"SO WHY DEPECHE MODE?"

How many times do I get asked that? Last Thursday, for example, my firm hosted a quiz for clients. I was the quizmaster and wrote all the questions. One of the answers was Just Can't Get Enough (not one for the DM purists I know) and I mentioned the band both during the quiz and in the e-mail I sent the next day thanking everyone for coming, said e-mail referencing the fact that Depeche had been mentioned more times than was probably reasonable during what was an event promoting my firm. 

One thing that surprised me that night was that many people said "Are they still going?" This was a bunch of people who, it must be said, had performed very well during my Synthpop Intros Round, all professing a knowledge of early 80's synthpop, including Just Can't Get Enough, yet none of the knew that Depeche were still going. Once I explained that they were, and I did so in the briefest way I could, every single one of them said, "Why Depeche Mode?" with a couple saying "Surely they were finished by the time you discovered music?"

Ok, that's a compliment as I'm 42 years old, but that aside, those reactions were odd.

So why Depeche Mode? What makes them stand out among all other bands? What continues to draw me to them after all these years? I adore many, many bands - R.E.M., The Pixies, The Smiths, Kraftwerk, New Order, Joy Division, Nine Inch Nails to name a few older ones, The Insomniac Project, Priest, HQFU, Machines In Heaven, Everything Everything, Nailbiter, Beliefs, to name a few newer, many of whom I've found thanks to this blog.

But, above them all, there will always be Depeche Mode. Yes, the most recent years haven't matched the highs of, say, 1986 to 1993 in terms of experimentalism as pop music, but my love for them has never wavered. Sounds Of The Universe tested it certainly, but I took that as an album being a vehicle for a tour and saw numerous shows and met numerous wonderful people, a feat repeated in 2013/14 with the wonderful Delta Machine and the even bigger number of shows I saw, catching up with old friends and making even more new ones. 

I'm not, or at least I don't think I am, one of those fans who obsess over every Depeche detail there is. You might chuckle at that, given the nonsense I've written over 4 years of this blog, but I do like to see myself as one of the more rational Depeche Mode fans. Ok, there's a huge record collection that mocks that claim, but, among the DM tribe, I'm fairly normal. My 3 shows in 5 days on the Delta Machine tour is seen my non Mode pals as the actions of a man on the brink of a breakdown. To my Depeche friends, it's seen as a less than impressive attempt at keeping up with them.

I just paused to ask myself why I'm even writing this at 00:45 am on Sunday 9 October. Well, the reason is this: I've just come home from a night out with friends where I told them about unconfirmed Depeche Mode tour dates on what may, or may not, be the 2017 tour. (I won't mention what appears to be the name of the tour here as it's not confirmed). I also, with unnecessary excitement, told me wife about it in the taxi on the way to meet our friends. I then came home, did the usual last Facebook check of the night (you ALL do that) and saw what bears to be a new official picture of the band.

And with that, all thought of sleep passed and I started hunting out information. Information that I know will be speculation until Tuesday's press conference, but information I need to have all the same. I've already set aside an hour when I should be actually working for Tuesday's press conference. A press conference by a band? A press conference where they'll no doubt announce an 18 month campaign that we could already predict about 80% of the details. But, and here's the thing, it's a Depeche Mode press conference, where new Depeche Mode information will come to light.

So why Depeche Mode?

Because no other band inspires this sort of nonsense in a man that should know better given his age

Because Enjoy The Silence genuinely changed my life

Because of Stripped

Because of The Sun And The Rainfall

Because of the last minute of Strangelove on 101 where Martin sings "Strangelove" repeatedly

Because of that harsh but glorious metal bashing sound halfway through It's No Good

Because of The Things You Said

Because of the World In My Eyes video, teasing us with World Violation footage

Because of Precious

Because of the dark perfection of Ultra

Because Violator is the single most inspirational album of all time

Because Martin brought But Not Tonight back to such heartbreaking perfection in 2013

Because of so many other things, too numerous to name here

But ultimately because they are Depeche Mode.

And that is why Depeche Mode.

TUFF LOVE - DREGS EP

Glasgow duo Tuff Love really are quickly becoming a favourite of mine. I still regularly play their previous two e.p's Junk and Dross and Dregs has already joined them on heavy rotation. All three are released through the excellent Lost Map label by the way - it's a label you should all check out. Anyway, to Dregs itself.

The opening track Duke is a wonderful start to the e.p, perfectly displaying the band's ability to merge laid back, summery, lo-fi vibes with fuzzed up noise that brings to mind The Pixies somewhere between Doolittle and Bossanova. The vocals and harmonies are, as ever, spot on too and the change of pace around 2 minutes 20 seconds in a beautiful thing. Crocodile focuses more the harder side of Tuff Love's sound, balancing the louder approach with the pop like vocal melody and then Threads increases the pace more and sounding like a track you know will be superb live. Amphibian and Carbon round off the e.p. with both tracks more reflective in sound and tone than their predecessors, yet they still fit the e.p. perfectly. 

With Dregs, Tuff Love have once again shown that they are band who really are up to something special. It will be a welcome addition to any music collection and, given that their stock is bound to rise sooner rather than later, I'd recommend you investigate Tuff Love right now. You'll want to be able to tell your friends that you knew them first

Dregs is available now on Lost Map Records download and 10" yellow vinyl

Tuff Love http://www.reallytufflove.com/
Lost Map Records http://lostmap.com/products/tuff-love-dregs-ep

BELIEFS - LEAPER

Toronto's Beliefs release their second album Leaper on 13 November on the ever impressive Hand Drawn Dracula label. Leaper is an album of shoegaze influenced indiepop that pays homage to the likes of The Pixies, Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and even The Wedding Present, who are a personal favourite of mine, so all the signs point to something very good. What you ultimately get is an album that is as fresh as a daisy, full of fuzzy guitars, great washes of noise and superb melodies, leading to an album that is surely bound to make Beliefs pop up on many people's radars.

Opener Tidal Wave is as good an example of what's to come as anything. An opening feedback squall leads to an MBV like drone of distorted guitar and your attention is grabbed from the off.  I don;t know if it was deliberate or not, but the Dinosaur Jr referencing lyrics ("You're living all over me") are a nice touch. It's a superb start, yet it's trumped by the simply outstanding 1992 which is one of the best things I've heard in ages. Part Pixies, part joyous guitar pop, 1992 is a track you HAVE to hear and you can so below - you can't fail to love it.  Colour Of Your Name comes next sounding like The Wedding Present circa Seamonsters but having fun. It's a summery feeling track albeit one masked in wonderfully fuzzy guitars. Drown and the title track take the pace down a notch, focussing more in atmosphere albeit with added feedback and aggression in the latter which compliments the mood nicely before the excellent pop like Ghosts arrives, wrapping you up in its loveliness.

The album is basically a succession of impressive tracks that doesn't relent at all. Morning Light is another noise encased pop gem and it's followed by Go Ahead And Sleep which reminds you of Ride at their most intense before they let Andy Bell have too much influence. The penultimate Leave With You perhaps suffers by comparison to the breathless opening nine tracks of the album but, that said, it still impresses. The record then ends on the brilliantly titled Swooner which starts off quieter than you might expect but builds to a booming, echo laden climax that ends the album perfectly.

As I said at the outset, Beliefs are band you are bound to hear a lot about soon given the quality of Leaper. There is no harm at all in making a record that pays homage to your influences, as long as there is enough of you in the record itself. Beliefs more than achieve that with Leaper and it is an album that you really have to get your hands on.

Leaper by Beliefs is released on 13 November on Hand Drawn Dracula. It's available on download an a limited edition of 300 translucent green vinyl. I've managed to get one.

Beliefs Facebook https://www.facebook.com/weareBeliefs/?fref=ts
Hand Drawn Dracula Beliefs Artist Page http://handdrawndracula.com/artists/beliefs/

BELIEFS - 1992

It can't all be Scottish music or Depeche Mode reviews around here. You might remember that I featured a band called Rolemodel earlier this year - their Claire e.p. is one of the finest things I've heard this year and one you really must check out (http://almostpredictablealmost1.blogspot.co.uk/2015/06/rolemodel-claie.html).

Anyway, Rolemodel's e.p. was released on the Hand Drawn Dracula label which is based in Toronto and for the lat few months I've been checking out a lot of their stuff with all of it being really rather cool. I'm particularly in love with 1992 by Beliefs which I thought I'd share here. It's the first release from their forthcoming album Leaper and if 1992 is anything to go by, it's going to be an album you definitely want to hear. Imagine Sonic Youth, My Bloody Valentine and The Pixies having a fight - the result is 1992.

Leaper can be pre-ordered from the Hand Drawn Dracula Bandcamp page here (https://handdrawndracula.bandcamp.com/album/leaper). I've already grabbed one of the 300 limited edition vinyls so be quick. While you're at it, check out Hand Drawn Dracula's whole catalogue as there is a lot there to love. The XIV compilation isn't a bad place to begin exploring - that's available directly from their site.

Hand Drawn Drcaula - http://handdrawndracula.com

Hand Drawn Dracula Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/HandDrawnDracula?fref=ts

Beliefs - http://beliefsmusic.com

Beliefs Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/weareBeliefs?fref=ts

LIVE REVIEW: SCOTTISH FICTION PRESENTS WITH DEC. '91, AKELA & MT. DOUBT

As well as providing an invaluable source of new Scottish music, Neil Wilson's Scottish Fiction is also well known for its gig nights. Last night at The Hug And Pint on Great Western Road, Glasgow, the Scottish Fiction Presents gig put on three bands who were all different in style and sound but complimented each other perfectly to give everyone there a hugely enjoyable night.

First up were Dec. '91. The band's track When You Come featured on the most recent Almost Scottish Fiction e.p. (here) but the acoustic feel of that track was no preparation for what was to come. We instead got a mix of early Pixies, some Jack White like guitar sonic waves and, as spotted by Dougie the venue's sound engineer, a distinct Jonathan Richman feel. It was loud, chaotic and superb with the Pixies influence felt not only in the sound but also in some of the lyrics. One to watch no doubt.

Dec. '91 - picture taken from Scottish Fiction's Twitter feed

Next up were Akela, a band who I'd never heard before but one who certainly made a good impression. Their sound brought to mind Talking Heads in places or the likes of Vampire Weekend with even a little bit of Wilco like alt-country thrown in for good measure. Their new single Past Sunrise was one of the stand out tracks (https://soundcloud.com/akela-music/past-sunrise) but the whole set worked really well. One of the good things about a gig like this is discovery of a new band to keep an eye on - Akela were that band last night.

Akela

The headliners were Mt. Doubt, whose debut album My Past Is A Quiet Beast has been getting a lot of attention from many places including this very blog this week (review). As I said in my review, it's a powerful release that really impresses but live, it's taken to another level entirely. Leo Bargery is transformed from the man on the album to someone who seems to have mashed together Eddie Vedder and Bruce Springsteen and had them backed by The National. It's engrossing and incredibly powerful stuff. The whole set flew by and was quite superb. I'm quite sure that Mt Doubt are on the verge of something very special indeed - music this good and this powerful can't fail.

Mt. Doubt.

So that was that - a fine evening featuring a diverse selection of bands that came together quite wonderfully. Thanks very much to Neil at Scottish Fiction for arranging it. You must all keep an eye out for future Scottish Fiction Presents gigs as you won't want to miss them. I've got to say as well that The Hug And Pint is a cracking small venue. The sound was spot on and the bar is a great, friendly place. I'll certainly be back there for gigs. 

Scottish Fiction - http://scottishfiction.blogspot.co.uk/

The Hug And Pint - http://www.thehugandpint.com/

Mt Doubt - https://www.facebook.com/MtDoubt?fref=ts

Akela - https://www.facebook.com/AkelaBand?fref=ts

Dec. '91 - https://www.facebook.com/dec91?fref=ts