The Taskmasters - All Saints' Day

​The Taskmasters

​All Saints' Day
self-released; 2016

3.6 out of 5

By J Simpson
​

Montreal has a long reputation of artful, interesting, experimental and genre-defying punk rock. While the American punks succumbed to the liberty spikes & pyramid studs school of black leather punk put forward by The Dead Boys, our neighbors in the Great White North have kept the forward-looking, ecliptic spirit of art punk alive.

​Montreal's The Taskmasters are well equipped to represent this artful thread of lo-fi, raw rock n’ roll, being members of the original punk/new wave movement of the early '80s. The Taskmasters is a veritable supergroup of underground musical talent, featuring members of the D-Vices and Ulterior Motive for this unique blend of psychedelia, jangle pop and raw rock n’ roll.

It always seemed such a shame and a missed opportunity that punk, psychedelia and rock n’ roll diverged so drastically in the States. Look at the glam mod rock of T. Rex or The New York Dolls - both of which could be considered as a kind of wild, primitive psychedelia, just re-creating the fevered hallucinations of crystal speed benders instead of pot and LSD.

Instead of building unnecessary musical boundaries, The Taskmasters All Saints' Days is tearing down walls as can be heard on "Forlorn" most glorious moments - all wailing white noise and subtle acoustic guitar soloing. It's raw and loose as any early '80s ROIR cassette, while still being sweet and catchy enough to warrant our attention as we do in 2016.

Basically, All Saints' Day from The Taskmasters is a vindication for anyone who's ever tripped out on old Buddy Holly records, who understands that listening to The Beatles in the modern world is a revolutionary act. It's for the anti-establishmentarians who also like to read books and REALLY think for themselves.

It's 2016. Punks are just hippies with haircuts, while new age yoga freaks are ardent anarchists. It's time to get together and communicate. Pick up a physical copy and roll something up - staying up irresponsibly late, talking about politics and surrealist literature like we USED TO DO in 1976.

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