Shrill and freaky. Anarchic and a bit oompah-oompah. Almost unanimously loathed. Perhaps what you'd expect if you raised small orphans solely on prog-rock records scratched into the higher channels of Megadeth's Killing Is My Business... And Business Is Good! while they formed a union to demand to go catch the latest
Dexy's Midnight Runners tour.
Cardiacs' first studio album is one for the amnesiacs of the world. It leaps about, chews on its own rhythms -- like "In a City Lining," often 43 times within the same song -- eschewing choruses as if conventional songwriting caused cancer. It's reckless, difficult music that still retains a sense of celebration. The equivalent of a top-secret document with the best bits blacked out. ~ Dean Carlson