MP3: Cortex - Arkham

I've been accumulating so much amazing early 80s Swedish postpunk these past few months, I could probably spend every Friday talking about it for the rest of the year. In fact, I'm quite tempted to do just that. Today's band: Cortex, the band that Freddie Wadling fronted after Liket Lever and Straitjackets. His other band The Leather Nun acheived far more widespread success (mostly after he left the group), but I find Cortex to be a far better band. On the other hand, today's song "Arkham" is definitely not their best material, but who can resist musical references to HP Lovecraft? In film, that's a whole different story - for the love of god, don't ever see "Cthulhu" should someone be dumb enough to finance a proper release, even on DVD. This fact alone is probably telling: Tori Spelling is the best thing about the movie. I saw the premiere and people practically ran from the theater to avoid the Q&A with the writer and director. Anyhow, back to Cortex... Unsurprisingly, the band's later material such as 1986's "You can't kill the boogeyman" (from which this song comes) tends to be overproduced and drenched in 80s excess, but I think their talent still shines through in this extended dirge. "A dream for some / A nightmare to others / Like a dream within a dream" Awesome.

Cortex - Arkham