Well, here's the next weekly mix as promised. This time it's a post-punk one because I think that the post-punk era was one of the most innovative and richest periods for music. Depending on how you want to bookend it (kind of like the difference between the eighteenth century and "the long eighteenth century"), the period encompassed experimental music of all types and spawned countless subcultures and genres like goth, industrial, ambient, minimalist rock, art rock, etc. Post-punk came in after the implosion of punk and created beautiful collages out of the broken shards. Some like Johnny Rotten were there for both the implosion and the clean-up. It was okay to be as arty and pretentious as you dared to be (you could write a song about an esoteric French deconstructionist or name your band after Spanish Civil War anarchists), and European influences abounded, including older artists' work like Kraftwerk's and David Bowie's Berlin trilogy. For most people, the era is epitomized by Ian Curtis's haunted face and spastic movements. When did post-punk end? For many of the bands in this mix, it ended when the band went commercial in the mid-eighties and/or ended up in a John Hughes film. And if you're Human League, it was when you allowed two girls from the crowd into your band. No matter how it fizzled out, post-punk's influence is everywhere to this day from sound to image to the DIY aesthetic. It was the sound of the future, and all these years later, it still is.
If you want to read a comprehensive book about the post-punk scene, check out Simon Reynolds's book Rip It Up and Start Again. Because that title is so appropriate and references the fabulous Orange Juice song, I shall call this mix Rip It Up and Start Again. I wish I could include more tracks (something representative of the 2 Tone label for one), but those will have to wait til another week. Once again, you can download each track individually or download the whole mix as a zip file.
Rip It Up - Orange Juice
A Matter of Gender - The Associates
All That Jazz - Echo & the Bunnymen
Radio Drill Time - Josef K
Natural's Not In It - Gang of Four
Bombers (Single Version) - Gary Numan and The Tubeway Army
Because You're Frightened - Magazine
Computer-Staat - Abwaerts
Tension - Killing Joke
Pink Flag - Wire
Slowdive - Siouxsie & the Banshees
Houses in Motion - Talking Heads
Jacques Derrida - Scritti Politti
Sketch for Summer - The Durutti Column
Being Boiled - Human League
Theme For Great Cities - Simple Minds
Nightporter - Japan
Swan Lake - Public Image Ltd.
Booji Boy's Funeral - Devo
Neukoln - David Bowie
Neuron Factory - Cabaret Voltaire
Atmosphere - Joy Division
If you want to read a comprehensive book about the post-punk scene, check out Simon Reynolds's book Rip It Up and Start Again. Because that title is so appropriate and references the fabulous Orange Juice song, I shall call this mix Rip It Up and Start Again. I wish I could include more tracks (something representative of the 2 Tone label for one), but those will have to wait til another week. Once again, you can download each track individually or download the whole mix as a zip file.
Rip It Up - Orange Juice
A Matter of Gender - The Associates
All That Jazz - Echo & the Bunnymen
Radio Drill Time - Josef K
Natural's Not In It - Gang of Four
Bombers (Single Version) - Gary Numan and The Tubeway Army
Because You're Frightened - Magazine
Computer-Staat - Abwaerts
Tension - Killing Joke
Pink Flag - Wire
Slowdive - Siouxsie & the Banshees
Houses in Motion - Talking Heads
Jacques Derrida - Scritti Politti
Sketch for Summer - The Durutti Column
Being Boiled - Human League
Theme For Great Cities - Simple Minds
Nightporter - Japan
Swan Lake - Public Image Ltd.
Booji Boy's Funeral - Devo
Neukoln - David Bowie
Neuron Factory - Cabaret Voltaire
Atmosphere - Joy Division
Weekly Mix #2 (Megaupload)
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