250 LP edition. More than half a decade into a labyrinthine discography (four 12"s, three 7"s, six tapes, four CDs and a few downloads, plus a million tracks on a million compilations), Teeside post-punk outfit Year Of Birds release new album White Death To Power Alan. Their first as a three piece, it is their most focused yet, still immersed in all the best lurching, twitching sounds of that fertile early 80s era (The Fall, of course, but also Bog-shed, A Witness, The Wolfhounds, Death by Milkfloat ) but never really sounding like anyone else. Cover art by Herr Seele, the acclaimed Belgian comic book artist responsible for Cowboy Henk. Year Of Birds still have a lo-fi heart: it was recorded in a practice room and spare bedroom with a ?30 microphone because, as Heffernan points out, "I don't see any difference between a band that has spent 2 months and thousands of pounds recording a song and getting it perfect, to someone who's stuck a microphone in their kitchen and bashed out a song in five minutes - whether you like it, or hate it - they are both, in essence, the exact same thing - a recording of a song - so are therefore as valid as each other."
