May – Post-Punk Music

Sparks – MAD! (Transgressive)

Following hot on the heels of the success of their last release, the Sparks brothers present their 28th studio album, this time peaking at number 2 in the official UK album charts, the highest position they have ever achieved in more than half a century of their existence.

This release differs from 2023’s ‘The Girl is Crying in Her Latte’ by having a rawer and sharper ‘chaoticlectic’ sound, opening on the defiant trance single, ‘Do Things My Own Way’, with the pair’s next single, the stark simplicity of ‘JanSport Backpack’, following straight after. ‘Hit Me Baby’ is a political commentary on the madness of our times which echoes the tone of the last album’s ‘Nothing is as Good as They Say it is’, with a revving guitar feedback disrupting the song’s rhyme base.

‘Running Up a Tab at the Hotel for the Fab’ is a poke at the extravagant lifestyles of the rich and famous; the song itself sounds like a running treadmill of string keys building with a cinematic touch. But, as is typical on Sparks’ releases, the album slows the pace down for their next single, ‘My Devotion’; with twinkling keyboards it marries absurdity with the tragic hurt of unrequited love. Whilst the next few tracks are slightly weaker, they still retain the punchy, catchiness associated with the duo’s pop compositions and there’s also the refreshing touch of the hushed tribal ambience of ‘In Daylight’.

Inspiration comes from the most usual places as seen in ‘I-405’, a song about the busiest and most congested freeway in the United States featuring frantic strings, the traffic theme continuing in ‘A Long Red Light’. The strength of this album picks up again as it nears its end with single ‘Drowned in a Sea of Tears’ – an acoustic lullaby with Ron’s quivering keys that revisits the title track about female misery on the last album. The final two tracks offer a contrast with the comedy of ‘A Little Bit of Light Banter’ and the desperate pleadings of ‘Lord Have Mercy’: “Save us, dear Lord, from prophets of fear and doom”; both are stripped back on instrumentals because the Mael brothers combining Russell’s outstanding vocals and their songwriting skills impress all by themselves. A future number 1 is surely on the cards.

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

Swans – Birthing (Mute)

Their seventeenth studio album, the group releases their last ‘big sound’ record also with frontman Michael Gira as producer. It incorporates seven tracks, with opening song ‘The Healers’ breaking into a mechanical storm with Gira’s voice wailing out from within; towards the end it explodes into a screeching noise mess of instrumentation. The album’s single, ‘The Tower’, sees ominous, earthy lyrics cry out before sound crashes against sirenic guitar and at its end perhaps a glimpse of what can be expected on the band’s next releases which they describe as having a “significantly pared down form”, with a stripped down melodic song composition.

Like the rest of the album, the title track ‘Birthing’ is a contrast in loudness and quiet tranquility, with the playful innocence of child talk and gentle lap steel guitar suddenly and horrifically interrupted by a bludgeoning stomp, then back to the kaleidoscope of gentle piano dancing against the vocals before more bludgeoning ends the song. A level of stark minimalism continues in the ominous march of ‘Guardian Spirit’, Gira bellowing out the rhymes with the track then ending in cataclysmic destruction. ‘The Merge’ follows a similar pattern, stripped away to a rhythmic instrumental and then into a drone, finally transitioning into an acoustic medley showcasing Gira’s transcendental lyrics. The albums ends on ‘Rope (Away)’; a dense spectrum of sound. The release is toured later this year as the last live experience of the fuller sound capabilities of the band’s experimentation.

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

B-Movie – Hidden Treasures (Wanderlust)

Their first major studio release in 10 years, the band’s new 17-track album (10 tracks on the vinyl version) whilst not consisting of any actual new material, features previously unreleased versions of songs recorded at their height in 1982 that perhaps better presents as what should have been their debut album instead of the disappointment that was ‘Forever Running’ (1985). The track list includes some of B-Movie’s well known singles, such as ‘Remembrance Day’, ‘Marilyn Dreams’ and ‘Nowhere Girl’ and songs like ‘Polar Opposites’ salvaged from the master tapes and brought back to life. Although not all tracks have the best consistency in volume, they sound at their freshest and most vibrant, with the release also including rarities such as ‘Citizen Kane’, with its bubbling keyboards, ‘Ice’, which has a Damned feel to it and the flutey keys of ‘La Lune Lunatique’, whilst other tracks are extended like ‘All Fall Down’, a song that commemorates the macabre war theme close to the band’s heart.

The CD output has a further 7 tracks of mixes, B-sides and extended 12″ versions of the band’s singles ‘Remembrance Day’ and ‘Marilyn Dreams’; the latter sees an extended instrumental ending. A remix of ‘Institution Walls’ brings out the influence of Magazine on this band in both its vocals and keyboards. Another unusual track on this part of the release is ‘Film Music’; obviously intended as a short piece of soundtrack music, it tumbles along with icy synth and graveyard piano that John Carpenter would be proud of. There also appears an extended 12″ version of the single ‘Nowhere Girl’ with its classical piano introduction, which is no doubt the best version of this song available. The CD track list ends with ‘Moles’, which initially featured on the 1981 ‘Some Bizarre’ compilation that gave the band its first exposure alongside the likes of Soft Cell, Depeche Mode and The The, albeit without them seeing as much commercial success. The track list still sounds slightly dated due to its time of production but reconnecting with lost gems of their past surely sets B-Movie up for recording forthcoming new material to the high standard seen on their last studio album, ‘Climate of Fear’.

‘Hidden Treasures’ is out now on vinyl, extended version CD and digitally.