Various Artist - Strange Passion Explorations in Irish Post Punk 1980-83 Review

Post-punk was so fractured and localized that it's perhaps unsurprising that tiny pockets of activity continue to reveal themselves. Still, this collection of tracks culled from Irish post-punk, DIY, and electronic musicians circa 1980-83 carries an uncommon weight, sounding less like a footnote and more like a series of essential transmissions from a set of socially and politically disenfranchised musicians. It marks the first release for Finders Keepers' new offshoot label Cache Cache, which promises to reissue "shyly excitable electric pop music." Strange Passion consists of tracks pulled from rare vinyl and cassette releases, all lovingly collated by Dublin DJ Darren McCreesh, who completes the package with insightful sleeve notes and mini-bios of all the artists. The mood ranges from prickly Gang of Four-style aggression to contemplative electronic works that pick up a strand left dangling by Brian Eno's ambient pieces.

Most compilations that try to make similar abridgments between conflicting styles feel messy and unfocused, but here the eclecticism acts as a near-perfect précis of the wide-ranging impulses that have fallen under the "post-punk" umbrella since it was coined. But there are also ties that bind these acts, principally in the underlying themes of future-gazing and disenchantment that burrow deep into the scruffy heart of post-punk. "Ireland in the 70s and 80s was in the grip of uncertainty," writes McCreesh in the sleeve notes. "Conflict in the north, social conservatism in the south, both fueled by religious hegemony and a truly desperate economic situation." Out of such shaky foundations came the urgent bursts of expression Strange Passion documents, guided by documentation of the wider post-punk movement from the local music press and radio broadcasts by RTÉ and John Peel's BBC show.

The best-known act here, Gavin Friday's Virgin Prunes, do their best to assimilate the feel of cheap amphetamines in song, with a short, treble-y barrage of energy that feels like they're repeatedly sticking a fork in your leg. At times it's telling just how much of a debt some of these acts owe to things happening elsewhere. Dogmatic Element's "Just Friends" is a well-executed piece of Slits worship, while the Peridots' "No Water" roughly slots into the experiments with brooding electronics conducted by Sheffield acts Cabaret Voltaire and the Human League. Conversely, the music of Roger Doyle, working here under his Operating Theatre alias with actress Olwen Fouere, stretches out into more unique spaces. Their "Austrian" is a perfectly eccentric twist on cranky electronic pop that occasionally sounds like Diamanda Galás fronting the Flying Lizards....full text The first ever compendium of Irish post punk and new wave – featuring extensive liner notes, rare photos with the full participation of the featured artists and bands.

Released on Cache Cache a new post-punk record label set up by Finders Keepers dedicated to seeking out shyly excitable electric pop music from the not too distant past.

Focusing on a three year period from 1980 to 1983, Strange Passion is a compilation of rare, unheralded and unreleased Irish music that emerged after the first wave of punk and new wave bands. A time when the raw primitive sounds of punk began to absorb new ideas and technologies and emerging acts were reaching audiences on an unprecedented scale thanks to new magazines such as Hot Press and Heat, RTE Radio 2 and it’s Fanning Sessions, as well as new youth magazine programmes on national TV like Anything Goes. Access to UK’s broadcasting and magazine cultural behemoths (Peel, NME, Morley etc.) as well as touring bands such as The Clash and PIL also played their part in creating an appetite for this thrilling new subculture and soon venues such as The Magnet, Dandelion and Project Arts Centre in Dublin and Kampus in Cork became significant live music hubs....full text F
inders Keepers continue to forge a reputation of introducing a lost world of undiscovered vinyl artifacts from the annals of alternative pop history. Their latest is an incredible compilation: Strange Passion: Explorations in Irish Post Punk DIY & Electronic Music 1980-83 which features a compilation of rare, unheralded and unreleased Irish music that emerged after the first wave of punk and new wave bands.

A time when the raw primitive sounds of punk began to absorb new ideas and technologies and emerging acts were reaching audiences on an unprecedented scale thanks to new magazines such as Hot Press and Heat, RTE Radio 2 and it’s Fanning Sessions, as well as new youth magazine programmes on national TV like Anything Goes. Access to UK’s broadcasting and magazine cultural behemoths (Peel, NME, Morley etc.) as well as touring bands such as The Clash and PIL also played their part in creating an appetite for this thrilling new subculture and soon venues such as The Magnet, Dandelion and Project Arts Centre in Dublin and Kampus in Cork became significant live music hubs.

This was catalysed by new youth scenes which sprung up particularly in the main urban centres of Belfast, Derry, Dublin and Cork. Fuelled by boredom, antipathy towards society and inspired by the developing DIY scene in the UK, new bands, independent labels fanzines and creative art provocateurs began to emerge. Such was the rapid growth and creative freedom of this new culture that for a couple of years there seemed a constant stream of emerging acts producing work that was both original in content and presentation....full text