It seems like Donny Vegas has been listening to all the right post-punk records for my taste. One can hear influences of early Cabaret Voltaire, Suicide, a touch of Throbbing Gristle, and yet, by some odd miracle, it sounds both fresh and lo-fi. A quirky release, but I like this. Thanks to Filip of Z Tapes for the magnificent suggestion.
Minimal Compact was an Israeli band which left a sizable imprint with their music during the 1980s and 1990s, and both Malka Spiegel and Samy Birnbach continue, as far as I know, to record great music. An unbelievable post-punk shuffler from 1981, by Tel-Aviv-Brussels band Minimal Compact! This tune is one of our favorite tracks ever and we’ve been wanting to reissue it since day one. But this is no ordinary reissue! The 12” includes an unreleased instrumental version plus a spaced-out extended dub mix by the living legend, Mad Professor! Members of the band recorded for such legendary labels…
Jukebox Babe by former Suicide frontman Alan Vega hasn’t been in print since 1981, so this 7-inch slab of new wave synth-pop is a welcome addition to the Suicide pantheon.
Quite a tasty album here. Lalalar are not some common Anatolian Rock ripoff. Rather, they do use the venerable genre as a reference point, but you can hear influences such as post-punk and darkwave seep into the stew.
Vtoroy Etazh Porazhayet (2nd Floor is Striking) are a Moscow post-punk outfit, and it seems both Russia and Belarus are producing a lot of these days. They are released by the French record label Belka Records. Their sound will appeal strongly to those who are into the post-punk renaissance of the past five years or so.
Strawberry Switchblade were my first musical crush, and perhaps the most charmingly twee band I heard during the 1980s and there was a lot of competition in those days. This EP from 40 (!!) years ago sounds as fresh as their eponymous debut album, but the sound is far rawer, more post-punk and less synth-sounding. Rose McDowell, of course, went on to work on many worthy solo projects and collaborate with acts like Current 93, and Jill Bryson started writing music in 2013 with a new band called The Shapists, but this album reminds me of just how good Strawberry…
David J should need no introduction, but if you’re new here, he made his name as the bassist of Bauhaus and the leader of both Live and Rockets and Tones On Tail. This new album, What The Patrons Heard, was 34 years in the making. He combines his post-punk roots with a singer-songwriter vibe he has mastered since his early solo releases on record labels like Situation Two and Glass, among others.
Though I’ve followed his work for years, this is the first chance I’ve had to review Arrington Dionyso’s vast body of work, specifically his more rock-based project, Old Time Relijiun. From the first note, it felt like getting hit by a block of cement (in a quite good way). The first track, Break Through, sounds like a mighty clash between the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion and Can during its rawer and weirder freak-outs. Bionic Trunk provides thunderous drums that would compare well to mid-60s garage-rock smashers like The Monks and introduces a bit of throat-singing, of all things. The cornerstone…
Our friends over at P.O.G.O. Records have released a record which relates very well with acts like Big Black and The Jesus Lizard. Black Ink Stain are from Belgium, and I have to say this album is as brutal as anything labels like Touch & Go Records released at their peak. The production is a bit raw, but it makes the album sound like an authentic post-punk record. The magazine Muzzart does a good review of the album in French here.
Albert Kuvezin (Альберт Кувезин) is a legend in the ethno-rock and World Music community. He was one of the founders of the band Huun-Huur-Tu, which brought throat singing into prominence. He went on to form his own band, Yat-Kha, who I came across in 1993. He was managed to meld together traditional Tuvan music (the region in Russia close to Mongolia and not so terribly far from China) with post-punk and even country music. On June 21, Yat-Kha’s latest album, We Will Never Die, is due for release as a download and will be available on CD and vinyl. The…