Empire was an offshoot of Generation X, and their only LP \u201cExpensive Sound\u201d remains an obscure (yet highly rewarding) listen.<\/p>\n
Originally released in 1981, the same year Gary Numan and Soft Cell were raking in big bucks with their noir-flecked brand of retrofuturism, \u201cExpensive Sound\u201d was out-of-step with the climate of commercial music. Their music was raw, bare, warm \u2014 distinct from the glacial, antiseptic pop that would dominate the decade. The album was neither totally forward-looking nor nostalgia embracing. Instead, \u201cExpensive Sound\u201d does what great albums tend to: preserves a specific moment in time.<\/p>\n
While \u201cExpensive Sound\u201d may be better known for the bands it inspired \u2014 the neo-psychedelia of The Stone Roses and the athletic fretwork of Fugazi \u2014 they deserve appreciation on its own merits: one of the finest guitar pop records of the era.<\/p>\n
These two previously-unavailable-on-vinyl songs were recorded in 1981 for a second album that wasn\u2019t finally released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Empire was an offshoot of punk legends Generation X, very influential for the Washington hardcore and UK neo-psychedelic scenes. <\/p>\n
These two previously-unavailable-on-vinyl songs were recorded in 1981 for a second album that wasn\u2019t finally released.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":107252,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[233,65],"product_tag":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-107845","1":"product","2":"type-product","3":"status-publish","4":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"product_cat-post-punk-en","7":"product_cat-punk-en","8":"product_shipping_class-cd-en","9":"pa_formato-7-en-2","11":"first","12":"instock","13":"sale","14":"taxable","15":"shipping-taxable","16":"purchasable","17":"product-type-simple"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product\/107845","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/product"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/107252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=107845"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"product_brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_brand?post=107845"},{"taxonomy":"product_cat","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_cat?post=107845"},{"taxonomy":"product_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/munster-records.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/product_tag?post=107845"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}