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If You Like Violator by Depeche Mode, Listen to These 4 Albums

Fans of Violator by Depeche Mode will love these listening suggestions provided by Death of Vinyl record store in Montreal, Canada.

Violator
by Depeche Mode

Electronic, Synth-pop
Violator
Depeche Mode
2016
Electronic, Rock
Vinyl, Album, Reissue, 180 gram
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On Violator, Depeche Mode evokes a dystopian future-present simply by channeling their love of New York club culture through their experiences as arena-dwelling rock stars. Francois Kevorkian’s mix integrates the ethos of the vintage big guitar sound into the band’s previously Casio soundscape, creating a compelling and cavernous blend of twisted vocals, swirling atmospheres, and trippy beats. Lyrically and musically, the album digs deep underground, exploring a dark world where just the memory of daylight is all that is needed for warmth, the interplay of the two fostering an eternal dusk which most records never manage to maintain (Depeche Mode’s following albums figuring amongst the few exceptions).

Discogs asked some of the best record stores around the world for new music recommendations inspired by popular records within the Discogs community. Fans of Violator by Depeche Mode will love these listening suggestions provided by Death of Vinyl record store in Montreal, Canada.

Recommendation #1

In The Garden
by Eurythmics

Rock, Pop, New Wave, Synth-pop
In The Garden
Eurythmics
2018
Rock, Pop, New Wave
Vinyl, LP, Album, Reissue, Remastered, 180 Gram
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Having succeeded and failed as The Tourists, the Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart duo rebranded as the Eurythmics. In The Garden fulfills any record geek’s dream job of recording an album alongside members of Can and D.A.F. with Conny Plank at the controls of his famous studio. Lennox remains broody and menacing throughout the album and the repression of her full range of power adds more drive to her exploration of small changes in expression. Each track represents a cinema-ready montage of floating feelings, murky environments, and bubbling rhythms, mostly courtesy of Jaki Liebezeit, a drummer well known for his endless capacity for organic robotic repetition. Also recommended: Never Gonna Cry Again.

Recommendation #2

99.9F°
by Suzanne Vega

Electronic, Folk Rock, Synth-pop
99.9F°
Suzanne Vega
1992
Electronic, Rock
LP, Black Vinyl
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On 99.9F°, Suzanne Vega embraces the challenge set by the success of the D.N.A. remix of “Tom’s Diner” to create dystopian musical environments more fitting for her powerful daydreams and the occasional nightmare. In collaboration with Mitchell Froom, Jerry Marotta, and David Hidalgo, Vega stretches her initial sketches through all three dimensions and embeds her exploration of political and cultural issues in surreal sounds and remarkable arrangements. In 1992, the term “trip-hop” had not yet been circulated, which positions this album as one of the first to rock the downtempo. Marotta makes each track fresher than fresh with his trademark “drummer not a drum machine” approach to complex beats. Also recommended: Blood Makes Noise.

Recommendation #3

Fischerspooner
by Fischerspooner

Electronic, Synth-pop
Fischerspooner
Fischerspooner
2001
Electronic, Electro, Synth-pop, Electroclash
2 x Vinyl, LP, Album
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Fischerspooner’s self-titled album, also referred to as #1, was a glorious send-off to the 20th century, channeling all the glitz and twice the glam of the underground, DIY, rebel queer electroclash scene of that New York moment and dragging it from the twilight into the spotlight. Reviving the big machine sound of the early 1990s, Fischerspooner’s close and clever collaboration combines heavy electronics with lots of extravagant performance, outpacing many of their contemporaries in originality, hooks, melody, arrangement, drive, and sheer exuberance. Think of this as a safe musical space for wonderful freaky people stating their intention to take control of the 21st century, a gesture that in many ways just becomes truer and truer with every year. Also recommended: Emerge.

Recommendation #4

P.E.A.C.E
by MXMJoY

Electronic, Post-Punk, Dub
P.E.A.C.E
MXMJoY
2019
Electronic, Rock
LP, Black Vinyl
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A key figure of the post-punk club scene in Bristol during the early 1980s as a member of Maximum Joy (alongside Nellee Hooper and Dennis Bovell), Janine Rainforth returned to music in 2019 with P.E.A.C.E. Her eclectic synthesizer work, airy programming, and talent with texture are nicely paired with drummer Charlie Llewellin’s dry chops. After decades of silence, MXMJoY’s crepuscular mix of blissful beats and floaty vocals offer up a sacred pagan soundtrack where distantly glimmering pools of light are conjured out of darkness into a tidal wave of joy. Also recommended: Hard Wired.


Picture of the inside of Death of Vinyl, a record store in Montreal

Death of Vinyl, Montreal, Canada

More about the record store that made these recommendations:

Death of Vinyl

Montreal, Canada

Montreal has always had too many record stores at any given time, ensuring a form of competition that matches great passions with fluctuating economic viability. Each store must develop its own character based on the broad tastes of its clients and fans as they shift along with the cycles of fashion. Those of us who continue to find a path do so through painstaking communion with the ever-changing wants and needs of the many diverse populations of music lovers clustered along the vinyl corridors found in the Mile-Ex and Plateau neighborhoods at the heart of the island. Montreal has always offered up a panorama of live music possibilities through a wide range of concert venues and nightclubs, from the Prohibition-era jazz clubs to the cabarets of Expo ’67, embracing discotheques in the ‘70s, underground clubs in the ‘80s, and the after-hours in the ‘90s and early 2000s. We are also known as a haven for musicians perfecting their craft and seeking places to share and collaborate, historically due to the availability of cheap loft spaces in the mixed industrial neighborhoods.

Store Details

Website: Death of Vinyl

City Guides: Best Record Stores in Montreal

About this Series

Discogs asked some of the best record stores around the world for new music recommendations inspired by popular records within the Discogs community.

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