No New York

Various Artists (Artist)

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 20, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 1978
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Lilith
• ASIN: B000B63ISE
• In-Print Editions: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #88,208 in Music (See Bestsellers in Music)

Track Listings

1. Dish It Out - James Chance, James Chance & The Contortions,

2. Flip Your Face - James Chance, James Chance & The Contortions,

3. Jaded - James Chance, James Chance & The Contortions,

4. I Can't Stand Myself - James Chance, James Chance & The Contortions,

5. Burning Rubber - Lydia Lunch, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks

6. Closet - Lydia Lunch, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks

7. Red Alert - Lydia Lunch, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks

8. I Woke up Dreaming - Lydia Lunch, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks

9. Helen Fordsdale - Mars

10. Hairwaves - Mars

11. Tunnel - Mars

12. Puerto Rican Ghost - Mars

13. Egomaniac's Kiss - DNA

14. Lionel - DNA

15. Not Moving - DNA

16. Size - DNA

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

One of the brightest and most famous projects of the entire punk/new wave scene, No New York was released in 1978 on Island's sub-label Antilles and became a total cult in the Indie scene. Featuring some of the most incredible rule-breaking bands of the underground New York art and music scene, the project, produced by Brian Eno, is a genuine snapshot of the massively creative NYC scene, from which innumerable trends started and became part of the modern pop music as we know it. Influential, powerful and ground breaking, this collection features four of the top icon-shattering Gotham City's no-wavers like James Chance (Contortions), Arto Lindsay and Ikue Mori (DNA), Lydia Lunch (Teenage Jesus) and Sumner Crane (MARS). This is the first time No New York has ever been released in the West. This CD digi-pak version includes a detailed booklet. The musical legacy of this collection runs right from the Swans and Sonic Youth straight through to Glenn Branca, Jon Spencer and all the current crop of New Wave Of No New Wave outfits (such as The Rapture, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, etc..) burning up hipster dance floors worldwide! 16 total tracks. Lilith. 2005.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The finest album of its kind, 4 NY No Wave bands' finest, January 12, 2006

By	Chris bct "music everyday" (San Diego, CA USA) - See all my reviews

This album is legendary. So much so there was a Yes L.A. album about 1981 with X and some other bands on nice clear vinyl. Somehow when Eno produced the music here of all 4 bands he was able to have them make clearly their own music, ie, a good producer who enhances the band's qualities rather than try to contort them for mass consumption or to the producer's musical style.

As with all great punk compilations this is really the equivilent of 4 great eps. There is not a weak song on this comp. If you listen to the entire catalogs of each band I think it's fair to say this is the best stuff each band ever did, although I'm not gonna make a big deal about it particularly because each band also did marvelous other releases. TEENAGE JESUS and the JERKS, DNA and Mars each ended up only doing another half hour to an hour's worth of music, all together on some 12"s and 7"s and, come to think of it, none of the three of them even did one album (not counting the reissue albums of recent years that are a collection of their 7"s, eps, 12"s and compilation trax).

Of course, JAMES CHANCE and the CONTORTIONS/JAMES WHITE and the BLACKS did a number of albums over the years, mainly in the 80's and, if you ask me, the earliest ones were the best.

Sure, this isn't hardcore punk. It's not anything I ever heard come out of England or any other punk producing country either (Spain, Finland, Italy, Brasil, Japan, Australia, Canada and, of course, the U.S. among others). This album is filled with that high falutin' high class, sophisticated attitude. It's a New York thing baby. In punk, as in rock 'n roll before big corporate music companies homogonized the U.S. scene, that is, say the 50's and earlier 60's, individual regions, sometimes even certain big cities, had their own scene and their own sound. In punk Boston had a big straight edge scene, D.C. flowed out of and around the Dischord label, S.F. had the DK's and bands that pushed the artistic envelop of punk, Austin! had a thriving scene that actually ended up sending a number of bands to S.F. - if I'm not mistaken MDC, DRI and some other big punk band. L.A., of course, and, really, even sections of Southern California with it's own little scenes like San Diego and Riverside and so on, had it's own sense and type of bands like BAD RELIGION, CHINA WHITE, X, CIRCLE JERKS, BLACK FLAG and so on. Some cities just produced say one big punk band like Phoenix had, well, JFA and the MEAT PUPPETS, SIN 34 from Tucson right? RHYTHM PIGS from El Paso, the BATTALION OF SAINTS from San Diego, and so on.

Well, I could go on. The point is, New York had this distinct scene that was all big city and these 4 bands got the spirit of the city right and they got their own name for their thing, No Wave.

If you haven't heard these bands it's:
JAMES CHANCE sax and sorta homage to JAMES BROWN time.
TEENAGE JESUS Lydia Lunch's intense vocals and defining grating guitar with tight band.
DNA trio with intense minimalism, harsh guitar and
MARS outdoing DNA and TEENAGE JESUS as the most harsh yet somehow usually riviting nearly industrial piledriving punk ever heard this side of THROBBING GRISTLE without really being industrial, sorta emotional industrial?

Go get it kids. This is a gotta have if you follow what I'm sayin' here. [e-mail]

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Absolutely seminal, July 10, 2007

By	Lovblad (Geneva, Switzerland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

...but difficult. I bought this one on vinyl but a few years after it acme out. While it is rightly recognized as a classic since it documents Brian Eno's production of the more important band of the No Wave scene, it is slightly difficult to listen to at moments.

5.0 out of 5 stars Challenging But Very Rewarding, May 26, 2008

By	EmperorTomato "music lover" (Massachusetts USA) - See all my reviews

No New York is the famous compilation produced by endlessly talented Brian Eno which documents the New York post-punk/noise movement known as "No Wave". "No Wave" of course is an artistic rejection of the glam-rock inspired new wave movement at the time. That Eno's early career was considered glam-rock only helps to show how board his artistic appreciation of all music is, it's so different from what he usually works with yet makes perfect sense.

The album is composed of four sets of four songs, each set by a different artist. The first set is James Chance and the Contortions, the second Teenage Jesus & The Jerks, third Mars, and the final four songs are by D.N.A.

What all the artists share is a penchant for noisy, dissonant, confrontational post-punk informed music. However the artists are all quite different in their approaches and personalities.

James Chance and the Contortions' set is a lot of fun. Loud completely out of tune saxes skronk endlessly as Chance spews forth a relentless vocal assault over heavy loopy bass lines. The complete disregard for convention in every sense is what makes this group so captivating; Chance clearly doesn't care what you think.

For me Teenage Jesus and the Jerks is the odd one out in this collection. Their sound is more unrefined than other artists on this disc. To me they sound like a sloppy goth post-punk group. They lack the strong rhythms and high activity of other artists on this disc, instead relying on caustic-creepiness, a stripped-down sound, and singer Lydia Lunch's truly jarring vocal delivery. Not my cup of tea, but I can see why Eno included them from a historical perspective.

Mars is an interesting act. For me the standout from their set is the instrumental/ambient experimentalism displayed on "Hairwaves". Other tracks like "Puerto Rican Ghost" feature attacks of noisy feedback and dissonant male/female vocals which succeed by being as interesting and propulsive as they are strange and off-putting.

D.N.A.'s use of electronics along with the signature No Wave dissonance and feedback makes them unique in this collection. "Not Moving" is so weird, everything sounds wrong (in a good way), guitars are abused and the whole thing is just fascinating.

I'm making plans to investigate the Contortions and D.N.A. further. Overall the collection succeeds as it is billed, as the official go-to document of the New York No Wave scene circa late `70s, recommended for fans of RIO, experimental music, punk or noise rock. Careful with those ears.