Hear Again: Belief.

Nitzer Ebb's second album, released twenty years ago today, opens with the funky strut of Hearts and Minds, heralding a shift toward more intricate arrangements and rhythms. Although a track like Blood Money could easily fit on the band's previous album, the majority of music on Belief – still minimal in execution – cleverly layers motifs interspersed with brief pauses, creating cohesive pieces by exploiting the human auditory system's appetite for order "adding" notes were there aren't any.

The arrangements are enhanced by an elaborate process of sound generation and programming, the foundation of the band's signature sound, patching the original sound generator through a secondary device (often a large modular synthesiser), utilising its filters to add depth, then feeding the resulting sound through a third device (like a vocoder) and applying its envelope shaping capabilities. The production of Mark "Flood" Ellis provides a crisp, clear mix to what could've easily been – what with the numerous parts and tricky sounds – a rather muddled affair.

The accompanying singles are well worth tracking down for their alternative takes on the album’s tracks, displaying more of Flood’s skills, as well as the contributions of William "Orbit" Wainwright, whose re-versions of Shame, Captivate, and Backlash (the last one a single track not included on the album) earned him an invitation to work alongside Kraftwerk a couple of years later. Many of these alternative mixes remain staples at more discerning dance clubs.

Musically, Belief moves beyond the electronic punk, pioneered by bands like Silver Apples, Suicide and Deutsch-Amerikanische Freundschaft, that inspired Nitzer Ebb, towards a kind of funky, electronic blues – with tracks like Captivate and Backlash in particular suggesting what Jagger and Richards could've sounded like had they kept their modular Moog back in '68, sacked the rest of the band, and applied themselves at mastering the electronic beast.

Thematically, the album deals with belief not merely in a religious sense, but all manner of faith in the trustworthiness of ideas or persons. Bellowed less than in the past, the vocals remain closer to sloganeering than lyricism, though tracks like Control I'm Here – about the benefit of keeping one’s mouth shut – hint at the latter gradually taking over. It briefly touches upon reality in T.W.A, seemingly a comment on the hijacking of TWA Flight 847, and similar acts where conscience is blunted by beliefs.

Fitting this stark slice of minimal electronic dance music, the artwork is based on Suprematist Kazimierz Malewicz's Black Square, the title superimposed on either a black square on white ground, or hovering over a black void. More intriguingly, the anonymous section of a face gazing at the listeners appears to be appropriated from a self-portrait of the Dadaist Max Ernst, which would explain his (posthumous) mention in the sleeve credits. Casting Ernst as Big Brother seems rather appropriate, given that when asked about his favourite pastime as a child he purportedly answered "Seeing".

Despite the stark packaging and contents, Nitzer Ebb could hardly be dubbed a dour bunch, their humour surfacing in Without Belief, as well as in the modified legalese that accompanied their recordings at the time, informing the listener that public performance etc. is "prohibited unless suitable incentives are offered", and that the records themselves were manufactured in "so called" Great Britain. Clearly these Chelmsford lads had little faith in the grocer's daughter minding the shop.

Looking toward 2009, part II.

Astronomers can look forward to an exciting year, with the official launch of the International Year of Astronomy in January, aimed not only at celebrating the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei first demonstrating his improved telescope, but to stimulate interest in science generally and astronomy in particular. The main event will be April's 100 Hours of Astronomy, intended to encourage as many people as possible to peer through a telescope for the first time.

And there'll be plenty to crack a gander at: an annular solar eclipse in January, the longest total solar eclipse of the 21st Century in July, and three (in May, July, and December) triple conjunctions of Jupiter and Neptune. NASA will celebrate the 40th anniversary of humanity arriving on the Moon, by smacking the LCROSS probe into the pockmarked satellite — an event that will also be visible on Earth via telescope. NASA's Kepler Mission to discover Earth-like planets will hopefully be a lot less violent.

Back on Earth, physicists will eagerly anticipate the second attempt to start up the world's largest high-energy particle accelerator, the Large Hadron Collider. The ensuing smacking around of protons in the world's largest machine, in order to discover hitherto hypothetical quantities of inner space fragments, may turn out to be the biggest (no pun intended) event in a century's particle research.

Save perhaps Tom Tykwer's (Run, Lola, Run) and Jean-Pierre Jeunet's (Amelie) new films, cinema's prospects in 2009 appear rather dull. Tykwer’s The International has Clive Owen and Naomi Watts taking on a particularly evil bank, while Jeunet's Micmacs à tire-larigot pokes fun at the arms trade. Faces familiar to Jeunet's fans, like Dominique Pinon, Albert Dupontel, André Dussollier, Yolande Moreau, and Dominique Bettenfeld will appear — though Jamel Debbouze has pulled out.

There's also The Maiden Heist, a comedy in which Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, and William H. Macy portray museum security guards with a somewhat unhealthy attachment to certain exhibits, and the likely most hyped film of 2009, Star Trek. Among the myriad of things audiences will undoubtedly be left to ponder (apart from the usual time travel drivel) is whether the fact that the female Starfleet officers' miniskirts being longer now then they were in the 60s represents a step forward or back.

Children's books turned into film this year include Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, directed by Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich) with a screenplay by McSweeney's founder David Egger, blending live action, animation, and CGI, with actors in large foam suits, as well as Roald Dalh's Fantastic Mr Fox, a stop-motion animation with characters voiced by George Clooney, Cate Blanchett, Anjelica Houston, Jason Schwartzman, Bill Murray, and Meryl Streep among others, with Jarvis Cocker (Pulp) contributing "three, four" songs.

Old favourites being rehashed this year also include Sherlock Holmes, directed by Guy Ritchie (Snatch), with Robert Downey Jr. as Holmes and Jude Law as Dr Watson attempting to — oh, tedium — stop a conspiracy from destroying Britain, and The Prisoner, the iconic late 60s allegorical, psychological spy drama, which perplexingly (though such was its calling card) is being remade as a six part television miniseries.

In gaming there's bound to be lots more of the usual jabbing, smacking, whacking, and gallivanting with gun in hand to be expected, though a few sophisticated titles are slated for release too. In January, twenty years after the city-building simulation game SimCity initiated a change in the average gamer profile, Electronic Arts plans to publish SimAnimals, a fauna-simulation game allowing players to run their own forest complete with critters for NDS, iPhone, iPod Touch, and Wii.

In April, Microïds aim to release Still Life 2, the long-awaited conclusion to the Post Mortem (2003) and Still Life (2005) adventure games. Far from physically challenging, these art-crime thrillers provided plenty of mental exercise in suspenseful settings, with one puzzle infamously tapping gamers' culinary skills to correctly interpret a gingerbread cookie recipe. Hopefully, the new installment will dispense with the predecessors quirks, while providing equally challenging and original puzzles within an exquisite tapestry of intrigue.

Atari's set it sights on the nostalgic, middle-aged gamer, with Ghostbusters: the Video Game set for a June release coinciding with the 25th anniversary of the first film’s premiere. It's the sixth computer game adaptation of the parapsychologists-cum-apparition-exterminators' adventures, this time around for NDS, PC, PS2, PS3, Wii, and X360. Identical to the pitch for Ghostbusters III, the story's written by original authours Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis, with Bill Murray, Ernie Hudson and Annie Potts adding their voices; Rick Moranis couldn't be coaxed out of retirement and Sigourney Weaver simply wasn't game.

Gaming Boomers may appreciate MTV Games efforts to roll out The Beatles (working title) music video game for PS2, PS3, Wii, and X360 in time for Christmas. Paul, Ringo, Yoko, and Olivia Harrison are involved in producing a game that would allow players to "interpret" 45 songs, ranging from the albums Please, Please Me to Abbey Road, in the guise of their favourite Beatle.

On the cutting edge, Heavy Rain from Quantic Dream will likely be the sharpest contender of 2009. The French outfit, which previously created the action-adventures Omikron: the Nomad Soul (1999, with contributions from David Bowie) and Fahrenheit (2005, titled Indigo Prophecy in North America), has presented impressive previews, but will initially only design the game for PS3. A sequel to Fahrenheit might also be released this year, for PC, PS3, and X360.

Looking toward 2009, part I.

As the New Year dawns media commonly fills up with retrospectives and rankings, as though dwelling on the past could possibly teach us something. If history has ever taught anyone anything, it that it's never prevented anyone from indulging the very proclivities that make us human. A far more worthwhile pursuit would be to instead gaze forward, to the coming year's possibilities, opportunities and events.

One of the main events will no doubt be the end of the Bush-dynasty's reign for a foreseeable future, with the anointment of the first elected non-white leader of any Western state. Often compared to President Lincoln, who — had he been alive — would've turned 200 in February, Mr Obama will hopefully not only live up to the enormous expectations he has inspired, but also manage to stay alive in office longer than that protoplast of idealised American unity.

Lincoln happened to share his birthday with Charles Darwin, the English naturalist who first proposed the mechanism of natural selection. Although Mr Darwin too would've turned 200 in February, and his famous book, On the Origin of the Species, celebrates 150 years in print this coming November, one suspects we'll hear more about the idolised president(s) than the much maligned evolutionary theorist.

Travellers confounded by local currency may fare somewhat better now that Slovakia has replaced its koruna with the euro, while the East African Community hopes to reintroduce the East African shilling as a common currency among its member states (Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda) towards the end of the year. As for the EU's Lisbon Treaty, no one seems quite sure of where it's at. It should, as of now, be in effect, but since it requires all 27 EU members approval — and the Irish distinctly don't — it obviously can't be.

While the EU tries to sort that snag out, the UK will take yet another tentative step towards becoming a democracy in the modern sense of the word by finally establishing an independent judiciary. The UK Supreme Court, as a court of last resort within the realm, will take on the judicial functions of the House of Lords, separating them from the Lords' legislative ones. Perhaps in another century or so the Brits may even jolly well pack the monarchy in.

Canada too could edge closer to a system of representation that actually reflects popular will, as British Columbia prepares to hold yet another referendum (in conjunction with a general election) on reforming our antiquated electoral system by introducing the Single Transferable Vote. Of course, should it pass the change won't likely be in place until 2013, and then only in BC; federally such a change would no doubt take even longer. A safer bet is we'll face yet another federal election sooner.

In fact maybe as soon as the end of January, when the Conservative minority government presents its new budget. The government will either tone its reactionary antics down, allow the Liberals to prop it up, and deliver a budget that passes, or persist in its churlish childishness and lose power. In the first scenario, the Liberals will come across as wimps, take the blame for any budget deficits, get slapped around with confidence motion threats, and the knives will be out among the opposition parties, their coalition at an end. In the second, we either end up with a largely unpopular coalition government, or an election the opposition (never mind the electorate) can scarcely afford.

However, nonsense won't be restricted to politics in 2009. Take, for instance, Sheik Mo's Babylonian folly, the Burj Dubai (The Dubai Tower), slated for completion in September. A supertall skyscraper, the tallest man-made object of any sort ever constructed, currently at 780 m (2,559 ft) and still rising. This time around an angered deity needn't confound anyone's language; simply messing with the economy should do the trick.

Closer to home, the Icon Towers are set to become Edmonton's tallest residential structures, at 92 m (303 ft) and 112 m (368 ft) respectively. Not quite tall enough for local oil sheiks to impress their foreign chums, due to the fact that Edmonton does have a municipal airport smack dabble downtown. Hence, Transport Canada (the government's aviation body) won't allow any buildings over 150 m anywhere near the city centre. So, short of actually flying, 42 floors are about as high as one can (legally) get here.

If bobbing around the ocean suits one better, then the forthcoming December maiden voyage of the Oasis of the Seas — the largest passenger vessel ever constructed — could be the ticket. Ridiculously oversized, this monstrosity will allow its 6000 or so passengers to forget their even at sea. Never mind exotic destinations — the craft, larger than an average aircraft carrier, is the destination. By contrast, the completion of the Chenab Bridge, spanning its namesake river in Jammu and Kashmir, seems infinitely more practical. At 359 m (1,178 ft), it will be the world's tallest railway bridge.