Swell Maps
....In "Jane From Occupied Europe"


4.5
superb

Review

by butcherboy USER (123 Reviews)
April 13th, 2017 | 17 replies


Release Date: 1980 | Tracklist

Review Summary: Scoring lines upon the backs of tender chocolate mice..

By the end of the 70’s, music in Western metropolises reached such superlative creative levels, you’d have been hard-pressed to take a step without treading on a new trailblazing genre. First wave punk, krautrock, electronica, dub, art funk, glam, no-wave, progressive disco and countless others were sparking off and cornering niche markets in a span of months. By the mid-80’s, most of them would retreat into specialized concavities, recessed down to aficionados and hipster reformists looking for obscure avenues to ply. The one genus that managed to strike middle-ground between artful integrity and commercial vantage was post-punk. Spearheaded by the likes of Joy Division, Wire, Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees and a handful of others, post-punk would go on to fan out into its own subtypes, ranging from direct descendants like goth and dream pop, to more distanced kin like trip-hop and glitch electronics. In the face of that vast saturation of bands coming up, it was all too easy to miss out on all the smaller acts filling out the spaces left by the genre’s giants, and unfortunately, Swell Maps, perhaps post-punk’s most raucous, daring pioneers, have gotten lost in the fold.

Formed in Birmingham in 1972, Swell Maps is the brainchild of brothers Adrian and Kevin Godfrey, who would go on to become Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks respectively. After recording two albums as Swell Maps, the brothers would go on to form a string of more roots-tinged punk acts like the Jacobites and Crime and the City Solution, as well as sustaining separate solo careers. Both would also briefly float through Nick Cave’s Bad Seeds timelines and intermittently play guitar on PJ Harvey’s touring band. Today, their credentials are something to behold. But in the late 70’s, no one could have foretold that these two dreary-looking kids clad in black with big hair would form a vital spore of a lasting movement.

“Jane from Occupied Europe” formed in a perfect moment, before post-punk’s gloomy pathos became a point of unyielding apotheosis, when the skeletal form of its songs still carried jabbing guitars and a rowdy yelp, rounded off by an atmospheric curtain. Even at their most strident, Joy Division and Magazine’s sound had sanded-off edges, more fertile ground for emotional dirges than boisterous insurgence. But Swell Maps rocked more than they ever plead angrily. Though the album’s Cold War paranoia theme was a fairly loose concept, these songs shake with sonic anxiety, and when the band lock into a marching groove like they do on “The Helicopter Spies,” they seem unstoppable. Elsewhere, on “Let’s Buy Bridge,” a cockeyed sax solo sees the band pay their dues to James Chance and the Contortionists.

For a group of kids who existed in this formation for all of two years, it’s staggeringly impressive how well-rounded and self-possessed the music is. “Cake Shop Girl” is so hermetic in its oscillation, you’d think it was written by someone who’d been cutting post-punk anthems for years. It’s arguably Swell Maps’ finest moment, and easily stands up there along with “I am the Fly,” “Shot on Both Sides” and “Damaged Goods.”

“Jane’s” middle stretch is where the band’s proto-electronic tendencies are best displayed. “Big Empty Field” and “Mining Villages” are back-to-back tracks that essentially consist of long synth breakdowns. These moments, along with the desperate “Secret Island” are as close as Swell Maps get to tackling post-punk’s now-standard fare of fractured beauty. By the album’s last third, the band seemed bored of playing it so dulcet, and they end “Jane” in a fit of brutalized noise. Aside from the cheeky piano intermission “A Raincoat’s Room,” “Jane’s” last breaths sound like a cornered animal. “Blenheim Shots” bounces so eagerly and stupidly, you can’t help but dance along; and closer “New York” is an unrelenting wash of guitars, as thick as treacle and tar.

There’s as much dignity as there is banality to being relegated to the slew of music’s ‘forgotten masterpieces.’ For every clear-cut inductee like “Electric Byrd” and “Cold Fact,” there are some dodgy residents: Dylan’s “Street Legal,” or some sap who thinks every other breath Zappa took constitutes an obscure classic. And it’s a moot enough point to argue nowadays, when any month, an apsis revival kick might suddenly make Swell Maps vinyl the hottest ticket around. What’s more enduring is putting on a pair of headphones and letting a burst of purified noise briefly take you to where the Berlin Wall is starting to crumble.



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user ratings (86)
4
excellent


Comments:Add a Comment 
butcherboy
April 13th 2017


9464 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

cake shop girl!

Divaman
April 13th 2017


16120 Comments


You are a fine music historian, sir. Pos.

butcherboy
April 13th 2017


9464 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

and thanks very much, divaman.. i'm itching for the new afghan whigs to leak, so i can review it.. I've loved that band a long time..

SandwichBubble
April 13th 2017


13810 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Thank you for reviewing this~!!

butcherboy
April 13th 2017


9464 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

I'm staggered it didn't have a review already to be honest.. album is a beauty

cylinder
April 15th 2017


2916 Comments


review makes me feel bad for sleeping on this so long. well done sir. last sentence is beautiful

butcherboy
April 15th 2017


9464 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

thanks very much, dude..

Papa Universe
April 27th 2018


22503 Comments


and I never left a comment here? disgraceful

SandwichBubble
March 5th 2020


13810 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

Just bumpin'

Rest in peach butcher and papa, if the worst is assumed

GhandhiLion
March 5th 2020


17676 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

good bump



r.i.p

tectactoe
August 25th 2020


7890 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

This rules

Demon of the Fall
August 25th 2020


35467 Comments


Are these guys anything like This Heat? I see them in ‘similar bands’.

tectactoe
August 25th 2020


7890 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

I've only heard this album, so my comparison is limited to that. But these guys are significantly more "post-punk", not as much into the purely experimental realm of This Heat. But still a cut above traditional, no-frills post-punk with a bit of avant-tendencies. So, like, halfway between This Heat and Wire. Kind of.

Demon of the Fall
August 25th 2020


35467 Comments


Considering I don’t even have Wire rated, I should probably check that out first, lol. I recognise this Pink Flag album, can’t remember it though. Shameful.

SandwichBubble
June 7th 2021


13810 Comments

Album Rating: 5.0

This one's a 5.0, but that was a given. Can't even pick a favorite track off this.

ReefaJones
March 21st 2024


3908 Comments


This sounds so ahead of its time

someone
Contributing Reviewer
March 21st 2024


6936 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5 | Sound Off

Fuck, great bump. Love this album.



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