EKKOES release their most accomplished single yet in ‘You Got The Light’, a catchy slice of shiny electronic pop that probably would have made the Capital Radio playlist back in 1991.
Comprising of Jon Beck and Rosalee O’Connell on vocals with Dave Fawbert handling the instrumentation and programming, EKKOES released their debut album ‘Elekktricity’ in 2016, with three of its tracks ‘Fight The Feeling’, ‘Heaven’ and ‘Last Breath’ co-written and co-produced with MARSHEAUX production team FOTONOVELA.
It would be fair to say that ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK have found EKKOES a bit too musically polite in the past, but there were signs of more muscular development with two new songs ‘Electricity’ and ‘Heartbeat’ recorded in collaboration with one of the trio’s biggest champions MARK REEDER; he featured both tracks on his ‘Mauerstadt’ long player released last year and it was Reeder who gave EKKOES their first formal release with his remix of ‘Ice Cold’ on his ‘Five Point One’ collection in 2011.
Having opened for the likes of THE HUMAN LEAGUE, ERASURE, BLANCMANGE, BEF and xPROPAGANDA over the years, EKKOES showcased their wares to a potentially receptive audience, although with the various label upheavals they were exposed to during the realisation of ‘Elekktricity’, some momentum was lost.
But with a fresh start and buoyed by the interest from other established music figures like CHICANE who invited O’Connell to contribute vocals on his new album, EKKOES’ second album ‘Kinetik’ out in September promises more big choruses and an aim for, as they put it, “maximalism”. After their rollercoaster career to date, this could be their time…
‘You Got the Light’ is available now on digital platforms and from the upcoming second album ‘Kinetik’ released by Kids Records on 7th September 2018
EKKOES launch ‘Kinetik’ with a live date at The Lexington in London on Monday 10th September 2018
Following the success of MARSHEAUX’s most recent long player ‘Ath.Lon’, Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou present a limited edition cassette EP comprising of seven rejected demos from those recording sessions.
Entitled ‘Ath.Lon – Rejected Demos’, the release is limited to 300 copies of the revived analogue format pioneered by Philips in 1962 which provided the provided hours of fun as the late 20th Century’s equivalent of illegal downloading. “Home Taping Is Killing Music” bore the legend on the paper inner sleeves of LP releases when the UK record industry lobbied the government to impose a blank tape levy in 1982. But with ‘Ath.Lon – Rejected Demos’, MARSHEAUX readily show how the modern day version of home taping is skill in music.
Driven by throbbing sequences and laced with rawer vocals than normally expected of MARSHEAUX, the tape’s opener ‘Just Don’t’ lyrically references of another outtake ‘How Does It Feel?’. Following on, the metallic textures used on ‘Satellites Of Love’ closely resemble MARSHEAUX’s remix of KID MOXIE’s ‘Dirty Air’ as a prominent guide vocal from producer Nick Bitzenis provides an production insight into the demo process.
The uptempo instrumental ‘Lush’ is like synthpop interpretation of Miki Berenyi’s same named indie combo and it’s a shame that there is isn’t a vocal from the duo’s more deeper voiced Sophie Sarigiannidou to join the dots. The imposing ’Behind’ is a track with lots of potential in its mighty metronomic beat and eerie synths but ends suddenly after just two minutes while the almost punky ‘I Don’t Care’ utilises a LADYTRON styled snarl.
‘Life Goes On’ recalls the crispness of OMD’s ‘Helen of Troy’ although offset with an incomplete wispy vocal and prolonged male voices, but the sombreness of ‘Slowdown’ shows a rarely heard side of MARSHEAUX with an unusual (for them) sub-bass thrown into the mix, although the rhythm track is very bare and sans hi-hats.
Releasing this collection on a cassette has a hissy novelty value but is very restrictive and as anyone with a memory of more than twenty years will recall, the format’s most distinctive analogue audio trait was the horrible noise it made when the tape was chewed!
‘Ath.Lon – Rejected Demos’ acts as a ready companion to the 2012 rarities compendium ‘The E-bay Queen Is Dead’.
It will be interesting if any of these MARSHEAUX demos are developed further, because in the case of ‘Lush’ and ‘Behind’, there may be some synthpop classics lurking within.
MARSHEAUX kindly chatted to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about these rejected demos…
It’s been a year since ‘Ath.Lon’ was released, how do you look back on it and the critical response after?
‘Ath.Lon’ was a special album as it was recorded simultaneously in two cities, while communicating by emails and meeting a couple of times. We had a great response from our fans and people in general said it was much better than ‘Inhale’ album. Looking back, we have to say we are quite satisfied with the result.
So how come you have managed to stockpile seven rejected demos?
While working on ‘Athlon’ we wrote over 25 tracks. Some we put only on ‘The.Ath.Lon’ limited CD box, some in the digital version of the album and the rest of it is going to be released this week on this cassette. There are also some more which we didn’t finish, as time was pressuring us to release ‘Ath.Lon’.
But why cassette? It is analogue but the biggest analogue noise it makes it when the tape chews… 😉
Ha ha indeed. Maybe we are affected by the cassette hype, it is a medium though that both of us love very much. We are going to sell them in our concerts with a pencil that says ”undo rewind”…
Why did you feel these songs did not fit with the character of ‘Ath.Lon’?
As we said before, when we were about to decide which songs would fit on ‘Ath.Lon’, we all had different opinions. For example, ‘Safe Tonight’ wasn’t going to be in the album and it turned out to be our first single. Everything is subjective. ‘Lush’ could easily be a single, but it ended up as one of the rejected demos. Looking back, we remember deciding which songs we were going to use while on tour in Spain last year.
Which ones do you think could have made it into any one of the MARSHEAUX albums and which?
This is a difficult one. Each one of our albums was created and worked under other concept every time. For example in ‘Lumineux Noir’, we would never use any of the ‘Ath.Lon’ tracks and vice versa. On the other side, no other album of ours has a ‘Mediterranean’. It’s one of our favourite songs and could easily be the tribute to YAZOO that we always wanted to do.
You will be playing inside the legendary Hansa studios in Berlin, how did this come about and do you have anything different planned for it?
Yes, we had this offer and we didn’t have a second thought about it, it is fantastic to play in the same space were Bowie recorded his Berlin trilogy and DM recorded ‘Black Celebration’ and ‘Some Great Reward’. We are very excited that we are going to play and also stay there. We hope we’ll catch some of the aura of the space.
This is the day before DEPECHE MODE play in Berlin. Having met as Devotees, have you any thoughts on the new album ‘Spirit’?
We’ll be honest. ‘Spirit’ is the most weak DM album. Even ‘Delta Machine’ was far better than ‘Spirit’. Although ‘Going Backwards’ is a fantastic and classic DEPECHE MODE track, the rest of album is like they are trying to imitate and remember what they were.
What is next for MARSHEAUX?
There’s just been a new video released for ‘Now You Are Mine’, but we’re going to have some time off to relax and from September, we’ll continue touring. We need to rest and think about our next move.
Despite having only three albums in their back catalogue, Sweden’s DAYBEHAVIOR have been around since 1996 when they released their debut long player ‘:Adored’.
The sophomore offering ‘Have You Ever Touched A Dream?’ came out in 2003.
But DAYBEHAVIOR went into hiatus shortly after until they returned in 2012 with ‘Follow That Car!’, featuring widescreen pop ditties such as ‘City Lights’, ‘Silent Dawn’ and ‘It’s A Game’.
With Paulinda Crescentini, Carl Hammar and Tommy Arell close to completing their fourth opus ‘Based on a true story’, the trio took a break from recording and kindly chatted to about everything that has been happening in the DAYBEHAVIOR camp.
Before your third album ‘Follow That Car!’, DAYBEHAVIOR had been away from the music scene for a while, so what was it like for the three of you to come back together?
Carl: We had been working very close and intensely before the break for many years so we knew each other’s skills pretty well, and we were very hungry to continue the DAYBEHAVIOR story. But at the same time, we all had grown in different directions during these years, so it was not obvious that it would work getting together after a long break.
Photo by Conny Fornbäck
Which artists and music styles have been your main influences?
Carl: For me, it’s electronic music mainly from the early 80s. KRAFTWERK, YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA, LOGIC SYSTEM, ULTRAVOX and of course the synthpop scene when I was growing up like DEPECHE MODE, THE HUMAN LEAGUE, RATIONAL YOUTH, the list can be very long…
Tommy: Same as Carl mentioned, and adding Ennio Morricone, MASSIVE ATTACK, SAINT ETIENNE, GOLDFRAPP etc etc…
Paulinda: When I grew up, it was Madonna, DURAN DURAN, DEPECHE MODE and Michael Jackson mainly. Favorites now are Karin Park, Susanne Sundfor and Duvchi.
What inspired ‘It’s A Game’?
Paulinda: It’s inspiration from my own life, where I had just been having a secret relationship which was very playful and sexual…
The song was given to a number of artists to remix and MARSHEAUX’s version upped the pace quite considerably. What did you think when you first heard it?
Carl: This is great synthpop!
Tommy: It was an absolutely lovable remix they had done…. poppy / clubby / cool… thumbs up!
‘Follow That Car!’ had a long gestation period. How do you look back on it now, especially compared with your two previous albums?
Tommy: I still think it’s a marvellous album. One of my most played CDs ever I believe, haha! But if we released the album today, it would sound a bit different. Time passes by, so do sounds and influences.
You took an interesting approach with your most recent single ‘Change’ by producing a wonderful Italian version ‘Cambiare’ as an alternate interpretation?
Tommy: We have made Italian versions of songs before, actually our debut single ‘Cinematic’ is in Italian. When ‘Change’ was finished, we had two different versions we all liked, so we decided to release one in Italian too. The vocals always get a beautiful ‘Change’ when Paulinda is singing in such a lovely language as Italian.
ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK really likes ‘Cambiare’… but have DAYBEHAVIOR ever considered singing in Swedish? 😉
Carl: Oh yes, we’ve tried once or twice, but it didn’t turn out the way we expected. But maybe we’ll find the right song and lyrics in the future.
How is the new DAYBEHAVIOR album ‘Based on a true story’ coming along, can you describe its likely direction and which songs are developing well?
Carl: It has been delayed several times, but at the moment we are finalizing the last songs and doing the last tweaks and mixing.
Tommy: The new album will have many of the classic DAYBEHAVIOR elements, but it will not sound like the previous albums. Some songs are harder to finish than others, but we will only include songs we all are happy with.
Do you feel DAYBEHAVIOR fit in with the current Swedish electronic pop scene?
Tommy: Not really. I think there has never been a Swedish act similar to us, so in that sense we don’t fit in anyplace. We like upbeat synthpop tracks like ‘Change’, but also cinematic songs like ‘Godspeed’ and melancholic songs like ‘The Blue Film’ which will be on our new album.
Are there any of the newer Swedish acts you like?
Tommy: KITE and THE KNIFE
Paulinda: Karin Park
What is next for DAYBEHAVIOR?
Carl: 1) Reach the peak position on the Billboard Charts – 2) Write the next James Bond song – 3) Be bigger than God 🙂
Tommy: Finishing the album this summer and hopefully release it in September-October.
‘Based on a true story’ is due for release by Graplur in Autumn 2019, the previous album ‘Follow That Car!’ and single ‘Change’ are available via the usual digital retailers
Today, electronic instrumental music is everywhere, but often in the form of tedious dance tracks with no tunes all over Beatport and social media.
Luckily, there are still exponents of the classic synth instrumental, and thanks to the rise of the Synthwave sub-genre, there is currently a sympathetic environment for more esoteric and melodic musical offerings. The key to a good instrumental is it either has to be very melodic to make up for the lack of vocals or very unobtrusive so that while the music is interesting enough to be listened to, it can also be ignored. Thus a Eurorack modular tutorial cannot credibly count as a valid release… 😉
As a follow-up to 25 SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The CLASSIC ERA, with a limit of one track per artist, ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK presents its 25 FAVOURITE SYNTH INSTRUMENTALS Of The 21ST CENTURY in chronological and then alphabetical order…
SYSTEM F Insolation (2000)
While Dutch producer Ferry Corsten hit paydirt with international club hits such as ‘Out Of The Blue’ and ‘Cry’ as SYSTEM F, the debut album pointed towards the Trance’s link to electronic pop. As well as a brilliant collaboration with Marc Almond entitled ‘Soul On Soul’, the long player included the beautifully majestic classic instrumental ‘Insolation’ which took a breather from the usual four-to-the floor format.
PPK were a Russian trance duo comprising of Sergei Pimenov and Alexander Polyakov. The original melody of ‘ResuRection’ came from Eduard Artemyev’s synthesized theme from the epic 1979 Soviet movie ‘Siberiade’ which won the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival. Easily mistaken for Jean-Michel Jarre, the thrusting seven minute ‘Perfecto Edit’ in particular was like an exuberant rocket launch set to music.
Originally released by Perfecto Records, currently unavailable
With a piercing synthphonic riff, scat vocoder phrases, robotic bass and a rigid programmed beat, ‘Turn It On’ saw LADYTRON take a bleep forward with an attempt at a KRAFTWERK track for the 21st Century via Liverpool, Glasgow and Sofia. But as it headed towards its final third, it detoured back to Liverpool and turned into ‘Electricity’ in a cheeky homage to Merseyside’s own original electronic trailblazers OMD.
A Norwegian electronic duo consisting of Aggie Peterson and Per Martinsen, FROST released their second album ‘Melodica’ to a positive response, thanks to some production assistance by RÖYKSOPP on two tracks. The beautiful Arctic serenity of ‘Klong’ featuring local trumpeter Nils Petter Molvær alongside layers of gorgeous crystalline synths was one of the album’s highlights that easily outdid anything by GROOVE ARMADA and didn’t rely on using samples either.
Available on the album ‘Melodica’ via Frost World Recordings
‘Destroy Rock & Roll’ was the debut album by Scottish DJ Myles MacInnes that alongside DAFT PUNK and BASEMENT JAXX, summed up the sample laden dance music that was prevalent at the time. Produced on a computer in his own bedroo, the album’s best track however was the more downtempo, Moby-esque richness of ‘Emotion 96.8’ with its beautiful sweeping synth melodies and unobtrusive rhythm structure.
With a hypnotic Motorik rhythm, pulsating bleeps and spacey whirs driving a moodier template along the lines of cult German experimentalists EMAK, Phil and Paul Hartnoll continued their primarily instrumental template on their ‘Blue Album’, although SPARKS contributed vocals to a totally unrelated track called ‘Acid Pants’. The brothers split shortly after the long player’s release, but returned in 2009 to play The Big Chill Festival.
Available on the album ‘Blue Album’ via Orbital Music
From ‘Hymn’ to ‘First Cool Hive’ to ‘A Seated Night’, the man born Richard Melville Hall is a master of the instrumental. The solemn ‘Homeward Angel’ closed Moby’s sample-less song-based ‘Hotel’ album with a solemn yet uplifting slice of mood music that was incongruous with the main act. Since leaving Mute in 2008, his more recent self-released albums such as ‘Destroyed’ and ‘Innocents’ have displayed this more esoteric quality.
A ten minute instrumental epic, ‘Alpha Male’ came from RÖYKSOPP’s under rated second long player, a collection of music that saw Svein Berge and Torbjørn Brundtland moving away from the chill-out climes of ‘Melody AM’ into much darker sonic territory. The track’s lengthy ambient intro was interrupted by a mighty metronomic beat and the sort of progressive synth overtures that would have made Jean-Michel Jarre proud.
Since his musical return in 1997 with ‘Shifting City’, John Foxx has practically had albums coming out of his ears in song-based, ambient and soundtrack formats, both solo and in collaboration with other artists. The spacey mechanical Schaffel of ‘Kurfurstdendam’ came from an imaginary soundtrack he called ‘Tiny Colour Movies’, inspired by a friend’s birthday screening of a private film collection comprising of random surveillance clips and offcuts from Hollywood.
Few acts actually genuinely sound like their name… SISTA MANNEN PÅ JORDEN, which translates as “the last man in space”, is the solo project of Swedish synthpop trailblazer Eddie Bengtsson, he of PAGE and S.P.O.C.K fame. The frantic ‘Space-Elevator’ with its swimmy string synths and Sci-Fi derived melody acted as an effective Moroder-esque interlude on his excellent sixth album ‘Tredje Våningen’ and also featured ‘Allt Är Klart’ which borrowed off the ULTRAVOX instrumental ‘Alles Klar’.
Borrowing the distinctive bassline from SIMPLE MINDS’ 1981 single ‘Love Song’, TENEK put together this lively instrumental for their debut EP. With a modern mechanical groove coupled to their trademark synth rock, the almost funky ‘Ice Fields’ became an early live favourite, although the duo have focussed on more song based adventures for their three albums to date, ‘Stateless’, ‘On The Wire’ and ‘Smoke & Mirrors’.
In 2007, Andreas Kleerup, producer and one-time drummer for THE MEAT BOYS, undertook his first mainstream collaboration with fellow Swede Robyn. The success of ‘With Every Heartbeat’ led to the recording of his self-titled debut album which featured a number of brilliant instrumentals. ‘Hero’ was its perfect start and with a solid bassline and strong choral timbres, it had the vibe of how OMD might have sounded if they had formed in the 21st Century.
While most of the ‘Tron Legacy’ soundtrack was orchestrated by Joseph Trapanese, DAFT PUNK’s spiky electronics and drum machine were kept in alongside the epic strings for the end titles of the sequel to the 1982 movie ‘Tron’. There were nods to Wendy Carlos who composed the original film score, with Thomas Bangalter focusing on the heroic themes while Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo was more inclined to generating the darker elements.
Available on the soundtrack album ‘Tron Legacy’ via Walt Disney Records
Forming in 2001, Swedish duo 047 began their chiptune experiments thought a mutual appreciation of vintage video games. But after their debut long player, Peter Engström and Sebastian Rutgersson began to incorporate melodic song based elements and vocals into their music. The end results led to the impressive second album ‘Elva’, but they celebrated their chiptune influenced roots with the jolly YELLOW MAGIC ORCHESTRA salute of ‘Kanpai!’
‘The E-Bay Queen Is Dead’ was collection of rarities from the MARSHEAUX archives. While Marianthi Melitsi and Sophie Sarigiannidou have done a fair number of cover versions in their time, they are not really known for doing instrumentals. But the electro-boppy ‘Now & Never’ was a very promising wordless demo that Vince Clarke would have approved of; as one of his former DEPECHE MODE colleagues once sang: “words are very unnecessary…”
Fusing Detroit techno with more European experimental forms, Patricia Hall and Ian Hicks’ second SOFT METALS album ‘Lenses’ featured the fabulous instrumental ‘Hourglass’. As Hall put it: “I really wanted to write lyrics for that one, but was never quite satisfied with what I came up with. I decided it would be better to let that one be an instrumental. I think it holds up on its own. It’s nice to give the listener a chance to interpret its meaning on its own rather than direct them with words”.
Available on the album ‘Lenses’ via Captured Tracks
Anais Neon and Martin Swan’s tribute to ‘Assault On Precinct 13’, ‘The future through a lens’ was a moody but booming instrumental that began their excellent debut longer player of the same name, which later netted a Schallewelle Award for ‘Best International Album’ in 2014. With their vast array of analogue synthesizers and exquisite taste for sound textures, it won’t be too surprising if VILE ELECTRODES aren’t offered some soundtrack opportunities in the near future.
Although making his name within EDM circles, the Norwegian producer born Todd Olsen paid a musical tribute to ‘Back To The Future’ and its futuristic gull-wing doored Delorean DMC-12 car with this suitably driving Synthwave instrumental. Unlike other so-called dance producers, Terje is conversant with electronic music history and possesses a wry sense of humour, as evidenced by the witty wordplay of track titles like ‘Inspector Norse’ and his own DJ moniker.
After the first phase of BLANCMANGE, Neil Arthur and Stephen Luscombe worked within the TV and film industry, scoring soundtracks and incidental music. Although best known for his voice, Neil Arthur’s instrumentals have been a continual form of expression. The brilliant ‘Cistern’ comes over like an imaginary Bond Theme for a retro-futuristic world. The wordless wonder that is the parent album ‘Nil By Mouth’ is an unsung masterpiece.
Adam Cresswell’s sombre vocals and the darker lyrical themes on his debut Rodney Cromwell album ‘Age Of Anxiety’ took a breather with the bright and breezy ‘Baby Robot’. With sweet synthesizer melodies, pretty glints of glockenspiel and a bouncy beatbox, the instrumental was inspired by birth of his son. “Yes, ‘Baby Robot’ is the one track on the album that’s 100% upbeat as it is about the experience of being a father” he gleefully said.
While Danish duo DARKNESS FALLS are better known for their melancholic Nordic vocals and neo-gothic overtones on songs like ‘The Void’, the dark synthy instrumental ‘Thunder Roads’ proved to be one of the most striking tracks on their second album ‘Dance & Cry’. With a punchy drum machine mantra and menacing reverberant sequence, it was augmented by guitar screeches and sombre six string basslines reminiscent of JOY DIVISION and THE CURE.
Available on the album ‘Dance & Cry’ via Fake Diamond Records
JEAN-MICHEL JARRE & BOYZ NOISE The Time Machine (2015)
Jean-Michel Jarre’s first album for since ‘Teo & Tea’ in 2007 was a two volume opus entitled ‘Electronica’; it features collaborations with a number of synth pioneers and modern day dance artists including BOYZ NOISE aka Berlin DJ Alexander Ridha. This climactic track took on a new life as the set closer on the French synth maestro’s ‘Electronica’ world tour, with a lasered 3D visual feast that required no special glasses! BUT BEWARE OF FLASHING IMAGES! 😉
Available on the album ‘Electronica 1 – The Time Machine’ via Columbia Records
The horror film king recorded his ‘Lost Themes’ series in collaboration with his son Cody and his godson Daniel Davies as standalone pieces, without the pressure of having to put the music to moving images. The second volume was completed on a tighter schedule to accompany a world concert tour and thus replicated some of the challenging moods in his soundtrack work with tracks like ‘Utopian Façade’ recalling his classic movie soundscapes.
Dixon and Stein are members of the Texan group SURVIVE and their accompanying music to ‘Stranger Things’, a cross between ‘ET’, ‘The Goonies’ and ‘Alien’, sent electronic music fans into online meltdown with its use of vintage analogue synths. With a soundtrack influenced by the horror flicks of Dario Argento and of course John Carpenter, the one minute opening title music to the acclaimed drama series said all that was needed to be said in its brooding dissonant tones.
As would be expected from a title like ‘Klangfarben’, this vibrant instrumental from Dublin trio TINY MAGNETIC PETS is an enjoyable homage to Germanic music forms, with a loose percussive feel that still maintains that vital degree of Motorik. A word meaning “soundcolour”, it refers to a technique whereby a musical line is split between several instruments, rather than assigning it to just one instrument, thereby adding timbre and texture to proceedings.
Nearly 30 years since the Concert For The Masses at Pasadena Rose Bowl, DEPECHE MODE continue to fill stadia throughout the world.
However, their recorded output in the 21st Century and their attitude towards their live presentation leaves a lot to be desired. Despite ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s criticism of DEPECHE MODE as a live band with the excesses of The Drumhead and The Noodler, they are still capable of occasional brilliance as an artistic force. And it is that intermittent quality which is the most frustrating aspect of DEPECHE MODE in the 21st Century.
But this article is not about the absence of Alan Wilder or the much-debated choice of producers, it’s about when the DEPECHE MODE brand has got it right, whether with the full involvement of the band’s members or not. So which are those moments that veer closest to the glory of albums such as ‘Black Celebration’, ‘Music For The Masses’ and ‘Violator’ that see Messrs Fletcher, Gahan and Gore properly exploring the electronic sound with which they made their fortune?
Tellingly, many of the best DM moments in this new millennium are remixes, instrumentals, bonus tracks or songs sung by Martin Gore. It must be pointed out that this listing is NOT intended for Devotees, but aimed those former fans of DEPECHE MODE disillusioned by Dave Gahan’s drug fuelled stage diving antics who bowed out after ‘Songs Of Faith & Devotion’ or those hanging on for the possibility of a good record using synthesizers rather than a collection of pastiche electro-blues.
So here are the 18 tracks which act as ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK’s own Beginner’s Guide To DEPECHE MODE in the 21st Century.
Dream On – Dave Clarke Acoustic Version (2001)
‘Dream On’ was a messy trailer to the inappropriately named ‘Exciter’ album, but with Dave Clarke slowing down the song’s acoustic guitar line, the makeover brought the track closer to its full musical potential. Anything BUT acoustic thanks to the addition of electronic drum patterns and icy string synths, there was the bonus of the track being made instrumental and free of the dreary lead vocal on the original.
Inspired by Giorgio Moroder, the pacey and club friendly ‘I Feel Loved’ stood out like a sore thumb on ‘Exciter’, being the album’s only truly uptempo number. With its synthy sirens and tightly sequenced bassline, treated enhancement was provided by Airto Moreira, a veteran jazz drummer from Brazil who appeared to have a good grasp as to the best way to provide percussive colour to a danceable electronic recording.
Martin Gore’s interest in leftfield electronica and thus the employment of the late Mark Bell from LFO as producer on ‘Exciter’ only truly manifested itself in the full-length version of ‘Easy Tiger’ which appeared on the B-side of the ‘Dream On’ single. A beautifully progressive track with many intelligent layers and hypnotic percussive counterpoints, a truncated version of ‘Easy Tiger’ ended up on the album, but was so short that it was rendered virtually pointless when cut off at two minutes.
Available on the 6CD single boxed set ‘6’ via Mute Records
Zenstation (2001)
A dreamy neo-instrumental with a few Martin Gore vocal ab-libs, ‘Zenstation’ emerged as the B-side of ‘Freelove’. Using exotic koto samples and assorted detuned synth sounds, the under rated track was strong on melody and inventive in its percussive interplay. Recalling an earlier mood piece ‘Christmas Island’ but utilising a more meditative environment, its Far Eastern overtones provided a wonderful textural diversion within the DEPECHE MODE canon.
Available on the CD single ‘Freelove’ via Mute Records
A Pain That I’m Used To – MARSHEAUX remix (2005)
Already a magnificent brooding epic in its original form, ‘A Pain That I’m Used To’ was brilliantly transformed by MARSHEAUX, adding their own sparkling top end dynamic. While this is one of DEPECHE MODE’s better offerings in recent years, it seems outsiders have a better grasp of classic DM than the band themselves. Although never officially released, this was voted top remix in a poll of Devotees and far superior to the dreadful Jacques Lu Cont remix that the band insist on doing live!
Remix not officially available
Suffer Well (2005)
The ‘Playing The Angel’ album was a return to form, thanks largely to its “pain and suffering in various tempos” but also following his lacklustre solo debut ‘Paper Monsters’, the rise of Dave Gahan’s abilities as a songwriter, as proven by the embittered thrust of ‘Suffer Well’. It was a fine if slightly overdriven fusion of rock and electronic elements that came over brilliantly in a live setting.
It could be said that the worst judges of DEPECHE MODE’s music are DEPECHE MODE themselves… originally titled ‘Martyr For Love’, this rousing number came from the ‘Playing The Angel’ sessions, but was apparently rejected from the album for being too poppy! Released as the launch single to a ‘Best Of’ compilation, the most enjoyable version of the song came via a remix from top Trance DJ Paul Van Dyk who exploited the tune’s accessibility to the full with a nicely polished club friendly sound.
Available as an iTunes download single via Mute Records
Wrong – Trentemøller Club Remix (2009)
Anders Trentemøller’s superb Club Remix of ‘Wrong’ well and truly outstripped the rather ploddy original. His astute understanding of synthesizers and conventional instruments has made him an acclaimed producer in-demand with both electronic acts and indie bands such as SAVAGES. But despite sitting under the noses of Messrs Gahan, Gore and Fletcher, the Dane has unbelievably never received that call.
Martin Gore writes great instrumentals, but unlike the days of yore when he would explore his synths and build atmospheres like on ‘Oberkorn’ and ‘Nothing To Fear’, they are kept as short as possible, almost in fear of boring the more rock inclined audiences where subtle textures are a bit of an anathema. ‘Spacewalker’ was wonderfully light and tuneful relief on the rather dire ‘Sounds Of The Universe’.
Martin Gore’s voice is undoubtedly more suited to ballads and in an album of C-sides, a song that perhaps would have only been a B-side a few years earlier was the highlight of ‘Sounds Of The Universe’. With lyrics such as “Whenever we walk in – You’re going straight to hell for wanton acts of sin”, ‘Jezebel’ was a stand-out song and able to keep the some of the more deviantly inclined Devotees happy.
‘Oh Well’ is one the best DEPECHE MODE recordings of the 21st Century, but it never made the final tracklisting of ‘Sound Of The Universe’ which proves the band aren’t the best judges of their own music. The first Gore / Gahan song collaboration, although their parts were written separately, it showed that they could sound exciting when some creative tension was thrown in. Like Giorgio Moroder meeting DAF, it was cruelly used as a video teaser to fool fans into thinking there would be a full-blown synth work.
The Sun & The Moon & The Stars – Electronic Periodic’s Microdrum Mix (2009)
‘The Sun & The Moon & The Stars’ was a Martin Gore vocalled outtake from the ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ sessions and while it was included on the deluxe 4CD boxed set alongside ‘Oh Well’, the original guitar driven ditty was not very convincing. The more overtly electronic Microdrum Mix with its scratchy rhythm passage and robotised harmonies was far superior, as an example of yet another more fully realised recording courtesy of an external remixer.
Available on the iTunes Pass download album ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ via Mute Records
Soothe My Soul (2013)
An obvious cousin of the bluesy ‘Personal Jesus’ but quickly disowned and dropped from the ‘Delta Machine’ tour, ‘Soothe My Soul’ was one of the few crowd pleasers in a live set that had far too many lulls. But with Gahan’s rockist tendencies and insistence on live drums from Christian Eigner, why don’t DEPECHE MODE be brave and go the full blues combo hog, put Peter Gordeno on bass guitar and drop the electronics, as well as the old hits? Is that possibly because no-one would bother to see them?
A song that Dave Gahan said to Mojo Magazine was “uptempo” but in reality, was more like ‘A Question Of Time’ with assistance provided by a mobility scooter, ‘Broken’ was nevertheless, one of the better and more electronic offerings on the blues dominated ‘Delta Machine’. But the end result sees Gore desperately trying to work guitar into a track where it’s not needed, almost as a statement to say that DEPECHE MODE are NO LONGER an electronic band!
In a pattern similar to ‘Oh Well’, the best song from the ‘Delta Machine’ sessions was left out of the main act. ‘All That’s Mine’ featured a tightly sequenced backbone, electronically derived rhythms and a gloomy austere… in fact, they were all the perfect ingredients for a classic DM tune! But it was no doubt rejected because Dave Gahan can’t do a Mick Jagger impression to it and would have been changed beyond recognition if performed with live drums.
Available on the 2CD deluxe album ‘Delta Machine’ via Columbia Records
Should Be Higher – In My Eyes Remix (2013)
Using sounds sampled off ‘World In My Eyes’, this 4/4 bootleg remix by DOMINATRIX was far superior to the original, offering many of the synthesized textures and electronic percussive templates that made DEPECHE MODE great. In its original form, the song was good but suffered from a lacklustre production and ploddy arrangement, perhaps in an attempt to project a more authentic bluesman demeanour. It’s as if DEPECHE MODE are scared to be considered an electronic band these days.
Remix not officially available
Cover Me – Alt Out (2017)
The vocal-less second half of ‘Cover Me’ was brilliant, a gorgeous cacophony of arpeggios and layers of sweeping synths reminiscent of the ‘Violator’ era. But when the ‘Alt Out’ mix was issued as a bonus on the ‘Spirit’ album’s deluxe edition, it was as if someone within the band’s circle understood Gahan’s SOULSAVERS warbling was likely to polarise and that an instrumental version would be appreciated by the masses… it was!
Available on the 2CD deluxe album ‘Spirit’ via Columbia Records
Fail (2017)
Despite being the main songwriter, things do not look good when the best vocal song on a DEPECHE MODE album is one sung by Martin Gore. And on ‘Spirit’, it was the turn of the sombre but enticing ‘Fail’. Gore seems to have an understanding of what is appealing about DEPECHE MODE, but appears too frightened to assert that ethos on the grunge victim that is Gahan. But their financial dependency on each other to means that much of the music now in the name of the brand seems strangely muted.
Available on the album ‘Spirit’ via Columbia Records
DEPECHE MODE play London Stadium on Saturday 3rd June 2017
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EKKOES launch ‘Kinetik’ with a live date at The Lexington in London on Monday 10th September 2018
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, featuring widescreen pop ditties such as ‘City Lights’, ‘Silent Dawn’ and ‘It’s A Game’.
was finished, we had two different versions we all liked, so we decided to release one in Italian too. The vocals always get a beautiful ‘Change’ when Paulinda is singing in such a lovely language as Italian.
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Martin Gore writes great instrumentals, but unlike the days of yore when he would explore his synths and build atmospheres like on ‘Oberkorn’ and ‘Nothing To Fear’, they are kept as short as possible, almost in fear of boring the more rock inclined audiences where subtle textures are a bit of an anathema. ‘Spacewalker’ was wonderfully light and tuneful relief on the rather dire ‘Sounds Of The Universe’.
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Martin Gore’s voice is undoubtedly more suited to ballads and in an album of C-sides, a song that perhaps would have only been a B-side a few years earlier was the highlight of ‘Sounds Of The Universe’. With lyrics such as “Whenever we walk in – You’re going straight to hell for wanton acts of sin”, ‘Jezebel’ was a stand-out song and able to keep the some of the more deviantly inclined Devotees happy.
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‘The Sun & The Moon & The Stars’ was a Martin Gore vocalled outtake from the ‘Sounds Of The Universe’ sessions and while it was included on the deluxe 4CD boxed set alongside ‘Oh Well’, the original guitar driven ditty was not very convincing. The more overtly electronic Microdrum Mix with its scratchy rhythm passage and robotised harmonies was far superior, as an example of yet another more fully realised recording courtesy of an external remixer.
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