Recommend some good No Wave albums.

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

Please?

― cece, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

the question should be how many are available. No new york is only available as an expensive jap import apparently (tried to get it in canada, no luck there).

try James chance and the contortions' white cannibal on ROIR. he's on that comp but i don't know how far his music moved on...

― Julio Desouza, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

There's a live James Chance album that seems to turn up in mainstream shops fairly frequently.

I don;t think much No Wave is easily available. Its not like classic rock where you can go into HMV and get 3 for 20 quid by the Eagles, Led Zep and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks.

― Winkelmann, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

james white and the blacks' 'off white' is also a great record, 'specially the squawking take on 'we're having a heatwave'...

― stevie, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"james white live aux baines douches" has TWO terrific michael jackson covers

"no new york" is essential: i pretty much wig out for all of mars, but am not big on lydia lunch

― mark s, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

is it available still amrk s. do you know?

― Julio Desouza, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

NO NEW YORK can be obtained (expensively) at MONDO KIM's and OTHER MUSIC in New York City, if you get around here (I'm sure both have websites as well).

Beyond that, I'd also recommend the equally elusiver DNA live albun, LAST LIVE AT CBGB's.

― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

no new york is on soulseek.. http://www.slsk.org

― jk, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

does no wave refer exclusively to the bands on no new york? are there any british no wave bands?

― fritz, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

bogshed!!

― mark s, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Not sure, but I think the term applied exclusively to the NYC bands...although there's certainly some sonic affinity between them and British so-called "post-punk" bands like, say, The Pop Group.

― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

....and maybe the Slits.

― Alex in NYC, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I'm partial to most of the records listed here, along w/ the 1st James Chance & Contortions record (funk that skronk!), Ut's _In Gut's House_ (if you're looking for the kinder, friendlier side of No Wave *ahem*), and the Teenage Jesus & The Jerks CD compiled by Atavistic. In fact, Atavistic is home to many a No Wave document (& their Now Wave offspring).

Probably the best way to find what No Wave will skew your booty the best is to do the following: visit Walter Weasel's NY No Wave Archive, find the group w/ the coolest pics, and go buy / download their music.

Oh! Checking WW's introductory essay to the site, it's worth noting that Circle X's _Celestial_ (released by Matador back in "the day"; probably still available via their site or other serendipitous means of purchase) is DEFINITELY worth checking out. Here's an excellent scribble about Circle X.

― Daver, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

PS - Mark S, are you having fun?

― Daver, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

when am i not Daver? (i shd have said big stick though)

― mark s, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Here's an excellent scribble about Circle X.

And you can read a lame one here if you like. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Run and buy Deerhoof's "Reveille"--everything good about No Wave and then some.

― dan, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

PPS - If you're looking for a li'l SoCal flavor (on the more accessible punk tip) (and w/ agressive synth wranglin'), get thee to Synthpunk.org.

― Daver, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Yay Screamers!

― Ned Raggett, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

in the area of modern day no-wave, the scissor girls are pretty fabulous too.

― mike (ro)bott, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

and more on the scissor girls tip... i'd recommend the bride of no- no. ..(same people)...

the new york no wave archive is highly recommended...

― msp, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Mars - 78
compiled by Foetus

― Paul, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

circle X's celestial is very nice indeed!

― Julio Desouza, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I saw Arto Lindsay at the Cornelius concert. Nice to know he is supporting the Shibuya, ah, make that Nakameguro scene. Go DNA! PS Seeing AL live is a nice no wave experience, even when he is supposed to be doing bossa he slips into his keynote skronk style.

― Mary, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

have always been inetrested in Ut. Any recommendations? can i get it anyway?

― Julio Desouza, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

the glenn branca cd compiling material by the static and the theoretical girls is pretty fly.
_west coast no wave_ (mostly for the monitor tracks)
_red spot_ (subterranean comp of apres-punk/no wave shrieking - one song contains a line that goes something like "i wanna be james chance". all over the place and excellent.)*
minimal man "the shroud of minimal man"
ut "conviction" and "in gut's house" (more rhythmic, great)
y pants - s/t (toy instruments, more friendly than most)
lydia lunch _hysterie_ (beirut slump! teenage jesus!)
"music from hell" split with nervous gender and beelzebub youth*
primitive calculators - s/t live LP + 7" (genius australian band from the late 70s - organ, drums, bass, guitar, very noisy - like suicide meets big black but much much better - recently reissued)
* still available from subterranean for cheep.

more currently:
harry pussy
tranmission (adris from HP and graham lambkin shriek out)
dial _infraction_ (ex-ut with a drum machine and 4 track)

― your null fame, Tuesday, 13 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

The PRIMITIVE CAlCULATORS are so good i'm going to go start a thread about them...

― Andrew, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

BOGSHED indeed, mark! english no wave in a chips and pasty style - studiously bad songs and "on purpose" annoying nasal vocals - skiffle with swinging big proto nomeansno basslines (that make them sound too polished - the great thing about bogshed is their amateurishness - truly enlightening). STRETCHHEADS - the "fingers" album only if you can find it (although the 23skinner 12" is beautifully stupid) kinda like if carcass used biscuit tins and banjos maybe. DNA i always find lacklustre and dud, the arto lindsay trio record on knitting factory works with dougie bowne and melvin gibbs is really abstractly groovy, though. MARS i still think sound like an underrehearsed run of the mill punk band - eater, maybe. no, cockney rejects. SCISSOR GIRLS - get a hold of the scissor girls cd it's on skin graft or atavistic - retro 80's no wave but great nonetheless. can you class US maple as no wave? (well they 're more out there than circle x who again just sound like a standard 4/4 punk band to me) US maple from "sang phat editor" onwards are simply amazing. clattery free rock breaking into the odd tune riff v.good tension/release dynamics with croony vocals like what you want pere ubu's first album to sound like in the extreme dream world. and yeah - whoever said Deerhoof - well i ain't heard the new album yet, but the first one "the girl the king the man" or whatever it's called on kill rock stars - perfect balance of earsplitting cacophony with a slight caroliner rainbow edge and twee girl pop - absolutely fantastic. the shrubs "all aboard for a midnight harangue" if you can find it is another UK nowavey thing kinda like a more foly & more frantic version of bogshed. i am also going to callk phil todd's A WARM PALINDROME no wave just so i can plug them although i don't know if you can get betley welcomes careful drivers records anywhere any more - v pastoral no wave. and of course of course HARRY PUSSY - just buy everything they ever did - sell all your other records to get them. blistering!

― bob snoom, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

oh - "foly" as above = folky. you see. also i will say "caroliner rainbow" again here. "rings on the awkward shadow" / "scrambled egg taken for a wife" brilliant - cannot beat those two.

― bob snoom, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

the tricky thing with "no wave" is it was just a few bands from new york roundabout 1980 or so that some hack journalist decided was a "no wave" movement so he could write an article & get his rent paid. the actual "sound" has been more written about & mythologized over the years as the records of mars / dna / teenage jesus etc etc have been ever so difficult to get a hold of. when you listen back to the actual no wave bands they mostly (at least to these ears) sound like vaguely arty punk music & nothing special. whereas i always expect it to live up to the mythology y'know funk, free jazz, trashcan drumkits & diy punk all in one. also what i mean to do with this posting is remind everyone just how great GOD IS MY COPILOT were - disco free jazz clatter punk in short doses. get "speed yr trip" if it's still available, and any of the 7"s they released fantastic.

― bob snoom, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

A pretentious friend of mine used to call "no wave" her favourite genre. Tho I never got the chance, I'd have liked to ask her how this could be as there's only about 10 (at the most, really) no wave albums AT ALL, let alone good ones. So, there aren't really "some" to recommend, as far as I know. Does anyone think "Confusion is Sex" counts/should? If so it's about the best. It's an awfully specialised/posery genre to affiliate oneself with... I'm running on resentment of this one person maybe... but a lot of the talk is just that.

― Andrew, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

mark s rule o'thumb: no wave ENDED w.the white columns noise fest (curator t.moore) in 1981 (hence ut/s.youth etc can be considered "post-no")

so many ppl in both eras actually switched vehicles around this time (viz glenn branca's theoretical girls, who = no wave, shut up shop, and he began his guitar army projects; nina canal's gynaecologists ended, ut began etc etc)

i think the only big exceptions are those clustered round the no wave funk axis: james chance/joe bowie (even here there was lots of movement, it's just not so cut and dried)

(another possible end-it date = death of alfonia timms on eve of Big Label signing)

― mark s, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Was it that heavily defined a movement? Ie by the musicians themselves? It doesn't seem like it from this distance. Any chance of a definitive list of no-wave acts (who recorded in some way)?

― Andrew, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Atavistic has a number of re-issues of this stuff, if you're interested. Personal faves of mine are Mars and Circle X.

― hstencil, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

i am also going to callk phil todd's A WARM PALINDROME no wave just so i can plug them although i don't know if you can get betley welcomes careful drivers records anywhere any more - v pastoral no wave.

i don't know that you could even stretch the 'definition' of no wave enough to encompass AWP. they were something almost entirely new, and definitely one of the 10 best things i've heard in the past decade. i hear there's unreleased material - hope it gets released. but i have a feeling it won't be for 10-20 years when the self-titled LP becomes a Great Lost Album.

― your null fame, Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I've just got to say that Buy the Contortions is flooring. It's hard to find - I only have a dubbed tape of an old LP from my college radio station - but you really have to hear it if you have any interest in being a good hipster.

― Clarke B., Wednesday, 14 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

But what if you want to be a bad one?

― Ned Raggett, Thursday, 15 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

I think I qualify as a bad hipster

― electric sound of jim, Thursday, 15 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Does John Michel Basquiat's band Gray qualify as No Wave? And wasn't that punk Vincent Gallo in it? Check out the movie Downtown 81 to see a lot of these No Wave bands in action, and NY when the Lower East Side looked like a battle zone. Ah, those halycon pre-Guiliani days...

― Mary, Thursday, 15 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Check out the movie Downtown 81 to see a lot of these No Wave bands in action

and i should point out, right here, that they've been showing this on the sundance channel this month. saul williams narrates?! what the hell?!

― your null fame, Thursday, 15 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Oh - if you want a record that sounds like the epitome of the free jazz / disco clatter funk / non idiom improv thing try: derek bailey / jamaladeen tacuma / calvin weston "miracle" it's on either tzadik or avant. or "dancing in your head" or "body meta" by ornette coleman" all fairly intense in a "jazz-burn" style but nbot too po faced and , in fact pretty hilarious ramshackle jazzpunk improv.

― bob snoom, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

saul williams narrates?! what the hell?!

I don't think it's so much that he narrates as provides the voice of the now-dead star. They probably recorded the scenes without sound for monetary reasons.

― Vic Funk, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

Downtown 81 was shit. This is coming from one who rates NNY as one of the best records evah produced.

― nathalie, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

hey, don't forget they lost the original soundtrack to the whole movie... the extreme dubbing difficulties didn't help it any but I do agree with whoever said the movie served best as a time capsule of the scene during that period

p.s. affirmative on that arto lindsay sighting at the cornelius show

― andrei, Friday, 16 August 2002 00:00 (twenty-two years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.