Brooklyn's Sacred Bones label turns its attention to the ghosts of post-punk's past with a comprehensive reissue from from Belgium's Cultural Decay. A great document of another lost band, this collection from the Cultural Decay is essential listening for those working their way through the early 1980s permutations of post-punk. The disc culls from the band’s two singles while unearthing demo tracks that hint at darker, more stripped down and ghostly passages to come.

Over the past couple of years, Brooklyn's Sacred Bones label has made quite a name for itself with a series of great singles and LPs documenting modern strains of (mostly) synth-heavy downer punk. Now, having issued key releases from the likes of Blank Dogs, Zola Jesus, Pink Noise, and a handful of other weirdos whose records you'll probably end up bidding for on eBay, this label with a penchant for impeccably designed and carefully curated pieces of wax turns its attention to the ghosts of post-punk's past, so influential to the sound of its young stable, with a couple of comprehensive reissues from the early '80s, from Belgium's Cultural Decay, and from the tiny town of Haverhill, U.K., 13th Chime.

The Cultural Decay came and went between 1980 and 1982, leaving behind just two singles and the memories of the fifteen shows they played during their time. Not only does Eight Ways to Start a Day collect all four tracks from the singles, it also unearths seven additional cuts that never previously saw the light of day, along with a bonus live track for good measure. Operating in and around Belgium during their brief tenure, the Cultural Decay took a pretty obvious influence from established post-punk acts of the time, coming out swinging like a more dour Gang of Four or a less affected Joy Division, and tracks like "Brave New World" even seem to mirror Mission of Burma's contemporaneous efforts.

Ultimately, though, this collection of what appears to be the Cultural Decay's entire recorded output delights in traipsing through shades of gray, with tracks like "Business Business/Fragile Object" moving through tense rhythms and stark guitars so effective it's hard to believe they weren't more widely heard. And the demo tracks hint at even better things to come, as pieces like "Sink or Swim" and "Eight Ways to Start a Day" showcase darker, more stripped down and ghostly passages the band had been working on, never to be fully realized, but remembered here. A great document of another lost band, this collection from the Cultural Decay is essential listening for those working their way through the early 1980s permutations of post-punk.

-Michael Crumsho (June 4, 2009)