Stones Throw alpha operator Peanut Butter Wolf and Minimal Wave Records grande dame Veronica Vasicka partner once again for the second volume of the Minimal Wave Tapes series, an exploration of finely collected DIY, underground electronic music. The diligent research put in here offers to the rest of us previously private or limited releases and, while the sounds comingle with industrial, punk, disco genres, these songs have a stark and bold uniqueness, perhaps attributed to their lower fidelities and amateur genuineness, but mostly to say: the synths, the vocals, the drum machines, etc. on this record just aren't like others you've heard. Contemporary artists such as Los Angeles' Geneva Jacuzzi and technoid globetrotter Felix Kubin share space with tracks from second timers Das Ding and Ohama. Darker and edgier still than the first, a must-have for anyone who enjoys the outskirts of electronic music. Highlights: the grainy synth-driven pop march of In Aeternam Vale's "Annie" (certainly a point of reference for bands like Stereolab and Broadcast), and Hard Corps' hard hitting crowd-stirrer "Dirty".

• music label: Stones Throw 2012

reviewed by A. Tomorrow 02/2012