A good friend of mine recently gave me some sage advice. To paraphrase, he mentioned that it’s a crime to dig too much into the distant past, for fear of ignoring more recent bands who are making incredible music. By doing this, it only dooms modern bands to the same fate as their forgotten predecessors.
I can’t agree more, and while I’m still on the hunt for forgotten 80s treasures (and have plenty more coming in the mail, mind you), there are quite a few bands from the turn of the century that have already fallen by the wayside in lieu of their more Pitchfork-centric peers. While the post-punk resurgence of the mid-2000s wasn’t the true second coming we all hoped it would be, there are still several bands who managed to make some incredible music, overshadowed by bands like Interpol, The Strokes, The Rapture, etc., who dominated the scene.
I received a lot of great feedback about Branches, another band that Jason recommended and shared a rip of here, and with his advice in mind, I plan to share a handful of more recent bands that we’re both fond of. First up is The Floor, a Canadian band who flirted with electronics, classic post-punk bass tones, and shoegaze textures, mixing those timelessly great techniques with big hooks, solid musicianship, and killer songs. I discovered their only full length back in 2006, shortly after it was released, and it’s a seasonal favorite. Over the years, I’ve clocked more plays on Personnel than I have any other album from that era, and know the whole record like the back of my hand. However, I hadn’t heard anything else from them, and as like many bands from that era (including many of my own), I presume they broke up soon after.
However, Jason was able to provide a rip of the two EPs that preceded Personnel, completing the official discography. The EPs are just as good, as one might suspect… In general, fans of bands like The Chameleons, A Flock of Seagulls, and For Against’s December should LOVE these guys, and I hope you enjoy these records as much as I do…
The Floor- Doll (2003)
1. Catastrophe
2. Seconds Later
3. Feature 74
4. Doll
5. Warning Signs
6. Mistake to Make
7. Daffodil
The Floor- Autonomy Off/On (2003)
1. Drown Inside
2. Isolene, I
3. Automation
4. Impossible
5. Noncom
6. Blank Reaction
7. Cloud of Blinding Light
The Floor- Personnel (2005)
1. Fallout Forever
2. Someone Else
3. In the New World
4. The Guilt of Silence
5. Personnel
6. Glass Heart
7. Freeze/Frame
8. What Do You Know?
9. Occur
10. Never After
11. Alone On Your Own
