18 Aug 2005
Depeche Mode: Violator
When you hear the name ‘Depeche Mode’, it sometimes gives mental images of blokes with mullets, shoulder padded blazers, those bizarre hexagonal electronic drum kits all manner of 80s symbols that we’d rather forget. Well, it used to do that with me, anyway. However, when I started listening to their stuff, I realised that this band had moved way from the cheesy electronic sounds and gone for a more dark, atmospheric vibe, while still keeping catchy, foot-tapping melodies. Violator was written some time after this change occured.
When Andrew Wood, frontman of the promising new Seattle band Mother Love Bone, died from a heroine overdose the outfit disbanded and the media spotlight turned towards the other promising new act: an angsty, energetic punk band called Nirvana. As far as that goes, the rest is history. However, MLB guitarist Stone Gossard and bassist Jeff Ament decided to continue making music and, teaming up with Green River guitarist Mike McCready, drummer Dave Kruesen and a San Diego surfer/gas station attendant Eddie Vedder, started work on a new record under the name Pearl Jam. The new material was performed live on the same bill as Nirvana themselves and the album was an immediate hit, selling around a million more copies than Nevermind.
Clumsy was one of the first few real CDs I ever owned and remember at the time thinking to myself “Wow, this is a bit lame.” Being one of the few CDs I owned however it received weeks of play through lack of choice and at the time I was listening to very standard and less mature punk (sorry, Offspring). As time went by I became completely obsessed, I mean big time by their use of funny tunings, Raine’s voice and their melodic lyrics which took me away from my own life and my own issues. Happiness Is Not a Fish That You Can Catch was just as much as a triumph as Clumsy; however Spiritual machines is by far the best album I have ever owned: OLP’s fourth outing was by far there finest hour. The album is based on the works of futurologist Ray Kurzweil who supplies trinkets of insight from his book Age of Spiritual Machines.
As soon as you press the ‘play’ button you know that this album is something special. While many alternative rock bands in the early 1990s, especially those of the Seattle ‘grunge’ scene, were producing raw, loud and low-fi rock that took elements of 70s stadium rock of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin, early punk and 60s acid rock, the Chicago-based quartet the Smashing Pumpkins were drawing inspiration from similar influences but creating a sound that outstripped its contemporaries in terms of originality, ambition and sheer nerve to experiment with the rock/pop formula.
Their sound consisting of an unlikely blend of industrial heavy metal, classical and atmospheric 80s electronica, Rammstein are a very distinctive band. Add to this their bizarre, pyrotechnic-filled live show, and the result is one of the most innovative and controversial bands around. Fortunately their studio work doesn’t disappoint, and this, their 1997 album, is no exception.
While OLP are largely unknown internationally (heaven knows why, quite frankly), they are given the recognition they deserve in their native Canada, which this superb live album shows. Recorded on tour after the release of their Gravity LP, the ability of the band’s live sound to surpass that of their studio recordings is very much evident. The songs are inevitably less polished but are more ambient and heavy sounding, and it’s good to see so many of their best songs played back-to-back.
When the Smashing Pumpkins released their classic second LP Siamese Dream, they encountered the potential problem of the notorious ‘third album’. Of course, the Chicago quartet had already proved themselves but topping that would be an immense challenge. While it could have been easy to play it safe and stick to the same formula, they took the brave step of not only broadening the range of styles and sounds but releasing it as two entire discs of new material.
In May 1998, I went to my first ever gig: Ash live at Middlesborough Town Hall. When I arrived, the support band were halfway through their set, and there were numerous people crowsurfing and jumping around to the sound of a hyperactive Scotsman and his three bandmates belting out a frantic and yet tuneful punky style of rock. They had released one mini-album called Captain, and a new single called I’m a message, which they were playing as I walked in. I was hooked.
For a new band like My Vitriol to appear on the scene and make such an impression with their debut album, it is a rare enough occurence. The original version of this album, Finelines, was released in 2001. A spellbinding blend of the chorused, distorted guitars and frantic air of Nirvana, the catchy tunes of the likes of Guided By Voices and shoegazing atmospherics of My Bloody Valentine, Finelines showed them to be one of the most promising new British bands. In 2002, the album was rerelased in the same format as the US version: remastered and with Betweenthelines, a bonus disc of b-sides and rarities.
Amidst the countless manufactured pop groups, pseudo- punk bands and no-brained ‘nu-metal’ there are number of musicians who do their own thing, regardless of the trend and have something genuine to say. Even a cursory listen to The Downward Spiral clearly shows that Trent Reznor is a member of this sincere and dedicated minority.
