Today, we continue our recurring series, "Sonic Reducer." In the series, Punknews writers compress a band, genre, theme, or time period into a playlist that would fit on a single CD. Along with the playlist, you'll get either an overview of the topic, such as a band introduction, or a story about how the music in the playlist moved or changed the writer. This series is intended to be educational, giving you the listener an overview of a certain scene, as well as rockin'.
Today, we focus on a The Fall playlist curated by Punknews writer Keenan Novi. You can hear it below and read his thoughts on the band.
Acolytes of The Fall will often talk about the band being an object of obsession; a band not for passive observers, but exclusively for over eager fans. Add that to the fact that the group has a mammoth catalog (this year's Sub Lingual Tablet is their 31st album) and it would seem that the band is damn near impenetrable. It's easy to think that way, but all you really have to do is dive headfirst into the madness.
The Fall has a reputation the precedes them by a mile and directly in the middle of it all is crazed/ornery/genius(?) frontman Mark E. Smith. He's a man of many words, most of them perversely slurred beyond recognition. For better or worse, he's the de facto leader of this ever changing league of musicians. He's not above firing band members in the middle of a concert or participating in layers of indulgent studio fuck-ery. Any recording decision or change of sound (and there's been many of them) can be traced squarely back to him. It's entirely possible that he'd rather throw an ashtray of still burning cigarette butts in your face than explain himself.
One of the band's earliest lyrics states "We are the Fall / Northern white crap that talks back." Self effacing, sure, but all too accurate as well. That attitude is part of the reason why the band are roundly respected by indie rock heavyweights as well as up and coming post-punk torch bearers. Even fictionalized serial killers seem to enjoy listening to them in their basement lairs.
Putting together the playlist was daunting, as I had to cram the band's frenzied nature, best moments, and (nearly) 40 years of evolution into one hour. Trying to balance all these factors while maintaining an approachable tone for new listeners resulted in some tough decisions. Consequently, none of the tracks from my personal favorite studio album (Hex Enduction Hour) made the cut. So enjoy it. It's messy, meandering, and (at times) bloated. Everything I love about this band. -Keenan Novi