Niki N. Phaser

               Yes, I gave in and embraced the cliché of making ‘best of the year’ tops. Still, ‘top’ is a strong word, it sounds so… hierarchical, so definite, things that can be calculated with numbers. Artistic value has a lot to do with the moment. While I’m listening to a great song and I’m really feeling it, I’m not thinking “This song is slightly less wonderful than another great song”. Music is not a sport. When it comes to art, each individual is the judge. Music is the place where the mind and the heart meet, it has nothing to do with other people’s opinions. You should also know that some of the songs from this list might be released as singles in the future, so read the date when this was posted before sharing with your friends… Ok, enough with this mumbo-jumbo, let’s see who made to number 1, people!!!!!

11. Morrissey – It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore

His recent albums are pretty far from the fresh outta The Smiths stuff. I’m talking about the music, because the lyrics have always been briliant – the guy just can’t be topped when it comes to editing ideas into the most simple and yet poetic words. It’s Not Your Birthday Anymore it’s one of the most powerful songs he wrote in years, talking about how politeness and hypocrisy have nothing to do with one’s expression of love: “All the gifts that they gave can’t compare in any way to the love I am now giving to you right here right now on the floor”. LISTEN

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Depeche Mode are greeting the holiday season with two new singles released as a Double A side. The two songs in question are Hole to Feed and Fragile Tension, lifted from their spring-born album, Sounds of the Universe. The single will be released on December 7th and the full tracklisting includes an impressive batch of remixes, not just of the two songs, but also of previous single, Peace, and of other tracks from the new album (Come Home and Perfect).

There is also a video to help promote, but only Hole to Feed, unfortunately. In more than one way, Fragile Tension would have deserved the extra attention. On the other hand, the strange video for the aforementioned song doesn’t really do it justice,  Eric Wareheim’s vision, while bound to spark some reaction, being a bit too… 90’s in its attention craving direction. The band members are not in the video, but we all got used to that by now.

This is the second single in the history of Depeche Mode to be written by singer Dave Gahan and collaborators, Christian Eigner and Andrew Phillpott and one of the three songs authored by the trio to feature on Sounds of the Universe. Depeche Mode are currently continuing their seemingly ill-fated  Tour of the Universe, marked by a number of cancellations caused by Gahan’s health problems: doctor’s orders for vocal rest, a leg injury and gastroenteritis in the tour’s debut days. It seems that despite his… devotion, the universe is not on his side…

UPDATE: Depeche Mode have indeed released a video for the other single involved, Fragile Tension, on November 20.

HOLE TO FEED video                     FRAGILE TENSION video

Even though they have recently released their second single from Sounds of the Universe, entitled Peace, things on the Depeche Mode front are not that peaceful. Their overanticipated Tour of the Universe, announced in the fall of 2008, has been so far… well, jinxed. First, they had to take a break, one gig in, because singer Dave Gahan fell ill with was prooved to be a tumor in his bladder. Because of this, they had to cancel a show in Greece, twenty minutes before coming on stage, which resulted in a mini riot. Then followed another seven shows in Eastern and Southern Europe and Turkey, that were finally cancelled, the band being able to save one in Croatia and several in Germany and England. Despite having two breaks in their tour agenda, one in July and one in September, the eight shows were not rescheduled, apparently because they were open air gigs. As if this wasn’t enough, recently there’s been some controversy related to tickets for their German dates. Scalpers seem to have hit gold, as tickets to their sold-out arena shows in Germany resurfaced, of course, overpriced. The phenomenon took such proportions that legendary concert promoter, Marek Lieberberg is urging fans to no longer buy secondary market tickets.

WATCH THE VIDEO FOR DEPECHE MODE’S Peace