Music for the Masses?

Mr. Alan Wilder, who spent 14 years improving, correcting and enlarging Martin Gore's works (not depreciating Gore's efforts, though) in Depeche mode, is coming town in next May. Obviously I'm anticipating this gig right now and I can barely contain all my joy.

Many of my friends and acquaintances,to my surprise, are not quite familiar with this electronic music genius' pieces. In Recoil (Mr. Wilder's solo project) we can hear tunes than would have never had any place in DM music frame, but in Bloodline (1992) some early reminiscences of Songs of Faith and Devotion were incubated in an odd, yet amazingly industrial Petri dish. Once Mr. Wilder parted company from his long-time bandmates, the void he left in DM stood astonishingly out; Gore et al stated that they had to look back at Violator--one of the greatest albums ever recorded, thanks to Wilder--in order to produce 1997 Ultra. It was a nice attempt to make up for his absence, but DM has never been as good as before. Wilder's sadly underrated influence is still missed by many of us.

Alan Wilder, however, has stated that, despite some fans' tantrums, he's never coming back to Depeche Mode due to artistical reasons: he never regarded pop music as a life project of his own and, however good or bad he got along with the trio, he would have given up his post in the end. Since the beginning, Recoil has been the shelter in which Wilder has unleashed his dark-oriented creativity. Hearing his music in the radio is just like running into a pick in a regular haystack. His music could be described as a fascinating alloy of genres --industrial, trip-hop, blues, electro, spoken word--, which mostly results in properly named avant garde music. Plus, he gets close to lyrical and vocal representatives that would match the best in his music, singers and artists like Moby (Bloodline, 1992),Douglas McCarthy, Siobhan Lynch, Maggie Estep (Unsound Methods, 1997), Diamanda Galás (,Liquid, 2000), Carla Trevaskis, Joe Richardson (Subhuman, 2007), etc. Masses would seldom listen to this music.

Mr. Wilder was the only classically trained musician in DM (I acknowledge Gore's talents, too). I can barely read tabs but I'm quite sure he knows his business. Since he appeals to exclusive (not to say elitist) audiences the show won't be too crowded. I must rush for a ticket and then I'll only have to wait. I'm afraid this will be the concert of the year (put simply, a must), so I am not allowed to miss it.