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Re: [microsound] DNA no wave, more thoughts



more no wave recommendations...

> Ut "Live" - has this LP been reissued yet? these guys are highly underrated.

they are underrated indeed.  i don't know about this live album, but i
can only recommend their 1985 lp _in gut's house_ (blast first) if you
can find it: minimal rock & affecting vocals from all three members (all
women, incidentally) & produced by tom hodgkinson.  the other lp of them
i own, _conviction_, is a bit more sketchy & not as interesting, but it
does have its moments.  the studio stuff is probably not as hectic as
their live stuff (or as most no wave acts) but it's still very good even
now.  somehow reminds me of a cross between early throwing muses & early
sonic youth.  jaqui ham has since started another band, dial, which is
supposedly just as good (& unlike the ut stuff, dial _is_ in fact, still available).

> Sonic Youth "Confusion is Sex" - kinda after no-wave revolution, but these
> guys were involved with that scene.

also of note, _sonic death_, which documents their live performances, &
obviously their _sonic-youth_ ep, unfortunately out of print (geffen has
the rights to it but seemingly refuses to reissue it).  ironically,
sonic youth may be one of the reasons why no wave wasn't completely
forgotten, even though they were never properly associated with it.  the
_confusion is next_ book, although it is a completely painful
starfucking read by ex-spin editor alec foege, does give a pretty good
background of the scene during that period.

> other stuff worth hunting is Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, although i'm not
> such a big fan of theirs. Glenn Branca of course... his guitar orchestras
> are beautiful.

re: glenn branca.  i've actually recently listened to his _songs 77-79_
(atavistic), which is a compilation of his stuff as the theoretical
girls & the static.  the 2 static songs included are actually quite
good, & remarkably modern for their age (1979).  the former band,
though, is a lot more hectic & undirected.

on the contemporary front, i would recommend u.s. maple; four wackos
making nondescript, disconstructed music; one of the most bizarre bands
working today.  _sang phat editor_ (skin graft), produced by jim
o'rourke, is especially experimental, absurd & beautiful.  the follow-up
_talker_ (drag city), produced by michael gira (of the swans!) is more
song-oriented but still very puzzling.

also, blonde redhead sure do a lot to re-temporalize the "no wave"
sound.  their latest album (something about ballads & damaged lemons,
can't remember exactly) is actually not very representative of that
(although it is somewhat enjoyable) but their first 4 records are
absolutely recommendable if you're into that stuff.  my favorite is
still _fake can be just as good_ (touch n go)...  as the title implies,
expect the usual fare of mock-irony & assumed spectacle.

re: availability;  i have just ran through forced exposure...  the only
dna they have is this _last live at cbgb_ (avant), so maybe i should
just order directly from there.  as for mars, they have _78+_
(atavistic) as well as a live record.  i guess i _am_ going to have to
install napster one of these days to hunt for the unavailable records. 
the pain.

of course, this doesn't have anything to do with microsound proper,
although one could argue that no wave is still relevant to microsound as
another example of an idiosyncratic genre intent on bridging "low" &
"high" art, & in mixing up, hiding, or overamplifying considerations of
image, sound & feeling...  sometimes i feel like i make house music like
i'd be making no wave rock if i were in 1978.  (& what about gramm's
album being named _personal rock_, & what about sonic youth's professed
affection for mille plateaux & deleuze-guattarisms (re: their _a
thousand leaves_ cd)...)

~ david