Hero – Electronic Sound

20 minute read

Thomas Dolby: This Charming Man

byBob Fischer

In 1984, Thomas Dolby’s ‘The Flat Earth’ album saw him outgrow his persona as MTV’s favourite “outgoing boffin” and flourish into a songwriter of impressive versatility. With an expanded digital version recently released, is he still “hyperactive now he’s grown”? He may be more reflective, but as he explains, life still has its fair share of adventure and excitement

LLong Reads

19 minute read

Air: Shoot For The Moon

byDavid Stubbs

Retro-futuristic, gorgeously languid, utterly irresistible – Air changed the sonic landscape almost overnight with the release of ‘Moon Safari’ in 1998. Taking a break from performing the album in full on a mammoth world tour, Jean-Benoît Dunckel and Nicolas Godin reflect on their robo-romantic masterpiece

FFeatures

19 minute read

The Visual Art of John Foxx

byMat Smith

John Foxx is well-known as the founder and frontman of Ultravox and as a revered solo musician in his own right. But he’s also a distinctive visual artist who has worked extensively in photography, graphic art, collage and other media over the years. He explains how it all started...

LLong Reads

20 minute read

Pet Shop Boys: Boys Keep Swinging

byIan Gittins

Pet Shop Boys are back with ‘Nonetheless’, their 15th studio album and a fresh creative peak that imbues their quintessential electonic sound with string arrangements and live instruments

LLong Reads

30 minute read

101 Records of 1981

byES Staff

Have you all got something fizzy in your plastic glasses?

LLong Reads

30 minute read

Blitz Club: Frills And Spills

byES Staff

Our oral history of the fabled nightspot taps into the memories and wild stories – subversiveness, fisticuffs, the night David Bowie turned up – of the Blitz Kids who were there

LLong Reads

20 minute read

Tangerine Dream: Paradigm Drift

byDavid Stubbs

Epic and mesmeric, sensual and influential, ‘Phaedra’ is Tangerine Dream’s definitive masterpiece. It was recorded under trying circumstances, but the album’s sequenced, otherworldly sounds – built on Mellotron and Moog synths – arguably resonate even more today than they did in 1974. To mark its 50th anniversary this month, we tell the story of an enduring cornerstone of progressive electronic music

LLong Reads

41 minute read

Ambient: From A To Zzzzz

byES Staff

A curated snapshot rather than a definitive list, welcome to our alphabetical deep dive into the atmospheric and immersive world of ambient music. From key artists to strange concepts and beyond, prepare to see ambient in a whole new light

LLong Reads

22 minute read

Soft Cell: Cell Shock

byNeil Kulkarni

With ‘Non-Stop Erotic Cabaret’, their hugely influential 1981 debut album, Soft Cell brought sleazy lyrics and shady but infectious synth anthems to the mainstream. Marc Almond and Dave Ball reflect on art-school aesthetics, punk electronics, and the controversies that fuelled their speedy rise

LLong Reads

9 minute read

Andrew Weatherall: “I’m a sponge, I want to soak up everything”

byPush

The first interview with Andrew Weatherall outside of his role in the band Bocca Juniors, which was originally published in the UK weekly music paper Melody Maker on 17 August 1991