A brace of seasonal songs for your merriment, featuring electronic, pop, post-punk, and alternative artists.
Alphakenny-1 – Christmas Time in the Mountains
https://on.soundcloud.com/o4HYFe4rUmBxjyjV7J
Shot by Krichan Wihlborg
Is this really only the first year of the Trump administration? It feels like a lifetime has passed since the Cheeto Mussolini and his cabal of white supremacist billionaires retook the reigns of the Empire. On the Rebel side, there has been organisation against the racism, cruelty, and murderous intent of Trump, including some of the largest street demonstrations since the Vietnam War. We are entitled to ask of artists: in the face of this threat – which is playing out in many countries in different forms – what have you done?
Music can inspire and motivate. It can also divert and intoxicate. The response of some artists to the pressures put upon them has been to protect their careers and strangle the words in their throats. Others have valued their principles and humanity more than the ability to earn a few dollars.
The SXSW festival experienced unprecedented cancellations by artists who were unhappy about its connections to the arms industry. The London version of the event experienced resistance from artists who objected to it platforming the odious British war criminal, Tony Blair.
In Europe, Zanias took a courageous stand against the Amphi Festival when they threatened to censor her support for the cause of peace in the Middle East. Instead of bowing to their demand for silence, she acted with great integrity and said, “No!”
It will take more Zanias’ to effect change, but the crisis in music is part of the wider economic and political crisis affecting the whole world. When Spotify is reducing musicians to digital serfs, while its executives ally with the arms industry, who can afford to remain aloof? When the planet is being permanently polluted, who can be sanguine?
There are lost souls in the music scene who champion racism and misogyny, acting as cheerleaders for Tommy Robinson and Elon Musk. There are also voices raised to defend human rights and turn the tide against the brutality of the Trumps and Faragists. Assemblage 23 and Twice a Man are examples of the latter – and their output is significantly higher quality than the Depeche Mode imitators who seem to dominate the former camp.
There are people who demand that artists be silent about politics. These are the fools who complain about Heaven 17 reissuing “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang.” They brey to be entertained and soothed, as if the world’s problems can be solved by shouting over an Oasis concert while downing six pints of lager. Call that what you like, but don’t call it culture.
We’ve been here before. As Brecht wrote for a previous generation:
The demand of the times is not to stop writing love songs. It is to remember that love can encompass humanity, freedom, ecology, and peace. They are all under threat, and music has a role in the resistance. In a world threatened by the malign influence of the Empire, be a Rebel.
This year, we lost Douglas McCarthy (Nitzer Ebb), Steve Luscombe (Blancmange, East India Company), Dave Ball (Soft Cell, The Grid), Clem Burke (Blondie), and Mani (Stone Roses). This is your annual reminder to show your appreciation for artists while they are still with us.
25. Test Dept – Industrial Overture
The original politicised metal-bashers have mined the archives for a 4-CD collection, encompassing 40 live and studio tracks from the period, 1982-1985. Their vitality jumps from the bitstream with Stakhanovite efficiency.
24. Assemblage 23 – Overthrow
It’s been a good five years, but Tom Shear brought back Assemblage 23 with a set of energetic, body-moving tracks and messages shaped by the sharp divisions in American politics.
As Shear told ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK in a recent interview:
I’d say it’s in the ultra-wealthy’s best interests if we are fighting about something else rather than they are robbing everybody… the poor are getting poorer, the rich are getting richer… we are now seeing obscene wealth, like more money than anyone needs! I feel there are issues to deal with in immigration and racism but at the end of the day, those are tools being used by people who want to keep their way of life… it is greed at the end of the day!
23. Greenhaus feat. Dave Baker – Weightless
One of the surprises of the year was Dave Baker‘s turn at the mic with Greenhaus. He contributed to a number of songs, taking a break from his Lonelyklown project. Plaintive and poignant, the material had the emotional heft that Lily Allen only wishes she could offer.
22. Die Sexual – Desire
The Fabulous Florianos, Anton and Rossellini, return with more dark-electro deliciousness. Leave your crypt to dance and be seduced by the nocturnal offerings of Die Sexual.
21. Rohn-Lederman – Forbidden Planet
Emileigh Rohn and Jean-Marc Lederman paired up again for a moody, synth-driven album that doesn’t always resolve into melody or comfort. Forbidden Planet feels like drifting through synthetic spaces. It is unsettled and introspective – one to listen to while repairing your space station.
20. Thunder Bae – Mirage (All the Best)
The German songstress, Thunder Bae, stepped out with a sleek and minimal track that us dark but danceable. It doesn’t hit you over the head with Berghain beats – it seeps under your skin.
19. Anna von Hausswolff – Iconoclasts
Chased away from a French venue by Catholic fundamentalists, Anna von Hausswolff didn’t let anyone keep her from playing organ. The show must go on.
With this year’s Iconoclasts album, von Hausswolff gives the religious fanatics another kicking. The drones, organ, and expressive vocal treatments make for an unsettling experience that will have them clutching their rosaries even tighter.
18. Cosey Fanni Tutti – 2t2
The irrepressible Cosey Fanni Tutti took some time away from writing books and scoring films to release an unbelievable solo album. The follow-up to her pre-pandemic record, TUTTI, 2t2 is invested with an emotional rawness and technical sophistication that few can match.
As we said in our review:
The layers are assembled with the technical skills and trade secrets that come from a half-century of experimentation, but the artistic quality is like nothing else on the scene.
17. Lau Nau and Sontag Shogun – Päiväkahvit
The prolific Lau Nau had two albums this year that warranted attention. She is currently touring her jazz album with Jonah Parzen-Johnson, which is excellent, but we were captivated by this work with Sontag Shogun. We love the Finnish composer and musician’s voice and delicate treatment of sounds, which is really like no other.
16. echoGenetic – Live in Chemnitz
Gareth Jones‘ experimental project, echoGenetic, had a rare outing in Germany for the MachineMan Festival. It quickly found its way to Bandcamp, as a teaser for an album coming in January 2026.
The performance unfolds as a shifting terrain of modular electronics: gritty pulses, corrosive noise, and dark ambient washes. In its immediacy, the release feels like a broadcast from the fringes of experimental sound – visceral, unpolished, and more alive for it.
15. Propaganda – A Secret Sense of Rhythm, A Secret Sense of Sin/Remix Encounters
Propaganda were the most majestic of 80s artists; their compositions a head above their rivals in the charts. A 6-CD box set, curated by Ian Peel, serves as their Collected Works from the ZTT era. Collectors will aready have most of the tracks, but who is complaining at getting them in one place?
The band also revealed a set of remixes of tracks from last year’s magnificent, eponymous comeback album. Rhys Fulber, Moby, and Pyrolator are among the artists who took a turn at playing with the material.
14. Twice a Man – The Coloured Breeze Is a New Dimension
The legendary Swedish artists return to express their concerns about the ravaging of the environment. We said:
As usual, the band makes great use of textures. As you listen to the album, you can find layers in the mix that demonstrate a subtlety that most of their peers lack. The naturalism of the material is combined with abstractions and sonic designs that imbue it with a warmth that is missing from a lot of electronic music. The Coloured Breeze… is an immensely human record with a humanistic message. To borrow from Brecht, again: “Change the world – it needs it.”
13. White Birches – A New Reign
The return of White Birches is more than welcome. A New Reign is a brooding, austere effort. The Swedish warm-wave duo wrap heavy bass and precise electronic percussion around icy synths and melancholic melodies. Vocalist Jenny Gabrielsson Mare delivers the material with a fragile touch, giving the songs a haunting air. The result is a set that leaves a lingering resonance.
12. I Satellite – Streamline
From Kalamazoo, where they make guitars, comes this eclectic and retro-sounding album from I Satellite. The material was created ages ago, using authentic analogue equipment (and no guitars!), but not assembled into album format until this year. Good things come to those who wait.
11. LIKK – Don’t Lie
Toril Lindqvist (Le Volt, Alice in Videoland) sounds angry. Really angry. This is a great, hard-edged dance track, with a strong message for someone who is in a whole heap of trouble.
10. Fragile Self – OCD
The packaging for the edition of OCD we received was too beautiful to open. That should not be surprising, coming from the duo of Anil Aykan and Jonathan Barnbrook.
What was surprising was how infectious the material was. Like the ticking of Poe’s heart, the sound stays with you even when the speakers are silent.
9. Zanias – Cataclysm
Zanias’ Cataclysm lands with razor-sharp emotional clarity. It is one of Zanias’ most fully-realized works: atmospheric, cathartic, and unafraid to stare directly into the storm.
It’s also a work of consciousness and conscience. As Zanias told White Light//White Heat:
I feel a strong responsibility to contribute something to the somewhat dwindling supply of hope in the world. In dark times like these, it’s so important for us to step up and play whatever role we can in changing things for the better, and artists have far more power than most of my peers realise. We are the creators of culture, and culture is a primary influence on behaviour. If we can create a culture that is hopeful, just and compassionate, then humanity might stand a chance of surviving the meta-crisis it has constructed for itself.
8. Psyche – Dance After Curfew
Born in Canada and tranferred to Europe, Psyche was inspired by the theatrics of Fad Gadget, the torch song flair of Soft Cell, and the horror film stylings of Nash the Slash. The bandaged alter ego of Toronto musician Jeff Plewman was a one-man band who played thrash with an electrified mandolin and hacked rhythm machines in unsettling ways.
To mark the launch of the documentary, Nash the Slash Rises Again, Psyche had a go at one of the great Torontanian’s dancefloor classics.
7. Die Krupps – Will nicht – MUSS! SINGLE OF THE YEAR
The end of Front 242 and the loss of DAF’s Gabil Delgado has left Die Krupps to carry the baton for the first generation of EBM acts. Their 2025 tour was a stormer, and the release of this thundering track proves that there is still creative fuel in the tank.
6. Covenant – Andreas EP OF THE YEAR
The five-track Andreas EP, conceived by Covenant as a tribute to their late bandmate, Andreas Catjar‑Danielsson, is a thoughtful reckoning with grief and memory. From the sparse, echoing cover of Lee Hazlewood’s “A Rider on a White Horse” to a mournful reinterpretation of Yazoo’s “Winter Kills,” the material has emotional weight from Catjar-Danielsson’s own contributions.
The recordings were laid down by the late keyboardist and guitarist alongside singer/producer Eskil Simonsson, and the tracks include songs Catjar-Danielsson co-wrote or championed. That fact turns the EP from a eulogy into a final statement: a farewell not just for the man, but his last creative voice with the band. The result is deeply human – and more powerful for refusing to dress up sorrow as anything else.
5. Mark Stewart – The Fateful Symmetry
The loss of Mark Stewart in 2024 was keenly felt. The big man was a potent voice against the Establishment and all of its trappings. The album he left behind, which Mute put out this year, was more sensitive and poignant than much of his earlier work; and Stewart’s rage came across more balanced and pointed. His words will ring in the ears of the last Emperor.
4. Emmon – ICON
The arrival of a new Emmon album was always going to be welcome; but, to borrow a line from Michael Caine, we only expected it to blow the bloody doors off. Instead, ICON came as a blast that cleared the ground with its rhythms, Some Great Reward soundscape, and stylish Emma Nylén vocals.
3. Kite – Kite on Ice
After the Royal Opera, with a 16-piece orchestra, and the Avicii Arena, with a legion of figure skaters, what spectacle can Kite offer next? Kite in Space?
The Swedish duo took over the hockey arena in Stockholm, earlier this year, for the most dynamic electronic music performance we have ever seen. The Pet Shop boys have costumes, and Jean-Michel Jarre has lights, but Kite went further with Nina Persson, Anna von Hausswolff, an array of video boxes, and dancing Zambonis.
The recording of the show is only one part of a multimedia campaign that includes a film and a book. The music is glorious and evocative; and, really, Kite deserve much more attention outside of their homeland.
1. Edvard Graham Lewis – Alreet? ALBUM OF THE YEAR (TIED)
We have two albums tied for first place this year. Graham Lewis‘ solo record, Alreet?, easily claims its position as a spectacular of sound design and leftfield pop. As we wrote in our original review:
The album opens with a swelling guitar tone and the observation, “You will not pass this way again.” Geography and grooves combine in “Kinds of Whether” with emphatic richness; fused by word play and rhythmic sensitivity. Pity Trent Reznor that he never managed to bottle the lightning of He Said the way he wanted. It shines from this vessel very brightly.
1. Page – Inget motstånd ALBUM OF THE YEAR (TIED)
Conny Plank might not have seen this coming, but Sweden’s Page pivoted, this year, towards the Krautrock sound he shaped in his kitchen. Inget motstånd [EN: No Resistor or No Resistance] is a circuit activated with the charges of Neu!, Harmonia, and even Kraftwerk. It is significant that Plank also worked with Ultravox, who have exerted a large influence on Eddie Bengtsson‘s stylistic choices for recent albums.
This album is pure Page with a Teutonic vibe. It deserves its place at the top of the chart because it is infectious and melodious; drawing inspiration from Moebius and Rodelius. A modern classic.
Bernard Sumner never planned to sing for New Order. As a young man, he wanted to play guitar in his band, Joy Division. That was going well, until frontman Ian Curtis did something unthinkable to the sounds of an Iggy Pop record. Sumner found himself thrust into the spotlight; shouldering Curtis’ legacy while creating new music with a group of similarly anarchic Mancunians.
Truth is, Sumner grew into the role just fine. He relied heavily on intoxicating substances to get him through the first few decades, but his songwriting and studio skills delivered a string of hits. He also worked with fellow Factory Records artists and mates from the industry to create innovative dancefloor material. Barney, as he was known, turned out to be able to program a computer and compose the perfect rhyme. No wonder he ended up with him from the Pet Shop Boys and Johnny Marr, who had the inclination and the time. Together, they made lots of money.
The relationship that didn’t survive was the one with his prickly frenemy, bassist Peter Hook. The Sumner-Hook axis was at the core of Joy Division and New Order, but resentments, jealousies, pettiness, and drugs eventually led to Hook being nudged away from New Order and Sumner consolidating the band around his own vision.
What followed was The Battle of New Order Biographies, as Sumner and Hook traded blows through the promotion of competing narratives. The picture that emerged was of two Salford lads trying to get one up on the other, while living rock star lifestyles under the watchful eye of their coke-crazed manager. The fact that they lost enormous sums to fund the hobbies of Rob Gretton is something both resent but also shrug off. The main thing was that they had fun.
10. Joy Division – Digital
The band that was Warsaw (sometimes billed as Stiff Kittens) and became Joy Division was unique. Inspired by the Sex Pistols, they quickly transcended punk to create two magical albums that gleamed like cat’s eyes in the greyness of 1970s Lancashire.
Sumner’s contributions sound primitive today – as, to be fair, do those of the other members of the band. The one thing they knew was that they didn’t want to go to work in offices. Music was their way to escape that fate, as well as a great way to meet girls. Ian Curtis summoned the courage to tell off Tony Wilson to his face, and what happened next has spawned a million t-shirts.
9. New Order – Everything’s Gone Green
Martin Hannett was regarded as a bit of a genius, as a recording engineer, but he was also hard work. The sound of Joy Division was sculpted by his techniques, but the members of the band were subjected to random acts of cruelty in the studio. There came a point where, following the loss of Curtis and the reconstitution of the group, New Order gathered the strength to move in a new direction.
“Everything’s Gone Green” is the band in transition from post-punk gloom to euphoric pop. It is also the sound of them outgrowing their producer. It was the last single they recorded with Hannett, and it is strikingly modern. From the stutter of Sumner’s home-made synths to the whoop as ice was put down his shirt, this is New Order emerging from their chrysalis. After this single, nothing would be the same.
8. 52nd Street – Cool as Ice
Sumner’s skills as a composer and producer have often been outshone by his role as New Order’s lead singer. He has worked with a number of artists to craft iconic electronic music, outside of the band, under his own name and as Be Music.
52nd Street were fellow Factory Records artists. Rob Gretton, a Factory partner and New Order’s manager, put Sumner together with the group to give an electronic sheen to their soul. It worked.
7. Section 25 – Looking from a Hilltop
Section 25 was another fellow Manchester outfit, sharing space on Factory Records. Sumner leaned in to help with this track when – as he tells the story – the engineer didn’t show on time for their session. The result was a dancefloor-enhanced version of the band, lifted by Sumner’s growing confidence as a producer.
6. Electronic – Getting Away with It
Sumner’s interest in programming sequencers didn’t catch on with the other members of New Order. In 1988, he turned to Johnny Marr of The Smiths to work on a dance music side project. This was the first result of their collaboration, Electronic, which turned into a supergroup with the addition of, variously, Neil Tennant from the Pet Shop Boys and Karl Bartos, the ex-Kraftwerk composer.
5. Happy Mondays – Freaky Dancin’
Sumner got his hands dirty working with Happy Mondays. The band famously rescued his Chinese take-away from the bin, when Sumner was finished with it. You can kind of tell from this track.
3. Bad Lieutenant – Sink or Swim
Named for the film starring Harvey Keitel, Bad Lieutenant was another of Sumner’s side projects. It drew in guitarists Phil Cunningham and Jake Evans. It functioned as a surrogate New Order, in some contexts, also involving drummer Stephen Morris and bassist Tom Chapman.
2. Shark Vegas – You Hurt Me
An evolution of Die Unbekannten, Mark Reeder’s subversive project was remixed by Sumner from the tapes originally recorded at Conny’s Studio. Notably, Reeder is the only person who appears in photographs alongside New Order in biographies by both Sumner and Peter Hook.
1. New Order – Atmosphere
Written while a argument was raging between Martin Hannett and the Cargo Studios manager, Atmosphere is Joy Division’s most sublime creation. Sumner sings it here, out of necessity and love – the two qualities he brings to music like few other.
Armed with a soldering iron and a stack of ABBA singles, Chris Carter became one of the founders of Industrial Records, a member of Throbbing Gristle, and an innovator who has explored the extremities of sound. His legacy includes a music genre, a novel effects unit, and a body of work that is uniquely evocative.
Carter trained as a sound technician with various TV companies before joining TG. This practical experience gave him a foundation as a tinkerer and an income to purchase synthesisers and drum machines, which became his instrument of choice. One of Carter’s most famous creations was the Gristleizer, which processed sounds for TG on stage and in the studio.
When TG terminated its mission, Carter and Cosey Fanni Tutti established themselves as a household and an act. The bedrock of the Chris & Cosey sound was the electronic pattern generation that Carter had developed for TG, fused with Cosey’s sensual vocals. The love affair between the duo provided inspiration, alongside the horror films and tabloid sensations that fed the industrial genre. They also launched a label (Conspiracy International) to release their own works and collaborations, and sometimes presented themselves as The Creative Technology Institute.
C&C became Carter Tutti in the early 2000s, as the pair started to revisit and reinterpret their original works. New ideas and new technologies allowed them to pull apart their songs and reassemble them. At the same time, they found space to work on their own material. For Carter, that included a collaboration with Ian Boddy, the Small Moon EP, and the album, Chris Carter’s Chemistry Lessons, Volume 1.
Carter remains an in-demand remixer, having reworked songs for Erasure, S’Express, Lone Swordsman, Chris Liebing, and Factory Floor. He has also worked on the development of unique synth modules for Future Sound Systems. These include a Eurorack version of the Gristleizer, which allows owners to become “wreckers of civilisation” at home.
10. Throbbing Gristle – Adrenalin
With songs like “United” and “Hot on the Wheels of Love,” Throbbing Gristle were able to demonstrate serious electronic credentials. Although known best for putting into practice the slogan, “entertainment through pain,” the band were able to leverage Carter’s synth skills for sweet instrumentals and “Tesco disco” tracks.
Paired with “Distant Dreams (Part Two),” the “Adrenalin” single featured the modular and home-made kit that Carter had assembled in the band’s Hackney studio.
9. Throbbing Gristle – AB/7A
Carter’s love of ABBA is well-documented. It wasn’t through irony that he crafted this homage for the 1978 album, DOA.
8. Chris & Cosey – Just Like You
Throbbing Gristle contained the seeds of its own destruction. Like the Smurfs, there was only one female character, and her affections were reserved for Chris. That was an issue for the Genesis P-Orridge, with whom Cosey had been entangled from pre-TG days. A split occurred and the couple emerged as Chris & Cosey.
The first C&C album marked a change in direction. Without the baggage and compromised compromises of TG, Carter was able to give full throat to his synths. The result was a screaming, energetic sense of release.
7. Chris & Cosey – Mary
The European Rendezvous album captured Chris & Cosey playing live during their 1983 tour.
6. Chris Carter – Beat
Originally released as a cassette on TG’s Industrial Records label, Carter’s first solo album, The Space Between, included this excellent track.
5. Carter Tutti – Retrodect
The original version was released as a bonus track on the US version of the “Synaesthesia” single and the cassette edition. This take was included on the Carter Tutti Play Chris & Cosey album, released in 2016. One of the features of Chris & Cosey’s work has been the enthusiasm with which they return to their own material to dissect and rearrange it into new creations.
4. Erasure – Reason (Carter Tutti Remix)
Carter’s touch is sought after by electronic music artists for a twist on commerciality. Carter Tutti have done two remixes for Mute stalwarts, Erasure – the other being a take on “SOS” for the latter’s album, ABBA-esque.
3. Carter Tutti Void – V2
The Short Circuit Festival in 2011, celebrating Mute, provided the setting for a live collaboration between Carter Tutti and Nik Colk Void. The recordings were issued the following year as Transverse. Carter oversaw the technical side of the show, which maintained a balance between the three artists on a knife-edge.
2. Ian Boddy & Chris Carter – Caged
In 2000, Carter worked with British synthesist, Ian Boddy, on a set of songs that were cast as “proto-dub.” The album is being reissused by Mute imprint, The Grey Area, in a 25th anniversary edition with additiomal material.
1. Chris Carter – Moonlight
The romantic side of Carter’s work is essential to its force. Is it linked to his admiration for ABBA? Hard to tell, but Benny and Björn never got sounds from their synths like this.
These fabulous shots of Karin My, shot by Ola “Merchmannen” Josefsson (@merchmannen), capture the beauty and grace of Sweden’s secret weapon. Taken at a rare live appearance – this summer’s Synth i Molkom music festival – the images find the talented multi-instrumentalist and vocalist completely engaged with her audience.
The annual Subkult festival is an important event in the Swedish alternative music calendar. Krichan Wihlborg took his Leica along to this year’s event and returned with images from some of the scene’s biggest stars. The set includes Covenant, Spetsnaz, and Emmon.
Tomma Intet
Hatari
Kårp
Suicide Commando
Suicide Commando
Tomma Intet
Tomma Intet
Karin Park
Karin Park
Karin Park
Karin Park
Selofan
Camouflage
Camouflage
Camouflage
Covenant
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz
img_0816-1
Suicide Commando
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz
Spetsnaz
Selofan
Selofan
Rotersand
Rotersand
Selofan
Coppia
Rotersand
Rotersand
Emmon
Covenant
Coppia
Coppia
Coppia
Covenant
There were many good reads in 2024. These are the books that we chose to end the year with.
Electronic Body Music by Yuma Hampejs and Marcel Schulze
EBM needs no explanation for consistent readers of Cold War Night Life. For newcomers, it can be thought of as the mutation of disco into jagged beats and bass lines, merged with the aggression of punk.
There were hints of it in the works of Giorgio Moroder and Cerrone; nudged by the nature of 8-step sequencers into harder rhythms suitable for the dancefloor. The next steps were taken by those nice young men from Dusseldorf, Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft. True punks, they abandoned guitars for an MS20 and turned their sexual energy into a combination of grooves and growls that set the template for a new genre.
Yuma Hampejs and Marcel Schulze pick up the story at this point, describing the development of EBM and its influence around the world. Previously released in German, their book is now available to an international audience in English. Inspired by Bengt Rahm’s bible of Swedish poptronica, Den svenska synthen, it is a compendium of acts, large and small, who have made an impression on the scene.
With scores of photos by some of our favourite photographers, including Krichan Wihlborg and Jens Atterstrand, Electronic Body Music is a vital and thorough chronicle of a key subculture.
Fear of Music by David Stubbs
The core question posed by David Stubbs is why modern music provokes strong, negative reactions in people who admire modern visual arts. While a Rothko might draw sighs, a performance of Stockhausen might draw moans. Stubbs wants to understand why one is celebrated while another is derided, despite the conceptual similarities and even cross-overs between the different forms of expression.
Along the way, he traces the development of modern music, from Schoenberg to David Toop, and AMM to Aphex Twin. The influence of what used to be called New Music on pop music, including The Beatles and Pink Floyd, is evident; but why are experimental composers treated with disdain? The answer rather depends in who is making the criticism and the grounds for it.
Cornelius Cardew – himself a sometime member of the improv group, AMM – famously attacked Stockhausen from a Marxist position. In Stockhausen Serves Imperialism, a collection of writings setting avant-garde politics against avant-garde music, Cardew led the charge on the German composer. A former student of Stockhausen, Cardew took issue with his mystical methods and politically palliative intentions. Instead of fanning the flames of protest, Stockhausen appeared to him as a firefighter against the consciousness of the musical elite. The book was Cardew’s counterpunch.
To some extent, Cardew’s approach was influenced by the Maoist politics of the day. In 1974, a strident rejection of the past (even the near past) was consonant with the Cultural Revolution in China. The movement against the Vietnam War and the rise of national liberation movements provided part of the backdrop against which Stockhausen’s work could be evaluated. For composers inspired to “serve the people,” Stockhausen’s creations were both inadequate and inappropriate.
The other main tendency of criticism of Stockhausen is rooted in conservatism. The Tory newspapers were happy to print cartoons satirising his music, because it departed from the conventions of the past. Just as jazz and rock music were frowned upon by older generations, the use of electronics and unconventional notation provoked those unhappy with change. Their resort to (weak) humour could raise a smile only among the most philistine readers.
In reviewing the dialectic between modern art and modern music, Stubbs teases out the differences in the markets for, eg, framed Basquiats and Neubauten records. That they should be judged according to market criteria is a wonder; but possession, as they say, is nine tenths of the law. The former can be clearly owned, while the latter ends up as data in a huge pile at the end of the Spotify app.
This book raises as many questions as it answers – and it ends on one. The discussion hurtles from one end of your record collection to the other. Even if Stubbs doesn’t settle the matter definitively, the debate is made richer by the reading.
Strange Things Are Happening by Richard Norris
One of the hazards of having a musical career that crossed paths with Genesis P-Orridge is that it lives in the shadow of his ego. Another is that Genesis will have stolen your work, presented it to the world as his own, and then refused to let you have the royalties.
Richard Norris (The Grid, Beyond the Wizard’s Sleeve) survived the first of these. The second – wouldn’t you know it – stung him, as it has so many others.
There really should be a support group for the victims of Genesis’ drive-by lootings of intellectual property. Among the stories will be how he was present at the delivery of acid house and tried to put his name on the birth certificate. Norris is in the best position to recount it, and he does so here with humour and grace.
Other stories include anecdotes involving Joe Strummer, Rick Rubin, Damian Albarn, and Sky Saxon. Most people would be hard-pressed to pick Norris out of a line-up, but he has crossed paths and worked with some of the biggest names in music. Crucially, despite the presence of many things in his bloodstream, he has met every situation head-on.
Electricity and Ghosts by John Foxx
John Foxx first came to public attention as the punk who fronted Ultravox! (while they still had the exclamation mark). He went on to release Metamatic – the album Gary Numan dreamed about when he slept. More music followed, but part of Foxx’s joy came from creating the cover art for his recordings.
Electricity and Ghosts: The Visual Art of John Foxx collects many of Foxx’s graphic works for the first time. Designed with Jonathan Barnbrook, who has worked on packaging for John Foxx & The Maths, it is a reminder of the multiple dimensions that Foxx has inhabited since art school. As a maker of plastic art, collages, and film, Foxx was never going to be content to focus on only one medium.
Foxx’s work as a book designer for major imprints is lesser-known, but it has been staring out from shelves since the mid-90s. His use of Shreddies cereal on the cover art for “Endlessly” emerges as a previously obscure detail. His notebook sketches are shown for the first time. We might never see Foxx singing in concert again; but, with this book, his position as a total artist is reinforced.
Got your Oasis tickets? In the words of Gwyneth Paltrow, we wish you well. The idea of watching the Gallagher brothers from the back of a playing field, while Kangol-clad accountants shout their conversations over the music, screams of disappointment.
Never mind that the tickets cost a bleeding fortune at face value – Live Nation and Ticketmaster deployed their anti-consumer “dynamic pricing” systems to gouge punters to the maximum. Having been mugged by the entertainment monopoly, the shouty men in bucket hats and zipped-up parkas, rolling their shoulders with cocaine-fuelled intensity, will want their money’s worth of barging and spilling their beer. After long hours of throwing bottles of piss over the crowd, they will drive their Range Rovers, Volvos, and Teslas through the night with after-market LEDs lighting their ways with the intensity of a thousand suns.
Such is the state of the mainstream music industry at the end of 2024.
If there is hope, it comes from the independents. In our end-of-year list, many of the artists – even some of the bigger names – are self-releasing. Others are on smaller labels that curate rather than commercialise. Streaming services have eaten into the minimal returns that long-standing artists used to see. The Live Nation monopoly has sucked the oxygen out of performing, and even smaller venues are trying to claim a cut of merch sales. The economics of music are as bad as they have ever been. Our thanks, therefore, to the artists who continue to share their work despite the investment and the challenges of getting heard.
We are also grateful for the contributions of the artists we lost during 2024. The world of photography is much poorer without Brian Griffin. The drums of Keith Leblanc have gone silent, but his mark has been left all over modern music. Andreas Catjar-Danielsson was known for his work with Abu Nein and Covenant, but his solo pieces were wrought with sensitivity. Steve Albini, Françoise Hardy, and Quincy Jones are other figures who changed the face of music before shuffling off this mortal coil.
There is a message here for those of us who remain: Remember to show appreciation to artists while they are still alive. Even Our Kid, if you must.
24. 20Hz – Sprawl
We really enjoyed this album from Sweden’s 20Hz. With a contribution from the country’s secret weapon, Karin My, it was a creative accomplishment.
23. Sofi Bonde – Fight for Your Life
Sweden’s Sofi Bonde became a wellness podcaster on Youtube in 2024 but she also found time to record and release an album of solid pop-rock. The music is the message.
22. Cosmic Overdose – En av dom (81-24)
Originally released in 1981, this track was re-recorded in 2024. The Swedish group turned into Twice a Man, at the prompting of New Order’s promoter. This year, they rewound the clock to show off their dadaist credentials.
21. Simon Fisher Turner – Instability of the Signal
SFT turned 70 this year. The release of Instability of the Signal serves as a reminder of his deft touch.
20. Delerium – In the Deep (Clan of Xymox Remix)
Clan of Xymox have provided this remix of a track from Delerium with Kanga on vocals. It’s a nice combination of inputs.
19. Sunroof – Conspiracies
The duo of Daniel Miller and Gareth Jones have returned with more excellent material derived from their modular kits and improvised interactions. Each of their Electronic Music Improvisations albums contains powerful extracts from the flow of electricity and ideas between the best of friends. This is lifted from volume 3.
18. Kite – VII
Kite on Ice is coming up quickly, for those who like to combine electro-ballads and synchronised figure skating. In the meantime, the Stockholm-based duo have collected their recent singles as a reminder of the power and diversity of their output.
17. Psyche – Future Memories
Psyche left Canada because the country was crammed full of horrorist electro-industrial acts. Moving to Europe gave them space to expand outside of Skinny Puppy’s shadow. This live album shows why this should never have been a concern. Psyche’s sound and soul are conpletely unique.
16. Ooo Eee Ooo – Dream Mixes
Dave Baker (Komputer, I Start Counting, Fortran 5) is the mover behind Ooo Eee Ooo. This album of remixes breathed new life into the material, which was already essential for collectors.
15. Lejonhjärta – Save Me
The Swedish post-punk act, Lejonhjärta, returned this year with a sound that leaned more heavily towards electronics. They also invested in this fabulous video.
14. Die Sexual – Electric
The American duo have revived the harder dark wave sound for fetishists and the underground dancefloor. This EP is really rather good, as the English might say.
13. Lewis Spybey – Lewis Spybey
This collaboration between Graham Lewis (Wire, He Said) and Mark Spybey (Zoviet France) is an experimental interchange of note.
12. Llynks – Without Cause
The outsiders are the keepers of the electronic flame. Llynks continue to nurture its light with this outstanding track.
11. Nina Belief – Siren of Silence
The US seemed to miss out on the first wave of alternative electronics, apart from Devo, Our Daughter’s Wedding, and a few, scattered acts. Nice to have them back in the game. As Nina Belief’s recent material shows, it’s not all Beyoncé and Maroon 5 on that side of the water.
10. Silent Em – Institution
The genius of Silent EM is sadly under-appreciated. This release reveals that the quality of his material has not been diminished by the chaos of his home country or the passing of time.
9. M:ONITOR – M:OVEMENT
M:onitor is a kind of Swedish supergroup of industrial musicians. Their sole recording is of a performance in a Skånian record shop. It is lovely stuff, and we look forward to an ironic tour t-shirt. We wear XXL.
8. Throbbing Gristle – Scabs & Saws
Taken from the TG archives to help promote a box set, this track confirmed the power of the original Industrial artists.
7. Laibach – Geburt einer Nation (Rico Conning’s Inner Ear RMX 2024)
The Slovenian art collective had a busy year, but the track we liked best was this rework by their sometime producer, Rico Conning.
6. Minuit Machine – Hold Me
Just as the year ran out, France’s Minuit Machine returned with a brilliant single that struck just the right balance between poptronica and dark electronics.
5. Bill Leeb – Model Kollapse
The first solo album from Front Line Assembly vocalist, Bill Leeb, shows off both his roots in hard electronics and pop leanings. He has always had a foot in each camp; but, with Model Kollapse, Leeb brings them (and some friends) together in a stand-out way.
4. William Orbit – WFO
If you love something, set it free. Billy couldn’t wait for a big label to sort out his new solo album, so he released it to world on Bandcamp. It pumps and glides, in just the right places.
3. Propaganda – Propaganda ALBUM OF THE YEAR
The return of Propaganda was a long time in the making, but its sound didn’t stand still. Distilled to the musical duo of Mertens and Dörper, with vocal help from Thunder Bae, the act showed its capabilities have not been diminished by time.
2. Julian & Marina – & EP OF THE YEAR
We were impressed by this magnificent collection of songs from Julian Brandt and Marina Schiptjenko. Elegant, dreamy, and romantic, they kept the spirit of the Riviera alive.
1. Page – Frusen SINGLE OF THE YEAR
Sweden’s poptronica pioneers, Page, offered up “Frusen” as an exemplary single. With a contribution from Rrussell Bell (Gary Numan, Dramatis), you could feel the genuine spirit of 1979: indie as anything, but pointing to the future.
Belgium’s godfathers of EBM, Front 242, are on their farewell tour. On their stop in Gothenburg, Sweden, master photographer Krichan Wihlborg shot them, along with their support act, REIN.
