Bang in the middle of the post-punk revival headed up by Shame, Fontaines D.C., The Murder Capital and Girl Band, Wire are here to remind the young rockers of today that they are still the giants of the genre, 43 years after their masterpiece Pink Flag. All comfortably over the sixty year old mark, Colin Newman, Graham Lewis and Robert Gotobed have produced Mind Hive, a sharp, sometimes sombre and dreamlike album.
As opposed to the post-punk terrorism of The Fall, Wire has always been much less monolithic, able to seamlessly turn from a feeling of complete oppression (Hung and Oklahoma) to sounding like the soundtrack to a yoga class, worthy of Pink Floyd (Shadows). With battered guitars and electronics, Mind Hive never treats its melodies with any kind of softness or gentitlity: all the better.
Cactused by Wire
wirehqHer's a quick flashback to the golden age of Wire, in Germany during live at Rockpalast in 1979:
