Category: Lists & Beginner’s Guides (Page 1 of 26)

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2009

18 February 2026 /

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK didn’t exist until March 2010 but one of the reasons for it coming into being was that synths had returned to the pop mainstream in 2009 with a vengeance.

Not only were there new acts dabbling with old school electronics getting into the charts, but the classic innovators were finally being recognised with the BBC documentary ‘Synth Britannia’ for their wider contribution to popular culture while PET SHOP BOYS were given an Outstanding Contribution To Music award at the BRITS.

‘Synth Britannia’ focussed on that exciting period between 1977-82 and deservedly elevated the synthesizer into being a cultural entity its own right, rather than being tagged as some kind of embarrassment which was how synthpop had been mockingly portrayed by TV shows in the past.

On ‘Synth Britannia’, in response to misconceptions on how the music was made, Andy McCluskey of OMD recalled: “The number of people who thought that the equipment wrote the song for you; ‘well anybody could do it with the same equipment that you’ve got’… F**K OFF! Believe me, if there was a button on a synth or drum machine that said ‘hit single’, I would have pressed it as often as anyone else would have… but there isn’t!”

Synth in 2009 was consolidated by female acts that had made initial impressions in 2008 like LADY GAGA, LITTLE BOOTS and LA ROUX while CLIENT and MARSHEAUX came back with new albums. To join the dots between the different generations of synth, Gary Numan took part in a BBC 6Music special at the end of the year with LITTLE BOOTS.

But the wider public remained a little confused about the newer electro stuff with lazy labels like “80s” or “retro” when attempting to describe anyone who preferred using a Korg over a Rickenbacker! Sexism and misogyny was still rife and reaction to these artists from those claiming to be synth music enthusiasts was not entirely positive. In a time before social media had taken its hold on society, several internet music forums started to look like that horrific right-wing comic The Daily Mail!

Wasn’t one of the original motivations for using the synthesizer to break down barriers and challenge convention? Some obviously forgotten level of the bile and disdain that greeted THE HUMAN LEAGUE, SOFT CELL and DEPECHE MODE when they first found fame… despite this, the boys were coming out to play again as HURTS, MIRRORS, DELPHIC and VILLA NAH premiered their modern day synthetically-assisted wares.

At this time, aspiring acts were uploading videos to YouTube as a launch pad and this was how ‘Wonderful Life’ by Manchester duo HURTS came to wider attention. Formed from the ashes of the horrendously attired DAGGERS, Theo Hutchcraft and Adam Anderson brought suits and a smarter sophistication to their pop sound which recalled the productions of Trevor Horn and his work with PROPAGANDA in particular. The traction would lead to a deal with Sony Music via RCA’s Major Label imprint for their music to be formally released in 2010.

Even established indie rock bands were getting in on the act and New York trio YEAH YEAH YEAHS utilised throbbing electronics alongside their usual guitars on ‘Zero’ to exude a fuzzy new wave aggressiveness for the dancefloor while Karen O’s soaring vocal lifted proceedings to a glorious crescendo.

Elsewhere, with a whole generation now never actually paid for entertainment due to MySpace, YouTube and illegal filesharing platforms like Napster and Bearshare, music retailer Zavvi collapsed not long after Woolworths did at the end of 2008. HMV were able to consolidate as a result and demanded exclusive editions to be sold through their stores. iTunes was reigning supreme but Spotify opened public registration for the free service tier in the UK, although its impact was not instant as its initial portfolio was limited. Meanwhile, there was a continuing surge in interest for live gigs of established acts although ticket prices became vastly inflated to account for the loss in music sales.

2009 was a very busy year of album releases and gigs. PET SHOP BOYS and DEPECHE MODE delivered deluxe packages with bonus discs containing superior material to their slightly disappointing parent albums but remained in demand for their concerts. A-HA got back to synthetically driven melodies and recorded their best album since their heyday before deciding to split up for good (or so it seemed) while the classic line-up of ULTRAVOX returned with a well-received reunion tour. As an interim project before their comeback album ‘History Of Modern’ in 2010, OMD went the art installation route with ‘The Energy Suite’ and a reconfigured KRAFTWERK performed alongside the Team GB at The Velodrome during the Manchester Arts Festival.

But this was a period where NEW ORDER, BLANCMANGE and VISAGE had yet to return while OMD and ULTRAVOX were still to release new music following their live reunions. Also at this point, HEAVEN 17 and CHINA CRISIS had not fully evolved into becoming regulars on the domestic live circuit.

From officially available purchased or free downloads with a restriction of one track per artist moniker and presented in alphabetical order, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK retrospectively selects its 30 SONGS OF 2009, a year of undoubted quality and transition…

A-HA Nothing Is Keeping You Here – Steve Osbourne UK radio edit

“Stunning return to form” is a horrifically overused phrase often applied to bands like REM, but on what was originally billed their swansong album, A-HA actually achieved that with ‘The Foot Of The Mountain’. Going back to their synthesized roots, this toughened up electro ballad had all the usual Nordic hallmarks of the haunting sadness and emotive melodicism that made Morten, Paul and Mags such favourites in their commercial heyday.

Available on the A-HA single ‘Nothing Is Keeping You Here’ via WEA

https://www.a-ha.com/

ANNIE Songs Remind Me Of You

Norwegian songstress Annie had an ordeal with her ‘Don’t Stop’ album subject to a 12 month dispute with her former label Island Records. When it emerged, ‘Songs Remind Me Of You’ was a fantastic number on it filled with high octane electronic dance flavours. “How does it feel…to hear your songs on the radio?” she asked as an exquisite devenir a gris shift took its place amongst the spiky synthesized mix provided by Richard X.

Available on the ANNIE album ‘Don’t Stop’ via Totally / Smalltown Supersound

https://www.annieofficial.com/

ANTHONIO Annie

Conceived as a jokey publicity stunt for the Italo disco flavoured Annie single ‘Anthonio’, Richard X and Hannah Robinson used its backing track to create a brilliant tongue-in-cheek response to her tale of broken holiday romance. Sebastian Muravchik, the charismatic vocalist of modern Italo exponents HEARTBREAK amiably played the role of the disimpassioned Latin lover; he continues to make music as SNS SENSATION.

Available on the ANTHONIO single ‘Annie’ via Pleasure Masters

https://www.facebook.com/wearesns

ARTHUR & MARTHA Autovia

ARTHUR & MARTHA were Adam Cresswell and Alice Hubley; their debut single ‘Autovia’ was the first release on Happy Robots Records in 2008. But when it came to recording the album ‘Navigation’, the incessant Dr Rhythm drum machine was given a more hypnotic Motorik makeover while there was an extended end section with some cosmic wig-outs like STEREOLAB meeting NEU!

Available on the ARTHUR & MARTHA album ‘Navigation’ via Happy Robots Records

https://www.facebook.com/arthurandmarthaband/

AU REVOIR SIMONE Another Likely Story

Brooklyn trio AU REVOIR SIMONE formed in a mission to “to celebrate the keyboard” and stated that their main influences were Casio, Roland, Korg, Alesis, Rhythm Ace, Univox, Yamaha, Nord and Suzuki. ‘Another Likely Story’ encapsulated wistful melancholy in abundance. This was without mentioning the gorgeous string machine sounds, ringing counter-melodies, chattering rhythm units and angelic vocal harmonies.

Available on the AU REVOIR SIMONE album ‘Still Night, Still Light’ via Moshi Moshi Records

http://www.aurevoirsimone.com/

BAT FOR LASHES Pearl’s Dream

The outsider musical vehicle of Natasha Khan, while the first single ‘Daniel’ from the second BAT FOR LASHES album ‘Two Suns’ may have marked her out as a kind of Gothic FLEETWOOD MAC, on the eerie ‘Pearl’s Dream’, she indulged in some Linn Drum programming accompanied by icy synth washes and an ULTRAVOX styled electronic bassline. BAT FOR LASHES would cover DEPECHE MODE’s ‘Strangelove’ in 2011.

Available on the BAT FOR LASHES album ‘Two Suns’ via Warner Music

https://www.batforlashes.com/

CHEW LIPS Salt Air

With their lo-fi “8-bit Casiotone drone-disco”, CHEW LIPS quickly attracted the attention of hip tastemakers like BBC 6Music’s Steve Lamacq. With a melancholic edge amongst all the blips and blops, the impressive debut single ‘Salt Air’ showcased an accessible promise with pulsing sequencers and drum machines chugging away augmented by some octave shifting bass and occasional guitar like a female-fronted NEW ORDER.

Available on the CHEW LIPS single ‘Salt Air’ via Kitsuné Music

https://www.facebook.com/CHEWLiPS

CLIENT Make Me Believe In You

In an approach that more than suited their fourth album’s “brazenly bossy” title of ‘Command’, Client B and Client A covered Curtis Mayfield’s soultastic and groove laden ‘Make Me Believe In You’. Co-produced by Martin Glover aka Youth, the KILLING JOKE bassist added a more rhythmic energy. Proceedings were danced up while an icy edge coming from his frenetic guitar work took its place alongside the hypnotic pulse.

Available on the CLIENT album ‘Command’ via Out Of Line Music

https://www.facebook.com/ClientMusic/

DELPHIC Counterpoint

Manchester band DELPHIC had a multi-instrumental set-up featuring a mix of synths, sequencers guitars, bass and electronic percussion accompanied by a funky live drummer in a manner that was like A CERTAIN RATIO gone right! Co-produced by Ewan Pearson, ‘Counterpoint’ crossed ORBITAL and NEW ORDER with James Cook’s vocals possessing a vulnerable tonal quality amongst all the vibrant tension.

Available on the DELPHIC single ‘Counterpoint’ via R&S Records

https://www.facebook.com/delphicmusic

DEPECHE MODE Oh Well

‘Oh Well’ was the first Martin Gore / Dave Gahan song collaboration and although their parts were written separately, it showed that DEPECHE MODE benefitted from creative tension. Sounding like ‘Supernature’ with a DAF fetish, this was a rare thing, a DM dancefloor number. It captured an energy that was seriously lacking on the lamely disappointing ‘Songs Of The Universe’ main feature.

Available on the boxed set ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ via Mute Records

https://www.depechemode.com/

EDITORS Papillon

EDITORS first became known for sombre JOY DIVISION aping guitar-driven indie hits like ‘Munich’ and ‘All Sparks’. With Flood at the production controls and Brad Fieldel’s theme for ‘The Terminator’ as an influence for their third album ‘In This Light & On This Evening’, the Birmingham band ventured into synths with the rhythmic and ominous ‘Papillon’, sounding like a cross between BLANCMANGE and NEW ORDER.

Available on the EDITORS album ‘In This Light & On This Evening’ via Kitchenware

https://www.editors-official.com/

EMMON Secrets & Lies

Having impressed with her first proper solo synth-based album ‘The Art & The Evil’ as EMMON away from her indie pop girl band PARIS, Emma Nylén’s sophomore offering ‘Closet Wanderings’ was a natural progression with more darker songs and instrumentals utilsing danceable energetics. ‘Secrets & Lies’ was a thrusting opening number that showed that Sweden had electronic pop acts following on from THE KNIFE.

Available on the EMMON album ‘Closet Wanderings’ via Wonderland Records

https://www.facebook.com/emmonsweden/

IAMX Think Of England

Following his wider breakthrough with the appropriated named second IAMX album ‘The Alternative ‘, Chris Corner was hitting his stride post-SNEAKER PIMPS. Developing on his accessible electro-gothic grandeur, ‘Think Of England’ added some frantic rhythmic fervour tension with words of contradiction and confusion about his home country. Having relocated to Berlin, the ‘Kingdom of Welcome Addiction’ was his ode to the city.

Available on IAMX album ‘Kingdom Of Welcome Addiction’ via Unfall Productions

https://iamxmusic.com/

KITE Looking For Us

After their 2008 self-titled EP, the alternative rock-rooted KITE were finding their feet in the world of synths with their second EP. Coming over like ERASURE meeting Vangelis, ‘Looking For Us’ also had Nicklas Stenemo’s vocals giving a growly passionate edge to contrast to Christian Berg’s synthpop backing. The ‘II’ EP would get a Swedish national record chart high of No58 but the best was yet to come from the Swedish duo.

Available on the KITE EP ‘II’ via Dais Records

https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ

LADY GAGA Dance In The Dark

There had been rumours that LADY GAGA would cover DEPECHE MODE’s ‘People Are People’ but while that didn’t happen, ‘Dance In The Dark’ saw Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta borrowing sonic elements of DEPECHE MODE and NEW ORDER. Highlighting the dangers of cosmetic surgery, this captured a new wave electronic pop feel that featured strong hints of ‘Strangelove’ and ‘True Faith’.

Available on the LADY GAGA album ‘The Fame Monster’ via Interscope Records

https://www.ladygaga.com/us-en/

LA ROUX Tigerlily

Comprising of Elly Jackson and silent partner Ben Langmaid, although it featured the UK No1 single ‘Bulletrproof’, the standout from the debut album by LA ROUX was the fierce ‘Tigerlily’. The crisp electro bossa-nova with its thudding synth toms was sweetened with a steel drum flavour to sound like a pop version of THE KNIFE. The middle eight featured ‘Thriller’ inspired monologue by Jackson’s actor father Kit only added to the tension.

Available on the LA ROUX album ‘La Roux’ via Polydor Records

https://www.facebook.com/laroux

LITTLE BOOTS featuring PHILIP OAKEY Symmetry

LITTLE BOOTS had been named BBC Sound Of 2009 and her debut album ‘Hands’ was highly anticipated. At the time ‘Symmetry’ was unveiled as a duet with Phil Oakey, THE HUMAN LEAGUE had not released any new material since 2001. With a fabulous chorus and Victoria Hesketh doing her best Susanne Sulley impression, the end result was magic. “Tell me your dreams and I’ll tell you all my fears” he dryly asserted, but this is Phil talking…

Available on the LITTLE BOOTS album ‘Hands’ via 679 Recordings

http://www.littlebootsmusic.co.uk

http://www.thehumanleague.co.uk

MARSHEAUX Radial Emotion

Having shown great promise with their previous albums ‘The E-Bay Queen’ and ‘Peek-A-Boo’, Greek duo MARSHEAUX raised their game and delivered their best album in ‘Lumineux Noir’. With a battle of squelchy synths taking place amongst the game jingles and syndrums, ‘Radial Emotion’ was the collection’s most immediate track with its thumping syncopated electro rhythms, noisy oscillations and rousing vocals.

Available on the MARSHEAUX album ‘Lumineux Noir’ via Undo Records

https://www.facebook.com/marsheaux

MESH Only Better

Mark Hockings and Richard Silverthorn found themselves slimmed down to a duo after the departure of Neil Taylor which provoked an understandable existential crisis with MESH close to calling it a day. This led to some darker thematic undertones on the next album ‘A Perfect Solution’. The delicate balance between bitterness and sweetness was exemplified by ‘Only Better’, a gritty offering that possessed a veiled hint of optimism.

Available on the MESH album ‘A Perfect Solution’ via Dependent Records

https://www.mesh.co.uk/

MIRRORS Look At Me

“Bored of tradition”, James New met Ally Young and began formulating ideas “to do something that was considered from the ground up”. Joined by James Arguile who embraced the idea of making soulful electronic pop, the first fruit of labour was ‘Look At Me’; recorded on GarageBand with sonic distortion creeping in, it was released as a one sided red vinyl single on Pure Groove with the sleeve sticker outlining the MIRRORS manifesto.

Available on the MIRRORS EP ‘Broken By Silence’ via Skint Records

https://www.facebook.com/groups/404571368236796

MISS KITTIN & THE HACKER Ray Ban

Having trailblazed electroclash with tracks like ‘You & Us’, ‘Life On MTV’ and ‘Frank Sinatra’, Caroline Hervé and Michel Amato renewed their creative partnership on the imaginatively titled album ‘Two’ which included a cover of ‘Suspicious Minds’. But the highlight was the deep brooding ‘Ray Ban’ which captured an air of Gallic menace that more than suited Hervé’s persona as the nonchalant Miss Kittin.

Available on the MISS KITTIN & THE HACKER album ‘Two’ via Nobody’s Bizzness

https://www.instagram.com/misskittinofficial/

https://www.instagram.com/the_hacker_amato/

ROÍSÍN MURPHY Cry Baby

A superb collection of soulful 21st century electronic disco, ‘Overpowered’ was the second solo album from Roísín Murphy who found fame with MOLOKO and struck big with the international club smash ‘Sing It Back’. The Richard X helmed ‘Parallel Lives’ penetrated with some steady and deep sub-bass, providing a nice bonus to an album where Murphy had gloriously sounded not unlike Lisa Stansfield fronting PET SHOP BOYS.

Available on the ROÍSÍN MURPHY album ‘Overpowered’ via EMI Records

https://www.roisinmurphyofficial.com

KATY PERRY Hot ‘N’ Cold – Marsheaux radio mix

Katy Perry kissed a girl and liked it, but behind all the shock tactics were some quality songs written by Cathy Dennis and in the case of ‘Hot ‘N’ Cold’, Swedish megapop producer Max Martin. Taking its cue from the PET SHOP BOYS remix of THE KILLERS’ ‘Read My Mind’, this superb reworking by MARSHEAUX was truly banging! When presented to Katy Perry’s management, they were none too pleased but the lady herself loved it and sanctioned its release.

Available on the KATY PERRY single ‘Hot ‘N’ Cold’ via EMI Minos

https://www.katyperry.com/

PET SHOP BOYS featuring PHILIP OAKEY This Used To Be The Future

‘This Used To Be The Future’ was a dream trioet that featured both PET SHOP BOYS and Philip Oakey of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, recorded as a bonus song for ‘Yes etc’. With Lowe actually singing albeit autotuned, as opposed to just speaking, this celebration of yesterday’s tomorrow saw Oakey deadpan that his utopian dream didn’t quite turn out as predicted on ‘Tomorrow’s World’!

Available on the PET SHOP BOYS album ‘Yes / Further Listening 2008-2010’ via Parlophone Records

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

RÖYKSOPP featuring ROBYN The Girl & The Robot

The centrepiece of RÖYKSOPP’s third album ‘The Girl & The Robot’ was perhaps the culmination of Robyn’s steady rise as a truly independent female artist. Despite having gained success in 1997 with the R’n’B tinged ‘Show Me Love’, her superiors at BMG reacted negatively to her new electropop aspirations inspired by THE KNIFE. Frustrated, she bought herself out of her contract and set up her own Konichiwa Records, giving her the freedom to work with whoever she wanted.

Available on the RÖYKSOPP album ‘Junior’ via Wall Of Sound / PIAS

http://royksopp.com/

http://robyn.com/

SALLY SHAPIRO Looking At The Stars

The Swedish duo of Johan Agebjörn and the anonymous singer taking the pseudonym of SALLY SHAPIRO had an unexpected cult success with their debut album ‘Disco Romance’ in 2006. ‘Looking At The Stars’ was a delightful nocturnal highlight from the second long player with a shuffled arpeggiated bass and lyrics by Roger Gunnarsson about his late grandmother. FM ATTACK later provided a remix.

Available on the SALLY SHAPIRO album ‘My Guilty Pleasure’ via Paper Bag Records

https://www.facebook.com/shapirosally

POLLY SCATTERGOOD Other Too Endless – Vince Clarke Remix (2009)

Polly Scattergood was managed by former Mute plugger Neil Ferris and her self-titled debut came out on Mute in 2009. An intense organic collection of ethereal songs, Scattergood was a promising talent unafraid to express emotion and vulnerability. From it, ‘Other Too Endless’ was bolstered by a superb Vince Clarke remix and highlighted the compatibility of her sound within a synthesized pop environment.

Available on the POLLY SCATTERGOOD single ‘Other Too Endless’ via Mute Records

http://www.pollyscattergood.com/

EMILIE SIMON Dreamland

Writing, producing and playing the majority of her material, France’s Emilie Simon had actually studied at the Sorbonne and a star in her own country. In her attempt to break the international market, her third album proper ‘The Big Machine’ was her first entirely sung in English. ‘Dreamland’ was a delightful slice of Gallic electro-chanson weirdness that managed to combine elements of Kate Bush, Alison Goldfrapp and Björk.

Available on the EMILIE SIMON album ‘The Big Machine’ via Barclay

https://www.facebook.com/emiliesimonofficial/

THE SOUND OF ARROWS Into The Clouds

Thanks to their self-made CGI assisted visual imagery, THE SOUND OF ARROWS were once described as resembling “Disney meets Brokeback Mountain”! Based in Stockholm, Oskar Gullstrand and Stefan Storm issued the dreamy widescreen synthpop of ‘Into The Clouds’. Swathed in that beautiful Nordic melancholy, the duo evoked a shimmering otherworld; it was the No1 in Popjustice’s 2009’s list of best pop singles.

Available on THE SOUND OF ARROWS single ‘Into The Clouds’ via Labrador Records

https://www.facebook.com/thesoundofarrows/

VILLA NAH Envelope

VILLA NAH launched themselves as a recording act with the ‘VN’ EP featuring 3 fantastic songs in ‘Ways To Be’, ‘Daylight’ and the crystalline ‘Envelope’. Juho Paalosmaa and Tomi Hyyppä took their name from the East Helsinki suburbs where they lived and teaming up with Jori Hulkkonen as co-producer, the songs were a taste of the debut album ‘Origin’ which impressed enough that the duo would open for OMD in 2010.

Available on the VILLA NAH album ‘Origin’ via Keys Of Life

https://www.facebook.com/villanah

Text by Chi Ming Lai
18th February 2026

25 Favourite Obscure PET SHOP BOYS Tracks

22 January 2026 /

Celebrating 40 years of the release of their 1986 debut album ‘Please’, PET SHOP BOYS will paradoxically play 5 intimate live shows at London’s Electric Ballroom under the ‘Obscure’ banner.

At the opposite end of Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe’s highly successful ‘Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live’ tour, the ‘Obscure’ series of shows will feature only album tracks and B‑sides from across their long career, with many songs being performed live for the first time.

Ranging from songs to dance experiments with any number of stylistic diversions, PET SHOP BOYS have always prided themselves in producing quality B-sides and a good number are fan favourites. Their first double CD collection of B-sides, ‘Alternative’ came in 1995. Originally planned to be a single CD, Tennant and Lowe found the selection process a challenge so opted for a double CD, a move that was welcomed by fans of these more “obscure” recordings. In addition, PET SHOP BOYS have included bonus albums with limited special editions of ‘Very’, ‘Fundamental’ and ‘Yes’ featuring exclusive tracks and these can be also classified as “obscure”.

Always a prolific duo with numerous collaborations, remixes, soundtracks, theatre productions and a stage musical in their portfolio, PET SHOP BOYS released a second double CD collection of B-sides ‘Format’ in 2012 covering B-sides and bonus tracks released between 1996-2009. Perhaps it is time for a third B-sides collection from 2010 to cover their post-Parlophone self-released x2 era?

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK presents its 25 Favourite Obscure PET SHOP BOYS Tracks in chronological order, the list is restricted to B-sides, bonus tracks and exclusive material from the limited special edition versions of their albums…

IN THE NIGHT (1985)

‘In The Night’ was the B-side for the first single version of ‘Opportunities’ and saw PET SHOP BOYS reusing the same chord progression as its A-side. The lyrics referred to Les Zazous, an apolitical group in France during the Second World War who were disliked by the Nazis and the Resistance. With the machine gun ending, is Zazou shot? Although Phil Harding , the Arthur Baker remix was used as the theme music for the BBC’s ‘The Clothes Show’.

Originally released as the B-side of the single ‘Opportunities’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

A MAN COULD GET ARRESTED – Bobby Orlando version (1985)

Originally recorded with Bobby Orlando in late 1983, ‘A Man Could Get Arrested’ was like ‘I Want A Lover’, an example of the boiling sexual frustration evident in early PET SHOP BOYS songs. Laid down in an basic office studio and remixed with Frank Roszak, this New York version captured a raw electro energy that was more impactful than the sophistipop re-recording produced by Stephen Spiro that ended up on the 7″ single of ‘West End Girls’.

Originally released as the 12” B-side of the single ‘West End Girls’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

THAT’S MY IMPRESSION (1986)

Possibly the song which indicated that PET SHOP BOYS were going to be around for a while and not just a flash in the pan, ‘That’s My Impression’ was menacing as opposed to melancholic, combining SOFT CELL with Divine. Neil Tennant’s final angry refrain of “I went looking for someone I couldn’t find – staring at faces by the Serpentine…” was embittered in a manner that turned out to be quite rare in PET SHOP BOYS’ later work.

Originally released as the B-side of the single ‘Love Comes Quickly’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

PANINARO (1986)

“Passion and love and sex and money – Violence, religion, injustice and death” went the opening phrases of Chris Lowe’s debut lead vocal for PET SHOP BOYS. Spoken rather than sung, the track was a celebration of an Italian fashion cult. The middle featured an ‘Entertainment Tonight’ interview with Lowe confirming: “I don’t like Country & Western. I don’t like rock music. I don’t like Rockabilly. I don’t like much, really, do I? But what I do like, I love passionately!”

Originally released as the B-side of ‘Suburbia’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

JACK THE LAD (1986)

Written about the spy Kim Philby before then referencing Lawrence of Arabia and Oscar Wilde, ‘Jack The Lad’ was musically influenced by Erik Satie and Ennio Morricone. While the song title phrase is associated with masculinity, Tennant turned things over and used historical figures who “followed their own instincts and philosophies rather than simply obey rules or follow accepted practice” as clever metaphors to maverick individuality.

Originally released as the B-side of ‘Suburbia’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

DO I HAVE TO? (1987)

A grand moody ballad in the vein of ‘It Couldn’t Happen Here’ with which there were a number of shared elements, the narrative looked at love triangles and asked the question of the title; this would be a recurring topic and form the story told in ‘So Hard’. With the working title of ‘Break His Heart, Not Mine’, Tennant said ‘Do I Have To?’ was his attempt at making a track like David Sylvian.

Originally released as the B-side of ‘Always on My Mind’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

I GET EXCITED (1988)

First recorded with Bobby Orlando, ‘I Get Excited (You Get Excited Too)’ was another early sexually charged number that was a cousin to ‘A Man Could Get Arrested’. Re-recorded during the ‘Introspective’ album sessions, Tennant asked “I don’t know why”, a phrase he would repeat on the next PET SHOP BOYS single ‘Domino Dancing’. He later said the song was wholly innocent and about visiting New York for the first time.

Originally released as the B-side of ‘Heart’; currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

YOUR FUNNY UNCLE (1989)

An elegiac chamber ballad using quotes in the coda inspired by The Book Of Revelations, the lyrics of ‘Your Funny Uncle’ were written by Tennant about the funeral of his friend Chris Dowell, the first he had attended of a close friend. It may be implied that in the title character’s sympathetic greetings to his late nephew’s friends, there is a knowing empathy from a member of an older repressed generation as “Another life begins today.”

Originally released as the B-side of ‘It’s Alright, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

WE ALL FEEL BETTER IN THE DARK (1991)

‘We All Feel Better In The Dark’ was about clubbing and its inherent euphoria; Lowe took the verse vocal while Tennant sang the chorus on this discordant sample-laden dance track. The lyrics were inspired by a tape that Lowe acquired at a health food store called ‘The Secrets of Sexual Attraction’. With the declaration that “I’m feeling really horny”, Lowe performed the track in his boxer shorts during the 1991 ‘Performance’ tour.

Originally released as the B-side of the single ‘Being Boring’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

BET SHE’S NOT YOUR GIRLFRIEND (1991)

While the song was inspired by George Michael being photographed with a group of beautiful models, Tennant referred to his own teenage dating experience with Krysia Korczynski who later ran PET SHOP BOYS’ fan club and would become the partner of their late photographer Eric Watson. The vibey house track with glissando strings was considered for inclusion on ‘Behaviour’ but was ultimately relegated to B-side status.

Originally released as the 12” B-side of the single ‘Where the Streets Have No Name (I Can’t Take My Eyes Off You)’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

MUSIC FOR BOYS (1991)

Taking elements form the “Happy Hardcore” of THE PROIDGY and rave nights at London’s now demolished venue The Astoria, the title ‘Music For Boys’ reflected how this aggressive form of dance music was aimed at “boys” rather than “girls”. Effectively a solo Chris Lowe track, this was one of the first PET SHOP BOYS tracks that appeared to have no recognisable trace of Neil Tennant as all the voices were samples or vocodered.

Originally released as the B-side of the single ‘DJ Culture’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

SHAMELESS (1993)

An epic commentary on celebrity culture where “we will do anything to get out 15 minutes of fame” because “we have no integrity” and “we’re ready to crawl”, ‘Shameless’ was on the nose in its satirical observations. But it was dropped as a ‘Very ‘album track because the joke wore thin even on Tennant and Lowe themselves. ‘Shameless’ was later part of the PET SHOP BOYS 2001 stage musical ‘Closer To Heaven’ sung by “The Vile Celebrities”.

Originally released as the B-side of the single ‘Go West’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

WE CAME FROM OUTER SPACE (1993)

Accompanying their ‘Very’ “up” pop statement was a primarily lyric-less “dance” album ‘Relentless’ helmed by Chris Lowe. The best track on the 6 track collection was ‘We Came From Outer Space’. With sampled statements like “You know the difference between the two genders? No!” and a repeated title phrase, the mysterious spacey hypnotism was affirmed by Lowe dryly announcing “Something’s not right, I can’t work it out…”

Originally released on the bonus disc of the special edition album ‘Very Relentless’, currently available on the album ‘Relentless’ via Parlophone Records

TOO MANY PEOPLE (1993)

With their shared love of Italo disco, PET SHOP BOYS had an affinity with NEW ORDER and this spilled out musically on ‘Too Many People’. A stabbing dance song about being overwhelmed, Tennant asked “What is my identity?” as he reflected on the conflict within his mind. Given their involvement with ELECTRONIC, one could have been half forgiven for thinking Bernard Sumner was about to join in on the main refrain…

Originally released as the B-side of the single ‘I Wouldn’t Normally Do This Kind of Thing”, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

DECADENCE (1994)

PET SHOP BOYS had been asked to write the theme for a film titled ‘Decadence’ based on a Steven Berkoff play which starred Joan Collins, but they withdrew from the project after seeing a rough cut. With a sonic sandwich of ‘I Say A Little Prayer’ and KRAFTWERK’s ‘The Model’, augmented by Johnny Marr on guitar and string arrangements by Richard Niles, this was the nearest PET SHOP BOYS came to writing something akin to a Bond Theme.

Originally released as the B-side of the single ‘Liberation’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

EUROBOY (1994)

A fuzzy Euro-rave track with vocoders and very basic “lover” lyrics forming the topline, ‘Euroboy’ was outwardly quite throwaway but highly effective in its sinister resonance via an incessant Cossack chant sampled from an African voice. Originally only appearing on the cassingle of ‘Yesterday, When I Was Mad’ in the UK but on the CD variant in Europe, ‘Euroboy’ was like ‘Boyzone’, the name of a gay porn publication from the period…

Originally released as a bonus track of the single ‘Yesterday, When I Was Mad’, currently available on the album ‘Alternative’ via Parlophone Records

CONFIDENTIAL (1996)

The PET SHOP BOYS demo for the Tina Turner track on her 1996 album ‘Wildest Dreams’ is something of a gem only known to the duo’s aficionados, especially as the late diva’s version was disappointing despite being produced by Tennant and Lowe with Chris Porter. Originating from the ‘Very’ sessions, this midtempo minor key ballad had similar aesthetic properties to ‘Hey Headmaster’, one of the B-sides to ‘Can You Forgive Her?’

Originally released as a bonus track of the single ‘Single-Bilingual’, currently available on the album ‘Format’ via Parlophone Records

SEXY NORTHERNER (2002)

A song that has been rumoured to be about either Chris Lowe or Robbie Williams although neither has been confirmed, Tennant marvelled from a distance about the antics of a young man who “drinks a lot of beer” and is literally getting away with it, always “hanging round the clubs” and “gets in them for free”. A trancey house number that went all glam rock in the chorus, it should be noted that none of the lyrics actually rhyme!

Originally released as a bonus track of the single ‘Home & Dry’, currently available on the album ‘Format’ via Parlophone Records

WE’RE THE PET SHOP BOYS (2003)

“I feel you touch me and it’s 1984, I know what you will say before you start in my heart, we’re the PET SHOP BOYS…” articulated MY ROBOT FRIEND when imagining himself and his former lover as Tennant and Lowe. Gloriously covered by the duo themselves, with the closing shopping list of song titles fittingly deadpanned by Lowe, Tennant remarked “It sums us up”. Robbie Williams would cover the song in 2006 using a remix of the PSB version.

Originally released as a bonus track of the single ‘Miracles’, currently available on the album ‘Format’ via Parlophone Records

FUGITIVE – Richard X Extended Mix (2006)

While the ‘Fundamental’ album was produced by Trevor Horn, on the bonus album ‘Fundamentalism’, it was opened by the Richard X produced ‘Fugitive’ in powerfully extended form. PET SHOP BOYS’ own post-9/11 song, Neil Tennant said: “It’s about a terrorist, a terrorist whose ideology is that he believes that by killing the enemy he’s going to go to heaven”. A shorter version came with the German-only ‘Beautiful People’ single.

Originally released on the bonus disc of the special edition album ‘Fundamental / Fundamentalism’, currently available on the album ‘Fundamental / Further Listening 2005-2007’ via Parlophone Records

BLUE ON BLUE (2006)

‘Blue On Blue’ was blessed with an explicit Divine intervention and heavy on the influence of Bobby Orlando. While using a military term referring to “friendly fire”, a topic covered on a song during 1999’s ‘Nightlife’ era, this song was much more truly “friendly” in its provocative throb. It was a metaphor for how two unhappy “blue” people could together make each other happy by the sea in view of the blue of the sky and the blue of the water…

Originally released as a bonus track of the single ‘Minimal’, currently available on the album ‘Format’ via Parlophone Records

PARTY SONG (2006)

Interpolating KC & THE SUNSHINE BAND’s ‘That’s The Way (I Like It), ‘Party Song’ was a throbbing disco affair that outshone the horrendous Diane Warren-penned ballad ‘Numb’ which was the main act. Lyrically inspired by the classic Joan Collins and Leonard Rossiter fronted Campari adverts, it began life as a dance cover of NIRVANA’s ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ suggested by Elton John for inclusion on ‘PopArt’!!

Originally the B-side of ‘Numb’, currently available on the album ‘Format’ via Parlophone Records

THIS USED TO BE THE FUTURE (2009)

‘This Used To Be The Future’ was a dream trioet that featured both PET SHOP BOYS and Philip Oakey of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, recorded as a bonus song for ‘Yes etc’. With Lowe actually singing albeit autotuned, as opposed to just speaking, this celebration of yesterday’s tomorrow saw Oakey deadpan that his utopian dream didn’t quite turn out as predicted on ‘Tomorrow’s World’!

Originally released on the bonus disc of the special edition album ‘Yes etc.’, currently available on the album ‘Yes / Further Listening 2008-2010’ via Parlophone Records

ONE-HIT WONDER (2016)

Produced for the German internet TV music show ‘The One-Hit Parade’ in 2015, the theme was extended to make ‘One-Hit Wonder’. Upbeat and very jaunty for a PET SHOP BOYS track, Tennant’s “da-la-la-la-la” from the halfway point were delivered in a lightweight European style. The theme’s hook actually dated back a DEPECHE MODE-influenced instrumental the duo wrote in 1981 when Tennant was working for Smash Hits.

Originally released as a bonus track of the single ‘The Pop Kids’ via x2

THE WHITE DRESS (2016)

Unusual in that most of the track was instrumental, ‘The White Dress’ was said to be about Sam Taylor-Wood née Taylor-Johnson, director of the 2015 film ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ who recorded a cover of ‘I’m In Love With A German Film Star’ with PET SHOP BOYS back in 2009. With moody electronic backing reminiscent of KRAFTWERK, the limited lyrics referred to the striking garment that she wore to the Berlin premiere.

Originally released as a bonus track of the single ‘Twenty-something’ via x2

Obscure PET SHOP BOYS takes place at London’s Electric Ballroom for 5 nights between 6th to 10th April 2026

‘Dreamworld: The Greatest Hits Live’ is available now as a Blu-ray+2Cd set

The book ‘Volume: The Complete Visual Record’ is published by Thames & Hudson in hardback on 7th April 2026

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has compiled an Obscure PET SHOP BOYS playlist on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/3QfJbKvMDsTwgInxqbpskm

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

https://www.facebook.com/petshopboys

https://www.instagram.com/petshopboys/

https://www.threads.com/@petshopboys

https://bsky.app/profile/petshopboys.co.uk

Text by Chi Ming Lai
22nd January 2026

THE ELECTRONIC LEGACY OF 1986

13 January 2026 /

What of 1986? This was at times, unlike previous years, a difficult one to enjoy musically.

TEARS FOR FEARS and SIMPLE MINDS had shown in 1985 that the most bankable way to break America was to present a new wave sound that had some synthesizers but not too many while big compressed drums and rawk guitars would be the relatable component for FM radio shows to draw in listeners for their commercials in between.

Following the ubiquity of Phil Collins throughout most of 1985, the domination of the GENESIS axis continued with seemingly endless stream of singles from the ‘Invisible Touch’ album while former leader Peter Gabriel achieved international mainstream success with the Staxx-flavoured art funk of ‘Sledgehammer’ on major rotation at MTV.

Elsewhere, WHAM! ended on a high as George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley played their final concert at Wembley Stadium but also playing what turned out to be their last concert with Freddie Mercury at Knebworth Park were QUEEN. Having gone down the dumper in 1984 with their third album ‘Waking Up With The House On Fire’ having been assessed as a “disaster of mediocrity” by Smash Hits’ Tom Hibbert, the long playing attempt to rescue CULTURE CLUB out of the dumper ‘From Luxury To Heartache’ did nothing to change fortunes with Boy George’s then undisclosed heroin addiction affecting its prolonged production.

Hollywood was where is it at in 1986; Giorgio Moroder and his mechanic Tom Whitlock would win an Oscar and Golden Globe for ‘Best Original Song’ with ‘Take My Breath Away’ which provided the love theme for ‘Top Gun’, the highest-grossing film of the year worldwide; although it was credited to BERLIN, it featured none of its members apart from vocalist Terri Nunn and would cause tensions that would split up the band.

THE PSYCHEDELIC FURS re-recorded ‘Pretty In Pink’ for the John Hughes movie of the same name while having already featured discreetly during a mall scene with ‘Tesla Girls’ during another Hughes film ‘Weird Science’ the year before, OMD achieved their biggest hit in America with the specifically written standalone song  ‘If You Leave’ which soundtracked the closing prom scene to touch the hearts of many teenagers stateside. However, the act who contributed the most music to the film was NEW ORDER with ‘Shellshock’, ‘Elegia’ and ‘Thieves Like Us’!

In the rush to make things more palatable for the American market, there were lukewarm offerings by THE HUMAN LEAGUE, HEAVEN 17, DURAN DURAN and EURYTHMICS who only a few years before had released some excellent albums. “We were all a bit lost by then” said Phil Oakey later in 2009 on the BBC documentary ‘Synth Britannia’, “we didn’t have anything to prove!”. But the worst one was ‘U-Vox’ by ULTRAVOX; as the lame titled suggested, this was a band with something missing and the record was to 1986 what OMD’s ‘Crush’ was to 1985 as it battled to incorporate orchestras, brass sections, acoustic guitars and the traditional Irish combo THE CHIEFTAINS into its sound.

After the programmed perfection of their Trevor Horn-produced chart toppers ‘Relax’ and ‘Two Tribes’, new producer Stephen J Lipson may well have been misguided in allowing FRANKIE GOES TO HOLLYWOOD to play their own instruments on the second album ‘Liverpool’ as tensions within the band were about to cause implosion. Certainly the programmed Trevor Horn single remix of ‘Warriors Of The Wasteland)’ was far superior to the lame “as live” album version which unsurprisingly sounded like it was performed by a slightly polished-up pub rock combo!

Making a successful transition to organic instrumentation were TALK TALK with ‘The Colour Of Spring’, probably one of the best albums of 1986 regardless of genre. In E&MM, Mark Hollis said “I absolutely hate synthesizers” despite the band having had their breakthrough using them; while the sleeve credits did much to appease more rockcentric audiences with the vague acknowledgement of “instrumental” for Ian Curnow’s synth solos, the enjoyable long player did feature an electronic wind instrument called a Variophon and the state-of-the-art Kurweil on ‘Happiness Is Easy’!

Also heading into more organic territory with an ambitious double album divided into song-based and ambient instrumental records was David Sylvian; bringing in a number of guest guitarists like Robert Fripp, Phil Palmer and Bill Nelson, ‘Gone To Earth’ required more effort from listeners as the former leader of JAPAN distanced himself further from his old band although former bandmates Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri made contributions on a number of tracks.

As DAF went disco, Electronic Body Music influenced by the German duo’s imperial years on Virgin Records was emerging as a harder and darker alternative to the sanitised American-friendly sound that was now prevalent, with FRONT 242 and NITZER EBB issuing important singles that would trigger a new cult movement.

Overall, 1986 was a massive disappointment and confirmation of a wider downward spiral towards electronic creativity in pop music. House and dance would point towards the future but these sub-genres often lacked songs. Meanwhile, the emergence of Stock, Aitken & Waterman as a pop production factory would change the face of Top Of The Pops, Smash Hits and even the Independent Charts after years of delightful oddness but that is another story for others to tell…

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has somehow managed to assemble a list of 20 albums to represent The Electronic Legacy of 1986, although it must be highlighted that a fair number of those included would not have made the cut in previous years which had their embarrassment of riches. Not a “best of” list by any means, as usual, these are presented in alphabetical order by artist…

A-HA Scoundrel Days

While Morten Harket, Magne Furuholmen and Pål Waaktaar were being perceived as a teenybop band thanks to the success of ‘Take On Me’, there was always an inherent Nordic gloom lurking within A-HA. Mostly produced by Alan Tarney, the blistering title song was swathed in a chilling melancholy. Then there were the hit singles but while ‘Cry Wolf’ was bouncy pop, there were snarls of frustration present in ‘I’ve Been Losing You’ and ‘Manhattan Skyline’.

‘Scoundrel Days’ is still available via Warner Music

https://a-ha.com/

ALPHAVILLE Afternoons In Utopia

ALPHAVILLE were under pressure on their second album ‘Afternoons in Utopia’, especially with the departure of founder member Frank Mertens. Ricky Echolette joined Marian Gold and Bernhard Lloyd but after the gritty commentary on heroin addiction of ‘Big In Japan’ in 1984, songs like ‘Jerusalem’ and ‘Dance With Me’ possessed an anthemic optimism while on ‘Red Rose’, Gold moved from his Robert Smith impersonation into Bryan Ferry territory.

‘Afternoons In Utopia’ is still available via Warner Music

https://www.alphaville.earth/

THE ART OF NOISE In Visible Silence

Having flown the ZTT nest, Anne Dudley, JJ Jeczalik and Gary Langan took their Fairlighted musique concrète to China Records and came up with ‘In Visible Silence’. With more variety and more polish, ‘Legs’ was classic AoN while a rework of ‘Peter Gunn’ with Duane Eddy and ‘Paranoimia’ would provide the hits, although the latter’s album version would be without Max Headroom. Although Langan would depart, a high profile collaboration with Tom Jones beckoned…

‘In Visible Silence’ is still available via Warner Music

https://www.theartofnoiseonline.com/

THE BOOK OF LOVE The Book Of Love

A quartet comprising of Susan Ottaviano, the unrelated Ted Ottaviano, Jade Lee and Lauren Roselli, BOOK OF LOVE signed to Sire Records and opened for DEPECHE MODE on two US successive tours. Their self-titled debut LP contained lively synthpop tunes such as ‘You Make Me Feel So Good’, ‘Boy’ and ‘I Touch Roses’ but it was a song named after the Italian artist ‘Modigliani’ that had most impact, appearing in an episode of ‘Miami Vice’ and the film ‘Planes, Trains and Automobiles’.

‘The Book Of Love’ is still available via Sire Records

https://www.bookoflovemusic.com/

CHINA CRISIS What Price Paradise

With CHINA CRISIS now more of a band than the original duo concept fronted by Gary Daly and Eddie Lundon, ‘What Price Paradise’ had less of a Trans-Atlantic flavour compared to its predecessor ‘Flaunt The Imperfection’. Still featuring great songs such as ‘It’s Everything’, ‘Best Kept Secret’, ‘The Understudy’ and ‘Hampton Beach’, it is still one of life’s great mysteries that the magnificent ‘Arizona’ never got beyond No47 in the UK charts!

‘What Price Paradise’ is still available via Virgin Records

https://www.facebook.com/chinacrisisofficial

THE COMMUNARDS Communards

Although THE COMMUNARDS, Jimmy Somerville’s venture with future TV vicar Richard Coles was intended to have more traditional musical values, the electronic sound of his previous band BRONSKI BEAT could not be left totally behind. With Mike Thorne still at the production helm, ‘Disenchanted’ crossed ‘Why?’ with ‘Smalltown Boy’ while the spirited Hi-NRG cover of ‘Don’t Leave Me This Way’ with Sarah-Jane Morris would be the UK’s biggest selling single of 1986.

‘Communards’ is still available via London Records

https://www.jimmysomerville.co.uk/

DAF 1st Step To Heaven

When Robert Görl and Gabi Delgado reunited in 1985 to record ‘1st Step To Heaven’, they opted not only to stop wearing back but to sing in English. Less aggressive than previous DAF works with a more electronic disco sound, ‘Voulez-Vous Coucher Avec Moi’ quoted from LADY MARMALADE despite being an original while ‘Pure Joy’ was inspired by Prince’s ‘1999’. But best of all was the joyous ‘Brothers’ which celebrated Görl and Delgado’s friendship.

‘1st Step To Heaven’ is currently unavailable

http://www.robert-goerl.de

DEPECHE MODE Black Celebration

Producer Daniel Miller wanted a dystopian intensity to the fifth DEPECHE MODE album ‘Black Celebration’ and with Gareth Jones acting as Tonmeister, Martin Gore’s increasingly bleaker songs found the perfect sonic backdrop. The 7 track segue from the opening title song to ‘Stripped’ that included ‘Fly On The Windscreen’ and ‘It Doesn’t Matter Two’ remains DEPECHE MODE’s most outstanding sequence of music.

‘Black Celebration’ is still available via Sony Music

https://www.depechemode.com/

ERASURE Wonderland

Andy Bell and Vince Clarke’s debut album ‘Wonderland’ was not an instant hit. The lead single ‘Who Needs Love (Like That)?’ was mistaken by some to be an unreleased YAZOO recording. Among the album’s highlights were the joyous ‘Reunion’ and the funky ‘Push Me… Shove Me’ . The record’s HI-NRG centrepiece ‘Oh L’Amour’ flopped as a single but undeterred, ERASURE toured the college circuit to build up a new fanbase from scratch.

‘Wonderland’ is still available via Mute Records

https://www.erasureinfo.com/

I START COUNTING My Translucent Hands

As I START COUNTING, Simon Leonard and Dave Baker finally released their longform debut following two impressive Daniel Miller-produced singles ‘Letters To A Friend’ and ‘Still Smiling’. Both included on the CD edition of ‘My Translucent Hands’, quirky tracks such as ‘Catch That Look’ and maintained the standard if with less immediacy. The duo would open for Mute label mates ERASURE on their 1987 European tour.

‘My Translucent Hands’ is still available via Mute Records

I Start Counting / Fortran 5 / Komputer

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE Rendez-Vous

‘Rendez-Vous’ had something of a loose space theme but the space shuttle Challenger tragedy tinged the release with sadness as the ‘Last Rendez-Vous (Ron’s Piece)’ was to have featured astronaut Ron McNair playing sax. Meanwhile, the symphonic ‘Second Rendez-Vous’ inspired by Wendy Carlos would become favourite of Pope John Paul II and the rousing ‘Fourth Rendez-Vous’ captured the vein of the classic Jean-Michel Jarre single.

‘Rendez-Vous’ is still available via Sony Music

https://www.jeanmicheljarre.com/

HOWARD JONES One To One

After two hit albums with Rupert Hine, Howard Jones had Arif Mardin on production duties for ‘One To One’ having been impressed by his work with SCRITTI POLITTI. While still very synth-driven, an array of session musicians on drums, guitars, bass and brass featured for a more sophisticated sound. But ‘Little Bit Of Snow’ found him in reflective mood on the ivories as the singles ‘All I Want’ and ‘You Know I Love You… Don’t You?’ failed to crack the UK Top30.

‘One To One’ is still available via Cherry Red Records

http://www.howardjones.com/

KRAFTWERK Electric Café

Coming after the 5 year wait since 1981’s ‘Computer World’ as the world KRAFTWERK anticipated came true, ‘Electric Café’ was something of a disappointment. Distracted by cycling and technology, there were still delights to be found. ‘The Telephone Call’ featuring Karl Bartos on lead vocals was a highlight along with the voice sample-laden ‘Musique Non Stop’ while the ironic ‘Sex Object’ was fun despite the barrage of DX7 presets like a YouTube tutorial…

‘Electric Café’ is now available as ‘Techno Pop’ via Parlophone Records

https://kraftwerk.com/

NEW ORDER Brotherhood

NEW ORDER were simultaneously about indie guitar rock and electronic disco, although rarely mixing. On their fourth album ‘Brotherhood’, the band’s schizophrenic musical personalities were separated across two sides. The electronic part was headed by ‘Bizarre Love Triangle’, but there was also the solemn ‘All Day Long’, the sinister ‘Angel Dust’ and the Lou Reed pastiche ‘Every Little Counts’ with its laughter and unforgettable scratching stylus ending!

‘Brotherhood’ is still available via Rhino

https://www.neworder.com/

GARY NUMAN Strange Charm

Things really had got “strange” for Gary Numan as his Numanoids marched on BBC Broadcasting House to protest that ‘This Is Love’ and ‘I Can’t Stop’ had charted yet were not getting radio airplay; however, they were the worst songs on ‘Strange Charm’. Something of an underrated record, the dreamy ‘My Breathing’ and the Vangelis-inspired title song were impressive while there was also a new great Bill Sharpe collaboration ‘New Thing From London Town’.

‘Strange Charm’ is still available via BMG

https://garynuman.com/

OMD The Pacific Age

A much better record than the rotten ‘Crush’, with a heavier synth, choral and live drum edge, one highlight was ‘The Dead Girls’ which revisited the sonics of ‘Architectural & Morality’ but with digital technology. Although the hit came from the Paul Humphreys sung ‘(Forever) Live & Die’, the Andy McCluskey fronted ‘Stay’ and ‘We Love You’ provided the electronic rock disco drive while ‘Flame Of Hope’ clearly fell under the spell of THE ART OF NOISE.

‘The Pacific Age’ is still available via Virgin Records

https://omd.uk.com/

PET SHOP BOYS Please

While PET SHOP BOYS debut album wasn’t perfect with ‘Suburbia’ and ‘Violence’ improving in re-recordings, ‘Please’ featured not only ‘West End Girls’ and ‘Love Comes quickly’ but had an array of brilliant track including ‘Two Divided By Zero’ and ‘Tonight Is Forever’. While an ironic observation on the rise of yuppies, the misunderstood ‘Opportunites (Let’s Make Lots Of Money)’ proved to be quite prophetic for Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, but who was the brains?

‘Please’ is still available via Parlophone Records

https://www.petshopboys.co.uk/

SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK Flaunt It

SUICIDE reconfigured for the 21st Century with Giorgio Moroder at the studio helm, behind the hype of cyberpunk combo SIGUE SIGUE SPUTNIK were some decent tracks even if they all sounded the same! The throbbing drive of ‘Love Missile F1-11’, ‘21st Century Boy’ and ‘Sex-Bomb-Boogie’ provided the fun but the flow was spoiled by novelty effects and samples while there were paid adverts between tracks as an honest statement on commercialism.

‘Flaunt It’ is still available via BMG

https://mail.sputnikworld.com/Sigue_Sigue_Sputnik.html

SPARKS Music That You Can Dance To

Inspired by a London Records A&R muttering “why can’t you make music that you can dance to?” after the avant pop of ‘Change’, SPARKS took inspiration for their lively if underrated 14th album, recorded in Brussels with old pal Dan Lacksman of TELEX engineering. The title song echoed ERASURE’s ‘Oh L’Amour’ while Ron Mael played with bursts of Fairlight and Roland Jupiter 8 on the falsetto soul of ‘Fingertips’ and Russell got to impersonate Gene Pitney on ‘Rosebud’.

‘Music That You Can Dance To’ is still available via Repertoire Records

https://allsparks.com/

STACEY Q Better Than Heaven

The front woman of synthpop act SSQ who had a US dance hit with ‘Synthicide’ in 1983, Stacey Q may have begun as a ‘Shy Girl’ but with its fair number of tunes as good as ‘Two Of Hearts’ like sister song ‘Insecurity’ and the more Jam & Lewis influenced ‘Music Out Of Bounds’, her debut album ‘Better Than Heaven’ is a reminder how fun and carefree pop music once was and should still be. The album remains a collection of wonderfully innocent escapism.

‘Better Than Heaven’ is still available via Cherry Red Records

https://www.facebook.com/people/Stacey-Q/100040905591794

Text by Chi Ming Lai
13th January 2026

A Beginner’s Guide To BILL NELSON

29 December 2025 /

Photo by Sheila Rock

Musician and producer Bill Nelson has released over 100 solo albums and EPs while also working with numerous other artists including SKIDS, A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS, FIAT LUX and YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA.

Born in Wakefield and given his first guitar, a Gibson ES345 by his father who played sax led his own dance band, Bill Nelson released his debut album ‘Northern Dream’ in 1971 but first found fame as the leader of the acclaimed progressive rock band BE BOP DELUXE who released 5 albums between 1974 to 1978.

He was a leading exponent of the E-Bow, a handheld battery-powered device that created infinite sustain on a guitar by generating a magnetic field to vibrate a single string. Having been given an early model by its inventor Greg Heet while he was in BE BOP DELUXE, Nelson found he could create unique sounding textures that would often be mistaken for synthesizers. Other E-Bow users included Stuart Adamson, Rob Dean, Andy Taylor, The Edge and Pat Metheny.

This coincided with Nelson’s flaming desire to experiment more with electronics on the final BE BOP DELUXE album ‘Drastic Plastic’. Tiring of the limitation of guitar sounds and wanting to work without a band, he got into synths and drum machines. Like other guitarists of the new wave era, Nelson tried guitar synthesizers and in his case, it was the Hagstrom Patch 2000. One of the issues arising from guitar synths was that if a string was unintentionally hit, an unwanted note would be triggered. These quirks ultimately made the E-Bow more practical although it was still tricky to master.

Having been inspired by David Bowie’s Berlin era records ‘Low’ and ‘Heroes’ to pursue a more electronic direction after dissolving BE BOP DELUXE, Nelson formed RED NOISE which featured his brother Ian on sax. But after their debut record, a Bowie-influenced new wave art rock album titled ‘Sound On Sound’, RED NOISE were dropped by Harvest Records despite signing them on the strength of Nelson’s involvement in BE BOP DELUXE.

Photo by Sheila Rock

Nelson reworked what would have been the second RED NOISE album and released as his first solo album ‘Quit Dreaming and Get On The Beam’ via Mercury Records who had signed him after he released a single ‘Do You Dream In Colour?’ on his newly set-up independent label Cocteau in 1980. Setting up a home studio, among the synths in Nelson’s arsenal were a Minimoog, Yamaha CS70M and ARP Omni.

As well as being an outlet for his more experimental work, Cocteau also showcased new artists to major labels with A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS and FIAT LUX signing to Jive and Polydor respectively after their debut singles were produced and released by Nelson. He would go on to produce other artists such as Nash The Slash and Gary Numan although he never saw it as a potential career in the way that Trevor Horn and Tony Mansfield did.

There came a fruitful relationship with Yukihiro Takahashi of YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA with tha pair playing on each other’s records and perfroming live together but after leaving Mercury, Nelson signed to the CBS imprint Portrait. But the relationship was tense and ended after just one album ‘Getting the Holy Ghost Across’ in 1986. During this time, he launched the more sample-based New Age side project ORCHESTRA ARCANA but by now Nelson had marriage, tax and management problems to deal with as well as the collapse of Enigma Records who he signed to in 1988. Nelson convalesced by producing ‘The Familiar’, a gentle meditative album by Roger Eno and Kate St John released in 1992 using primarily traditional instrumentation.

Since then, Bill Nelson has remained fiercely independent and outside of the mainstream music business, having built up a strong and loyal worldwide fan base who embrace his song-based work, ambient compositions and soundtracks for art installations, exhibitions and theatrical presentations.

“The ‘ambient’ things, the ‘rock’ things, the ‘pop’ things don’t exist as separate, discreet entities in my creative heart, they’re just facets of one, personal, unchanging musical expression” he said on his website, “I personally regard all these categorisations as outward manifestations of a single interior vision, rather than some kind of split-personality or any desire to appear ‘multi-talented’.”

Still very prolific, in 2023 alone, he released 5 albums via his own Sonoluxe label while Nelson issued his most recent long player ‘Studio Cadet’ in 2024. He has far too many works now to cover in one article so here acting as a Beginner’s Guide to Bill Nelson and his more electronic-based material is a summary of 20 tracks tracing his work up to the start of the millennium…

BE BOP DELUXE Electrical Language (1978)

Uncomfortable with the cult “guitar hero” status he had acquired, Nelson had become disillusioned and wanted to experiment with his Minimoog. The exotic ‘Electrical Language’ documented the moment when he went electro. Co-produced by John Leckie who would go on to work with MAGAZINE, SIMPLE MINDS and THE HUMAN LEAGUE, the track displayed an affinity with New Wave. Nelson unexpectedly split up the band whilst on the cusp of mainstream success.

Available on the BE-BOP DELUXE album ‘Drastic Plastic’ via Esoteric Recordings

https://www.facebook.com/BeBopDeluxe

BILL NELSON’S RED NOISE Furniture Music (1979)

Nelson formed a new band RED NOISE with a flexible line-up which included his brother Ian on sax which he regarded as an escape from BE-BOP DELUXE. With no need to compromise with band mates in his new fiery experimental vision, the first single ‘Furniture Music’ saw Nelson vocally adopt the staccato stylings of SPARKS while embodying a dystopian Orwellian atmosphere commensurate with the Cold War tensions of the times.

Available on the BILL NELSON’S RED NOISE album ‘Sound-on-Sound’ via Esoteric Recordings

https://www.innerviews.org/inner/bill-nelson

SKIDS Charade (1979)

After the unintelligible ‘Into The Valley’ and the Mick Glossop-helmed ‘Working For The Yankee Dollar’, when Bill Nelson produced the second SKIDS album ‘Days in Europa’, he brought in drum machines and keyboards. Utilising the CR78 Compurhythm later heard on OMD’s ‘Enola Gay’, ’Charade’ had a riffing mechanical energy offset by electronic pulses that set the Scottish punk band apart from the likes of STIFF LITTLE FINGERS and ANGELIC UPSTARTS.

Available on the SKIDS album ‘Days In Europa’ via Virgin Records

https://skidsofficial.com/

BILL NELSON Do You Dream In Colour? (1980)

Finally opting to go solo and independent with his own Cocteau label after being dropped by the EMI-affiliated EMI, the quirky ‘Do You Dream In Colour?’ had similar lyrical gists to THE NORMAL’s ‘TVOD’ but was misinterpreted as being about heroin addiction. Punctuated with bursts of sax from brother Ian, the single reached a respectable No52 on the UK singles chart and was the catalyst to a new deal with Mercury Records.

Available on the BILL NELSON album ‘Quit Dreaming & Get On The Beam’ via Mercury Records

https://www.facebook.com/bill.nelson.54943600

LAST MAN IN EUROPE A Certain Bridge (1981)

The only release by LAST MAN IN EUROPE, the duo comprised Jeff Wilson and Trevor Abbott. The second single issued on Cocteau, ‘A Certain Bridge’ was a slice of doomy goth in the vein of JOY DIVISION and THE CURE produced by Nelson. With repetitious drum machine and freaky synth soloing at the end, vocally there was the tense post-punk snarl of the times to go alongside the jagged guitar figures.

Available on the compilation album ‘Cocteau Signature Tunes’ (V/A) via Cocteau

https://postpunkmonk.com/2019/06/17/record-review-last-man-in-europe-a-certain-bridge/

TO HEAVEN A JET Airfield (1981)

Featuring a nucleus of Steve Walker and Dave Purcell, their Cocteau single ‘Airfields’ was not only produced by Nelson but also featured him playing  superb bass figures in a manner reminiscent of Barry Adamson from MAGAZINE. With sparks of icy string machine and death disco rhythms, this mysterious offering was like LAST MAN IN EUROPE, on the doomy side and came over like a dystopian DURAN DURAN.

Available on the compilation album ‘Cocteau Signature Tunes’ (V/A) via Cocteau

https://left-and-to-the-back.blogspot.com/2018/09/to-heaven-jet-revox-cadets-airfields.html

REVOX CADETS Tony Goes to Tokyo (1981)

Subtitled “And Rides The Bullet Train”, REVOX CADETS was Nelson pretending to be a band while also writing under the pseudonym of VU Disney in order to release material on Cocteau outside of his deal with Mercury Records. Falling under the spell of Japan and adopting appealing pentatonic synth tones over a treated drum machine backbone, the locomotive track was double A sided with TO HEAVEN A JET’s ‘Airfield’.

Available on the BILL NELSON album ‘Transcorder (The Acquitted By Mirrors Recordings)’ via Sonoluxe

https://www.billnelson.com/tony-goes-to-tokyo

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS Telecommunication (1981)

A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS had got their original break when Bill Nelson produced and released their debut single ‘(It’s Not Me) Talking’ for his Cocteau label in 1981, attracting the attention of the Arista-affiliated Jive Records. The short and punchy ‘Telecommunication’ was their major-label debut and also produced by Nelson. Percussive metallic synths and Sci-Fi lyrics combined with power chords to provide a hit on the US Hot Dance Club Play chart.

Available on the A FLOCK OF SEAGULLS album ‘A Flock Of Seagulls’ via Cherry Pop

https://www.aflockofseagulls.org/

YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI featuring ZAINE GRIFF & RONNY This Strange Obsession (1982)

With its various Far Eastern inflections, the ‘Quit Dreaming & Get On The Beam’ album had come to the attention of Yukihiro Takahashi and with it came the invitation to play on the YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA drummer’s next solo album ‘What, Me Worry?’. One track that Nelson contributed E-Bow to was ‘This Strange Obsession’, a frantic duet between Zaine Griff (who had also written the song) and chanteuse Ronny.

Available on the YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI album ‘What, Me Worry?’ via Yen Records / Great Tracks

https://www.zainegriff.com/

BILL NELSON Flaming Desire (1982)

Curious about employing trance rhythm ideas, Nelson went to town on the electronics with a greater emphasis on synthesizers for his second solo album ‘The Love That Whirls’; with prominent machine rhythms, screaming synth-sounding E-bow guitar, as “Love turns to lust, ice into fire”, ‘Flaming Desire’ swirled with a mannered passion that provided an ecstatic sexual tension not heard before in Nelson’s previous work.

Available on the BILL NELSON album ‘The Love That Whirls’ via Mercury Records

https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/bill-nelson/4416

MASAMI TSUCHIYA Rice Music (1982)

Masami Tsuchiya was best known as the leader of IPPU DO and being in the final live line-up of JAPAN. Not only did Mick Karn and Steve Jansen feature on the title track of his debut solo record but also Bill Nelson with his “Flying E-Bow” guitar. Using koto and synths to provide the traditionally-flavoured backbone, Nelson’s E-Bow and Tsuchiya’s own six string combined for something sounding like a JAPAN instrumental.

Available on the MASAMI TSUCHIYA album ‘Rice Music’ via Epic Records

https://www.facebook.com/masami.nightwalker

FIAT LUX Feels Like Winter Again (1982)

Originally a duo comprising Steve Wright and David P Crickmore, the former joined the Yorkshire Actors theatre company where he met Nelson who produced their debut single ‘Feels Like Winter Again’. The cutting mix of synth and treated guitar over an electronic pulse and machine beats juxtaposed with bass guitar complimented Wright’s sombre tale of broken love affairs. Nelson’s brother Ian would later join FIAT LUX.

Available on the FIAT LUX album ‘Hired History Plus’ via Cherry Red Records

https://fiat-lux.co.uk/

GARY NUMAN My Car Slides 1 (1983)

Gary Numan was making a full live comeback after retiring in 1981, but he was put under pressure from his label Beggars Banquet employ a producer for his next album. Bill Nelson took on the role but the two quickly fell out in the studio. One track that the pair completed was ‘My Car Slides 1’, a beautiful ballad featuring Nelson’s distinctive E-bowed guitar. Alas, it was not included in Numan’s revision of the eventual ‘Warriors’ album.

Available on the GARY NUMAN album ‘Warriors’ via Beggars Banquet

https://garynuman.com/

YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA Focus (1983)

Having played on Yukihiro Takahashi’s ‘What, Me Worry?’, Nelson was invited to join the sessions for the next YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA album ‘Naughty Boys’. The end result was a very sophisticated pop record with ‘Kimi Ni Mune Kyun’ becoming their biggest hit. Short on the trio’s usual quirkiness, Nelson himself felt they could have taken more risks in the final mix but the track ‘Focus’ had much more of a growl.

Available on the YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA album ‘Naughty Boys’ via Beggars Banquet

https://www.110107.com/s/oto/page/YMO40

BILL NELSON Acceleration (1984)

A development of the electronica structured tracks that came from ‘The Love That Whirls’, ‘Acceleration’ came after Nelson’s work with Yukihiro Takahashi who provided several drum tracks for him to compose around. Featuring live percussion and synced rhythmic devices, it was possibly the most overt pop song in the Bill Nelson catalogue, the single version got an extra American disco edge via a remix from producer John Luongo.

Available on the BILL NELSON album ‘Chimera’ via Mercury Records

https://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/bill-nelson/6121

YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI featuring BILL NELSON Bounds Of Reason, Bounds Of Love (1984)

As with his previous solo albums, Yukihiro Takahashi happy to let guest take a lead vocal and on his sixth album ‘Wild & Moody’, Bill Nelson played guitar, wrote lyrics and sang on one of its highlights ‘Bounds Of Reason, Bonds Of Love’. Co-produced by Iva Davies of ICEHOUSE with Ryuichi Sakamoto on Fairlight, this was a slab of electro-funk was authentically enhanced by the inappropriately named Rodney Drummer on bass guitar.

Available on the YUKIHIRO TAKAHASHI album ‘Wild & Moody’ via Yen Records / Great Tracks

https://www.instagram.com/room66_yukihiro

BILL NELSON A Dream Fulfilled (1986)

‘Acquitted By Mirrors’ was the Bill Nelson Fan Club magazine published between 1982 to 1990; 12” EPs were given exclusively to members with alternating issues. The ‘Cote D’Azur’ EP was the seventh and came with Issue 13 and on it was a delightful YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA influenced instrumental called ‘A Dream Fulfilled’. Its drum track clearly had the hallmarks of Yukihiro Takahashi so was it a ‘Chimera’ outtake?

Available on the BILL NELSON album ‘Transcorder’ via Sonoluxe

https://billnelson.bandcamp.com/album/transcorder

DAVID SYLVIAN Silver Moon (1986)

For David Sylvian’s ambitious second double album, Bill Nelson collaborated with the former JAPAN front man on 6 tracks including 3 instrumentals. One of the songs was the countrified ‘Silver Moon’ which saw his distinctive E-Bow alongside the Frippertronics of Robert Fripp and pedal steel exponent BJ Cole. Usually upbeat, this was Sylvian at his most romantic since ‘Gentlemen Take Polaroids’ despite the uncertainty expressed.

Available on the DAVID SYLVIAN album ‘Gone To Earth’ via Virgin Records

https://sylvianvista.com/2024/12/26/silver-moon-silver-moon-over-sleeping-steeples/

RAIN TREE CROW Blackwater (1991)

RAIN TREE CROW was the JAPAN reunion in all but name. Bill Nelson’s guest involvement in JAPAN had been mooted as far back as ‘Tin Drum’. He appeared the tribal instrumental ‘Big Wheels In Shanty Town’ and the wonderfully mellow single ‘Blackwater’ which was perhaps the only track from the sessions that bore any relation to JAPAN’s past The quartet of Sylvian, Mick Karn, Steve Jansen and Richard Barbieri would split again.

Available on the RAIN TREE CROW album ‘Rain Tree Crow’ via Virgin Records

https://sylvianvista.com/2025/08/29/blackwater/

BILL NELSON Blink Agog (1996)

An adventure in avant garde drum ‘n’ bass, sax and E-Bow and near spoken vocals, ‘Blink Agog’ came from ‘After the Satellite Sings’, a record that Nelson would later declare as one of his favourites where there were a number of musical departures. Written, performed, recorded and mixed in an intense 28 day session, according to guitarist Reeves Gabrels, it was said to have been an influence on David Bowie’s ‘Earthling’ album,

Available on the BILL NELSON album ’After The Satellite Sings’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.soundonsound.com/people/bill-nelson

For more on the career of Bill Nelson, visit https://www.billnelson.com/

A variety of Bill Nelson music released since 2007 and a selection of his back catalogue is available digitally from https://billnelson.bandcamp.com/music

Text by Chi Ming Lai
29th December 2025

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2025

10 December 2025 /

Sometimes ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK does wonders what century it is living in?

One individual complained on social media that there were far too many women in ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2024 earlier this year; well they really are out of luck because this time round, only 8 out of the 30 songs listed are of an entirely male preserve as in 2025, the female side of synth was strong.

As in the past, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK continues to curate its end of year summary around songs rather than albums as the best representation of an annual period thanks to the long gestation periods of many albums and EPs. Although the last 12 months were plagued with generic darkwave to take the place of the insipid synthwave that was prevalent for a period, there were glimmers of creative hope in electronic pop.

While this year’s list was quite straightforward compile, worthy mentions must be given to NNHMN and SIN COS TAN as well as Zanias and Kalipo who all had tracks that just missed out on inclusion in the final list of 30. Available on the usual online platforms with a restriction of one song per artist moniker and placed in alphabetical order, for better or for worse, these are ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2025…

ASSEMBLAGE 23 The Line

With its on-point social commentary, ‘Null’ ranks among Tom Shear’s best albums as ASSEMBLAGE 23. Galloping mightily to ‘The Line’, a blend of dark electronic pop influences provide an album standout full of resigned drama when “it doesn’t matter anyway…”; reflecting on political polarisation affecting friendships, he said “you have to evaluate whether you want to keep these people in your life or do you really need to let them go…”

Available on the ASSEMBLAGE 23 album ‘Null’ via Metropolis Records

https://www.assemblage23.com/

AUSTRA Math Equation

Back as AUSTRA, ‘Chin Up Buttercup’ was a cathartic record capturing the aftermath of Katie Stelmanis’ break-up with her long-term partner. Like a discontented ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’, the superb ‘Math Equation’ sees a sad but dancey syncopated dance tune with frank observations of navigating modern dating. “You said I needed my own friends and then you f*cked them” she despaired as elegiac synths mourn the end.

Available on the AUSTRA album ‘Chin Up Buttercup’ via Domino Recordings

https://austra.fyi/

TOBIAS BERNSTRUP Under Heavy Strobe Light

Swedish dark Italo artist Tobias Bernstrup is back with his seventh studio album ‘Shadow Dancer’. According to Bernstrup, it “explores the tension between appearance and reality—how we perform identity, desire, and memory in a world flooded with simulation”. On ‘Under Heavy Strobe Light’, the beats pump harder and the voice is deeper but as the title suggests, this throbbing excursion is made for “creatures of the night” who love the dancefloor.

Available on the TOBIAS BERNSTRUP album ‘Shadow Dancer’ via Nadanna Records

http://www.bernstrup.com/

CAUSEWAY featuring ENDLESS ATLAS Anywhere

Although CAUSEWAY maintained their cinematic dreamwave sound on the ‘Anywhere’ album, its title track was a key statement that went all Motorik and minimal with the guitar of Dale Hiscock from ENDLESS ATLAS contributing the West Coast meets Düsseldorf flavour. Eschewing the density of most of the tracks on the album, the duo’s Marshall Watson said “To me it feels very ‘out of the box’ for CAUSEWAY but it fits in our universe”.

Available on the CAUSEWAY album ‘Anywhere’ is released by Sprechen Music

https://www.facebook.com/wearecauseway

CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN Shadow Dancer

‘Night Mirror’ saw Claudia Brücken back working with John Williams who produced her third solo album ‘Where Else…’; with her characteristic ice maiden cool, the brilliant ‘Shadow Dancer’ turned the album on its head with an uptempo electronically driven number with minimal rhythm guitar and piano sparring off the synthetic stabs and metronomic rhythms. Here Claudia’s assuring poetry was supreme in this divine slice of avant pop.

Available on the CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN album ‘Night Mirror’ via Demon Music Group

https://www.claudiabrucken.co.uk/

COMPUTE Närmare

Through circumstance and by choice, Ulrika Mild is perhaps one of the best kept secrets in Swedish electronic pop. Under her alias of COMPUTE, she says “I’m just a girl standing in front of a machine asking it to go ‘bleep bloop’…” but there was a darker if still melodic presence on her ‘NKI’ EP. Its opening song ‘Närmare’ was a feisty club friendly track that acted as an observation about the world problems that threaten human existence.

Available on the COMPUTE EP ‘NKI’ via https://computopia.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/computopia

MARIE DAVIDSON Fun Times

Co-written and co-produced with SOULWAX, ‘City Of Clowns’ was the first album from Marie Davidson in over 4 years. More English than French but also more song-based, she had some ‘Fun Times’ on a spiky vibrant number about not having children and challenging the now-prevalent far right view that a woman’s only meaningful role in society is reproducing… why bother with all that when her babies can be her art and her fun?

Available on the MARIE DAVIDSON album ‘City Of Clowns’ via DEEWEE

https://www.facebook.com/mariedavidson.official

DIE SEXUAL Magic Never Dies

From out of the shadows to under the strobe lights, DIE SEXUAL are the erotically charged Los Angeles-based duo of Anton Floriano and his wife Ros. DIE SEXUAL’s dark electronic influences examine themes of domination and submission. The cut and thrust of ‘Magic Never Dies’ provided another throbbing banger for the alternative dancefloor to enable responsible misbehaviour and to dance like nobody’s watching.

Available on the DIE SEXUAL EP ‘Desire’ via https://diesexual.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/diesexualofficial/

DINA SUMMER Disco Goth

For the second DINA SUMMER album, there was a natural progression from the previous EP ‘Hide & Seek’, playing on its darker but still club friendly aesthetics. Straddling the worlds of electronic disco and alternative rock, ‘Disco Goth’ heads to the dancefloor as frantic throbbing electronics is accompanied commentary on how to get that look. There is an energetic thrill that comes from the decadent dance and being in the ‘Girls Gang’.

Available on the DINA SUMMER album ‘Girls Gang’ via Iptamenos Discos

https://dinasummer.berlin/

DLINA VOLNY Chant

Playing with the physics of sound while exploring a variety of introspective themes, exiled Belarusian trio DLINA VOLNY understandably now sound heavier than they ever have before, but have retained their all-important melodic contrasts to counter any possibilities of proceedings becoming too dirgey. Playing on their post-punk sensibilities, the exuberant if still sombre ‘Chant’ imagines Siouxsie gone Motorik…

Available on the DLINA VOLNY album ‘In Between’ via Italians Do It Better

https://dlinavolny.com/

EMMON & MAJESTOLUXE Blood On The Ceiling

As EMMON, Emma Nylen has evolved since her 2007 indie synthpop debut ‘The Art & The Evil’ into a more rugged EBM inclined direction as captured on the mighty ‘Blood On The Ceiling’, her collaboration with subarctic urban industrial artist MAJESTOLUXE. Suitably dark and complimented by chilling, mass murderer-themed lyrics, its hypnotic sonic carousel was inspired by German electropunk pioneers LIAISONS DANGEREUSES.

Available on the EMMON album ‘Icon’ via https://emmon.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/emmonsweden/

https://www.facebook.com/majestoluxe

GLITBITER Bury The Sky

The musical vehicle of LA-based New Yorker Florence Bullock, following the release of her debut EP ‘Short Stories’ in 2017, she went on to collaborate with BETAMAXX on ‘Skyhigh’ in 2019 before her most recent EP ‘Glass & Steel’ in 2021. ‘Bury The Sky’ is the first GLITBITER song in quite a few years and imagines a “girl on a mountain” in this delightful slice of fantasy futurism and fascinating rhythms that are fast if not furious.

Available on the GLITBITER single ‘Bury The Sky’ via https://glitbiter.bandcamp.com/track/bury-the-sky

https://www.facebook.com/glitbiter

ALISON GOLDFRAPP Hey Hi Hello

With the 20th Anniversary of ‘Supernature’, it seemed appropriate after the HI-NRG stomp of her debut ’The Love Invention’ that the new Alison Goldfrapp solo album would recall some of the serene avant pop that characterised that record. Co-produced by Stefan Storm of THE SOUND OF ARROWS, ‘Hey Hi Hello’ was exuberant but bittersweet pop and less full on, written during a period when she became single for the first time in years.

Available on the ALISON GOLDFRAPP album ‘Flux’ via AG Records

https://www.alisongoldfrapp.com/

ERIKA GRAPES & EUGENE Love Is A Bitch

A cover of American singer-songwriter Bill Dess, best known as Two Feet, the Italian pairing of Erika Grapes and Eugenio Valente acknowledged that ‘Love Is A Bitch’ in this slo-mo reworking of a modern blues number about how blindfolded love cam lead to a trail of toxic events. Seen through a twisted industrial lens in the wake of a heavy relationship breakup, the sub-bass tension and keyboard motifs exuded a glorious cinematic gothique.

Available on the ERIKA GRAPES & EUGENE single ‘Love Is A Bitch’ via https://erikagrapes.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/ErikaGrapesMusic

https://www.facebook.com/eugenemusic

MARI KATTMAN Typical Girl

Self-producing for the first time, Mari Kattman decided it was the ‘Year Of The Katt’; what is now on offer is a collection of mostly catchy electronic songs with crossover potential for the dance floor. This was exemplified by this pumping industrial pop anthem where in a protest song against female stereotyping, our heroine rebels against cast being seen as “a difficult person” and a ‘Typical Girl’ to question “who’s gonna love you now…”

Available on the MARI KATTMAN album ‘Year Of The Katt’ via Metropolis Records

https://www.facebook.com/MariKattman/

KITE featuring NINA PERSSON Heartless Places

Now fully able to explore their position as the world’s leading dark synth duo, Nicklas Stenemo and Christian Berg pushed presentation boundaries during the KITE On Ice spectacular at Stockholm’s Avicii stadium. Featuring Nina Persson of THE CARDIGANS, the rumbling ‘Heartless Places’ utilised sinister vocal pitch shifts to capture a bleakness where a world of “hollow faces” are now “caught between hell and loneliness”.

Available on the KITE single ‘Heartless Places’ via DAIS

https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ

https://www.instagram.com/theninapersson/

LADY GAGA How Bad Do U Want Me?

The ‘Mayhem’ album saw Lady Gaga her return to the glitzy electropop with which she found ‘The Fame’. With its array of classic influences, a Siouxsie interpolation figured on ‘Abracadabra’ while ‘Killah’ crossed DAF with Prince! But on ‘How Bad Do U Want Me?’, the diva born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta used a sample from ‘Only You’ by YAZOO and paid homage to Taylor Swift’s CHVRCHES inspired synthpop tunes!

Available on the LADY GAGA album ‘Mayhem’ via Interscope

https://www.ladygaga.com/us-en/

LADYTRON I Believe In You

With LADYTRON now slimmed down to a trio of Helen Marnie, Daniel Hunt and Mira Aroyo following the departure of co-founder member Reuben Wu, the great new first single from the reconfigured line-up has been described as “high-priestess disco”. ‘I Believe In You’ certainly possesses an infectious house groove previously not heard from LADYTRON while still undoubtedly recognisable as them as they head to dancier climes.

Available on the LADYTRON single ‘I Believe In You’ via Nettwerk

http://www.ladytron.com

ELA MINUS Onwards

Following up her 2020 long playing debut ‘acts of rebellion’, Colombian artist and producer Ela Minus presented ‘DIA’, an album about becoming. Having been weaned on FUGAZI and played in hardcore punk bands, she gradually drifted towards synthesizers as they allowed her to work alone and more swiftly. The thumping thrill of ‘Onwards’ did battle with drops galore while tuning signals acted as the hooks.

Available on the ELA MINUS album ‘DIA’ via Domino Recordings

https://www.elaminus.com/

PAGE Kan Inte Tänka På Allt

After a period of Numanisation across the last three PAGE albums with mixed results, Eddie Bengtsson and Marina Schiptjenko totally dialled down the Numan elements on the ‘Inget Motstånd’ album. The opening lead single ‘Kan Inte Tänka På Allt’ provided a good start, featuring incessant drum machine and an enticing cacophony of electronics to revisit the punkier poptronica ethos of the PAGE of old in its energetic pace.

Available on the PAGE album ‘Inget Motstånd’ via Energy Rekords

https://www.facebook.com/PageElektroniskPop/

PolyDROID Six Of One

What a 2025 Dubliner Brian O’Malley has had… not only did two thrillers ‘Nine Bodies In A Mexican Morgue’ and ‘Frauds’, which he directed 3 episode of each, both air on UK terrestrial television, he also returned to his solo electronica adventure PolyDROID with two new recordings; one was a vocoder-laden cover of ‘The Sound Of Silence’ but the other was ‘Six Of One’, an original instrumental inspired by Number Six from ‘The Prisoner’.

Available on ‘ICE MACHINES: The Album – For the Joy of Synths & Friendship’ (V/A) via https://icemachines.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/polydroid

R. MISSING & JOHAN AGEBJÖRN Fakesnow

With a deep bass and hypnotic loop attached to an Italo disco beat, the ever prolific Swedish producer Johan Agebjörn felt having mixed one of their tracks ‘Verónica Pass’ under the SALLY SHAPIRO banner back in 2022, that ‘Fakesnow’ would suit the vocal approach of the enigmatic New York darklings R. MISSING. The combination was a chilling match made in heaven. “Sharon Shy really turned it into a great song” Agebjörn said, “I’m really happy about it”.

Available on the R. MISSING & JOHAN AGEBJÖRN single ‘Fakesnow’ via https://agebjorn.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/r.missing/

RUTH RADELET, NAT WALKER & ADAM MILLER The Wild Unknown

A three quarters reunion of CHROMATICS saw Ruth Radelet, Nat Walker and Adam Miller record 4 tracks for a teenage adventure game soundtrack that revisited the dreamy synth and guitar sound that characterised songs such as ‘Shadow’ and resonated with the game’s Super 8 aesthetics. Complimented by Radelet’s forlorn vocals, ‘The Wild Unknown’ presented an ethereal soundscape punctuated by a glorious synthesizer solo to close.

Available on the album ‘Lost Records: Bloom & Rage – Original Game Soundtrack’ (V/A) via Kid Katana Records

https://www.instagram.com/ruthradelet/

SALLY SHAPIRO Guarding Shell

Despite being said to be the darkest album of their career, ‘Ready To Live A Lie’, the fifth album from Swedish duo SALLY SHAPIRO paradoxically comes as a rather uplifting listening experience in its relatable themes. The marvellous ‘Guarding Shell’ though explores post-relationship trust issues while Johan Agebjörn drops in the same D-50 preset used on OMD’s ‘Big Town’ in the intro before hitting classic wispy Sally mode.

Available on the SALLY SHAPIRO album ‘Ready To Live A Lie’ via Italians Do It Better

https://www.facebook.com/shapirosally

SPARKS Porcupine

Following their rapturously received album ‘MAD!’ and its accompanying world tour, SPARKS got even ‘MADDER’ with their first ever EP. Throwing synths, glam and brass into the mix, ‘Porcupine’ appears to refer to a spiky woman who is “Not your cuddly kind” so “Save your Valentine”. Rather appropriately, the accompanying video shows British popster Self Esteem in bunny boiler mode running over The Mael Brothers in a excavator!

Available on the SPARKS EP ‘MADDER!’ via Transgressive

https://allsparks.com/

SPIKE Tiqutonne

Spike is the nom de théâtre of London-based singer-songwriter Hannah McLoughlin who delivers a brand of macabre disco dealing with the undead and the inhuman. Having impressed with a deadpan electronic cover of Warren Zevon’s ‘Werewolves Of London’, the melancholic Motorik rave of ‘Tiquetonne’ delightfully interpolated ‘Con Te Partiro’ aka ‘Time To Say Goodbye’ as made famous by Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli.

Available on the SPIKE EP ‘Spike’ via God Nation

https://www.instagram.com/__s.p.i.k.e.__/

SUND featuring KNIGHT$ I Die For This Love

A member of Swedish trio CRED who issued their debut single ‘Every Loss’ in 2022, ‘I Die For This Love’ was Bjarne Johansson Sund’s first solo effort. Teaming up with James Knights on vocals for this captivating Europop tune, a chunky bassline, icy strings and orchestra stabs complimented this emotive tale of yearning. The public response was so positive that the song now finds a place on the second KNIGHT$ album out in 2026.

Available on the forthcoming KNIGHT$ album ‘Supernatural Lover’ via Specchio Uomo

https://knights101.com/

A THOUSAND MAD THINGS Local Guys

Marrying the pleasure with the pain, A THOUSAND MAD THINGS is the solo synth artist William Barradale. Finding solace in untempered expression, his debut EP ‘Cry & Dance’ was one of the best releases of 2025. With his haunted demeanour and navigating young manhood as a tortured outsider, ‘Local Guys’ was embroiled in tension, showcasing his emotional range as he reflected on the violent turns of former acquaintances.

Available on the A THOUSAND MAD THINGS EP ‘Cry & Dance’ via Nettwerk

https://www.instagram.com/athousandmadthings/

UNIFY SEPARATE Slow Armageddon

In an increasingly dystopian world where the two biggest nuclear nations are being led by unhinged egomaniacs, the Scottish-Swedish duo of Andrew Montgomery and Leo Josefsson provided their “sanity clause” as UNIFY SEPARATE confronted an existential crisis that was more than about midlife. Swathed in rhythmically swung anguish like an electro-industrial MUSE, ‘Slow Armageddon’ was their most political and timely song yet.

Available on the UNIFY SEPARATE single ‘Slow Armageddon’ via https://unifyseparate.bandcamp.com/

https://www.unifyseparate.com/

PATRICIA WOLF Early Memories

Icelandic for “raven film”, Patricia Wolf composed the soundtrack for ‘Hrafnamynd’, an unconventional nature documentary by director Edward Pack Davee looking back on his childhood living in Iceland. Largely created using the UDO Super 6 binaural analog-hybrid synthesizer, it enabled Wolf to sound modern while also giving the emotive fuzzy tones heard on the album opener ‘Early Memories’ to correspond with the film’s nostalgic narrative.

Available on the PATRICIA WOLF album ‘Hrafnamynd’ via Balmat

https://www.facebook.com/patriciawolfmusic

A Time Called Then: ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s Oh 2025 Playlist containing over 190 tracks from the year can be listened to on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1xXptdmcHAvXnXni6hjVnA

Text by Chi Ming Lai
10th December 2025

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