V/A Scaling Triangles LP reissue
Originally released in 1981, Scaling Triangles was one of the first (and best) compilations of the era to focus explicitly on femme-centered post-punk, collecting three songs each from UK-based acts the PETTICOATS, SOLE SISTER, and SUB VERSE. The PETTICOATS are clearly the marquee name here, and the only one to ever make it out of comp-only purgatory—1980’s Normal EP is an undisputed clanging Messthetics world-beater, and Stef Petticoat’s contributions here are equally wild and not tempered in the slightest by the introduction of the speedy but steady pulse of a rhythm machine over chaotically thumped drums, with “Paranoia” in particular utilizing Stef’s repeated cry of that exact word over ticking metronome clicks and blown-out, trebly guitar to effectively push panic-triggered brain receptors. SUB VERSE’s brittle, drum-machine-rooted post-punk echoes SOLID SPACE’s DIY minimal wave on “Chance Romance” and the MARINE GIRLS on the melancholy and minimalist “Still Friends,” while Sue Clarke’s airy but passionate vocals over the tense rattle of “Science of Fear” is almost anarcho-punk austerity, and the three tracks from SOLE SISTER are switched-on, synth-focused instrumentals, the sort of charmingly homespun bleep-bloop that thrived in the early ’80s cassette underground and the reviews section of OP zine. Real genius shit across the board.