This time around I listen to the critically-acclaimed post-punk album "The Idiot" by the curiously named "Ian Curtis Hanging From A Rope".
If I had a Joy Division cover band I'd name it
I went in expecting post-punk that would skate on the "punk" side of the road; I instead listened to an album that quietly bicycled on the "new wave" side while brooding under their hood as the rain poured down upon them. I also wasn't expecting to want to commit suicide after listening to this album but I nearly did, given how desperate the lyrics are and how awful the guy's voice is. And I don't mean awful as in "he can't sing", he actually has a wonderful voice, I mean awful as in "Was anyone really surprised this guy offed himself".
You want to dance to it but it's too depressing.
"Disorder" has a catchy as hell guitar and bass combo with some nice bass in backup, and the vocal rythym is awesome.
"Day of the Lords" has a really good driving beat with synths and the lyrics are great. Love the guitars here again.
"Candidate" has a haunting synth line with a great bass and drums combination, and the lyrics are brilliant. I love the way Ian Curtis sings, it's amazing. The lyrics fit his voice perfectly.
"Insight" has a very strange sound to it. His voice is muffled and there's an "ooh ooh" in the background while the drums and guitar go along, then in the middle it cuts into a bunch of space-agey synth.
"New Dawn Fades" opens in a very driving, sinister way with dramatic drums (and cool cymbal smacks in the background) and a guitar riff that sounds straight out of a much heavier album. The whole song remains pretty urgent and dramatic, and overall it's pretty cool. Love the percussion in this one.
"She's Lost Control" has the catchiest weird-drums-and-synth opening in the world with more horribly depressing lyrics along with this guy's desperately monotonous voice. If it wasn't already obvious Ian Curtis is bored with the world and because of this he can't live, because HE'S lost control. As I listen to this album I'm listening to his suicide note. There's a driving guitar that kicks in in the middle and helps out the aforementioned synth-and-ddrum combo. Also you're listening to a man die.
"Shadowplay" has some bass and cymbals panickedly segue into the main beat and more echoey-desperation vocals about how Ian Curtis is waiting for you while grooving through shadows. There's a guitar solo here that sounds straight out of someone else's genre but it works, somehow, probably because the whole bloody album is an emotionally schizophrenic mess and WHY SHOULDN'T THE MUSIC REFLECT THAT. The guitar does it all again near the end and the percussion and synths chip in their own craziness during both sections as well so it's all well and good except it isn't because I'm sad.
"Wilderness" has a drum-heavy opening with added bass and eventual guitar that made me cream myself. Then Ian starts talking about how he's traveled far and wide to many different times and sees death everywhere, like some sort of emo time traveller. The blood of Christ on their skins alright. This song is wilderness. That's what it sounds like. The drums are pounding out a heart rhythym (that's the only way I can describe it) and the bass sort of plays along but is on its own and the guitar is just their and the vocals are still up and above in the canyon or wherever.
Then we have "Interzone" with some cool call-back vocals and a kickin' riff on the guitar. Surprisingly rocking here, stark contrast compared to the new wave drums. It all fits, though, not sure how or why but it does. The bass is laying down some basic stuff here to follow the guitar and it's all well and good. Love this track as much as the others.
"I Remember Nothing" closes the album with a sinister opening of background synth, echoey-soft drums and some soft but dark guitar. Then glass breaks or something and Curtis starts wailing about how we were strangers because we live in our own worlds. Anyway the whole thing is dark and mysterious and foreboding and depressing and it's a slogging great time. Ends all dark and crashing and stuff and it's probably what the room sounded like when Ian Curtis hanged himself.
Unknown Pleasures is an album I'll be revisiting. I loved it, and it's a masterpiece. So long as I never enter a period of serious depression I think I can handle it.