Listening “No Thyself” it’s like a time capsule, a trip back to the late 70s, early 80s. And surprisingly, Magazine sounds fresh, this post-punk mixture with psychedelia still sounds authentically, have the right vibe and that particular glowing, deep groove. Once again, when everybody sweat to be more futuristic, more avant-garde and post-everything and post-whatever, the returning pioneers proves that some good ideas are more meaningful that the sophisticated sound, all the digital shit and eventually some fancy producer. I’m some freak nostalgic? Maybe, but I don’t really think so. I’m just sick of everybody sounds just the same. Sick of all those post, alternative and so-called core – actually fake plastics the industry lately delivered. Magazine are kind of dinosaur? Possibly, but while it seems we lost the direction, we might need them now more than ever. Read more Magazine – No Thyself (2011)
post punk
Fucked Up – David Comes to Life (2011)
An eighteen songs epic in four acts, “David Comes to Life”, the third full-length studio album by Canadian hardcore punk band Fucked Up is an over 77 minutes trip into an universe juggling between alternative and post-rock shredding and punk rock energy and the space between is fulfilled with everything from classic hard rock to pop and hardcore punk. It’s like “Tommy” – the 1969’s classic rock opera by The Who – were re-interpreted by a rebellious teenager punk band grown up on Offspring and Green Day diet. And actually, “David Comes to Life” is a rock opera, comparable with Green Day’s “American Idiot” (2004) or “21st Century Breakdown” (2009).
Released on June 7, 2011 in North America and June 6, 2011 elsewhere on Matador Records in CD and double LP formats, “David Comes to Life” became Fucked Up’s first charting album in the United States ranking at number 83 on the Billboard 200. Read more Fucked Up – David Comes to Life (2011)
Dead Can Dance – Spleen and Ideal (1986)
There are bands and there are myths, legends. There are bands playing music and bands creating music, inventing new approaches, discovering new dimensions, tear down walls and open brand new highways. There are bands with one or two best records and bands with all their records being best ones. Some says, in the existence of the band the second album is the most important and it proves if the band have or haven’t potential. “Spleen and Ideal”, released on 1st September 1986 (in Australia), was Dead Can Dance’s second album and the band consist of Gerrard and Perry decided to abandon guitars in favor of classic symphonic instruments such as cello, trombones and timpani. A serious decision and one which probably change the course of the band’s history, but not only. Read more Dead Can Dance – Spleen and Ideal (1986)
The Pogues – Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985)
Celtic Punk? The term was coined because and for The Pogues at the beginning of the 80s and have its origin in the 1960s and 1970s folk rock musicians who played electric folk and Celtic rock in Ireland and Scotland, as well as in more traditional Celtic folk bands such as The Dubliners.
The story says that The Pogues were formed when MacGowan (vocals), Peter “Spider” Stacy (tin whistle), and Jem Finer (banjo) were together in an occasional band called The Millwall Chainsaws in the late 1970s after MacGowan and Stacy met in the toilets at a Ramones gig at The Roundhouse in 1977. MacGowan was already with The Nips, though when they broke up in 1980 he concentrated a bit more on Stacy’s Millwall Chainsaws who changed their name to The New Republicans. In 1982 they rename the band into Pogue Mahone. They came to the attention of the media and Stiff Records when they opened for The Clash on their 1984 tour. Shortening their name to “The Pogues” due to BBC censorship following complaints from Gaelic speakers in Scotland, they released their first album “Red Roses for Me” on Stiff that October.
“Rum Sodomy & the Lash” is the second studio album by The Pogues and it has often made its way on to lists of greatest albums. In 2000 Q magazine placed it at number 93 in its list of the 100 Greatest British Albums Ever. In 2003, the album was ranked number 445 on Rolling Stone magazine’s list of the 500 greatest albums of all time. Pitchfork Media named it the 67th best album of the 1980s.
Released sometimes in mid/late August – eventually on 26 😀 – 1985, “Rum Sodomy & the Lash” is a worthwhile listen. Read more The Pogues – Rum Sodomy & the Lash (1985)
Soviet Soviet – Summer, Jesus (2011)
I just stumbled into this and it’s just such a nice surprise. Soviet Soviet are an Italian trio from Pesara and their music is a quite catchy mixture of garage and industrial rock noises with the bitter-sweet echoes of Joy Division and the straightness and healthy arrogance of The Clash. This 6 track CD was released by Tannen Records in June 2011 and it’s a quality post-punk product. The strong, pumping bass lines and the tasty guitar riffs are the strongest points of this material, these guys create dark atmosphere, have some good grooves and a few strong passages/themes. Maybe it’s not outstanding, but definitely worth to listen it.
Read more Soviet Soviet – Summer, Jesus (2011)
Jello Biafra and tGSoM – Enhanced Methods Of Questioning (2011)
At the age of 52, Mr. Biafra is still fresh and biting while a bunch of kids calling them self “punks” still can’t have a hard-on.
In the twenty or so years since Dead Kennedys officially disbanded, Jello Biafra has made a career of spoken word gigs interspersed with musical collaborations, recording projects and touring with Melvins, No Means No, DOA, Mojo Nixon and Lard (with Ministry’s Al Jorgensen) among others have kept his “hardcore as political weapon” message sharp, but the lack of his own band made these collaborations usually short-lived and left Biafra with a ton of songs that had never seen the light of day. Inspired by Iggy Pop’s 60th birthday gig at the Warfield in San Francisco, Biafra laid plans for his own 50th birthday party and finally decided it was time to start a band of his own. Ten years before he had been attempting the same thing with the likes of guitarist Ralph Spight (Victims Family, Freak Accident, Hellworms) and drummer Jon Weiss (Sharkbait, Horsey). They had also previously worked with bassist Billy Gould (Faith No More) who was tapped for the new group. After cramming rehearsal for a month the four piece band known as Jello Biafra and the Axis Of Merry Evildoers took the stage in a sold-out two night stand at San Francisco’s Great American Music Hall and subsequently spent the next 9 months in rehearsal for an album project. Before entering the studio guitarist Kimo Ball (Freak Accident, Carneyball Johnson, Mol Triffid, Griddle) was recruited. The quintet now known as Jello Biafra and The Guantanamo School of Medicine began recording tracks for the upcoming album “The Audacity Of Hype” slated for release in October 2009. Read more Jello Biafra and tGSoM – Enhanced Methods Of Questioning (2011)
Ikon – In the Shadow of the Angel (2011)
In the mirage of Joy Division and The Sisters Of Mercy, preserving their inheritance, Australia’s Ikon are for twenty years in the spotlight, has achieved an international fanbase and critical acclaim. Originally released in 1994, their brilliant debut album now it’s see the light once again, re-issues and remastered and filled with some previously unreleased tracks.
Chris McCarter (vocals, guitar, programming) and Dino Molinaro (bass) began to write songs as high school students in 1988, inspired by their love of alternative music. In 1991, the original band name Death in the Dark was replaced by IKON. Michael Carrodus, the band’s original singer, joined them in creating the first two albums “In the Shadow of the Angel” (1994) and “Flowers for the Gathering” (1996). Both albums are re-issued now and “This Quiet Earth” (1998) and “On the Edge of Forever” (2001) are scheduled to be remastered in 2012. Read more Ikon – In the Shadow of the Angel (2011)
Mindless Self Indulgence – Tighter (2011)
This band from NY it’s around since 1997 and “Tighter” actually it’s the re-issued version of their debut and out of print album “Tight” released 12 years ago. It’s a crazy shit, but well, my kind of shit. Love at first listening. Because till this morning I never heard of them. MSI gave us a noisy mixture of Punk and Electronic music, whatever Electronic music may means from Synth Pop to Industrial, in and out and from Marilyn Manson to Jaguar Love. The 26 tracks of “Tighter” it’s kind of trip to Hell and back – all fucking inclusive. A good one. And funny one. To Hell or wherever else you want or imagine to go. It may be a sunny island, a cellar, the (pink) side of the Moon or… a bordello in Amsterdam. Read more Mindless Self Indulgence – Tighter (2011)
Duff McKagan’s Loaded – The Taking (2011)
At the previous spinning of the record, talking bout Nazareth I mentioned Axl Rose and right after that I stumbled into Duff’s new album… In this life nothing is accidental. Duff is quite a figure. (Michael Andrew) McKagan was born in Seattle, Washington, his brother Bruce taught him his first bass lines and while growing up, McKagan was a fan of such acts as James Gang, Sly Stone, Led Zeppelin, Vanilla Fudge, Jimi Hendrix, and New York Dolls. His idol at the time was Johnny Thunders. Later he being a huge fan of Sex Pistols, Ramones, and The Clash. He cites Paul Simonon of The Clash as his favorite bassist, and is also particularly fond of Sid Vicious. At the age of 15 in 1979 he joined the pop-punk band Fastbacks as drummer and between 1979 and 1982 he led and played guitar in punk band The Living. Answering an ad for a bass player in a local magazine, McKagan headed to California, at age nineteen. In California, he met guitar player Slash and drummer Steven Adler of the band Road Crew and in 1985 he joined Guns N’ Roses replacing Ole Beich. Read more Duff McKagan’s Loaded – The Taking (2011)
Soft Kill – An Open Door (2011)
Waving between Joy Division (and New Order) and The Sisters of Mercy, Soft Kill try to (re) open a door back to the eighteens goth rock and dark wave. While their earliest experiments took place in September 2010, Tobias and Shiloe, the two members of the group maybe are too in a hurry for a debut album. Still, “An Open Door” is kind of intimate and warm, which is kind of strange for a dark area of music, but the nine songs of this material are not quite bad. They mentioned influences by Howard Devoto, The Cure, Wire/Colin Newman and Killing Joke. The Cure earliest works atmosphere is present and Soft Kill managed to recreate that feeling. “Be Alone” for example sounds quite Robert Smith. And they have a few more good songs. Read more Soft Kill – An Open Door (2011)
