The 1980 Listening Post - Swell Maps - ...in "Jane from Occupied Europe"

 Swell Maps - ...in "Jane from Occupied Europe"

#292

by Lori Alley

Swell Maps

…in “Jane from Occupied Europe"

Genre: Postpunk Masterful Caucophony

Allen’s Rating: 4 out of 5
Lori’s Rating 4.5/5

Highlights:
International Rescue
Border Country
Cake Shop Girl
Collision with a Frogman

Okay Swell Maps, where have you been all my life?  This is QUINTESSENTIAL punk/post punk.  Look at them this way: if really really good abstract art was a sound, it might be this.  Or, pare down the Buzzcocks, add a tiny bit of Eno's later Drawn From Life (esp. Robot Factory), then mix in music for a 1960's spy movie and you've got this album.  According to The Wiki, they influenced Sonic Youth, Pavement and the Replacements. 

 I get it.  I would have LOST MY SHIT if I'd stumbled across this in high school (although further research reveals that their first album "A Trip To Marineville" may have appealed more.  The track Midget Submarine appears on that record first).  

The Swell Maps also made a few instrumental songs for this album, they're mechanical but with a lilt and although slightly wandering,  and would not be irritating background music on a long drive, or while taking a shower.  Here's a line from Cake Shop Girl "How'd you like to buy a wedding cake for you and me?"  I mean, simply charming and very CHEEKY.  I would call this record adventurous, ground breaking, smart, SWELL, hilarious and SPOT ON if I were a music reviewer.   Oh wait!  I am!  I can't say enough about the originality or authenticity of this sound.  It's hard, as always, to contextualize something that came out in 1980 in 2020, but I think because of it's strength it is a really great, and still fresh somehow, reminder of the times.  I would also recommend listening to The Peel Sessions for more good stuff from The Swell Maps.  You're welcome!



https://open.spotify.com/album/4e9bxElchi4bcv9HwxijnS?si=OLJedYwgQFGl-77lhrUFug