Hardware Untitled LP, 1979 LP
Some pre-PIGBAG art-punk here from Cheltenham’s short-lived HARDWARE, and despite the title, it’s not exactly a proper LP, rather a collection of the band’s two self-released 1979 EPs plus two previously unreleased tracks recorded that same year. HARDWARE’s stated influences weren’t exactly uncommon in a late ’70s UK DIY context—dub reggae, the hypnotic pulse of Krautrock, contemporary acts like the FALL who followed a punk-to-post-punk trajectory—but their translation of those inspirations mostly defied the collapsing Messthetics aesthetic, locking into the sort of taut rhythms that would ultimately be carried over to PIGBAG’s brass-blaring funk-punk. The spirit of PERE UBU looms large in the hiccuping vocals and frazzled keyboard textures in “Fire” and “Face the Flag,” while the driving, minimalist punk rush of “Speed Unit” suggests WIRE as guided by Warm Jets/Tiger Mountain-era BRIAN ENO (dig that cracked glam chorus with squealing sax!). The scrapped track “Rainy Taxi” fleshes out the proto-punk/first-wave influences even further, kicking into an almost VOIDOIDS-ish strut, and John Danylyszyn’s wound-up yelps over the percolating art school dance beat of “French Boys in India” strikes an uncanny parallel to what the METHOD ACTORS were doing an ocean away in Athens, Georgia at roughly the same exact moment in time. Makes me wish there actually had been a full HARDWARE LP out there to be uncovered, but this is the next best thing.
