Friday 6 March 2009

Correcting the balance ...


Leading up to the launch of Your Heart Out I was growing increasingly frustrated at the media and what it was doing to music, the incessant labelling, the facile compartmentalising. It wasn't a case of things being overlooked so much as being put back together all wrong. The focus on 'post-punk' being a perfect example. Life and music was far more mixed-up than the official histories would have you believe. So, utilising a very limited know-how of technology I started messing about putting together mixes of sounds from, roughly, 1979-1982. One way and another this led to the 'print' version of Your Heart Out.


So, to illustrate this train of thought I'm going to have a go at posting one of those mixes for you here. Here goes ... the sound of my youth from my archives.


The photo illustrating this post comes from a collection by George Plemper, who in the late '70s and early '80s captured life in what was roughly my part of south London. Being a school kid at the time, seeing these photos nearly 30 years on was rather like seeing ghosts.


3 comments:

  1. hi and thank you for making yrheartout. I stumbled upon here thanks to unpopular. could you recommend me any compilations that cover music similar to this mix? I'm trying to get to know more post-punk and indiepop bands from the 70s/80s. I hope I don't sound like a horrible hipster who's into post-punk for the sake of being cool.

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  2. Hi Luise. Thanks for the kind words, and delighted to help in any way I can. Not sure if there are many comps like this mix, which is why I did it. Though Cherry Red I notice has a CD out called Perfect Unpop which looks good, and there's a CD to go with Simon Reynolds' Rip It Up book which has some great tracks on. And there's a late '70s mod compilation called On Target which has lots of great pop noise on. Otherwise Domino has great Orange Juice, Josef K, Young Marble Giants collections and Kill Rock Stars likewise with Delta 5, Essential Logic, Liliput.

    I will try and post more mixes of lost classics! Hope this helps.

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  3. Wow wow wow! Thank you so much for posting this mix. Came here from Caught by the River and it's super-fantastic. What a great compilation - I would never have picked up any of these songs by myself but a really rewarding mix. Thanks again.

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