In the 21st Century it’s tempting to think of post punk as just the angular agit-prop of the Gang of Four, the ominous angst of Joy Division or the new pop sensibility of ABC. It was never as clear cut as that. But what these groups and post punk did do was open our ears to a wide range of records and sounds so far off the dial that they continue to be missing from the radar even now. It’s easy to understand why because they were the experimentalists and art terrorists pushing themselves beyond all recognised sonic boundaries into the unknown. Inspired by the harsh, forbidding landscape and uncertainty of the times they were the most radical of them all.
Esoterica’s first flowering in contemporary British music was seeded in industrial culture with Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire its parameters. They did not celebrate industrialism as is often supposed, rather they were the bridge between its end and the coming of the computer age. A full decade older than their associates, Genesis P. Orridge and Throbbing Gristle were resolute non-musicians, their noisescapes largely unlistenable, but their manifestos and visuals, often piling horror upon horror upon horror, were certainly thought provoking. On the other hand, Cabaret Voltaire, despite maintaining a more distant approach, were far more listenable, concentrating on mechanical repetition, loops and muttered vocals. And of course both Throbbing Gristle and Cabaret Voltaire were incredibly influential, the techniques they perfected proliferating ever since.
And yet esoterica, as the name itself suggests, wasn’t just about earnest industrialism. It included a whole spectrum of styles and ideologies from around the globe; from Material’s New York no wave funk to Rip Rig and Panic’s Bristolian freeform punk jazz; from Belgiums Honeymoon Killers art pop experiments to Eastenders Test Department’s sturm und clang; from Berliner’s Einsturzende Neubauten’s delight in discovering how much sense could be made from the chaos of power tools to Yugoslavian Laibach’s totalitarian thunder.
Much of the esoteric aesthetic proved challenging and difficult because an adventurous imagination could not easily be transcribed in 4/4 time with regular instrumentation. To realise completely the music struggling to escape their heads, groups had to look far beyond the norm. And even though the results were often harsh and brutal, among the ugliness and the chaos it was always possible to find a beauty free of commercial demands and audience expectation. It was pure, indefinable aural art that deserved more attention.
If there was any justice in this world the likes of Frank Tovey aka Fad Gadget would have celebrated four platinum selling albums while Foetus’s Jim Thirlwell would have been a fully loaded rock star mobbed by teenage girls. I loved them all regardless, most of these recordings educating me in non-music related art, literature and -ism’s that opened up my mind and my ears.
Forget the Gang Of Four, Joy Division and ABC, herein lies the real underground, the true songs of the free!
01. CABARET VOLTAIRE ‘Talk Over’ (Extended Play EP November 1978)
02. THROBBING GRISTLE ‘Hometime’ (DOA: The Third And Final Report LP December 1978)
03. THIS HEAT ‘24 Track Loop’ (This Heat LP August 1979)
04. THE LEATHER NUN ‘Slow Death’ (Slow Death EP November 1979)
05. IMPLOG ’Holland Tunnel Drive’ (A Side March 1980)
06. THROBBING GRISTLE ‘Adrenalin’ (Heathen Earth LP June 1980)
07. FAD GADGET ‘Coitus Interruptus’ (Fireside Favourites LP September 1980)
08. THE RESIDENTS ‘Picnic Boy’ (Commercial Album LP October 1980)
09. COLIN NEWMAN ‘Life On Deck’ (A-Z LP October 1980)
10. MATERIAL ‘Discourse’ (A Side November 1980)
11. CLOCK DVA ‘Sensorium’ (Thirst LP January 1981)
12. THE HONEYMOON KILLERS ‘Histoire A Suive’ (Les Teurs De La Lune Miel LP March 1981)
13. THOMAS LEER ‘Letter From America’ (4 Movements EP July 1981)
14. CABARET VOLTAIRE ‘Sluggin’ For Jesus’ (3 Crepuscule Tracks EP July 1981)
15. LEMON KITTENS ‘…In Wooden Brackets’ (Perspectives & Distortion Sampler LP July 1981)
16. VIVIEN GOLDMAN ‘Launderette’ (A Side July 1981)
17. MATT JOHNSON ‘Bugle Boy’ (Burning Blue Soul LP August 1981)
18. RIP RIG & PANIC ‘Knee Deep In Shit’ (God LP September 1981)
19. THIS HEAT ‘S.P.Q.R.’ (Deceit LP September 1981)
20. VIRGIN PRUNES ‘Sandpaper Lullabye’ (A New Form Of Beauty Pt 1 EP October 1981)
21. CHRIS & COSEY ‘This Is Me’ (Heartbeat LP November 1981)
22. FAD GADGET ‘Saturday Night Special’ (Incontinent LP December 1981)
23. 23 SKIDOO ‘Vegas El Bandito’ (Seven Songs LP February 1982)
24. DIE KRUPPS ‘Wahre Arbeit-Wahrer Lohn’ (Volle Kraft Voraus! LP March 1982)
25. MINNY POPS ‘Time’ (Sparks In A Dark Room LP May 1982)
26. PORTION CONTROL ‘All Present And Correct’ (I Staggered Mentally LP June 1982)
27. LIASONS DANGEREUSES ‘Los Ninos Del Parque’ (A Side June 1982)
28. MALARIA! ‘Kaltes Klares Wasser’ (A Side June 1982)
29. TUXEDOMOON ‘The Cage’ (Time To Lose LP July 1982)
30. MARK STEWART & THE MAFIA ‘Jerusalem’ (A Side October 1982)
31. PSYCHIC TV ‘Message From The Temple’ (Force The Hand Of Chance LP December 1982)
32. NOCTURNAL EMISSIONS ‘Theme Music’ (Viral Shredding LP August 1983)
33. EINSTURZENDE NEUBAUTEN ‘Neun Arme’ (Portrait Of Patient O.T. LP November 1983)
34. PSYCHIC TV ‘The Orchids’ (Dreams Less Sweet LP December 1983)
35. SKINNY PUPPY ‘K-9’ (Back And Forth LP February 1984)
36. LAIBACH ‘Panorama’ (A Side May 1984)
37. TEST DEPARTMENT ‘Sweet Sedation’ (Beating The Retreat LP July 1984)
38. HOLY TOY ‘Last Leader’ (Panzer And Rabbits LP August 1984)
39. SCRAPING FOETUS OFF THE WHEEL ‘I’ll Meet You In Poland Baby’ (Hole LP August 1984)
40. SHOCK HEADED PETERS ‘I, Bloodbrother Be’ (A Side November 1984)