Written by: Dave Cantrell

Continuing what’s become something of a vaunted tradition around here at Stereo Embers (see here, here, here, here, and here), we present you with still more evidence of how widespread, powerful, and alluring the push and pull, the sturm und drang, of post-punk was not just over bands in the UK, Australia, and here in the States, but also in those countries that barely spoke a word of English. One might even suspect that the impetus that drove the Joy Divisions and Wires and Birthday Partys and Pere Ubus of the ‘original’ class was even greater in those that yearned to replicate it in places where a translator was needed to understand exactly what was behind this primal power they were hearing via underground channels in their relatively remote territories. In the following tracks, one can palpably feel the pure compulsion pulsing through the bands’ hearts to make their contributions to this compelling new movement whose language and structure was innately universal. Here, in alphabetical order, with countries of origin, are twenty-one examples of those bands that took up the torch and ran with it. Go!