Thursday 11 February 2010

Electro Classic Jukebox: Depeche Mode.



From Depeche Mode's 1987 album Music For The Masses, here is "Little 15" in all its melancholic glory. Directed by their longtime videographer and photographer (and stage designer!) Anton Corbijn ("Control"), this video follows a general theme employed during their "Strange" sessions. Alienation, emotional violence, commitment, sex, control, addiction, and dependency loom rather large in these pieces of work. "Little 15," in my humble opinion, probably exemplifies most of these themes all by itself!

BUILDING TRIVIA: If you watch the video, you'll see a tall, stark concrete building. Finished in 1972 by the architect Ernö Goldfinger, this block of council flats in North Kensington, London are a classic example of the Brutalist style of architecture. They are also an example of hard-to-police slum apartments filled with gang violence, drug dealing, and prostitution. Yet Goldfinger was not a nice man - legendary author and anti-Semite Ian Fleming so completely disliked him that he named his iconic bad-guy after him in the James Bond novel "Goldfinger."

The photo at the very top is a picture I took of Trellick Tower in London, August 2009. It's a pretty damn impressive (and somewhat oppressive-looking) building!

COMING SOON ON SECOND DRAWER UP FROM THE LEFT: I review the Editors' gig at the Warfield in San Francisco, I take a second look at Organisation by Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark, and I try out some electronic music-making applications for the iPhone. Take care of yourselves, dear readers, and stay out of trouble!

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