Cardiacs' music is noted for balancing the attack and 'raw energy' of punk rock with the intricacies and technical cleverness of early British progressive rock. The band also incorporates elements of other musical forms such as ska, mediaeval music, folk music, heavy metal, hymns and corporate anthems.[7][8][9] The music magazine Organ once commented that "one Cardiacs song contains more ideas than most other musicians' entire careers."[14]
The broad combination of styles in the band's music has sometimes been referred to as "progressive punk" – or "pronk" – and has led to Cardiacs being labelled the primary exponents of this musical style. Tim Smith rejects the term, and prefers the description "psychedelic" or simply "pop".[3][2][15] Musicians that the band have cited as influences include XTC, Van der Graaf Generator, Gong, early Split Enz, Devo, Gentle Giant, Alberto Y Los Trios Paranoias, early Genesis, Deaf School and Wire.[2] Smith has stated, "I don’t know what influences us really, I wouldn’t say that we are influenced by any actual bands in particular".[16] Tim Smith has denied that Gentle Giant was an influence on the band, but Sarah Smith says that they were.(wiki)
Here we go again. SNFU singer, Ken Chinn has just died, now Tim Smith of UK new wave/punk/alternative rock/bit of ska band the Cardiacs. He was 54. I've only ever owned 2 Cardiacs live audios. Their official live album, recorded at The Paradiso, Amsterdam, 15/05/88 [let me know if anyone wants that PM's] & this show from London. Any other Cardiacs shows will be most welcome.
Thanks; amazing band. I saw them about 2 months before this. Unforgettable (in a good way), and I must have seen a thousand gigs.
ReplyDeleteI'm into rock since the late 60ies, reading mgazines, lexica, books ie., considering myself a bit as a lexicon (my personal 1001 records version will follow as post these days - but I really didn't was aware of them at all. I'm so damned happy to have found out about the band and for now listening to their records disc by disc, yesterday "Big Ship": such a wonderful discovery.
ReplyDeleteNew to the pond? Your in for a mindbending ride then. This band has a habit of making fans into obsessives. And yeah, sorry you didn't find them while it was still possible to see them live. Alas us latecomers are a significant portion of the fanbase.
ReplyDeleteLosing tim is a blow.
ah, i'm just happy mark reilley played them and i realized my miss. ;)
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