EXECUTIVE SLACKS: Rock and Roll Vinyl LP

Philadelphia in the early 80s had a post-punk scene that most people slept on, and Executive Slacks were one of the reasons that was a genuine tragedy. Equal parts industrial aggression and art-damaged punk, they occupied the same shadowy corridor as early Ministry and Skinny Puppy before either of those names meant anything.

Rock and Roll is a 12" single pressed as a full LP, best played at 45 RPM if you want the full teeth-rattling effect. The title is pure deadpan provocation, a band dripping in dark aesthetic and electronic menace calling their record something your dad might approve of. They did not mean it sincerely. The sound lands somewhere between gothic punk and cold wave, with the kind of production that sounds like it was recorded in an underpass at 2am because that was probably closer to the truth than not.

Format: Vinyl LP (12" single format, 45 RPM). Origin: United States (Philadelphia, PA).

Fans of: Ministry, Skinny Puppy, 45 Grave, early Front 242.