1981 - Cycle b/w Symptom 7" (Profiteer records)

I picked up 1981's first 7" at the tail end of 2010  after reading a very positive review of it in MRR. To say I was not disappointed would be a giant understatement. That 7" has since been (and still remains) a frequent visitor to my recordplayer.  

Whereas that first MRR review mentioned The Ex, Minutemen and The Jam as references to the band's sound (and I can see how all of those would come to mind), 1981 draws most of its musical and stylistic influences from the melodic end of early/mid 80-ies U.K. anarcho-punk (think Chumbawamba, Zounds, The Mob, Rubella Ballet, etc.) In that sense, these Finns are contemporaries to North-American bands drawing on the same influences, such as Surrender, Arctic Flowers, Bellicose Minds, Vivid Sekt and Spectres (whom I have written about before).

Since hearing that first 7", I have made sure to track down a copy of their demo tape, as well as of all their subsequent releases (another 7" ('Decay') and a split EP with the aforementioned (and equally excellent) Surrender from the Bay Area). I'm guessing that all of their releases should still be relatively easy to find. And believe me, you need to hear these songs! For those of you not interested in vinyl or tapes, they have all been recently compiled on CD-r by French label Plus Ques Des Mots under the title: 'The Only Government is Yourself (2009-2011)' It's definitely nice to have all these songs compiled in one place, but what makes this partial discography really worthwile is the silkscreened artwork, which looks really nice, and the included booklet containing the band's lyrics, as well as an interview with the band in both English as well as French. Definately worth your money, especially considering the fact that the label is selling these for 2 euros apiece.
   

What the CD-r doesn't include is the band's most recent output: a new two song 7". The songs are entitled 'Cycle' and 'Symptom'. Musically there are no surprises here, as these songs fit in nicely with 1981's previous releases: catchy, almost poppy anarcho-punk with dual male and female vocals. I already mentioned the bands that 1981's sound reminds me of, but on this 7", they sound even more like 'Nevermind the Ballots'-era Chumbawamba than on their previous releases. Especially one break in the song 'Cycle' could be taken straight out of the song 'Revolution' from the first Chumbawamba 7".

As said, there's nothing unexpected here and these are two very solid 1981 songs, that keep popping into my head constantly. That said, I find myself a bit puzzled as to why I still feel a little bit unsatisfied by this release. Maybe I was expecting too much. On some level I was hoping for 1981 to have pushed themselves a bit further with this new material in terms of creativity. And by that I don't mean in any way that they should give up writing catchy, heartfelt punk song in favor of some more 'mature' sounds or something. Heaven forbird... But after listening to this record, I am a bit left thinking that I have heard these two songs before and that it sounds a little too familiair, if you know what I mean. Still, this is waaaaaaayy better than 99% of stuff out there and you seriously need to check out this band if you haven't yet.