The original line-up of Afterimage may have only existed for a couple of years and released merely one single and one EP, but their take on post-punk—at once raw and explorative, with one eye to the sound that was emanating from across the ocean and one to a past-acknowledging future— left a mark in the underground sonic psyche of the City of Angels. Faces to Hide collects all of Afterimage’s studio recordings, plus demos and live tracks from performances at now legendary spots such as Whisky a Go Go and Al’s Bar.Listening to this compilation, one can picture the four members of Afterimage—Alec Tension (Dan Voznick), A Produce (aka future ambient explorer Barry Craig), Rich Evac (Rich Robinson) and Holland DeNuzzio—bonding over a love of Public Image Ltd, Pere Ubu, Magazine, The Fall, Gang of Four and Television, while eagerly adding unexpected detours (surf rock, electrifying blasts of saxophone). Faces to Hide also makes it easy to see why, back in the day, the Los Angeles Times was compelled to call Afterimage “L.A.’s Joy Division”. Similarly to the UK trailblazers (of whom they were among the first avowed admirers among the LA punks), Afterimage seemed to sculpt their sound in marble, coming up with hypnotic skittery sonics revealed to be chilly upon their surface and fiery in their details.Faces to Hide proves as scathing, urgent, taut, angular and gripping as Afterimage’s scarce but unforgettable output must have sounded more than forty years ago. Packaged with a 24-page CD booklet featuring extensive, career-spanning liner notes by noted journalist Richie Unterberger and previously unseen band photos, Faces to Hide also features Independent Project Records’ signature hand letterpress-printed custom design for the vinyl and CD packaging.This numbered Special Edition CD features the iconic hand-letterpress printed oversized die cut pocket folder packaging designed and created by Bruce Licher at his Independent Project Press, and in addition to the 24-page booklet includes one of 4 different letterpress-printed glassine sleeves to hold the CD.
