JOSEF K - Entomology Review

Josef K were a rock ‘n’ roll rarity: a band that arrived seemingly fully-formed, manifestos unpronounced but doubtlessly concealed somewhere up their natty sleeve. Never mind the post-punk bollocks—these fine young lads were positively anti-punk. Teetotalers in a land of booze and dirty needles, they projected an austere and hyper-intelligent image. Naming themselves after the main character in The Trial, Kafka's masterpiece of alienation and paranoia, they courted bookishness just in time for the rise of the effete and literary youth in British rock—and promptly broke up before they could reap the benefits. Not because they were violent or did too much coke, but simply because they felt they'd accomplished all they'd set out to do....full text For generations, literary critics mulled, considered and debated the similarities and differences between Franz Kafka's The Trial and Vladmir Nabokov's Invitation to a Beheading. Despite Nabokov's insistence he was unaware of Kafka's work, there are more than a few passing similarities between the stories. Both follow semi-anonymous protagonists (Kafka gives us Josef K., Nabakov has Cincinnatus C.) accused of a nonsensical, abstract crime they didn't commit, and, after navigating the surreal and frightening iron cloak of beurocracy, are put to death. ...full text Those guardians of the wittier end of today's indie world, the Domino label, have had some fun of late. Their coffers swelled by the world-conquering Franz Ferdinand, they've taken to the occasional significant retrospective....full text Indie bands in the early 1980s looked and sounded as if they were living in windowless dungeons on a diet of gruel. Josef K were the artiest of the Scots contingent....full text