Break the Silence

In a break from my norm, one of my favorite albums of the year so far is Nada Surf's If I Had a Hi-Fi.

It's not that I don't like Nada Surf - I do, very much. It's that Hi-Fi is an album of covers, which I'm typically indifferent toward. But Nada Surf owns every cover as if it was their own composition so the entire album seems less like a mix-tape than most cover albums. The song selection is unmatched in balancing the well-known (Enjoy the Silence, Question) with the lesser-known (Electrocution, Evolution). This balance is tricky, but the flow of the first five songs alone justifies the entire album's existence.

To me, Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence is the most recognizable tune, but if you had never heard it before you'd swear it was a Nada Surf tune. Their handling of the classic reanimates it to fit in nicely with the band's oeuvre - quite an achievement.

I picked it up a while back during Record Store Day, but they just widely released it earlier this month. Get it and reminisce about old favorite tunes while listening to them through an accomplished Nada Surf filter.

iTunes
Amazon.com MP3

Download the Electrocution MP3 free! Find the link here.

At Another Place and Time

Depeche Mode's Sounds of the Universe is out today and Amazon.com has the MP3 version for $3.99. Get it while it's cheap and see them live at Lollapalooza!

Oh it must be 1984: Pet Shop Boys have also released their new album Yes today.

Put a Little Money in This Type of Thing

Kudos to Lollapalooza - another hell of a lineup:

Depeche Mode, The Killers, Kings of Leon, Lou Reed, Vampire Weekend, Ben Folds, Fleet Foxes, Silversun Pickups, Bon Iver, Peter Bjorn and John, The Raveonettes, Ra Ra Riot, Thenewno2, and the like.

Who's up for a road trip in August?! Tickets are on sale now.

Come Crashing In, Into My Little World

Depeche Mode is touring and you could win tickets through Sirius/XM. Of course if you win that means I don't. Bummer.

Billboard has a nice little feature on the tour and the new album.

"Sounds of the Universe" (Mute/EMI), due April 21, is the band's 12th album and is reminiscent of its "Violator" heyday of catchy dance beats with a hint of darkness.

I'm interested.

See the tour dates here. Enter the contest here.

Let Me Take You On a Trip

Depeche Mode, Jane's Addiction, and Beastie Boys are likely to be three of the headliners for this year's Lollapalooza. DM is the only one I'm genuinely excited about, but I don't know how they can do any better than Radiohead last year. Let's see what else they put together.

UPDATE: No formal confirmation yet of the above acts, but Lollapalooza has announced they will be selling $60 three-day passes throughout this week. The catch is that you don't know when, but they'll post a link on the official site. Keep checking and good luck.

I Used the Wrong Method of the Wrong Technique

In preparation for their new studio album, Depeche Mode is experimenting with the iTunes Season Pass subscription model, the first music artist to do so.

Those who sign up immediately get the new single "Wrong" as well as a remixed version of "Oh Well." Subscribers will also get a variety of new music and exclusive videos between now and the release date, the full digital album and additional content released afterwards.

Novel, and for $19, not entirely a bad deal - just personally not a fan of music subscriptions. This should be interesting.

Reach Out and Touch Faith

Depeche Mode created Sounds of the Universe and you can hear those sounds 4/21.

Eclectic and energized, the band's new release is their most dazzling and diverse album in decades. Recorded in Santa Barbara and New York, Depeche Mode returned to using a lot of vintage gear, from analogue synthesizers to drum machines, in order to conjure up the retro-futuristic arrangements featured on the album. Lyrically the release contains many of the group's enduring obsessions plus more overt black humor than any of their previous collections.

DM is cool and so are their sounds - not as cool as they were in the 80s and early 90s, but still worth an automatic listen out of RESPECT.