Repartiseraren recommends five new-wave and post-punk bands: Choreography, Absent Friends, Mica, Ciruela Split and Strange Passage

[dropcap]Much[/dropcap] time has passed since I last ventured into the depths of post-punk. It is time to dig up what has long been buried down below—Together with Post-Punk.com, Repartiseraren (formerly Invisible Guy) will lend you a hand in searching – without a spotlight – for those hidden gems nobody had really cared about. If they did care, they didn’t utter a word about it. For us it remains a treasure to be uncovered, just for you readers to digest and take in – hopefully resulting in a renewed hope, cherishing the underground, like dusting off a book you haven’t read for a while, that might’ve given you more then what you hoped for at a first glance.

Choreography – Recollected (EP)

A band you might not know much about at first, but what you uncover when you listen to them is guaranteed satisfaction. Even though the name “Choreography” might allude to something less, they’ve made sure to find their location among all the noise. Their minimalistic approach to post-punk is all about rhythms, all about the singer’s careless voice, all about emptiness – but finding a place of their own among it all – is difficult. Even though it is only four songs long, this almost 15-minute long EP leaves you hopeless – all your amounted hope is forlorn, but you’re not shipwrecked.

From “Third Progression” to “Memory Fails“, there’s always something there holding you down, grabbing you by your arms, dragging you into the depths. It might sound desolate, but their versatile atmosphere, their ingenious structuring of each song, is just what you’d want out of post-punk. Everything is down to the core, but in different ways. Where “Nowhere” ends, “Imposed” picks up and completely nails this EP down for me, hopefully for you too. There’s just something essential about the band, this release, especially the last song – which is what made me add this release to this list. As they’ve written on their page, all that is needed is to “Tear away the veil“.

Absent Friends – Stand Up And Fight

Now for something not entirely different, yet different. With empowering tunes, somewhat inspired by post-punk, but mostly new-wave – the trumpet melodies found in the first tune “Stand Up And Fight” reminds me a lot of Essential Logic’s more joyous brother. Although the song feels like a chorus through and through, it’s too good of a song to be left unheard by the masses. Apparently, this release is included in the Discogs usury scheme where some people try and sell rare or sold out releases for ridiculous prices. So instead of buying it for sixty dollars, you can get it for two dollars from the band themselves.

“Drift Apart” is on the other hand more of a love-ballad, clad in the simpleness of exotic drums and good lyrics. The singing doesn’t interest me as much as the atmosphere itself, but there’s something nostalgic and eerie about everything – so this is for you lovers out there who might not be on the best terms – listen to this and hopefully it will mend your relationship. When it comes to the drumming, it’s just so unnervingly calm, but just as it gets to that point of when you’d just want it to stop – along comes that trumpet again – and you’re stuck with what you’ve got. “It’s a good release so far“, I said to my self, as I slowly faded away and drifted further into the mood, into the rhythm.

You should all realize what you had from the start. It does not get better then this, folks. So take care of yourselfs now. Take it slow, let it be what it is and not what it was.

To read more of this article and the rest of the releases covered, click this link and visit Repartiseraren.se