Tag: Post-Punk
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Echo & the Bunnymen ‘Ocean Rain’ (1984)
Like any good cultural steward of teens who came of age in the mid-aughts I watched Donnie Darko on Halloween evening this past Friday after taking the kids trick or treating. It’s a fantastic film with a world-class soundtrack that adds so much depth to the film. At any rate, the movie opens up with…
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The Cure ‘Three Imaginary Boys’ (1979)
Three Imaginary Boys sounds basically nothing like the sweeping, sorrowful goth epics The Cure would later be known for (see their magnum opus Disintegration for the reaaal good stuff) which makes it a pretty interesting start to their discography. The record is wiry and stripped to the bone sonically, with jangly guitars and sharp drums,…
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The Beaches ‘Blame My Ex’ (2023)
Every once in awhile it’s great to listen to some good old fashioned pop rock music. Enter The Beaches (great band name) who on Blame My Ex channel their cheeky heartbreak into a hook-heavy blend of pop rock polish and garage rock grit. The band leans pretty hard into crunchy distortion and throwback alt-rock textures…
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The Libertines ‘The Libertines’ (2004)
The Libertines are one of those bands that basically were a live reality show that could have aired on Bravo during the mid-2000’s. Dual frontmen Carl Barât and Pete Doherty, whose intense and often volatile creative partnership was the heart of the band, gave us some great garage rock songwriting which has stood the test…
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Midnight Oil ‘Diesel And Dust’ (1987)
I was taking a sauna with my dad earlier today and got to chatting about some of his favorite bands from the 80’s. He mentioned Midnight Oil as one of those bands that sort of flew under the radar commercially in Minnesota at the time but one that he always connected with on both a…
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Mission Of Burma ‘Signals, Calls and Marches’ (1981)
In the early 80’s Mission of Burma was known for their intense, angular sound that blended punk energy with experimental noise and art-rock sensibilities. This combination played no small part in crystallizing the American post-punk movement. They stood out from a lot of their contemporaries in the space by using atypical sounds like tape loops…
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Echo & the Bunnymen ‘Heaven Up Here’ (1981)
I’ve been on a bit of a sad boi kick lately which means Echo & the Bunnymen’s Heaven up Here is an obvious choice to take for a spin. This album is the sound of a band abandoning jangly romanticism for something murky and introspective.
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The Cure ‘Pornography’ (1982)
By 1982 The Cure had reached a breaking point. Pornography was the final installment in their so-called goth trilogy from the early 80’s and it sure as hell sounds like a band clawing its way through darkness while barely holding it together.
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Modest Mouse ‘Good News For People Who Love Bad News’ (2004)
For a band that had spent the late ‘90s weaving anxious existential crisis songs in near-obscurity Good News For People Who Love Bad News felt like a sharp left turn for Modest Mouse. At the center of it all was “Float On”, a song so relentlessly optimistic it felt almost suspicious (especially coming from the…
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Virgin Prunes ‘…If I Die, I Die’ (1982)
If you’re into Bauhaus or have a real hankering to dive into the world of gothic post-punk avant-garde rock, do I ever have a band for you. Weird chants, moody instrumentals, saxophone solos out of nowhere, …If I Die, I Die has it all in spades. Was this album a bit of a struggle to…
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Viagra Boys ‘Cave World’ (2022)
My brother shared this band with me a few weeks ago and it’s a total trip. The concept of Cave World is simple yet brilliant– the band dove deep into the world of terminally-online conspiracy theorists and wrote an album based off the first-person perspectives of those they were mocking. The band explores these topics…
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Bloc Party ‘Silent Alarm’ (2005)
I remember the first time I heard Silent Alarm it felt like some lightbulbs went off in my brain. Here was an album that defied a lot of traditional songwriting barriers and embraced a genre-blurring approach that fused post-punk urgency with electronic music. It was an album that threw the middle finger up to rigid…
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The Killers ‘Hot Fuss’ (2004)
The Killers’ Hot Fuss remains one of the most electrifying debut albums in alternative rock history, a record that blends the grandeur of synthesizer-driven melodies with the grit of heavy, intricate guitar work. Tracks like “Mr. Brightside” showcase the band’s technical prowess, with its instantly recognizable riff being deceptively difficult to play (seriously that thing…
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The Clash ‘The Clash’ (1977)
In the spring of 1977 a burst of raw energy and defiance echoed through London’s streets when The Clash released their self-titled debut album. Recorded in just three weekends at a cost of around £4,000, the album captured the urgency and frustration of a generation fed up with unemployment, social injustice, and a stagnant music…
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The Gun Club ‘Fire of Love’ (1981)
The Gun Club’s Fire of Love is raw and visceral, a unique blend of the ferocity of punk rock with a distinctive Southern gothic blues rock edge. Released in 1981 off the heels of the punk rock explosion in the UK, Fire of Love captures the chaotic spirit of the early 80s punk scene but…
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Fontaines D.C. ‘Romance’ (2024)
I was visiting my brother and sister-in-law in Washington DC a few weekends ago (absolutely splendid time) and he started playing me a few songs off a few playlists he put together. My brother has always had an incredible ear for new and interesting music, stuff that’s sort of off the beaten path while still…
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Sonic Youth ‘Daydream Nation’ (1988)
There are few bands who truly redefined a specific genre of music. Sonic Youth is certainly one of them. Emerging from the American underground in the mid-80’s, the band’s inventive use of alternate tunings, dissonance, and feedback was combined with the intensity of hardcore punk and further imbued with the performance art aesthetic of New…
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The Smiths ‘The Smiths’ (1984)
The Smiths have been an Indie Rock touchstone since forming in 1982 in Manchester, England, and have had a profound impact on alternative music and the culture surrounding it. Their jangly guitars, melancholic melodies, and introspective lyrics helped define the “sad boy” genre with Morrissey’s grim outlook on life. The Smiths frontman has a distinct…
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Pere Ubu ‘The Modern Dance’ (1978)
The Modern Dance somewhat reshaped the landscape of avant-garde rock during the late 70’s. Its fusion of punk energy, experimental soundscapes, and visceral essence is apparent from the opening track– jarring rhythms, theatrical vocals, buzzy bass, and inventive guitar work creates a sense of unpredictability at every turn. It’s chaotic, urgent, unsettling, and captivating at…
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TV on the Radio ‘Return to Cookie Mountain’ (2006)
Return to Cookie Mountain was released during my freshman year of high school. One of my new friends in that class burned me a copy to listen to and I distinctly remember the feeling I had when I first heard “I Was a Lover”. It was a feeling of wonderment, strangeness, and utter disbelief. Being…
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The Cranberries ‘No Need to Argue’ (1994)
Dolores O’Riordan’s vocal style was iconic in a way that was often compared to Sinead O’Connor, both for their illustrious high notes, Irish accents, and ability to make every single song they sang on feel intimate and powerful. There is a bleak poetic note to the fact that both O’Connor and O’Riordan both dealt with…
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The Strokes ‘Is This It’ (2001)
There are great musical achievements that stand the test of time. There are bands who are just fucking cool. And there are bands who catch fire out of nowhere before capturing the attention of the entire world. It’s not often those traits intersect so perfectly that the Venn Diagram ends up looking like a circle.…
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New Order ‘Power Corruption and Lies’ (1983)
New Order was formed by the former band members of Joy Division following the abrupt suicide of their lead singer Ian Curtis. With their new project they retained many of the things that made Joy Division a post-punk cult favorite (namely the repetitive drones and seemingly detached vocal style) while introducing more synth-pop and dance-rock…
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DEVO ‘Q: Are We Not Men? A: We Are Devo!’ (1978)
Despite being labelled a joke band whose deadpan humor and absurd live show featuring over the top science fiction references made them a fixture in the early American New Wave scene, Devo’s genesis was born of more serious circumstances. Their band name came from the concept of “de-evolution” (an idea that mankind had begun to…
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The Jesus and Mary Chain ‘Psychocandy’ (1985)
When brothers Jim and William Reid formed The Jesus and Mary Chain they clearly had one idea in mind– take traditional pop song arrangements and absolutely drench them in feedback, distortion, and reverb to render them almost entirely unnoticeable. With their debut album Psychocandy you could consider it mission accomplished. The entire album sounds as…
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The Police ‘Synchronicity’ (1983)
By the time The Police released their fifth (and what would turn out to be their final) album Synchronicity in 1983, the band was arguably the most popular and well-regarded band in the entire world. The trio of Sting (vocals/bass), Andy Summers (guitar/keys), and Stewart Copeland (drums) were fresh off recording 1981’s Ghost in the…
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Wire ‘Pink Flag’ (1977)
Wire’s Pink Flag is best summarized as an impressionist version of punk rock, tiny vignettes of emotional outbursts captured and distorted through the lens of a group of artists unconcerned with conventional song structures. Since its release Pink Wire has gone on to influence a myriad of art rock punk bands in the years that…
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Joy Division ‘Unknown Pleasures’ (1979)
Unknown Pleasures is the debut album from English post-punk band Joy Division. Despite not receiving any commercial success during its initial release (no singles were promoted during its release which was absolutely a rarity in the late 70’s) it has received significant critical acclaim in recent years due to its deployment of uncommon recording techniques…
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Television ‘Marquee Moon’ (1977)
Television’s Marquee Moon was a landmark album in music history despite receiving little in the way of commercial popularity, similar in that sense to Beach Boys 1966 album Pet Sounds. Its influence on the musical direction that would follow in the 1980’s is vast and wide-ranging– the stripped-down production of the album that gave clear…
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Petey ‘USA’ (2023)
Petey’s USA is a self-reflective romp through Indie rock and post-punk, combining avant-garde musical elements alongside lyrics that evoke a Virginia Woolf-esque stream of consciousness delivered with earnestness. Petey’s voice reminds me significantly of Andy Hull’s from Manchester Orchestra in the way he enunciates specific words and sort of cascades through his higher notes. It’s…
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La Bouquet ‘Sad People Dancing’ (2019)
80’s music has had a significant resurgence over the past decade or so, rolling back in full force over a range of genres. You don’t need to look further than pop heavyweight The Weeknd’s 2020 album After Hours, Lady Gaga’s Chromatica, the success of films like Guardians of the Galaxy and Top Gun II in…
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Minutemen ‘Double Nickels on the Dime’ (1984)
Double Nickels on the Dime is a massive album comprised of 45 songs. Yes, you read that correctly. And as you’d expect with such a prolific output it covers a wide range of influences from hardcore punk to jazz to funk. The best way I can describe them to people unfamiliar with their material is…
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The Clash ‘London Calling’ (1979)
There are three bands that stand alone in the Holy Trinity of punk rock. Those bands are the Ramones, the Sex Pistols, and The Clash. All three have combined to inspired literally hundred of thousands of kids to pick up guitars, start their own bands, and express themselves musically. All three have had a massive…
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