Sometimes I think it's best if sullen German cold-wave was left to the Germans to write and perform. Case in point is Berlin's Ostseetraum, who conjure the desperate artistic creativity that managed to grow in the cracks of the Berlin wall in the early '80s. The Zickzack label certainly comes to mind, care of the throbbing bass pulses, rudimentary drum machines and gloomy vocals, though Ostseetraum don't seem to have any day-glo new-wave sheen to them, not even ironically. I'm trying to pick out any signs at all that this is a band from today (nods to harsh noise, ambient or Weather Channel funk, maybe?), but this is by-the-books NDW, strikingly similar in fidelity and approach to groups that developed this sound decades ago like Sprung Aus Den Wolken and Kosmonautentraum. Ostseetraum's songs are often tough and unfriendly - good luck shaking hands with the nerve-racking "Träume" for example, a frantic escape down unlit city streets. On first listen, it did feel like somewhat of a genre exercise, but on second listen, third listen and so on, these songs stand on their own two feet, distressed and tangled in aux cables though they may be. (Matt K / Yellow green red / Pissed Jeans)