Credo

Famously described by David Bowie in 1979 as "the sound of the future", The Human League are more highly regarded in 2011 than they were in 1981 when they released their landmark album Dare!. The Human League kick off 2011 with the release of their ninth studio album, Credo, as brilliant a distillation of their ideas about pop and dancing, glamour and electronics as anything they have ever done. They're used to everyone from Madonna to Moby, Pet Shop Boys to Lady Gaga, citing them as an influence. Now the dubstep generation – notably, the acclaimed Darkstar, who cover the League's 1982 B-side "You Remind Me Of Gold" on their current album, North – have begun to pay homage. The Human League have never been about resting on their laurels or relying on past glories to see them through. Credo is as brilliant a distillation of their ideas about pop and dancing, glamour and electronics, as anything they have ever done. They called it Credo ("belief") for The Human League fans who never stopped believing in the band in the decade since their last album. Produced by fellow pop experimentalists I Monster, Credo is part of that particular pop lineage that goes from Bowie, Roxy and Kraftwerk to Donna Summer, Chic and Michael Jackson.