Customer Reviews

N.Y. No Wave

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Forget the current crop of new wave & post-punk wannabes. This is the real thing. The songs range from dance funk punk of James White/Chance to the sickly sweet synthpop of Lizzy Mercier Descloux to the punk/jazz influenced experiments of Teenage Jesus & The Jerks to the sonic ruminations of Suicide. This compilation from Ze records emphasizes its more experimental releases (no Kristina or Was Not Was), though many of these tracks are much more humorous than a new wave Captain Beefheart or a punked up Sun Ra would have been, think if Frank Zappa had delved out of his L.A. home and far away from the major label rock execs & discovered the NY punk/new wave scene he could've ended up on this disc. Some of the tracks here are 1st time appearances, others are alternate versions (perhaps 7" versions? didn't know Ze released 7"s), and others are from compilations & sound quite like the original I remember. Off hand, I do notice that the version of "Contort Yourself" is different from any I had heard previously, there's no female vocals on it & at 3+ minutes, perhaps it's a 7" version. "The Closet" sounds exactly like I remember, only much clearer & louder (excellent mastering job).

I'm afraid to tell you all that I know first hand that every artist on this album has been ripped off by this "ZE" -- which doesn't really exist. The "E" of ZE is for Esteban. Every artist that's still alive on this -- and even the photographer who's negatives he stole -- is really angry at this release, because he ripped off all of them and still does. Not one artist has been paid for any of the use of masters on this, and the release of this album is illegal. We know he lives in Paris but doesn't have a formal business residence, and is trying to make a fast buck by STEALING money from Lydia Lunch, James Chance, and all the others here. I personally have reported this as a bootleg to the Harry Fox Agency.
Be warned, don't support jerks like this. But the albums from the artists instead or official releases. Visionary artists have to eat, pay the rent, etc. just like you, so pay them the respect of buying something they can earn a living from, and not from criminals like Estaban who disrespect the very people he rips off.

So, while this was going on in New York -what the hell were YOU listening to?
This is great fun, choppy treble-rich guitars, funk beats over tone-less lyricism.
A sea of Gang of Four - Au Pairs - like noise, but while our respect has been paid to some, it's wonderfully satisfying to dig up the obscure for a bit of further reverence.
If you enjoy LCD Soundsystem, or other analog funk/punk
you should have this on your shelf.

Lizzy Mercier is an angel.

i spent much time as a nascent spectator during the "peak" era of ny post punk (79-81), however, most of my purchases (i bought everything that sounded intriguing) at the time were based on (au courant) whim, and less on substance. teenage jesus, mars,theoretical girls, all very "interesting" (cacaphonous) excursions into unexplored realms of pop, however, upon recent listening-I find their work to be supercilious/droll (the sort evoked by reading too much rimbaud/lautreamont/sade etc.). Nonetheless, enjoy the Lizzy pieces (she's a true bad-ass "and you know that")