Second Layer was a side project of Adrian Borland and Graham Bailey, members of post punk band The Sound. The music was bleak, detached, and desolate, but very beautiful. Honest songwriting and a harsh sonic backdrop set them apart from their peers. Second Layer’s World of Rubber, first released on Cherry Red way back in 1981 – some two years after the duo’s first outing on 7” – has long been considered something of an industrial classic by those in the know. Here, it gets a deserved re-press from the folks at Dark Entries. 34 years on, it still retains the power to shock, with Adrian Borland and Graham Green’s raw, weighty mix of post-punk basslines, sharp guitars, fuzzy electronics, tape loops and basic drum machine grooves still sounding deliciously fresh. Certainly, it’s comparable to many more celebrated releases of the time, and arguably more spontaneous in feel.

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