Guy Lochhead, 20/05/10
English post-punk group formed in 1979 who combined funk, hip hop, industrial, gamelan and African traditional music elements to create a new music that pre-dates the current hipster obsession with appropriating ‘ethnic’ instrumentation by over twenty years. I want to include the singles/rarities compilation ‘The Gospel Comes To New Guinea’ because it plays on the right side of the experimental/listenable conflict, and demonstrates a fantastic ability to see beyond and ahead of the then-stagnant punk thing, combining the political with the danceable. Also because it’s the only 23 Skidoo release to include ‘Coup’, which was significant as a post-punk/dance crossover (and as being ripped off by the Chemical Brothers on ‘Block Rocking Beats’).