My Dad is Dead
The Engine of Commerce
Vital Cog
My Dad is Dead is the brainchild of Mark Edwards, essentially a man and his drum machine, playing early ‘80’s post-punk. Mr. Edwards has fielded a flurry of criticism for many years for being a Bob Mould copycat, and things aren’t much different here. The Engine of Commerce adds nothing new to the old My Dad is Dead stable of postpunk antics.
To get a feel for what the tracks are like here, one need only to stroll down memory lane… At one point, MDID sounds like Joy Division (“All We Want”), at others, early R.E.M. crossed with Sugar (“Finger on the Pulse”), sometimes like Gang Of Four (“Stories Left Untold”), and occasionally Dag Nasty (“Out of the Mouths of Babes” – one of the album’s coolest tracks). Strangely enough, as Edwards gets older, he sounds more and more like Lee Ranaldo of Sonic Youth. The comparison is unavaoidable on this album!
I guess if you’re into post-punk from the early to mid ’80s, you’ll probably thoroughly enjoy this. For me, though, it just sounds too faked or something. Sometimes I wonder why artists try different musical styles as they grow older, and when I hear albums like The Engine of Commerce I begin to realize why. I think it’s time for Mr. Edwards to let post-punk die and move on.
Vital Cog Records: http://www.vitalcog.com
