October

Eater – Duplication (Cleopatra)

The punk band’s first studio release in half a century is a cover album by their sole remaining member, Andy Blade (along with his backing band JoJo and the Teeth who help form the current lineup of Eater), containing some of the most well-known punk songs ever written, the virginals of 1976-77 that sparked the inspiration of a new counterculture. By no means an easy feat.

The first track is Buzzcocks’ ‘Breakdown’, taken from the band’s first release ‘Spiral Scratch’, an EP now considered a legacy record. Unfortunately, the band’s cover version is churned out rather meaninglessly and disrespectfully of the lyrics in a manner that can be considered sacrilege considering how crucial this song was in shaping a whole generation of punk bands and independent music.

Whilst other tracks are more straightforward in their form they also don’t do much as covers other than having a distinct Eater tinge to them such as ‘Beat on the Brat’ by the Ramones from their eponymous 1976 debut album. Perhaps one of the few songs that does work is unsurprisingly Eater’s own 1977 debut single ‘Outside View’, which is re-recorded for this album with rigorous guitars tickled by a prominent bass riff.

The Saints’ ‘I’m Stranded’, the Australian band’s 1976 debut single, is spoiled by JoJo and The Teeth’s lead singer JoJo on backing vocals, who has always been a curiosity as part of Eater which already has a singer considering she’s a strong female vocalist on backing hovering in the background and being made rather obsolete.

Another track that does work is ‘God Save the Queen’, the Pistols’ second single; it retains the rhythmic sway of the original as does the growling guitars and vocals in ‘The Heartbreakers’ ‘Chinese Rocks’. However, the Damned’s 1977 ‘New Rose’ is a disaster in places and 1976 single ‘Another Girl, Another Planet’ by The Only Ones is spoiled by mangled production and again too vocally convoluted for a song originally sung by a delicate vocal. This is a poor release for a band that is still awaiting the release of much needed new material which would have been far more preferential at this point some 50 years later.

‘Duplication’ is available now on coloured vinyl, CD and digitally.

Maps – Welcome to the Tudor Gate (Mute)

This film-like soundtrack was originally recorded in 2014 but lost; it consists of eight chapters of music based on James Chapman’s inspiration from achalf-remembered film and delves into forests, magic and ominous witchcraft across its 40-minute duration. It flows end-to-end as one-piece, charting the journey of the protagonist, available as both segmented and whole versions.

‘Chapter One’ for which the artist created an accompanying video, is full of clattering tribal drumbeats and hits of Ultravox astrological synth inputs that are reminiscent of ‘Mr. X’ which feed a cosmic energy; ‘Chapter Two’ continues with the chiming pendulum of a percussive treadmill and computeronic ‘Space Invaders’ machine gun artillery beats.

‘Chapter Three’ sees a transient, hymnic humming synth with white noise rumbles that move into ‘Chapter Four’ as the album’s mid-section interlude. ‘Chapter Five’ is the most interesting piece of the set: it introduces a funkier rhythm with a sequence of bell ringing simmering down to a bassline amongst rising Cathedral organs. ‘Chapter Seven’, which receives its introduction in the introductory keys of ‘Chapter Six’, is a fantastical revelation as the protagonist’s journey nears its end and contains the looping rhythm so associated with Maps’ work. The release ends on ‘Chapter Eight’ which cools into an oceanic waterfall of rain and a pulsating fade.

‘Welcome to the Tudor Gate’ is available now digitally.