“The sun went down and the ground started sort of grinding/A blinding light it tore the sky/A cyclone swept the landscape out and left it completely flattened out/And several twirls of smoke unfolded like gigantic flowers/The way the morning broke was quite unusual.” - Front 242
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| Horns up |
New Horizons
Amazingly, this is only their second album in 20 years (and fifth in total) but Scoot and the lads still deliver a punishingly cathartic set of metallic crust punk numbers that confront the problems in the world. Songs like ‘Defund the BBC’ are so crusty, they give the likes of Martyrdod a run for their money while ‘Fucked Up Society’ is a riif and a half.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Hard-Fi - Sweating Someone Else's Fever
15 years on, Hard-Fi aren’t as keen to go out the way they used to in case they get beaten up on the night bus or arrested. Musically, they’re still mining punk, house and dub for a sound that may not be a revolutionary as it once was but comes across as rejuvenated and boisterous in a sterile mainstream landscape. It’s time to get behind Hard-Fi and sing their praises.
The album can be streamed and purchased here.
Laibach - Musick
Turning their attention to these times, Laibach use the format of current chart music and its plastic platitudes to examine/celebrate/condemn Luigi Mangione, lockdowns, riots, AI, the cheapening of music and algorithms. It’s funny, until you consider how Laibach have mocked authoritanism in the past and you wonder if we are sleepwalking into a new kind.
The album can be streamed and purchased here
Golden Oldies
Dinosaur Jr – Bug
Although not quite as astonishing as the previous year’s ‘You’re Living All Over Me’, this is still an essential blend of noise rock, with ‘Freak Scene’ being one of the pivotal indie singles of the era and J.Mascis’ slack delivery of the line “so fucked I can’t believe it” summed up an entire generation. Closer ‘Don’t’ indicated that all wasn’t well with bassist Lou Barlow.
Antisect – The Rising Of The Lights
Waiting over 30 years to follow up an album as iconic as ‘In Darkness, There is No Choice’ seems like madness, but Antisect did so and while it doesn’t reach those lofty heights (how could it) it’s still an astonishing record that casts its eye over Britain in the 21st century while channeling Killing Joke and Hawkwind into its sound.
Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
Although now disgraced due to well documented allegations of child molestation, Afrika Bambaataa was a pioneer of hip hop and this record (essentially a comp) stands up as an example of old school rap when it could also be tagged as electro. ‘Who You Funkin' With?’, a collaboration with Melle Mel and Tack<<<Head, is an expected highlight.
Amy MacDonald – This is the Life
Nearly 20 years since its release, it’s amazing how this record still stands up. Written when she was a teenager in Bishopbriggs, MacDonald’s yearning vocals match the angst and sincerity of teenage life (check out ‘A Wish for Something More’ as such an example) while the production lifts the songs beyond mere acoustic music and into something a little more life affirming.
Although not quite as astonishing as the previous year’s ‘You’re Living All Over Me’, this is still an essential blend of noise rock, with ‘Freak Scene’ being one of the pivotal indie singles of the era and J.Mascis’ slack delivery of the line “so fucked I can’t believe it” summed up an entire generation. Closer ‘Don’t’ indicated that all wasn’t well with bassist Lou Barlow.
Antisect – The Rising Of The Lights
Waiting over 30 years to follow up an album as iconic as ‘In Darkness, There is No Choice’ seems like madness, but Antisect did so and while it doesn’t reach those lofty heights (how could it) it’s still an astonishing record that casts its eye over Britain in the 21st century while channeling Killing Joke and Hawkwind into its sound.
Afrika Bambaataa & Soulsonic Force - Planet Rock
Although now disgraced due to well documented allegations of child molestation, Afrika Bambaataa was a pioneer of hip hop and this record (essentially a comp) stands up as an example of old school rap when it could also be tagged as electro. ‘Who You Funkin' With?’, a collaboration with Melle Mel and Tack<<<Head, is an expected highlight.
Amy MacDonald – This is the Life
Nearly 20 years since its release, it’s amazing how this record still stands up. Written when she was a teenager in Bishopbriggs, MacDonald’s yearning vocals match the angst and sincerity of teenage life (check out ‘A Wish for Something More’ as such an example) while the production lifts the songs beyond mere acoustic music and into something a little more life affirming.
⏩ Christopher Owens was a reviewer for Metal Ireland and finds time to study the history and inherent contradictions of Ireland. He is currently the TPQ Friday columnist and is the author of A Vortex of Securocrats and “dethrone god”.
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