When it comes to what is referred to as “post-punk” and repetitive-driven guitar sounds accompanied by tense, circular bass lines and grimy, otherworldly vocals with the an enigma of a frontman meandering through tropes of British magic realism that seemed to be fuelled in equal parts by uppers and downers, you cannot go past The Fall.
After the untimely demise of singer Mark E. Smith in 2017, it was about time for an ode to the legacy of a this idiosyncratic band and its impact at large, which Excavate! does justice to not merely by biographically chronicling The Fall’s history, but approaching the subject matter from a myriad of angles with essays from seemingly unrelated fields, which all contribute to a whole that is much more than the mere sum of the individual parts.
By highlighting contradictions, subtly raising questions and suggesting that due to the band’s mercurial DNA no definite definition can be offered, The Fall is contextualised not merely in their own musical time and age, but in history at large and even the most illuminated aficionado is bound to discover something new and rewarded with new facets to add to their appreciation of The Fall and “excavate” their own philosophy from it.
Needless to say, the at times substantial written elaborations on the antithesis that was The Fall are framed and embedded in graphically detailed, visually appealing eye candy galore ranging from artwork, photographs, gig posters, hand-written communiques and everything in between.
An insightful and fantastically challenging book that is channelling the spirit of a uniquely shape-shifting and paradoxical band.
