Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Jan 16th, 2007

Marsheaux – PEEK A BOO

Για άλλη μια φορά ένας καθόλου αντικειμενικός φίλος του συγκροτήματος έρχεται στη δύσκολη θέση να καταθέσει την εμπειρία και ό,τι τυχόν αποκόμισε από την ακρόαση της τελευταίας δουλειάς. Εξαιρετικά δύσκολο να θέλεις να βρεις “μελανά” ή γκρίζα σημεία και τελικά αυτό που να σου μένει είναι ο ενθουσιασμός μιας Χαίρομαι πάντως που ακόμα και σε αυτήν την ηλικία (δεν είμαι και σαν την Πελοπόννησο) υπάρχουν στη μουσική δουλειές που...

Posted by The Lost Echoes Team | Oct 7th, 2006

Lost Echoes’ Music Carte – Σεπτέμβριος / Οκτώβριος 2006

Πολλές φορές και για λόγους που δεν χρειάζονται πάντα εξηγήσεις, αφήνουμε ορισμένους δίσκους ή μεμονωμένα κομμάτια να ‘κυριαρχούν’ περισσότερο από κάποια άλλα στα καθημερινά μας ακούσματα. Η ομάδα του Lost Echoes παραθέτει τις προτιμήσεις της όπως αυτές προκύπτουν από την πρόσφατη περίοδο μουσικής συγκομιδής των μελών της. Ιωάννης Γλυκός Tracks: Depeche Mode – Martyr, Camera Obscura – Razzle dazzle rose, Gregor Samsa – These points balance, Darkel – Earth, Teddy Thompson – Tonight...

Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Aug 29th, 2006

Nikonn – Poladroid

Αμφιταλαντεύομαι στο αν πρέπει να μοιραστώ μαζί σας τις εντυπώσεις ενός μουσικού CD ή να αρχίζω να σχολιάζω φωτογραφίες ενός άλμπουμ με έναν φίλο, με κάποιον που θα είχα το θάρρος να αποκαλύψω και την ιστορία μίας μίας φωτογραφίας: “Αυτή είναι από τις διακοπές στην Ιθάκη. Εδώ είμαστε με μια παρέα από τον στρατό και τα πίνουμε. Εκδρομή με τους συμμαθητές μου στην Ύδρα. Με τον κολλητό μου στην συναυλία των Kraftwerk κλπ”. Η συσκευασία και...

Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Oct 20th, 2005

[PTA era] releasemagazine.net review of PTA

I’ve been a Depeche Mode fan since…, well actually I don’t recall when. Around “Black Celebration” perhaps? At least I can’t forget the first single I bought: “Stripped”. “Violator” was a huge part of my adolescence, and those songs will stay with me forever, together with the band’s imagery around that time. Anton Corbijn sure knew what he was doing back then (the new artwork is just “acceptable”). I think “Songs of Faith and Devotion” is almost as good, and “In Your Room” is one of the best tracks in the world. Ever. After Alan Wilder left the band in 1995, I thought it was over for good. But they returned in 1997 with “Ultra”, which to my surprise had some brilliant tracks....

Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Oct 19th, 2005

[PTA era] musicomh.com review of PTA

Close your eyes and you’d think we were back in the good old days of the concept album. From the title to the footnote on the back of the CD – “pain and suffering in various tempos” – Depeche Mode are in spiritual territory. Lest that footnote sounds awfully gloomy, I should add that much of the music soars, producer John Hillier (Doves, Blur) adding an appropriate otherworldly dimension. Virtually every song has a religious dimension, whether or not the narrator is a believer. Not totally unfamiliar territory for a band that recorded a hit anthem called Personal Jesus, but even so there’s more here than in the past that speaks of the search for – truth, wholeness, something… The title comes from the lyrics of the closing song, The Darkest...

Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Oct 19th, 2005

[PTA era] allmusic.com review of PTA

When Ultra was declared the best Depeche Mode album since Violator, those who said so must have forgotten about Songs of Faith and Devotion. When Exciter was declared the best Depeche Mode album since Violator, those who said so must have also forgotten about Songs of Faith and Devotion, in addition to having found a roundabout way of saying that it was merely better than Ultra. There’s no doubt this time: Playing the Angel is both the band’s best album since Violator and, more significantly, an album that is near Violator in stature. The biggest clue dropped by the band prior to its release was a quote from Dave Gahan, who said that being in Depeche Mode is better than it has been in 15 years. Some quick math reveals that Gahan was hinting at the Violator era, a time when the...

Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Oct 15th, 2005

[PTA era] blogcritics.org – review of PTA

It’s hard to believe, but in the past decade, Depeche Mode has only released two albums: 1997’s Ultra, and 2001’s Exciter. Prior to both of those albums was 1993’s Songs of Faith and Devotion. I guess DM have been on a four-year release cycle in the 1990s. Well, it’s been four years since the release of Exciter, and Depeche Mode’s latest, Playing the Angel, is here — finally. It’s been worth the wait. I know many DM fans are divided over Songs of Faith and Devotion, and I’m not sure if that same division exists for Exciter, but I have to say, I wasn’t a fan of Exciter. I’d rank it as one of DM’s worse albums. Does Playing The Angel bring redemption to the group? Hell yes it does. If you’re a fan of the...

Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Oct 14th, 2005

[PTA era] Guardian Review of PTA

The website Artist Direct.com suggests that people who buy Depeche Mode’s 11th album might also like the “similar albums” Live in London by Duran Duran and We Are the Eighties by A Flock of Seagulls. The average Mode fan would probably rather eat glass than admit such poppy chinks of light into his grotto, but it does pose the irrefutable point that, for all their dallying with the dark side, there’s a part of Depeche Mode that will be forever Basildon synth-chavs. It’s 24 years since their debut LP, but there’s a sense of the electronica trio still being on their guard against their boyhood selves popping up to scupper the black-goth-lord image they’ve diligently cultivated. But Dave Gahan, Martin Gore and Andy Fletcher should thank their lucky...

Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Oct 14th, 2005

[PTA era] The Independent – review of PTA

Depeche Mode’s rehabilitation continues with an album that’s as much an improvement on 2001’s Exciter as that was on 1997’s Ultra, when Dave Gahan was just emerging from his dark night of the soul. He’s so well recovered as to contribute for the first time to the band’s repertoire, composing three of the 12 songs here. In the best of these, Suffer Well , he reflects on his tribulations, asking: “Where were you when I fell from grace?” over a chunky techno groove. In truth, Martin Gore has long been writing for Gahan’s situation, with songs such as Damaged People , A Pain That I’m Used To, Darkest Star and The Sinner in Me all reflecting the dark yearnings that tug on the singer. “I’ll never be a saint/ That’s...

Posted by Βασιλης Παπαδημητριου | Oct 14th, 2005

[PTA era] PTA review – CD Reviews.com

Depeche Mode’s Playing the Angel opens up with the most obnoxious noise to introduce a record, a squealing, synthesized racket that sounds like a whale burping through a loudspeaker. Consider it a warning. No, Depeche Mode hasn’t turned into a death metal act, but somebody has certainly turned off life support. Playing the Angel has no pulse, no energy, no sense of vigor. It’s as if Dave Gahan has died already, and Martin Gore has written a score for his funeral. But there will be no Black Celebration with music this uninspired. While the moody keyboards in the first track “A Pain That I’m Used To” hint at Gothic goodness, it swerves off track into dissonant industrial clang and fingernails-on-chalkboard feedback, sounding like Nine Inch Nails covering My Bloody Valentine’s...