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ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2024

13 December 2024 /

Streaming has made music more accessible to people than at any time previously in the music industry’s history.

With traction of new music now very dependent on social media, many artists are playing the algorithm with single songs rather than bodies of work such as EP and albums which are now almost an afterthought.

While ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK has always done end of year summaries around songs rather than albums, as they can best represent an annual period, the release strategy adopted by some proved frustrating for listeners. As a result, with everything now democratised and so much choice available following seemingly random patterns, promising new acts found it much harder to get noticed than 10 years ago and simply fell into the cracks of the web.

In 2024, there were albums released where 90 to 100% of the content comprised of previously released material; while the albums made sense as a journey in most cases, during the build-up, what used to be considered traditional “album tracks” were being issued as underwhelming singles that may have disappointed when listened to out of context from the main programme. Whereas the rant in the past with the plethora of different remixes available might have been “JUST GIVE ME THE VERSION THEY GOT RIGHT!”, today it is more likely to be “JUST GIVE ME THE BLOODY ALBUM!”

Then there were artists who only seemed to release single tracks with no EP or album likely, so unless a consumer had the time or the inclination to become a dedicated follower, it could be quite difficult to follow what was going on. Yes, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK may be stuck in the past as it is often accused of doing, but it simply does not embrace this bitty fragmented approach!

A straightforward list to compile, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 30 SONGS OF 2024 gathers tracks available on the usual online retail platforms with a restriction of one song per artist moniker and placed in alphabetical order…

BRIGITTE BARDINI Crush

Hailing from Melbourne in Australia, Brigitte Bardini is another artist to embrace her dark side having begun as an acoustic singer songwriter. Her first venture into the dark side came with the shady gothic techno of 2023’s ‘Start A Fire’. But ‘Crush’ was more ethereal, a dreamy melancholic number expressing some bittersweet heartache where “I’ll forget about you, if you want me to”. But despite a desire to hold on, it really is all over…

Available on the BRIGITTE BARDINI single ‘Crush’ via https://brigittebardini.bandcamp.com/track/crush

https://www.facebook.com/BrigitteBardiniMusic

CHARLIE Let Go

Not to be confused with the classic 1984 Italo disco track ‘Spacer Woman’ but no doubt in homage, ‘Spacewoman’ was the new EP by Berlin-domiciled DJ, musician and producer Leona Jacewska, best known by her stage name CHARLIE. Its highlight was ‘Let Go’, a thumping strobe-lit slice of dark disco saw Chicago meeting Italy in hypnotic bliss. Tonally and rhythmically, it was a sexy and sweaty number that provided an exhilarating ride.

Available on the CHARLIE EP ‘Spacewoman’ via Wrong Era / Slow Motion

https://www.instagram.com/charlieszum/

CURSES Vanish

Berlin-based New Yorker Luca Venezia, better known as CURSES, joined the Italians Do It Better family in 2024. One of the highlights of the ‘Another Heaven’ album comes with the superb ‘Vanish’; this was CURSES’ own ‘Your Silent Face’ with its brightly bubbling sequencers and solemn demeanour. There was even a subtle ‘Heroes’ like quality about it as our hero declared to his love that he wanted to ”vanish with you”.

Available on the CURSES album ‘Another Heaven’ via Italians Do It Better

https://www.cursesforever.com/

MARIE DAVIDSON Sexy Clown

Embracing her inner clown, ‘Sexy Clown’ was a delightful slice of detached minimal synth disco from Montreal’s Marie Davidson. Off her new album ‘City of Clowns’ out in 2025 on SOULWAX’s label DeeWee, the song explored the conflicted feelings around her treatment as an outsider where vulnerability and mettle, candidness and humour struggled to co-exist in other people’s minds. But real life is all about contrasts!

Available on the MARIE DAVIDSON album ‘City Of Clowns’ via https://mariedavidson.bandcamp.com/album/city-of-clowns

https://www.marie-davidson.com/

DIE SEXUAL Need To Sin

From out of the shadows to under the strobe lights, DIE SEXUAL are the erotically charged Los Angeles-based duo of Anton Floriano and his wife Ros. Their second EP ‘Inservio’ developed on the themes of domination and submission of their debut EP ‘Bound’. With their penetrating club-friendly sound, ‘Need To Sin’ was conceived as a tantalizing roleplay of our seemingly innocent subject submitting to their ultimate desires and hedonistic fantasies.

Available on the DIE SEXUAL album ‘Elektro Body Musique’ via https://diesexual.bandcamp.com/

https://www.instagram.com/die_sexual/

DINA SUMMER Halkidiki

A product of Berlin, DINA SUMMER blend new wave, synthpop, dark disco, techno and Italo; although their EP ‘Hide & Seek’ embraced a cutting Mittel Europa edge, it was just a precursor to a new album ‘Girls Gang’ in 2025. Released ahead of it, ‘Halkidiki’ was an infectious electronic club tune made for sultry summery nights and named after the popular holidaying destination in Northern Greece know for its sandy beaches.

Available on the DINA SUMMER album ‘Girls Gang’ via https://dinasummer.bandcamp.com/album/girls-gang-idi021

https://dinasummer.berlin/

GAVIN FRIDAY Ecce Homo

With a long gestation period, the ‘Ecce Homo’ long player started as a collaboration between Gavin Friday and Dave Ball who had first produced his band VIRGIN PRUNES on the 1986 album ‘The Moon Looked Down & Laughed’. Combining elements of synth with post-punk, the title song itself was a wonderfully deathly slice of disco gothique that sounded like Ian McCulloch meeting SOFT CELL at Berghain given an extra chill by an opera soprano sample!

Available on the GAVIN FRIDAY album ‘Ecce Homo’ via BMG

https://www.gavinfriday.com/

HAUTE & FREDDY Anti-Superstar

North American glam glee duo Haute & Freddy have only had two songs released but they made an impression in 2024. While ‘Scantily Clad’ was an excellent debut, the best of the pair was ‘Anti-Superstar’, a superb slice of avant synthpop with a chunky driving electronic bass triplet. There was certainly a cool wonderment about their style, sound and theatrics, making them one of the most promising new acts of the year.

Available on the HAUTE & FREDDY single ‘Anti-Superstar’ via Even If

https://www.instagram.com/hauteandfreddy

HELIX Unimaginable Place

North America’s alternative music power couple Tom Shear of ASSEMBLAGE 23 and Mari Kattman returned as HELIX. Blessed with one of the most captivating voices in electronic music, Mari Kattman was on top form with ‘Unimaginable Place’, an infectious slice of electronic pop with sparkling hooks and groovy rhythmics. Tom Shear said “I prefer to make other people dance than to dance myself. If you’ve ever seen me perform live you know why! I can’t dance to save my life”

Available on the HELIX EP ‘Unimaginable Place’ via https://helix.bandcamp.com/https://helix.bandcamp.com/

https://www.facebook.com/HelixElectronic

GENEVA JACUZZI Dry

With a detached Eurocentric poise reminiscent of Gina X, Geneva Jacuzzi described her third album ‘Triple Fire’ “as a hit parade of wildcard synthpop and sly post-apocalyptic camp”. Brilliantly catchy, ‘Dry’ offered alluring danceable synthpop which went weirdly discordant halfway through. A commentary about dehumanisation, it highlighted the song’s lyrical gist about being ghosted following a date.

Available on the GENEVA JACUZZI album ‘Triple Fire’ via Dais Records

https://www.genevajacuzzi.com/

IONNALEE The End Of Every Song

Jonna Lee returned in 2024 as IONNALEE to the electronic sound she is best known for after 2022’s more organic IAMAMIWHOAMI record ‘Be Here Soon’. This third IONNALEE long player ‘Close Your Eyes’ had the twist of having a Swedish Language twin in ‘Blund’. ‘The End Of Every Song’ surprised with a thumping rhythm and a cacophony of chunky sequences and piercing electronics, the vocals sitting brilliantly like ABBA on helium in outer space!

Available on the IONNALEE album ‘Close Your Eyes’ via to whom it may concern

https://ionnalee.com/

ITALOCONNECTION Europa

In 2021, ITALOCONNECTION issued ‘Midnight Confessions Vol1’, a record themed around love. On ‘Vol2’, there was a twist; en Français using an AI generated female voice, ‘Europa’ paid homage to the art movements and machine music of the continent in a dramatic midtempo piece accompanied by synth passages that could be Jean-Michel Jarre. KRAFTWERK, TELEX, PET SHOP BOYS, PROPAGANDA and NEW ORDER were among those getting a name check.

Available on the ITALOCONNECTION album ‘Midnight Confessions Vol2’ via Bordello A Parigi

https://www.facebook.com/italoconnection

JAIN Nobody Knows

French singer Jeanne Louise Galice is more known for mixing pop with Afrobeat, but with an electronic energy and Moroder-esque throb, ‘Nobody Knows’ was very different from her previous work. With a similar lyrical disposition to Taylor Swift’s ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart’, where “Nobody Knows, it’s just the way I’m feeling tonight, I’ll keep on dancing, but I feel heavy-hearted”, underneath the glitterball splendour was deep sadness.

Available on the JAIN single ‘Nobody Knows’ via Spookland / Sony Music

https://www.instagram.com/jainmusic/

JULIA-SOPHIE Numb

The long awaited debut long player from Julia-Sophie entitled ‘forgive too slow’ was a contemplative body of work as reflecting on past relationships. Lead single ‘numb’ was a marvellous avant pop set piece over a subtle rhythmic rumble with a stark haunted monologue. But then things took a frantic about turn as sung and spoken passages alternated with the growing intensity. A concluding barrage of unsettling cut-up voices highlighted her resigned state of mind.

Available on the JULIA-SOPHIE album ‘forgive too slow’ via Ba Da Bing Records

https://www.facebook.com/juliasophiex0x

KALEIDA Stranger

It looked as though KALEIDA would disband due to the pressures of parenting and the shifting patterns of life. But Christina Wood and Cicely Goulder made their long distance creative partnership work again and their reward was a third album ‘In Arms’. The glorious ‘Stranger’ sprung a surprise with 808 electro dance rhythms and a superb collage of staccato voice samples, punchy bass and great vocals that came over in a prayer-like chant.

Available on the KALEIDA album ‘In Arms’ via Embassy One

https://www.kaleidamusic.com/

KID MOXIE Ti Einai Afto Pou To Lene Agapi

The Greek love song ‘Ti Einai Afto Pou To Lene Agapi’ was made famous when Sophia Loren sung it with Tonis Maroudas in the 1957 film ‘Boy On A Dolphin’. For 2024, KID MOXIE gave the song an emotive electronic arrangement that was both sweet and haunting. It was included in the soundtrack of the new season of Netflix drama series ‘Maestro In Blue’ which had been the first Greek television series to be included on the platform.

Available on the KID MOXIE single ‘Ti Einai Afto Pou To Lene Agapi’ via Minos EMI

https://www.facebook.com/kidmoxie/

KITE Glassy Eyes

Releasing their first EP in 2008, KITE finally released their first full-length studio album on the American independent label Dais Records. As their seventh body of work and following on from the numbered series of EPs, the appropriately titled ‘VII’ contains music from their seven most recent singles released over the past seven years. Like a slice of Nordic gospel, ‘Glassy Eyes’ confronts the turmoil of existential anxiety.

Available on the KITE album ‘VII’ via Dais Records

https://www.facebook.com/KiteHQ

LEATHERS Daydream Trash

While ACTORS have been gaining increased worldwide recognition, their keyboardist Shannon Hemmett has developed her more synth focussed solo project LEATHERS in parallel. Her long awaited debut album ‘Ultraviolet’ contained romantic synthpop with sinister twists in that classic Lynchian fashion. However, ‘Daydream Trash’ was a wonderful outlier, a summer new wave tune that was “100 in the shade” and could have easily come off the soundtrack of a John Hughes film.

Available on the LEATHERS album ‘Ultraviolet’ via Artoffact Records

https://www.leatherstheband.com

LINEA ASPERA Mycelium

While Alison Lewis has focussed on her ZANIAS solo venture for the past few years, she was back playing live with Ryan Ambridge as LINEA ASPERA in the summer. The pair had quietly been writing and recording together with the absorbing ‘Mycelium’ being the first fruit of labour. Featuring Ambridge’s characteristic arpeggio-laden backdrop, Lewis turned to using the fuzzy mass growing on mouldy food as a metaphor for the state of a personal relationship.

Available on the LINEA ASPERA single ‘Mycelium’ via https://lineaaspera.bandcamp.com/track/mycelium

https://www.facebook.com/lineaaspera

MICHEL MOERS featuring CLAUDIA BRÜCKEN Microwave

Best known as the front man of Belgian trailblazers TELEX, in 2024 Michel Moers released what was only his second solo studio album. Recorded primarily using Logic, the songs were developed over several years. While Moers continued with his distinctive cynical surrealism, the single ‘Microwaves’ featured Claudia Brücken on lead vocals for a more straightforward slice electronic pop with solid bass and icy synth lines that came over like PROPAGANDA meeting TELEX.

Available on the MICHEL MOERS album ‘As Is’ via Freaksville Records

https://www.instagram.com/michelmoers/

MINUIT MACHINE Hold Me

Now the solo project of Parisian producer and DJ Amandine Stioui, MINUIT MACHINE has been described as “disrupted, emotional, and terribly addictive”. But making a fresh restart with a clear sheet on her Instagram, ‘Hold Me’ showcased an optimistic lyrical gist and melodic drive on top of the thumping beats than had been heard in her work with previous MINUIT MACHINE creative partner Hélène De Thoury aka Hante.

Available on the MINUIT MACHINE single ‘Hold Me’ via https://minuitmachine.bandcamp.com/track/hold-me

https://www.facebook.com/minuitmachine/

MOLCHAT DOMA Kolesom

Now exiled from Belarus to LA, MOLCHAT DOMA brought in the dancier but still sombre sequenced pulses of classic NEW ORDER and DEPECHE MODE for their fourth album to create a more refined studio product. The magnificent ‘Kolesom’ was a glorious slice of apocalyptic electronic disco with an obvious NEW ORDER influence although Bernard Sumner never sounded this foreboding! The ominous baritone offered a commentary on the banality of modern life.

Available on the MOLCHAT DOMA album ‘Belaya Polosa’ via Sacred Bones

https://molchatdoma.com/

NIGHT CLUB The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)

‘Masochist’ was the highly appropriate title for the fourth NIGHT CLUB album, a dystopian prophecy that came true! Written FUN BOY THREE in 1981 as a metaphor by to the dangerous posturing games played by “The Cowboy” Ronald Reagan during The Cold War, the inclusion of a cover of ‘The Lunatics (Have Taken Over the Asylum)’ with an even more sinister resonance was sadly relevant as the crazy orange monster was mindlessly voted back as the leader of the free world!

Available on the NIGHT CLUB album ‘Masochist’ via Gato Blanco

https://www.facebook.com/nightclubband

NINA & RADIO WOLF My Dark

Created, recorded, produced and mixed at home in Berlin, ‘My Dark’ encapsulated a dark romantic spirit between NINA and RADIO WOLF. “I knew we’d be creating a kind of revelatory anti-love song about the dark side of relationships” said RADIO WOLF while NINA added “we both felt like creating something quite heavy and I wanted to let out my inner femme-fatale… it’s very moving as a dance track yet provocative like a sex scene in a movie”.

Available on the NINA & RADIO WOLF single ‘My Dark’ via https://iloveninamusic.bandcamp.com/track/my-dark

https://www.iloveninamusic.com/

https://www.radiowolfmusic.com/

PROPAGANDA Wenn Ich Mir Was Wuenschen Duerfte

Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper starting a new chapter of PROPAGANDA young German singer-songwriter Thunder Bae was perhaps on not on anyone’s bingo card at the start of 2024. She gave a superbly enticing performance in a haunting cover of ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ (translated into English as “If I had a wish”), a Weimar-era song written by Friedrich Hollaender in 1930 also featuring Oscar winning pianist Hauschka.

Available on the PROPAGANDA album ‘Propaganda’ via by Bureau B

https://propband.tilda.ws/

R. MISSING Sleep Will Darken It

Following a trail of sporadic singles with minimal promotional fanfare, R.MISSING have not been straightforward to follow. But with the enigmatic voice of the appropriately named Sharon Shy and the backing of Henry Frost, their alluring pop noir has been compelling when it hits the spot. Short and sharp with the air of a more electronic CHROMATICS, ‘Sleep Will Darken It’ came from their long awaited debut album.

Available on the R. MISSING album ‘Knife Shook Your Hand’ via Terminal Echo

https://www.instagram.com/r.missing/

MARIA UZOR What U Need

“I wrote this track on a social media break as an ode to reclaiming oneself from the grasps of Musk et al” said Maria Uzor, best known previously for being a member of SINK YA TEETH with Gemma Cullingford. Self-produced with a feisty twisted energy, ‘What U Need’ was a techno anthem celebrating detox from the online world that signalled another development in her fearsome beat-laden underground.

Available on the MARIA UZOR single ‘What U Need’ via https://mariauzor.bandcamp.com/track/what-u-need-single

https://mariauzor.com

PATRICIA WOLF The Secret Lives Of Birds

Combining modern and natural worlds, one key aspect in the music of Patricia Wolf is her use of field recordings and this shapes her new album ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ into a soundtrack for an as-yet-unmade wildlife documentary. While the ambience is very beautiful at times, there are darker moments of angst and sadness driven by concern. Self-explanatory and with synthetic droplets simulating contact calls, ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ title piece sets the scene.

Available on the PATRICIA WOLF album ‘The Secret Lives of Birds’ via Nite Hive

https://www.instagram.com/patriciawolf_music/

XENO & OAKLANDER Magic Of The Manifold

From their Connecticut laboratory bubble, the new XENO & OAKLANDER album sees a further refinement to their precise yet spirited productions. Past works have demonstrated and reinforced Liz Wendelbo and Sean McBride’s talents as the Jane Birkin and Serge Gainsbourg of synth. With an immediate rhythmic bounce, ‘Magic Of The Manifold’ is classic XENO & OAKLANDER with its squelchy bassline programming being a prominent feature.

Available on the XENO & OAKLANDER album ‘Via Negativa (in the doorway light)’ via Dais Records

https://www.facebook.com/xenoandoaklndr

YOTA & JOHAN AGEBJÖRN Universe In Flames

Yota is a Paris-based singer / songwriter hailing from Stockholm, while Johan Agebjörn is the Swedish producer who is best known as the instrumental half of SALLY SHAPIRO. Blending his melancholic electronic pop style to her sumptuous vocals, ‘Universe In Flames’ provides a telling global warning message. A fine mix of Scandipop, synthwave and rock with sinister twists, it showcased the best of both talents, combining classic synthpop styles with dance music.

Available on the YOTA & JOHAN AGEBJÖRN EP ‘Universe In Flames’ is released by Keytar Records

https://www.instagram.com/yota_official_artist/

https://www.instagram.com/johan.agebjorn/

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s 2024 playlist ‘The Great Bleep Forward’ containing over 230 tracks from the year can be listened to on Spotify at https://open.spotify.com/playlist/4xMrAkCbeWvUmTfrN6i6Gu

Text by Chi Ming Lai
13 December 2024

CHIKISS Between Time & Laziness

5 December 2024 /

The self-proclaimed Cyrillic songstress and “DIY producer of everything” Galina Ozeran is back under her solo nom de théâtre of CHIKISS after her 2022 album ‘Metamorphoses’ with Turkish musician Etkin Çekin as GOD IS GOD.

Ozeran grew up in Belarus playing classical piano before becoming a professional musician, self-releasing her first mini-album as CHIKISS in 2007. Her most recent CHIKISS album ‘Something Natural’ was a collection of lo-fi instrumental avant-garde works in a variety of different styles, so ‘Between Time & Laziness’ is a return to song-based material. Her willing conspirator in the process as co-producer is Athens-based Finn Jaakko Eino Kalevi whose own double album ‘Chaos Magic’ was the best release of 2023.

With tensions in her homeland and a war with its neighbours, Ozeran’s exile to Berlin sees her weighing darkness and light. As existential, psychological, and philosophical concerns shape her most polished vocal album to date, she expresses the turbulence of the world around her as it appears to go full circle into the uncertainty that exemplified the Soviet era.

Photo by Epiq Sty

With a delicious exotic groove, ‘Evil Sky’ enters an atmospheric cocoon of mysterious cinematic synth and stark spoken word to open ‘Between Time & Laziness’ proper. But true to her eclectic colours, ‘DKN’ plays with jazz swing rhythms and filmic synth textures…. conventional this certainly isn’t!

With ominous bass and whirring electronic lines, ‘Nevesta’ canters at a near funereal pace; however the ‘Between Time & Laziness’ title track develops on this bed and speeds it into a glorious spy drama passage of squelch, freeform soloing , icy strings, random organ and breathy vocals that will delight those into sonic randomness with some structure.

Embroiled in resignation, ‘Train Schedule’ is deep in contralto with a gothic allure, but when the glorious arpeggiated sparkles and chordial layers appear alongside the synthetic drums rolls, it recalls the elegiac moods of PET SHOP BOYS ‘Kings Cross’. Although drone-laden, ‘4:45’ is moody synthpop possessing that classic rainy European chic inspired by the moment in Rapid Eye Movement sleep when the illusion feels most real.

Photo by Anna Eckold

With memories of the first space race, ‘Into The Void’ goes into dark romantic synthpop with a nouvelle vague drama that even sees disco syndrums and some wonderfully anachronistic Spaghetti Western whistling from Jaakko Eino Kalevi come into the picture.

Across 11 minutes ‘Don’t Be Afraid’ utilises a long ambient intro before entering into an electronic take on JOY DIVISION’s ‘I Remember Nothing’ in its bass and rhythmic movements although the orchestrated synth lines are haunting and strident in their appeal, especially as they get more epic as the time flies by… closing with ‘Forever’, this hope of a better future sees Ozeran playing with eerie vocal ad libs over an incessant drum machine for a less song based variation of the title track.

Like a history of electronic expression, there is an aural familiarity to ‘Between Time & Laziness’ but none of the influences are blatant, presenting more of an impressionistic amalgam that offers reassurance in its musical empathy as an essential comfort amongst the disquiet.

With the aim “to find an outlet for accumulated emotions, and transform them into music and light”, Ozeran has succeeded in producing an absorbing body of work that while accessible, is tinged with sadness and melancholy so runs deeper in its emotions and sentiment than a regular pop record.

‘Between Time & Laziness’ is released in vinyl LP, CD + digital formats by Bureau B via https://chikissecrets.bandcamp.com/

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

https://www.facebook.com/Chikiss/

https://www.instagram.com/chikissecrets/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
5 December 2024

Michael Mertens & Ralf Dörper: The PROPAGANDA Interview

11 November 2024 /

Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper starting a new chapter of PROPAGANDA was perhaps not on anyone’s bingo card at the start of 2024.

Featuring the sultry vocals of Thunder Bae, PROPAGANDA have presented an eponymous long player to signify a fresh start with 7 new songs and a rework from ‘1234’, the 1990 album featuring Betsi Miller as lead singer.

Of course, PROPAGANDA were best known in their “ABBA in hell” line-up fronted by Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag which produced ‘A Secret Wish’, the acclaimed 1985 debut album which is regarded as something of a cult classic in industrial pop. On ‘Dr Mabuse’, PROPAGANDA said “never look back” and as a totally different animal to either ‘A Secret Wish’ or ‘1234’, that is exactly what this enjoyable self-titled album is about.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK had the pleasure of talking to Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper as the sun was setting on a lovely autumn day in Düsseldorf about the record’s lengthy genesis and content…

When did writing together for a new PROPAGANDA begin in earnest, what had been the spur?

Ralf: Quite a while ago, Holly Johnson had a new album out and asked for a remix of ‘Dancing With No Fear’. We were sitting together in the studio working on that playing with analog synths and that started some activity because we knew we had some stuff in the cupboard that was nearly forgotten but worthwhile to start again. But it was a long process as we didn’t know what kind of result we were expecting. We had in the back of our minds that it would be fine to have a record out with artwork and a booklet, not just a digital release. That took a bit of time as we were seriously interrupted by Covid and other thing. But I have to admit the net time and the gross time were totally different that was spent on this album.

Michael: There were huge gaps in between, we had some songs from 2012 for a reunion of the original PROPAGANDA set-up with Claudia Brücken and Susanne Freytag, but that did not come together in the end. But we wrote some material for this but that was left behind and we didn’t think we would do much with it or what the future would bring. We all did different things you know. The actual trigger was Holly Johnson’s asking for a PROPAGANDA remix and we realised we get on well in the studio, we’ve always got on well. But Ralf’s idea was for a series of physical EPs…

Ralf: I was pretty optimistic and there was still a market so I thought to reintroduce ourselves after so long, let’s start with an EP with one new song, another version of that song and a rework of something old that was not so well-known, maybe even a song that was not released on ZTT. The idea was to do 2 or 3 EPs but when reality knocked, record companies told us this was not possible anymore or it would have to be a 200 limited edition because that is what the EP market is!

You’ve mentioned that you have always had a good relationship, and this continued even with ‘1234’ which Ralf was not involved in?

Ralf: No No! I was!

Michael: He was under contract to Virgin as well.

Ralf: This is something from the outside which is not so clear because when I left in 1990, there was a bit of bad will involved. So if you look at the CD booklet, you won’t find me pretty much. But we actually started work on the album in 1987 with a new singer Betsi Miller and a deal with Virgin. When the recording was going on in 1988, I was living in London and I got a bit bored with pop music. I was sucked into a LWR pirate radio station which introduced me to Detroit techno and acid, it was similar to what John Foxx said because the analog electronics that these people were working with reminded me of the early stuff when started PROPAGANDA before Fairlights and LinnDrums. So my mindset was changing. I was tempted to do something that was not very well known in England with Andreas Thein who was an original PROPAGANDA member. We did a record called ‘Dr Acid & Mr House’ which was a Top20 hit in Germany, we did it in 3 days… we earned more from that than we did with ‘Dr Mabuse’!!

‘Vicious Circle’ from ‘1234’ has been reworked for the album, why was that particular one most suitable for the new phase of Propaganda and how did the new arrangement develop as it is quite different?

Michael: Very different, ja… we always liked that track, it was one of the first tracks we wrote for ‘1234’ and thought it was the signature track for the album although ‘1234’ was a difficult album to make. It was a very difficult period for all members of PROPAGANDA with these incredible changes as you can imagine. You have a different singer so you have to cater for a different vocal style…

Ralf: …and there was the different cultural background, it really makes a difference if you work with a European and an American because there are some references that an American doesn’t get easily.

Michael: So that changed a lot. Then there was a difficult legal period with ZTT which shook us fundamentally and made us insecure in a sense. Maybe the producers had a bit more say than they should have on ‘1234’ but I still think it is a good record, don’t get me wrong. But Ralf and me, we always maintained a good relationship although in 1990-1991, our ways separated but not in a hostile way.

Ralf: The plan of doing 3 EPs with something old, because of the contract, we wouldn’t have been able to do rework of something from ‘A Secret Wish’ because in the paperwork when we left ZTT, that was something we had to sign that we couldn’t do something like Taylor Swift did and re-record everything! *laughs*

The initial plan was to use guest vocalists but you settled on having Thunder Bae sing on the album, was there a particular song she sang that made up your minds for you?

Michael: It was more than one song, I don’t totally remember which the first song was that we asked her to put her vocal to, it might have been ‘They Call Me Nacebo’ or ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ but I know she had done ‘Tipping Point’. For us, the first song, she did us a favour as we had written it for a female voice. She was happy to do that because she was interested in what we were doing. She’s from a different generation and said “look, this music you are doing, I really like it but I would never write a song like this, it’s totally different from what I do”, we thought that was good as we could evaluate the song, we weren’t evaluating her singing. That only came on the third song she did and we suddenly looked at each other…

Ralf: It was like the picture was becoming visible…

Michael: …then we asked her if she would do more.

‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ opened this new phase of PROPAGANDA, how did you find the reaction to it, particularly on social media?

Michael: It was a mixed reaction but the main positive thing was “ok, these guys are doing something…”

Ralf: There was no pre-warning…

Michael: We knew there was going to be a mixed reaction but to be perfectly honest with you, we have always had mixed reactions to our work! When we came out with ‘A Secret Wish’ in Germany we had a lot of mixed reaction, some people HATED us! You know with ‘Dr Mabuse’, there was Claudia with her special kind of voice and the music was so different to what the mainstream, it was polarising but in a sense, we are not afraid to polarise. So ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’ polarised but there was a lot of people who liked it; it is one of my favourite songs from the record, I really like it. I am very happy with the sequence of song we released and the way we did it, that’s really good.

Ralf: There’s one thing that has to be understood, when we started and for a couple of years, the idea was we call it “Dörper & Mertens”, to use the name PROPAGANDA only came up a few years ago and we had access to the band’s Spotify account. Universal had acquired from the catalogue from ZTT and funnily enough, they also had the Virgin catalogue. A few years ago, PROPAGANDA became available digitally for the first time. On Spotify, you have the Top 5 tracks listed of an artist and when we first had contact with Spotify for the first time, we saw as expected ‘Duel’ at No1, ‘P-Machinery’ at No2 but then a track from ‘1234’ at No3! If you look deeper because you can get regional profile, you saw that this was a major hit in South America.

So there might be people in Europe who when they hear PROPAGANDA, they think of Claudia Brücken but then when people in South America hear PROPAGANDA, they think of Betsi Miller. Then we thought, for us that’s a reason to say this is a new phase in PROPAGANDA with a new singer, it makes sense.

Michael: When Claudia Brücken left PROPAGANDA, the band was in transition. It was always transitory, the second album is completely different from the first and we felt we really had the right to do this because the core elements that go through all the music we have released is pretty much the writing. Of course, every singer who was in PROPAGANDA left her mark and have their own fans. I know of people who prefer the second PROPAGANDA album because of the singing…

Ralf: …and these people are not only in South America *laughs*

The album opens with ‘They Call Me Nocebo’, is that the first use of the word which means “a harmless substance or treatment that may cause harmful side effects or worsening of symptoms because the patient thinks or believes they may occur or expects them to occur” in a song?

Ralf: I first heard the word “nocebo” in a medical document and there are just some words that look interesting when written down and you want to use; but that was many years ago. But I liked its meaning of having a negative effect, that is the opposite of a placebo which is a word known by everybody. But many people who do know about placebos ask what a nocebo is! In a way, it’s logical *laughs*

Michael: I like Ralf’s lyrics very much and they trigger the right part of my brain.

So did you already have a musical idea or were you inspired by Ralf’s words?

Michael: For me it’s nicer if I have the words before…

Ralf: …I normally write words to music, I can write lyrics before but I prefer it the other way around.

Michael: I prefer to have the idea of the song before I actually start to compose but it sometimes happens that I have a piece of music that is not totally defined which is an open space. I give it to Ralf who may already have a lyrics that he is working on and he will work on it if he likes it. But in general, it is important to have a meaning when you do something. If you do the sort of music we do, it is important to have an intellectual construction.

‘Tipping Point’ focuses on ecological concerns, had there been a particular flashpoint which inspired this?

Ralf: It’s not only about the environment, I also see it as about living on the edge in a lot of different things like when Covid came up, you have political living on the edge and you could be living on the edge with the impact of something from the universe, that civilisation could be tipping.

Is this why you have a ‘Dystopian Waltz’? is very filmic and orchestrated, had it inspired by any particular visual imagery?

Michael: No, I don’t think ‘Tipping Point’ triggered that but ‘Dystopian Waltz’ goes back a long way.

Ralf: I visualise things and this was a field of ruins and somebody is dancing in the ruins like ‘The Day After’ or Berlin after the war. It’s a waltz and you could imagine a skeleton dancing so that was the start of this title. But at the beginning, we had included one line from ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ but we had to skip that idea because we were interfering with other people’s work and it’s always a bit of a problem if you just use a little part and not the whole, you need to agree with the other party on it.

The album closes with a cover of the 1930 Friedrich Hollaender song ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’, how did this idea come about and develop as a recording because while in many ways it is logical, it was something of a surprise?

Michael: Many people were surprised because it is a German song. When Ralf suggested it, I was very fascinated by it, there’s been a lot of cover versions, I think the Greta Keller version is earlier than the one by Marlene Dietrich and she was teaching her the way to sing. Again, I just fell in love with the lyrics, there was interesting aspects when you sing that you might be missing the facts. This idea that melancholy is a place that is desirable instead of something to be afraid of. It’s a choice you can make, I found that very interesting within that song. We were very lucky because we had the idea to involve some guest musicians and Hauschka was one of them. When Ralf talked to me about Hauschka, I told him I’d know Volker for a very long time.

Ralf: That was before Covid so not only was that a long time ago but also before the Oscars.

Michael: It was a tricky situation because we were though “Oh God, he’s got an Oscar, we cannot call him!”, he would think I was only calling him to play on our record because he’d won an Oscar!

Ralf: With the sticker “featuring Academy Award Winner Hauschka”! *laughs*

Michael: I rang him up as I know him quite well as a colleague and I explained I was shy to call him as he had won the Oscar. I said “This may look like this is the reason I’ve called you and this is not the case. We are very slow workers and you’ve been on our list for many years and now is the time to do this so will you do this?” He was laughing and he did it.

Ralf: There is no English word but if you translate, the song means “If I had a wish” so that is a bit of reference to ‘A Secret Wish’ because at that time, people were always asking “OK, what is your secret wish?” but at the time, we didn’t have an intellectual answer. But “Wenn ich mir was wünschen dürfte, käm ich in Verlegenheit” is the perfect link to ‘A Secret Wish’.

What struck me on this cover of ‘Wenn Ich Mir Was Wünschen Dürfte’ was how fantastic Thunder Bae sounded in German, so as this new phase of PROPAGANDA continues, will there be future songs in German?

Michael: You’re not the first person to ask that, because her delivery on this song is really really good and she was very serious about this. We did a recording and it was quite good but then a couple of days later, she came back and said “No, I want to do certain things again”, she was really diving into this. We worked on this quite a bit, but this was a straightforward delivery, she didn’t do this is snippets, she sang it though and we kept it the way she did it. She did a great job on this.

Ralf: I have to admit when we started in 1982, the very first things were in German like ‘Disziplin’ which got Paul Morley interested. Then when we went into the studio for the first time to do some demonstration recordings, we had a song called ‘Doppelganger’ which was in German and in the beginning, ‘Dr Mabuse’ was also in German, some lines were left like “Kein Zurück für dich”. I can imagine us to do a mix of English and German again as that was very much a PROPAGANDA signature at that time.

You have bonus tracks on the double album editions?

Ralf: These are versions, reworked more with emphasis on the instrumental parts and the atmosphere but it’s not a straight dub but hinting at soundtrack music.

Now you’ve had some distance from the album and it’s out in the public domain, how do you view it now as a body of work?

Michael: Well, now it doesn’t belong to us anymore, it belongs to the world. It’s nice and I’m happy about the reception and the development it took. It hasn’t been out for a long time but it has received some nice recognition which was an artist, when you realise you have an audience and they are responding to you work, then that is kid of fulfilling.

Ralf: Times have changed and there are no budgets anymore, especially for something like video. It’s really different to what you had in the 80s or 90s. We should really mention that we are really lucky that a lot of the visual ideas came from Thunder Bae because she has a background in video making. So that means for the songs, she comes up with storylines and worksheets and she even knows how to do it so what you’ve seen so far is her work. The first video came out of the blue because we didn’t want to appear in it. So we had a lyric video but we wanted to have this monument, this horse statue that was in ‘Dr Mabuse’, we wanted to do it like a secret, but give people a hint…

Like an Easter egg?

Ralf: Ja! That was the main idea for the first video…

Michael: Thunder Bae came along, put together and edited the first video, we were blown away. She really deserves the credit as a video artist and then she had the idea for the next video ‘They Call Me Nacebo’; we got people together, I asked a cinematographer I knew to join in for no money, that kind of thing, the album was made like that *laughs*

Ralf: It was a recruitment of a lot of people in Düsseldorf which is why we put on the album “Conceived and accomplished in Düsseldorf”.

Finally, do you have any favourite tracks?

Michael: ‘Distant’ is very much a favourite now, it culminates in a nice way and has a strong atmosphere, also the instrumental version, I think you’ll like it. But also I love ‘Purveyor Of Pleasure’.

Ralf: It’s ‘Distant’ for now, as in autumn although it’s a bit warm at the moment. It’s a perfect song for grey days and it’s cold and you feel “distant”.

I remember when I first heard this album, I thought of autumn…

Ralf: We thought that was well, when we were discussing with the record company about the release date, I said “it’s not a summer album” as records companies sometimes like to release records in the summer when there are not many other records coming out so they chart easily. PROPAGANDA was always more autumn or winter.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its grateful thanks to Michael Mertens and Ralf Dörper

‘Propaganda’ is released by Bureau B in CD, limited double CD, vinyl LP, limited double vinyl LP and digital editions

https://propband.tilda.ws/

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61560582914718

https://www.instagram.com/propaganda_official_/

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Thomas Stelzmann
11 November 2024

HARALD GROSSKOPF Strom

16 October 2024 /

October 2024 sees veteran German synthesist Harald Grosskopf turn 75.

To celebrate, he releases a brand new album ‘Strom’ and publishes his autobiography ‘Monsieur Séquenceur’ in Deutsch which will be of interest to anyone remotely interested in Deutsche Elektronische Musik.

Harald Grosskopf had been the drummer of WALLENSTEIN, THE COSMIC JOKERS and ASHRA, working with Manuel Göttsching in the latter while some of his most notable sessions were with Klaus Schulze on his albums ‘Moondawn’, ‘Body Love’ and ‘X’.

But while in between projects, with the encouragement of friend and composer Udo Hanten, Grosskopf’s desire for making music led him experiment with a Minimoog, Korg PS3200 and an ARP 16-Step Sequencer alongside his drums. The end result was his wonderfully dreamy solo debut ‘Synthesist’ released in 1980; fans of the record included Andy McCluskey, Mark Reeder and Jean-Michel Jarre.

Grosskopf’s desire not to repeat himself has meant he has not been prolific as a solo artist, although over the years, he continued working with Manuel Göttsching in ASHRA as well as undertaking various collaborations Steve Baltes, Eberhard Kranemann, Thorsten Quäschning and Axel Heilhecker. Now after several years in the making comes ‘Strom’, translated from German as “electricity” and looking not that dissimilar the English word “storm” which could also sonically apply to this work.

Opening salvo ‘Bureau 39’ demonstrates an aural heritage with ‘Synthesist’ which is no bad thing, absorbing yet acting as a relaxant within a kaleidoscopic soundscape that twists with bursts of Doppler engine noise. Moving into more grinding territory, ‘Blow’ possesses a fierce marching rumble. There is a sharp use of rhythm on this album, as can be heard on ‘Später Strom’ but its overall gallop and texturing wouldn’t have sounded out of place on ‘Synthesist’, save the percussive sample template.

There are the more breezy overtures of ‘Gleich Strom’ but experimental and noisy, both ‘After The Future’ and ‘Um Pah Pah Uh’ almost do away with melody and reveal some quite unsettling voices, the former growling “NEVER” like a twisted character from The Brother Grimm while the latter also plays with eerie Middle Eastern overtones.

Like a passing express locomotive, the strident ‘Stylo Kraut’ is the album’s driving centrepiece, building towards a cosmic metallic fervour. Meanwhile the closer ‘Stromklang’ wouldn’t sound of place in a club, displaying a stomping affinity to dance culture over a sinister backdrop with cutting stabs of synth duelling with more spacey shimmers and rolling arpeggios.

‘Strom’ is an album that merges Harald Grosskopf’s classic melodic synth sound with the digital machine of today for a fully charged body of work. It retains enough familiarity while going off on various sonic tangents and abstract adventures to satisfy many a listener of more esoteric electronic forms.

‘Strom’ is released by Bureau B on 18 October 2024 in CD and vinyl LP formats, available from https://shop.tapeterecords.com/records/bureau-b/

Download available from https://haraldgrosskopf.bandcamp.com/

https://www.haraldgrosskopf.de/englisch/home.html

https://www.facebook.com/Harald-Grosskopf-121526524593386/

https://www.instagram.com/harald_grosskopf/

Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Markus Luigs
16 October 2024

A Short Conversation with HARALD GROSSKOPF

27 September 2024 /

German music veteran Harald Grosskopf has lived a wonderfully busy life, working with noted fellow countrymen like Klaus Schulze, Manuel Göttsching, Eberhard Kranemann, Udo Hanten, Lutz Ulbrich, Steve Baltes, Thorsten Quäschning and Axel Heilhecker.

As well as the drumming for of WALLENSTEIN, THE COSMIC JOKERS and ASH RA TEMPEL, he is a respected solo artist whose 1980 debut album ‘Synthesist’ is now held up as an exemplary electronic work of the period; fans of the record have included Andy McCluskey, Mark Reeder and Jean-Michel Jarre.

Turning 75 this October, Harald Grosskopf celebrates the occasion by publishing his German language autobiography ‘Monsieur Séquenceur’ and releasing a brand new album ‘Strom’ on Bureau B. The album title translates from German as “electricity” and fuses his classic melodic synth sound with the virtual tools of today for a fully charged body of work.

Harald Grosskopf kindly spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about the genesis of both his book and latest music creation…

The last time we spoke, it was for the expanded 40th Anniversary edition of ‘Synthesist’ in 2020, are you happy with how it was received?

Oh yes! The limited edition was sold out in weeks.

This new album ‘Strom’ has been a while coming, how did you decide it was time for a new solo creation?

I have to go into great detail to answer this question. I am a musician, and standing still is not part of my concept. Making music is a great passion that has grown throughout my life. Finally being able to work independently in my own studio is a privilege I had to wait a long time for until it finally became a reality in 2007.

After my first solo album ‘Synthesist’, the music industry sharply declined in the 1980s, and analog studios around the world closed in large numbers. I couldn’t afford the necessary recording equipment, and the few remaining studios were expensive. When the first Atari computers with built-in MIDI hit the market, things slowly started to pick up again. But it wasn’t until the late 1990s, when it became possible to record analog audio signals with relatively affordable music software, that things really began to move forward.

In the beginning I had virtually no experience, firstly with computers and secondly the complex subject of music software. The next step was to teach myself, step by step, and to create a physical space where I could work undisturbed. A studio. It always takes me quite a while to be emotionally satisfied with a track. Thank God I’m not under any commercial production pressure.

After producing an album with KRAFTWERK founder Eberhard Kranemann in 2018, and after we toured in England and performed in China, I began to focus on my solo work again. This led first to a remix album of my second solo album ‘Oceanheart’ (Sky 1985), ‘Oceanheart Revisited’. After that, I began working on the ‘Strom’ album. The entire album was mixed and mastered in an analog studio on reel to reel tape before digitalized again to get an analog feeling.

The title is ‘Strom’ which in English means “electricity”, does it share any conceptual heritage with ‘Synthesist’?

Well, I can’t change who I am. I never work with a musical concept. I always approach things emotionally. That means, unconsciously, there may be references to ‘Synthesist’. However, I certainly don’t try to repeat myself and always allow new experiences to influence my work.

‘Bureau 39’ has already been issued online as a trailer to ‘Strom’, you have your classic sweeping synth sound on it, are you still using your old synths or have you gone for virtual?

I haven’t owned any analog equipment for a long time. I never had a large collection of it anyway. I like the quick access that music software and virtual instruments offer. This way, I can always stay in the flow of spontaneous creativity without wasting time on wiring synths and dealing with tons of processing tools. That doesn’t mean I condemn analog synths. I just don’t use them. It also makes traveling easier. I don’t need to carry much to get to the stage!

‘Blow’ is quite fierce in places?

Deep in my heart, I am still a drummer. Physical intensity is a characteristic of drumming. That’s what drives me to make tracks like these.

There is a sharp use of rhythm on this album, as can be heard on ‘Später Strom’, had there been a particular approach? Did you manually trigger on a kit and quantise or was it all mouse and screen?

Always a mix of handmade drum loops and mouse editing.

‘After The Future’ and ‘Um Pah Pah Uh’ are quite experimental and almost do away with melody, featuring unsettling voices?

I have always seen it as a reminiscence of the early days of electronic music—Stockhausen, Pierre Schaeffer, Oscar Sala, etc, to include a little bit of this direction in my solo albums to keep it alive, without falling into banal copying.

What inspired the feel of ‘Stylo Kraut’?

That began in 2018 when I did a small tour of England with Eberhard Kranemann. We were invited by John Simpson, the CEO of Dubreq Ltd in Hastings, which reissued the legendary Stylophone Mini Synthesizer from 1967 in 2007, to perform a concert in Hastings. John provided us with this little synth buzzer, the Gen X-1 model. As a thank you, I produced this track, which I continued to expand and modify in the studio over time. It is, therefore, a small monument of reverence to this tiny, magical music machine, which was already honored by John Lennon, David Bowie, and KRAFTWERK in the past.

‘Stromklang’ wouldn’t sound of place in a club, doing you feel any affinity to techno or dance culture?

I wouldn’t have a problem if my music were played in techno clubs. I first came into contact with this music when techno reached its peak in the mid-1990s. That was probably due to my age. I was approaching 50 and hadn’t been going to clubs for a long time, so this culture more or less completely passed me by until then.

Steve Baltes, a young musician whom I invited to join us on two of our ASHRA Japan tours, played me tracks that gave me goosebumps. I like this music because it resonates with my drummer’s heart, physical and simple intensity. That has certainly influenced my music-making unconsciously. However, I’m far from making techno, as generally, I don’t care about other music at all when I’m in my studio.

How have you adapted your creativity to today’s equipment and music consumption environment?

Out of necessity, I turned to creating music with computers almost 30 years ago because, as I hinted earlier, I couldn’t afford studio equipment or expensive studio costs. The rapid technological development of digital recording tools and virtual synthesizers is breathtaking. However, I am open to all techniques. For example, I mixed my last albums on magnetic tape in the studio of my friend Tobias Stock before we digitally rendered the tracks for CD and vinyl. As a result, even the CD now sounds very analog.

Over 25 years, Tobias has assembled a top-class analog studio in mint condition, which leaves nothing to be desired, and he maintains it at the highest level in his role as an electronic engineer and musician. The next step will be working with various AI tools. However, I definitely won’t be creating ‘prompt-to-music’ at the push of a button. The rejection of AI as a creative tool strongly reminds me of the incompetent reactions to the emergence of the first synthesizers in the late 1960s, early 1970s. Klaus Schulze always responded to these technology sceptics with irony: “Since when do violins grow on trees, or pianos in fields?”

How did the idea for a book come about? Did you keep diaries or has everything been recounted from memory?

I never kept a diary. About 30 years ago, I started writing down my memories sporadically, without any intention of ever publishing them. It was more for reasons of therapeutic self-reflection. Over time, when I shared stories from my life with friends and acquaintances, I kept getting asked why I didn’t publish them. When my label, Bureau B, became economically involved with Ventil Publishing Company, and I told Gunther Buskies, the CEO of Bureau B, about my writings, everything started falling into place.

Since I originally had around 700 pages, and no one would read such a long biography, we worked with a professional editor to condense it to an acceptable length. And now, the time has come. The version, which until now has only been available in German, will be released in parallel with the ‘Strom’ album. I’m working on an English translation.

Did you have a particular memory that was jogged by a conversation or research that for various reasons, you had forgotten about?

Writing takes longer than quickly recalling images, feelings, and dialogues. When you sit down to write down memories, you have to hold the image of the memory in your mind until you’ve formulated it. This apparently has the effect of bringing back seemingly long-forgotten content, which suddenly becomes alive again, and you can hardly stop yourself from holding it in your mind in order to get it down on paper or hammer it into the computer. It could happen that I sometimes wrote for 6 or 7 hours without a break. A phenomenon that others have also reported to me.

So, would you agree that if you can remember recording with THE COSMIC JOKERS, then you weren’t actually there??? 😉

Of course, memories can deceive us, and surely our brain alters our memories as well. Memories are always fragmented and sometimes hazy. Now to your question: Yes, I can recall those Cosmic Couriers sessions in Dieter Dierks’ studio, half a century ago fairly well.

Two of your most esteemed colleagues Klaus Schulze and Manuel Göttsching are sadly no longer with us, has this had any bearing on how you have approached the book or the album?

No, because I had already written everything related to the two of them during their lifetimes.

What is next for you?

The mastering of the next solo album, titled ‘Glitches Brew’, which will be released in the second half of 2025 on Bureau B. Two more albums featuring collaborations with other artists are also completed. We are still looking for a label for one of these albums. The second one of this kind will be released in March 2025 on the English DIN label. I am not yet allowed to reveal the title and protagonists. Additionally, I am already working on a third solo album and video projection materials for future live performances.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its sincerest thanks to Harald Grosskopf

Additional thanks to Sean Newsham at Bureau B

‘Strom’ is released by Bureau B on 18 October 2024 in CD and vinyl LP formats, available from https://shop.tapeterecords.com/records/bureau-b/

Download available from https://haraldgrosskopf.bandcamp.com/

Harald Grosskopf’s memoir ‘Monsieur Séquenceur’ is published in German by Ventil Verlag, available from https://www.ventil-verlag.de/titel/1967/monsieur-sequenceur

https://www.haraldgrosskopf.de/

https://www.facebook.com/Harald-Grosskopf-121526524593386/

https://www.instagram.com/harald_grosskopf/

https://open.spotify.com/artist/1yejR2Tszo9sGMXtmuq07K

Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Markus Luigs
27 September 2024

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