Paul Simon once sang that there were ’50 Ways To Leave Your Lover’ but for Zeus B Held and Claudia Brücken, there are ‘4 Ways To The Blitz’.
Originally making his name as the keyboard player of psychedelic rock band BIRTH CONTROL between 1973 – 1978, Zeus B Held is the producer, remixer and collaborator who can count GINA X PERFORMANCE, FASHION, DEAD OR ALIVE, ALPHAVILLE, DIE KRUPPS, SIMPLE MINDS, TRANSVISION VAMP, DREAM CONTROL and GURU GURU as well as John Foxx and Gary Numan among his credits.
Meanwhile Claudia Brücken undoubted queen of electronic avant-pop as the lead singer of PROPAGANDA, ACT, ONETWO and xPROPAGANDA as well as an acclaimed solo career and collaborations with Andrew Poppy and Jerome Froese to her name.
While the two Germans had not met until 2025, they came together to present an unofficial ode to The Blitz Club to coincide with an exhibition running at London’s Design Museum. ‘4 Ways To The Blitz’ offers 4 takes on the song ‘Dream Of The Blitz’. Recorded in London, Freiburg and Milano, Zeus B Held found he was bursting with ideas as to how this tune could sound, so created 4 different versions for a standalone release on his own newly inaugurated label Cisum Suez.
Zeus B Held and Claudia Brücken spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about their own ‘Dream Of The Blitz’…
You had not met before making ‘Dream Of The Blitz’, but how did you become aware of the other musically for the first time?
Claudia: I heard the Gina X tracks, cool production and melodies. I especially like the ‘No GDM’ track. It’s amazing that I only found out now that this track was inspired by and dedicated to Quentin Crisp and ‘The Naked Civil Servant’ – when I was in ACT, Thomas Leer and I did a song called ‘Snobbery & Decay’ which came out as a single and we released a 12″ which we named ‘(The Naked Civil) Snobbery & Decay’, it featured Quentin Crisp on the cover artwork.
Zeus: In 1984, I worked with JJ Jeczalik on the fourth Gina X album ‘Yinglish’ – at the same time he worked with Trevor Horn on PROPAGANDA’s first album – that’s when I heard the first time of the band – I remember, for me Claudia was the voice and the face of the project.
Photo by Steve Schroyder
What track is your favourite involving the other?
Zeus: I remember very vividly ‘Dr Mabuse’ and its song / melody, voices und production – and I love Claudia’s voice on ‘Duel’. I listened to it earlier on , it’s a damn Ohrwurm…
Claudia: It’s gotta be ‘No GDM’.
As Germans, how did you become you aware of The Blitz Club, did it remind you of scenes that you were involved in closer to home?
Claudia: Growing up in Düsseldorf, I spent a lot of time in the Ratinger Hof – which in a way was a parallel to The Haçienda in Manchester.
Zeus: Towards the end of the 70s, I got a bit bored with rock music and the typical clichés – so the GINA X PERFORMANCE started as a pure studio project – looking for new expression in sound and melodic approach – I heard the 1st time of The Blitz when EMI Cologne told me that tracks from the ‘Nice Mover’ album were played at this club. That’s when I also heard the name Rusty Egan for the first time.
What particularly influenced ‘Dream Of The Blitz’ musically and lyrically in the compositional process?
Zeus: Claudia and I spent some time of mutual brainstorming via phone – a lot of lyrical and melodic ideas ended up in the bin…
Claudia: Once we started working together in Zeus’ Freiburg studio, the breakthrough came with a mutual musical picture – and melody lines fitting to the words.
How did you filter all the ideas for the various different versions for this release? How would you describe them?
Claudia: When Zeus was doing a few dub mixes, we phoned and he said “pity we didn’t do a recording of you just reading the lyrics “ – well, so I went to work and became the story teller – I overdubbed my voice at my home studio – that became the Poetic Mix.
Zeus: Those were mainly different rhythmic and dynamic approaches – including half-time sections and more experimental outbursts. We also enjoyed changes in the harmonic content in various sections.
Photo by Steve Schroyder
The DREAM CONTROL Mix sees you reunite with Steve Schroyder? What was the concept for this version?
Zeus: Steve paid us a visit in the studio when we were in the middle of chasing a result – guess, he was the first person to hear a sketch of the song. And he also had the pleasure (and pressure) to do a spontaneous photo session of Claudia and me –
Claudia: With the DREAM CONTROL Mix of ‘Dream Of The Blitz’, we tried to give the song a somehow urgent and sequencer based dance flavour. My initial reaction when I heard it was “…it sounds a bit like DEAD OR ALIVE” – in a good way…
Do you each have a favourite version of ‘Dream Of The Blitz’?
Zeus: I love the Poetic Mix – where Claudia recites the words, tells the story and then launches into the singing…
Claudia: I like all of them….!
Will the two of you do any more music together?
Zeus + Claudia: We hope so, we are under no pressure and we’re both looking for the same thing: magic music transporting us and the listeners into new places.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Zeus B Held and Claudia Brücken
50 years from KRAFTWERK appearing on the BBC’s ‘Tomorrow’s World’ to perform ‘Autobahn’ and demonstrate the future of music, as Ralf Hütter remarked at the start of the 21st Century, “electro is everywhere” and can now be made on your mobile phone!
And while the KRAFTWERK brand continues to be fronted by the 79 year old Hütter with an extensive UK tour pencilled in next year, 2025 saw the sad passing of Synth Britannia heroes Dave Ball and Stephen Luscombe, while there was also the loss of COVENANT associate Andreas Catjar-Danielsson, NITZER EBB frontman Douglas J McCarthy and Gary Numan’s brother / former live band member John Webb. Outside of the genre, cult film director David Lynch, BLONDIE drummer Clem Burke, veteran diva Marianne Faithfull, The Prince Of Darkness Ozzy Osbourne and Head Beach Boy Brian Wilson were among those who left this mortal coil.
Among the new talent making a good impression were Spike, Shears and Hannah Hu who is currently working on her first album with Dean Honer of I MONSTER. Having already released a couple of albums, on the ascendancy was self-styled Californian “retro electro artist”Sophie Grey who was joined by Trevor Horn during her live cover of ‘Video Killed The Radio Star’ while supporting Sting at the London Forum.
On the gentler side of electronics, Patricia Wolf and Loula Yorke came up with their fabulous respective instrumental offerings ‘Hrafnamynd’ and ‘Time Is A Succession Of Such Shapes’. There was also the return of LADYTRON as well as Alison Goldfrapp, Claudia Brücken and Kim Wilde. Going back to glitzy electropop on her new record ‘Mayhem’, Lady Gaga did an impression of Taylor Swift doing YAZOO on one of its highlights ‘How Bad Do U Want Me?’; meanwhile Taylor herself appeared to have turned into Los Angeles trio CANNONS on ‘The Fate Of Ophelia’, the synthy opening song of her 12th album ‘The Life Of A Showgirl’.
Photo by Oliver Blair
Swedish producer Johan Agebjörn proved to have one of the most prolific years in his music career with not only collaborations with R.MISSING on ‘Fakesnow’ and NINA on ‘Hush Hush Baby’ but also a new SALLY SHAPIRO album ‘Ready To Live A Lie’ and a solo long player ‘Southern Forest’; all this while holding down his day job as a psychotherapist! Another releasing two albums in 2025 was Paul Statham although one was a collection of archive recordings for what could have been the intended 1982 debut album by B-MOVIE entitled ‘Lost Treasures’; the other was a second record from his dark country project THE DARK FLOWERS featuring Jim Kerr of SIMPLE MINDS whose most recent single ‘Your Name In Lights’ had been co-written by Statham.
Impressively, SPARKS got ‘MAD!’ and then ‘MADDER!’ while undertaking a huge world tour with Ron Mael still tap dancing at 80 years of age during the drum solo of ‘No1 Song In Heaven’ and Russell Mael able to hit many of those high notes at 77. As ERASURE made a tentative return with a series of special UK fan club shows to celebrate their 40th anniversary, Andy Bell toured his solo album ‘Ten Crowns’ with KNIGHT$ not doing himself any harm being the opening act on the German leg ahead of a new album ‘Supernatural Lover’ out in early 2026.
After a few years of recorded absence, former TANGERINE DREAM members released long awaited albums with Peter Baumann from the classic line-up issuing the esoteric ‘Nightfall’ while Jerome Froese, son of co-founder Edgar, came up with the guitartronica of ‘Sunsets In Stereo’. Playing with the atonal atmospheres of early TANGERINE DREAM in places, the dark cerebral concept of ‘The Ray Bradbury Chronicles’ by Levente was worthy of investigation.
With their keyboard player Christian Berg now something of a modern day Rick Wakeman, KITE established themselves as a major world force with a spectacular show on ice at Stockholm’s Avicii Arena which saw special guest Nina Persson of THE CARDIGANS skating with the Helsinki Rockettes while singing their mighty collaboration ‘Heartless Places’.
Tom Shear released one of his most impressive and on-point albums as ASSEMBLAGE 23 in ‘Null’ while UNIFY SEPARATE didn’t mince their words on their ‘Heavy Meta’ EP. While Tobias Bernstrup kept the dark Italo flame alive with ‘Shadow Dancer’, Berlin continued to remain a force in underground club culture with two of its leading exponents Franz Scala and Kalipo presenting well-received long players that worked on the home hi-fi as well as on dancefloors. On the more poptronica front, Eddie Bengtsson finally stopped trying to “Numanise” his sound and came up with ‘Inget Motstånd’, a record in the more classic PAGE vein.
While synthwave appeared to be dead (as the controversial blog Iron Skullet declared in 2019), the influx of generic darkwave was a major blight on electronic music in 2025. The major label supported Mareux and his second album ‘Nonstop Romance’ had any potential painfully ruined by overused deliberate distortion to make it sound like it was recorded down a drainpipe.
Meanwhile PORCELAIN DANCER seemed to be the Rob Newman parody of Robert Smith as seen on ‘The Mary Whitehouse Experience’ resurrected only several octaves lower; his live performance provoked unintentional laughter from those who arrived early to see KORINE in London!
DEPECHE MODE released 4 songs that were originally deemed not good enough to put on their 2023 album ‘Memento Bori’ to append the live album accompanying their Mexico City concert film ‘M’. But 2025 was notable for a number of figures in the British DM fan community who were coming out with particularly repugnant far right views, seemingly oblivious to the decades of lyrical messages from the two remaining mixed race band members!
But there was hope in the darker side of synth with A THOUSAND MAD THINGS; with his haunted demeanour while navigating young manhood as a tortured outsider, William Barradale’s doomed romantic delivery reminiscent of Billy MacKenzie and Trevor Herion made him undoubtedly the most promising UK act since MIRRORS; his debut 5 song EP ‘Cry & Dance’ was one of 2025’s best bodies of work. This more than made up for ‘Dance Called Memory’, the extremely dull fourth album from NATION OF LANGUAGE which was anything but memorable…
After looking back at 1981, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK were pleased to be return to the variously compiled podcast ‘Back To NOW’ to discuss the ‘NOW 1982 Yearbook’ with genial host Iain McDermott and Ian Wade, author of ‘1984: The Year Pop Went Queer’. While general music and culture podcasts such as ‘Back To NOW’, ‘Word In Your Ear’, ‘The Rest Is Entertainment’, ‘The Rockonteurs’, ‘SoundPower’ and Miranda Sawyer’s new offering ‘Talk 90s To Me’ were highly engaging listens, specific broadcasts focussed on synth and electronic music were usually weak, suffering from poor hosting and ham-fisted background research. But when a professional presenter was involved, synth-oriented chats could be enlightening as the appearance of John Foxx on ‘The Adam Buxton Podcast’ proved, despite the annoying jingles that accompanied it.
Featuring commentary from PET SHOP BOYS’ Neil Tennant, the BBC’s retrospective look at the collapse of EMI called ‘Music Money & Mayhem’ showed once again that when those who know nothing about music get involved in the music business, it will end in tears. Looking at the story of the history of Beggars Banquet label in its first series and featuring Gary Numan in its opening episode, ‘States Of Independence’ documented how creative enthusiasm from the heart can actually thrive.
So where are the audiences for live electronic music these days? Certainly, if the full houses for Marie Davidson, Geneva Jacuzzi, Loscil and KITE in London’s club-sized venues were anything to go by, the crowds are out there. This was not the case for some other acts on the circuit at new, cult and one-hit wonder level who were struggling to get above half capacity or had downsized considerably since their perceived highest profile. However, new music night Release Me managed to get very good attendances for their evenings in 2025 with the premise that all acts must perform previously unreleased material; this focus on their events being about the music with announced requests to not talk during sets was a fresh and very welcome approach.
Photo by Tom Casey
Elsewhere, the retro business did prosper with reunions, exhibitions, summer hits shows, classic album tours, deluxe reissues of albums that were never that good in the first place and notable records re-released in yet another expanded set for the 5th or 6th time! There were those trying to exploit the fading nostalgia of those heady romantic times, writing memoirs that left out so many important facts omitted that there were grounds for inclusion in the “fiction” section.
Then there were others releasing overlong collections with an average track length of between 6-8 minutes that no-one asked for nor desired… filtering and editing is such an important aspect to producing music so there was no excuse for these veterans! Some even sent out unmastered music files to review outlets, blissfully unaware that the sound quality might actually be mentioned, only to get stupidly angry about it when highlighted due to their own numbskull promotional abilities; it’s a funny old entitled world…
The positive and negative of modern day music consumption is growth CAN happen organically in its own internet powered niche. But with the fragmentation of promotion with social media actually being a choice despite wider protestations, even the AXS newsletter listing the acts soon to be playing the 20,000 capacity O2 arena in London provoked cries of “WHO?”; but that is how it is now and it needs to be accepted. Why should a Boomer or Gen X-er know about the bright young thing headlining Glastonbury?
However, you CAN create your own musical universe today, not listen to radio, create your own playlists and exclude as appropriate. After all, as Nick Rhodes from DURAN DURAN once remarked: “Good taste is exclusive” – nobody should have to like what you like and neither should what somebody else likes appeal to you… niche interests are fine.
There is no doubt fandom has become more tribal and is now akin to away game support for football teams. But as a result, it has therefore got more toxic, with some fans getting ridiculously angry on socials about old less-than-positive reviews that David Hepworth, Mark Ellen, Ian Cranna, Dave Rimmer, Tom Hibbert or Neil Tennant might have written for Smash Hits 43 YEARS AGO!! “Bet he regrets that…” someone will quip smugly but the reality is, if there is a review that a writer will regret, from the experience of ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, it will usually be the one that is too gushing with praise!
The gist of Smash Hits during its imperial phase that coincided with Neil Tennant’s tenure as Assistant Editor was it was a magazine which treated “pop” as the most “important” thing in the world while simultaneously highlighting how “ridiculous” it was too, with references to “the dumper”, “summer colds” and the “tongue sarnie”… often dismissed as a “teen mag”, a good number of teenagers could see through the up-itself pretentions of the NME so relished the more amusing and knowing “scribblings” of the Smash Hits team!
The wider public forgets that it might likely have the benefit of 4 decades of hindsight as well as weekly if not daily plays of a record in the first few years of its possession. While it has always been associated with “free speech”, “opinion” or “freedom of expression”, one of the problems with social media is the narcissistic self-seeking of validation as part of the main character syndrome that afflicts many in this modern world…
U2 once asked “how long must we sing this song?”; so to end a divisive year where evil men with racist views have been casually normalised, the message outlined in 1981 by a trio of philosophers from South Yorkshire must continue to be repeated loud and clear: WE DON’T NEED THIS FASCIST GROOVE THANG! #FuckFarage #FuckReformUK #FuckTommyRobinson #FuckFlagshaggers #FuckTrump
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
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.
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
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
‘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
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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”.
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
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.
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
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.
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’.
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”.
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.
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.
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
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.
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
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
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.
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
Best known for the mighty singles ‘Dr Mabuse’, ‘Duel’ and P-Machinery’ with PROPAGANDA, Claudia Brücken’s fourth solo album ‘Night Mirror’ sees her somewhere “Between two worlds, looking for answers in the shadows.”
Working again with John Owen Williams for the first time on a full-length long player since the 2014 solo album ‘Where Else…’, in the decade long interim, Claudia Brücken released ‘Beginn’ with Jerome Froese and ‘The Heart Is Strange’ with Susanne Freytag and Stephen Lipson as xPROPAGANDA.
Employed as an A&R executive as well and at the BBC for many years on their radio sessions, John Owen Williams’ production credits have included BLANCMANGE, THE PROCLAIMERS and THE HOUSEMARTINS. His more traditional style of songwriting saw Brücken adopt the acoustic guitar for ‘Where Else…’ but while similar colours shape the nocturnal moods of ‘Night Mirror’, there is a stronger electronic component than its predecessor for a record which showcases “the Claudia you know, and one that you don’t yet know”
Claudia Brücken and John Owen Williams chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about how the cocktail of electronic and organic textures came to sonically define ‘Night Mirror’.
Photo by Anton Corbijn
You both worked together on ‘Where Else…’ and it went well enough for you do another record, how would you describe your creative dynamic, are you sitting in a room together?
Claudia: It starts with me and John meeting up, I travel over to his place where at the end of his garden, he has a studio. We work on songs mostly from 11 until 6…
John: I’ll play Claudia some ideas and she’ll say “no”, “yes” OR “maybe”*laughs*
But if she says “I really like that”, we’ll dig in deeper and look at the music to make it so it’s unique to us…
Are you writing organically because ‘Where Else…’ had this acoustic flavour?
John: The songs mainly originate on acoustic guitar and then become transposed into electronica. So the process wasn’t that different from ‘Where Else…’ except the instrumentation was a bit different.
So that was over 10 years ago, how have your approaches evolved and what is ‘Night Mirror’ reflecting?
John: ‘Night Mirror’ is lyrically about reflection and living in the present and looking forward to the future in a nutshell. I would work late into the night with the ideas that had originated in the daytime and then pinged them over to Claudia at 3 o’clock in the morning so she was cognizant that we were changing things…
Claudia: Yes, often when you pinged, I was awake and then I would listen to the songs at that point, so they are like “night objects”.
John: We inhabit these songs, we live inside them.
How long was this process because the xPROPAGANDA album ‘The Heart Is Strange’ took a while, was this a shorter gestation period?
Claudia: John and I have been working together all these years and we enjoy it, but after ‘The Heart Is Strange’ which John also involved in on as a writer, we just kept going. We were wondering whether to continue writing for xPROPAGANDA, but then we just thought that what we were doing, it was a Claudia Brücken album.
John: We’ve been working on ‘Night Mirror for about 2 years.
2 years is quite short for making an album these days! *laughs*
Claudia: Yes, John really knows how to push a project forward and keeps the eye on the ball! *laughs*
How did this become an album of “the Claudia you know, and one that you don’t yet know”?
Claudia: There are some really personal lines that really describe some parts of me, so this record is more personal in that sense compared with xPROPAGANDA or an electronic album…
John: There are different styles while all the songs inhabit the electronic world, there are different types of songs within it, they are unlike anything Claudia has ever done before.
I agree, ‘Night Mirror’ has a traditional feel but with strong electronic embellishments which is quite unusual today…
Claudia: That’s very interesting you say that…
John: Our references in electronica are quite different, mine started with Walter Carlos ‘Switched On Bach’ and in the 70s, I worked with Bob Margouleff and Malcolm Cecil who were part of TONTO’S EXPANDING HEAD BAND, I promoted their album ‘It’s About Time’, they had the first polyphonic analogue synthesizer which powered ‘Superstition’ and other Stevie Wonder hits. Also Edgar Froese ‘Epsilon in Malaysian Pale’ was a big influence on me and then I managed BLANCMANGE as well as producing quite a few tracks. Claudia is more KRAFTWERK…
Claudia: Yes, just different worlds.
It’s a highlight of the album but why are there ‘Shadow Dancer’ and ’Dancing Shadow’ variations of the same song? Was this like a ‘Jewel’ / ‘Duel’ situation?
Claudia: I’ve always been a fan of remixes, songs can go this way or that way. So we had ‘Shadow Dancer’ and then John, you made a different version?
John: Phil Bodger who mixed the album came up with a new riff that became the heartbeat of ‘Dancing Shadow’. It gained a new life for itself and had a heavier bass synth linked to it… it was so good that it was worth a different approach. It is basically the same track…
Claudia: …yes, but more of a laid back angle. It’s almost got a bit of reggae in there…
Yes, ’Dancing Shadow’ has this dub approach?
John: I worked at Island Records and was quite influenced by ASWAD, BLACK UHURU and Bob Marley. Quite a few of the songs on ‘Night Mirror’ have a reggae lilt to them, ‘Funny The Things’ has got that.
Claudia: When you work at night, you end up approaching things in different ways… we were just exploring all kinds of fusion basically Chi.
‘Rosebud’ is classic driver friendly pop, was it obvious this would be the lead single?
John: We left the releases of the singles off the album to Demon and their promotion team, we felt each song was strong enough.
The opening number ‘My Life Started Today’ has this lovely ‘Satellite of Love’ vibe about, was that intentional?
Claudia: It wasn’t intentional but ‘Transformer’ by Lou Reed is one of my favourite albums. I’ve always liked his deliverance, that “sprechgesang” and it’s something I’m not unfamiliar with. You have influences so that will come out somewhere ad we don’t really sense ourselves in that way.
On a similar theme at the tougher end of the spectrum, ‘Sound & The Fury’ reminds me of THE STOOGES but with an electronic backbone?
Claudia: It’s great that it gives you that sense of attitude.
John: I love ‘Sound & The Fury’, I love my guitar playing on it, it’s so punky… it’s THE CARS meets NEW YORK DOLLS and there’s a bit of HAPPY MONDAYS and NEW ORDER there too.
Claudia: It’s a “don’t give up song”
There are surprises like the banjos on ‘Funny The Things’ and ‘Sincerely’ with its flamenco and flute flavour, yet both become very sequenced in places for some twists, how did these more unexpected mixtures come into mind?
John: Well, Claudia didn’t like the banjo to start with and wasn’t sure it should be there! But I think she’s grown accustomed to it.
Claudia: In the end, I decided I didn’t want to be discriminating against any instruments. I thought that if John really hears that banjo sound at that point, go with it.
John: I had produced a BLANCMANGE track called ‘Why Don’t They Leave Things Alone?’ which my friend Simon Elliston played flute on, so I realised that flute does work well with electronica; he came down to the studio and played on 2 or 3 tracks, and on ‘Sincerely’, it really works.
Claudia: Yes, it’s really groovy, I really like that 70s reference. I like having real instruments and real players, that’s a nice thing.
John: And of course it didn’t harm JETHRO TULL *laughs*
Are those real or virtual orchestrations across the ‘Night Mirror’ album?
John: They’re virtual, I used the Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and it’s fantastic. I played a lot of these string parts and I’m not a trained keyboard player, so these are all sounds that I evolve and eventually find the right status.
It IS amazing what you can get coming out of your computer these days…
John: They sound real don’t they…
‘The Only Ones’ is a pretty pop number with spritely acoustic six strings, bass harmonics, sax and pizzicato sitting over a drum machine, can you tell us a bit about that one?
John: That’s a track that Jason Mayo helped us with, he had a system called Knobula which is advanced polyphonic foot pedals and he helped programme this track with me. It’s got a Vangelis-inspired middle eight.
Claudia: We wanted it to sound a bit like ‘Blade Runner’…
John: It’s like a 50s song with 60s recording techniques, 70s electronica and 80s ABBA harmonies.
Do you have any favourite songs from the album, the ones which give you most satisfaction?
Claudia: I kind of like them all for their stories and the worlds they draw you in. I like ‘To Be Loved’ a lot but it’s ‘Shadow Dancer’ that I really like. But I just like to listen to the album from beginning to end because it takes you into different kinds of zones.
John: ‘Sincerely’ is one of my favourites because it manages to paint an aural picture, the acoustic guitar works well, the electronica works well and Claudia’s vocals are fantastic. That’s something that permeates the whole album, there’s a lot of harmony singing going on, a lot of tracking and stacking of vocals that gives it a unique flavour I think.
It terms of mixing, there is a Dolby Atmos mix alongside the standard stereo, how did the approach differ?
John: David Kosten did the Dolby Atmos mix, I would provide him with 20 stems per track, a lot for these songs are running 150 tracks! There’s a huge amount of tracking going on, they’re all like jigsaws. So he would want 20 different parts and then he would try to replicate them the mixes of the album in Dolby Atmos. When we went down to hear it, it blew our minds away, it just sounds incredible. He has a 12 speaker system in his room, you sit in the middle and it’s like being transported to a different world.
Claudia: It’s a different sound experience, it not something I hear every often, I normally just listen to things in stereo so it’s a very unusual way of listening and I really enjoyed it, hearing what can be done.
As a closing question, have you any thoughts on AI and how if might affect music making in the future, particularly your roles as singer and producer?
Claudia: I have to get my head around it more, it’s unbelievable what it can do really, I want to be quite cautious with it. I have to get to know it more but its mind boggling what it can do, just taking voices so I’m having mixed feelings.
John: It’s frightening but exciting! I don’t want to use it really, I’m quite happy to use my own brain cells to construct the world that Claudia and I share, so I don’t want anything else getting in the way.
Claudia: I like the analogue world.
Are there any live dates planned for ‘Night Mirror’?
Claudia: The album could be performed but there’s no tour planned; I think it’s important people get to know the songs first before we even think about it. But I have some dates with xPROPAGANDA in Germany in December performing ‘A Secret Wish’ and ‘The Heart Is Strange’.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Claudia Brücken and John Owen Williams
“The songs seemed to come to me in the middle of the night, and when I listened to them, there I was. Between two worlds, looking for answers in the shadows.”
Following her last album ‘The Heart Is Strange’ with Susanne Freytag and Stephen Lipson as xPROPAGANDA in 2022, Claudia Brücken is back with what is perhaps surprisingly only her fourth solo album ‘Night Mirror’. But the German chanteuse has always been something of a collaborator, working with notable personnel such as Trevor Horn, David Sylvian, Glenn Gregory, Midge Ure, Thomas Leer, Pascal Gabriel, Steve Nye, Andrew Poppy, Paul Humphreys, Martin Gore, Andy Bell, Stephen Hague, Jerome Froese, Wolfgang Flür and Michel Moers.
‘Night Mirror’ is no different and sees her back working with John Williams who produced her third solo album ‘Where Else…’; that record saw Claudia embrace the acoustic guitar. Written and recorded in London between 2023-2025, while ‘Night Mirror’ can be considered as having a traditional songwriting ethos with organic instrumentation, it is simultaneously electronic in unexpected ways so that the end result is neither wholly either. It is therefore the Claudia you know, and one that you don’t yet know.
Photo by Ray Moody
With virtual orchestrations, the opening number ‘My Life Started Today’ delightfully drops hints of Lou Reed’s ‘Satellite of Love’. ‘Rosebud’ offers classic driver friendly pop rich in Mellotron strings, stabs of Hammond and subtle sequencer while the spacious soundscapes and snappy rhythms of ‘All That We Ever Have’ provide a cocktail of electronic and organic textures, with piano motifs sitting alongside sequencers.
The full sequencer treatment comes with ‘Sound & The Fury’ but then out pop crunchy guitars and nods towards THE STOOGES. Spritely acoustic six strings, bass harmonics, sax and pizzicato sit with drum machines on ‘The Only Ones’ for a pretty pop number. A surprise comes with ‘Funny The Things’, an offbeat countrified number that even includes with banjo and flute but then twists courtesy of various synth arpeggios in the second half. Also showing another side to Claudia is ‘Sincerely’ which brings in a flamenco flavour and more flauty tones for a breezy hippy effect that is unique with its machine rhythm beats.
But with her characteristic ice maiden cool, the brilliant ‘Shadow Dancer’ turns 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 is supreme in this divine slice of avant pop.
The lengthy ‘To Be Loved’ is a sparse piano ballad than sees fretless bass come into play but maybe outstays its welcome. But closing with a variation on ‘Shadow Dancer’, the trancier ’Dancing Shadow’ sparkles with synth pulses and even throws jazz guitar into an incessant claptrap backbone for a spritely dub excursion.
Enjoyably unusual in its hybrid musical approach, ‘Night Mirror’ is another fine Claudia Brücken collection of nocturnal mysteries, reflections, struggles and obsessive observations. Despite not being a full electronic pop album, there are plenty of synthetic embellishments for those Claudia fans from the ZTT and ONETWO school to savour.
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