Alberta post-punks Viet Cong are gearing up to release their debut, self-titled album. It’s out on Monday, January 19, through Jagjaguwar, and they put out a taster from it in the form of the skeletal, wiry ‘Silhouettes’ last week. Before the album though, they’ve kindly put us together a mix, tQ’s first of 2015, which navigates formative influences – Joy Division, Suicide, Wire – with some tracks from further afield, opening up with Swiss post-punk band LiLiPUT’s 1980 single ‘Die Matrosen’ and a pair of tracks from Swell Maps later on.
Says the band’s drummer Mike Wallace of the mix: "This mix captures a vein of essential post-punk bands that have influenced us severely. A variety in style and sound is something that I love in a record (as well any good mixtape), and the two tracks from Swell Maps that appear on this mix sound like they come from two polar opposites. The first is a luscious and repetitious piano segment, and the second a punk rock ballad with crushed-out power chord verse/choruses and yelping vocals – yet both coming from …In "Jane from Occupied Europe", a true masterpiece! Another notable band for us in particular is This Heat. I chose ‘Health And Efficiency’ as it’s an incredible track with absolutely phenomenal drumming. This song in itself covers a variety of moods from super uplifting in the beginning ("Here’s a song for the sunshine, dedicated to the sunshine"), however by the end of the track we’ve regressed, we’ve decomposed, the sun has exploded and now the machines are in full control! Both these bands are also highly regarded in our books for their endeavours in experimental recording techniques and taking full control over the process. It’s the essence of punk and DIY and done extremely well; you could spend hours reading about all the crazy processes that they went about in making these badass records!" Listen below and catch them on their European tour, which begins at London’s Oslo on February 4:
