Long Reads

It seems fitting that one of the most inventive acts of the 1980s has a back story you couldn’t make up. On the eve of a live reboot, Anne Dudley, JJ Jeczalik and Gary Langan tell the incredible tale of Art Of Noise. Are you sitting comfortably? Then we’ll begin…

It’s synonymous with the sleek sound of the 1980s, and while you might know its name, what actually is a Fairlight CMI?

The inside story of Tangerine Dream’s infamous performance at Reims Cathedral in France in 1974

Smash hits? They’ve had ’em. Enormodomes? They’ve played the lot. Life? They’ve lived it. With a new album on the shelves, we catch Simple Minds’ founding members Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill at their Glasgow HQ… forget about them? Not a chance

Not content on resting on her classically-trained laurels, Poppy Ackroyd takes inspiration from nature and revels in an unconventional approach to tickling the ivories

With the release of remastered versions of classic ZTT albums by Frankie Goes To Hollywood and Propaganda, the label’s co-creator Trevor Horn discusses the controversial chart-topping smash hits, the law suits and some eye-wateringly expensive synths

As ‘A Secret Wish’ gets a welcome reissue this month, Propaganda founder Ralf Dörper retells the incredible tale behind one of the most striking acts of the 1980s

Appearing seemingly out of nowhere with her stop-you-in-your-tracks album ‘The Kid’, Kaitlyn Aurelia Smith talks Buchla, the great outdoors, Buchla, why electronic music very much isn’t cold and uninviting… and Buchla

What’s in a name? Quite a lot it’d seem if you are as misunderstood as Fujiya & Miyagi, whose warm, thrumming tunes are… well, what? we do our best to get to the bottom of the whole thing

With their back catalogue being lovingly reissued via Mute, we pile into a car for a guided tour of the Manchester hotspots that shaped the influential sound of A Certain Ratio… fasten your seatbelts