This CD is in fact nothing short of a history lesson, the liner notes to So Young But So Cold inform us. Indeed, aside from the overlooked brilliance of Lizzie Mercier Descloux and perhaps JJ Burnel, no wave-era underground French music has rarely been available Stateside. Compiled by Volga Select and Black Strobe’s Ivan Smagghe, So Young happily changes such a fate, collecting searing tracks from the likes of Metal Urbain offshoot Metal Boys, Mathematiques Modernes, The (Hypothetical) Prophets and many others you’ve never heard of. Trite but true, this is essential listening.