Dave Clarke – The Desecration of Desire

A man with techno firmly in his heart, Dave Clarke's new album shows a deeper and more contemplative side. Elements of new wave, industrial electro, house and even hip-hop meld effortlessly over ten tracks and show there is much more to The Baron of Techno than, well, um, techno.

The album in its entirety paints a picture of a not-so-distant dystopian world which, with current affairs, exemplifies Clarke’s keen interest in such matters. Mixed with his musical ability we have a deep and dark album that, if scored to a movie, it would need to be a film noir adaptation of Blade Runner. 

We are introduced to Clarke's dystopian world through a disorientating haze of synths and then a hard breakbeat on Exquisite. Mt. Sims makes a vocal appearance on Frisson, a pulsing electro track which carries his distorted, pained lyrics of loss and isolation. There's high-tempo house on Plasmatic and atmospheric hip-hop on Dot Forty One (Mute). Mark Lanegan, formerly of Queens of the Stone Age, also makes a couple of appearances on the album. Charcoal Eyes (Glass Tears), which Clarke wrote the lyrics for, is a high-energy electro track with Lanegan’s grainy voice distorted like a radio host from a parallel world, performing spoken word interpolated within the music.

All in all, this is a welcome return for Dave Clarke and an album declaring his rightful place at the helm of electronica.

Listen to: Frisson, Dot Forty One (Mute), Charcoal Eyes (Glass Tears)