random thought of the day

just a term that occured to me earlier today: trans-racial

nothing to see here

move along-

-db

"pain and suffering in various tempos"

I picked up the New Depeche Mode album, Playing The Angel, today. I haven't looked forward to new music this much in quite some time. Just to get it out of the way right off the bat, as eager as I was, I wasn't let down. PTA goes to show why DM is my favorite band.

The first track, "A Pain That I'm Used To," starts out with a hard dissonance reminiscent of "I Feel You" from Songs Of Faith And Devotion. Now, much has been said to the effect that this album is, in many ways, a return to an older style for the band. I don't entirely disagree, but I also see the growth that has continued to keep me solidly a fan through what have been considered by many to be less pleasing albums.

There are three tracks on PTA written by Dave Gahan which, by some reports were something of a condition of his remaining in the band. Following his solo album, Paper Monsters, of a couple years ago, he, clearly, wanted to share more than just his voice. This isn't the first time that someone other than Martin Gore has written for the band, but it certainly has been quite some time. I did, however, find myself going back to liner notes to remember which tracks were Dave's, as the whole album has the layers and richness for which Depeche Mode is known, and his tracks fit in perfectly.
The first single, "Precious," stands out as a very radio-friendly track and is bound to help bring those fans of the earlier music, but who were not too keen on the last couple albums back into the fold.

Now, I make no secret of the fact that I am clearly biased in their favor from the start, but hey, who better than someone who's been a fan since the first album nearly 25 years ago to say if they are still bringing us what we want?

Go get this album!

cheers-
-db

directionally challenged

Part of my reason for not posting is that I have been trying to decide what direction to go with this blog. In the beginning, the original idea was to use this to keep up with and share the various bits of netphemera (to coin a term, as is my wont) I find in along my travels online. However, I have been feeling inclined to write, occasionally, about my personal views, odd conspiracy theories, and political comments that occur to me. This is not what I was going to do here, but I think I will after all. If it seems to be turning into something that frequent enough to merit such, I suppose I will spin those things off onto their own blog, but for now, here they shall be.
Also, now that I have a laptop, I can, from time to time, get a chance to write a bit while at work, as I am doing now. Not that I have any real deep insights to share at the moment.
Perhaps soon...
cheers-
-db