Optimo DJ god JD Twitch comes to The Alibi in London next weekend to play an exclusive early set of US/UK punk, post-punk and hardcore, based on last year’s ‘60 Minutes of Fear’ compilation. Hailed by Pitchfork as “a sound fetishist’s treasure trove of the accidental glories of no-fi technology” this looks totally unmissable.

Support comes from Gold Blood who have pant-wettingly been described as “collusion of Liaisons Dangereuses, AFX and Black Flag” and The Beat djs.

Full details and event info here: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=143417262336129

Experimental post-punkers Table Manners are very much in the minimalist Prinzhorn Dance School vein, with an authentic early 80s feel despite having only formed a year ago. Always impressive live, they’ve recorded a fantastic set of tracks and released it all as a free download album! Click on the picture above for the Rapidshare link.

Write Record Release, run by the band members themselves, is a burgeoning club night happening monthly at The George Tavern. With the likes of Dignan Porch, Micron 63, Islington Boys Club, and Cotton Club coming up, it’s well worth a night out. The next night is on 26th Feb, and hit read more for full lineups and dates for the next couple months.

Also, we’ve picked a personal fave track from the download album below, as a taster. ‘Sharp 1200′ kicks the collection off with a compelling sample before the ominous drum line leads into this fantastic cold drone track. “Midnight has never been so sharp”, indeed. Grab it below and if you like it, grab the full album via Rapidshare.

MP3: Table Manners – Sharp 1200

Industrial post-punkers Killing Joke feature on the excellent ‘Bustin’ Out, The Post Punk Era 1979-1981‘ compilation and we’re pleased to have their contribution available for download. The comp is perfectly done, with almighty tracks from Bush Tetras, Josef K and 23 Skidoo alongside this great track and the excellent Lizzy Mercier Descloux, among others. From 1979 to today Killing Joke remain an incredibly influential group. Indeed, if you think you haven’t heard them, you almost certainly have – James Murphy used their ‘Change’ as the bass and drum hook for LCD Soundsystem’s killer ‘Losing My Edge’ and Nirvana’s ‘Come As You Are’ was just as much an “homage” to Killing Joke’s ‘Eighties’ as ‘…Teen Spirit’ was to Boston’s ‘More Than A Feeling’. Anyway, the track is pretty much mindblowing as is, without all the history etc, so download below and check out videos for ‘Change’ and ‘Eighties’ after the jump.

MP3: Killing Joke – Almost Red

Time Out resident djs and bloggers extraordinaire ‘The Beat’ present an evening of forward thinking electronic music split into two parts.

The early part of the evening sees the djs exploring early electronic music including progressive and kraut rock, post-punk, minimal and cold wave. Followed by a more dancefloor friendly mix of chicago and acid house, dark pop and new beat, italo disco and proto house to accompany the latter half of the night.

We also welcome special guest djs OffsetCirlces. An amalgamation of the best things to come out of Southend in the last few years – Offset Festival, Experimental Circle Club and the legendary Junk Club – they will be providing their unique mix of dark disco, minimal techno and brooding electronics.

The Russian
267 Kingsland Road
Shoreditch E2 8AS
07809 425 905‎

Friday 29th January 2010
Open 8pm-5am, Djs from 10pm

Free before midnight, £5 after
Bottles, wine, spirit & mixer £2.50 till 11pm
Shots £2 till 11pm

www.wearethebeat.co.uk

Wetdog launch their second album ‘Frauhaus!’ at The Lexington tonight for free! The trio’s post-punk offerings are worth the trip to preview the release, which comes out on 30th November on Angular Recordings. This is the first single off the forthcoming, that came out a couple of weeks back. You can pre-order the album through Angular too. Go tonight, it will be an enjoyable experience.

Wetdog – Lower Leg

Brighton-based post-punk maestros ‘Where to Now?’ have just launched the next installment in their outrageously good series of compilations.

As usual it’s available to download for free from their myspace page at: www.myspace.com/wheretonowdjs

Full tracklist after the jump…

ACR formed in 1978 and over the last 30 years their pioneering brand of punk-funk briefly had NYC looking to Manchester for pointers and turned out to have a huge influence on the likes of LCD Soundsystem, The Rapture, Franz Ferdinand – a whole generation of artists who like to move your feet as well as your mind. One of Factory Record’s many inspired signings, they went on to continually record albums that were ahead of their time and took years to be rediscovered and appreciated. The Soul Jazz label’s reissues in 2004 brought their work to a new audience and since then the band have been carefully selecting shows such as LA’s recent ‘Part Time Punks’ festival alongside The Slits, Love Is All, Pylon, and the sadly cancelled reunion of ACR and ESG which was planned for the Barbican in March. Read on for a full history of A Certain Ratio with comprehensive video and sound…

WIRE talk about the many bands they’ve influenced, angering the punk scene and…erm, Victoria’s Secret adverts.

Gang Of Four’s long-awaited new single finally hit the shops this week. ‘Second Life’ is a blast of stacatto pop that, along with the very well-received set at Massive Attack’s Meltdown, has shown that there’s a good future left in them yet. Despite losing the original rhythm section of Dave Allen & Hugo Burnham, the new line-up sounded fresh and taut to my ears, and Jon King is still one of the most exciting frontmen around to watch.

Buy the new single at Rough Trade – here are a couple of demo versions of the song kindly put up by Dave Allen before he left the band. And you’ve got to catch them live while they’re still this excited!

MP3: Gang Of Four – Second Life (rough demo)

MP3: Gang Of Four – Second Life (version 2 demo)

Now we don’t usually cross the pond to bring you your news, but this is just too fucking cool to ignore. NYC no wave legends Teenage Jesus & The Jerks perform this Friday at the Knitting Factory in New York, bringing back the chaos of late-70s no wave for one night only. There’s plenty going on right now to celebrate: the Thurston Moore-compiled book ‘No Wave:Post Punk, Underground, New York 1976-1980′, a comprehensive Lydia Lunch DVD containing not just Teenage Jesus perfomances but also all her musical collaborations from 1978-2006, and hopefully on 6th August a definitive Teenage Jesus & The Jerks compilation! If, like me, you’ll be half a million miles away from NYC this Friday, try the classic video after the jump. It soothes the pain.