Ever-evolving and beautifully streamlined, this is a frighteningly intuitive collaboration for two men who haven’t spoken in over 30 years.
Ssss may not be the album expected by longtime Depeche Mode fans, but for those who still appreciate mid-tempo techno, the vinyl is definitely worthy of coveted crate space.
You have to sit through several minutes of what sounds either like lasers from a George Lucas movie or forgettable and standard beats to get to the good parts.
Geared towards ghost-complexioned studio nerds like themselves, the bleeping, navel-gazing, minimal techno of Ssss is as disposable as it is forgettable.
In 1980 Vince Clarke and Martin Gore were part of the emerging Depeche Mode but things didn't work very well between them, so they took different paths, just to find each other, more than three decades later, in a studio, trying to have fun by copying the techno rhythms of their spiritual children.
| 1 | Lowly 5:27 | |
| 2 | Zaat 6:28 | |
| 3 | Spock 5:40 | |
| 4 | Windup Robot 5:25 | |
| 5 | Bendy Bass 6:04 | |
| 6 | Single Blip 5:47 | |
| 7 | Skip This Track 5:40 | |
| 8 | Aftermaths 6:21 | |
| 9 | Recycle 6:37 | |
| 10 | Flux 5:17 |