- Artist
- Josef K
- Label
- Domino
- Release date
- 20th November 2006
- Genre
- Post-punk
Named after the main character from Franz Kafka's dark novel The Trial, it is small wonder this collection of singles, album tracks and b-sides from this wonderfully quirky Scottish band is given a title which describes the study of insects, since Kafka also wrote Metamorphosis, a story about a man waking up to find himself transformed into a giant beetle. Weird, but fascinating stuff. Much like the K's really.
Label mates of Orange Juice on the indie Postcard imprint, Josef K followed a darker path than the band fronted by Edwin Collins. This was a period when bands reared on the Clash and the Sex Pistols were wanting to express themselves with similar passion, but in a different direction. Producing neck-snapping choppy, post-punk pop of the kind perpetrated by the likes of the Gang Of Four and Wire, Josef K were a favourite of anyone who wanted new music to be in possession of a brain.
Songs like Radio Drill Time and It's Kinda Funny achieved respectable chart placings back in 1980, as did The Missionary after the band split in 1982, but they never really had the widespread commercial popularity enjoyed by their peers. Now, of course, they are name-checked by the likes of Franz Ferdinand as true innovators of guitar-led anarchic pop rock.
Perhaps this collection will bring them to the attention of a whole new following. One certainly hopes so.
