The Birthday Party - Prayers On Fire

The first album by The Birthday Party to this day remains one of the most disturbing pieces of music ever made. Beginning with tribal drumming and chanting, complete with a menacing bass-line on the opener “Zoo-Music Girl” and all the way to the sickeningly distorted “parody” of a blues song “Kathy’s Kisses”, the album works like a ride to a morbid party in Hell, happening in a deranged maniac’s mind. The word “sick” is probably the best adjective to describe any track on this record; this sickness is present on every song, taking over the listener in the process.

It’s an awesome kind of sickness.

After a few spins one starts to see some sort of logic in The Birthday Party’s music. The core of it is the rhythm section, which bears the most obvious traces of blues’ influence. Guitars provide disturbing hysterical coating for the songs, little creepy melodies crawling their way into the structure here and there; and sometimes there’s hardly any melody what’s so ever and guitars just make noise, intensifying the insanity. And then, of course, there are the vocals.

It’s a bit weird to think that the ranting madman behind the mic would go on to sing with Kylie Minogue in 1996. Cave’s vocals on this are blissfully crazy and intense and it’s hard not fall in love with his performance. He shrieks, grunts, yelps and screams, seemingly loosing himself in his own world, delivering delusional nightmarish lyrics that only a mind as twisted as his could come up with. There’s hardly any singing on this album: when Nick hits an actual note it seems like an accident. For this kind of music actual singing would seem inappropriate anyway.

The Birthday Party are closer to Joy Division (only more theatrical), the Pop Group (only spookier), or Pere Ubu (only more percussive). Though present on most of the tracks, the moody piano that would dominate much of Cave's solo work is never really prominent here. Instead it's the squiggles of Rowland Howard's guitar dodging the blows of the furious rhythm section that distinguishes The Birthday Party.

Overall, this album is definitely not for everyone, unless you want to torture other people with it, in which case, there more people hear it the merrier. But if you’re keen of dark, menacing music and the perspective of listening to jazz and blues being sodomized and bludgeoned to death sounds good to you, then surely give “Prayers Of Fire” a try.

The Birthday Party – Mr. Clarinet

Today’s second Birthday Party single is arguably their first (if you live in Australia) but released in the UK almost a year after its release down under. Mr. Clarinet could be the last single by The Boys Next Door as much as it is the debut single by The Birthday Party. Now there is no better a reason than ever before for connoisseurs, not unlike your good self, to dig around and have a damn good listen to Door, Door before this day is out. When life offers you a chance to redeem yourself before your next birthday, take it.

The Birthday Party - The John Peel Sessions

Though a couple of Peel Session EPs had snuck out in the late eighties, it wasn't until this long overdue and utterly worthwhile collection surfaced that all the various recordings the Birthday Party had made over the years for John Peel finally saw official release. Combining both familiar numbers and a fair share of rarities or oddities, The John Peel Sessions contains four sessions recorded over the space of two years, conveniently documenting the band's England based career. The obvious debt owed to Iggy Pop and the Stooges gets repaid in full with a scorching take on "Loose", making for a reasonable studio alternate to the equally gone live version on the Drunk on the Pope's Blood EP. Another track that appeared on Drunk got its only released studio take here, "(Sometimes) Pleasure Heads Must Burn", a jazzy jump blues noir not far off from the work of fellow Aussie Foetus; while the same session produced a fierce one-off, "Roland Around in That Stuff." Whether or not the title's a bizarre dig at guitarist Howard, the whole combination of brisk drums, Howard's agreeably crazed work and Cave's practically barked vocals makes for an excitingly ridiculous vamp. Other obscure material includes "Bully Bones," which only appeared on the Live '81-'82 compilation, and "Pleasure Avalanche." Elsewhere, sessions focus on material from the main or upcoming releases of the time; the first four songs are all versions of Prayers on Fire songs, including fantastic versions of "Yard" and "King Ink," the latter of which is pure threat and drama set to music. Other great takes on familiar songs include "She's Hit," Howard's slashing guitar line in the chorus particularly vicious, "Release the Bats" and "Deep In the Woods."

The Birthday Party – Junkyard + Bonus 7"

What do you get when you cross drunk junkies, sleazy scumbags, violent jazz, and a vampire? Well, my answer would be The Birthday Party.
Starting off with "Blast off", this record lets you know what you are getting yourself into. Loud, scratchy, off-kilter rhythms that bleed into your skull. One thing you will notice is there are two guitarists and they both love tinny, trebly, and glassy tones. Sometimes it sounds like neither guitarist has heard the same song they are playing before. There are a lot of riffs that sound like rockabilly from hell. Fucked up exercises in noise and dark slinking lines from some Middle Eastern purgatory. Some of the most disgusting and rebellious music is played on Junkyard. "Big Jesus Trash Can" is a perfect example of how to play some violent and mean jazz. With the drummer swinging on the ride and off-key horns swirl around drunken rambling, while hideous riffs fill up the cracks with noise, it's easy to see that the Birthday Party were really just doing their own thing. "The Dim Locator" is another stretch of the imagination of how far and fucked up you can take jazz. The rhythm section isn't necessarily jazz-like in the traditional approach. Many of the bass lines are simple and heavy, with emphasis on establishing the basic structure of the song. The drums follow along nicely with unique fills and many tom-based beats and syncopated hits. The drummer has a signature style on this album where he just SMASHES the crash and snare so hard at times it sounds like a gunshot or a curb stomp or something. Listen to the seemingly random SMASHES on "She's Hit" for a good example. He absolutely crushes the snare hits into absurdity. This aggressive way of playing complements the simple distorted bass very well.
We've already talked briefly about the guitarists and all their brittle annoying glory but this shouldn't be glossed over. Many of the riffs sound structure less and made up the night before the recording. However, the more you listen to this record their brilliance shines through. Creativity is in no short supply with these weirdos. And you got to think about how hard it would be to write guitar in a band like this. That's a testament to this record. The personality and character that each member brings is beautiful. Everyone brings their everything and bares it all.
Now, you can't talk about this band without mentioning the singer. Nick Cave needs no introduction, but it must be stated that this is one of his most memorable and brutal performances in his whole career. He's always written lyrics with imagery and violence and this record is not different. He squawks, shrieks, screams and hollers tales of death and despair. Cave sounds like a man possessed on this record. He ended up getting much more accessible and graceful later in his career but back in the early 80's he was a madman with a huge and very raw vocal range. Cave lends his ultra-unique vocals over an extremely unique band and the result is an unforgettable experience. No one else could sing a song like "Dead Joe" and get away with it. The guy is perfect for music this unsettling, and when the title track begins and you hear Cave's trembling voice cry "I am the king" it's hard not to believe him.

The Birthday Party - Mutiny! EP

The final Party studio release has the band thrashing to its conclusion. Given that the various projects that rose in its wake; Cave's solo career, Harvey and Howard's work with Crime and the City Solution, Howard's own solo efforts; all sound like logical extensions of the Party's sound; artistic dissatisfaction can't explain what brought the Party to an end. Whatever went down, though, the group bowed out with artistic extremism intact, if not always exploding all over the place as in years past. "Jennifers Veil" sounds like a slightly lighter (but only just) cousin to Bad Seed's "Deep in the Woods," Cave singing more than intoning, calling to mind the burned romantic of his later years more than once. "Say a Spell" runs at about the same pace but with more feedback to burn, a good torchy blues with a fine howl or two to recommend it. "Swampland" turns up the energy level all around, a crunchy romp through the low and mean places, sonically and lyrically, the Party made their own. "Mutiny in Heaven" closes it all off with a final, worthy blast of fire. Blixa Bargeld guests from Einsturzende Neubaten, foreshadowing his role as key guitarist for Cave's Bad Seeds, with sudden edits and a roaring central refrain from Cave, when not otherwise detailing a world turned upside down with all the fire of a travelling evangelist.

Various Artists - Natures Mortes-Still Lives

Natures Mortes was initially a vinyl, Japanese-only release. It saw mail-order reissue in 1997, and a few copies crept into record shops. It's certainly a curiosity for any 4AD fan, though this pertains mostly to the label's post-punk/experimental era. Well-known acts such as Bauhaus, the Birthday Party, The The, and Modern English make appearances, as do some lesser-known 4AD bands (Rema Rema, Dif Juz, Sort Sol, Psychotik Tanks, etc.). The real pearls, however, are the two Past Seven Days tracks, apparently the only songs they recorded. Both are masterful slices of angular, atmospheric post-punk in the vein of the Comsat Angels or even Gang of Four.

Natures Mortes - Still Lives is a seminal 1981 4AD compilation album (often imported from Japan) featuring early post-punk and gothic acts like Bauhaus, The Birthday Party, and Modern English. It acts as a moody showcase of the label’s early, raw sound, featuring tracks that blend discordant energy with atmospheric, dark textures. Includes "Rose Garden Funeral of Sores" (Bauhaus), "Mr. Clarinet" (The Birthday Party), and a unique alternative intro version of "Feedback Song" by Rema-Rema. The album is noted for its dark, experimental nature, capturing the transition from post-punk to gothic rock. It serves as a crucial historical document for 4AD, highlighting a transitional period with many artists, such as In Camera, Cupol, and Sort Sol, who were defining the "4AD sound". 

The Birthday Party - The Friend Catcher

This is the first of two early Birthday Party singles that are coming your way today. From October 1980 this is the second single (first in the UK on 4AD) where Nick and the boys start to get their screaming guitar and Post Punk attitude on. It’s not pretty, it’s not quiet, and it will go kicking and screaming. There’s a very tenuous nod to fellow band mates Bauhaus on Waving My Arms that always makes me smile when I hear it. 

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds - The Firstborn Is Dead

The blues had long been a potent undercurrent in the Birthday Party's music, so it wasn't all that surprising that Nick Cave embraced the sound and feeling of rural blues on his second album with the Bad Seeds, The Firstborn Is Dead. What was startling was how well Cave and his bandmates -- Barry Adamson, Mick Harvey, and Blixa Bargeld -- were able to absorb and honour the influences of artists like Skip James and Charley Patton while creating a sound that was unmistakably their own. The moody obsessions of rural blues -- trains, floods, imprisonment, sin, fear, and death -- seemed made to order for Cave, and he was able to tap into the doomy iconography of this music with potent emotional force; on "Tupelo," he makes a sweeping and disturbing epic of the rain-swept night when Elvis Presley was born, and "Knocking on Joe" is a tale of life on the work gang that communicates the pain of the spirit as clearly as the ache of the body. Also, the blues helped transform Cave's music as well as his lyrics; the brutal sonic pummel of the Birthday Party here gave way to a more subtle and dynamic approach that still made effective use of dissonance and bare-wired electric guitar noise while proving the balance of loud and soft only made each side deeper and more resonant. (The stark, barely there guitar and drums of "Blind Lemon Jefferson" are as startling and malignantly fascinating as anything in the Birthday Party's catalogue.) The Firstborn Is Dead proved Nick Cave's musical palate was significantly broader than his debut album suggested and pointed to a path (channelling the sounds and emotions of American roots music) he would return to on many of his albums that followed.

The Birthday Party - The Bad Seed 12"EP

Reviews for The Birthday Party's The Bad Seed EP (often bundled with Mutiny) highlight its raw, venomous post-punk, showcasing Nick Cave's descent into his darker, theatrical persona, blending violent punk with swampy, bluesy folk elements, seen as a bridge to The Bad Seeds, with tracks like "Sonny's Burning" praised for their savage energy and "Deep in the Woods" for its sinister atmosphere, marking a creative peak before the band's demise. 

The Birthday Party - Release The Bats

Sex Horror, Vampire Glory. Release The Bats rumbles and stumbles through a wild night of campy debauchery flailing about on the edge of sanity. This is my least favourite release from the Birthday boys - mainly because it’s the single which got them forever stuck under the inappropriate label of "GOTH". There is just a bit too much dubious desperation to avoid that description if you ask me. Somehow dark but also humorous and totally just hanging in there. Why worry whether this counts as Goth or not? Just let it rip like the cool machine it is...

Various Artists - FAC51 The Haçienda 1982 (The Story of the Birth of the Club)

FAC51 The Haçienda 1982 (subtitled The Story of the Birth of the Club) is a highly acclaimed, 4CD hardback book compilation box set released in November 2022. Coinciding with the 40th anniversary of Manchester's most famous and historically significant venue, this comprehensive collection meticulously documents the legendary nightclub's highly eclectic and transitional first year of operation. Long before it became the global epicentre of late-80s acid house and the "Madchester" rave phenomenon, the early club night playlists were an uncompromisingly wild mix of post-punk, dark synth-pop, alternative disco, New York underground noise, dub reggae, and foundational hip-hop.
Endorsed by New Order’s Peter Hook, the entire box set is expertly sequenced to mirror exactly how the resident DJs would have paced their live sets—starting with experimental, moody soundscapes and organically accelerating into peak-hour dancefloor anthems. The curation expertly bridges the gap between underground cult music and emerging Top 40 pop acts that actively played the venue's live stage in 1982, featuring tracks from Suicide, Grandmaster Flash, A Certain Ratio, Soft Cell, and Tears for Fears. Accompanied by extensive liner notes and rare photographs, this release serves as an essential audio archive for music historians looking to decode the architectural foundations of modern club culture.

 

Cindytalk - Camouflage Heart

Originally released in 1984, Cindytalk's debut album “Camouflage Heart” melded post-punk sensibility with early industrial / electronic music. Recorded at Gateway Studio in London during 1984, except "Everybody Is Christ," recorded in 1982, Gordon Sharp (originally in Edinburgh punk band, Freeze), with David Clancy, John Byrne, and Birthday Party member Mick Harvey also appearing on the album. Exceedingly dark, cathartic, and at times, virtually unhinged, Gordon Sharp's early-80s incarnation of Cindytalk was a dazzlingly self-indulgent gloom-fest that anticipated the industrial-rock movement years before the genre even had a name. Best known for his fine contributions to the first This Mortal Coil project, It'll End in Tears, Sharp's work in Cindytalk is far more visceral and far less ethereal than what was emanating from the 4AD label at the time. The pulverizing "It's Luxury" is led by incisive guitar riffs that rival Big Black's chain-link fence battering. Bad Seed and Birthday Party member Mick Harvey appears to have stopped by the studio for all of two minutes to lend thudding drums to "Under Glass," which is rife with sax bleats and lumbering bass. When not dabbling in isolationist electronics ("The Ghost Never Smiles") Sharp's eerie, wailing vocals sound like they are emanating from the bottom of a well as a dull tribal beat and guitar feedback carry the song toward what feels like a free-fall into the abyss Cindytalk don't deal in conventional forms. This is demanding music, yet infinitely reachable and rewarding, sounding unlike anyone else I can imagine, offering real invention and ignoring old, oft-trodden paths.

Bone Orchard - Stuffed To The Gills 12''EP

Stuffed To The Gills is the debut 6-track 12" EP by British post-punk band Bone Orchard, released in November 1983 via Jungle Records (JUNG 8). Formed in Brighton, the group paired Chrissy McGee’s raw, intense vocals with dark, blues-infused gothic rock, earning frequent comparisons to The Birthday Party and Siouxsie and the Banshees. The highly collectible vinyl release features notable tracks like "Fats Terminal" and "Knuckle The Butcher", complete with eccentric messages etched into the runout grooves. While long out of print in its original format, the entire EP was officially compiled onto CD and digital formats in 2011 as part of the expanded anthology Stuffed To The Gills & Other Fishy Tales.

Shadow Man

The Dickies proved that punk bands needn’t have some ideological program or anger/outrage to vent, but that having a whole lot of immature fun and a crazy ride through pop culture could do the trick as well.

They could be compared to The Ramones, minus a few brain cells, with a British touch most apparent in singer Leonard Graves Phillips’ snarly tone, and also the band’s poppy side, reminiscent of bands like The Jam and Buzzcocks. On top of that, it was a gig by first generation British punks The Damned that inspired The Dickies to form, and after a lot of touring Sparks manager John Hewlett decided to produce the band’s debut album, which is often still regarded as the pinnacle of their birthday party inanity.
The band's reputation may also have something to do with their legendary covers, as their takes on Black Sabbath’s “Paranoid”, P.F. Sloan’s “Eve of Destruction” (Barry McGuire anyone?), and The Monkees’ “She” are all performed at the same insane breakneck speed, while Phillips’ stuffed up nose and helium-powered delivery will have you wondering whether you just bought yourself a 78rpm record.
So even though The Dickies never did away with the pop elements in their music, their ferocious attack sometimes resembles the single-minded fury of hardcore punk, lending them a unique American/British appeal.
As for the rest of the album, the comic book simplicity, B-movie camp, and delightful humour never lets up ... these are songs about getting bullied on the way to school (“Give It Back”), meeting the garbage man, cable guy or elevator operator (“Shadow Man”), and the downside of staying in a madhouse. Some of the songs come off as a bit too fluffy (“Mental Ward”, “Walk Like An Egg”), but they’re hard to resist, and remind you it’s okay to act silly once in a while.

Clan Of Xymox - Limbo

Clan of Xymox’s 2021 album Limbo is widely praised as a strong, melancholic, and melodic return to form, with many calling it better than their previous album Spider on the Wall. Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, it is described as a, darkwave masterstroke that perfectly balances guitar-driven goth rock with electronic pop, featuring thematic tracks about the pandemic, such as "Lockdown" and "Brave New World". Limbo continues the band's, established darkwave sound, often described as a, blend of, gothic rock and catchy, pop elements. The album is deeply influenced by the 2020 pandemic lockdowns, with songs touching on themes of social isolation, paranoia, and, the changing world. While some fans consider it one of their best modern works, others, in forum discussions, have, expressed that the, album can feel, like a, collection of, demo-like, songs, or feel, it covers familiar territory. "Lockdown," "Brave New World," and "The Great Depression" are often noted as stand-out, tracks. Overall, Limbo is seen as a poignant, consistent, and, well-produced, effort that resonates with long-time fans of the band's darker sound.

Died Pretty - Out Of The Unknown (The Very Best Of)

Reflecting back on the 1980’s, it’s easy to rattle off a seemingly never-ending list of Australian bands who rode high on commercial success throughout the decade – both nationally and internationally: INXS, Midnight Oil, Men At Work, Icehouse, Divinyls, Australian Crawl, etc …
It’s equally easy to rattle off those bands who snubbed their nose at the commercial excess that littered the decade, instead achieving critical acclaim that has stayed with them over subsequent decades: The Go-Betweens, Triffids, Birthday Party, etc …
Then there are those bands that never quite fitted into either camp releasing quality material over an extended period, gaining a reputation for passionate, memorable live shows at the time but never quite transferring those achievements into an enduring legacy that would make them household names. The Celibate Rifles, Church and Died Pretty all fit this mould.

What you will find on this collection are 16 reasons that suggest if the cards had fallen a little differently, then Ron Peno & Brett Myers may well have been able to lay claim to being more than just the leaders of a band with a “cult following”. Certainly, the quality of song writing on display is extraordinarily high throughout - particularly on the selections taken from their most well-known albums: 'Free Dirt' & 'Doughboy Hollow'. But what really makes this collection worth hunting down is the picture it paints of a band that was constantly evolving. From the early days where psychedelic rave-ups like ‘Desperate Hours’ were the norm, to the more sweeter sounding latter-day singles such as ‘Harness Up’, it illustrates that in the end, the band were able to achieve the right balance that sought to utilize Ron Peno’s vocal intensity in a manner that tried not to alienate those potential listeners who just weren’t prepared for that sought of intensity all of the time.
While the absence of classic early single ‘Mirror Blues’ is noteworthy, it could be argued that if you want to delve that deeply, then you just really need to pick up 'Free Dirt' and be done with it. What is here does the job of providing a fine introduction to one of Sydney’s forgotten bands. As such, if you are keen to become part of the “cult following” but just aren’t quite sure how to do it, then this collection may well be what you need to start your conversion!

Died Pretty had been something of an ill-fated band, for whom lasting commercial success proved elusive. Forming in Sydney in 1983, they topped the alternative Australian charts with singles such as Out of the Unknown, Mirror Blues, Stoneage Cinderella and Everybody Moves. The band made eight albums, including Doughboy Hollow, which debuted the band in the Australian Top 20 charts in 1991, and is regarded as an Australian classic. Its successor, Trace, yielded the band's best-selling single, Harness Up.

The band's run at international success after signing with Sony/Columbia, however, was beset by woes. After being dropped by the major label in 1996, Died Pretty returned to Citadel Records, the influential Sydney-based independent label they called home, along with contemporaries such as the Screaming Tribesmen, the New Christs and the Lime Spiders.

"Died Pretty should have been a hell of a lot more commercially successful than they were," says Citadel founder John Needham, who also managed them from day one. "They just didn't have the luck."

 

Various Artists - Tales From The Australian Underground

The appetite for reappraising Australia's relatively recent music history shows no sign of abating: this excellent compilation follows similar sets released in 2002; respectively Shock Records' 2-CD fifty-track 'Do The Pop!' set and Ravens' single-disc, 'Born Out Of Time', both of which collectively and comprehensively covered the very best of Australia's almost unrivalled garage-rock output from the late '70s to the late '80s. For anyone remotely interested in Australian music of that era both are essential purchases. 'Tales From The Australian Underground' approaches the period from a wider perspective, both chronologically; covering a longer period than either of its illustrious predecessors, and more daringly, also stylistically. Although there is some overlap, barely a handful of the tracks are available on either of the other aforementioned albums. By broadening the selection criteria beyond the better known garage and guitar output on 'Do The Pop!' and 'Born Out Of Time', 'Tales From The Australian Underground' makes for a far more eclectic collection and perhaps suffers a little because of it. In fairness though I doubt few such disparately collated compilations could provide an entirely satisfactory listening experience from start to finish. In any case that's really only a minor criticism for this is a lovingly compiled artefact that actually comes strongly recommended. Comprehensively annotated, the album's thirty-six-page booklet provides riveting details on all forty-five tracks featured as well as on the wider underground scene as it developed from its DIY origins following debut releases by Radio Birdman and The Saints, bands both still held in huge regard and as good if not better than many of the more revered punk bands that crawled out of The Roxy or CBGBs circa 1976, and whose output has subsequently influenced huge numbers of bands worldwide ever since. Adrenaline-inducing bursts of garage rock, snotty punk bile, odd-ball experimentalism, sublime pop and indecipherable noise, this collection has it all. Admittedly as alluded to previously it is highly unlikely all tracks will suit everyone but there is plenty here to more than justify the necessary investment. 'Tales From The Australian Underground' is sonic archaeology and genuine treasure-trove to boot. Featuring classic material by Radio Birdman, The Saints, Fun Things, The Birthday Party, Sunnyboys, The Triffids, The Eastern Dark, Someloves and The New Christs alongside lesser known gems by acts such as Makers Of The Dead Travel Fast, Venom P. Stinger (precursors to The Dirty Three) and Ups & Downs, make for an entertaining and educational two and a half hours of anyone's time. Like a good reference book you could find yourself dipping into this for years to come. Apparently more than a thousand singles were considered during the five years it took compiler, Tim Pitman, to complete the project. Dedication!

Cut or Uncut 4AD

Picked up from the November 1998 edition of Uncut Magazine this 4AD sampler really covers the labels basics from the beginnings up to its release in ’98 (yeah, 20 years ago). The obvious classics you might think, but no, there are some little gems hidden within. Label stalwarts are well represented here with Colourbox, Dead Can Dance, The Breeders, Pixies, This Mortal Coil and Cocteau Twins all taking their places along with The Birthday Party, Red House Painters, Throwing Muses, The Mojave 3 and Lush (the others are still new to me). A something for everyone job lot on the front of a magazine within easy reach of the passing 30 somethings who vaguely remembered liking one or two of the bands while at University.

Belfegore - A Dog Is Born

A Dog Is Born is the 1983 debut studio album by the German dark wave and post-punk band Belfegore, released through the independent record label Pure Freude. Formed in Düsseldorf by frontman and multi-instrumentalist Meikel Clauss following his departure from the punk band Nichts, the group blended aggressive guitar riffs, driving rhythms, and heavy electronic textures. This experimental fusion of punk energy and brooding atmospheric synth-work established Belfegore as a unique force within the early 1980s European gothic rock movement, quickly catching the attention of music critics and underground listeners.

The raw, mechanical production of the album served as a vital stepping stone for the band, paving the way for their subsequent signing with the major American label Elektra Records for their 1984 self-titled follow-up. While their later work achieved broader commercial exposure via MTV, A Dog Is Born remains a definitive snapshot of West Germany's thriving Neue Deutsche Welle (NDW) and post-punk underground scenes. Today, the album is highly regarded as a rare cult classic, with original vinyl pressings commanding premium prices among collectors and alternative music enthusiasts worldwide.

Scientists – Negativity

While unsung in their heyday (often by design), the bands of the ‘80s punk/indie underground have long since received their dues. From Sonic Youth to Mudhoney, the sprawling network of DIY bands that made the alt-rock boom possible has been endlessly memorialized with books, tribute albums and t-shirt after t-shirt. But to this day, at least outside their home country of Australia, the Scientists fly under the radar. Hence “Outsider,” the opening track off their first album in 35 years, Negativity. Rather than make some sort of grand comeback statement, the band decided to reassert their outsider status with this record and pick up right where they left off as if they never broke up in the first place. “People think of the ‘80s as being keytars and mullet haircuts, but there was another side to all of that, and we were part of it,” lead singer Kim Salmon said, “This record is another thing again. It is like a contemporary version of the Scientists of the ‘80s.” And he’s right. Unlike most comeback albums, this is a surprisingly good entry point for the band; if you don’t know what the Scientists are all about, Negativity provides a good summation. But it’s also a love letter to the musical underworld from which they emerged. “Outsider” reeks of The Gun Club, while art punkers like The Birthday Party and The Jesus Lizard are all over “Make It Go Away” and “Safe,” among others. The best track, “Moth Eaten Velvet,” is described as a Velvet Underground homage in the album’s Bandcamp description, but the three-piece string section featured on the track more closely evokes The Pixies. And “I Wasn’t Good At Picking Friends,” with its gnomish backup vocals, campy lyrics and synthesizer, sounds like a bluesy B-52’s cut.
An entire decade’s worth of underground rock gets thrown into the Scientists’ meat grinder, and the result is enjoyable but slightly unbalanced; tight, propulsive punk songs are outweighed by dirges and feedback-drenched freak-outs. This is what the band has become known for, but they’re plenty capable of the former too. The instantly catchy “Outsider” proves their song writing chops are alive and well, so it’s disappointing when subsequent tracks mostly fail to exploit this. The sludgy stuff isn’t bad, but wouldn’t it have been fun to hear them channel the song writing heights of their earliest records? Still, the band manages to keep things exciting with a seemingly endless supply of scuzzy, juiced-up riffs and skull-battering percussion. “The Science Of Suave” might be the best example, with its gleefully deranged, freewheeling lead guitar riff and spastic drum beat, and the abrasively-textured rhythm guitar on “Make It Go Away“ sounds like someone’s head being slammed against concrete. “Dissonance” is more stripped-down, built solely on troglodytic Scott Asheton-style drums, while the guitar settles into the background to supply a steady hum of feedback. Guitarist Tony Thewlis is no stranger to effects though; on “Seventeen,” he shamelessly coats his guitar in a syrupy layer of tremolo. Meanwhile Salmon sounds like he’s crooning from some primordial, watery abyss with all the reverb on his vocals. It’s like a surf rock song from hell.
In his old age, Salmon’s voice hasn’t diminished the youthful petulance of the music in the slightest. If anything, his world-weary snarl sounds more convincing than ever. Whether he’s serving up an impassioned, gravely wail on “Safe,” or a calmly demented growl on “Outer Space Boogie,” Salmon proves that rock isn’t just a young person’s game. Negativity might not always rock (it trudges a bit more often than it should) but this is what it ultimately reminds people: that rock and roll is a “teenage sport, meant to be played by teenagers of all ages,” in the words of Calvin Johnson. And after 35 years, it’s clear that the Scientists have still got it (down to a science, you might say).