Wire
Pinkflag, 2017

 Dinosaur punk bands are always a reluctant listen.  Thankfully two of the original members of Wire remain, which can be problematic after decades pass since their first release, in this case Pink Flag in 1977.

First off, I'm happy their guitar tone hasn't been victim to the technologies of the 80's and 90's, peavy amps, fender squires, and orange boss distortion pedals.  You can see a bit of the "alternative" rock sound, with a bunch of reverb reminiscent of My Bloody Valentine.  So actually they have aged well.

The vocals are a bit low pitched in comparison.  The vocals on this album are almost fitting for a progressive rock group, like King Crimson or Brian Eno.  Not necessarily a bad thing, the John Lydon thing gets tiresome if you pass the age of 40.

When the guitars go into the chorus laden dream pop realm, I start wondering if I'm listening to Blue Man Group.  At least they're doing a lot better than Alice Cooper or The Vibrators.

Comments

  1. MMMNNNRRRGJune 20, 2018 at 2:51 AM

    they are true punks, man, not any of the crap bands you wrote in-between... check also The Ex with Getatchew Mekuria to have a good time!
    abraços
    M

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psycho Shit Fuck, Jose G. Angeles

Image
Totally hilarious, and insane. This book is 249 pages of short vignettes that follow a maddening formula.  Morbid Angel and Napalm Death blast out of each unruled panel.  It seems Troma Films, Wes Craven and that Steroid infused era of Hollywood starring Chuck Norris and Arnold Schwarzenegger have been tossed into a short circuiting blender.  Frenetic, poorly drawn sex and violence leap off the carved surface of an 8th-grader's desk interspersed with social commentary and philosophical rants that slap normalcy, maturity and reservation in the face.  Admittedly, I can't leave the thing lying out in my room because it looks like a maggot infested stain on the floor.  Jose Angeles appears at Bay Area comic book events with a table covered in paper-mache' gore, advertising his own personal brand of 80's hesher freakout art.  He hails from the seldom mentioned South San Francisco district.  One story implies he is a janitor where piles of prostitutes' condoms and d
Read more
Image
  Paul Pope Vertigo , 2002       From slightly off the beaten path, yet still a conventional action oriented comic, Vertigo brought us Paul Pope's 100%; a book which envisions a gritty, futuristic urban stage for a drama which gives obvious nods to Bladerunner and the 5th Element, trading away some of the violence for romance and emotional expression.             Most striking is Paul Pope's inking style.  In the liner notes he refers to the inking process as a "pure bliss" he looks forward to, while everything else is tedium.  Proportion is sent through his intuitive, selective fish eye lens.  Every object is reflective of an interpretive whim, mood dictating application and even atmosphere.  The drawback to this approach is of course lost clarity, which is most noticeable in his facial features, conjured up without enough deliberation, tending to resemble the artist in real life.  I feel they are wearing his lips, regardless of gender.      
Read more