rewarding. Check out A Simulation, the album’s one dance tune, that works a little early Skinny Puppy and a hint of Electro Boogie into the mix.”—Electric Rumors
LP $13.50
07/16/2013