Post-Brexit Punk and Genre

As a concluding thought to our venture into punk this week I wanted to take a look into what I believe to be one of the most interesting movements in modern music. This of course being the Post-Punk coming from artists in the UK right now being labeled under the genre Post-Brexit. Some notable names in this wave include Black Midi, Black Country New Road, Viagra Boys, Shame, Squid, and Yard Act to name a few. In this blog I will be focusing on the first three as I believe they give a good look into what this genre is offering and the direction in which I see it growing. Starting with Black Midi who exploded onto the scene in 2019 with their debut Schlagenheim a chaotic and noisy outburst reminiscent of artists like Slint if it were given more life in a Frankenstein-esque reanimation. With later releases there has been a sharp turn in their sound as it has become more refined and conceptual. This change reached a great height with 2022’s Hellfire a gothic look into the depravity of the human experience that feels like watching a stage play through a fever dream. Directly influenced by Black Midi Black Country, New Road (hereby referred to as BCNR) had an almost more explosive entrance with 2021’s For the First Time an intricately heavy experience I’ve heard described as chaotic bar mitzvah music. With their follow up Ants From Up There BCNR expanded on the emotional aspects of their first record while adding a much softer tone that builds to incredibly intense crescendos most notably on the track basketball shoes. Finally Viagra boys are the artists who I believe have been in the scene the longest with their debut Street Worms coming out in 2018. As can probably be gathered by their name Viagra Boys is known for their irreverent and sharp sense of humor. Their most recent album Cave World is a satirical look at modern life through references to internet culture and many of the the dark aspects of that kind of space. Mixed with this Cave World contains some of the craziest yet captivatingly catchy instrumentals I have ever heard. I would suggest listening to the song Ain’t No Thief to get a sense of their songwriting and just how funny this band can be. You may be reading this blog and thinking to yourself ok this whole thing is just an excuse for this guy to pretentiously talk about music that he likes and you would not be wrong in that assessment. But what I find the most interesting about these bands is what they say about genre and how we classify music. All of these bands have been called Post-Punk especially in the earlier moments of their careers but what is it that makes them Punk? In the time between when each of these groups started out and now their sounds have grown wildly from their origins and from each other. Black Midi has decidedly moved in a more progressive art rock direction creating music that is closer to that of a King Crimson than a Bad Brains. BCNR has since lost their lead vocalist and truly began utilizing the full extent of their numbers as a group incorporating instruments like saxophone, flute, violin, and accordion. The most true to the punk sound of the three groups, Viagra Boys, is comprised of classically trained jazz musicians and hardcore veterans alike creating anti-generic songs that are distinctly contemporary. I think this demonstrates an important aspect of genres as methods of categorization. Genres are not a set check list of necessary components but a much more subjective idea dealing heavily in attitude and vibes. In other words these groups are punk because they feel like punk in their ability to break conventions and push back against societal norms. Utilizing this understanding of genre has helped inform my role as a host of this radio program as I feel less inhibited to leave out a song because it doesn’t neatly fit into a certain genre but instead let the music speak for itself.