The video for the 7-minute “We Went War” was an arresting way to introduce These New Puritans’ second album Hidden, a collection that includes an array of sounds, including the thud of “a melon with cream crackers attached struck by a hammer, used to simulate the sound of a human head being smashed.” These also mentioned the record would include “six-foot Japanese taiko drums, a thirteen piece brass and woodwind ensemble, sub-heavy beats, prepared piano, a children’s choir,” etc. You get the kids in “Orion” along with the warlike thud of the aforementioned taiko drums, some not previously mentioned chains, looped voices, and plenty of majestic tension. On paper it might sound like, basically, the kids discovered Matmos after Beat Pyramid and decided to go crazy in the studio, but they’ve figured out how to incorporate all these new elements into their post-punk, creating a compelling, challenging sound that goes beyond past Mark E. Smith-isms.
Hidden is out 3/2 via Domino.
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I really have no idea how you can even call this band “Post-Punk” any more.
Amazing track. Album of the year (calling it)! But there’s no way to put this in their setlist, considering (though they have a rabid fan base) they are not so good live.
Hidden is “very 1970, but it’s also quite 1610, 1950, 1979, 1989, 2005 and 2070.” http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2010/jan/22/these-new-puritans
Great song. Almost perfect album.
i think post-punk is still relevant, as in “after punk” avant garde: see PiL’s Flowers of Romance.