After hearing Joy as an Act of Resistance (my favourite album of 2018), Idles became one of my favourite new bands. They play an uncompromising style of punk and post-punk, with jackhammer guitars, loud, unrelenting bass and guitars, and howled vocals about the unfairness of life as a working person. Ultra Mono is just as good as JaaAoR, maybe even a bit better. It's a bit more melodic, and even a bit more noisy.
Like so much music I've grown to love, discovering Civic Center was completely by chance. Both they and their record label, American Dreams, were unknown to me before 2020. Civic Center hail from Chicago, ground zero for a great deal of American industrial music, and the band takes its cues from the more classic sound of early British industrial. Their music is full of minimalist dirges, angular drums and guitars, and howling, distorted vocals. The sound is much like early Cabaret Voltaire mixed with kraut rock bands like D.A.F. and extreme post-punk bands like The Fall and The Birthday Party. Their record label is full of fascinating industrial, post punk and electronics. Another album on the label, Evicshen's Hair Birth, ended up as an honourable mention for 2020.
From the moment Richard Butler begins singing on this album, the bands first proper album in 29 years, a wave of nostalgia and longing hit me like a truck. I had truly missed this band and their unique sound. The Furs haven't changed much in their sound. Made of Rain sounds a lot like 1984's Mirror Moves, in that their sound is the sound that made them so beloved. There are snippets of modern post punk in the album, just enough to remind you that this isn't a classic 80s album, but not enough to pull you out of the wall-of-sound melancholic new wave the band was known for. This was in rotation for much of 2020 and 2021 for me.
Over the past couple of years, Canada's Artoffact Records have built an impressive roster of industrial and post punk band, both domestic and international. Bootblacks are a band that fits right into their sound. A pulsing post punk band with swirling electronic beats and propulsive industrial rock vibes.
Artist - Song - Album (Label) * indicates Canadian Content
Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca
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Parler Bien - Si Je Suis* - Histoires du Compte-Essex (Independent)
Chicago Underground Trio - Zagreb - Slon (Thrill Jockey)
Apollo Suns - Song for Sterling* - Vital Signs (Independent)
Stereolab - Jenny Ondioline - Upsalapalooza (Independent)
cEvin Key - Night Flower* - Resonance (Artoffact)
Kanga - Home - You and I Will Never Die (Artoffact)
Stereotaxic Device - Man Made God - Stereotaxic Device (KK)
The Hex - Glass Eye* - Victoria's Secret 2021 (Baffled Octopi)
Uniform - Life in Remission - Shame (Sacred Bones)
Vagina Witchcraft - Pyro* - Vagina Witchcraft (Independent)
Cabaret Voltaire - Vasto - Shadow of Fear (Mute)
METZ have been a constant on my year end Top 10 lists. A fantastic noise-punk band from Toronto, their output has been consistently great. Atlas Vending is a good album, but a bit long in the tooth when it comes to noise-punk. METZ are maturing as a band, and this album sees them branching out into more melodic territory without losing the fist to the face sound of abrasive noise. The songs are longer too. Are they losing their edge? Maybe the next album will be the litmus test...
Artist - Song - Album (Label) * indicates Canadian Content
Listen to Do Not Touch This Amp every Friday 8-9 PM Pacific at www.thex.ca
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