Sparks: Mael Men

The first weekly Independent Chart was published on 19 January 1980. We talk to Cherry Red’s Iain McNay and Rough Trade’s Geoff Travis, the instigator and the catalyst, about how punk rock and a garden shed ignited the indie label revolution

As if being one half of Beaver & Krause wasn’t enough. Since his days as pioneering recording artist/Moog salesman extraordinaire Bernie Krause has carved out a further groundbreaking career as a respected sound archivist. We catch up on his recent exploits and then, in an extract from the recently republished ‘Becoming Elektra’ book, discover how the future-facing duo got their first break

What do you get if you bring together ex-Cure drummer  Lol Tolhurst, former Siouxsie And The Banshees sticksman Budgie and uber-producer Jacknife Lee? An exploratory and brilliantly inventive “electronic head-fuck”, that’s what

As ‘Blade Runner 2049’ hits cinema screens, the news that the film’s soundtrack composer Jóhann Jóhannsson has been replaced at the 11th hour by Hans Zimmer comes with a sense of déjà vu. Like a time warping Philip K Dick short story, didn’t all this happen before? It certainly did…