Cardiacs: “Tarred and Feathered”
Who here likes pronk* music? Who here even knows what pronk means? I didn’t, until Cardiacs blew my feeble mind.
Pronk = progressive + punk. Formed in 1977, the UK-based band (led by gibbering genius Tim Smith) is one of those “what the holy fucking shitballs is going on here” bands that 99.3% of humanity will have no idea what to do with, and the remaining .7% will want to kiss with tongue and worship and marry and make little psychedelic math rock babies with forever and ever, amen.
*To be fair, Smith dislikes his music being pigeonholed as Pronk, preferring a label of “Psychedelic” or “Pop”. Forgive me, good sir, Pronk’s just so fun to say! Pronkity, pronk, pronk, pronk.
Click on one of those grimacing visages above to watch the official “Tarred and Feathered” music video… if you dare. Read more about Cardiacs here.
April 5th, 2010 at 5:28 am
Ms. Yayanos, you just made my week. Thank you.
April 5th, 2010 at 7:38 am
thanks for expanding my musical taste
April 5th, 2010 at 4:14 pm
Like Devo and the Residents made a baby and it had a British cousin who lived down the street from Flux of Pink Indians. Thank you!
April 5th, 2010 at 9:28 pm
You’re welcome! Aren’t they incredible? This video barely scratches the surface. The band has been prolific as hell, and remains sharp as ever. Their body of work is astounding, and has been massively influential on more well-known acts: Oingo Boingo, Bungle, Melvins, Radiohead, Mars Volta, Sleepytime Gorilla Museum, Talking Heads, Toy Dolls, the list goes on and on and on.
April 6th, 2010 at 4:21 am
Oh yes, I love the Cardiacs. They are amazing, so much fun, and completely sui generis.
April 6th, 2010 at 5:00 am
may i also suggest having a look at the sheer genius that are these three later rehearsal videos:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OxhuQWKwbqY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5QYijFfOaQ&feature=related
and the absolute genius of:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AC8Z9uGe0A
been a fan for a while. sadly tim’s really not in great health at the moment since a recent heart attack.
H
April 8th, 2010 at 12:59 pm
Seeing Cardiacs on here was a real ‘squeeeeee’ moment… My introduction to them was ‘A little man and a house and the whole world window’, aged about 17, and in a very altered state of consciousness in a squalid bedsit. The album blew my mind completely, that anthemic chorus – ‘That’s the way we all go’ stayed in my head for days. And then years. I have a friend, who I don’t see often, and when we catch up, playing that album is a ritual. They’d have certainly fertilised me with multiple little math-rock babies, except I’m crap at maths.
April 10th, 2010 at 3:18 pm
I first saw them at my freshers ball first week of uni – 1987 –
I was blown away – the review in the student mag was obviously written by one of the 93%. They can still move me to tears to this day. Stunning. And I now love this blog more than ever.
April 11th, 2010 at 1:46 pm
I’ve just recently started a sort of blog myself (don’t really know how else to describe it other than that although it’s moreso an arrangement of inspiration… inputs and then outputs) and a good friend of mine recommended I check out coilhouse as something not a million miles off… I opened the link but didn’t really check until one day when I clicked on the tab I saw this article.
I embarrassed to say it but I’m English and although I’d heard their name mentioned in connection with post-punk before, I’d never looked in to the Cardiacs. I’ve missed so much. This is quite the revelation for me and for that I must thank the writer so much. I have downloaded ‘Songs for Ships and Irons’ and it’s on pretty much permanent repeat. They’re such an exciting band, one that has hardly dated at all when you listen to the actual recordings (instead of the worn videos on YouTube) and one whose influence I can’t help but imagine has spread so monumentally. There’s no one quite like them – intelligent, progressive, incredibly technical, anarchic, theatrical… and there’s something quintessentially British about them, and I’m not just saying that because I like them… in general I like few bands from these shores but these the Cardiacs are a big exception and now one of the few bands that can almost make me feel that strange sensation of patriotism,
Once again, I thank you!
April 11th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
Aww, man! I’m so happy to see such positive responses to Cardiacs. Coilhouse should really do some expanded mag coverage on Tim and his band. They deserve it, for serious and for trooo. I’ll look into it.
April 12th, 2010 at 1:16 am
Exactly how in the hell did I go for over a decade as a Mr. Bungle fan without anyone telling me about The Cardiacs? I’m ashamed of myself, but mostly I’m ashamed for everyone I’ve met since 1999.
Coilhouse provides, once again. If I still owned them all, I would tip every hat I’ve ever owned to you for this.
April 23rd, 2010 at 4:38 pm
Madness on crack. Awesome!
July 9th, 2013 at 4:09 pm
I Googled CARDIACS and found your page. Nicely done.