Ian North - My Girlfriend’s Dead (Repressed)

Ian North was a punk rock fall-out who got inspired by Kraftwerk and combined a newfound love of synths with dirty, grimy guitar pop. Not a million miles away from, or rather a US version of, The Gadgets or most of Some Bizarre’s label roster from 1980.

As such Ian North’s UK counterpart was, in a way, Matt Johnson who was developing a similar lo-fi male solo + synths/guitars/drum box style. But where Johnson’s lyrics were heavy weight – referencing Hezbollah as far back as 1989 – North’s were shallow. He had some great synth sounds and the drum box is as gritty as ever, but they’re let down by songs about girlfriends being models, girlfriends being on the front of magazines, and girlfriends being the “jet set.”

On the plus side, it’s extremely well packaged and comes as the second release on Cherry Red’s new Repressed imprint. So if you want to hear who both Talking Heads and The Ramones played alongside at CBGBs in 1980, then give this a try. But don’t expect poetry.