Post-punk as a music genre emerged towards the end of the 70s in the UK and revolutionized rock music. Bands like Public Image Limited, Wire, Gang of Four, Pere Ubu, The Fall or Siouxsie and The Banshees fused punk with jazz, dub, electro, noise, disco and whatever they could find on the market at the time. They ignored all stylistic boundaries, an ethos lying at the core of the punk movement, which is not just a musical genre, but a lifestyle and a philosophy.
Even though the number of post-punk acts declined heavily following the rise of grunge in America and brit-pop in the UK, the year 2020 brought about a revival of this no-limits style. Here are four post-punk bands which shook up 2020:
Idles
Idles, a band known to the Electric Castle audience, released the third album of their career. The cover of Ultra Mono reminds of Vulgar Display of Power by Pantera. Both feature people punched very elegantly in the chin, but the sound is 100% post-punk. What’s more, the boys collaborated with artists doing different genres, such as Warren Ellis, Jehnny Beth, David Yow or producer Kenny Beats. If you saw them perform in Bonțida, în 2018, with the front man wearing a T-shirt with the message ”No One Is An Island”, this guest list will not surprise you.
Fontaines D.C.
A year after the debut project signed by Fontaines D.C., which blew critics away, the Irish band decided to release A Hero’s Death. There is an unwritten rule in the music industry: the second album of someone’s career is the most difficult. Especially when you’re in a hurry to record it this fast. Fortunately, this rule does not apply to our Irish guys. A Hero’s Death is at least as good as Dogrel. You should listen to them both.
Protomartyr
So far, I’ve covered two bands from the British Isles, the region where post-punk was born, but I should also mention the Americans from Protomartyr, who are true prophets of the genre. In 2020 they released Ultimate Success Today, an album perfectly describing the chaos and uncertainty we all witnessed through the past year, even though it was recorded in 2019. The messages will also be relevant in the future, because, at the end of the day, they are all about human nature. Which is unchanging and flawed.
Shame
In 2020, the Brits from Shame released three singles from their Drunk Tank Pink album, which hit the market on January 15th. As opposed to Idles or Fontaines D.C., the sound of Shame is more reminiscent of the post-punk of the 70s and 80s. They are much more traditional and don’t experiment too much, which is a good thing, because they don’t sound like copy-paste. Front man Charlie Steen said that the album is about the difficult times he had to endure after he returned from touring and woke up alone in his apartment. Now that we are trapped alone in our homes, the music of Shame seems tailor-made.
