From the Midlands' techno culture comes the hardcore sound of Rhythmatic. Simon Trask investigates one of the bands on the ground floor of Britain's fastest-growing musical movement.

Turning their backs on pop notoriety to meet electronic experimentation head on, Sheffield's LFO are taking dance music into new areas. Simon Trask gets a new perspective on nostalgia.

As Soul II Soul return this month with a third album, Paul Ireson reports from their private studio on the writing and recording of more club classics.

Cult masters of industrial funk talk hi-tech sounds, performance CDs and popular commerciality to Nicholas Rowland; the code of the '80s.

UK chart success may have been elusive of late but Howard Jones' continued popularity in the States has brought its rewards — an SSL-equipped 48-track home studio. Interview by Paul Tingen.

och aye

An intriguing evaluation of the way the human body reacts to music.

Fun In The Waves

An interview with Edgar Froese and Christoph Franke during their recent UK tour

An interview with Edgar Froese and Christoph Franke, concert report and music pull-out "Choronzon" from the 'Exit' LP.

When Norman Cook walked away from The Housemartins he walked into hi-tech record production and remixing: now he's topped the charts with Beats International. Tim Goodyer talks to a computer convert.

Jazzer who likes to mix his rhythms

through the year darkly with One Two

Dave Simpson concludes the saga of Thatched Cottage Studio and how it came about.

Mark King, master bassist with a string of hit albums to his name as leader of Level 42, has reaped many of the rewards that pop stardom can bring — but satisfaction with the music industry is never guaranteed, as Paul Tingen discovers.

Tubular Bells, Bayou Moon and other stories

Apart from his claim to fame as the co-producer of Mike Oldfield's hugely successful 'Tubular Bells' album, engineer/producer Tom Newman has most recently been making his mark in the New Age music field with two beautifully recorded albums. Mark Prendergast reports.

England's North has consistently produced some of the most innovative electronic music. Simon Trask talks to a band set to take their place alongside New Order and Heaven 17.

A fly on the wall account of a mega-group amidst a mega-tour. Michael Smolen does the buzzing

Paul White talks to Tony Visconti about his career, his production methods and his plans for the future.

Dieter Meier is a writer, painter, performance artist and an ex-professional gambler; he's also the face and voice in front of one of the most influential bands of the '80s. Tim Goodyer joins the Swiss race.

Never mind avoiding presets and programming your own patches... how about rebuilding the whole damn synth? Richard James - aka Polygon Window, Caustic Window, Diceman, Soit PP, Blue Calx, AFX and The Aphex Twin - isn’t happy with his hardware till he’s had the toolbox to it. Phil Ward enters the twilight zone of the lad from Cornwall who’s spearheading the ambient onslaught.

Steve Hall bandies about words like involvement, commitment and encouragement as he argues that the engineer should take a more active role in the everyday process of recording.

Bootleg synths a killer?, New EX, Alligator PA, More scoops

Fritz McIntyre - the key is simplicity

It's the talk of Paris' hep musical set, Peter Gabriel set up a new record label for it and Ray Lema is one of its greatest exponents - Simon Trask discovers hitech ethnic music is about to make its mark on popular culture.

A subjective and selective round-up of drum machines, old and new, by Mark Jenkins.