A couple of weeks ago I picked up the Swell Maps career retrospective International Rescue. I had never heard any of it before - it was an impulse buy. Formed in the early '70s by Nikki Sudden and Epic Soundtracks, they created a shambolic rock music that has been described as post punk, but is really pre-punk punk, if that makes any sense. It really reminds me a lot of the Buzzcocks - as writer Paul Morley commented in the NME in 1979, they "play restless, relentless music which, in attack if not in sound, comes close to that irregularly economic and parched Buzzcocks period just after Devoto's departure." It's pretty spot on, and you can hear their influence on bands like The Libertines today. I am really enjoying this record - it rocks and it's sharp and catchy, and it makes me want to hear the albums proper. Enjoy these...
Real Shocks
New York
More on the band here and here.
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