{"product_id":"this-heat-this-heat-lp","title":"This Heat - This Heat LP","description":"\u003cp\u003e\"There's an irony inherent in the term 'postpunk.' Many of the groups that define the genre (think Pere Ubu or Cabaret Voltaire) existed for several years\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003ebefore\u003c\/em\u003e\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003epunk. But these outfits had little hope of finding an audience until punk stirred up an appetite for the extreme, while also spawning a new breed of independent labels that could support challenging music.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"This Heat\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eare a prime example. Formed in early 1976 by drummer Charles Hayward, guitarist Charles Bullen and 'non-musician'\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eGareth Williams, the group were initially unaware of what was brewing elsewhere in London, yet they were driven by similar impulses: to make noise expressive of the era's turbulence. Instead of punk's crude reduction of rock 'n' roll,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThis Heat\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003etook their bearings from expansive inspirations: free jazz, Captain Beefheart, musique concrète, and reggae's disorienting dub techniques.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Vital to their evolution was Cold Storage, a disused meat fridge in Brixton where the band rehearsed. Produced by\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThis Heat\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003ewith\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eDavid Cunningham\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eand Anthony Moore, their 1979 debut was collaged out of cassette tapes and recordings made during ultra-cheap graveyard shifts at The Workhouse. The jump-cuts in sound quality were deliberately designed to make the album more unsettled and jarring.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"The first two principles of\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThis Heat's mission statement – 'All possible processes. All channels open.' – could have been co-signed by many pre-punk experimentalists. It's the third part – '24 hour alert.' – that makes\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003eThis Heat\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003earchetypally post-punk, crystallizing the 'totally-wired' mood of paranoid vigilance they shared with peers like Scritti Politti and The Pop Group. Soft power – the mind-control of television and advertising – was an obsession; several tracks take their titles from the gogglebox ('Testcard,' 'Horizontal Hold'). But hard power – in particular, geopolitical dominance – is also addressed in tracks like 'The Fall of Saigon.'\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\"Perhaps the most startling piece here is '24 Track Loop.' Breakbeat-like drums are processed using the Eventide Harmonizer, a machine famously used on Bowie's\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cem\u003eLow\u003c\/em\u003e. The song's creaky textures and pitch-shifted beats anticipate '90s jungle, but the entire album is a controlled explosion of ideas. Nearly fifty years on,\u003cspan\u003e \u003c\/span\u003e\u003ca href=\"https:\/\/www.superiorviaduct.com\/collections\/this-heat\"\u003eThis Heat\u003c\/a\u003e's debut is something the world has still not completely caught up with.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e– Simon Reynolds\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Midheaven","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45195301322934,"sku":null,"price":52.0,"currency_code":"AUD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0525\/9119\/8390\/files\/SV219_web_1024x1024_c4711382-a4fd-4ee7-853d-5e51be3e3f66.jpg?v=1781840021","url":"https:\/\/repressedrecords.com\/products\/this-heat-this-heat-lp","provider":"Repressed Records","version":"1.0","type":"link"}