I just couldn’t get enough of Depeche Mode’s music. Catchy, synthetic sometimes intense, electro-bubblegum. What was intriguing was hearing lyrics that implied excitement for the future, and everyday sounds suddenly becoming musical from early ‘sampling’. Their later music has become darker, heavier and more distorted.
The producer responsible for producing their early work was Daniel Miller. In the songs below, my favourite moments are usually towards the end, when all the separate lines presented in the tracks come together and cycle in glorious polyphony: New Life (1981), Leave in Silence (1982), Get the Balance Right (12″ remix) (1983), Strange Love (1987), Enjoy the Silence (1990), Policy of Truth (1990), World in My Eyes (1990), Love Thieves (1997) and I Feel Loved (2001).
Daniel Miller – Depeche Mode’s early producer enjoyed experimenting with sound, sometimes letting go of control to the machine, in extraordinary ways.
Violator (1990) – one of Depeche Mode’s best albums.