Day 0632 - Life's Too Good

The Sugarcubes "Life's Too Good" (1988)

Members of the Icelandic post-punk scene banded together to form the Sugarcubes.   The band had apparently never intended their music to be taken seriously (meaning it to lampoon the pop music sound), but soon found themselves at the centre of a label 'bidding war'.  They ended up being the first Icelandic act to attain major international success... so I guess the joke's on them.

The music is, as to be expected, kind of jagged postpunk sounds (propulsive bass, aggressive but slightly funky guitar) but with a more playful, melodic sensibility.  It's a decent album, but the clear standout is Björk's voice, and accordingly, the album helped launch her solo career.

Day 0509 - Junkyard

The Birthday Party "Junkyard" (1982)

The wild, rabid Aussie band had made the move to the UK.  Based on acts such as the Fall, they assumed that they would find a music scene full of kindred spirits; but instead found a country well in the grip of new-wave, new romanticism and various other 'news'.

They did find supporters in England for the turbulent last year or so of their existence (in an already turbulent life... the band used to take hard drugs, and steal cars, amongst other things).  Drugs, alcohol, in-fighting all the usual band noise plagued this punky, demented murder-blues band, before Nick Cave left to start up his new gothy murder-blues band.

The songs on this, their last album, are as buck-wild and bare-backed as anything they ever worked on, with the songs being clamorous enough in places that you could imagine that each member was working on a totally different song.  Working 'against' rather than 'with' each other, but  somehow still working.