For a while, before the swingeing EMI ownership
really began to bite, MOTOR, a duo of Bryan
Black and Oly Grasset, were part of Mute's
NovaMute subsidiary's roster. NovaMute now seems
like a fading memory and its releases are now increasingly difficult
to track down but a great majority of its artists continue to make
excellent music that form part of dance music's continual mutability.
MOTOR's new single 'Man Made Machine' was released
on German DJ Chris Liebing's CLR label in December 2011 and features
vocals from Depeche Mode's Martin L. Gore.
The three members of Depeche Mode have never been exactly prolific
outside of the band but one of the more recent developments has
been Gore's immersion into dance music generally, flying around
the world DJing a set of mostly techno material, selecting the generally
minimal, sparse tracks played before Depeche take to the stage and
most recently working with original Mode songwriter Vince
Clarke as VCMG, their minimal techno collaboration
for Mute whose first fruits were displayed in early December on
the 'Spock' EP. Therefore, in summary, nothing about Gore laying
down vocals for MOTOR's 'Man Made Machine' isn't terribly surprising,
especially as MOTOR have previously remixed Depeche Mode ('It's
No Good' and 'Precious') and supported Depeche on the Tour Of
The Universe in 2009; 'Man Made Machine' was written during
that tour.
'Man Made Machine' finds Martin adopting his most
leaden, over-sexed vocal style, something that only started to appear
in the second half of Depeche's career but which was evidenced most
prominently on his Counterfeit 2 album when tackling tracks
that required him to pitch his vocal lower than usual. Here you
can make out pretty much every inward breath, and if it was a bit
more Americanised it would basically sound like Iggy Pop on 'Passengers'.
I normally prefer my Martin Gore vocal to have a bit more lightness,
and the way he intones the word 'love' here (repeatedly, and in
a way that suggests he's not thinking of the warm and cuddly type
of love) is a bit off-putting; but perhaps I'm a prude and the idea
of copulating with a machine or at the very least a pneumatically-enhanced
female of the species doesn't exactly appeal. To match Martin's
sleazy vocal, MOTOR weigh in with a heavy glam-leaning electro that
sounds like a darker, more edgy take on Goldfrapp's
'Strict Machine', all whiplash beats and harsh industrial sounds.
Included on the CLR release is a deliciously bass-heavy
mix from Black Asteroid, a no less bass-heavy dark techno version
by Chris Liebing that lasts almost ten minutes but would be no less
enjoyable if it was twice or three times as long, and finally a
version by Radio Slave which for some reason reminds me of Model
500 even though it's more spatial techno than electro. There's also
MOTOR's own old-fashioned extended mix for good measure.
download:
1. Man Made Machine (Original Radio Version)
2. Man Made Machine (Extended Version)
3. Man Made Machine (Radio Slave Remix)
4. Man Made Machine (Black Asteroid Remix)
5. Man Made Machine (Chris Liebing Remix)
