Depeche Mode: new, fresh, and exciting or just the same old formula?
The week in ADM
Michael Palmer casts his eye over the week's action in the ADM album chart
It's another week here at ADM and the headlines are dominted by
new music from yet another band who made their name in a previous
decade. This time, Depeche Mode are back. In their
33rd year, they release album No.13. Is it new, fresh, and exciting
or just the same old formula? As it turns out, would you believe
it, it's both! A buffet-table of ratings on offer here and, despite
highs of a 10 (The Arts Desk) a 9 (musicOMH) an 8.5 (This is Fake
DIY) and an assortment of 8s, the result is a quite disappointing
6.8.
In other OBNM news (that's Old Band New Music and it's an acronym
with legs if you ask me), there's a new album from
Wire. Also No.13, they have a little more luck
with an average of 7.3. Only NME seem soured by this (they dished
out a 5), but it lacks the top-end praise DM managed and scores no
higher than 8. The critics seem impressed, if not blown away.
With 26 albums between those two, next up is
Chvrches, with none to their name. They chart with
their debut ep, which seems to be getting marked down just because
it only has a handful of songs on it. All nine sources who review
the ep lavish praise, only to hold back their ratings greedily,
waiting for more. Keep an eye out for Chvrches' debut album - there
will be no holding back then.
Poor Lil Wayne. Fresh out of hospital, he finds
his new album getting slated across the board and receiving a
sickly average of 4.6. Ouch. But, as most critics point out, he
doesn't care much anyway.
The Flaming Lips' new experiment is wondering if
they can scare the life out of people with an album, and it seems
to be working. A 7.6 average and a handful of 8s, inspiring
descriptions like "dark", "full of fear and dread", and "f*cking
weird".
Elsewhere: Wavves crash the chart party with a
7.1, Heterotic beats it (just) with a 7.2,
James Yuill only manages a 5.9,
Lapalux gets a 10 from The Arts Desk, and
Edwyn Collins impresses our sources enough for a
7.5.