Ex

Over the past 26 years Amsterdam politico-punks the Ex have been utilising their right to say "fuck you” to whatever system of thought or party action they deem unsavoury. During this time, they’ve also continuously expanded their musical horizons enough to make some truly unnerving and vital experimental post-punk that sounds as fresh and vehement today as ever. Singles. Period. stands as sure-fire proof that the Ex were an immense political and musical force from the very get-go — their first self-released seven-inch EP, All Corpses Smell the Same, with such telling tracks as "Human Car” and "Apathy Disease,” sounds as raw, innovative and exciting as Minor Threat still does. From here on (this compilation covers 1980 – 1990) the Ex reel through a kaleidoscope of challenging stylistic shifts that have as much in common with the spastic, rhythmic, off-the-cuff post-punk revival of the past few years as the deeply nihilistic worldwide underground of the ’80s. "Constitutional State” is the kind of song that would sound at home on an album by Minutemen, Scissor Girls or Erase Errata, transcending three decades of stylistic potency; "Gonna Rob the Spermbank” starts as a mystic Sonic Youth shredder before upping the hi-hat action for dissonant danceable action; and "Weapons for El Salvador” is not only a corrosively rhythmic masterpiece of circular revolution, but a veritable manifesto spouting such ballsy lines as "Guerrila-war is not the problem, it’s the bloody solution.” Essential listening.