Thursday, 10 February 2022

Dog Faced Hermans - Kinetic Strategy (1987-1994)

 


Dog Faced Hermans were a post-punk band that formed in Scotland in the mid 1980s and remained active through the mid 1990s. They emerged from the UK anarcho-punk scene with a guitar/bass/drums line-up, but also incorporated trumpet and other instruments not commonly found in punk music at that time. Their composition style incorporated many genres of music outside of rock, including folk, jazz, ambient and noise music with often unorthodox instrumentation.

Click here for full bio.



I was a bit of a latecomer to the wonders of Dog Faced Hermans. I was aware of them at the time they were active, but stupidly dismissed them for having a "silly" band name! It wasn't until the mid 2000s I listened to them properly, and realised what an error I'd made... They've released 5 studio albums plus several live albums and a handful of singles. They also appear on numerous compilations, often with tracks unavailable elsewhere. If ever a band warranted a thorough anthology, DFH are one. It would be nice if all those hard to find tracks were reissued in some way or other, a bit like Stereolab have done with their "Switched On" compilations.

For this collection I've included tracks from all studio releases, plus some of those hard to find tracks, such as "Timebomb" which was only ever released on vinyl. With at least half a dozen really outstanding tracks on each album it was tough choosing which tracks to leave out. If I were to compile this in a few months time it would probably have an entirely different tracklisting. As ever, info containing track origin & year of release is tagged in the music files and in the download file. I hope you enjoy this latest collection.


  1. Fortune (4:22)
  2. The Hook and the Wire (2:36)
  3. Scottish Block (3:59)
  4. Keep Your Laws/Off My Body (5:17)
  5. Mary Houdini (1:50)
  6. Catbrain Walk (5:33)
  7. The Running Man (4:04)
  8. Beautiful (6:10)
  9. Miss O'Grady (3:29)
10. White Indians (2:00)
11. Human Spark (4:46)
12. Zig Zag Wanderer (3:42)
13. Timebomb (5:06)
14. Bhopal (3:30)
15. Frock (3:14)
16. Love Is the Heart of Everything (6:06)
17. New Year (4:41)
18. Virginia Fur (5:56)
19. Bella Ciao (3:53)
20. El Doggo Speaks (8:31)


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