Just another No Wave list
No wave was an avant-garde, anti-art movement and music scene that emerged in New York City's decaying Downtown during the late 1970s. Predated by bands likeΒ SuicideΒ andΒ Jack Ruby, the original, short-lived scene hailed from pre-gentrified SoHo art world and working-class East Village/Lower East Side neighborhoods, encompassing bands that were active in nightclubs and art galleries β such as The Kitchen, Tier 3, CBGB, Mudd Club, Max's Kansas City, Artists Space, White Columns, Hurrah or ABC No Rio β between 1976 and 1980.
The musical background of the artists involved varied greatly, ranging from classically trained theatre composerΒ Jeffrey LohnΒ and minimalist composerΒ Rhys Chatham; through conservatory dropoutΒ James Chance; to self-taught musicians ofΒ Mars,Β DNAΒ andΒ Teenage Jesus & The Jerks. Although only the latter four were featured in theΒ Brian Eno-producedΒ No New YorkΒ compilation, this was one of the first studio albums that propelled the scene's recognition, gaining attention from labelsΒ ZE Records,Β Lust/Unlust MusicΒ andΒ ROIR. However, few bands left recordings behind, and thus no wave remained an underground scene.
The contradiction inherent in no wave's negativity and nihilistic outlook hinders classification and eludes narrow-minded definitions, encouraging to describe it 'in opposition to' rather than by its own characteristics. The term itself was allegedly coined by eitherΒ Jim Sclavunos'Β "NO"Β fanzine β distinguishing itself fromΒ "Punk"Β magazine β orΒ Lydia LunchΒ in an interview as a pun rejecting any association withΒ New WaveΒ bands and their style [1], but wasn't used by the artists to describe themselves or their music as part of the scene. In addition, despite sharing time frame with the emergence ofΒ Punk Rock's first wave and unlike its close relativeΒ Post-Punk, the no wave postmodern attitude broke away from New YorkΒ PunkΒ tradition, reacting against it and theΒ RockΒ continuum. Three-chord progressions, recycledΒ BluesΒ riffs andΒ Rock & RollΒ conventions were banished in favor of sheer experimentation, a deconstruction within the frame of rock instrumentation against itself, disengaging from commercial mainstream pop culture.
Given its experimental nature, no wave music changed significantly during its brief existence but often delved into atonality, dissonance, non-unified tempos, abrasiveness, angularity, noise, improvisation, distortion, cacophony, atavism, reductionism, emphasis on texture, buzzing guitars and skronk, tribal drumming and a general disregard for virtuosity; earning a 'clear the room' reputation due to its menacing sound and sonic assault. The vocal delivery was part of this aggression as well, with misanthropic, sexual, alienating, abstract and dadaist lyrics drawing from Beat Generation authors such asΒ William Burroughs, who popularized the cut-up technique. Influenced by Fluxus and Viennese Actionism, some bands adopted a transgressive and confrontational performance style, interacting with the audience or even engaging in violent physical altercations, thus blurring β when not shattering β the performer/audience barrier.
Since the mid-1970s the punk ethos [2] encouraged female musicians to stand on equal foot with their male counterparts, whether in all-female bands β such asΒ The Bloods,Β Y PantsΒ andΒ UTΒ β or mixed gender bands, as frontwomen or instrumentalists. In this regard, the no wave scene proved to be one of the most inclusive, featuring drummer Nancy Arlen and guitaristΒ Lucy HamiltonΒ from Mars, drummerΒ Ikue MoriΒ from DNA, vocalist and guitarist Lydia Lunch from Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, keyboardistΒ Adele BerteiΒ and slide guitaristΒ Pat PlaceΒ fromΒ James Chance & The Contortions, keyboardistΒ Margaret De WysΒ fromΒ Theoretical Girls, bassistΒ Barbara EssΒ fromΒ The StaticΒ or guitaristΒ Nina CanalΒ from The Gynecologists.
Pushing the idiomatic limits of the genre, no wave artists explored a diverse array of cutting-edge music that appealed to their experimental traits, such asΒ Free Improvisation,Β Industrial & NoiseΒ orΒ Electronic. Mars, DNA, Theoretical Girls andΒ Red TransistorΒ experimented withΒ NoiseΒ music, playing a pivotal role in the development ofΒ Noise Rock, bridging the gap between 1968 The Velvet Underground'sΒ White Light/White HeatΒ and 1980s seminal noise rock bandsΒ Sonic Youth,Β Rat at Rat R,Β Live SkullΒ orΒ Swans. SoHo avant-gardists such as Rhys Chatham β minimalist composer turned punk β andΒ Glenn BrancaΒ β punk composer turned minimalist β started fusingΒ MinimalismΒ with the energy and instrumentation of rock, developingΒ TotalismΒ through a greater rhythmic complexity and an increasing number of electric guitars in their ensembles [3]. Concurrently, the interest inΒ Free JazzΒ β particularly saxophone blasts Γ la John Coltrane, Albert Ayler or Ornette Coleman β brought the unlikely fusion known as punk jazz, pioneered by The Contortions andΒ The Lounge Lizards. Furthermore, incorporating influences fromΒ Funk,Β DanceΒ andΒ DiscoΒ rhythms into punk's energy and no wave ethos, they developed an original offshoot ofΒ Dance-PunkΒ in New York City by the likes of The Contortions,Β James White and The Blacks,Β Lizzy Mercier Descloux,Β Liquid Liquid,Β ESG, The Bloods,Β MaterialΒ orΒ The Dance.
Regardless of its short-lived existence and shifting nature, the intensity of the no wave scene proved to be a significant milestone in the history of Downtown music over the course of the next decades. For instance, someΒ Avant-ProgΒ andΒ Avant-Garde JazzΒ musicians took an interest in the scene: after being recruited intoΒ Daevid Allen's punk-flavoredΒ New York Gong, bassistΒ Bill LaswellΒ and drummerΒ Fred MaherΒ moved on to form Material, being later joined by ex-Henry CowΒ multi-instrumentalistΒ Fred FrithΒ to foundΒ MassacreΒ [4]; whereasΒ Elliott SharpΒ was a long-standing unofficial member and producer ofΒ Mofungo. In a similar fashion, while not part of the original scene, posthumous bands would associate themselves with or adopt the no wave label indebted to its influence; notably, Sonic Youth and Swans β whose debut studio albums were released through Glenn Branca'sΒ Neutral RecordsΒ label β or, since the 1990s, revivalist acts such asΒ The Flying Luttenbachers,Β Erase Errata,Β Gilla Band, etc.
[1] Mind that until the 1980s most music critics used new wave and punk as interchangeable terms. [2] With a little help from New York Dolls' gender-bending aesthetic and Patti Smith's androgynous look. [3] Rhys Chatham's "Guitar Trio" debuted in 1977 on Max's Kansas City, Glenn Branca's "For Six Guitars" followed in 1979 on the same music venue. [4] After Henry Cow's disintegration, Fred Frith had moved to New York City in 1979, soon becoming acquainted and collaborating with Downtown's avant-rock and free improvisation music circles.
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ForΒ further informationΒ I highly encourage to read Marc Masters' "No Wave", Thurston Moore & Byron Coley's "No Wave: Post-Punk. Underground. New York. 1976-1980", Simon Reynolds' "Rip It Up and Start Again: Postpunk 1978β1984", Steven Blush' "New York Rock: From the Rise of The Velvet Underground to the Fall of CBGB", Phil Gilgunn's doctoral thesis "Distillation and Synthesis: Aesthetics and Practice in Rhys Chatham's Music for Electric Guitar" and Kyle Gann's "American Music in the Twentieth Century" or "Music Downtown: Writings from the Village Voice". Which along with no wave living encyclopaedia, Weasel Walter, are the basis for most of my 'academic' knowledge on the subject. (Though I reject the widespread notion that relates it with post-punk. It's a negation of punk, not itsΒ aufhebenΒ in the hegelian sense.)
InΒ this listΒ I aim to bring equal parts the original No Wave scene, including forerunners and rarities, plus every album I've listened to with a significant influence on it to make me feel that deserves a place here βnotably, free improvisation and avant-garde jazz onesβ, artists with a significant influence from no wave guitarΒ SKRONK, that sound like "x" no wave band or straight experimental beyond rock / punk conventions.
Proto-no wave:Β a variety of influences that led to No Wave music, pre-dating the movement itself: from punk, through the avant-garde, to improvised music.
No wave:Β the music genre itself in the New York City scene and β to a lesser degree β beyond, between 1976 and 1979 / early 1980. Original NYC no wave scenesters include: Jack Ruby, Boris Policeband, The Scabs / Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, Beirut Slump, 8 Eyed Spy, Lydia Lunch, The Raybeats, James Chance & The Contortions, James White and The Blacks, James Chance with the Pill Factory, Bush Tetras, China / Mars, Kongress, Red Transistor, Von Lmo, DNA, Arto Lindsay, R.L. Crutchfield's Dark Day, Rotating Power Tools / The Lounge Lizards, N. Dodo Band, Theoretical Girls, Daily Life, The Static, Disband, A Band, Y Pants, Glenn Branca, China Shop, Circus Mort, The Clothespins, Terminal, The Gynecologists, Arsenal, Tone Death, The Tenant, Rhys Chatham's Guitar Trio, UT, Love of Life Orchestra, Communists, Chinese Puzzle, NNB, Blinding Headache, Information, No Group, Mofungo, The Girls, New York Gong, Material, Sick Dick and the Volkswagens, Liquid Idiot / The Idiot Orchestra, Model Citizens, The Dance, Rosa Yemen, Lizzy Mercier Descloux, Suicide / Martin Rev, The Futants, Ike Yard.
Post-no wave:Β the decaying original scene past their prime time, plus the subsequent wave β no pun intended β of adepts who furthered the experimental traits and merged its sound with other genres in the 1980s and 90s. During this period many VV.AA. compilations proliferated: "Noise Fest" (1981), "Just Another Asshole #5" (1981), "Peripheral Vision" (1982), "State of the Union" (1982, 1992, 1996), "Tellus" (#1 1983; #2, #3, #5 and #6 1984; #8 USA/Germany and #10 All Guitars! 1985), "Speed Trials" (1985), "Island of Sanity: New Music From New York City" (1987), etc. but none achieved the same success as "No New York".
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I'd like to read Jim Sclavunos'Β "No" fanzineΒ and Barbara Ess'Β "Just Another Asshole" publicationsΒ as well, but they're quite hard to find...
