Depeche Mode's New Album: A Review

Think of Depeche Mode's new album Sounds of the Universe as the kind of thing you can carry anywhere and with any 'outfit.'

I am absolutely loving it because while it feels very 'now' and as hyper-modern as time allows, it is, at the core, staunchly Depeche Mode. Dave Gahan and company have a thing or two to teach younger musicians about creativity, musical relevance, and reinvention: These things happen if the artists know themselves and willingly surpass their limitations. This is the king of album that allows you to do your work, take care of quotidianity, run menial errands, read the paper and so forth, and feel well fed musically.

I had been looking forward to Depeche Mode's new project as they have been a favorite since I was teenager. Granted, as a teenager, I didn't give them the kind of lip service they deserved because, well, the cool thing to do was lavish Metallica with attention. Adolescence is cruel, no doubt.

The tracks I am enjoying the most are:

1)Peace
2) Wrong
3) Hole to Feed
and
4) Miles Away

So, if synthpop and/or electronica/indie is the kind of musical direction that tickles your fancy, do consider Depeche Mode's Sounds of the Universe. And I sign off as I listen to Miles Away.

Also, for those of you who enjoy things German, here's a German commercial featuring Depeche Mode.

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Freud and Zen?

The Times has a most interesting spread on Western traditional attitudes about the mind and self-analysis and what Zen philosophy's answer is to both.

Here's a paragraph.

"...Rubin was convinced that “the marriage of Buddha and Freud” would benefit both disciplines. “When you combine the best of Buddhism and psychoanalysis,” he told me one day last winter, “you get a full-spectrum view of human nature focused on both health and spiritual potential as well as on the psychological forces we struggle with and the obstacles we unconsciously put in our way.” But people at the conference still seemed bunkered in their doctrines, and he often found himself tacking between camps. He was scheduled to summarize a dialogue between a Buddhist and a psychoanalyst, but he was suddenly struck by the fallacy that enlightenment meant complete freedom from self-deception.."

Read it all here.

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