Sunday is for The Raincoats

Not knowing who to post about today, I just closed my eyes and grabbed a random c.d. off my shelf and so today I'm posting about The Raincoats. Here's a pretty good fan page that sums up the line-up of the band and what not. They had a drummer named Palmolive who was also in The Slits, who I will have to write about in the future.

Anyway, this was a band I had never heard of until about four years ago when I was given a copy of their first album for a birthday present. I loved it. Jerky rhythms, weird harmonies, strange lyrics, violins, and a cover of "Lola"--it shouldn't work, but does and is incredibly addictive. Their later albums I didn't like so much, probably because they didn't have the inspired drum work, but the first album is a total classic. Sometimes their stuff is hard to find in the U.S., since they are an English band, but see if you can get a copy of it, if you can. Just the first song "Fairy Tale in the Supermarket" is well worth the price of an import c.d. (All the more reason I'm mourning the loss of our local record shop 33 Degrees--I picked up imports there periodically, including an album from The Slits.)

The kind of music The Raincoats play is hard to pin down. I guess they are in that larger category called "post-punk", which is probably one of the dodgiest terms I've ever heard. I guess it's better than "New Wave". Anyway, the album came out in 1980 and so it really is firmly in the post-punk pantheon. From what I understand, there will be a Raincoats song on the upcoming box set of underground 80's rock that Rhino is releasing on Tuesday. I can't wait to see what else makes the cut (and here's to hoping that women are properly represented).