The Greatest Post-Punk Bands You Never Heard

I know it's not at all unknown but I still find it a staggering piece of music

Other than New Order getting it from New York, itslodisco didn't have a big impact in the uk. America's take and filtering if Italo is a whole other question, which I've probably explained on another thread.

lol I would have voted Chameleons

Oh yeah also missing is Rema Rema.

That Spotify playlist is not bad. I don't use Spotify because streaming at work is discouraged, and I have a backup of my 4TB collection at work anyway. Sub-genres, labels, etc. are useful. I make use of my genre tags for autoplaylists when I feel like listening to certain kinds of music on random. For the record, I tagged the first five Cure albums through The Top as "Post-Punk," and the rest as just "Alt Rock." Depending on how specific a mood I'm in, I might create more specific playlists, as I may be in a mood for the pop end of post-punk like Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, Scritti Politti and Associates, or the more difficult listening stuff like The Pop Group, Ludus, etc. Works better than say, Rock 1.0, Rock 2.2 ;)

Look forward to checking out other recommendations like Steve Miro. I don't see the album reissues but I did find the LTM Auteur Labels Object Music comp.

For Against do indeed belong here. They formed in 1984, evolving from different bands in the early 80s, and their 1985 "Autocrat" single reflected a Gang of Four influence, and then signed to Independent Music alongside Savage Republic, and developed their own sound that's a mix of Martin Hannett's productions and what was eventually described as "dream pop" as previously mentioned. Some may not like that sound, but I do, and at least one other ILMer considers them one of the "greatest bands of all time."

the Individuals were mediocre watered down version of what became college rock at best (in retrospect) - why bother?

Agree they were more jangle/pop/rock than post-punk (like their contemporaries The DB's and The Bongos - neither of whom made the list above so I'm not sure how The Individuals did) - but I just want to stick up for 'em here. Still really love Fields.

Within at least the ILM universe, I felt the Bongos and especially the dB's, who toured with R.E.M. in 1987 in big stadiums, were quite well known. And there's only room for so many token jangle entries! Along with defending the honor of certain bands, feel free to talk up/promote your own favorites.

Also, this thread resulted in my discovering that there was a new Breathless album called Green to Blue in 2012!

I feel a little like I should be voting Stockholm Monsters but I'm going Virgin Prunes instead

frickin love the Embos, I was living in Wichita KS, their hometown, during their heyday -- unfortunately I was like 12 and oblivious.

"Julia" alone means Asylum Party win this.

just look at these fuckin guys:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VeZtT8zBaZU

I'd choose the Bongos any day over the Individuals or the dB's, simply due to the fact that the were a little more original and arty and were more clearly influenced by stranger acts than the Individuals or the dB's were. "Colorful" in the way the Feelies' debut was - not so drab as the Individuals or as slavishly conventional as the dB's. Plus, they were labelmates with Snatch, Clock Dva and 23 Skidoo! They collaborated on a live version of "In The Congo" with members of Throbbing Gristle and the Bush Tetras. Their song "Clay Midgets" was allegedly inspired by Young Marble Giants (they said in interviews; aside from the title, I don't see how!) Like a lot of American bands, they made the big mistake of letting their major label stuff be way too over-produced . . . at the time, there wasn't quite the support network for a workable post-punk "career" that there was in the UK, so this tended to happen a bit. And I think that sunk their reputation, although the CD reissue of "Drums Along The Hudson" can still be found and has everything you'd want.

(1)xp Pylon's albums Gyrate (1980) and Chomp (1983) were finally released on CD, with welcome rarities, as Gyrate Plus (2007) and Chomp More (2009). Those are the ones I had in mind. Haven't seen Hits or Chain, the reunion album, in a long time, sadly.
(2) The Bongos and the Individuals (though the latter are well-bolstered by bonus tracks) are both uneven in the studio,true. You take one, I'll take the other, but no way are the dB's "slavisnly conventional"--they're as true to their influences as hothouse Bongos, but they're also true to their own creative ambition, whether their aim is true (often enough) or not (not too often). The 2012 dB's album, Falling Off The Sky, is mostly pretty good too--although jangle is a better commercial tag for them and the Individuals than post-punk.
(3) As Dan Selzer reminds us, Acute Records provides a great trove.

not exactly obscure but not one of the top 10 pylon songs that people seem to like imo:

youtube - Working is no Problem

LOVE THIS SONG, blast at 15x volume

but no way are the dB's "slavisnly conventional"--they're as true to their influences as hothouse Bongos, but they're also true to their own creative ambition, whether their aim is true (often enough) or not (not too often).

I might have been a little harsh on the dB's - they had a few interesting songs that were vaguely 'of their time' and it's decent pop - but I'd still argue that aside from a certain sparseness and a few production techniques, there's nothing on the first two albums (which I reckon were their most interesting) that someone who was a Beatles fan frozen in ice prior to the release of "Sgt Pepper's" couldn't absolutely relate to. That might make it a little odd in 1981 or whenever, but how would you argue that they'd made any significant progression from "Rubber Soul" or "Revolver?" Their music is pretty well rooted in that sort of thing.

I never saw live the Individuals, but I've always believed the only reason that anyone pretended to care was because the band members were all music writers and influential scenesters! I actually went back and listened to their best-known songs. They're bland, mostly, and when they're not, they're just not very good. They sound like that huge wake of bands that appeared in the wake of REM, far too hugely influenced by a single band. I'll give them props for actually being ahead of that curve chronologically, but it doesn't make them any better.

I consider Ike Yard to be something like Manuel Göttsching's E2-E4 or that Charanjit Singh Synthesizing album, stumbling across a sound quite natural to electronics that listeners didn't catch up to for a decade or more. Not quite post-punk, despite their history.

Ludus is probably the most interesting of the lot ideawise, but the albums are so patchy. Morrissey was a huge fan, and you can hear the influence of Ian Devine/Pincolme's highlife guitar experiments in Johnny Marr.

Probably like the Fatal Microbe's contemporaneous EP more than most of these artists' discographies.

Struggling, and failing to fight the pull of a Martin Hannett production. So Section 25 it is.

Well Ike Yard were distinctly drawing from a cross section of Suicide and certain aspect of no wave (mars, implog), Hannett/Factory atmosphere (Joy Division and Section 25) and increasingly an awareness of Germany. Plus some academic electronic stuff and while they eventually reached an electronic sound that sounds way ahead of its time, it makes more sense in the context of things like NDW.

Ludus could have been really great, but being on New Hormones wasn't a great career move for anyone, and they lacked quality control. Their best material is amazing. Their lesser stuff is godawful. Morrissey wasn't a fan so much of Ludus as he was of Linder, which was true of much of arty Manchester.

A lot of these are great bands, and the Rough Trade crew in particular is dear to my heart, but I gotta go with the Virgin Prunes here. No, not really goth, more like evil performance art. I'm probably gonna be the only vote but they really deserve some love.

I've heard about half of these - going w/ Kleenex.

The Virgin Prunes would be in my top ten. Their records were really great, at least up to "If I Die, I Die," which was fine but nothing like how fantastic the material came across when played live, and the the last one with Gavin, which exists in an unreleased and far-far-far-superior early version. But the earlier stuff was pretty uniformly spooky in a very real way, and I loved all their philosophical stuff and weird relating to the mentally ill and 'touched' people. There really wasn't anything like them, and for the many bands influenced by them directly or not, I don't think any of them really understood what they were aping. They were the anti-U2 in very real ways, and the stories of the early inter-minglings of the two bands are pretty great. "If I Die, I Die" is the easiest thing to get into, I suppose, but it always felt like a compromise - as if they'd better get their act together, because watching U2 become millionaires with about 4% of the originality and ideas that the Virgin Prunes had was just getting too hard to bear! That said, the Dave-Id sung "Ballad Of The Man" is one of the most beautiful and touching post-punk songs, even if it was intended to be a Springsteen piss-take. But the real one to get is the CD that compiles some of the "A New Form of Beauty" series (some bits still unreleased), which does a good job of capturing the band half-way between song and strangeness. "When you're down and out / Nobody wants to know you / A boy and girl running away / They won't get far." Fucking great!

A small selection of Virgin Prunes stuff:

Moments And Mine (Despite Straight Lines)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NJY_HG2MZVg

Sandpaper Lullaby, from "A New Form of Beauty"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=azSHz-5ZTXg

Their contribution to the NME / Rough Trade compilation cassette "C81"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYC09mVEkMs

The very commercial "Baby Turns Blue" from "If I Die, I Die"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IimsciWwHHk

Even most Virgin Prunes fans do not know Princess Tinymeat, which one of the members started after leaving the band (before "If I Die, I Die," I believe) - he sort of took some of the scariness with him. Here are both sides of a Rough Trade 12"

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2jkXjkyYe_o

Hadn't noticed the Nyam Nyam reissue until now. Surprised it doesn't include the dance mixes of Fate/Hate which is their claim to fame. Perhaps it didn't fit and/or James and co. decided it was already covered on the Cool of Ice compilation. I've played it regularly in dance sets to pretty decent response.

Also regarding the top post-punk since 2000 list on http://fastnbulbous.com, why no The Rapture? They were really the ones that represented the post-punk revival of the early 80s the best. Though it seems your list veers more towards the moody post-Joy Division side of "post-punk" and less to the funky Gang of Four/PiL death disco side.

"Julia" alone means Asylum Party win this.

DOPE track - totally new to me!

And while I'm here, I'd like to rep more for Rema Rema since nobody seems to be responding to my plug. First record to bear the 4ad logo. Featuring Marco Pirroni before Adam and the Ants, the rest of the band shortly formed Mass, who broke up and gave us Wolfgang Press and Renegade Soundwave (singer Gary Asquith). They had the 1 EP with 4 songs, 2 live and 2 studio, and they are totally amazing. They also have an obscure live track on some old comp tape and a few other live recordings that would occasionally make an appearance on Gary Asquith's myspace page.

Big Black covered them. So did This Mortal Coil. Shouldn't you?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWGPcA0eIY8

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rdyd_mO9Ptc

I didn't like Nyam Nyam much, but their debut single was really fab. I thought after that they devolved into that sub-Facotry sound far too much and lost their edge and lacked a more distinct sound.

The Rapture were one of the few post-punk revival bands that might have appealed to me back in the day, I always have a good laugh when watching "Misfits" (which uses one of their songs as an intro) at how perfectly they mimic a certain aspect of Public Image circa Metal Box, with a slightly more disco feel, but even (seemingly) paraphrasing the lyrics of "Careering" a bit. But to be honest, a post-punk revivalist band is a dumb idea, dumber even than a Grateful Dead copyist band, since post-punk was far more about individuality than just about any other post-WWII popular music form.

I loved Rema-Rema and was sorry when they disbanded. Marco was also in Cowboys International for a few gigs at least. All the other members did other things (notably Wolfgang Press) but they really would have been remembered as legendary if they'd stuck around and made a real album.

XP I will be forever grateful to Dan for the Ike Yard compilation on Acute. I first heard them when John Peel played "NCR" on his show in the summer of 84, it blew my 15 yr old mind, I played my tape of it over and over again. He also played "Night after night" which I also taped. There was absolutely no information I could find on them at the time, except a small review in the "Trouser Press Record Guide". Four years later Peel played another track from "A fact a second" stating "This sounds more timely than ever" as it was surrounded by acid house. And that was the last time I heard them for years. Web searches didn't generate much hope until I saw the Acute reissue. Ordered it, devoured it, loved it. Thank you.

Your welcome. The recent french vinyl pressing of the Factory LP has spread their sound even further than our CD.

I wasn't interested in post-punk revival bands, though if done well I prefer that to any other kind of revival band. It mostly wasn't done well, but to their credit, even within the most derivative songs they had hooks, and live at the time, they were one of the best bands I'd ever seen. I saw them absolutely destroy every room they played in the year or two up to and around the release of Echoes.

The Rema-Rema cd single was only available off the Beggars/4AD website, which is now closed

"you're welcome" is what that should've read. sorry, it's late.

I lucked out a few years ago and got the Rema Rema 12" off Ebay for something ridiculous like £2.

Not familiar with most of these, I thought I was done with post-punk (I probably overdid it for a bit) but every so often someone points me towards another undiscovered gem. Appreciate the work Fastnbulbous has done here, lots to check out.

I'm voting Josef K.

voted for against natch

The Rema-Rema cd single was only available off the Beggars/4AD website, which is now closed

It's on sale for $1500 on Discogs.com!! The digital version is slightly more affordable.

This is clearly my wheelhouse as post-punk is to me what garage rock is to many others - a genre worth constantly revisiting and digging for gold. So many bands release one great single and then disappeared (cf The Past Seven Days). Most of the bands in this poll can be represented by a single reissue CD:

The Blue Orchids - there are 2 or 3 different compilations which basically have the same tracks. I have "A View From The City". I dig it but it doesn't call to me.
Delta 5 - The "Singles & Sessions" comp is terrific, I'm not sure what sound quality issues there are. I have a rip of the LP and it's ok, but the singles are where it's at. Wonderful stuff.
Desperate Bicycles - Sadly, they won't reissue their stuff.
Diagram Brothers - I discovered "Some Marvels Of Modern Science" a few years back and it blew my mind.
The Embarrassment - the 2 CD retrospective is excellent.
Essential Logic - the 2 CD comp is good if frustratingly incomplete. I have vinyl rips of all Lora's material and it's mindbendingly good.
Fire Engines - I have "Fond" though you all should go buy Dan's reissue on Acute! I prefer Josef K but their best is great.
Glaxo Babies - I've got a number of tracks on compilations but never spring for a comp.
Human Switchboard - Downloaded all their stuff a few years back, good but didn't inspire me.
Josef K - Just picked up the "Crazy To Exist" live CD. I don't pull them out often but they really do scratch a particular itch.
Liliput/Kleenex - 2 CD comp is all kinds of crazy good.
The Lines - Dan's 2 CD reissues are excellent. I dig them when I play them but they don't stick in my brain like others.
Lowlife - There was an excellent retrospective "From A Scream To A Whisper" but I think it's been superceded by a recent LTM comp. I was an early fan of these guys.
Modern Eon - Possibly the single most criminally neglected reissue. If the Scars album can show up on CD (albeit very briefly), "Fiction Tales" can too!
Pauline Murray & The Invisible Girls - I adore Penetration and the first solo album is good though not at the same level. The second solo album never came out on CD.
New Musik - Had "A To Z" years ago. Sold it. Not my thing for some reason.
The Nightingales - "Pissed And Potless" is my favorite comp, I find the albums inconsistent.
Nyam Nyam - Just got the LTM reissue, really good. I can understand the folks who say they lost something after the first single, but not that much.
Opposition - The debut "Breaking The Silence" is on my post-punk top 20, subsequent albums (on CD but way way out of print) are very good as well.
Pylon - I have "Hits" which has its moments but has never made me love it.
Sad Lovers and Giants - Had them, sold them. They felt too derivative of The Chameleons and The Sound.
Scars - "Author Author" was reissued a few years back but is out of print again. Not quite as good as the early singles.
Second Layer - This throws a monkey-wrench for me as it's from Adrian Borland, one of my 3 favorite musicians of all-time. And I think this out-Joy Division's Joy Division. Fantastic, creepy, moody.
The Sleepers - There was a CD that came out in the 90s, live stuff and demos I think. Sold it.
The Stockholm Monsters - Another band where I've got lots of excellent compilation cuts but haven't picked up more.
TV21 - They finally got a reissue a couple of years ago, excellent power-pop but not close to post-punk in my mind.
Virgin Prunes - "If I Die, I Die" is a fabulous record, with Colin Newman's fingerprints all over it. A singular vision for sure.
Wah! - The debut "Nah Poo = The Art Of Bluff" is all kinds of crazy good, taking the best bits of early Teardrops and Echo and fusing them with Pete Wylie's over-the-top vocals. There's a great 2 CD anthology as well.
The Wake - I recently sold the stuff I had, they just never clicked for me.
Y Pants - There was a CD that came out about 10 years ago. Sold it.

These types of polls are hard, it's like thinking about sports Hall Of Fame questions: do you look at the absolute peak performance, or the career-spanning achievements? Since most of these bands put out one or two albums, I suppose peak performance determines the winner. In that case, I have to go with Opposition.

LinesJosefKFireEngines

Word on the street is there's some more Glaxo Babies reissues coming on vinyl.

Gerald, spend more time with the Lines, I don't know anyone who hasn't eventually gotten hooked, it just stakes a while.

My favorite song that Joy Division never wrote is "Into the Garden" by Artery.

It's on sale for $1500 on Discogs.com!! The digital version is slightly more affordable.

Blimey, it recently sold for £63 on ebay

crustaceanrebel, I'm not going to beat a dead horse on The Individuals; I loved them, you don't. Just curious when you say they were "far too hugely influenced by a single band" what band that was? Trouser Press said Cure and Gang of Four, neither of which I get tbh, and the Db's, which I do. The guitar interplay is a bit Television to me in spots, the rhythm section a little bit Talking Heads. I kind of lump them with bands like Let's Active, but they don't really jangle (and Individuals records actually came out first.)

Loving this thread by the way, tons of stuff I've heard of but not heard.

My vote goes to The Human Switchboard.

I know you're busy and have lots of things to occupy your time, but it would be great if you took 8 minutes and 8 seconds to listen to their Stairway To Heaven, Refrigerator Door.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tfAG-52xt8

Not sure why the link didn't show up. Try clicking here

Bar/None Records just put out a Human Switchboard Comp. Good Stuff

God bless Acute. Hope yall get another chance to release that expanded (or "even" the original) Wanna Buy A Bridge?, Dan.
Really like 2012's Fac Dance 02--was afraid there would be too many Joy D/New O wannabees, but it went much further than expected--didn't know Factory was involved with rai, for instance. This review is too tough on some tracks, but I certainly agree with favorable mentions of ESG, A Certain Ratio (in the years covered by this comp) and others. Don't know if all the streams still work, but as a Comments guy points out, it's also on Spotify (although I'm not gonna set up housekeeping with Fecebook just to get into Spotify--not just yet)
http://www.residentadvisor.net/review-view.aspx?id=11667

Thanks dow.

The Wanna Buy a Bridge was a pipe-dream from a long time ago. The difficulty of dealing with major labels for licensing a few key tracks (WBAB without We Are All Prostitutes?), the issues of licensing a comp from so many different people, and finally the passing of Nikki Sudden all made it slip through our fingers. I've told this story probably too many times, but I met NIkki the night he died in New York and he was excited to help me with the liner notes and put me in touch with Gina Birch.

For what it was worth, here's how I envisioned it. A CD release of Wanna Buy a Bridge with a set of bonus tracks culled from other early RT releases. The tracklisting would've been:

The original LP:
1. Delta 5 - Mind Your Own Business
2. The Slits - Man Next Door
3. Essential Logic -Aerosol Burns
4. Television Personalities - Part Time Punks
5. Swell Maps - Read About Seymour
6. The Pop Group - We Are All Prostitutes
7. Spizzenergi - Soldier Soldier
8. Liliput - Aint You
9. Cabaret Voltaire - Nag Nag Nag
10. Young Marble Giants - Final Day
11. Scritti Politti - Skank Bloc Bologna
12. Robert Wyatt - At Last I Am Free

CD bonus tracks:
13. Subway Sect - Ambition
14. The Nightingales - Idiot Strength
15. The Monochrome Set - He's Frank
16. The Red Krayola - Born in Flames
17. Cult Figures - Zip Nolan
18. Blue Orchids - Work
19. Missing Scientists - Big City, Bright Lights
20. David Gamson - Sugar, Sugar
21. The Gist - This is Love
22. Epic Soundtracks - Jelly, Babies

It flows really great, so feel free to buy all those songs individually and make a CD-length playlist of them.

Another idea I had was to JUST use the bonus tracks and call it Wanna Buy a Bridge 2, a nice compilation of more Rough Trade stuff, though there are a lot of great Rough Trade comps, like this italian one that I own:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Cross-Current/release/593442

and this japanese one:

http://www.discogs.com/Various-Clear-Cut/release/593437

Not the bonus tracks end with a Robert Wyatt vocal, just like the original.

OK I totally had good intentions to listen to more of these guys before the poll ended but I've just ended up listening to Lives of Angels on repeat all yesterday evening and this evening.

Damn, this is good! Thanks to NickB and everyone on the other post-punk thread for saying the magic words that got me listening. So I guess that's going to be my vote, anyway.

One vote for The Embos.

Now , where the fuck is my' retrospective' cd eh? Which great mate did I lend it to all those years ago?
I need it now, 'pal'

Afterthought. No, I have that tape somewhere - it's the double cd I'm missing

xp Nice rundown, thanks Gerald!

It may have been crustacean who inspired me to get all four Spherical Objects reissues a few years back. I really wanted to like 'em, but cannot get past the excruciating vocals. You'd think if I could take David Thomas I could handle anything. Listening to Steve Miro and not clicking yet. I do really like the Rema Rema EP, great noisy stuff. If there were other unreleased recordings I'd expect to see it on Acute someday!

I can almost, but not quite appreciate someone who was lucky enough to experience the original post-punk era firsthand not wanting anything to do with later so-called "revival" stuff. I'm really liking the recent releases from Merchandise, Deep Time, Big Joan, Pins, Savages, New War and Talk Normal. Like most bands, they just pick and choose elements from many sources they like and aren't necessarily revivalists. To say they're not worth bothering with because PiL or Joy Division were more original is like saying the Stones and many other great rock bands aren't worth bothering with because Chuck Berry did it first. For a while back in 2000 my favorite band was The Fire Show, who were based in Chicago so I actually got to see them live several times. They were brilliant, and I was bummed when they split (M. Resplendent moved to Europe), and I always have a gaping hole in my live show schedule for great post-punk inspired bands. I could easily have expanded this poll beyond the 80s but there were already more bands than I could fit. The mention of my exclusion of The Rapture upthread was just an oversight -- I must have forgotten to give them the "post-punk" tag in my database.

I have both Lines CDs and have been enjoying re-listening to 'em. Right now I'm listening to a playlist called "electro-glam" made up mostly of early stuff from Ultravox, Tubeway Army and Japan. Maybe I should promote it as a sub-genre to irritate certain people :)

I've just ended up listening to Lives of Angels on repeat all yesterday evening and this evening.

Glad you liked it!