The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace (1985)

I've been told that you don't listen to The Fall as much as you immerse yourself in them; there's a quality to Mark E. Smith's slightly caustic, acerbic delivery that fits perfectly into their jagged and abrasive rhythms and demands a lot from you as the listener. 

That they might agitate your senses into oblivion is of little to no consequence here- this album serves more to hold you hostage in a scuzzy London basement, alternating between showing you snippets of snuff films and electrocuting your temples.

Like all challenging music it makes you work hard for it, and you'll likely discover before the album is halfway done that to listen to The Fall is more of a visceral experience than a passive one. That all being said this is the most accessible of The Fall's 80's output.

This is a great starting point for one of the most underrated bands of all-time. I've previously blogged their 1982 album Hex Enduction Hour, which I actually like more than this one- this is probably a better starting point and I say give it a go if you've ever wondered what this band was all about. 

The Fall - This Nation's Saving Grace (Beggars Banquet; 1985)

Lavvi Ebbel - Guns and Crepe Flambee (2014)

Belgian New Wave- it sounds exactly like that. Belgian. And New Wave. It veers somewhat into "avant-garde pop" but remains entirely listenable, you can see how they maintained a sizable cult following in their homeland. 

Here's a retrospective of their entire career:

Lavvi Ebbel - Guns and Crepe Flambee 1977-2014 (Starman; 2014)

Pretty Girls Make Graves - The New Romance (2003)

Intense atmospheric emotional indie rock from Seattle just at the turn of the century. 

It's raw but clean sounding, ragged yet polished. 

Highlighting bass player Derek Fudesco from seminal garage punk act The Murder City Devils as well as Jason Clark on guitar from post-hardcore cult band Kill Sadie and featuring the amazing vocal stylings of one Andrea Zollo, this band burned too bright and ended way before their time. 
Pretty Girls Make Graves - The New Romance (2003; Matador Records)

Josef K - The Only Fun In Town (1981)

Josef K were a short-lived Scottish post-punk outfit named after the main character from Franz Kafka's The Trial. Their entire recorded output was a scant 22 songs in a 3-year period; but their influence has been showing up everywhere lately, especially in the work of bands like Franz Ferdinand and Bloc Party (think jagged post-punk guitars over funky bass lines and dance-able drum beats).

Chief songwriter, singer and guitarist Paul Haig broke the band up after what he felt was repeated slights from both the critics and record-buying public (resentful for having never really "made it" outside of Glasgow), he and guitarist Malcolm Ross, bassist David Weddell and drummer Ronnie Torrance all went their separate ways; their official releases would tally five singles and one album.

I'm thinking this record here is a pretty good place to start with Josef K, there's also the 2006 compilation Entomology that has all 22 tracks of theirs, but this record The Only Fun In Town is a more cohesive statement.

Josef K - The Only Fun In Town (1981; Postcard Records)

Stockholm Monsters - Alma Mater (1984)

The fickle and cynical British press unfairly slagged this band as New Order-wannabes (even though almost all their stuff was produced by New Order bassist Peter Hook); but that's a really shitty and reductive way to describe Stockholm Monsters. Along with some of the other Factory Records bands of that era, they helped bridge the gap between the early label's artier post-punk groups (A Certain Ratio and Joy Division) and the late-decade dance club vibe of the Happy Mondays and Electronic. A band that never got their due because their ever-changing façade meandered around so many genres: an eclectic blend of sunny synth pop experimentation mingled with jangly guitars and electro beats.

I read an interview a few years ago with John Darnielle (of The Mountain Goats, a man I highly respect and cherish as one of the greatest American songwriters of this generation) where he said this was his favorite album ever. It must be awesome if he likes it, right? Listen for yourself and decide.

This is the 2002 re-master from LTM Recordings, with a slew of bonus tracks...

Stockholm Monsters - Alma Mater (1984; Factory Records)

Five Dischord Bands...

Dischord Records, god bless 'em; gotta love the business model that label heads Ian MacKaye and Jeff Nelson created way back in 1980 to get their Minor Threat records out to the public. It's been a wonderful American success story, maybe not in the monetary sense but in the stick-to-your-guns-no-sell-out success story: integrity at all costs. Or at very little cost to us, the general consumers.

I would feel bad about sharing these albums but a) these bands no longer exist and b) I own (or have owned at one time) these actual records or c) have spent money on these bands (via digital download, concerts, etc.) But it still feels like stealing from Robin Hood in a way.

Oh well, morality bullshit aside, let's start it off with one of my favorite bands to break up this past decade, Q and Not U. Post-hardcore-slash-dance punk group extraordinaire; I've chosen their 2000 debut record No Kill No Beep Beep for you- it's a tad rawer, fresher and more exciting than their other two records. Sadly, the boys broke up in September of 2005 leaving a three album legacy to the world, also leaving loyal Washington, DC fans wanting more.

Q and Not U - No Kill No Beep Beep

Next up is another DC band, math rock stalwarts Faraquet. They only put out one record, 2000's The View From This Tower, but it definitely left an impression. I'd chunk it right between earlier post-hardcore giants Quicksand and Dischord flagship band Fugazi- tight grooves, heavy drums but not afraid to get funky. Then the King Crimson-esque prog rock stop-on-a-dime staccato blasts. They recently reformed to play a string of shows and release an anthology of earlier singles, but no plans to record in the future. I think they should do it...

Faraquet - The View From This Tower

Black Eyes will straight up fuck your face into an oblivion. Two albums, markedly different- their self-titled debut is far more focused, dare I say listenable? Not that follow-up Cough isn't rad as shit in it's own right, I figured you weren't ready for it. Yet. That's another blog all by itself. For now, you'll have to get by on 2003's eponymous record; an arty, slightly pretentious and noisy version of hardcore punk.

Black Eyes - Black Eyes

El Guapo's Fake French might be the one album that you couldn't pick out from a police line-up, especially from a band that might not have the typical Dischord sound. A bit more heavy on the synths, call-and-response lyrics and electro beats placed here and there would have your scratching you head a little. That's okay; El Guapo wouldn't mind. They're technically the only band here that didn't break up per se, as they merely changed their name to Supersystem (and shedded their original drummer). Here's their 2003 offering for you...

El Guapo - Fake French

Antelope started as a side project for El Guapo/Supersystem/Edie Sedgewick member Justin Moyer along with ex-Vertebrates Bee Elvy and Mike Andre, and their sole offering to the world was 2007's Reflector. Heavy on the bass, the sparse drums interlock perfectly providing a pocket for Moyer's angular and pointed guitar lines. It's minimal, it's sleek, and they're gone...

Antelope - Reflector

Wipers - Youth of America (1981)

Greg Sage and his Wipers were another band that was sorely under-rated and unfairly glossed over; I think they received more press because Kurt Cobain happened to be a fan and Nirvana covered a few of their songs, but Wipers was another band that was ahead of their time- they fused raw punk energy with catchy hooks and a taste for experimentation. Think Hüsker Dü starting a band with Mission of Burma that was trying to sound like Television.

Wipers started out as Sage's experiment; only meant to be a recording project with no touring or promotion- Sage's dad owned an actual record press in their basement and Greg would record songs off the radio and press records for his friends. As Sage would meet drummer Sam Henry and bassist Dave Koupal, they'd cut a single on their own label (Better Off Dead on Trap Records) and play some live shows around Portland, gaining notoriety and achieving some cult status with the release of their first full-length Is This Real?

Exit Henry & Koupal, enter the Brads; Davidson on bass and Naish on drums. This is the line-up Wipers went with to record this album, and it's fair to say that this was the most adventurous album in the hardcore genre at the time, so much so that it coined the term "post-hardcore" because of its song lengths (the title track clocks in at 10:27) and reliance on other instruments and timbres somewhat unknown to hardcore bands at the time. They broke the mold with this record, and forever altered the punk rock landscape in doing so.

Wipers - Youth of America (1981; Park Avenue Records)

Mission Of Burma - Signals, Calls, And Marches (1981)

I mentioned a few posts ago what my favorite EPs of all-time were; well, here's my favorite "extended play" album, ever. Eight songs and 27-minutes of post-punk fury; not a single filler on here. Mission Of Burma exploded onto the Boston club scene in 1979, playing louder than anyone else (guitarist Roger Miller suffered from such extreme tinnitus that it led to the band's eventual hiatus, from 1983 until reforming in 2002).

In between "gigs" Miller and Martin Swope (tape manipulator/sound engineer) would go on to form Birdsongs Of The Mesozoic (I've uploaded their 1984 album Magnetic Flip here), while drummer Peter Prescott was busy with his Volcano Suns project and bassist Clint Conley would produce the first Yo La Tengo record, then get a master's degree in broadcast journalism and work as a TV producer at a local Boston station. 

So, MoB version1.0 would feature one EP, one full-length (1982's Vs.) and a posthumous live album (1985's The Horrible Truth About Burma). Then almost 20 years pass by and they reform (sans Swope), putting out three more records and in the process erasing any doubt that they still aren't able to totally rock.

So enjoy this classic EP from the finest American band to call it quits, then let two decades lapse before they plugged it back in...

Mission Of Burma - Signals, Calls, And Marches (1981; Ace Of Hearts Records)

Wire - The Classic Years

Wire is another insanely under-rated band, probably because people have never been able to peg them into a genre neatly; like that tired cliché "a square peg into a round hole" sort of thing. If you trace the arc of their career trajectory you'll see them going from the original London punk scene to jagged edged post-punk to synth-pop new wave to flirting with electronica, all the while staying firmly rooted in their experimental tendencies and never losing that do-it-yourself punk attitude.

This is why Wire is such an awesome band, they never had to stay the same from one album to the next, as evidenced in their first three, or "classic albums". Enjoy!

Pink Flag (1977; Harvest Records)

Chairs Missing (1978; Harvest Records)

154 (1979; Harvest Records)

ESG - Come Away With Me (1983)

I wonder if the Bronx-born Scroggins sisters knew they were gonna be so influential when they put these records out. Or did they just wanna be funky? These basslines and beats have been sampled by everyone: Wu-Tang, Beasties Boys, Gang Starr, Dilla, Big Daddy Kane, trip-hopper Tricky, R&B stars TLC, the list goes on and on.

Their records are so obscure to mainstream ears that they've been sampled so much without people realizing who they are; they aren't punk (but their cold and spacey recordings share an aesthetic with post-punk bands like Joy Division and Wire) they aren't exactly funk (but you can dance to it); it was literally the first incarnation of "dance punk", paving the way for bands like Le Tigre, !!!, Liars and James Murphy's LCD Soundsystem.

Check this one out, you shan't be disappointed...

ESG - Come Away With Me (1983; 99 Records)

This Heat - Deceit (1981)

First time I ever heard this record, I was really high. Like insanely paranoid and high. Needless to say, this album terrified the shit out of me. I vowed to never listen to it again.

I listened to it again years later, totally stone sober; I finally understood what it was This Heat was trying to do- completely deconstruct the layers of what can be considered a "song" and break it down to its basest, most common denominator: noise. Pure, awesome unadulterated noise (and its relative constituent parts). It's probably the most avant-garde and experimental of the whole early-'80s "post-punk" scene; that's probably why I love it so.

I hope you give it a chance to terrify the shit out of you too...

This Heat - Deceit (1981; Rough Trade Records)
-link opens to YouTube-

Wanna Buy A Bridge? - a Rough Trade Records compilation (1980)

A totally awesome and definitive compilation of post-punk from Rough Trade Records' artists from the late '70s. Includes tracks by Cabaret Voltaire, Young Marble Giants, Robert Wyatt, The Pop Group, The Raincoats, Stiff Little Fingers, The Slits, Kleenex, Television Personalities and a few more!

Never made available on CD, this is one of those "vinyl-only releases"; so the rip is directly from Rough Trade Records' Spotify account. There's some copies of the LP floating around on eBay and Discogs.com, so it's a pretty rare find. 

Tracklist:

1. Alternative Ulster Stiff Little Fingers
2. Mind Your Own Business Delta 5
3. Man Next Door The Slits
4. Aerosol Burns Essential Logic
5. Part Time Punks Television Personalities
6. Read About Seymour Swell Maps
7. We Are All Prostitutes The Pop Group
8. Soldier Soldier Spizz Energi
9. Ain't You Kleenex
10. Nag Nag Nag Cabaret Voltaire
11. In Love The Raincoats
12. Final Day Young Marble Giants
13. Skank Bloc Bologna Scritti Politti
14. At Last I Am Free Robert Wyatt

Wanna Buy A Bridge? (1980; Rough Trade Records)
-playlist is in alphabetical order-

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (1980)

Before they went pop, The Cure was a simplistic band, artless and unpretentious. Here on Seventeen Seconds, we catch the band as a quartet; Robert Smith (the only mainstay of the group, as it was his singular vision that would guide the group up until present time) on vocals, guitar and violin; Simon Gallup on bass; Matthieu Hartley on keys and Laurence Tolhurst on drums. We can see their trajectory from the new wave Three Imaginary Boys album to this and on to the next few albums, reaching lower and lower into darker, more gothic aural landscapes.

At times this record can be both dark and sinister in its downtempo grooves, other times it's propulsive and aggressive. One thing that can be said about this record above all other Cure records is its cohesiveness; all these songs fit with one another like lock and key.

Be careful, this record might just make you miserable- it definitely scared the shit out of me when I was a kid...

The Cure - Seventeen Seconds (1980; Polydor Records)

Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Press Color (1979)

Lizzy Mercier Descloux was instrumental in bringing Punk and New Wave culture to France during the mid-1970s; striking up friendships with both Richard Hell and Patti Smith on her visits to New York. She would eventually move to NYC smack in the middle of the New Wave/Post-Punk/No Wave phenomenon and contribute to the art scene musically, visually and with her performances (usually combining the two).

Press Color is her debut solo album from '79; and it's one of those records that you have to hear if you're a fan of any of those aforementioned genres. She also flirted with some island riddims as well- this record has some of the best bass lines from that whole time frame. Blondie may have written catchier tunes, the Talking Heads may have been funkier, Television had better guitar work, Patti Smith was more visceral, but this record is the real deal and deserves to be mentioned alongside them.

Don't let this record go the way of the dodo bird and passenger pigeon...

Lizzy Mercier Descloux - Press Color (1979; Ze Records)

The Durutti Column - LC (1981)

Another criminally overlooked musician, Vini Reilly was the sole member of The Durutti Column. A Tony Wilson (of Factory Records) find, Reilly tried to make the band a collaborative effort but all the other members parted ways (two would go on to start '80s easy listening act Simply Red), so Vini opted to play all the instruments on his records (save drums, here on LC the duties went to Bruce Mitchell).

LC could arguably be labeled as one of the first post-rock records, Reilly uses piano/keys, guitars and basses more for timbre than for rhythm, rather than chunking chords out one after the other he relies on echo, delay and other processed effects to convey emotion and movement. Some of the songs feature vocals, but they stay half-buried under sheets of reverb and layers of ambient synth washes. There are also jazzy elements as well as the post-punk ideas left over from working with Martin Hannett (who produced Joy Division's records). Reilly has gone on to find more notoriety later in his career by writing a lot of the music (and playing guitar and keyboards) on Morrissey's debut solo outing, Viva Hate.

Here's another wonderful album that's been under-rated and overlooked (it contains some out-takes and bonus tracks, from the 1996 re-issued remaster)...

The Durutti Column - LC (1981; Factory Records)

Magazine - Real Life (1978)

I've always felt that Magazine never really got their due respect; it seems that when discussions around what bands are considered to be the very definition of the post-punk genre, they get glossed over. Sure, you have to mention Gang Of Four, Wire, Joy Division, etc. but why does Magazine have to fall so far down the list?

So here's me giving propers to one of the best albums of the late '70s; after Howard Devoto left the Buzzcocks (he felt that "punk" was too restrictive a genre) he started the genre-busting Magazine, employing synths (as well as horns and other more experimental instruments not considered punk) as a lead instrument, all to great effect. He foresaw the new direction that music could go, using the attitude of punk rock as a foundation and springboard but being able to go any direction he wanted. Original bassist Barry Adamson would also join up with Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds for their first four records.

So, please enjoy one of the more overlooked gems of the late-'70s...

Magazine - Real Life (1978; Virgin Records)

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Tender Prey (1988)

So I just saw that they re-issued this a few days ago. 

My favorite Nick Cave record. 

Yup. 

Remastered. 

With a DVD.

I can just hear Mr. Cave now: "Whoop-dee-fucking-doo I'm on an iPod!" 

So, here it is...

Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds - Tender Prey (1988; Enigma Records)

The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour (1982)

I think This Nation's Saving Grace is widely regarded as The Fall's best album, but for me; I'll go with Hex Enduction Hour. 

It's just a little more raw, slightly more psychotic and at times violently jagged. Then again, isn't that Mark E. Smith's whole mission?

The Fall - Hex Enduction Hour (1982; Kamera Records)