Josef K - The Only Fun in Town
Josef K - Sorry for Laughing
#332 & 333
1981 Housekeeping
July 1981
Josef K
The Only Fun in Town & Sorry for Laughing
Genre: Post-punk with edge
3.5 out of 5
3.75 out of 5
Highlights:
Fun n’ Frenzy
Heads Watch
This is a double shot. Josef K released 2 records in 1981 and some of the tracks overlap so I listened to them back to back.
Bare with me on this. If you took the incessant post-rock of Joy Division and merged it with angular new wave jitters this is what you get. It makes for very difficult and somewhat impenetrable songsmithing but at the same time it’s the kind of post-rock that defined the back pages of Trouser Press for me. (Never did get those Beatle Boots from Trash & Vaudeville, though.
Trouble is, while there’s a lot of energy and obvious intent to be a part of something, Josef K doesn’t really write any songs so there’s no there there.
This has all the charm of XTC’s White Music and none of the emotional depth of the aforementioned Joy Division.
Am I being harsh on Josf K? Maybe. There’s actually good stuff here. Like the highlighted tracks and others like “Sense of Guilt” and this type of music will be recreated in 20+ years by bands like Ima Robot and Sons & Daughters and others and, by then production will have caught up with intention.
This is another example of the band being better than the lead singer and his words. “Terry’s Shows Lies” and “No Glory” are scabrous guitar attacks matched by incessant percussion but undermined by Haig’s vocals. Which, after 2 albums, I’ve come to realize…is The Strokes.
Seriously, listen to “Sorry for Laughing” and tell me that’s not The Strokes.
Did the Strokes listen to Josef K? Julian Casablancas even sounds like Paul Haig.
Hrmmm…
https://music.apple.com/us/album/the-only-fun-in-town/881702328
https://music.apple.com/us/album/sorry-for-laughing/881794495
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