How would you describe This Heat to someone who has never heard of them?
 

I was reading a Tom Lax interview by that SSRecords guy, yesterday, and on it he mentions how he always struggles when describing the band This Heat to other people. It' an interesting observation, because they really are hard to explain in a few words without resorting to unneccesary ''unmusical'' terms. What's a good way of doing it, if there is one?

Wholesome family fun.

Also, I read that interview a while back and that guy came off as a conservative old geezer at one point. Hating on drum'n'bass and electronica, or maybe I'm thinking of someone else.

He seems too self-important for someone who gets it right so seldom. That's not to mention how he could do with at least appearing like he has a sense of humour about it all.

Well, they are not really classifiable but sure were in possession of a time machine.

I'd kinda compare em a bit with other group like The Pop Group, Wire, PiL -- bands that were called "post punk" but had a LOT more interesting things going on than that term could do justice for.

This Heat sound pretty distinct compared to those bands (and, hell, those bands sound pretty distinct compared to each other)... they have hints of avant-prog, definitely fuck with structure and song form quite a bit -- they tend to be a bit noisey and complex. Post-punk works I guess. But all in all, they are a bit hard to describe.

Deceit is a masterpiece, no matter how they are described.