Search dance music

Review: Much loved doom monger emo kids Depeche Mode have always been ripe for remixing by new generations of electronic music artists and so it is that there 'My Favourite Stranger' gets a series of re-rubs here on Columbia. Tech house mainstay Boris Brejcha remixes first and elongates the grooves with mournful pads up top. The Ela Minus remix of the same tune brings some extra textured and darker moods and the best is saved till the last if you ask us. The Lond Island Sound remix is high speed and tinged with electro synth work as the moody vocals echo about the mix to trippy effect.

Review: Modern day Amsterdam is a bit of an oxymoron. On the one hand, the city proudly brandishes its reputation for alternative and sub cultures, pushing back against lawmakers and their incoherent policies to adopt approaches that are more realistic and levelheaded. On the other, its a place of such rampant commercial development the local government actively discourages visitors and new hotel developments. Look closely, though, and you can still feel the spirit of what, during the latter half of the 20th Century, made this place so special. Paradiso is one of those spots. A waterside cultural venue with a history first as a church, then an illegal squat, before becoming what it is today, the walls themselves seem to pervade a sense of brave, adventurous heritage. An ideal place to catch one of the most defining bands of the 1980s in their heyday, then, here Depeche Mode deliver an astounding set in a space with the atmosphere to match.

Review: 32 years on from the release of their debut album Speak and Spell, Basildon's finest drop their 14th full length. While there are echoes of their eyeliner-wearing, synth-bothering futurist past (see the glitchy "My Little Universe" and early New Order-ish "Broken", where Dave Gahan sings about 'dreaming of the future'), for the most part Delta Machine finds them in grinchy synth-rock mode, presumably shaking their fists at passing youngsters like a gang of grumpy old men. Thankfully, they're still capable of great things - "Soothe My Soul" has echoes of "Personal Jesus" - and there's enough to suggest there's some life in the old dogs yet.

Review: When vital bandmember Andrew Fletcher suddenly passed away at the start of the sessions for 'Memento Mori', even Dave Gahan and Martin Gore wondered aloud whether Depeche Mode would continue. Yet somehow, Gore and Gahan put their much-discussed differences aside, knuckled down and produced something fittingly special: an album that may well be the iconic outfit's most consistent and impressive body of work for decades. Naturally, darkness abounds, with opener 'My Cosmos Is Mine' - all evocative vocals, distorted electronic beats, dark sonic textures and mutilated choral vocal samples - setting the tone for a set that once again brilliantly blends dark synth-pop, gnarled guitars and the kind of lyrical melancholia that stays with you for days. Highlights are plentiful, with our picks including 'Ghosts Again', 'Soul With Me' and closing cut 'Speak To Me'.

Review: Where do you start with a band like Depeche Mode? Easily up there with the most influential British live acts of the late-20th Century, and early-mid-21st - a term we specifically use because their work spans so many genres, from synth pop and new wave to alt and dance rock - the fact just one of their records can garner the kind of reverence that can produce 33 remixes by some of the most respected names in electronic sounds says more than we ever could even if this paragraph went on forever.

Here we have it, then, definitive collection of repurposed and rethought songs from the 2001 LP, Exciter. Veering from the deep proggyness of Danny Tenaglia's take on 'I Feel Loved', through Dave Clarke's breakneck sledgehammer-yet-spacey techno interpretation of 'Dream On', broad sounds would be putting it mildly indeed. Other highlights including the lucid downbeat of Bertrant Burgalat, epic dance metal of DJ Muggs, and sparse, stargazing atmospheres of Isan Falling Leaf.

Review: After doing the rounds for years as a bootleg CD, Depeche Mode's Live in Basel 1984 is finally getting a release on vinyl. For fans of the legendary Essex band, or merely those with an in interest in early new-wave synth-pop, the album should be an essential purchase. The quality of the recording itself is rather good (something of a surprise given its age and the fact that it would have most likely been recorded to tape), while the band's performance is superb. It's basically a celebration of the Mode at their early synth-sporting best, teasing and titillating an enthusiastic Swiss crowd. Musically, we get a mix of cult favourites, early album tracks and now iconic singles such as 'New Life' and 'Just Can't Get Enough'. Ace.

Review: Back in 2005, Depeche Mode recorded a special live set for broadcast on US radio that - much to most people's surprise at the time - featured fewer synthesizer sounds. Instead, it saw the Essex outfit reproduce many of their classics hits and fan favourites using traditional rock instrumentation (think electric guitars, drums, bass guitar and electric piano), with the addition of more electronics as the set progressed. Now finally released on CD, the set is genuinely excellent, despite the pared-down, altered musical set-up. Highlights include fine renditions of 'Personal Jesus', 'Behind The Wheel' (which here sounds like a post-punk disco throwdown) , 'Enjoy The Silence' and - after a partial take ruined by sound problems - 'I Feel You'.

Review: Featuring as it does six discs of live recordings, Music Portrait is veritable feast for Depeche Mode fans. All of the material was originally recorded for radio broadcasts. Discs one and two feature what appears to be an almost complete 1998 concert featuring such perennial favourites as 'Policy of Truth', 'Personal Jesus', 'It's No Good' and 'Just Can't Get Enough' (a triumphant, sing-along conclusion all told), while CD three offers up 11 songs from a set recorded in 2005. The other three discs feature recordings of solo outings from Dave Gahan, with big Depeche Mode hits being joined by personal favourites and deep cuts from the Basildon Band's 40-plus year career.