London wild child Mark Hex returns! The British musician releases a new live album, Live In The DDR, covering The Cure and Brian Eno.
Somewhere between a best of, new EP, and covers album, the tracks encapsulate the sporadic and untameable nature of a Mark Hex show. Originally filmed as a live video broadcast after an invitation from Italian Cure fan group Out Of This World, the resulting audio is now ready to be unleashed to this strange new world.
It is a bizarre collection of unique interpretations, a punk aesthetic with garage sensibilities in all the tracks. Live In The DDR was recorded in an empty room in the midst of early 2021, with Mark Estall at the helm. The stripped-back, haunting sound of a ghostly audience pervades the entire album. Flowers of Romance era Public Image Limited, Alien Sex Fiend, Kaelan Mikla, early Siouxsie and the Banshees and, of course, The Cure, are clear influences, as is a touch of Billy Bragg.
The lead track, Seventeen Seconds, shows Hex pouring his blackened heart out over a skeletal cover of The Cure classic, laid heavy with punk vitriol. A bratty interpretation of Brian Eno’s Baby’s on Fire also gets an outing, alongside live favourites LDN NGRY, S.M.A.S.H.E.D and This is Glasgow, alongside a revised Hungry American for the Biden age. A couple of exclusive newbies also feature on the album.
Check it out below:
Mark Hex continues to DJ and plays live around London. His next show is a DJ slot at the legendary dark club, Slimelight, on Saturday 14th August.
