I'd never heard of Postcard Records until right after Franz Ferdinand released their self-titled debut. Afterwards, you couldn't get away from magazine articles casually mentioning Orange Juice, Aztec Camera, and all these obscure Glasgow bands that served as inspiration for Franz's sound (as well as the sound of the hundreds of jittery post-punk/dance bands that followed years later). Well, one Postmark band that I never felt got as much attention as they deserved was Josef K. While not as typically upbeat as Orange Juice; there's something about their thin white man blend of funk that works so well for them (and for every post-punk band that's aped them for nearly thirty years now). Just listen to the way Malcolm Ross's guitar dances right above Dave Weddell's bass lines ("Heaven Sent") or Ronnie Torrance's drums functioning as a means of keeping the rest of the band boxed in just enough so they wouldn't end up spilling all over the place ("The Missionary"). Vocalist/songwriter Paul Haig's recent solo work alone shows that there was a great deal of creativity that would've no doubt resulted had the band just lasted beyond 81'.
