All That Glitters Is A Mares Nest

Whilst rediscovering my musicality I've rediscovered the Cardiacs.

THE CARDIACS are rightly famous for being the founders of a musical genre of their own: pronk (a mixture of prog and punk).

halfway down this page is a streaming mp3.

"Sounds like Satan worship." said a friend of mine just now in pasing.

I was introduced to the Cardiacs at art college but I didn't get into them till I saw the live show. A friends band was lucky enough to support them twice, with another sadly missed band called Levitation. Fantastic gigs.

Before the days of advanced laptop technology, the pre-recorded backing tracks were played off of a huge rack of samplers. The Cardiacs originally had a brass section it became too expensive to tour with. They had a cult following and strange live interaction, crazy poetry, more crazy poetry and lyrics. What do you know? They are still at it. Crazy stuff. Here are some more people recounting their discovery of the Cardiacs.

If you have never seen or heard them, then a gig by Cardiacs almost defies description. It is an event that always leaves the audience moved in some way.
Attempts to describe the music or the goings-on can maybe put the reader off. Many of the now die-hard fans experienced extreme irritation on their first exposure to such uniqueness.
My advice is - Cardiacs go much deeper than they first seem to, listen to the music more than twice and you will understand. They will almost certainly become an indispensable part of your life, and this is because Cardiacs go deeper into people’s hearts than anyone else has done for the past Christ-knows how many years.

This is a big thing to claim for anybody, so why am I so sure - and many others too - that this is so?
What is it about them that lifts them out of the musical rut that seems to be the lot of our times?
It’s because the music is as composed and as tight as a symphonic score and yet played with the freedom, power and energy of The Sex Pistols. It’s because they create not just a new musical style but a
new musical language.