Excellent post by 'Girlcrawl' over at MOG about the Dutch anarcho-syndicalist punksters, The Ex, and their not so recent compilation album, SINGLES PERIOD (The Vinyl Years 1980-1990).
Sadly with the MOG website, it appears you can't *sample* the tracks uploaded but Girlcrawl has embedded in her post such early Ex tracks as 'Cells', 'Gonna Rob The Spermbank', and a cover version of The Mekons' 'Keep On Hoppin.''
Although I first became aware of The Ex over twenty years ago with the music press coverage surrounding the release of their 1936, THE SPANISH REVOLUTION EP, I didn't really listen to any of their stuff until a few years back when Stair, a SPGB comrade back in Britain, gave me a mixtape that included the absolutely brilliant Ex track 'Frenzy'.
Hand on heart, it is one of my top 25 favourite songs of all time (even if our Top 25 on iTunes suggests otherwise). I wish I could link to a page with the lyrics, 'cos they are so smart and so funny, and I won't even pretend to understand half of what the lead singer is singing about . . . and that has nothing to do with the fact that G.W Sok is not singing in his native-tongue. It's just that multi-layered and smart without having to lunge over into smartarsery.
How often do you get to signpost a kickarse tune/lyric that includes the opening line: "Let me tell you about Karl Marx, a visionary fish in a pool of sharks . . . ", and which then goes on to rattle on at breakneck speed about Lenin Lennon and McCartney, "Groucho, a serious bloke, who never told a single joke", and the sit-down strikes in Western Europe in the last century?
The track is off the 1998 Ex album, 'Starters Alternators' - produced by Steve Albini? Never knew that - and details of how to get a hold of the album are at the following link from The Ex's website.
'Frenzy' can only really be properly appreciated if played at very high volume. Your neighbours will thank you at a later date.
The Ex - 'Frenzy' mp3
