I’m learning that I’m a sucker for the industrial music sound. Maybe I worked in a factory for too long. Maybe I’m turning into a robot of some kind. But not the kind that’s trying to take my place as a writer and destroy art and make a bunch of tech bros temporarily rich before the upcoming tech market crash, but the good kind of robot, like the big friendly robot from The Iron Giant. Or Wall-E, maybe. He was one of the good ones for sure.

Depeche mode is industrial-adjacent at times, with a longing sound and a deep automatic-sounding energy driving each track. The emotional content borders on melodrama at times, but if you buy into the experience it’s not a problem at all. Just pretend you’re in a stadium-sized support group and everybody’s also trying to get over their inner stuff, and you’ll get right into it.

Jams

“I Feel You”
“Condemnation”
“Get Right With Me”

From the roundup Jamwise #43 - Best Albums of 1993, pt. 2.