The Non-Definitive Guide to Post-Punk
You wanted me to break down one of the largest, most influential, and most complicated musical genres. Well, I've got bad news for you.
What type of music do you default to listening to when you’re not sure what you’re in the mood for?
For me, it’s post-punk. But you knew that already. Maybe you’re one of the people who’s been clamoring for a genre deep dive about it. I’ve got bad news for you.
I love post-punk, but I also can’t do it justice. It keeps sucking me down into its gaping maw. It’s the quicksand we were all so terrified of falling into when we watched Saturday morning cartoons as children.
I fear if I speak its name three times, the Real Music Critics will emerge from their lairs (from under my floorboards, I have to imagine?) and start tearing me limb from limb for my failures:
For miscategorizing a seminal post-punk1 album as new wave. For not tracing influences properly. For… not mentioning Pere Ubu, maybe? It’s a minefield, and I’d rather not play in it at all.
The problem (and it’s a good one to have) is that we’re experiencing a post-punk renaissance. I don’t want to deprive you of its glory. So we’ll compromise.
I’ll give you the quickest possible history lesson imaginable (one that no Real Music Critic would ever rubber stamp), a crash course in what post-punk sounds like, and then — finally! — get to some new music recommendations.
“What is post-punk?” is kind of a trick question
Below are three albums.
The first is proto-punk, the second is punk, and the third is post-punk.
All of them came out in 1977.
It’s true that post-punk grew out of punk rock. But one of the reasons that I feel so easily overwhelmed when I start digging into this genre is that it’s not a clean break; it’s more of a coevolution. Despite the implications of chronology, proto-punk, punk, and post-punk all developed simultaneously.2 The prefix modifying “punk” is both a retronym3 and a misnomer.
What punk democratized, post-punk intellectualized.
Better to say that post-punk reacted to punk rather than evolved from it. Musicians who listened to punk — many of whom were playing it themselves — were fans of punk’s message, but a little bored with its simplicity. They wanted room to play around with more complex structures, textures, lyrics, instrumentation, rhythm… all of it. They also brought the everyman’s political unrest up a notch to the academic ranks. What punk democratized, post-punk intellectualized.
Adding more to the genre confusion, new wave was also emerging at the same time as post-punk. Not only do many bands still get slapped with both labels, but critics love to fight about which bands qualify as which.
I bet you can name at least one other album that has been called both post-punk and new wave at some point.
This isn’t a debate I’m going to rehash or resolve today, but there’s one way that it was explained to me that really stuck with me, and I’ll pass it along to you:
Post-punk grew out of punk.
New wave grew out of disco4.
Punk and disco were coexisting but diametrically opposed genres that birthed two brand new genres that far overshadowed their progenitors in complexity.
But that tells us fuck-all about what any of it sounds like.
“What does post-punk sound like?” is slightly easier to answer
When I stop trying to define post-punk and just listen, there are a few auditory elements that pop out at me.
Rejection of traditional rock song structure (fewer hooks, less reliance on verse-chorus-verse).
Bass as a focal point and driving force of the music.
Disaffected, deadpan vocals or otherwise flat delivery. (“Men shouting at me” is my favorite way to describe this.)
Nervous energy and jittery rhythm. If you’ve heard the terms “angular” or “oblique” when describing guitar sounds, that jagged, interval jumping is part of what creates this feeling.
Purposeful use of negative space without the need to fill every moment with instrumentation.
I missed a bunch. What would you add?
If you listened to the examples, you’ll notice there’s quite a lot of crossover. It’s one of the many reasons why this entire exercise has me sweating.
Here’s another.
Post-punk has seemingly infinite subgenre spinoffs, many of which sound so distinct from the umbrella genre that it’s hard to believe they share the same roots.
And what’s worse, these subgenres — much like their parent genres, punk and post-punk — also5 coevolved.
The truth is, you can mix and match those sonic elements and end up with drastically different sounds. The Bush Tetras, The Smiths, and Bauhaus have all been called post-punk. Same with Devo, Talking Heads, and B-52s. If you’re scratching your head, I don’t blame you. No matter what anyone says, the boundaries of this genre are not cleanly drawn.6
If I don’t stay focused, I might as well just send you all a copy of Rip It Up and Start Again and be done with it. I’m not going to fall into the quicksand, dammit!
A Small Taste of Post-Punk’s New Wave
I couldn’t resist making that heading as confusing as possible; forgive me.
Instead of sinking into the subgenres, or even specific 1:1 mapping of old bands to new bands like I usually do, I’m going to recommend a handful of lesser-known new bands7 that share the characteristics I’ve just outlined and are clearly reviving the spirit of post-punk.8
Please share your own favorites, and stay tuned for a playlist with many more examples later this week.
Italia 90 - Living Human Treasure (Brace Yourself, 2023)
Whether you realize it or not, when you think of what post-punk sounds like, you’re almost certainly imagining something that sounds like Gang of Four or The Fall. Even more than most modern revival acts, Italia 90 follows that precise lineage.
Start with: “Tales From Beyond”
Sweeping Promises - Good Living Is Coming For You (Sub Pop, 2023)
If you’re ready to go slightly off the beaten post-punk path, try one that blends ‘60s girl group vocals and surf rock guitars with decidedly art-punk bass and fuzzed out, lo-fi production. Think of a mashup between Blondie, B-52s, Kleenex, and X-Ray Spex.
Start with: “Shadow Me”
The Cool Greenhouse - Sod’s Toastie (Melodic, 2022)
Yes, we’re hearing the same typical influences you’d expect (I’m already tired of retyping Wire and Gang of Four and The Fall over and over, honestly), but the minimalism and dry lyricism have been ratcheted up to comical extremes. I’m reminded a bit of Viagra Boys.
Start with: “Hard Rock Potato”
Drahla - angeltape (Captured Tracks, 2024)
One of my favorite parts of this wave of post-punk revival is the resurgence of brass and woodwind instruments in band lineups. The addition of a saxophone is a pleasant surprise on this record. Drahla swings a bit more experimental than Romeo Void, a bit darker than Theoretical Girls, and a bit more dance-punk than Sonic Youth. But they all left their mark.
Start with: “Default Parody”
La Sécurité - Stay Safe (Mothland, 2023)
Post-punk has a reputation for being incredibly bleak and depressing. It’s generally performed by politically outraged young men who have spent so much time reading French philosophy and communist literature that they just need to agonize in song, I guess. Thank goodness for dance-punk (or art-punk, or whatever you want to call this particular post-punk subgenre), which proves that political outrage can be worked out on the dance floor. Much as I love riot grrrl (and punk, for that matter), I sometimes need to listen to something a little bit more elaborate. You’ll definitely hear Le Tigre here, but also ESG, Maximum Joy, and the B-52s (again!)
Start with: “Anyway”
Gustaf - Package Pt. 2 (Royal Mountain, 2024)
It’s my favorite flavor, so you’re getting more funky dance-punk. For anyone too lazy to watch the little clip above, I’ll summarize: Gustaf (led by Tarra T) is a mix of The Normal, The Slits, Kim Gordon, and Romeo Void. Cold insouciance that somehow makes you wanna to get down.
Start with: “Close”
Want more?
I hosted a radio hour in the Discord server a few weeks ago featuring an hour (obvs) of post-punk, both old and new.
I’ll share the playlist in a few days with paid subscribers.
I’ll also be hosting these radio hours monthly - the next one is February 15th. I already have a few ideas about a new theme, but let me know what you’re hankering for!
In case you need another reason to join the Discord, we’re also starting a NBfoH book club in February.
See you there?
xo
Gabbie
That’s three!
Sure, Tom Verlaine wrote and performed a lot of songs off Marquee Moon years before the record came out, and a lot of proto-punk does trace back to the late ‘60s, but fact that there was any overlap at all makes this a tricky business.
At the time, post-punk was called “new musick.”
“How dare you insinuate that Joy Division grew out of disco!” Etc. etc. I’m not. But think about Blondie for a moment.
Mostly.
And I haven’t even bothered to get into the differences between the US and UK scenes.
Because you’ve likely already heard of the usual suspects: Yard Act, The Murder Capital, Squid, Fontaines D.C., Dry Cleaning, Omni, Protomartyr, SPRINTS, black midi, shame, and all the rest.
Post-punk has been revived twice. Once in the 2000s, with bands like The Strokes, Interpol, Bloc Party, Franz Ferdinand, and Yeah Yeah Yeahs. And now again in the 2020s. This third wave sounds truer to the original to my ear. It’s also, well, newer. So these new music recommendations won’t rehash the second wave.
i learned a lot but i'm still confused
Late eighties, if you went to Berkeley or anywhere in the San Francisco Bay area, the record shops had the "alternative" section. It was often a catchall label for punk and anything afterwards. Talking Heads is an interesting creature to me: it went from proto to postpunk w/o touching punk much.