Depeche Mode C or D/S& D

Thanks again. It is a little weird realizing Ultra is 25 years old now.

This VCMG album is great.

Considering how much I like Depeche Mode (I'm pretty sure they were my first "favorite band"), it's weird that I never checked out any of the side projects, I guess this is what I'm doing in the next couple of weeks.

What's interesting about the side projects is that while on the one hand you can tell they're all from Depeche one way or another, even Wilder, on the other even if you added up all the parts it still wouldn't be Depeche -- there's enough individuality down all the paths over time, and there's a different kind of synthesis when they all work together (admittedly long gone in the case of Wilder).

whaaaat -- not even Yazoo?

Just to note, you won't be able to debate that question, as the person you're responding to has been perma-banned.

All I know is that I find the encore performance of "Everything Counts" in "101" oddly moving. There's the bittersweet song itself, there's the exultant celebration of conquering America, there's their youth, the singalong, Dave just listening, all that together I just find so weirdly touching.

Dave and Martin have released a statement. Fletch’s passing was due to an aortic dissection, and was completely sudden and (hopefully) painless.

https://www.stereogum.com/2191550/depeche-mode-andy-fletcher-death-statement/news/

"I used to run the websites for the band Client and Fletch's Toast Hawaii label and do lots of other web/graphics odds and ends about 20 years ago (that terrible pineapple logo was mine)."

This prompted me to look up Toast Hawaii's website from twenty years ago and it's, er, very nostalgic:
https://web.archive.org/web/20030621222322/https://www.toasthawaii.com/

Actually I was expecting a Flash-laden monstrosity, but it's subtler than that (optimised for 1024 pixels wide, centred, seemingly made with vanilla HTML). It would have been technically old-fashioned at the time but it works and I can still click on some of the links.

Judging by the DJ schedule page Andrew Fletcher spent March-July 2004 DJing in Milan, Florence, Istanbul, London, Athens, Tenerife, Olten, Vincenza, Buenos Aires, Barcelona, and Nuremberg. You can't say he wasted his life.

What did I do in 2004? Looking through my emails I see I bought a Daytek P818 Multi-region DVD, with Dolby Digital and the possibility of 5.1 surround output with the appropriate speakers. I think it's fair to say that Andrew Fletcher had the better lifestyle.

Actually I was expecting a Flash-laden monstrosity, but it's subtler than that (optimised for 1024 pixels wide, centred, seemingly made with vanilla HTML). It would have been technically old-fashioned at the time but it works and I can still click on some of the links.

Oh yeah, I was coding everything by hand. Don't think I was even using CSS or anything, just doing everything the long way. Super old-fashioned (their needs were modest!) but it did the job.

The album/tour rumors are bubbling up and then this got posted just now

pic.twitter.com/x78oPTvXBN

— Depeche Mode (@depechemode) September 27, 2022

Misread that as April next year (American). Glad to see them carrying on, but if it's a new album I guess it's been in the works for some time

This is the longest they've ever gone between albums, isn't it?

They broke their album every four years chain last year yes :(

Album and tour in March.

https://www.depechemode.com/

Memento Mori sure says it all.

Could have called it "Inevitabilis."

jesus christ these tickets are expensive, but I bit the bullet anyway.

Yep, same here, but $120 is not that bad versus what I paid last time, if admittedly closer.

mine were $255 but I perhaps went for better seats than yours. TM did say they'd be doing demand pricing, which I hate. Anyway, I've only seen DM once before (on that last tour) and it was so good and I regret missing all their other ones so much, had to do it.

Hey, can't blame ya!

While we wait, new EP featuring Mr. Gahan.

https://kurtuenala.bandcamp.com/album/manuscript

Said EP I posted about above released today.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f094kd6Y4aA