No New York

Various Artists (Artist) | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (February 20, 2006)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Lilith
• ASIN: B000B63ISE
• Also Available in: Audio CD  |  Vinyl
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #53,066 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Dish It Out

2. Flip Your Face

3. Jaded

4. I Can't Stand Myself

5. Burning Rubber

6. The Closet

7. Red Alert

8. I Woke up Dreaming

9. Helen Fordsdale

10. Hairwaves

11. Tunnel

12. Puerto Rican Ghost

13. Egomaniac's Kiss

14. Lionel

15. Not Moving

16. Size

Editorial Reviews

LP version. 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. 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. --This text refers to the Vinyl edition.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 25 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 review is from: No New York (Audio CD)

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]

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

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

By 

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

This review is from: No New York (Audio CD)

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.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This record is legendary cuz it's brilliant., December 21, 2004

By 

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

This review is from: No New York (Audio CD)

Let's review. If Eno hadn't produced this album, would it have sounded this good? Dunno, but gotta guess, not. One can assume that he was able to detect the heart of their best sound and get it in the studio onto this record. Thanks man.

DNA is the classic trio with Arto Lindsay who went on to Brasilian Bosa Nova, beautiful male voiced twinge of crazy git-dom, enough to keep making records every 2 years or so. But in DNA he battered his guitar, the Asian gal on bass sang her guts out and R.L. Crutchfield (right?) played drums and did a mean album or so of his own back in the day. Worth finding and hearing. But as a band, DNA only did like two 7"s and a 12". They've recently released a best of CD and had a Japanese CD release of their last CBGB's gig. Almost painful guitar sound but any fan of TEENAGE JESUS and the JERKS would love it. I still do.

Speakin' of which, Lydia Lunch did her best (only?) guitar work with TJatJ's on every song they ever released. They're famed for only doing like five minute gigs. They lived fast and died young (as a band). I've always considered her guitar work with this band to be the ultimate punk guitar sound. Really quite grating but enjoyable, if, well, yer a bit of a nut and like yer music hard but don't have to have it be hardcore.

JAMES CHANCE and the CONTORTIONS (or is he JAMES WHITE and the BLACKS on this album? I forget) does some of his tighest stuff ever on this album and his band is known for bein' super tight. Funk/sax/attitude with Lydia Lunch in the band which only helps (I assume she's in it on this album).

The album is worth it strictly for these three bands. You could stop there. They'd be three perfect 7" releases. But, no, there's more. MARS. Now, talk about a band that's too much to take. These guys go over an edge, they go to a place that you don't realize is a place a band can reside at. Maybe spiritual cousins to THROBBING GRISTLE but NY version. Less industrial, more, what? just maniac.

Together, this album apparently inspired the Yes L.A. response comp with X and other bands, a very nice LP on clear vinyl, one sided. Yup. This thing though, should not be overlooked. It's a total 5 star release if you like adventursome music that's very NY, the definition of No Wave, a moment in time frozen (I guess every album is) but of a time, late 70's and a place, NY, that came together to give us this gem. Of course, an fiend would want the LP. Who wouldn't? Ok, cracks, pops, skips, inevitably soil the darn thing but it's got the size that CD will always lack. And the photo work and graphics are quite nice on this release. Tired of average music, of music that the radio will play. Jump into this. Feet first. You'll be glad you did, assuming you are out on the edge. If yer in the mainstream, pass on this, don't even listen to the web site samples. It might spoil your appetite for predicatable, polite and middle of the road music. It only whets mine... [e-mail]