Wire - Red Barked Tree

Wire's new album. Nough' said.

Get

Campo-Formio - EP 28/11/2008

the first recording of a power trio coming out of the slums of Puerto Rico.
god damn its good. may this recording reach all the corners of earth.

www.myspace.com/campoformio

review:

"Waaargh! WWAAAAAAAAAGH! Yessir, we got some serious noise right here, comin' straight outta Puerto Rico! A band obsessive about makin' a racket enough to make '7&7 Is...' look like the lamest Radio 2 schmaltz you ever did hear... ladies and gents, Campo Formio are here and they're taking names and numbers.

Before the CD even hits the tray and a single fuzz assaults your ears, the EP cover takes care of business. Screwed up paper with a grinning mouth fulla rotten teeth greets your eyes... then the sound hits you like a claw-hammer in the top of your skull. 'Intro del Outro Tedioso/Outro Tedioso' kicks things off with a stream of wails, a barrage of noise and cranked up surf over three million miles an hour rhythms. Tight and tough, just the way you like it... before slowing down into a languid Sonic Youth style jam.

It's not even the tuffest track on the EP. 'La Meira' is a ferocious attack of lightspeed snot-punk which sounds like a whole buncha hooligans rioting in your head. 2 seconds in, these little fiends are throwing chairs through your synapses, kicking the backs of your eyeballs, giving the old grey matter the hack and slash treatment. Supreme fuzz onslaught, megaphone vocals and jaw-shattering goodness all 'round.

There's more of the same with instro 'Dying Breed' which sounds like The Fall... if players took more speed and kept it together... and invested in some Big Muff pedals. Still, it's not all No-Fi kickass rock 'n' roll... Campo Formio have time for some tuneful Television/Richard Hell jangly pop-punk. 'Ambigud Soledad' is a tuneful racket that couples the sneers with the hooks... 'El Joke' starts off like some Tropicalia track, before ripping off the shirt to kick on with some more jangled nerve janglepop.

This is one tough nut of an EP, one you'll dig a lot if you like noisy American rock from either '66 or '93. It ticks the garage punk boxes of MC5 nuts... it'll tick the boxes of fans of New Bomb Turks and The Saints... it'll tick the boxes of those that dig Sonic Youth and CBGB's bands... it's all killer. Murderous even. Go buy it. Prepare some space in the house for leaping around and trashing everything in sight. [mofgimmers]"




get this shit now, fucker.

The C86 tape.

1. Primal Scream- Velocity Girl
2. The Mighty Lemon Drops- Happy Head
3. The Soup Dragons- Pleasantly Surprised
4. The Wolfhounds- Feeling So Strange Again
5. The Bodines - Therese
6. Mighty Mighty- Law
7. Stump- Buffalo
8. Bogshed- Run To The Temple
9. A Witness- Sharpened Sticks
10. The Pastels- Breaking Lines
11. The Age of Chance- From Now On, This Will Be Your God
12. Shop Assistant- It's Up To You
13. Close Lobsters- Firestation Towers
14. Miaow- Sport Most Royal
15. Half Man Half Biscuit- I Hate Nerys Hughes (From the Heart)
16. The Servents- Transparent
17. Mackenzies- Big Jim (There's No Pubs in Heaven)
18. Big Flame- New Way
19. We've Got A Fuzzbox and We're Not Afraid to Use it- Console Me
20. McCarthy- Celestial City
21. The Shrubs- Bullighter's Bones
22. The Wedding Present- This Boy Can Wait

LE CLOCK

The Associates - Sulk

This underappreciated post-punk outfit from Scotland really brings something to the table. Led by Billy Mackenzie's piercing falsetto, funk-filled bass lines and catchy dream-like disco synths. They encompass all that was happening in the vibrant UK scene of the time.
Although it is just a rumor, it is believed that Billy is THE William, in the Smith's famed "William it was really nothing."


nothinginsomethingparticular.

Campo-Formio interview.

"Entrevista a Campo-Formio
Por: Lorraine Rodríguez Pagán

"... Música corrosiva con sonido crudo, pero refrescante ..." Eso es precisamente lo que los integrantes de Campo-Formio quieren transmitir a través de sus composiciones musicales, y a mi entender, cumplen su propósito. Esta banda, que aunque es poco el tiempo que lleva presentándose, contagia con mucha energía y comunica una presencia escenénica que muy pocas agrupaciones musicales de hoy tienen."
...

These fuckers are stirring shit up, play close attention.

The legend lives on: Jah Wobble in "Betrayal"

Jah Wobble is a founding member of the infamous Public Image Limited, characterized by playing dub-heavy bass on their first two albums. After creative differences he went on to release this, his debut album "Betrayal". He received heavy backlash from Lydon and company for using material from Second Edition/Metalbox. But even so this is a great record with a slightly different approach from PIL, fun and a tad sillier at times. Check out the rendition of Fats Domino's "Blueberry Hill".



Pineapple

The Jesus And Mary Chain - Darklands (1987)

MMMmmmmmMmmmmm bitch!

"Back in the 80's, the Jesus & Mary Chain blasted onto the scene with Psychocandy, an aural assault of fever-drenched guitars, spare lyrics, and a knack for crafting catchy, hook-ladened anti-pop. 1987, the JMC released Darklands, to the cowsternation of some and the warm embrace of many udders. Some original JMC fans decried the "cleaned up sound" of Darklands, but in truth the pared down accoustics in this masterpiece merely pushed the Chain's drenching wall of feedback into the background, allowing the Brothers Reid to focus on moore traditional melodies."

nicolas cage's face eaten by a bunch of bees

Public Image Ltd. - First Issue

Education now complete.

Theme

Crass - Penis Envy

Crass at times get a bad image mostly because they were so overtly political and whatnot. A lot of people discard them as just a typical pamphleteering, anarcho band refusing to give them a shot. It's sad because the truth is that they were sonic madmen with close ties to the entire post-industrial, crazy, black magick, UK music scene from the late 70's and 80's. Collaborations by members with Current 93 and Nurse with Wound prove this.

In this album the ladies take over. Eve Libertine sings most of the songs with some help from Joy De Vivre. Together they hit us with a barrage of lyrics tackling feminism, consumerism, marriage, sexual repression, love, the health industry, oppression, ext.... Musically it was some of the most experimental stuff they ever did. A complete onslaught of punk, post punk, noise, and dark industrial-esque sound collages. Listen to the madness that is "What the Fuck?" and tell me it couldn't be a long lost Cabaret Voltaire song or something like that.

They'll fuck our mind so they can fuck us silly.

Thanks to commecial zone for the link.

The Fall - the Infotainment Scan

More Fall for your listening pleasure.

Mark E

This Heat - Deceit

I discovered this like two days ago and i still can`t tell you how mind blowing this album is. The shit is amazing. The following is taken directly from wikipedia:

"This Heat were active in the ascendancy of British progressive rock and punk rock, but stood apart from those scenes due to a radically inventive approach that touched on numerous different styles and genres, but was always confrontational and politically charged. Their commercial success was limited, but This Heat are widely considered a missing link between progressive rock (especially krautrock) and such later experimental genres as post punk, post rock and noise rock."

I guess Slint was pretty influenced by these dudes as well.

Burning Face - Noos

The first proper album from PR's greatest band (in my humble opinion). Deeply melancholic (won't say "gothic", sorry), almost morose post-punk maneuvers with strong doses of psychedelia thrown in. Isabela's finest. Their myspace is here, and there you can listen to more recent material which differs stylistically from this album but damn it still sounds fucking great. HAIL!

Tephra

Killing Joke - s/t

A life-changing album for me and a freakin' masterpiece of dark, menacing, aggro post-punk with metallic overtones.

PS: Please tells us of any dead links so we can remedy the situation.

PSS: Fuck Megaupload.

Wardance

Magazine - Real Life

One of the first (and best) post-punk albums ever by Howard Devoto's Magazine, which he formed after he left The Buzzcocks. It's full of classics from top to bottom with songs such as "Shot by Both Sides" and "Definitive Gaze" which you've probably heard somewhere without even knowing it. Magazine aren't the gloomy Joy Division-esque post-punk or the dancy PIL/Gang of Four post punk, they remind me more of Roxy Music with a certain theatrical grandeur(at times), catchy piano/synth riffs and vocal melodies.

Parade

Live Skull - Dusted

Live Skull were from NYC and specialized in art-damaged, feedback-drenched noise rock, Contemporaries of Sonic Youth, Swans and Band of Susans, they fell in line stylistically. In this album they bring to the fore an unknown vocalist from Boston called Thalia Zedek, and sparks flew. Her delivery meshed perfectly with group's menacing sound, and helped push "Dusted" into the upper echelon of Live Skull releases and NYC groups.

Machete

Fugazi - The Argument

The last album by the legendary DC band before they went on hiatus. It's probably their most experimental in terms of the new sounds they incorporate, but it's also their most accessible with certain pop sensibilities.  In time it will be regarded as one of their best.

Get it

Pere Ubu - The Modern Dance

The album that got my head rearranged, many moons ago. Did the same for many others as well. Essential.

Shoot him with a gun

The Flying Lizards - s/t

"Now this was art. And dance. Appearing at the height of new wave, Dada/Fluxus influenced music installation artist David Cunningham put together a loose ensemble to quietly subvert pop, with improvisational gurus David Toop and Steve Beresford dropping by to assist.

What made them known was Deborah Evan-Strickland's disaffected upper class monotone deconstructing soul and rock classics such as their 1979 début single Summertime Blues and its chart smash follow-up, Money, over a barrage of prepared pianos making like funky synths. Summertime Blues was actually better than Money – the ultimate attempt at teen rebellion quashed by the man is transposed here to the world of the dull. The herky, quirky jerky funk of Russia and Her Story underlined what the group was really about, away from the novelty of the singles. Vivien Goldman's pure folk voice sweetened the drive of Her Story, and the pop-confection of TV was tremendous. Cunningham's Eno influence was writ large on the record's ambient textures.

By the time of their second record, Fourth Wall, from 1981, the novelty had worn off somewhat. Patti Paladin and Love Of Life Orchestra's Peter Gordon assist on what is still a rewarding listen, certainly as Cunningham applies his winning formula to Curtis Mayfield's Move On Up.

A perennial footnote, the Flying Lizards retained the Fluxus principle of having a jolly good laugh with their art. The group were seen as some kind of novelty act; however more people heard them than This Heat. The ensemble's influence on LCD and DFA bring them right up to the modern day and here they are to download with lots of bonus material."-Daryl Easlea

The Lizards recorded at This Heat's Cold Storage Studio, as Cunningham was their studio assistant. Their use of dub and concrete techniques to infuse their songs with otherwordly sounds place them firmly in TH's cabal. Like TH, The Pop Group, Biting Tongues, On-U Sound or Thick Pigeon, they were light years ahead.

Summertime Blues

The Chameleons - Strange Times (1986)

"If there was a should-have-been year in the Chameleons' history, 1986 would clearly be it, and Strange Times demonstrates that on every track, practically in every note. Signed to a huge label, with production help from the Dave Allen/Mark Saunders team who worked on the Cure's brilliant series of late-'80s records (here providing a more balanced sound between guitar effects and direct punch than appeared on What), the Chameleons delivered an album that should have been the step to a more above-board existence on radio and beyond. Right from the start, a stunning upward spiral of a guitar riff begins the unnerving character study "Mad Jack," the bandmembers mix their skills, experience, and songwriting ability perfectly and take everything to an even higher level. The first half continues with three more stunners: "Caution," a semi-waltz that moves well, pulls back, and then slams home, "Tears," a crushingly sad, acoustic ode to personal loss, and "Soul in Isolation," combining a huge majestic wallop with Mark Burgess' anguished study of alienation. And just when you think it couldn't get any better -- "Swamp Thing," the definitive Chameleons song, complex, building, tense, epic, perfectly played (John Lever's drumming is simply jaw-dropping, the Reg Smithies/Dave Fielding guitar pairing totally spot on), and with one of Burgess' most poetic, personal lyrics. It just keeps going from there, the second half covering everything from more sweeping tunes ("Time," "In Answer") to bare-bones melancholy ("In Answer," "I'll Remember"). From back to front, Strange Times could never have enough praise." (From AllMusicGuide).

Download

The Chameleons – Script of the Bridge (1983)

“With two years, numerous radio sessions, and incessant gigging under their belts since their debut single, "In Shreds," the Chameleons came to the studio determined to make a great first album with Script of the Bridge. To say they succeeded would be like saying Shakespeare did pretty well with that one Hamlet play of his. Script remains a high-water mark of what can generally be called post-punk music, an hour's worth of one amazing song after another, practically a greatest-hits record on its own: the John Lennon tribute "Here Today," "Monkeyland," "Pleasure and Pain," "Paper Tigers," "As High as You Can Go," the breathtaking closer, "View From a Hill." Starting with the passionate fire of "Don't Fall," Script showcases how truly inventive, unique, and distinctly modern rock & roll could exist, instead of relentlessly rehashing the past to little effect. The scalpel-sharp interplay between the musicians is a sheer wonder to behold, the Dave Fielding/Reg Smithies guitar team provoke nothing but superlatives throughout, and John Lever and Mark Burgess make a perfect rhythm section -- while the crisp production of Colin Richardson and the band adds delicate synth lines and shadings, courtesy of early touring keyboardist Alistair Lewthwaite, and just the right amount of reverb and effects on the guitars. Add to that the words of Burgess, one of the few lyricists out there who can tackle Big Issues while retaining a human, personal touch, and it all just adds up perfectly. The best one-two punch comes from "Second Skin," a complex, beautifully arranged and played reflection on the meaning of music and fandom, and "Up the Down Escalator," an at once harrowing and thrilling antinuclear/mainstream politics slam.” (From AllMusicGuide).

Download