never liked Depeche Mode as much but *every* electronic musician will
namecheck them.
I tend to lump them with the whole batch of Mute things (Normal, Fad
Gadget, DM, Robert Rental) form the late 70s/early 80s) which fall under
the larger hand of Daniel Miller. It's hard to get past Miller's "seminal
influence" status during that period, right alongside TG, Cab Volt, etc. I
remember when Vince left DM and everyone thought they would fall to pieces;
nobody mentions "Speak and Spell" when they think of Depeche anymore.
Interesting shift in style! After Yaz split, Clarke had some pretty nice
one-off singles under the name of The Assembly (paired with various
vocalists) which bear tracking down.
Weren't Depeche Mode and ABC among those who would fly to Detroit to pop in
to the old Music Institute?
jeff
