[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Back in 1980, the distance between the gate to Martin Gore’s garden in Basildon and the front door of his neighbour and band-mate, Vince Clarke, could be covered in a few steps.
Fast-forward thirty-odd years and they are living on opposite coasts of the United States, the key figures in two of the planet’s best-known electronic bands, Depeche Mode and Erasure. Over this period, separately or together, they have sold scores of millions of albums and reached hundreds of millions of fans.
Both songwriters are close to the hearts of the dedicated fans who call themselves “devotees” (after the Songs of Faith and Devotion album): avid collectors of Depeche Mode releases and memorabilia, who gather at themed parties, wear tour t-shirts and scour the internet for information about rare mixes. Devotees come in all shapes and sizes, with all kinds of backgrounds, and are found far from the Gore family’s Basildon garden – not even, but especially, in Gothenburg, Sweden’s second city.
The proof comes in the form of A Film of Faith and Devotion, a documentary from director Henrik Thyselius. Twelve Gothenburg devotees invite the audience into their homes or to sit down for a drink, sharing their collections of recordings and memories of discovering and following Depeche Mode.
Andreas Noreen has a room dedicated to his collection, in which he maintains a shrine to the Violator album and preserves his correspondence with the Depeche Mode Information Service run by Deb Mann and Jo Gahan. Anneli Persson has a great collection of badges, while Withold Chandra painted the walls of his flat to reflect the band’s graphics. Johan Östberg has thirty-seven versions of The Singles 1981-1985 on vinyl, and even more versions on CD and cassette. Sebastian Hess and Henrik Wittgren run Depeche Mode parties in the city, between their superlative Electronic Summer and Electronic Winter music festivals. These are super-fans, who connect with the band in diverse but intensive ways.
The film is more album- than feature-length, running to 46 minutes, so there is little opportunity to explore connections between the devotees. Fans are represented from different stages in Depeche Mode’s career, but they mainly appear as isolated individuals, rather than a community. One of the mainstays of the band’s writing, since Martin Gore took over from the departed Vince Clarke, has been an exploration of feelings of pain and alienation in different tempos, so it would have been interesting to learn what it is that attracts the devotees to the band and each other as a group. Perhaps, the film-makers would say, it’s for another day – sometimes, it really is just a question of time.[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]
The first band on stage at TEC003 were among those fascinated by the mystique of early 80s Basildon. Speak & Spell have established themselves as the fans’ favourite Depeche Mode cover act, devoting themselves to faithfully playing the classic songs from the band’s seminal first album. Most of them have been dropped from Depeche Mode’s live set over time, but there is still enormous interest in the songs on Stumm 5. One of the accomplishments of Speak & Spell is to recreate many of the original instrument sounds, so that “Big Muff” sounds headily like it did in 1981; another is to base their stage show on live performance, replicating the experience of an early Depeche Mode show. Their inspiration is clearly drawn as much from the bootlegs of early Depeche gigs as from the recordings made at Blackwing Studios, and they get knowing cheers from the crowd for their version of unrecorded track, “Television Set.”
DJ Sarah Blackwood took over the sound system between sets, deploying an arsenal of heavy duty beats that hit the high notes of 1980s electronics. Simple Minds’ “I Travel” filled the room with rhythm, and a seamless mix of Fad Gadget’s “Lady Shave” with Les Liaisons Dangereuses’ “Los Ninos del Parque” was a revelation. A singing set followed, with performances of Blackwood classics, including Dubstar’s “Not So Manic Now” and Client’s “Price of Love.” Blackwood’s voice is as distinctive and classy as ever, as she recently demonstrated on Fotonovela’s A Ton of Love album, and she easily charms the (speak and) spell-struck audience. Later in the evening, Blackwood would go on to perform a storming version of Depeche Mode’s “A Question of Time,” ensuring that every melodic base has been hit solidly.
Live electronics can be a difficult beast to tame, but Vile Electrodes are capable disciplinarians. Their searing show depends on the flow of electrons through a seemingly endless tangle of wires, but every plug has been checked, tested and tested again; the ambience of the room has been measured; the positioning of each element carefully assessed. It is difficult to name another act that places so much reliance on temperamental hardware and carries off their show with as much professionalism. When they take to the stage, it is like watching a Tesla coil unleashed at its highest setting; but, instead of lab coats, its operators wear electric blue suits or latex skirts.
The Future Through a Lens was one of the top releases of 2013, and it is played through at TEC003 with a new running order but all of the creative power of the album. The central shopping precinct of Hertford shakes to “Empire of Wolves” and “Damaged Software,” marvels at the grandeur of “Proximity” and finally has its heart torn open by “Deep Red.” Anais Neon’s vocals sound extraordinary, marking her out as the Debbie Harry of the new generation of poptronica artists, while Martin Swan teases pulses from his keyboards and hammers drum pads with abandon. The Vile ones are sitting on top of a dynamo, and the ride is breath-taking. They are at the pinnacle of British poptronica, and at TEC003 there are a lot of happy Sherpas.
Two albums have just been released under Lewis’ own name by Editions Mego, but that doesn’t make them any more straight-forward. All Under starts with a film score and installation piece of the same title: the former seemingly a series of intercepted radio signals, processed into a sequence of overlapping tonal waves; the latter a strikingly delicate and haunting drone set against more visceral electronics. Lewis acts as narrator on “The Eel Wheeled,” a short story somewhere between Kafka and Conrad, set in the dystopia that is the Homeland. “No Show Godot” is a slow-burning, restrained conclusion. With the most sparing manipulation of electrical current, Lewis has taken large strides along the experimental path that he first explored in the early 1980s, and All Under is an exemplary transmission from his Uppsala base.
The companion album, All Over, serves up a dozen tracks that walk on the knife-edge between pop and experimentalism. “Straight into the Corner” could easily fit into the Wire/Wir canon, with an easy-going sensibility, but it is a singular example – other tracks might appropriate familiar conventions, but only so that they can be deconstructed and repurposed. This is unmistakably a Lewis album, with his signature wordplay and playful subversion. The stand-out track, “We’ve Lost Your Mind,” is the closest thing to a single, but in a fairer world “Passport to International Travel” would be all over the radio. Take that, white van man.
No one is staffing the merchandise table at Karin Park’s Hoxton show. A folded t-shirt sits next to a CD – abandoned, perhaps, so that the merch rep can take in the gig from a position closer to the stage. Spaces at the front are at a premium, taken up by photographers pointing lenses at Karin and girls pressing forward for a closer look at her brother, David.
The set feels like it is over in a heart-beat, but the hour-long show covers a lot of terrain: from current Beatport favourite, “Shine,” to the dueling drums of “Thousand Loaded Guns.” A new song, “Look What You’ve Done Now,” is darkness and magic. “New Era,” from the Tiger Dreams EP, rubs shoulders with “Wildchild” from Highwire Poetry and a version of Maya Jane Coles’ “Everything.” Recalled to the stage by enthusiastic applause, the Parks reach back to 2009’s Ashes to Gold for “Desire” with just the slightest hesitation – it hasn’t been played live recently, but it’s a reminder of how far their sound has traveled and how vital it remains.