Video: Depeche Mode "Wrong"

The arresting new Depeche Mode video was officially unleashed on the internet today marking the complete roll out of the song within the week. The Depeche team, or Mute/EMI, have really played things right with "Wrong". The song didn't leak until the day of it's first live performance at Germany's Echo Awards last Saturday and they wisely got the track up on itunes on Tuesday just as the initial wave of excitement spread across the internet. The song finds DM returning to their sound of the Music For The Masses-era, as Electronically Yours noted there are hints of "Pimpf", so it is not as immediate as some of their better known work. Which is not to say it hasn't been stuck in my head all week. The video was directed Patrick Daughter, the man behind those fantastic Feist videos, taking us on an unpleasant ride that you just can't turn away from. At the risk of sounding too adolescent it is freaky:



: Depeche will be touring the Universe all year so you know I'm looking forward to seeing Andy clap off the beat. Sounds Of the Universe is out April 21st so visit Depeche Mode Dot Com for all the latest.

Video: Pet Shop Boys "Love Etc."

The first single from the Xenomania produced Yes is different from anything that the Pet Shop Boys have done before. Nothing in the Boys extensive catalogue sounds quite like the combination of unconventional structure, shouted male chorus and swinging synths. Fortunately it is still amazing.
Dutch artist Han Hoogerbrugge created the bouncing cut and paste video that creates a video game version of the song:



: Yes is due most everywhere March 23rd although no US date has been announced. Also the Boys just confirmed that their long talked about ballet, based on a Hans Christian Andersen story, is planned for 2011. Neil and Chris have written about a third of the score which is expected to combine electronics and orchestra.

Video: Ladytron "Tomorrow"

Ladytron have spent so much time over the past few years proving they can rock it is easy to forget that they can write pretty songs too. "Tomorrow" is one of those tracks that got lost in the sonic sameness of Velocifero but it is stunner when given a little room to breathe. The video is rather fantastic mixing folksy and futuristic as only a Ladytron video should:



: "Tomorrow" is released as a single on March 3rd. Ladytron continue to promote Velocifero on the road touring North America with The Faint in April in what I hope will be billed as The Monsters Of Electro-Rock before joining Depeche Mode on their Tour Of The Universe in Europe. Visit their myspace for more info.

Sometimes You're Better Off Dead

Pet Shop Boys celebrated their Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the BRITs with an epic performance of their hits last night. In over the top award show fashion they appeared as giant talking heads first thanking everyone for the award as if they were unable to attend before taking the stage surrounded by surreal Very visuals, guest appearances and dancing businessmen. Importantly their medley was produced by Stuart Price who has been the most obvious choice to produce the Boys for a decade now. Hopefully this will lead to a proper collaboration on new material soon. Over a dozen songs were touched upon as we caught bits of "Love Etc" along with another taste of Yes with as they teased "All Over The World" before Brandon Flowers created a highlight dueting with Neil on "It's A Sin". The most problematic moments came from the bland Lady Gaga's involvement. I simply don't understand her appeal at all or what the Boys see in her. Catch the medley before it disappears from youtube:

What I Do Like I Love Passionately

Pet Shop Boys "Love etc.", the first single from the forthcoming Yes, was first played on the radio today and has been making the rounds since it leaked several days ago. It's rather amazing. Equally amazing is that the Pet Shop Boys Entertainment Tonight interview that was sampled in "Paninaro" just turned up on youtube:



: Get remixing.

Video: The Prodigy "Omen"

The Prodigy have returned with new material ahead of Invaders Must Die, the album they originally expected to release in 2006. The title track was available last year as "non-single" limited time only free download from the band's site and didn't do much to raise expectations. There is a video for the song but people like Billy Suede have pointed out "Invaders Must Die" is essentially a remix of a Does It Offend You, Yeah? track which speaks to Liam Howlett's limited songwriting abilities.
The first actual single "Omen" is much better. There hints of melody with a vibe part and a "No Good (Start The Dance)"-style lead synth which play off Keith Flint's first Prodigy vocal since "Baby's Got A Temper". Give it a listen:



: Invaders Must Die is out March 3 so stop by their myspace for more information.

This Day & Age

"We live in an age wherein people usually listen to random tracks from an album, but... a beautiful and cohesive body of work will ideally make sense when listened to from start to finish." That is a bit hacked out of context from the blog announcement that Moby is beginning to mix his latest album, tentatively due in June, but it makes a point that has been floating around my mind recently. The technology that allows unlimited instant access to almost any song you can think of is amazing allowing us all to expand the limits of our musical knowledge but along with it we have lost something. Part of that is the journey an artist can take you on as an album that frames songs within a context that brings a greater meaning than they have alone but another important thing we have lost is silence. It has been an issue since the age of dual cassette players and multi-disc CD players but there the gravity that silence brings to a piece as it allows reflection on what just took place. Maybe it is just a question of how we view music today as Count Popula recently commented on a XO mixtape about how "people used to really LIVE with their music rather than treating it like a commodity". How do we get back there?