VCMG VCMG - Sssss (Mute, 13 March)

After 30 years working on their respective ongoing music projects, Vince Clarke (Erasure / Yazoo / Depeche Mode) and Martin L. Gore (Depeche Mode) come together for the first time since 1981 as VCMG to release a brand new album on Mute, preceded by a series of EPs.

VCMG is the fruit of initially tentative discussion and subsequent enthused collaboration where Vince and Martin, both influential as pioneers in electronic music, get to exercise their lifelong love of the genre as the techno inspired VCMG.

As Vince explains: "I've been getting into and listening to a lot of minimal dance music and I got really intrigued by all the sounds… I realised I needed a collaborator… so it occurred to me to talk to Martin."

Says Gore: "Out of the blue I got an e-mail from Vince just saying, 'I'm interested in making a techno album. Are you interested in collaborating?' This was maybe a year ago. He said, 'No pressure, no deadlines,' so I said, 'OK'."

The writing and recording of the album was done in a typically unique way with the pair working alone in their respective studios, communicating only via email, exchanging files until the album was ready. It was in May 2011 that the pair met for the first time to discuss the project when they both performed at Short Circuit presents Mute festival in London.

The album 'Ssss' (due out on March 12th on Mute) was produced by Vince Clarke and Martin L. Gore and mixed by the influential Californian electronic artist Überzone / Q.

The first release is an EP entitled Spock. EP1 / SPOCK will feature remixes from Edit-Select, aka Tony Scott, the UK DJ / producer and founder of EditSelect Records whose previous remix credits include Speedy J, Death In Vegas and Gary Beck; Regis, British techno musician Karl O'Connor, member of the Sandwell District collective and co-founder of Downwards Records); Zak aka DVS1, founder of Hush Records and one of the most prominent figures in US dance music counts techno innovator Derrick May amongst his biggest fans, with his second ever release on May's own Transmat plus XOQ, the alter ego of Überzone / Q, who mixed the VCMG album.

EP1 / SPOCK will be available initially as a global exclusive on Beatport on 30 November, and then on all DSPs from 12 December with the 12" release following on 19 December 2011.

EP1 / SPOCK TRACKLIST

Spock - Album Version

Spock - Edit Select Remix

Spock - Regis Remix

Spock - DVS1 Voyage Home Remix

Spock - XOQ Remix

Buy now on Beatport (HTML5 or Flash web links)

the eps are available on beatport. i am going to get this.

It sounds pretty good... I'll wait until the full release comes out as the Spock song was interesting, but I want to hear more.

Ah, didn't see that EP2, "Single Blip" was also available - sounds pretty good!

http://www.beatport.com/release/ep2-single-blip/870381

the byetone remix is really good

martin gore is one of my favorite producers, the guy knows how to make great music.

this sounds surprisingly like classic hardfloor sutff. i expected sappy bullshit for old men, not this wicked dance music.

album of the year so far. loving this.

dancefloor

just gonna leave this here

(vince clarke does the rap at the end)

A good album but less than "Welcome" by Monolith... it's not a comparaison, just 2 say that "Welcome" sounds like some influence as AFX/Aphex Twin, The Tuss, Aleksi Perälä , Bruce Haack, David Vorhaus, Delia Derbyshire, Dopplereffekt, Drexciya, Enya, Luke Vibert... and "Ssss" sounds like some influence as Kraftwerk, The Hacker, Derrick May, Juan Aktins & others inventors of techno from Detroit... not an innovation, not a surprise, not "avant-gardiste"... even if we know that Martin Gore is "avant-gardiste" with his band DM (Depeche Mode). This album "Ssss" is not the album for which I waited : I expected a much more looked album, more forward that was made as techno...

Heard a few tracks off this and was pleasently suprised. Not bad at all.

After listening to it I put the idea to get it as an EP to rest. Sorry, this is too dated for me and to be honest- I was expecting some more from both. Maybe they should do songwriting again instead of making Techno music.