Search results
No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene that emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. [ 4 ][ 5 ] The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. [ 6 ] Reacting against punk rock 's recycling of rock and roll clichés, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance, and ...
- Various Artists – No New York
- Contortions – Buy
- Glenn Branca – The Ascension
- Sonic Youth – Bad Moon Rising
- Swans – Filth
(1979; Antilles) Any and all awareness of no wave, outside of a small group of weirdos in the ’70s in New York, can be attributed pretty much directly to No New York. A compilation of 16 tracks by four bands on two LPs, it’s about as concise-yet-comprehensive a document as you’re likely to find of the scene, compiled and produced by none other than...
(1979; Ze) James Chance and the Contortions were the most immediate band featured on No New York, and if we’re not counting Swans or Sonic Youth—which we shouldn’t, since they only embraced greater accessibility after the no wave era ended—they were also the most approachable of the genre as a whole. A bizarre and dance-friendly take on punk with m...
(1981; 99) If The Contortions represent the most pop-oriented elements of no wave, then Glenn Branca is much farther down on the avant garde spectrum. More than a songwriter, he was a composer and an experimental visionary. He conducted ensembles of electric guitars as if they were orchestras, all of them treated and tuned to yield a certain sound ...
(1985; Blast First) No wave didn’t make stars of anyone. It was, however, the launching ground of quite a few notable careers, including DNA’s Arto Lindsay, would would make a long career out of experimental pop records, as well as Bill Laswell, whose name was on any number of notable pop/rock/art records of the ’80s and ’90s. The one major excepti...
(1983; Neutral) So, here’s something funny. A couple years ago, I wrote up a Beginner’s Guide to Swans, but I didn’t include their debut album Filth in my list of essential starting points. And that has more to do with the long arc of the band’s career, which curves toward a dark, but ultimately melodic presence. Filth is ugly and atonal and messy ...
Sep 15, 2022 · To discuss no wave is to discuss New York. In the mid to late 1970s, a recession hit New York, and poverty and crime took hold of the city. Artist Maripol was interviewed in the landmark no wave documentary Blank City, where she said, “All the ‘straight’ people were trying to get out of New York, but all the freaks… we were trying to get in.”
I don’t mean to bring us back to the 70’s for more music history, but for those music lovers out there, you can’t help but look back to that decade, especially when trying to understand some of our most coveted bands.
No Wave was a short-lived, avant-garde offshoot of '70s punk, based almost entirely in New York City's Lower East Side from about 1978-1982. Like the post-punk movement that was primarily centered in Britain, no wave drew from the artier side of punk -- but where British post-punk was mostly cold and despairing, no wave was harsh, abrasive, and aggressively confrontational.
No Wave was a short-lived, avant-garde offshoot of '70s punk, based almost entirely in New York City's Lower East Side from about 1978-1982. Like the post-punk movement that was primarily centered in Britain, no wave drew from the artier side of punk -- but where British post-punk was mostly cold and despairing, no wave was harsh, abrasive, and ...
People also ask
Are all no wave bands identical?
Is no wave a '70s punk band?
What is no wave music?
Why were no wave bands popular?
What was the difference between punk and no wave music?
Is no wave a thing still?
The term “no wave” was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock’s recycling of rock and roll clichés, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance and atonality in addition to non-rock genres like free jazz and disco while often reflecting an abrasive, confrontational, and nihilistic worldview.
