LAUGHING CLOWNS: Golden Days/When Giants Walked The Earth Vinyl LP

Ed Kuepper left The Saints and immediately made music that refused to be categorised, which is exactly why the Laughing Clowns still sound like nobody else. This 1995 compilation pulls from the band's peak run, when Kuepper was dragging post-punk through free jazz and blues with a brass section that swung as hard as it menaced.

If you missed the original run of releases on Prince Melon and Aus Records, this is your catch-up. The Clowns were one of the great Australian cult acts, Brisbane-born and Melbourne-hardened, playing a strain of dark, lurching art-rock that influenced a generation of local underground musicians who rarely admitted it. Golden Days and When Giants Walked the Earth showcase the range, from the anxious tension of the earlier recordings to the looser, more sprawling later work. A reissue that actually needed to happen.

Vinyl LP compilation. Australian post-punk and jazz-rock. Originally released 1995. For the record shelf between your Birthday Party and your Magazine.

Fans of: The Birthday Party, The Triffids, Magazine