Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Post-Punk 2: Both Sides Of The River


Gang Of Four: Entertainment! (1979), If all the bands who said they were influenced by this album had actually bought it, Gang Of Four would be bigger sellers than U2. It’s a classic, what with the cutting riffs and bendy basslines.

Killing Joke: Killing Joke (1980), This is pitch black, abrasive and stripped bare of any pretensions. i.e. essential post-punk

Simple Minds: Empires & Dance (1980), The Scottish band before they got all ‘arena’ sounding. Seriously though, their early esoteric period produced a couple of wonderful albums, this is probably the best of them. A potent mix of Bowie’s Berlin era and Joy Division.

Associates: The Affectionate Punch (1980), The glorious voice of Billy Mackenzie is pushed to the forefront of this tremendous album. Again the Bowie influence can be felt in tracks like ‘Transport to Central’.

Suicide: Suicide (1977), They went about as stark and macabre as you can go without completely alienating your audience. Also the template for all those synth duos that came in their wake.

Throbbing Gristle: 20 Jazz Funk Greats (1979), Darkly intoxicating, really pushes the envelope with concentrated measures of ambient, industrial and (very) early electronica.

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