Drag City/Yoga Records
Social Climbers (US,1981,re.2011)***'
The 80s were not my favourite times. The high-class times were over and the low class had the chance to show their creative side of a more primitive but down to earth side of life. Punk was the bottom and new animals could grow from there. The alternative scene, then called new wave, gave their different vision of pop music. Social Climbers were such a pioneering band from the NY scene, mixing a slightly danceable version starting from a post-punk sensibility with the addition of simple electronic pop rhythm boxes, and then directing it towards new pleasures with an electro-pop element while not leaving the guitars behind, neither the underground simplicity. I remember how in the eighties everybody danced a bit more in the dark as usual and its dance sounds were darker in nature too. Real pleasure did not exist, but electro-pop punk or new wave like this gave each shadowy existence its own sort of enjoyment for sure. Nice to hear is that the sort of new wave inspirations from the English scene and German scene from the early-mid 80s, seems to have had an early equivalent in NY as well!
The track “Chris & Debbie” brings a more dub/reggae/funky rhythm into their own wave pop context. An instrumental like “Palm Springs” mixes different rhythm boxes with a simple guitar tune theme. “That’s Why” uses strange bubbling electronic rhythms and fun-making vocals, a mechanical background (mixed with soft guitars) for a puppetry sort of pleasure. On the second instrumental, “Ernie K”, its rhythms and organ tune has something of a fastened turnabout as well, while the electric guitars rock simply with it at the same time. “Taipei” is sung with sweetened dual vocals and therefore leaves behind the punkish backgrounds with it. “Tickhead” is dominated by dark rhythmical and distorted electric guitars, while “The Day The Earth Stood Still” has more electronic organ melodies mixed with electric guitars and bass, drums : an instrumental dark wave track. I wonder if the group would have been bigger if they had been based in London. You can place the band in interests next to bands like Bauhaus for instance, even though Social Climbers tends to have a memorable lighter side in them.
