This time we give you the new Post Punk collection from Cherry Red that takes a a whistle stop trip through the musical landscape as the dust settled on the apocalyptic overhaul of 1977. The wonderfully strange, psychedelic, magical, ambient folktronica of the collaboration between Kitchen Cynics / Margery Daw / Grey Malkin. The deluxe version of Essex death-metallers BEYOND EXTINCTION’s sophomore EP and the collection of classical solo piano ambient works from Filalete. Read what we thought below.
Moving Away From The Pulsebeat – Post-Punk Britain 1977-1981
Cherry Red Records
When the dust settled after Punk’s year zero the music didn’t stand still, it moved out in all directions and what has become known across the board as post punk is as varied in style and content as it possibly could be. There’s funky, punky, spiky, monolithic tunes. There are the sparkling beginnings of what we came to love as indie pop. There are the roots of the black eyeliner and fishnet of Goth. There are the class of 77 that moves on and up and away spreading out and taking their sound onwards and upwards. It moves chronologically through singles, album cuts and lost marvels. To be honest, if you around my age, you won’t skip much and you’ll remember quite a lot from the dancefloors of our youth, five CDs sounds an awful lot, but it’s well worth the investment in time to get reacquainted with old favourites and discover some stuff you never heard at the time. Just take care, it could prove to be expensive as you investigate these bands further.
Kitchen Cynics / Margery Daw / Grey Malkin “Weeping Stones”
Cruel Nature
This is the result of three of Scotland’s most endearing and pioneering contemporary folk artists collaborating, and, in short, it’s magical. There aren’t enough words to describe this fully and I suspect that every listener would get something different from it. But what I get is a sense of true beauty, a taste of the air over the mountain and the sound of folk stories and horror and love and just every emotion you can think of cycling across fourteen songs and to be clear, this could have been a triple album and still have been as good. It has what I’d call traditional arrangements and then it has arrangements that use drones, bells, chimes and are messed about with. But whether it’s moonlight or sunshine you like, they are both here and the whole thing needs exploring.
BEYOND EXTINCTION – Nothing More Wretched (Deluxe Anniversary Edition)
Dead Species Records
This is the deluxe anniversary version of BEYOND EXTINCTIONs sophomore EP, it’s also a tribute in memory of Zach Scott, their guitarist who passed away in 2023. They are young, their eldest member is 24 and this echoes that in its freshness. It’s a monumental metal assault that starts with an empty drone rising over whispers then takes in fast moments, doom interludes and interesting slabs of noise before it ends in violence and hatred. They use space to avoid the pummeling that too many bands rely on, they use slow growling instead of screaming and they change tempo as much as they can which means that you never really know what’s coming next. Keep an eye on this lot, they’re rising.
Filalete – “For Family”
Cruel Nature
Filalete is Irakli Bakuradze, a Tbilisi, Georgia based composer, producer, and DJ. This is a collection of solo piano works and it is one of the most intriguing, beautifully fashioned collections of music I have ever heard. I have no idea how one instrument alone can make me feel the myriad emotions that this summons up inside me. It’s just stunning. I don’t think I have any more words for it except to say thank you to Filalete for creating this.
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Cherry Red’s website is www.cherryred.co.uk, they are also on Facebook and Instagram.
Kitchen Cynics / Margery Daw / Grey Malkin cassette and download are on Bandcamp.
BEYOND EXTINCTION are on Facebook, Instagram and X as @BeyExt
Filalete’s album is on Bandcamp.
All words by Adrian Bloxham.
