There is an
interesting story on Color Theory's main page. His song "Ponytail
Girl" was mistaken for a Depeche Mode song, so much so that it ended up as
bonus track on bootleg Depeche Mode CDs. (I did not know that bootleggers attempted
to add value in this way, but knowing that now I can totally see then making
mistakes like this, because real fans would not be pirates.) This led to Color
Theory's 2003 release, Color Theory presents Depeche Mode.
Color Theory does,
in fact, sound a great deal like Depeche Mode, though less so on that album.
While Depeche Mode, and other '80s synth pop has been an influence, Color
Theory has also been influenced by contemporary techno groups like Deadmau5. So
there are throwbacks to an earlier time, like a cover of A-ha's "Living a
Boy's Adventure Tale", but there are also mixes that explore electronica.
There is a huge
amount of output here. Normally in the week that I do a review, I like to
listen to the artist's entire catalog three times. There was not a chance of
that happening. So I jumped around in listening, hoping to get a good
representation, and there were two questions that came up.
One is whether you
can learn more by avoiding or diving into the remixes. You can learn some
things about an artist by listening to completely different songs, but hearing
them pull different nuances out of the same song is its own education.
I actually don't
have an answer for that. While there are several remixes on the list, they are
generally of different songs. It was not a Youngblood Hawke situation where
there were six mixes of "We Come Running". It looked like there were three
remixes (plus the original) of "What You Said", but that appears to
be the maximum, and the exception.
The other question
is, when someone reminds you so much of Depeche Mode, do you need them, because
we already have Depeche Mode. And the answer for me there is "I Should
Have Kissed You".
It was one of the
first tracks I listened to, and it just caught me, like songs sometimes do. There
are emotional connections that can't always be predicted. Color Theory gave me
something that touched my heart, and there is value in that. Often the songs
seem rather muted, but there is emotion in them. I also really responded to "If
It's My Time To Go (Original Mix)".
Songs are available
via iTunes and Amazon, and can be heard at music.colortheory.com.
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1 comment:
Thanks so much for the thoughtful review!
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