Press Info:
‘Paired Works’ is a double EP by Justine Perry and Paula Koski, developed in parallel within the same time and environment. Evolving through years of shared surroundings and creative exchange, the record emerges as a natural extension of that connection.
Produced separately, the tracks reflect two inner worlds shaped in close orbit. Justine Perry leans into deep, hypnotic forms, unfolding in layered, kaleidoscopic patterns, while Paula Koski navigates dubby and spacious structures, letting texture and tension take the lead.
Justine Perry is known for her fast-paced, deep and hypnotic sound. Her productions combine trippy, evolving structures with a strong sense of propulsion, with releases spanning labels such as Dynamic Reflection and X/Y/Secret. The Finnish-born, Berlin-based Paula Koski works in the space between hypnotic and driving techno with previous releases on Soma Records and On Board Music. Her contribution to ‘Paired Works’ moves through spacious tension, dub-inflected weight and stripped-back detail.
Across four sides, ‘Paired Works’ moves between focused, forward-driving passages and more suspended, atmospheric moments, creating a subtle yet persistent push and pull. Rather than attaching itself to one singular moment on the dancefloor, the record draws a wider arc — stripped-back, bleepy openings, heavier immersive zones and high-pressure peaks. It stretches across the shifting phases of a long club night without settling into just one.
On the A side, Justine sets the tone with dreamy, fluid constructions that gradually lock into rhythm. The B side sees Paula deepen the space, stretching time through dub-inflected weight and detail. By the C side, the energy sharpens into driving, high-impact techno. The D side closes the journey on a more suspended note, paced steadily and shaped through spacious tension and subtle melodic detail, suited for the slower drift of morning hours on the floor.
The abstract and textured artwork by Antoine Paikert (Esquive Studio) further extends the record’s atmosphere visually. The French-born multidisciplinary artist’s work draws from subtle and often overlooked human emotion.
Timeless and focused in its approach, ‘Paired Works’ marks the debut release on Ostgut Ton for both artists. ‘Paired Works’ will be released on 24 July 2026 via Ostgut Ton.
Words by Theresa Baeumel
Snippets:
Full Track Streaming: soon
Specials:
Justine Perry – “#020 – Radion March 2026”
Press Info:
Luke Slater is set to release a new album, his first release on Mute, following his recent switch from the novamute label, on the 8th of April.
“Alright On Top” features ten new tracks, including the forthcoming single ‘Nothing At All’, and sees Slater enlist the vocal talents of The Aloof’s Ricky Barrow. The result is the most diverse and ambitious Luke Slater release to date and should see “Alright On Top” hailed as one of the finest electronic pop records of 2002.
Luke Slater has been at the forefront of UK Electronic music since the early ‘90s with a string of brilliant releases under a number of guises including Clementine, 7th Plain and Planetary Assault Systems. He signed to novamute in 1997 and the following year saw the release of his groundbreaking album “Freek Funk”. The follow up “Wireless” was released to critical acclaim in 1999 and took Slater far beyond the confines of the techno scene. Live shows and successful festival appearances over the last few years have consolidated his growing reputation.
Luke Slater will be touring with a full band line for the first time throughout 2002.
—-
Luke Slater is dead. Long live Luke Slater. For ten years now anyone with an advanced ear and a taste for things dark and long has recognised the enigmatic Slater as one of the most graceful composers and forward thinking inventors within techno. On decks around the world, and within his deepest south London studio, Slater has proved himself a genius sculptor of kinetics, squeezing magic from the tight parameters of post-electro underground dance.
Five albums, including two pivotal releases on novamute, and a slew of projects under pseudonyms have confirmed his status as a brilliant sound system expressionist. Yet for all the stylistic twists and jump cuts within his decade of geometrically dissected frontier funk noir, nobody really could have predicted the leap taken with his rocket-boosted new album.
Slater’s opening salvo for the 21st Century “Alright On Top” sees him accelerate into a parallel universe of hyperdramatic songcraft. Former Aloof singer Ricky Barrow joins Slater and his longstanding tech-head collaborator Alan Sage to create a warmer humanised machine music. This is no longer Luke the abstractionist, the subtle pulse manipulator, vying with Hawtin or Wink for command of a Berlin basement. This is Luke Slater, the dramatic, the hydraulic, the lyrically specific, hook wielding, extrovert electronic blues band.
Ten tracks of pure liberation are about to blast Luke into an entirely new orbit. It’s Slater’s first release on parent label Mute. Now all they need is the intergalactic tour bus. “I’ve wanted to do an album with songs for some time. It’s just that nothing’s ever been all right at the same time,” states Slater. “With the albums on novamute I didn’t have a singer and I’m not really that open to working with people just off the cuff. I have to get on some kind of wavelength with someone to work with them and it just never seemed right before. It never seemed the right time, but all the time I was writing bits for songs and storing them up and I thought yeah, I’ll do them one day.”
The immediate predecessor to vocal phase Slater – 1999’s “Wireless” – had been hailed as an inspired millennial edge redesign of ’80s electro, bringing live percussion and industrial rock into its domain. There were even moments where it sounded as if the machines were straining to sing, digi-ennunciating phrases in ‘Body Freefall, Electronic Inform’ and ‘All Exhale’.
When it came time to record the next album, however, Slater had resolved to go all the way and bring in a vocalist to fully flesh out the ideas. While Luke was down south in Crawley, casting around for the right voice, and struggling through audition tapes encompassing full on soul dudes and synth pop impersonators, Ricky Barrow was on the other side of the city, recovering from his experiences in The Aloof. Label problems had left The Aloof adrift, and despite widespread warm feelings towards the Dean Thatcher founded dance fusioners, the band had split up.
Within The Aloof, Ricky had found a way of breaking with a natural tendency to head in the stylistic direction of a Horace Andy or Marvin Gaye. He was working on some ideas with Richard Thair from Red Snapper. By chance, however, someone at Luke’s label knew Ricky was seeking collaborators and the two were introduced to see where the combination of Ricky’s open grained voice and Luke’s intrepid songtronica would lead.
“It just came together really well,” says Ricky. “I always wanted to do something different, not go down the normal path, because when I wanted to do stuff on my own I went into this soul mode and a reggae sort of thing, and I needed someone else to say ‘try something different’.”
“It was really weird because Ricky just came in and wrote a few words and just did it really,” recalls Luke. “I think if something’s going to work, it just kind of flows, and we tried not to look at anything too complicated, just use the principle that if it’s working it’s working and ‘do I like it myself?’.”
Starting work in Slater’s own Space Station studio in south London at the start of 2001, the threesome got the songs down swiftly. Slater was, however, determined to keep a strong dance edge to the production and many months were given over to crafting the dynamics. “Alright On Top” sacrifices none of its energy in the bid to bridge the dancefloor and the radio. Despite lyrics which explore the many facets of human (and robotic) relationships, there’s an underlying optimism to the whole work. The cerebral, obsessive edge of Slater’s earlier output is kept, but now with a voice to speak through and melodies to surf on, there’s a sense of joyous release.
“I did feel liberated being able to do songs,” says Luke. “I wanted to be able to play these songs live and have a lot of energy in it rather than making something mellow which would’ve been cool, but wouldn’t have had a lot of impact live.”
While “Alright On Top” is clearly in love with electronic music and its history, it has none of the dourness of some parts of the genre. It’s wise, referring in areas to golden eras of early synthesiser music, but not remotely egghead. There’s brazen fun there, as well as sweet poignance and streaks of the unhinged.
Against the knowingly futurist movie set of Luke’s hurtling tunes, Ricky explores the spectrum of feelings. ‘Nothing At All’ mixes emotional anaesthesia with the thrill of supersequenced tech-pop. ‘Stars And Heroes’ locates its star-crossed lovers within an awesome future retro synth anthem. ‘I Can Complete You’ invents an entire new genre of operatic sing along tragi-robotica. ‘Only You’ diverts into lover’s space jazz.
There’s a dance rooted confidence at work which allows them to take on melodrama without losing the plot. ‘Take Us Apart’ rushes ahead with four to the floor uber-cyber-pop. ‘Searchin For A Dream’ is in equal parts brutal, cosmic and epic. ‘Twisted Kind Of Girl’ supplies an overdose worth of lust and psycho-beats. ‘Doctor Of Divinity’ completes the loop with its update on surreal pulse-scapes.
“Alright On Top” creates a unique world, but at the same time it could only have been made right now, when much tech-based ‘underground’ dance music has decided it’s OK to infiltrate pop, and at a point when Luke’s imagination has found a way of setting his vast experience free.
“At one point I was thinking ‘Yeah, so we’re doing songs about love and breaking up and feelings, and Ricky’s voice is quite bluesy at times, and that’s over the hard techno rhythm… this is a bit different’,” says Luke. “But then I was like, yeah, it is different and I like it.”
“We wanted to think up loads of plays on lust, on a woman that’s just playing you around and leading you astray. So some songs are really up and then some are quite sad. I think ‘I Can Complete You’ is probably the saddest, it’s a vocoder track, so it has that robotic thing in it. That song brings a tear to my eye, it really does. It’s kind of the sadness of being a machine.”
A surface supposition about the roots of Luke’s fascination with computer music might point to Kraftwerk as his starting point, but Slater is keen to point out that his entry into electronics came via Afrika Bambaataa and Soul Sonic Force rather than the German camp.
Born in Reading, Luke’s parents moved to Horley in Sussex, where the embryonic producer started to play with his dad’s old reel to reel tape recorder. After drumming with ‘progressive rock’ type bands as an early teen he started working in record shops – Mi Price in Croydon and Jelly Jam in Brighton – where he was able to load up on late ’80s electro and incoming house and techno. By 1988 he was DJing jack tracks within the early acid house micro-scene, notably spinning at a London club called Troll. With his record shop buddy Al Sage he put together his first tune ‘Freebase’ in ’89, released through the Jelly Jam shops offshoot label.
For the next decade Slater would hover above the underground as one of the most distinguished producers of pan-genre bunker vinyl. He moved at pace through styles, picking up and warping strands as diverse as Detroit inflexions, old school influenced ambience, noise barrage and electro. By 1997 he’d been prominent on DJax, Irdial, Peacefrong and GPR, using the pseudonyms Clementine, Morganistic, Planetary Assault Systems and 7th Plain.
Leaving behind the assumed names and a trio of collectable albums – “X Tront Volume Two” (1993, Peacefrong), “The Four Cornered Room” (1994, GPR), “My Yellow Wise Rug” (1994, GPR) – he teamed up with novamute in 1997 and issued his acclaimed mindbender dance album “Freek Funk”. The latter was simultaneously sexy and avant-garde. His next major emission, ’99s “Wireless” continued to mess elegantly with the codes, re-sculpting electro to his own ends and previewing his fondness for the odd cyberdisco synth by sampling Cerrone’s ‘In The Pocket’. Described in the press as “gangster boogie for the new millennium”. In a way, the bold step into song writing was inevitable.
“It’d just be boring if you did the same thing all the time,” says Luke. “I’ve never believed in all that underground V’s overground stuff. I think it’s a pile of shite, all that ‘if you’re underground you’re cool, if you’re overground you’re not’. Especially now there’s such a merging of every type of music. I don’t think anyone really knows where its all at, and I think that’s a healthy thing.”
“I think you can write songs and have quality to them, it just doesn’t have to sound the same as everything in the charts. You used to get a lot of records that were capable of being energetic but had some drama to them, but they were still pop tracks. I think that’s missing at the moment.”
It’s been a long run up for Slater, Barrow and Sage but it’s glaringly obvious that their leap into the swirling gas cloud of melody, lyrics and video-able persona has paid off. They sound like nobody else. They sound like 2002’s definitive fused dance moment. When the live show goes on the road in 2002, complete with ‘jumping up and down’ and full electronic band set up; the metamorphis will be complete. It’s not Luke Slater as we know him, Jim. But it is very definitely Luke Slater as we’ll come to love him.
“I wanted to get away from the seriousness of the way you’re sometimes seen in techno,” he reflects. “I’m serious about what I do, but its not all the theory of relativity, know what I mean, so I wanted to try and steer a bit away from that. I wanted the album to be emotional. And I didn’t want it to be totally dry and scientific. Because you need a bit of light in things these days.”
“Alright On Top”?. Actually, it’s iridescent up there.
Luke Slater looks satisfied. Leaning back in the functional surroundings of his West London record label, drawing on a prison thickness roll up and sporting a fine pair of two-tone bowling shoes(!), Slater reflects on the last couple of years. It’s not been a bad end to the century for the Sussex lad who started out as a teenage drummer eventually to end up as one of the UK’s leading exponents of what could loosely be called dance music. In 1997 a wildly eclectic and much praised album, ‘Freek Funk’ saw Slater eventually reap the rewards of a decade of hard work touring the country DJ’ing and promoting a string of underground releases.. Slater’s the real deal, a true believer, someone with a clarity of vision and passion for his trade. Someone who’s never compromised, someone who’s never given up on the feeling that inspired him all those years back on hearing the embryonic sounds of electro. And so to 1999 and the return of the boy wonder armed with a devastating album, the potent ‘Wireless’, that side-steps what we have come to expect and takes us further into uncharted territory. This is the story so far.
Born in Reading, Slater eventually ended up in the suburban surrounding of Horley, a sleepy commuter town to the south of London. Music was always around, the house resonated to the sound of his father’s big band 78’s while Luke persevered unsuccessfully with piano lessons. Tired of the limitations of playing other people’s musical creations, Luke’s attention soon moved on to a tiny drum set that had sat un-played for some time. Bashing out primitive rhythms Slater felt he had found his vocation. At the age of 12 he found himself teaming up with a gang of local teenagers in a less than successful rock outfit. Yet the dead end nature of his efforts were not to deter the young Slater in his quest for his own musical nirvana.
Undeterred and with an ever increasing interest in the possibilities of music, Luke’s attention switched towards the creation of synthesised sounds. Experimenting with sound textures and abstract noises on his father’s antiquated 1957 Garrard Hi-Fi and a less than mint condition reel-to-reel, Slater soon discovered that a world of sci-fi sounds existed beyond the constraints of the organic instruments he had previously tinkered with. Intrigued by the sound of a stylophone it was the lending of a Roland 808 that eventually sparked a latent interest in the perfect beat. Even during these formative years the young Slater’s restless and inquiring mind drove him on questioning the constraints and boundaries of the music he was making. Never content with his creations, a trait that still remains as a driving force today, and inspired by the other worldly possibilities of sci-fi films such as Stanley Kubrick’s epic, ‘2001 – A Space Odyssey’ he soon developed a wider overview of the music he was creating.
Yet by the early eighties a potent musical force had entered Slater’s world. Electro had developed out of the electronic sounds of artists such as Kraftwerk and Cabaret Voltaire and had been mutated into a funked up hybrid more tailored for dance floor consumption. Slater was transfixed. His musical vision and expectations had left him feeling isolated, yet the synthesised assault of electro provided him with an ally, a sound with which he could identify, after all Slater had been dreaming of such music for some time. Inspired and energised by these early polyrhythmic grumblings of electro, Slater set out to define his own musical vision armed only with a handful of scratch records, a battered Roland 808 and the help of a friend’s percussive skills. A journey had begun that would eventually see Slater championed as one of the UK’s most dynamic, risk taking electronic producers.
By 1988 Slater had already been DJ’ing at Troll in London, a defining club in the history of acid house, for over a year. Playing a mix of electro and early jack tracks that had begun to find their way over from Chicago and Detroit, Slater found himself at the centre of the musical revolution that was exploding at the time. Yet by 1989 Luke had found himself back in his native Sussex after a year or so of excess in London’s clubs and warehouse parties. Teaming up with an old friend Al Sage, Luke became involved with the running of a Brighton record shop, Jelly Jam which was soon to spurn a similarly monikered label. Recording in his spare time with Sage, a primitive track titled ‘Freebase’ became the pairs first vinyl outing.
Becoming further immersed in the sounds coming out of the Motor City at the time, Luke went further into his own musical journey teaming up with the legendary Dutch label Djax to produce a crop of incendiary tracks under the guise of Clementine. Always restless, Luke continued to craft tracks that exhibited an alarming diversity and focus. Swapping labels to the wildly eclectic Irdial, Luke created slices of shimmering electronica under the guise of Morganistic while a transfer to the fledgling Peacefrog label saw Slater mould a series of space-funk classics as Planetary Assault Systems. Further changes in identity saw Slater tinker with ambience under the 7th Plain moniker and mount an all out sonic assault with his X-Tront project. By the mid ’90’s Slater had firmly established himself as a true musical maverick, an innovator capable of moments of breathtaking beauty and power that wooed critics and fans alike. Yet his best was yet to come.
By 1997 Slater was beginning to feel the constraints of the music he was creating. Tired of being labelled in a particular way he felt the critics and public’s musical expectations weighing heavily around his neck. Wanting to instil a degree of clarity and focus to his work he dropped the monikers that had for so long defined each style and adopted his own name in a focused attempt to clear the decks and start again with musical forms he felt comfortable with. The result was astonishing.
1997 saw the release of the landmark ‘Freek Funk’ album on London based NovaMute, a piece of music that ripped up the rule book with its fevered diversity and brazen disregard of the public’s perception of Luke Slater. This was Luke as he wanted to sound at the time. Spontaneous and covering much musical ground, the album effortlessly hopped between rabid techno barrages and moments of lush orchestration that dripped a fragile beauty. He had wanted to create a multi-purpose album that could be interpreted on a myriad of levels. What he ended up spawning was something that went far beyond his vision, an album that intrigued and wooed fans and critics alike. Muzik, Mixmag and Jockey Slut pronounced it album of the month as praise came in from all quarters. Slater had produced an album that distilled everything that mattered in his musical world. Compressing his own unique musical journey into an hours worth of sonic alchemy, ‘Freek Funk’ stands as a near perfect summation of all that’s been excellent in electronic music in the last ten years. Innovative, informative and down right funky, ‘Freek Funk’ saw Slater well and truly come of age.
By late 1998 Slater was back in his Crawley based studio, Space Station ø, impatient and restless and ready to go further out beyond the boundaries laid out by ‘Freek Funk’. The autumn of that year saw Slater and erstwhile partner in crime Al Sage, holed up in deepest Sussex plotting the next move. Things had moved on, Slater had become a father for the second time, he had developed an interest in roller-skating, he hadn’t stopped thinking about his next creation and he had been once again listening to the brutal sounds of the electro beat. A plan was devised and Slater set about the casting of what was to become his latest offering, ‘Wireless’ in late 1998.
His mind had been made up. He yearned to craft an album of sharp focus that possessed a crystal clear clarity of style. Stripping away the superfluous, Slater was determined to produce an album that almost went back to basics, an album that utilised the sounds of his youth and pushed them into the future. Inspired by industrial electronic rock, Slater drafted in live percussion and guitar to add muscle to his sounds. The results are astonishing.
‘Wireless’, to released in September 1999, is testament to Slater’s ever developing musical mind. Not content with remaining static and trading on the success of ‘Freek Funk’ Slater has once again swerved violently to confound any pre-conceived expectations. Essentially an electro-breaks based sound, ‘Wireless’ is brutal in it’s lack of restraint. ‘Body Freefall Electronic Inform’ sounds dark and menacing thanks to its freeform rhythmic ferocity, while opening single ‘All Exhale’ motors along courtesy of a rabid electro beat and fazed vocal stabs. Opening track ‘In The Pocket’ and the ambient beauty of ‘Weave Your Web’ show that Slater has not fully disassociated himself from the weirded-out funk of yesteryear. Yet throughout proceedings are powered by the snarl of the kick drum and cymbal with a healthy dose of Slater’s wildly unique sound. Part Sun Ra part Mantronix and part Underground Resistance, ‘Wireless’ is another massive leap for Slater. An album that will astound as much as confound from an artist who refuses to sit still and do as he is told. Give praise to the lord and all hail the return of Luke Slater. You’ve been missed.
Title:
The Taste Of TG (A Beginner’s Guide To The Music Of Throbbing Gristle)
Label:
Mute
Cat#:
TGCD14 | TGLP14
Release Date:
03rd May 2004
2017 (re-release)
Format:
CD, vinyl, download & streaming
Tracklist: 01. Industrial Introduction
02. Distant Dreams – Part Two
03. Persuasion U.S.A.
04. Something Came Over Me
05. Dead On Arrival
06. Hot On The Heels Of Love
07. We Hate You (Little Girls)
08. United
09. Cabaret Voltaire (Live at Industrial Training College Wakefield 1st July 1978)
10. Exotic Functions
11. Zyklon B Zombie
12. Walkabout
13. Hamburger Lady
14. His Arm Was Her Leg (Live at The Factory Manchester 18th May 1979 – Edit)
Press Info:
When dubbing Throbbing Gristle as the Wreckers of Civilisation, the late Tory MP Sir Nicholas Fairbairn couldn’t have provided the industrial music/art/guerrilla media troupe with a better manifesto. For Genesis P. Orridge, Cosey Fanni Tutti, Peter Christopherson and Chris Carter, Throbbing Gristle advocated total musical and personal freedom and the self-empowerment to achieve it. Between 1975 and 1981 they troubled eardrums, shattered preconceptions and changed lives, and the repercussions of their sonic, ideological and industrial experiments are still being felt today.
These repercussions were most recently highlighted by some of today’s electronic peers paying homage to TG’s pioneering experiments. “Mutant TG” (novamute) is the first ever TG remix collection whereby contemporary producers such as Carl Craig, Two Lone Swordsmen and Simon Ratcliffe provide stunning reworks of classic TG.
Now with “The Taste Of TG” you can sample their unadulterated majesty, a Beginner’s guide to the enigmatic and elusive Throbbing Gristle.
Unlike many of their punk peers Throbbing Gristle deployed their music as a weapon attacking the apparatus of the music industry. TG set up their own imprint, Industrial Records, for the distribution of their noises and even incorporated the art gallery practice of making special limited edition hand-assembled LPs, pre-packaged videos and live cassettes. In addition, they sent out regular pop profile communiqués, including special postcards, patches and badges, which detailed the activities of the various members. Nothing was beneath them.
TG have never been afraid to confront, confound and expose. Whilst 1978’s ‘United’ sounds like an eerie football chant referencing occultist Aleister Crowley’s “Love Is The Law…”, over a crackled electro groove, its B-side – named for the chemical used in Nazi death chambers, ‘Zyklon B Zombie’ was deliberately recorded so as to sound like it was being broadcast through a haze of gas. Other equally disturbing TG classics include the queasy ‘Hamburger Lady’, where Genesis intones a letter describing the plight of a woman with horrific fat burns in a feeble voice echoed by nagging electronics. TG also often displayed a more harmonious and gentle side that was adeptly shown on their most accessible album, 1979’s “20 Jazz Funk Greats” and the disco hypnosis of ‘Hot on The Heels of Love’ whilst ‘Weeping’ originally from “The Third And Final Report” reverberates beautifully around four types of acoustic violin through a space echo. Indeed, if tracks such as ‘Dead On Arrival’ further underpin TG’s status as electronic funk pioneers then the ultra-disturbing and grating ‘We Hate You (Little Girls)’ seems only to further prove that TG were and still are unique outsiders who consistently buckled the mould and in doing so laid the foundations for today’s maverick producers. As Throbbing Gristle were to later state. “We wanted to re-invest Rock music with content, motivation and risk. Our records were documents of attitudes and experiences and observations by us and other determinedly individual outsiders. Fashion was an enemy, style irrelevant.”
Snippets:
Special:
“Post Punk Britain: In Focus 160523 – Throbbing Gristle”
Press Info:
For the very first time Blintmusik welcomes two artists to remix tracks from the label’s back catalogue. Keeping the tradition of two tracks per release – on the A side we meet the french grandmaster of Electro, Umwelt. His remix of ‘Chauncey Street‘ is a pure dark whirlwind with bitter-sweet synth-strings floating over a set of forward pushing drums and a drilling bassline. On the flipside is Sonae, best known for her immersive albums on labels like Monika Enterprise. Her Remix of ‘92 Avenue‘ opens the gates to a distorted synth-utopia. In a total deconstruction, the Cologne based artist turns the original club banger into a nightmarish noise staccato which spirals down your spine before dropping into a heavyweight kickdrum-inferno. Truly unsettling club music at its best.
My Story / Personal Thoughts:
Depeche Mode’s live album “101” was the first release I ever bought on cassette – and perhaps the first music release I ever owned. The same goes for the CD edition, and just a few weeks ago, I finally bought it on vinyl. In the early days I played it again and again, especially “Everything Counts”. Back then, I kept playing the song and rewinding the tape. That is how I tried to learn English – just by listening and occasionally using a lyrics book that belonged to my brother. Eventually, I started translating the songs, not only to understand them but also to improve my English skills. I became completely “addicted” to the language, buying English books, flags, and memorabilia.
During a holiday with friends in Italy, I tragically “lost” the cassette when the tape got ruined after sitting on a table drenched in beer.
“101” is a live album that was actually a companion piece to the legendary documentary by D.A. Pennebaker, which was released on VHS and later on DVD and Blu-ray. As the band’s first full-length live album, it served as a kind of “best of” record, featuring massive hits like “Just Can’t Get Enough”, “Strangelove”, “Black Celebration”, and “Everything Counts”, balanced by beautiful ballads like “Somebody” and “A Question of Lust”.
The recorded show captured the final concert of their 1987/1988 “Music For The Masses” tour, taking place at the Rose Bowl Stadium in Pasadena in front of 75,000 people. The opening acts that day included iconic names like OMD, Wire, and Thomas Dolby.
The documentary filmed by Pennebaker doesn’t just focus on concert footage. Instead, the film centers around a group of American teenagers driving across the country in a bus to reach the venue after winning a radio contest. This style of entertainment could be classified as “reality TV” today, and famously included one of the “bus kids,” Oliver Chesler, who later became the electronic music artist known as The Horrorist.
The concert footage features a wonderful, ecstatic scene where a girl completely loses herself in the music and sings along perfectly to the beginning of “Blasphemous Rumours”.
About the song “Everything Counts”… originally released in 1983 with a video recorded in Berlin, the song has a political undertone, whose message is still significant. In my view, it describes the greed of certain individuals and societies while others are struggling. The rich repeatedly make decisions for their own advantage, lying to one another and letting others pay the price. It’s always about going higher and further, being the best, and delivering even more performance. Driven by aggressive capitalism and privatization, profit is more important than humanity and morality, leaving the majority with no chance to improve their situation. Consequently, the song can be interpreted as deeply political—an attitude that can be found in many of DM’s songs from that era, following the more “easy-listening pop” of their first album.
Artist:
Depeche Mode
Artist Biography:
It seems strange that a band’s first singles collection should span four years, and yet part two takes half a generation to amass. The reality of it is that the latter period only includes one more album than the former. It would be easy (and cynical) to assume that the “second wave” of this band’s impressive catalogue was somehow not as flowing as the first. Not so. The intensity of the songs from Depeche Mode’s seemingly never-ending “best years” took the band to another level in the process of album-making and this was matched by an insatiable desire from fans in every corner of the globe to see them in concert. Therefore, the cycle grew….
1986 saw the band in an enviable position. Journalists had (finally) professed admiration, and beyond getting respect, Depeche Mode were finally getting the credit that they deserved. A decision was taken to go once again to Hansa Studios in Berlin, and to continue co-producing with the successful Daniel Miller / Gareth Jones production team. The songs for “Black Celebration”, particularly the haunting first single “Stripped”, were much darker than those of previous albums, and the band embarked on their biggest tour to date, culminating at the Valby Stadium in Copenhagen. A significant event during the tour was the making of the “Question Of Time” video in Los Angeles, the first time that photographer Anton Corbijn had directed a video for the group….
As 1987 began, Martin already had a clutch of songs demoed, and programming began in London. Never one’s to rest on their laurels, the band decided to break up the regular production team and bring in producer Dave Bascombe, a move that was encouraged by Daniel Miller. Fully embracing the spirit of change, Guillame Tell studio in Paris was chosen over Hansa. “Strangelove” was released in spring and gave an indication of the maturity of “Music For The Masses” and this mood carried over into the production of their bigger still world tour, which incorporated the backdrops and running tracks of a visionary stadium into it’s stageset. Kicking off in Barcelona in October, by the time it finished in June of the following year, they were in a stadium for real – June 18th 1988 saw 72,000 people cram into the Rosebowl to witness this “Anglo-angst” – music for the masses indeed….
1989 saw the release of “101”, and in between premieres for the D.A. Pennebaker film that accompanied the live album (mixed with Alan Moulder,) the band began programming at Mute Records for another studio album. Another significant collaboration was forged, with Flood being introduced as producer. Martin’s songs had taken on a different edge, they incorporated new styles, and the theme of his lyrics had become more varied still. A seven week session was booked at Logic studios in Milan. Progress was slow, but when Francois Kevorkian arrived to mix “Personal Jesus”, everything seemed to fall into place. Any other band would have panicked about the advent of dance music (especially when you are hailed as “the godfathers of house music), and made a record that they felt suited a press-oriented climate, but Depeche Mode stuck to their principles and made a record that suited them – and several million others. A further recording session at Puk studios in Denmark (where MFTM had been mixed) took on a frenetic pace and by the end of August, “Violator” had taken shape. The band did more recording at The Church studios in north London, while Francois mixed in the room below. “Violator” was finished by Christmas, and meanwhile “Personal Jesus” had already breached the U.S Top 30….
As the Eighties drew to a close, it was as if Depeche Mode were released from their shackles, and any preconceptions that one may have had about the group, from the decade that spawned them, were seemingly blown away. “Enjoy the silence” was released in February of 1990 and reached the Top 10 in America, achieving similar success throughout the world, without even breaking into a sweat. Anton Corbijn directed an image of Dave as “The King” into everybody’s imagination and Depeche Mode won their first “Brit” award for Best Single. The World Violation tour was a more compact version of The Masses tour, but apart from the USA and Europe, still managed to take in Japan and Australia. The U.S. leg saw the band play Giants Stadium in New York for the first time, but the west coast fans, not to be outdone, bought enough tickets for a second night to be added at Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles. Success was snowballing, and “Policy of truth” became the third hit single from “Violator’. Depeche Mode returned to their home country triumphant, and finished “World Violation” with “triple-nighters” at Wembley and Birmingham’s NEC….
1991 left a feeling of shell-shock after the previous years events, an exhausting yet exhilarating experience for four people who had literally done it their own way. Three of the band now had children, and it was time for reflection. Martin now had to write the follow up to a six-million selling album, and once again broke peoples pre-conceptions. New influences such as gospel were creeping in, and out of nowhere came the straightforward “rock” of “I feel you’.
Flood was on board once again as producer, and brought with him a different idea for recording – a huge villa was rented in a suburb of Madrid, and Depeche Mode built their own (albeit temporary) recording studio. February of 1992 saw everybody uproot and move to Spain. The recording process was sometimes difficult – the band were living in the villa, as well as working there – but the various rooms of the villa were put to good use, and Alan’s drumming (in the villa’s discotheque of all places) added to the “new sound’. August saw the band return to a conventional studio, and with it a return to recording in Germany. Chateau Du Pape studios in Hamburg was where “Songs of faith and Devotion” achieved the bulk of it’s recording, but Flood and the band were working increasingly long hours to have the album ready for mixing by September. Two studios were booked at Olympic in London – Mark “Spike” Stent mixing upstairs, while the band continued recording below him. This was the period where the recording veered into tangents. A 28-piece string orchestra was arranged for “One Caress” and Martin sang live with them, achieving one of his best vocal performances in one take. Hildia Campbell and Samantha Smith were brought in to sing backing vocals on the Gospel/Hip-Hop hybrid “Get right with me’. Never one to resist challenging himself, Dave insisted on singing this track, even though it was pencilled in for Martin, and showed another dimension to his voice. Meanwhile, parallel mixing sessions were happening as fast as the band could record the tracks. Finally the album was mastered just before the end of the year.
January of 1993 saw Depeche Mode back in Los Angeles to shoot the video for “I feel you”, provocative even by Corbijn’s standards. The gulf war and the subsequent so-called recession had done nothing to harm Depeche Mode’s career, and the mood in the camp was of optimism. “I feel you” was well received and grunge passed, as had the dance explosion that preceded it, without making so much as a dent in the band’s popularity. Now the time had come to embark on a tour that made the two previous outings seem like holidays. Three solid months in Europe coincided with the release of “Walking in my shoes” and strong sales of “Songs of faith and devotion’. The European tour culminated in another triumphant return to home soil, playing to 35,000 fans at Crystal Palace athletics stadium. “Condemnation” was the third single from the album, featuring two videos – one on location in Hungary and the second filmed live, and later appearing on the “Devotional” video. The autumn of 1993 saw an extensive tour of the United States, and a fourth single, a Butch Vig remix of “In your room”, and another Corbijn video, and yes it was shot in Los Angeles….
1994 arrived, and Depeche Mode were still on the Devotional tour. A rather interesting “exotic” leg took the band to South Africa for the first time, as well as debuts in the Philippines and finally South America, having only previously ventured as far south as Mexico in that market. A further 33 dates in the U.S took the tour up to 14 months, a journey that everybody survived. Much is made of the negative or sensational side of the “Devotional” tour, some true, mostly not, but this approach tends to detract slightly from what was truly a great album and an amazing live show. At least that’s how true Depeche Mode fans remember it….
After Fifteen long years together, several lifetimes for a lot of bands, restlessness had appeared in one member at least, and Alan Wilder decided to leave Depeche Mode after being with them for all but the formative years. An announcement was made on 1st June 1995, Alan’s birthday. Later in the same year, once again defying detractors, the three remaining Mode’s entered Eastcote studios to achieve the impossible – to make another album after the Devotional tour. The recording wasn’t easy, and as well as Eastcote, took in sessions at Sarm West and Abbey Road in London, and Electric Ladyland in New York, among others. Tim Simenon was appointed as producer, and as recording continued throughout 1996, the style moved away from the “real” instruments of “SOFAD”, and more towards the “electronica” style that Depeche Mode had defined in the previous decade.
1997 saw the release of “Ultra” and also the release of two singles, “Barrel of a gun” and “It’s no good”, far removed from each other in style and sound and with videos to match. Both were well received, and although the band decided not to tour, “Ultra” still became one of their best selling albums. “Home” and “Useless” completed a quartet of singles, proving the depth of an album that wasn’t supposed to happen.
So now this journey brings us to 1998, Eighteen years into a fascinating career and still Depeche Mode are releasing fresh songs, with an ever-evolving style. “Only when I lose myself” is emotional, honest and serves as a footnote to the story so far.
Truly a time for celebration….
a biography written by Daryl Bamonte, and published in the tour program for “The Singles Tour”.
Press Text:
Depeche Mode release the legendary DA Pennebaker film ‘101’ for the first time ever on DVD coupled with their classic concert ‘Live At The Rose Bowl – June 18th 1988′ on October 20th. This highly collectable DVD package features over 3 hours of footage and includes recent interviews with Martin Gore, Andrew Fletcher and Dave Gahan filmed by DA Pennebaker especially for this DVD.
1988 was a pivotal year for Depeche Mode. It was during their “Music For the Masses’ world tour that they exploded into the musical mainstream. The Rose Bowl concert was the 10lst and last date of the tour and both discs capture a band and their audience at the height of their love affair.
Acclaimed film-maker DA Pennebaker was best known for his seminal Dylan film ‘Don’t Look Back’ in addition to his work with Hendrix and John Lennon. Yet it was his marriage with alternative pioneers Depeche Mode that produced the frank and honest film ‘101’.
“It was the most interesting, fun film we’ve ever done,” Pennebaker said.
“That tour and that film was so important, especially for the perception of the band,” says Martin Gore. “We’d always been on the brink, especially in America but that 1988 tour was the first time we headlined big arenas, the first time the band really took off.”
“There was something special about that whole time,” Dave Gahan adds. “After that concert I remember sitting down in the dressing room and I just cried. It was just so emotional.”
Andrew Fletcher echoes those sentiments: “It was one of the most amazing tours I’ve ever been on and a breaking point for alternative music in the US. The Rose Bowl was the first time that alternative radio sold out a big show in the US.”
Integral to both the DVD and the concert was the relationship between band and audience. A competition was held nationwide where a bus load of winners followed the band around. Some of those fans are interviewed for this DVD and still remain in touch with Depeche Mode.
June 18, 1988 was a day to remember for the 60,453 fans who attended the show. Now we can relive the day through the eyes of one of cinema’s most accomplished documentary makers.
Featured Track:
“Everything Counts (Live At Rose Bowl, Pasadena – June 18, 1988)”
Full Track Streaming / Official Snippet:
Spinning It:
Video(s):
“Everything Counts (Live At Rose Bowl, Pasadena – June 18, 1988)”
The “Live At Rose Bowl, Pasadena – June 18, 1988” was featured on the single/maxi release “Everything Counts Live” [12BONG16 | Mute | 1989] on vinyl & CD.
The “Tim Simenon / Mark Saunders Remix” was featured on the single/maxi release “Everything Counts Live” [L12BONG16 | Mute | 1989] on vinyl & CD.
Several other live versions can be found on the related live albums.
Other Aliases / Projects Of The Artist:
Dave Gahan
Soulsavers (Dave Gahan + band)
Martin Gore / MG
VCMG (Martin Gore & Vince Clarke)
Recoil (Alan Wilder)
