From The Bottom Of An Old Grandfather Clock (reissue, 2004) DEAD OCEANS

Black And Blue UMC/POLYDOR

Mike Patton and the Avett Brothers join forces to create a work of immense beauty.

Out of Perth, Western Australia, David McComb’s post-punk melancholics created intoxicating music of intense feeling. Now, four decades after their classic album Born Sandy Devotional , members and intimates remember high inspiration, heroin, a song on TV soap Neighbours, the wide open road and the world of late leader McComb. “Dave worked on his songwriting 24-7,” they recall. “It was the delightful adventure that we were all willing to go on…”

London’s post-punk seismographers pick up more weird vibrations on their third album. By Victoria Segal. Illustration by Cold War Steve.

Squeeze ’s songwriting duo are back in harness, toting a rock opera they wrote in the ’70s with an all-new album to come. Given their near-constant strife, it’s a miracle. But as they insist, “the thing that always brings us together is the songs…”