The Fall: GB Ersatz
- Details
- Written by T. Rake
This LP might be more aptly titled Simulacrum/Simulacra to more faithfully capture the relationship between ritual and culture. While the Fall certainly would never be faulted for being inimitable, there is a certain genius to his craft. Here Mark E. has left us to our own devices as we attempt to reconcile this replication with past ghosts and future lives.
To my ears this record has a closer relationship in execution with the glory years [1982-86] but somewhat disassociated with the tactile impact those records provided. We age like Bakelite with patinas revealing themselves slowly but then quickly succumbing to decay. In our brightest moments of culture that relief artifacts convey affords us a platform to order, rate and valuate. There is much to contrast in style and substance, but the granite vocal qualities make one think about the winter years.
All of this stands testament to one bare fact: if this was released in 1987 it would have been transformational. In that way this record fosters an unreal likeness divorced from the reality of its reflection. And maybe that's my one fault I have to report. The record feels influenced by many other bands, rather than produced in spite of those records. I know Keith Richards could care less, but I noticed. This is an underlying conflict that one can never resolve culturally anyway as these words poise towards artifact itself.
- Cosmos 7
- Taking Off
- Nate Will Not Return
- Mask Search
- Greenway
- Happi Song
- Monocard*
- Laptop Dog
- I've Seen Them Come
- Age of Chang