We didn’t have high expectations for the latest Depeche Mode album, Delta Machine (rumored to be their final album). Depeche Mode are arguably the most successful and influential synthpop band of all-time, but we felt they reached their creative peak over 2 decades ago with their masterpiece, Violator (we realize this is a position that may anger fans so, please, no hate, it’s just our humble opinion). After Violator and its massive commercial success, we feel Dave Gahan developed the ego worthy of a rock star which correlated with guitars appearing and becoming more prominent and them moving away from their synthpop roots and embracing a more stadium rock sound. The quality of each subsequent album declined. Things hit a low point with 2009s mediocre, Sounds of the Universe, so we didn’t hold much hope for a return to their original sound we fell so deeply in love with. And things didn’t start well. We confess we were not impressed at all by first single, Heaven, so we were set to write them off again. Soothe My Soul, the second video taken from the album, however, is an improvement. To us it sounds like a second-rate Personal Jesus mixed with touches of I Feel Loved, but it is catchy and doesn’t totally suck, so perhaps we won’t write them off quite yet.
Depeche Mode – Enjoy The Silence (RAC Remix)
January 12, 2012We implore RAC to release this amazing remix of one of our favorite songs of all time by our idols, Depeche Mode. RAC updates the classic, giving it a more upbeat feeling without stripping it of the melody we love. Fall in love with Enjoy The Silence all over again.
MOTOR ft. Martin Gore (Depeche Mode) – Man Made Machine
September 28, 2011Motor have secured quite a mighty roster of artists for their soon-to-be released album (Martin Gore, Gary Numan, Billie Ray Martin). This makes sense since they have toured with Depeche Mode and have provided remix work for Numan’s new single, The Fall. Depeche Mode’s Gore provides vocals to the lead single, ManMade Machine, an electro stomper that soothes of hard, hot, sweaty sex. To us, the single seems like an industrial take on the Bauhaus classic, Bela Lugosi’s Dead .
Vince Clarke Remixes Depeche Mode
June 1, 2011
Vince Clarke, an original member and principle song writer of Depeche Mode, left abruptly after their debut album, Speak & Spell. He would later go on to form the now classic bands, Yaz and Erasure. After 30 years, he finally returns to his band roots and provides remixing duties for Behind the Wheel, which appears on the new Depeche Mode remix album. In addition, another alumni, Alan Wilder, provides remixing duties for In Chains, sadly, however, I am just not feeling his remix.
Depeche Mode – Puppets (Røyksopp reMix)
April 26, 2011Remix reinterpretations of an artist’s catalogue can be a mixed bag. Usually, the mixes are thrown together, the motive being the record label looking to cash in on former glory as was infamously the case of Talk Talk, who sued when their songs were recycled without their consent. Sometimes, however, the result is special, as in Casino Classics, which breathed new life in the pop brilliance of Saint Etienne. It’s now Depeche Mode‘s turn who are about to release reMixes 2: 81-11. The roster of contributing remixers is impressive: M83, Eric Prydz, Jacques Lu Cont, Digitalism and UNKLE. Here is the remix by one of my favorite artists, Røyksopp, and their take on their 1981 track, Puppets, from Speak & Spell.
Depeche Mode – Puppets (Røyksopp reMix)
Depeche Mode: Puppets (Original)