Post-Punk.
A genre that defies definition. Some would say so vague it’s best avoided as a genre term.
And yet.
It still means something to me, at least. Some stabs at categorisation:
- not rock’n’roll or rockist
- openminded, odd or experimental
- intolerant of intolerance
- for outsiders
- encompassing themes outside mainstream music
- not about musical careerism
- a preference for introspection over expansiveness
It meant a lot to me in 1979. It so happened that I turned 17 that year, so whichever mother duck I laid eyes on might have become my musical mother, such is the power of that age when defining our tastes. But that’s not the whole story - they’re still making documentaries and building museums for the bands of 1979. Something happened.
The second Strokes-fuelled spike in the early 2000s meant rather less. Partly because it was more of an American thing, and you folk have a different way of looking at the world, (which is fine, of course). Some great and iconic songs and bands, nonetheless.
Now here we are in 2021 in the midst of a full-on Post-Brexit Post-Punk happening. This episode caters for all-new bands to SF, but please do have a look back over the last 18 months and you’ll find many other examples. Shame, Idles, Fontaines DC, Girl Band, Porridge Radio, etc. And always and forever, Dry Cleaning.
Sometimes you look back and marvel at “what a time it was to be alive” in the age new material from Joy Division, Wire, the Fall, The Gang of Four, The Specials every month. But hey, Black Midi just dropped their second album last week. As the quotation from Nathan Barley goes … “Is something amazing happening?”
I think it probably is.
I could have filled this episode with four white boys and their guitars doing (effectively) Wire and Fall covers, but post-punk was always as much Young Marble Giants as Gang of Four. I did Irish and Welsh episodes recently, so have focused on England this time round. So here’s an eclectic bunch of tracks under a loose umbrella called Post-Brexit Post-Punk. Hope you like it.
Tracklist:-
The future is not what it was, The Clockworks
Stars, Famous
Uber alles, Do Nothing
Anxiety feels, Goat Girl
Fixer upper, Yard Act
M5, Sports Team
Track X, Black Country New Road
Intercontinental Radio Waves, TRAAMS
I want my minutes back, Snapped Ankles
Sex Music, Beak>
Mork ‘n’ Mindy, Sleaford Monds, feat Billy Nomates
Reggae, Black Midi
Beyond eternal recurrence, Lice
Hollow scene, Deep Tan