The Tactics - Sound of Sound Volume One

Originating from my hometown of Canberra, Australia. Comes this fantastic outsider band. Truly one of a kind, Deffinately in their own league within Australia which left them with no place to fit in, Which in no way was a bother to the band which was exactly the way they wanted it to be. For fans of the Homosexuals and Wire and any Highly energetic frantic post punky band.

Your Comments are and will be greatly appreciated! -Gozz

Wilfully obscure, contrary and difficult to categorise, Tactics were the archetypal inner-city Sydney band of the late ‘70s/early ‘80s. Originating in Canberra (hardly a hotbed of alternative music – at least not until years later, by which time they were gone), they played a deliberately perverse brand of choppy guitar music. Employing mid-tempo to fast rhythms (often syncopated - in a vaguely reggae way) with tightly-wound, ricocheting guitars strung like a tightrope to be straddled by Dave Studdert’s quavering vocals, the fact they never fitted anywhere undoubtedly suited them to a tee. Horns, organ and an array of soundscapes colour the songs while the lyrical themes (disorientation, displacement and open space) derive from Studdert’s appreciation for indigenous Australia. It sounds like what pigeon-holers would term “post punk”, even though it was going down in the middle of punk. Me, I’ll tag it “anti-rock” in that the songs aren’t classic verse-chorus-verse constructions. “The Sound of the Sound” is a double CD set, compiling the first two Tactics albums (“My Houdini” and “Glebe”) with a whopping 20 bonus cuts culled from live tapes and radio broadcasts. (The Barman, I94bar.com)

Download Disc 1
Download Disc 2