Archive for the ‘Dave Gahan’ Category

Modes of Depeche

Wednesday, September 7th, 2011

If you guess the theme to tonight’s post then congrats, you can read.

Dave Gahan
I Need You (Gabriel & Dresden Unplugged Mix)
I Need You (Ladytron Detoxxmixx)
I Need You (Jay’s Summerdub)
I Need You (Gabriel & Dresden Plugged Dub)
Dirty Sticky Floors (Lexicon Avenue Dirty Sticky Dub)
I Need You (Ladytron Detoxxmixx Instrumental)
I have the 12″ singles for “I Need You” and “Dirty Sticky Floors.” I also have the Hourglass Remixes EP. I do not, however, own either of Dave Gahan’s proper solo albums. It amazes me how often I do bass-ackwards shit like that. My brain is always like “An album I can easily get for a few bucks? Fuck that. I want the rare and hard-to-find 12″ single that is beaten up and scratched so bad that will will take me two hours to record and restore.”

Of these mixes, I prefer the Ladytron one. Not only does it Depeche Mode it up with extra synths and drum machines, but it’s also a scant four minutes long. The rest of these remixes are ridiculously lengthy. Don’t get me wrong, I could listen to Gahan’s seductive voice all day and night (and I have sometimes) but one can only take so much of “You’ll always need me much more than I need you” being repeated ad nauseum.

Depeche Mode
The Darkest Star (Holden Remix)
The Darkest Star (Holden Dub)
I Feel Loved (Danny Tenaglia’s Labor of Love Radio Edit)
My Depeche Mode singles count is in the 50s now, so I’m shocked when I find one I don’t own. And between the six singles box sets and the two massive remix collections, I am even more shocked when I find a Depeche Mode remix from a single that is a genuine, out-of-print rarity. That’s the case for all three of these mixes though, which I picked up from 12″ singles I bought at Amoeba. These mixes for “The Darkest Star” are great, although the odd scratchy noise (which is intentional and NOT a defect of my record) on the “Holden Mix” is kind of grating at first. In a rarity for me, I actually like this dub mix way more. It’s intense, fast-paced and crazy weird. The “I Feel Loved” mix is great, but I’m not a big fan of that song in the first place.

Posted in Dave Gahan, Depeche Mode, remixes | 4 Comments »

Snow and Synths

Friday, January 21st, 2011

Its snowing.

Again.

You all have seen me rant about concert-goers, hipsters, video game companies, large retail websites, politicians, homophobes, sexists, racists, Jay Leno and Fergie. But man, I really hate shoveling snow. Unfortunately, there’s no point in ranting about how much I hate snow. When I go off about how much I hate rude concertgoers someone might read that and think “Hey, he’s right, I’m not going to talk at concerts anymore!” However, I highly doubt Mother Nature is reading my blog.

The nerve of her.

New Order
 Crystal (Digweed & Muir Bedrock Mix)
Crystal (Lee Coombs Remix)
Crystal (Digweed & Muir Bedrock Dub)
Crystal (John Creamer & Stephane K Main Remix)
Crystal (Creamer K Main Remix)
I don’t know if I’m more amazed at the fact that I found a New Order single I didn’t own or that the songs from the said single are not readily available online legally. A couple of these tracks can be bought at Amazon, but not individually, since they’re over 10 minutes you have to buy the whole album to get them. I hate that trick. I guess it makes sense for bands like Mars Volta, but it kind of fucks electronic artists over don’t you think? Of course, the worst is soundtracks. The fact that I can’t just buy “You’re The Best” from The Karate Kid soundtrack without being forced to buy the whole damn album is criminal! Bastards. There tracks are all from a 2×12″.

Dave Gahan
 Love Will Leave (Kap10kurt Remix)
Use You (Maps Remix)
Deeper And Deeper (T. Raumschmiere Remix Extended)
Saw Something (Onur Ozer Remix)
Deeper And Deeper (Sebastien Leger Remix)
I’m weird. I know this. Why? Because I own two Dave Gahan 12″ singles and remix compilation but I don’t actually own any of his albums. I had the same problem with Depeche Mode and New Order for a while too, before I went on a binge and bought all of their albums. It’s like I’m a reverse casual fan, who avoids the mainstream, easy to find releases but must have the bizarre, rare and hard-to-find stuff. These tracks are from an EP called Hourglass Remixes, which, as you can imagine, a collection of remixes of songs from the album Hourglass. There are eight tracks on that album, but three of them are available at Amazon, so I’m not putting them up here. Luckily, the awesome remix of “Use You” was not one of those tracks, so you get to enjoy it for free. I love this song, only Dave Gahan can make treating someone like garbage sound sexy.

Posted in Dave Gahan, Depeche Mode, New Order, remixes | 1 Comment »