Active between 1979 and 1982, Manchester post-punk art-noise quartet The Diagram Brothers released four singles and one album, most appearing on New Hormones, the label founded by Buzzcocks. Feted by John Peel, the band recorded three BBC sessions in as many years, and drew comparisons with Gang of Four, XTC and Fire Engines for their angular, dissonant dance music. To read full Diagrams biography click here. To order CD click here.
I am serious this is the absolute shit. I just want to die. Manchester have done it again.SOME MARVELS OF MODERN SCIENCE + SINGLES (LTMCD 2480) £10
Digitally remastered from the original studio tapes, this expanded CD edition features all 14 tracks from the album originally released in November 1981, as well as ten bonus tracks from all four Diagram singles released between 1980 and 1982, including the cult favourites Bricks and Discordo, as well as the ultra-rare Diagram Brothers German EP. The booklet features a facsimile of the cut-and-paste Portfolio postcard set, rare photos and a detail band history. 24 tracks, 70 minutes of music. Full tracklist: Those Men In White Coats, My Bad Chest Feels Much Better Now, Seals/Fur Coats, Put It In A Bigger Box, Words From Major, Here Come The Visitors, Isn't It Interesting How Neutron Bombs Work, Ron! The Morris Minor's Gone, I'm A Policeman, I Didn't Get Where I Am Today By Being A Right Git, Aggeravation, I'm Not Going To Fight For Oil, Litter, Bikers, Bricks, Postal Bargains, Discordo, My Dinner, Fondue Soiree, Cherry Blossom, We Are All Animals, There Is No Shower, I Would Like To Live In Prison, Right Git (German version).
Reviews: "The Diagram Brothers play an extraordinary, quirky, jerky brand of speedo funk, as if some Pavlovian behaviourist has got hold of The Gang of Four and started to do tricky experiments on them... Science before sentience, the didactic before the ecstatic seems to be the unusual anti-rock n' roll idea... SMOMS is an album of observations which are never dull, and of music which - in spite of being clinical - is never cold. I quite warm to this kind of off-beat fun and to the proof that the English eccentric spirit needn't necessarily take twee grown-up public schoolboy forms" (NME, 12/81); "If Devo came from Manchester they'd probably sound like this oddball quartet who, of course, aren't brothers at all. This 10-incher finds them singing lines like "How important is my dinner?" over sharp and jerky rhythms. Sounds silly? It is. Good though" (Record Mirror, 7-8/82); "Not easy to dance to. I tried and twisted my ankle, because the music kind of stops and starts" (The Leveller, 05/81); "An uneasy funk, in which two guitars appear to throttle each other" (Smash Hits, 04/81); "A great new pop band, Manchester's most potent contenders" (NME, 11/80); "Freakzone's featured album of the week!" (BBC6 Music, 2/07)
If you are in the U.S. you can get it cheaply at www.darla.com as is true for all LTM CD's.