Gláss’ Aáron Burke chimes in with his top 5 post-punk albums
Aaron Burke from Gláss tells his five favorite post-punk records. Check the band out tonight at the 529.
Photo credit: James Wesley Nichols
The debut LP from Gláss, Accent, is easily one of my favorite post-punk releases of this decade — already up there with greats like Protomartyr’s The Agent Intellect, Women’s Public Strain, and Savages’ Silence Yourself. For all its lyrics about anxiety and unease, Accent is a surprisingly upbeat album. (Perhaps it’s all that surf influence.) A strong, driving bass presence, courtesy of bassist Ary Davani, and an endearing vocal performance from guitarist/vocalist Aáron Burke (who resides in Athens, GA) helps make Accent an early contender for my AOTY. I was curious about where the band’s influences lie, so I reached out to Burke to find out his top 5 post-punk records. Check them out below.
Colin Newman: A-Z
<!—————StartFragment—————>”Colin Newman has a way of making one note seem more potent and full of attitude than anyone else I’ve heard, in this and other Wire records. I’ve always liked this more than any Wire album, though. His voice is fucking cool, these songs are catchy and this album is way overlooked.”
The Fall: Grotesque
“This album shows the sheer diversity of the Fall. Containing hints of rockabilly in “The Container Drivers” and the confessional repetition of “C ‘n’ C-S Mithering,” this record is one I’ve been listening to a lot recently, but I like it equally as much as many other Fall albums.”
This Heat: Deceit
“A band I’ve only gotten into recently through a friend. There’s so much to this record that it’s hard to label it just “post-punk” though people do tend to lump it in with that. I read that they thought they were going to die due to nuclear war before the recording was complete. The album is drenched with that anxiety, it sounds like it was recorded in a bomb shelter.”
PiL: Metal Box
“I’m a huge fan of bass driven music, and Jah Wobble’s playing on this release is untouchable. Cool guitar sounds too. Still an angry John Lydon here but perhaps a more personal anger, “Death Disco” for instance, still angry but pretty sad.”
The Pop Group: Y
“I love this album in the same way I do Metal Box. Funky bass lines under the sound of screams and wild guitar, so dark yet so danceable. “Thief of Fire” has probably my favorite bass line ever.”
<!—————StartFragment—————>Gláss performs tonight (Wed., March 30) at 529, opening for The Mumzees. With Fuiste, The Francis Vertigo. $5. 9 p.m. 529 Flat Shoals Ave. S.E. 404-228-6769. www.529atlanta.com.