Punk is most definitely
not dead. It’s positively flourishing. And we’re not talking
rubbish Guns N’ Roses covers albums either. Witness the work of
Alex Patterson, Youth, Secret Knowledge’s Kris Needs, The Drum
Club and leftfield over the last 18 months. Even former members of Discharge
are making techno records!
Easy then, to label this
enclave of artisans as a bunch of old men finding refuge behind the
anonymity of a Stussy ski hat, but there can be little doubt that in
the past year they’ve changed the face of alternative music –
real indie-music that is, not your credibility-seeking major label offshoot.
Whether it’s the growing success of The Orb or the phenomenal
achievements of the Megadog Midi-Circus collective, Leftfield have played
their part with a series of immaculately crafted singles on Guerilla
and their own Hard Hands label, but "Open Up" is their finest
moment yet.
The vocal version charges
along with waves of Eastern sounds, jarring industrial bleeps and the
mother of all basslines, while the dub version is a dark beast, crisp
percussion competing for space with trance-inducing synth patterns.
Lydon is at his barking best and the true mark of its greatness is that,
for all his past history, this sounds as fresh as if he’d been
dragged off the street and shown a microphone for the very first time.
"Bigger than God!" - as he so rightly hollers. |