Tag: Peter Baumann (Page 1 of 3)

2025 END OF YEAR REVIEW

14 December 2025 /

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.

Musically in 2025, Mari Kattman became the alluring gothic club queen she always had the potential to be on her best album yet ‘Year Of The Katt’. She headed a strong feast of feisty releases from Ela Minus, Marie Davidson, Zanias, Jennifer Touch, Charly Haze, Ani Glass, Emmon, Minuit Machine and Compute alongside those by the female fronted DLINA VOLNY, CAUSEWAY, DINA SUMMER, AUSTRA, NNHMN and PARADOX OBSCUR.

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…

With tours in 2026 for KRAFTWERK, OMD, PET SHOP BOYS, CHINA CRISIS, HEAVEN 17, THOMPSON TWINS’ Tom Bailey, BLANCMANGE and Midge Ure among many, there is certainly plenty to keep people busy. Just don’t think everyone else will necessarily share in your passion; as time goes on, there will be a lot more of those who won’t have a clue what you are going on about…

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

A Time Called Then: ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s Oh 2025 Playlist is at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1xXptdmcHAvXnXni6hjVnA

Text by Chi Ming Lai
14th December 2025

The Electronic Legacy of LIVE ALBUMS

2 December 2025 /

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

The general purpose of a live album is to document a concert experience. But such is the average person’s equipment used for listening to music at home, in the car or on earphones, the capabilities of quality PA systems can never be replicated.

Something of a credible rock staple, live albums are often seen as profile builders and tour adverts, symbolic of an act hitting the big time while greatest hits collections can be perceived as an indicator of a career on the wane.

However, in the synth-laden electronic world, the live album is something of a polarising beast. With a significant number of acts reliant on tapes and latterly pre-programmed backing tracks, live albums can be rendered almost pointless with parts often sounding almost identical to the original record. In many cases, overdubs and new vocals are prevalent and essential.

But even some of the best known live rock albums such as THIN LIZZY ‘Live & Dangerous’ and KISS ‘Alive!’ were heavily tinkered with in the studio during post-production. Of the former, producer Tony Visconti reckoned the album was “75% recorded in the studio” with only the drums and audience noise remaining from the original live recordings. Meanwhile of the latter, Gene Simmons later said “Most people assume it was all live. It wasn’t” with only the drums remaining from the original shows recorded. On the opposite side of the coin, Joe Jackson recorded his ‘Big World’ live album in front of invited audiences who were instructed NOT to clap.

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

While the spirit of a performance is an essential ingredient on a live album, extra parts or arrangements not used in the actual shows can cause much head scratching, as can the inclusion of unrelated studio recordings. A concert is for a particular moment in time and for that reason, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK is not generally enthusiastic of live recordings but accepts they have their place and can have their moments.

Not a best of, here are 20 records listing the good, the bad and the pointless to represent The Electronic Legacy of LIVE ALBUMS. These are subject to the conditions that they are standalone physical releases in their own right, not initially part of a corresponding live DVD or Bluray package, not a bootleg or a bonus CD in a deluxe boxed set; for this latter reason, OMD’s spirited 1983 ‘Dazzle Ships’ live presentation at Hammersmith Odeon that came with the ‘Souvenir’ career anthology is not included.

The albums are presented in yearly order and then alphabetical within…

TANGERINE DREAM Encore (1977)

‘Encore’ is seen as the definitive TANGERINE DREAM live album by the classic line-up of Edgar Froese, Christophe Franke and Peter Baumann. But as with their previous live release ‘Ricochet’, there were questions as to what was live and what was Memorex… opener ‘Cherokee Lane’ was edited together from several performances while on the second side, suspicions were raised that ‘Coldwater Canyon’ was a studio creation.

‘Encore’ was originally released by Virgin Records

https://www.tangerinedreammusic.com/

KLAUS SCHULZE …Live… (1980)

A trailblazer for The Berlin School, Klaus Schulze saw synthesizers as a route to creative freedom and his imperial works like ‘Timewind’, ‘Moondawn’, ‘X’ and ‘Mirage’ were largely improvised live. Concerts were seen as an opportunity to spontaneously compose new works. On his first live album featuring concerts in Amsterdam, Berlin and Paris, ‘Sense’ was a half hour ball of hypnotic energy with live drums from Harald Grosskopf.

‘…Live…’ was released by Brain Records

https://www.klaus-schulze.com/

YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA Public Pressure (1980)

Recorded as a six-piece, ‘Public Pressure’ captured YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA walking a tightrope, utilising early synthesizer technology like syndrums, sequencers and a Moog modular out on the road. However, while fairly lively and with highlights like ‘Rydeen’ and ‘Tong Poo’, in the inevitable post-production, guitarist Kazumi Watanabe was mixed-out and replaced with more synths while most of Yukihiro Takahashi’s trademark on-off vocals were re-recorded.

‘Public Pressure’ was originally released by Alfa Records

http://www.ymo.org/

GARY NUMAN Living Ornaments 79 & 80 (1981)

A singular double LP boxed set, this live document captured highlights of Gary Numan during his imperial phase at Hammersmith Odeon during ‘The Touring Principle’ in 1979 and the 1980 ‘Teletour’. Engineered and co-mixed by Tim Summerhayes, this remains one of the best live releases of its type with ‘Living Ornaments 80’ just nudging ahead. The release coincided with Numan’s retirement from live work with three concerts at Wembley Arena… that retirement lasted just over a year!

‘Living Ornaments 79 & 80’ was originally released by Beggars Banquet

https://garynuman.com/

JEAN-MICHEL JARRE The Concerts In China (1982)

In 1981, Jean-Michel Jarre became the first Western rock musician to perform in China. The five live performances as a 4 piece ensemble included the debut of the Laser Harp. Jarre also composed new material for the occasion with highlights including the dramatic ‘Arpegiator’ and the elegiac studio closer ‘Souvenir Of China’. But one particular track stood out, a traditional rearrangement with The Peking Conservatoire Symphony Orchestra, retitled ‘Fishing Junks At Sunset’.

‘The Concerts In China’ was originally released by Polydor Records

https://www.jeanmicheljarre.com/

JAPAN Oil On Canvas (1983)

‘Oil On Canvas’ was a contractual obligation by the now-split up JAPAN. Only the drums came from the band’s run of Hammersmith Odeon shows during their final tour with other parts redone in the studio. The version of ‘Nightporter’ bore no relation to the actual arrangement performed while three unrelated ambient pieces were included instead of ‘Life In Tokyo’, ‘European Son’ and ‘Fall In Love With Me’ which were part of the live set!

‘Oil On Canvas’ was originally released by Virgin Records

https://sylvianvista.com/

ULTRAVOX Monument (1983)

Leaving listeners wanting more, ‘Monument’ originally only featured 6 tracks including the studio intro title track with the hits ‘Vienna’, ‘Reap The Wild Wind’ and ‘Hymn’. Superbly capturing ULTRAVOX on their 1982 ‘Quartet’ tour, the undoubted highlight was the elongated rendition of ‘The Voice’ with the energetic THIN LIZZY-inspired Simmons drum climax. ‘Monument’ has since been expanded into  8 track and later 9 track variants.

‘Monument’ was originally released by Chrysalis Records

https://www.ultravox.org.uk/

DURAN DURAN Arena (1984)

Released at the height of their worldwide fame, ‘Arena’ was sadly more ‘Oil On Canvas’ than either ‘Living Ornaments 79 & 80’, ‘Monument’ or ‘101’. Unlike the latter, it now symbolises the downfall of DURAN DURAN rather than the rise. The mix was muddy and not a patch on the subsequent soundtracks of the DVD releases of their Hammersmith Odeon 1982 and Wembley Arena 2004 shows. The incongruous inclusion of the single ‘The Wild Boys’ no doubt helped shift copies.

‘Arena’ was originally released by EMI Music

https://duranduran.com/

SIMPLE MINDS Live In The City Of Light (1987)

On the ‘Sparkle In The Rain’ and ‘Once Upon A Time’ tours, SIMPLE MINDS had been pompously bloating songs out for up to 10 minutes. The excesses were dialled down for this well-recorded if frustrating record. There was much post-production tinkering with ‘Someone Somewhere In Summertime’ featuring extra violin by Lisa Germano while uncredited, former bassist Derek Forbes was brought in replace John Giblin’s live take.

‘Live In The City Of Light’ was originally released by Virgin Records

https://www.simpleminds.com/

DEPECHE MODE 101 (1989)

“Who have thought DEPECHE MODE plink-plonking away would play in stadiums?” bemoaned Jim Kerr of SIMPLE MINDS in 2004; but ‘101’ recorded at the Pasadena Rose Bowl in 1988 affirmed their arrival into the stadium league. The audience was mixed so loud that the band were almost drowned out while Dave Gahan bellowing “YEAH!” was a frequent occurrence. In a drumhead free zone, this was an enjoyable set capturing more comparatively innocent times.

‘101’ was originally released by Mute Records

https://www.depechemode.com/

ASHRA @shra (1998)

Recorded on location in Tokyo and Osaka, this live collection saw Manuel Göttsching, Lutz Ulbrich and Harald Grosskopf reunite the 1979-80 band incarnation of ASHRA. Containing 3 lengthy tracks and the much shorter ‘Timbuktu’ in an energetic set with hypnotic blend of progressive guitar and electronics. The highlight was the magnificent sample-free take on 1990’s ‘Twelve Samples’. A second volume was issued in 2002.

‘@shra’ was originally released by Think Progressive

https://www.manuelgoettsching.com/

HEAVEN 17 How Live Is (1999)

In their heyday, HEAVEN 17 never toured. Recorded in Glasgow when the trio came out of hiatus and opened for ERASURE in 1998, the 50 minute set was very electronic, in line with their comeback album ‘Bigger Than America’. Packed full of their best known songs and a version of ‘Being Boiled’, some new arrangements fell under the spell of THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS but they impressed enough for repeat business and continue to play live regularly today.

‘How Live Is’ was originally released by Almafame

https://www.heaven17.com/

SOFT CELL Live (2003)

Reuniting as SOFT CELL first time round in 2001, this double live album caught Marc Almond and Dave Ball in support of their 2002 comeback album ‘Cruelty Without Beauty’. Almond was particularly animated and sounded like he was having fun while Ball’s solid electronics grooved. Almond’s motorbike accident in 2004 put a stop to performing but SOFT CELL reunited again in 2018 for ‘One Night Only’ at London’s O2 Arena.

‘Live’ was originally released by Cooking Vinyl

https://www.softcell.co.uk/

KRAFTWERK Minimum-Maximum (2005)

Featuring founder members Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider, this first official KRAFTWERK live album provided another “is it live or is it Memorex?” conundrum. Suspicions were aroused with the credits in both English and German language versions indicating that many of the tracks were recorded at the same venues! Regardless, the crisp versions on ‘Minimum-Maximum’ provided a far superior listening experience than 1991’s ‘The Mix’.

‘Minimum-Maximum’ was originally released by EMI Music

https://kraftwerk.com/

YAZOO Reconnected Live (2010)

YAZOO’s ‘Reconnected’ tour saw Alison Moyet and Vince Clarke completing unfinished business following their premature spilt in 1983. Clarke provided more analogue-tuned backing compared to the Fairlight-driven tracks of their 1982 tour while Moyet was in fine voice, to the point that you could be forgiven for thinking you were hearing the records if it wasn’t for her breaths. This was a wonderful souvenir for those who were there.

‘Reconnected Live’ was originally released by Mute Records

https://yazooinfo.com/

JOHN FOXX & THE MATHS Rhapsody (2013)

John Foxx’s 2002 live album ‘The Omnidelic Exotour’ with Louis Gordon had been recorded in rehearsals with no audience and ‘Rhapsody’ followed the same route. With a band featuring Benge with Serafina Steer and Hannah Peel, the quartet ran through highlights of the John Foxx portfolio alongside his ULTRAVOX! ballads ‘Hiroshima Mon Amour’ and ‘Just For A Moment’.

‘Rhapsody’ was originally released by Metamatic Records

http://www.metamatic.com/

HYPERBUBBLE Live In London (2015)

Texans HYPERBUBBLE may look like a mutant Country & Western duo but are actually synthpop’s answer to Carter & Cash. ‘Live in London’ was a high quality recording from The Lexington that captured the heart of their “part-performance art, kitsch cabaret pop”. Like a greatest hits set, it featured 45 minutes of fun uptempo numbers including ‘Candy Apple Daydreams’ and ‘Non-Biodegradable Hazardous Waste Disposal’.

‘Live In London’ was originally released by Pure Pop For Now People

https://www.hyperbubble.net/

NEW ORDER featuring LIAM GILLICK ∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif) (2019)

Back in the day, NEW ORDER were a rather shaky live act which meant their live bootlegs provided unintended entertainment. Since relaunching in 2011 without Peter Hook, they have released 5 live albums. The most interesting was ‘∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif)’ when NEW ORDER played Manchester’s Old Granada Studios accompanied by a 12 piece synth orchestra. Aside from the dreadful ‘Who’s Joe’ and ‘Guilt Is A Useless Song’, it was a choice selection of firm fan favourites.

‘∑(No,12k,Lg,17Mif)’ was originally released by Mute Artists

https://www.neworder.com/

KITE At The Royal Opera (2020)

Swedish duo KITE performed two theatrical shows at the Royal Swedish Opera augmented by a 16 piece orchestra and choir. Filmed for broadcast on SVT2, the performances were issued as a live double album featuring a lengthy impassioned rendition of the epic ‘Up For Life’. Never doing things by halves, KITE have since performed at the cavernous former limestone quarry Dalhalla and more incredibly, on ice at Stockholm’s Avicii Arena.

‘Kite At The Royal Opera’ was originally released by Astronaut Recordings

https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ

HOWARD JONES Live At The O2 (2024)

Perhaps too ambitious in trying to take on the O2 Arena, OMD called on Howard Jones as opening act to help get bums on seats. The original solo synth man delivered an enjoyable 50 minute set with a band comprising right hand man Ronnie Bronnimann, the sadly missed Dan Clarke and KAJAGOOGOO bassist Nick Beggs; a cover of ‘Too Shy’ thrown in for good measure alongside ‘New Song’ and a danced-up ‘Things Can Only Get Better’.

‘Live At The O2’ was originally released by Cherry Red Records

http://howardjones.com/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
2nd December 2025

PETER BAUMANN Interview

14 June 2025 /

Photo by Jane Richey

German synth veteran Peter Baumann recently released his first solo album since 2016’s ‘Machines Of Desire’ on Bureau B.

In its mysterious but evocative storytelling without words, ‘Nightfall’ is a work that combines the cerebral with the cinematic, shaped by Baumann’s long standing interest in the human condition and how music can create artistic inspiration, relaxation and optimism through its transcendent qualities.

Best known as a member of the classic line-up of TANGERINE DREAM with Edgar Froese and Christopher Franke, Peter Baumann was involved in their imperial Virgin Records era albums ‘Phaedra’, ‘Rubycon’, ‘Ricochet’, ‘Stratosfear’ and ‘Encore’ which exemplified The Berlin School.

Recorded while still in TANGERINE DREAM, Baumann debut solo album ‘Romance ‘76’ comprised of two contrasting suites, the first with strong synth melodies and hypnotic rhythmic backbones while the second half was more experimental and organic featuring female vocals and the Munich Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir.

Photo by Jane Richey

Baumann’s confidence was on a high and after completing work on the 1977 live double album ‘Encore’, he left TANGERINE DREAM and set up his own studio, producing other artists including LEDA, CLUSTER and Conrad Schnitzler. His second solo album ‘Trans Harmonic Nights’ from 1979 was something of an interim record, comprising of shorter instrumental compositions using mysterious melodies and occasional vocoder textures pointing halfway towards conventional pop vocal phrasing.

Signalling a complete departure from TANGERINE DREAM, his third solo album was ‘Repeat Repeat’, an entirely song-based collection co-produced by Robert Palmer that crossed synthesized art funk with Die Neue Deutsche Welle. While the album was a shock to TANGERINE DREAM fans, an even bigger surprise came when Baumann signed to Arista Records in 1984. Employing New Yorker Eli Holland on lead vocals, the resultant Europop flavoured ‘Strangers In The Night’ album included an electronic disco cover of the song made famous by Frank Sinatra; incidentally the music had originally been written by the German orchestra leader Bert Kaempfert under the title ‘Beddy Bye’.

Not long after, Baumann launched his Private Music label; with a roster that included Yanni, Ravi Shankar, Andy Summers, Carlos Alomar, Suzanne Ciani and his former band, the venture was a huge success and later purchased by BMG in 1994. He then founded The Baumann Institute in 2009 “dedicated to exploring the nature of awareness and its relationship to human health and well-being.”

In an insightful career spanning interview, Peter Baumann kindly chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK from his home in Los Angeles about his life and his motivations.

‘Nightfall’ is your first album since NEULAND with Paul Haslinger in 2019 and your first solo release since ‘Machines Of Desire’ in 2016, how was your approach different from those records?

I’m older! *laughs*

You know, I can’t really say if there was anything different. I work with just what’s coming up… there wasn’t any planning, it’s all very spontaneous. I like to collect sketches and I pull up one of those sketches to develop it a little bit and put it aside, so it’s an organic process with the pieces growing together.

There is this dramatic nocturnal atmosphere that looms throughout ‘Nightfall’? What it very much inspired by the environment you live in now which is very different from Europe? Does the difference of the night where you are inspire you in that way?

No, it was just the mood, it was a slower mood, not uptempo at all. I like albums that have a consistent mood and that’s the mood that turned out for this one.

‘No One Knows’, ‘From A Far Land’ and ‘I’m Sitting Here, Just For A While’ have these haunting piano tones that recall the late Harold Budd? Had you been an admirer of his work?

Yes, I loved his stuff, it was slow and moody and introspective so I liked all of that. The same as the mood of the album is consistent, the titles came up the same way.

Photo by Jane Richey

Do you ever come up with a title first and then write around it? It’s something David Sylvian of JAPAN used to do…

Usually the same way I do sketches, I collect titles and then after the track is halfway developed, I see which title fits to which piece.

There are no pulsing sequences on ‘Nightfall’, but is that Berlin School sound ever something you will ever be inclined to return to?

I don’t feel it particularly right now, but I’ve learnt never to say never. There’s so many associations with it and these days, that’s “a dime a dozen”. I’m probably more interested in melodies and a mood than sequencers.

Are you still using hardware or are you now completely in the box these days?

It’s about 80-90% in the box, the rest is hardware and old style synth. I have all the usual suspects in the box and some outboard gear, a Waldorf STVC vocoder and a Moog Matriarch plus a few others but most of the effects are in the box. What I like about it is so easy to recall and go back to the original setting. The flexibility is just phenomenal, I barely notice I’m doing something mechanical, I can focus completely on the sound and the mood of the track.

Did you keep that Projekt Elektronik modular system you had specially made for you?

OH MY GOODNESS! THAT IS A BLAST FROM THE PAST! THAT’S A MUSUEM PIECE! *laughs*

Photo by Jerome Froese

Is it actually in a museum now then? *laughs*

Maybe! I dunno! *laughs*

I sold it probably 40 years ago to a fellow from Switzerland!  I know exactly what was in there and everything you could do on that big modular,  you can do today on your cellphone! What I liked about it, you had tactile access to all the frequency, the filter, the envelope, it’s different to do that than in the box… I liked that tactile connection. I have two studios, one in the country and one in the city, they’re identical so I can go back and forth, but with equipment like the Projekt Elektronik modular, you can’t and it didn’t have any recall! It was one time and that was it!

Was that your favourite synthesizer?

Yes, that was my favourite, it had some very custom made aspects to it, the way the patching was set up was custom made, the sequencers were all custom made with steps, not just sequential but also in frequency, so live I could switch the frequency really easy and land on a definite note and not have to fine tune it.

Was there a synthesizer that you didn’t like, one that didn’t meet expectations?

Oh my! I probably went through a few dozen synthesizers in the last decades! I never liked the DX7, I really disliked it, it had a tinny sound, it just wasn’t great. There was one Moog I didn’t like, it was a big polyphonic, the sound just didn’t make it. I loved the small keyboard Oberheim but I never liked the bigger one. It’s a degree of preference, it’s not that I hated any of them, you can always do something with any kind of sound. But you have your gotos and when you run out of ideas, you pick one up that you never use just to see if it inspires you.

Did you get your head around the FM synthesis programming on the DX7?

Not really and that might be the issue… I’m not a nerd in terms of twiddling with it a lot, I just want the sound and the easiest access to shape the sound. I was never into the Synclavier for instance, it has some fantastic sounds but it was just very cumbersome to dig into all the layers it had. I loved the sound but I always used the presets.

You were still a teenager when you joined TANGERINE DREAM, rock ‘n’ roll wasn’t even 20 years old then. You were part of what is seen as the classic line-up that produced ‘Phaedra’ and ‘Rubycon’, why you think the acclaim for those two records has endured, especially with all those boxed sets?

I don’t think you ever know, they were in a particular constellation at a particular time and this is the mystery. You never know why one piece of music or art piece works out and just stays relevant. I would say at the time, it was not anywhere in the mainstream, it wasn’t something that existed among many others. So it wasn’t a fad, it was one of a kind and those things usually stand up a little bit more than if it’s part of a whole group of similar music.

Do you think being in England to record those albums helped your creative mindset?

Oh definitely! When we recorded ‘Phaedra’ at The Manor in Oxford, for me it was like being in ‘The Twilight Zone’. It was just magical the way we worked there, the staff were fantastic. We didn’t leave until the record was done, we never left The Manor. It was just a terrific place, it had 100 years of history and it was timeless. The music is probably influenced by it quite a bit.

The success of those albums meant that you were given opportunities to travel the world. What are your memories of TANGERINE DREAM’s US tour which is documented on ‘Encore’, did this start your love of America and eventually relocating?

Those kind of decisions never happen because of one thing or another. When I split from TANGERINE DREAM, anything I did in Germany would be related to the band. We were known in America, but not that well known so I had much more of an opportunity. I like the culture in America better than in Germany. At the time, there was no reunification, Berlin was an island in the middle of East Germany. I always felt a little constrained… also, I didn’t like the weather! *laughs*

America is just a crazy country, there’s a lot of dynamic and I enjoy the unpredictability. Europe is just more settled, it’s a much more mature culture and that’s wonderful in its own right. But I just enjoy the dynamic and craziness we have over here.

You released your first solo album ‘Romance ’76’ while still in TANGERINE DREAM, now solo records were the norm in the set-up, but had you been feeling constrained artistically?

Not at all, I recorded ‘Romance ’76’ in our rehearsal room on an 8 track machine that I borrowed from Christoph. It was totally cool that we did our thing. In those days, recording was very different, you didn’t fine tune it the way you do today. There were not as many layers so on ‘Romance ’76’, I used 6 tracks, maybe 7 but it was not as developed. So it has its own atmosphere because it’s not so polished.

When you decided to produce ‘Welcome To Joyland’ by LEDA in 1978, was there a frustrated pop artist waiting to come out?

No, that particular album was just a fun project, I had built a studio in Berlin and this was basically a trial in the studio, it was never meant to be any particular thing. A friend of mine Hans Brandeis was a bass player in a band called EDUCATION FREE and he had a girlfriend who was a singer. So LEDA was like a very spontaneous project just to check the studio out and have some fun.

Does it surprise you people are still finding and talking about ‘Welcome To Joyland’?

You know, few things surprise me in life. I take it just the way it comes and goes, I don’t worry that much.

During this period, you produced ‘Grosses Wasser’ by CLUSTER in 1979, how was that experience working with Roedelius and Moebius?

I loved those guys, they were so cool. They were not like musicians, they were soundmakers and they had an unorthodox way of working in the studio. I had a deal with Egg Records in France who wanted 4 records for the label, so the productions for Conrad Schnitzler, Asmus Tietchens and Roedelius were among them.

What was the motivation to sing and start writing the songs that led to the ‘Repeat Repeat’ album, as opposed to the improvisational instrumentals you were involved with before?

It was just an experiment, there was nothing more behind it, it was just the flavour of the time when I had just moved to New York. Those thoughts and lyrics that are on there like ‘Brain Damage’ and ‘M.A.N. Series Two’, they were a dystopian modern perspective on New York. It was new for me, I experimented with lyrics and that was that.

How did Robert Palmer become the producer to help you realise your song based ambitions on ‘Repeat Repeat’ because back then, it was not an obvious pairing?

We had the same German record company and they played the demos of ‘Repeat Repeat’ to him, he thought they were cool and wanted to be involved. He called and said “I love what you’re doing, I’d love to produce it” so I said “sure”; we worked at Compass Point in The Bahamas and then mixed it in London. I just enjoyed hanging out with Robert, we had a similar mindset and he had big influence in the sound of the album.

Looking back on the ‘Repeat Repeat’ album and its follow-up ‘Strangers In The Night’, after that you appeared to stop releasing your own music and started Private Music. Was being a front man not what you wanted after all?

Again, I never think very much, I just do what happens. With ‘Repeat Repeat’, I realised I was not a really great vocalist and then a producer in America suggested this guy Eli Holland to do lead vocals, so we did ‘Strangers In The Night’. Again, I just had fun doing whatever I do and that’s what we did then.

The record company was a silly story if you will, there was no big thought behind it. I met my wife Alison, we went on vacation in Florida and I had a shoebox full of cassette tapes of little productions I did. I played some of them and she said “I love this”; I said something about maybe doing a record company one day and she said “you absolutely have got to do it!”… and so I did a record company! There was never any grand plan  behind it, my whole life has been that way, I just enjoy seeing what comes next and let it happen.

You met up with Edgar Froese before he passed away in early 2015 and there had been talk of you rejoining TANGERINE DREAM?

Edgar wrote me an email just to check in and I wrote back… at the time I had a studio when I was in San Francisco and was playing around. I sent him a couple of tracks and he said “let’s work together”; it wasn’t for TANGERINE DREAM or anything else, just let’s make some noise. I met him in Vienna and we spent some time in the studio. I said I’d make more basic tracks to send to him but then sadly next time, I got a call from his wife Bianca with bad news. So that collaboration never materialised and that’s when I did ‘Machines Of Desire’.

Photo by Jane Richey

What are your favourite works for your long career, whether as an artist, producer or label boss?

What a question! Sometimes you like Chinese food, sometimes Italian food, sometimes Japanese food, I like it all. It depends on the time of day. I think it was all worth doing, I was extraordinarily lucky to be able to do this. Had I started today, it would have been a whole different effort. Playing in a band and then getting to do what I got to do, and doing a record label when you could still do a record label, today it’s awfully tough! It’s been fun to talk to you about it Chi, it’s like travelling down Memory Lane… I mean CLUSTER! I haven’t thought about that record in years! You have given me some very interesting ways to look back on the last 50 years.

It’s all good, I don’t have any favourites and there’s none of them that shouldn’t have happened. Maybe, if there was a little bit of a favourite, one or the other, of course ‘Phaedra’ is a completely different album than ‘Repeat Repeat’ but there are elements of both that I enjoy  🙂

What is next for you?

I dunno, you tell me 😉

As I said before, I just wait and see what happens. I’m going to spend some time in the studio but I have some other interests. I’m writing a book, it’s a philosophical book called ‘Some Days Are Better Than Others’ and it’s my view of the experience of being human.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Peter Baumann

Special thanks to Sean Newsham at Bureau B

‘Nightfall’ is released by Bureau B and available now as a vinyl LP, CD and download from https://peterbaumann.bandcamp.com/album/nightfall

The 3CD boxed set ‘Phase By Phase – The Virgin Albums’ is released by Cherry Red Records

https://www.bureau-b.com/artists/peter-baumann

https://tangerinedreamarchive.com/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/4u9mLb6exlbHuNehyJ11jq

Text and interview by Chi Ming Lai
14th June 2025

A Beginner’s Guide To ROEDELIUS

4 January 2025 /

On 26th October 2024, the legendary German experimental music pioneer Hans-Joachim Roedelius turned 90. To celebrate, there were special solo shows in Austria and Germany.

An extremely prolific artist since his first release ‘Klopfzeichen’ in 1969 as a member of KLUSTER with Dieter Moebius and Conrad Schnitzler, he now has over 40 solo albums to his name. Meanwhile he has also been involved numerous other projects in collaboration with the likes of Brian Eno, Michael Rother, Conny Plank, Mani Neumeier, Peter Baumann, Holger Czukay, Tim Story, Blixa Bargeld, Lloyd Cole, Christoph H Müller and Thorsten Quaeschning.

Born in Berlin, during the Second World War, Roedelius and his family were evacuated to East Prussia which in the aftermath of Soviet liberation became part of East Germany during The Cold War. After being conscripted into the DDR Volksarmee, desertion led to a prison sentence but Roedelius would later successfully escape across the border into West Berlin in 1961.

In 1968, Roedelius and Conrad Schnitzler established the Zodiak Free Arts Lab with Klaus Schulze and Manuel Göttsching among those who passed through. The fledgling TANGERINE DREAM would make frequent live appearances there, playing improvised sets for several hours at a time. This was a fruitful period in German music with acts such as KRAFTWERK, CAN, AMON DÜÜL II and FAUST all emerging from various arts scenes and communes reacting against the dominance of America in popular culture.

Making lengthy improvised drone music using primitive electronic instruments and found devices such as coffee percolators, KLUSTER were clearly influenced by the experimental overtures of Karlheinz Stockhausen. After Schnitzler bowed out of KLUSTER to pursue a solo career, Roedelius and Moebius swapped the “K” for a “C” and continued as CLUSTER; they would make music together in various guises until 2009.

Label mates at Brain Records, when Michael Rother of NEU! asked to meet Roedelius and Moebius at their Forst studio in 1974 with a view to collaborating, the effect on all parties involved was to prove seminal. HARMONIA combined Rother’s chugging motorik rhythms, Roedelius’ melodies, and Moebius’ atonal weirdness into an amalgam of harmony and ammonia… finding a home to produce their best music yet, CLUSTER would join Rother at a new label Sky Records which had been established by Günter Körber after leaving his executive post with Brain, the label that he co-founded.

Through his solo work and particularly his romantic ‘Selbstportrait’ series of albums, Roedelius’ music has often been seen as seeding new age through its pastoral introspective nature. However, in collaboration, anything can and has happened. These days, his focus has been on the piano.

To sum up the portfolio of Hans-Joachim Roedelius in just 20 tracks is almost impossible but ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK will try for those only partially familiar with his music using this Beginner’s Guide with a restriction of one track per album. The man himself is unlikely to approve though because as he once said: “To get the complete picture of my music and art, people should listen and look to everything I did.”

CLUSTER Georgel (1972)

While Roedelius and Moebius originally continued with the dark droning style of their work with Schnitzler, the second album saw their work edited in smaller bite-sized dramas with actual titles. While still avant garde, it was signalling a change in approach. It saw Conny Plank working for the second time with CLUSTER with proceedings now less industrial. The ominous organ lines of ‘Georgel’ warbled as a sinister tension prevailed.

Available on the CLUSTER album ‘II’ via Cherry Red Records

https://www.roedelius.com/artist/cluster

HARMONIA Watussi (1974)

Roedelius and Moebius’ jams with Michael Rother became HARMONIA. Based around simplistic rhythm unit patterns, the restrictions allowed them to experiment on tracks such as ‘Watussi’. Effectively a condensed extract, this began as a solo Roedelius composition and the shortened edit was more of a pointer to the sound of the next CLUSTER album rather than NEU! or anything that would come later in Rother’s solo career.

Available on the HARMONIA album ‘Musik Von Harmonia’ via Grönland Records

https://www.groenland.com/pages/artist/harmonia

CLUSTER Fotschi Tong (1974)

Co-produced by Michael Rother and recorded in the same time frame as the two HARMONIA albums, although ‘Zuckerzeit’ was the third long payer by CLUSTER, it comprised of a solo EP each from Roedelius and Moebius. A highlight of the record was the Roedelius track ‘Fotschi Tong’ which featured immensely melodic keyboard lines and the hypnotic percussive chatter of an Elka Drummer One rhythm unit to give fresher sound.

Available on the CLUSTER album ‘Zuckerzeit’ via Bureau B

https://www.bureau-b.com/cluster.php

HARMONIA & ENO ‘76 By The Riverside (recorded 1976 – released 1997)

HARMONIA played several gigs in 1974 including one in the presence of Brian Eno. He suggested collaborating with the trio but this not happen until 2 years later. With a steadfast pulsing electronic ambience accompanied by field recordings, the ominous tones of ‘By The Riverside’ provided a lengthy standout from the sessions. However, these recordings remained unreleased until 1997.

Available on the HARMONIA & ENO ‘76 album ‘Tracks & Traces’ via Grönland Records

https://www.michaelrother.de/

CLUSTER Es War Einmal (1976)

After HARMONIA ran its course and Rother began his lucrative solo career, Roedelius and Moebius returned to CLUSTER. Their fourth album ‘Sowiesoso’ was the duo’s first fully realised exploration into the soothing world of ambient electronics. Recorded in just 2 days with Conny Plank at the helm, ‘Es War Einmal’ was wonderfully pastoral with gentle melodic phrasing from piano and synths and no rhythm machine interventions.

Available on the CLUSTER album ‘Sowiesoso’ via Bureau B

https://clusterofficial.bandcamp.com/

CLUSTER & ENO Für Luise (1977)

Brian Eno returned to work with Roedelius and Moebius on two fruitful recordings. On the first, the front cover photo of a microphone up near the clouds summed up the approach with the album full of angelic atmospheres and gentle melodies. ‘Für Luise’ was a tense cold war drama with stark piano and minimal synth but again no rhythmic centre. This first official release with Eno brought CLUSTER to a much wider audience.

Available on the CLUSTER & ENO album ‘Cluster & Eno’ via Bureau B

https://www.instagram.com/hansjoachimroedelius/

BRIAN ENO By This River (1977)

Originating from his sessions with Moebius and Roedelius in Forst, Brian Eno produced this beautiful piano and synth ballad with Conny Plank engineering for inclusion on his fourth pop solo album ‘Before & After Science’. While the warmth extracted from the Yamaha CS80 used by Eno was one of the key stand-out elements of ‘By This River’, the backbone from Roedelius’ sweet ivories provided a special lullaby quality.

Available on the BRIAN ENO album ‘Before & After Science’ via Virgin Records

https://www.brian-eno.net/

ENO MOEBIUS ROEDELIUS The Belldog (1978)

Following ‘Cluster & Eno’, the second album from Eno, Moebius and Roedelius was issued under all their surnames and added Eno’s contemplative voice to the experimentation. While there was a mix of piano-oriented ambient pieces and avant pop songs like the unsettling ‘Broken Head’, the best number was the gentle sequencer-led beauty of ‘The Belldog’ where “Most of the day, we were at the machinery…”

Available on the ENO MOEBIUS ROEDELIUS album ‘After The Heat’ via Bureau B

https://www.facebook.com/BrianEno

CLUSTER Breitengrad 20 (1979)

‘Grosses Wasser’ marked the return of CLUSTER working as a duo. Their producer this time was TANGERINE DREAM refugee Peter Baumann who was producing other acts likes Leda and in an interim phase before going pop with ‘Repeat Repeat’. Hinting at a form of avant jazz, ‘Breitengrad 20’ breezed like a morning walk as Roedelius’ clean piano lines sparred off the pulses from Baumann’s customised Project Elektronik modular.

Available on the CLUSTER album ‘Grosses Wasser’ via Bureau B

https://www.facebook.com/Roedelius

ROEDELIUS Wenn Der Südwind Weht (1981)

Roedelius was already progressing with his solo career which had begun in 1978 in parallel to CLUSTER. From his seventh solo album of the same name, ‘Wenn Der Südwind Weht’ was a simply beautiful instrumental that translated from German meaning “When the south wind blows”; the piece was dominated by a glorious lead synth melody while gently rhythmical keyboard lines remained static in their hypnotic repetition. Everything blended for a soothing textural ambience.

Available on the ROEDELIUS album ‘Wenn Der Südwind Weht’ via Bureau B

https://www.bureau-b.com/roedelius.php

MOEBIUS + ROEDELIUS Emmental (1991)

Having put CLUSTER on hiatus for 8 years, Roedelius and Moebius cautiously reunited under their own names for ‘Apropos Cluster’. With a more understated ambience in the shorter compositions, taking a back seat was the rhythmical element. ‘Emmental’ saw a melodic fretless bass figure alongside spacious piano and synths. It became a signature track at their live shows and was often performed by Roedelius during his solo performances.

Available on the MOEBIUS + ROEDELIUS album ‘Apropos Cluster’ via Bureau B

https://www.bureau-b.com/moebius.php

AQUARELLO Deep Blue (1998)

AQUARELLO was a group comprising of the now-Austria based Roedelius and two Italian musicians, multi-instrumentalist Fabio Capanni and saxophonist Nicola Alesini. One of two new studio recordings on the otherwise self-titled live album, ‘Deep Blue’ was an adventurous cinematic piece co-written with Capanni that carried a marvellous European arthouse quality. It mutated into several distinct mini-suites despite clocking in an under 4 minutes.

Available on the AQUARELLO album ‘Aquarello’ via All Saints Records

https://www.instagram.com/capanni.music/

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS & TIM STORY Lunz (2002)

Having already collaborated on the epic 56 minute soundscape ‘The Persistence Of Memory’, Roedelius had come together with Grammy-nominated American composer Tim Story to keep his muse alive. ‘Lunz’ featured largely shorter piano-based pieces reminiscent of Harold Budd, described as “Romantic and surreal – light and dark – an album of opposites attracts you like a moth to a flame”, this was the best in modern classical music.

Available on the HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS & TIM STORY album ‘Lunz’ via Grönland Records

https://timstory.com/

ARVANITIS & ROEDELIUS Digital Love (2002)

The biggest outlier in the Roedelius portfolio, he accepted an invitation to work with Greek producer Nikos Arvanitis on an electronic dance album. The superb title song was shaped by feisty house rhythms and deadpan vocals from Alexander Lovrek. But with an array of spikey and sparkling electronics, it highlighted Roedelius’ willingness to immerse himself into new music forms as he was approaching 70.

Available on the ARVANITIS & ROEDELIUS album ‘Digital Love’ via Plag Dich Nicht

http://www.nikosarvanitis.info/

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS & THE FRATELLI BROTHERS Imogen (2011)

Roedelius’ musical instincts made him an ideal film soundtrack composer, but this did not happen until 2002 for Frederick Baker’s BBC TV documentary ‘Imagine IMAGINE’ about John Lennon’s iconic hit single. Working with THE FRATELLI BROTHERS, the tracks were re-recorded in 2011 for the album ‘Reverso’. With elegant synthetic strings and unusually in the music of Roedelius, a percussive loop, ‘Imogen’ offered a serene impressionistic quality even without the visuals.

Available on the HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS & THE FRATELLI BROTHERS album ‘Reverso’ via Musea

https://www.noh1.com/

LLOYD COLE / HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS Selbstportrait-Reich (2013)

Lloyd Cole was a fan of CLUSTER and his first electronic instrumental album ‘Plastic Wood’ recalled ‘Sowiesoso’. A mutual friend passed it over to Roedelius who was impressed and set about doing his own remix. Cole was flattered so the two discussed working together on a project. Cole created a number of minimal electronic sketches for Roedelius to develop in isolation. The glistening ‘Selbstportrait-Reich’ was a thoughtful union of the sorcerer and the apprentice.

Available on the LLOYD COLE / HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS album ‘Selected Studies, Vol1’ via Bureau B

https://www.lloydcole.com/

MUELLER ROEDELIUS 808 Fantasy (2015)

While perhaps not as much of a shock as ‘Digital Love’ was with Nikos Arvanitis, Roedelius’ collaboration with Swiss-German musician Christoph H Müller of the neotango band GOTAN PROJECT still sprung a surprise. ‘808 Fantasy’ did as it said on the tin with a curious contrast of jazzy piano and floating electronics glitched up around rigid drum machine beats. It closed the CD version of their first album together.

Available on the MUELLER ROEDELIUS album ‘Imagori’ via Grönland Records

https://www.instagram.com/christoph.h.muller/

QLUSTER Beste Freunde (2016)

With CLUSTER splitting up, Roedelius changed the letters again and started QLUSTER with Onnen Bock before Armin Metz joined in 2013. The contemplative ‘Echtzeit’ album came after the sad passing of Dieter Moebius in 2015. With much of the recording taking place in a church, ‘Beste Freunde’ was self-explanatory, a musical eulogy from Roedelius where his piano took centre stage, sweetened by electronics and treatments.

Available on the QLUSTER album ‘Echtzeit’ via Bureau B

https://www.bureau-b.com/qluster.php

HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS, THORSTEN QUAESCHNING, HOSHIKO YAMANE, PAUL FRICK Klangtraube Part 9 (2020)

Roedelius was invited to perform at the 2019 Edgar Froese Memorial Day concert in Berlin by Froese’s widow Bianca Acquaye. Joining him were present day TANGERINE DREAM leader Thorsten Quaeschning along with violinist Hoshiko Yamane and new recruit Paul Frick. The closing ninth piece saw Roedelius on piano accompanied by the trio for a fitting tribute to his late friend from since the Zodiak Free Arts Lab days.

Available on the HANS-JOACHIM ROEDELIUS, THORSTEN QUAESCHNING, HOSHIKO YAMANE, PAUL FRICK album ‘Klangtraube’ via Eastgate

https://www.tangerinedreammusic.com/

ROEDELIUS & ARNOLD KASAR Lifeline (2023)

Roedelius continues to compose and release music; one of his more recent works came with Berlin based musician and sound engineer Arnold Kasar. Their second album ‘Zensibility’ comprised of call-and-response pieces where Roedelius played piano while Kasar worked in the electronics. As with the vibey charm of ‘Lifeline’, the album’s end result exuded an airy meditative calm while any treatments and soundscapes were ultimately fitting and respectful.

Available on the ROEDELIUS & ARNOLD KASAR album ‘Zensibility’ via 7K!

http://kasarmusic.de/

‘90’ featuring unreleased music recorded between 1968 -1980 is out now as a 4LP boxed set via Grönland Records from https://www.groenland.com/

‘Kollektion 02: Roedelius Compiled By Lloyd Cole’ is available via Bureau B

For more information on the music and life of Hans-Joachim Roedelius, please visit https://www.roedelius.com/

An ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK playlist ‘The Roles Of ROEDELIUS’ highlighting these and other works can be heard on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/18OiPxpBrQRjBDzVcL8rc1

Text by Chi Ming Lai
4th January 2024

2024 END OF YEAR REVIEW

27 December 2024 /

Image by Simon Helm

Me? Definitely Won’t Be! Join the #SynthResistance

When ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK came into being in March 2010, synth was still on a recovery path and it seemed PET SHOP BOYS were the only act continuing to fly the flag successfully having been awarded the BRIT Award for ‘Outstanding Contribution To Music’ the previous year.

While DEPECHE MODE and SIMPLE MINDS had released albums in 2009, their latest material showed few signs of their imperial phases. BLANCMANGE, NEW ORDER and SOFT CELL had not yet returned, ULTRAVOX were still to release ‘Brilliant’ despite a well-received live return and while THE HUMAN LEAGUE were regulars on the live circuit, they had not issued a new album for 9 years. Meanwhile OMD and DURAN DURAN were in a state of creative flux having released disappointing albums in ‘History Of Modern’ and ‘Red Carpet Massacre’ respectively.

However in 2024, most of these acts are performing to sizeable audiences and while ULTRAVOX may have called it a day in 2013, Midge Ure continues to tour with songs from ‘Vienna’, ‘Rage In Eden’, ‘Quartet’ and ‘Lament’. For these heritage acts, the concert circuit is now very lucrative and a testament to their music still standing up after several decades and most importantly for longevity, appealing to new and younger audiences.

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

But for new synth music generally, particularly in Britain, it appeared to be in decline although these signs had been very apparent over the past few years. One thing that has been significant about ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2024 was that on only 4 occasions was there full or part representation from the nation that seeded Synth Britannia… how the mighty have fallen! And when Taylor Swift is doing better electronic pop songs than most, then there’s a real problem!

First time around during 1994 to 1997, Britpop had as good as killed off the synth and with the news of the OASIS live reunion in 2025 grabbing all the headlines, it looks as though history is repeating itself. But everything is cyclical and there was a backlash against guitar bands after the new millennium began. There is hope yet but while a MIRRORS reunion is unlikely any time soon, it takes darkness to appreciate the light so anything is possible 😉

2024 was a year fraught with uncertainty and this was reflected musically. With ongoing political tensions in their homeland and having spoken out against the invasion of Ukraine by Russia, MOLCHAT DOMA relocated from Belarus to Los Angeles. Their excellent fourth album ‘Belaya Polosa’ channelled the anxiety and fear of that journey into exile and literally saw the trio change from sounding like JOY DIVISION to sounding like NEW ORDER. But have they walked from the frying pan into the fryer?

Released back in March before the US Elections, one of the best albums of 2024, ‘Masochist’ by NIGHT CLUB became a dystopian prophecy come true. Emotions were summed up by the inclusion of ‘The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)’, a cover of the song by FUN BOY THREE. Written as a metaphor to the dangerous posturing games played by “The Cowboy” Ronald Reagan in 1981 during The Cold War, today the even crazier orange face is back followed by his flock of mindless MAGA sheep…

‘If You Tolerate This, Then Your Children Will Be Next’ sang MANIC STREET PREACHERS and more than ever in the UK, it is important to stand against the retarded racist scum getting behind the neo-fascist posturings of that pompous grifter Nigel Farage to cover up for their own life failings. Add in a crackpot billionaire who inherited blood money made during the vile South African Apartheid regime, playing a real life Dr Evil by throwing his cash into the far right and supporting the new Nazis in Germany of the AfD, and the world is in a very precarious position right now. Quoting Midge Ure who recently gave new live renditions of the ironically monikered RICH KIDS’ sadly relevant 1978 anti-Nazi anthem: “NEVER AGAIN DO I WANT TO HEAR THE SOUND OF MARCHING MEN!”

Anglo-German duo KALEIDA experienced an existential crisis due to the pressures of parenting and the shifting patterns of life. But Christina Wood and Cicely Goulder managed to make their long distance creative partnership work again and their reward was their third album ‘In Arms’. As the title suggested, it has been an impassioned battle capturing 3 years of artistic perseverance and reinforced their sense of purpose.

On a more personal level, Anglo-French artist Julia-Sophie delved deeper into the complexities of relationships by exploring themes of self-destruction, tenderness, love and emotional struggles. This is what happens when people ‘forgive too slow’ but swathed in an intriguing electronic sound, her understated fulfilment combined emotional unease with an airy beauty for some satisfying thoughtful listening for another of the best albums of 2024.

Photo by Chi Ming Lai

With the onset of climate change but still those in denial despite the scientific proof, Patricia Wolf conceived ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’. Having recorded various bird songs and calls, curiosity led her to become a conservationist and while her music was very beautiful at times, there were darker moments of angst and sadness driven by concern. Birds and their behaviour have been a creative haven for artists of a more ambient persuasion and Masayoshi Fujita continued his avian fascination on his new work ‘Migratory’.

Loula Yorke presented her new ‘Volta’ and the wonderful opener ‘It’s been decided that if you lay down no-one will die’ acted as a bittersweet meditation on overwhelm, an emotion many were feeling. For Finlay Shakespeare, his creative journey appeared to have taken its emotional toll and ‘Directions Out Of Town’ reflected turbulent times and was touted as possibly his last album. Meanwhile Polish producer ZAMILSKA summed feelings up with the impassioned ‘United Kingdom Of Anxiety’ as another exile from Belarus CHIKISS captured this moment ‘Between Time & Laziness’.

Photo by Thomas Stelzmann

While a new PET SHOP BOYS album was always on the cards and they duly delivered with their fifteenth ‘Nonetheless’, Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper starting a new chapter of PROPAGANDA was perhaps on not on anyone’s bingo card at the start of 2024. Featuring the sultry vocals of Thunder Bae, PROPAGANDA presented an eponymous long player to signify a fresh start with the closing cover ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ being a key highlight.

There were several key esoteric releases in 2024; Gareth Jones and Daniel Miller released their third volume of ‘Electronic Music Improvisations’ as SUNROOF while Heiko Maile and Julian DeMarre offered ‘Neostalgia’, leaving Jori Hulkkonen with some ‘Hurt Humour’. And like a greeting from wherever he is now in the universe, Klaus Schulze had ‘101, Milky Way’ posthumously released in a continuation of his vast electronic legacy.

In 2024, there were albums released where 90 to 100% of the content comprised of previously released singles; one of those was the debut album by LEATHERS, the side-project of ACTORS keyboardist Shannon Hemmett which explored her love of dark electronic pop. Another was the appropriately titled ‘VII’ by Swedish duo KITE which was their seventh body of work containing music from their seven most recent singles released over the past seven years, gathering the power and the glory of their ambition.

Using a similar strategy,  R. MISSING finally released an album ‘Knife Shook Your Hand’ after years of embracing a scattergun standalone song approach which at times was frustrating to follow, especially with today’s now widely embraced Netflix-led home and mobile entertainment methodology of “binge watching” TV series.

Photo by Volker Maass

CAMOUFLAGE finally took their ‘Rewind To The Future & Goodbye’ tour on the German road with a show look backing on four decades. Meanwhile celebrating 45 years of BLANCMANGE, ‘Everything Is Connected’ was a new career-spanning collection supported by a tour where Neil Arthur supported himself with his collaborative side project THE REMAINDER. Celebrating 25 years of the multi-million selling ‘Play’, Moby delivered a mighty greatest hits set in front of a packed house at London’s O2 Arena as well as highlights from that album.

Midge Ure aired his catalogue of his greatest hits and with so many ULTRAVOX songs part of the set, it was difficult not to think of his departed bandmate Chris Cross who passed away this year. Another sad loss in 2024 who had connections to ULTRAVOX and their former leader John Foxx was the iconic photographer Brian Griffin; his other subjects included DEPECHE MODE, OMD, SPANDAU BALLET and TALK TALK.

With 16 tracks speeding through its restless 40 minutes, ‘Powder Dry’ saw Tim Bowness revisiting his passion for the post-punk and electronic pop acts of his teens, having opened for the solo Billy Currie version of ULTRAVOX and worked with members of JAPAN while in his first band NO-MAN with Steven Wilson; of course the latter has been behind the spate of new remixes of ULTRAVOX for their series of lavish boxed sets.

A number of veterans returned after long new release absences. Michel Moers, best known as the front man of Belgian electronic trailblazers TELEX released what was only his second solo studio album ‘As Is’ and had Claudia Brücken guest on its lead single ‘Microwaves. Meanwhile after several years in the making, Harald Grosskopf presented ‘Strom’, translated from German as “electricity”.

Across the Atlantic, Los Angeles-based multimedia artist Geneva Jacuzzi gave a detached Eurocentric poise reminiscent of Gina X and her third album ‘Triple Fire’ was an enjoyably delightful mix of accessible electronic pop and energetic art chaos. Comprising of North America’s alternative music power couple Tom Shear and Mari Kattman, HELIX took their fans to an ‘Unimaginable Place’ as another US based couple XENO & OAKLANDER further refined their precise yet spirited productions for their eight album ‘Via Negativa (in the doorway light)’.

Newer North American acts making a splash were IMMORTAL GIRLFRIEND and Canada’s MINDREADER while Los Angeles-based duo DIE SEXUAL finally brought their erotic charge to the stage opening for the likes of IAMX and LEÆTHER STRIP. But the most promising act emerging stateside were Haute & Freddy.

Photo by Tim Darin

For the past few years, Alison Lewis has focussed on her ZANIAS solo venture but she was back playing live with Ryan Ambridge as LINEA ASPERA in the summer with the pair having been quietly writing and recording new material together. Having found TikTok fame performing synthwave styled covers, DREAMKID released his second album ‘Daggers’ to capitalise on his social media traction while both exploring much darker climes, CURSES and CZARINA released their third full length albums.

In Europe, Belgian duo METROLAND released their sixth album ‘Forum’ as well as simultaneously maintaining their solo projects 808 DOT POP and LECTREAU. In Sweden, Johan Agebjörn was a very busy man releasing EPs with Yota and Mikael Ögren while also announcing he has a work-in-progress with NINA; the Queen of Synthwave’s own musical partnership with RADIO WOLF was developing nicely, with a European tour opening for CANNONS giving the couple a chance to showcase their darker sound.

As the summer ended, IONNALEE ambitiously issued her new album simultaneously in English and Swedish while Norwegian neighbours PISTON DAMP declared there were “No Points For Trying” as they launched the more pessimistic instalment of their twin volume ‘Mastermind’ album venture.

Photo by Joanna Wzorek

Presenting the second volume of their ‘Midnight Confessions’ series, ITALOCONNECTION were back with their vintage but modern style of Italo disco while Greco-German trio DINA SUMMER showed that good electronic dance music with a grittier impassioned outlook was alive and well in Berlin. Also based in the former divided city, Polish DJ and producer CHARLIE emerged as one of the promising new stars on the Italo-Proto scene.

Retrospective sets can often compile another time, another place as exemplified by releases this year from Bryan Ferry, Peter Baumann and NO-MAN proved. But the best one came from FRANK CHICKENS whose ‘Ninja Legends 1983-1989’ captured them in their quirky prime, especially on the collection of BBC radio  sessions which made it an essential purchase. On the book front, ‘1984: The Year Pop Went Queer’ was among the best.

The desire to revisit the past became a major thing in 2024, as exemplified by the frenzy surrounding the sale of tickets for the OASIS reunion shows which were among the first in the UK to employ the dreaded but perfectly legal scam of dynamic pricing. But the need to see any band years past their commercial peak with the likelihood of a less accomplished performance than before, be it vocally, musically or energetically, was a head scratching prospect. The music world has been trying to make up for lost time and money since 2021 but the post-covid gig bubble may have now burst.

With ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK having seen many bands back in the day at their best, the shows now available with a hint of nostalgia may not have been universally appealing as they were to those who were too young or not even born to have attended first time around. But paradoxically thanks to the dearth of new quality music, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK found itself listening to podcasts of old people talking about old music! So it was an honour to be invited by host Iain McDermott to chat about our favourite year in music 1981 for his wonderful ‘Back To NOW’ podcast centred around the noted compilation album series.

‘The Album Years’ hosted by Steven Wilson and Tim Bowness remarked that “talking about music IS the new music” and on the most knowledgeable, passionate and humorous podcasts, hosts were able to express their opinion and say a record or an artist was “sh*t” without immediate fear of social media retorts while also praising where praise was deserved!

But during a recent edition of ‘The Small Town Boys’, Clark Datchler of JOHNNY HATES JAZZ remarked that while music critics back in the day could be “cynical” and “nasty”, today they are at the other extreme and “sycophants now” with “hardly any criticism of records released” – this everything is brilliant mentality has undoubtedly led to an acceptance of mediocrity and a lack of perspective in a monoculture of medium pleasure.

With those forthright and articulate expressions key to their success, live presentations of these podcasts in theatres and arenas are becoming increasingly popular and profitable thanks to lower overheads, especially when compared to concerts.

Among ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s favourite music podcasts in 2024 were ‘Word In Your Ear’ presented by former Smash Hits and Q editors David Hepworth and Mark Ellen, ‘Electronically Yours With Martyn Ware’ and ‘The Giddy Carousel of Pop’ discussing the history of Smash Hits. But best of all was the more general podcast ‘The Rest Is Entertainment’ hosted by Richard Osman and Marina Hyde which is part of Gary Lineker’s Goalhanger Podcast empire also behind ‘The Rest Is Politics’, ‘The Rest Is History’, ‘The Rest Is Money’, ‘The Rest Is Classified’ and ‘The Rest Is Football’; one suspects the popular socially conscious former footballer will not miss the BBC the way it will miss him 😉

If 2023 was something of a strange year, 2024 might have actually been stranger. There is a glimmer of hope for the future, but the signs are already there that things may get worse, be it socially, politically, environmentally or culturally… sometimes, people really do deserve what they get!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 2024 playlist ‘The Great Bleep Forward’ containing over 235 tracks from the year can be listened to on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xMrAkCbeWvUmTfrN6i6Gu

Text by Chi Ming Lai
27th December 2024

« Older posts

© 2017 ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK | Email: theelectricityclub@googlemail.com
Privacy Policy

Up ↑