Datapanik in the Year Zero by Pere Ubu

Datapanik in the Year Zero was the 1978 EP that gathered up Pere Ubu's first singles, the records they had been putting out of Cleveland since "30 Seconds Over Tokyo" arrived in December 1975. The title nods to the Cold War movie Panic in Year Zero! from 1962, and the band liked it enough to reuse it in 1996 for a box set of their whole first era.

The songs sound like a steel town coming apart at the seams. David Thomas yelps and moans like a man narrating a nervous breakdown, the guitars grind and lurch, and synthesizer squalls cut through like factory sirens. Thomas never accepted the punk tag, calling what they did "avant-garage", and the mix of garage rock, avant-garde noise and musique concrète here shows why. Joy Division, Pixies and R.E.M. were among those who later named the band as an influence.

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