V/A : Bustin’ Out. New Wave To New Beat: The Post Punk Era 1979-1981

Release Date: 15th February 2010

‘Bustin’ Out, The Post Punk Era 1979-1981’, the first in the New Wave To New Beat series, is an often-startling picture of the no-holds-barred musical ructions which sprang up after punk’s scorched earth revolution. Compiler Mike Maguire has made a rigid stand against being pigeon-holed throughout his 30 year DJing career, spreading the message that no sound or genre should be compartmentalised. This multi-hued set is a fine testimony to this ethos.

The music termed post punk is well represented here in many of its diverse strains by some of its prime movers; encompassing anything from Gary Numan’s austere electronic pop on ‘Replicas’ through 23 Skidoo’s atmospheric tribal boogie on ‘The Gospel Comes To New Guinea’ to the scrabbling guitar-driven pop of Josef K from Glasgow’s Postcard Records. What happens elsewhere defies blanket description as every track charts a different musical seam which, invariably, proved highly influential. Killing Joke’s radical, apocalyptic approach was often cited as a massive influence on anyone from Nirvana to industrial bands, but also incorporated dub reggae and New York dance music, as evidenced by 1979’s ‘Almost Red’.

The set also shows how later musical movements germinated in the new technology around this time, especially in the hands of electronic protagonists like former Throbbing Gristle duo Chris & Cosey, who pillaged the new sampling possibilities and predated techno with their use of proto-electro pulses, as illustrated by ‘Heartbeat’, from their 1981 debut album. Or Belgium new beat pioneers Front 242, whose ‘Body to Body’ sounds like a spooked house music prototype. New York was leading the world at this time, particularly the legendary ZE Label, which embodied the multi-genred melting pot of disco, punk, reggae and latin they called Mutant Disco. The label is represented here by Lizzy Mercier Descloux’s infernal treatment of Arthur Brown’s 1968 hit ‘Fire’ and Bill Laswell’s Material with ‘Bustin’ Out’, his first major dancefloor statement before going on to become a world-renowned producer. Another side of the city is presented by quintessential downtown NY post punk/no wave outfit the Bush Tetras and their debut single, ‘Too Many Creeps’, while visionary musician-producer Arthur Russell flies the wigged-out disco flag under his Loose Joints banner on the Larry Levan-remixed ‘Is it All Over My Face’.

The disparate post punk spirit that had captured the rest of the world is illustrated with the Kraftwerkian ‘Cracked Mirror’ from Vancouver’s Moev, Germany’s No More with deadpan electronic classic ‘Suicide Commando’ and San Francisco’s avant-punk Tuxedomoon providing one of the set’s most grippingly-complex outings with the title track from their ‘Desire’ album. Meanwhile, Melbourne duo Dead Can Dance match Lisa Gerrard’s spooky vocals with Brendan Perry’s subterranean atmospherics on their 1981 ‘Frontiers’ demo.

‘Bustin’ Out. New Wave To New Beat: The Post Punk Era 1979-1981’ is a perfect example of how far music had evolved since 1977 in an exciting, unpredictable era.

The CD includes liner notes by Kris Needs.

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