Moon Safari – Air
Air’s 1998 Moon Safari, made in a Versailles home studio by Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoît Dunckel, turned soft electronics and Beth Hirsch’s All I Need into a record people still play at home.
David Bowie – China Girl
China Girl: Iggy Pop's The Idiot, 1977, then Bowie and Nile Rodgers on Let's Dance, 1983, UK No. 2 / US No. 10.
Depeche Mode – Never Let Me Down Again
Depeche Mode’s 1987 Never Let Me Down Again, second single from Music for the Masses, paired a driving synth line with Gahan on Gore’s escape lyric.
Christine And The Queens – To Be Honest
Christine and the Queens’ March 2023 To Be Honest, from PARANOÏA, ANGELS, TRUE LOVE, is a slow synth confession at heartbeat pace.
Recto Verso – Paradis
Paradis’s 2016 debut Recto Verso mixes French chanson vocals with house-leaning grooves, recorded late in a Paris apartment by Simon Mény and Pierre Rousseau.
The Cure – A Night Like This
A Night Like This is track eight on The Head on the Door, released 13 August 1985, with Ron Howe on guest sax.
Depeche Mode – Between machine and confession
Depeche Mode, from Basildon's early synthpop to Violator and arena decades: Clarke's exit, Gore's songs, Gahan's voice, Wilder's craft, and a catalog still touring in black.
5 things you didn’t know about The Weeknd
Five Weeknd facts on record: AGO bedroom exhibit, Ethiopian cassette schooling, a blown-out early Toronto gig, House of Balloons studio money, and a rewritten Uncut Gems cameo.
Tears For Fears – Head Over Heels
Head Over Heels, from Songs from the Big Chair (1985): UK No. 12, US Billboard Hot 100 No. 3.
Kraftwerk – Machines, highways and a future already here
Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider started in Düsseldorf at the turn of the 1970s.