May – Post-Punk Music

Laibach – MUSICK (Mute)

The Slovenian industrial group release their 23rd studio album and first new material album since 2014: an electro-pop dance release with a twist of sarcastic commentary on the oversaturation of modern times. Opening title track ‘Musick’ combines dance beats with classical elements forming a cinematic build: a celebratory song about music being the food of love (featuring singer Wiyaala) but also something that makes one sick due to its drug-like effects. ‘Fluid Emancipation’ stays on the theme of music as medication: an addictive and meditative dance track with the kitsch feel that has long become associated with Laibach’s comical image.

‘Singularity’ mind warpingly incorporates Venga Boys into a cover of Mozart with lyrics written about the cheapness of today’s tunes as mere copies or remakes. ‘Love Machine’ has a Kraftwerkesque repetitive chant and features vocals from singer Senidah alongside Milan Fras. The Spaghetti Western stylings of ‘Luigi Mangini’ – a song named after the suspect in the shooting of an insurance company CEO who has been sensationalised as a hero online – passes comment on the growing protest movement orientated political times and social media technological age. Heavy rock track ‘Keep it Reel’ breaks from the electro-pop genre on the subject of the ever-increasingly artificial world of AI and plastic surgery, with intermittent vocal parts sung with Manca Trampuš.

‘Yes Maybe No’ is a feminist defiance fitted into a pop tune that challenges the typical love ballad with vocals by long-time Laibach backing singer Donna Marina Mårtensson. The release closes on the ostentatious cheese of ‘Allgorhythm’, a further commentary in the digital age and a humorous question of alien intelligent life in ‘Das göttliche Kind’. A unconventional and absurd release for this band which is likely the point in hand.

‘MUSICK’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.

Social Distortion – Born to Kill (Epitaph)

The band’s long awaited eighth studio album comes 15 years after 2011’s ‘Hard Times and Nursery Rhymes’, with frontman Mike Ness delaying the final product until he had perfected it amongst his struggles with busy tour schedules and cancer. The wait was well worth it: if the saying “Don’t judge a book by its cover” is anything to go by, then this release throws all the rules out the window. Co-produced by Ness and Dave Sardy with guest appearances from Benmont Tench of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers and Lucinda Williams, this glammy rock ‘n’ roll album literally wears its art on its sleeve with a ball grabbing cover of a roaring leopard by acclaimed street artist Shepard Fairey.

The track list breaks open with title single ‘Born to Kill’; full to the brim with acrid whirring guitars and ferocity vocals, it nods to Iggy and the Stooges’ ‘Search and Destroy’ and Lou Reed’s ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal’. The Hüsker Dü tinged ‘No Way Out’, a track originating from an earlier period in the band’s history, is a guitar anthem, with twin guitars building to a peak. The alternative and partially acoustic ballad ‘Tonight’ is a mournful savouring of the impossibility of lost opportunities and second single ‘Partners in Crime’ has a circular melody with a pedal streaming guitar solo.

But perhaps surprisingly of the strongest songs on the track list is the band’s cover of the Chris Isaak 1989 chart topping single, ‘Wicked Game’: it gets the balance right between the hapless intensity of Mess’s voice alongside the mellow delicacy of the original, with a country blues feel and Mess’s vocals arcing off against burning lead guitar. The release also keeps true to the band’s (cow)punk rock roots with the defiant stomp of ‘Walk Away (Don’t Look Back)’, featuring one of the best guitar solos on the album, and the beating rhythm of stripped drums in ‘Never Goin’ Back Again’. One of the greatest rock albums of this year.

‘Born to Kill’ is out now on vinyl, CD and digitally.