Pere Ubu
30 Seconds Over Tokyo / Heart Of Darkness

The singles are more cryptic and intriguing than the full albums, one might say. In the mid-Seventies, the most sensational and picturesque band of post-punk/noise/new wave emerged. They are a mix of all these sounds, with some stylistic features that they themselves conceived, thus they didn't even exist back then. But new wave and post-punk were already gaining ground by the late Seventies, and the atmosphere was exhilarating and exciting. The singer David Thomas and guitarist Peter Laughner are the masterminds behind the Cleveland combo. In 1975, they debuted with the single "30 Seconds Over Tokyo / Heart Of Darkness."

If only they had never done it. Neurotic depictions of the human psyche had previously been expressed by Velvet and Stooges, but the originality and shock found in this debut are unparalleled. An "intelligent madness" and a novel unhealthiness hover serenely in the sound of Thomas & Co., characterized by live performances that to call them titanic is an understatement. The first single is utterly irreverent, catapulting us into the vulnerability of war, a nuclear climate, and the darkest abyss of history.

"30 Seconds Over Tokyo" begins with the sterile lines of guitar and bass and the dismal chant of Thomas, immediately broken by the ominous intro of the drums and muddy sounds. Everything Ranaldo or Moore could create stems from here. From this martial break with the swirling feedback that forms that characteristic noise spiral. Dissonances, radio signals, psychosis, and contemplative pauses. The progression and the world we find in the track are something rare and unrepeatable. It's hard to find ideas so fresh and original, especially when a genre becomes a trend and becomes saturated with thousands of bands and meteors.

The B-side "Heart Of Darkness" presents a tribalism obsessively sustained by the compulsive guitar. The static rhythm hypnotizes us with disarming ease, and thus, we are immediately aware of the greatness, the sacredness of this reality. After this, we have other singles like the explosive "Final Solution" from '76, along with "Cloud 149," or "Street Waves / My Dark Ages" and "Modern Dance / Heaven" that need no words but many listens. Only thus can justice be done to this band which is often forgotten, unfortunately.