“I’m so sick of Snow Patrol,” bristles Mark E. Smith on “Mask Search,” in the gurgle-y growl he’s developed over the last couple Fall albums. Less familiar in his armory are the Tarzan impressions which surface later in the track. To quote the late DJ John Peel, The Fall are always the same, but always different, and it’s as true of the band’s 29th studio as it was of their second.

Smith, since The Fall’s inception 35 years ago, has reveled in sniping from the margins. As decades come and go, he becomes an ever-accumulating force against corporateness, whether targeting poor old Snow Patrol, or his latest bugbear, the computer industry and its attendant social networking jive. At one point on Erstaz G.B., he mutters angrily about “laptop ignorance” (see “Laptop Dog”) — the fact that he’s a good few years behind the pace, hardware-wise (keep up, Grandad, it’s smart phones now!) somehow renders the putdown all the more belittling.

The Fall, in its umpteenth line-up, but steady since ’07, remains staunchly analogue. Both Smith’s wife, Elena Poulou, and guitarist Peter Greenway conjure sounds of the most primordial kind: Even in the album’s one wistful moment, the delicate… read more »