Martin Gore DJ Set

Martin Gore DJ Set
December 4, 2011
Santa Barbara, California

Depeche Mode’s Martin L. Gore performed a charity DJ set in Santa Barbara, CA on Sat Dec. 3rd is support of the New Noise and Notes For Notes charities. Both charities are dedicated to helping artists of all ages find, discover, and create music.

Lets just fast forward past the opening DJ’s commercial electro and shout out driven’ set and go straight to the meat of the night. Martin took the stage at about 10:30pm, straight into a mess of sound system problems which took about 10 minutes and about as many people to resolve. Then we were off on an inspired techno, yes, techno, not fluffy crap, but real fucking techno. Which some stupid cow in the audience obviously had disapproval of as she made an attempt to shut down Martin’s laptop by closing the lid, and obviously rattling Martin’s nerves.

Recovering from sound system problems and the cow, Martin held nothing back and went straight into thick, deep, wall crushing electronic beats. I had an idea of what to expect, as I heard about his DJ sets before, but still, I was surprised at the track selection. No pandering, no fluff, only honest music that obviously speaks to Martin’s core of being an electronic musician. It’s also obvious that Martin is serious about DJing, as he had a full Traktor DJ rig complete with the S4 controller, plus two Korg Kaos Pads, a Pioneer EFX module, and the knowledge and skill to use them beyond the amateur and cliche.

Notable tracks? I wish I knew the names, other than Spock which is from the new VCMG (Vince Clarke/Martin Gore) project. If anyone has links to the setlist. Please let me know!

Also of interest, Q/Uberzone (who mixed the VCMG tracks) was in attendance.

All in all, it was well worth the $50 and drive to Santa Barbara. Not only to hear a refreshing set of music, but to help support two of the local charities.

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