Chromatics formed in the Pacific Northwest as a rickety no-wave band more than a decade ago, but re-emerged in the mid- 2000s with a revamped lineup and a new sound that nicely coincided with a resurgence of interest in the slow, dreamy, notalways- Italian dance-pop subgenre known as Italo disco.
As with other acts on New Jersey-based Italians Do It Better, a label co-founded by group mastermind Johnny Jewel, Chromatics didn't just incorporate the vocoders and vintage synth arpeggios of the turn-of-the-1980s originals, they added the brittle guitars, dubby reverb, and urban dread of post-punk.
Kill for Love, Chromatics' first album since Night Drive, finally gives this loosely associated, prematurely decayed musical aesthetic its magnum opus-- and brilliantly transcends it, The moonlit vibe of previous highlights like street-skulking stunner "In the City" or haunting Kate Bush cover "Running Up That Hill" recurs, and various tracks still crackle and pop with the all -too-mortal degradation of vinyl, And despite the unfinished-seeming recording quality of the music videos that preceded the album's release, the completed product also boasts some of the most engrossing synth-pop songs so far this year.
![MADELEINE PEYROUX - LET'S WALK [LP]](http://strypt.com/5501812_150.jpg "MADELEINE PEYROUX - LET'S WALK [LP] (JUST ONE RECORDING, INC. - THIRTY TIGERS)")
