No New York
No New York is the name of a compilation album, which was produced in 1978 at the record label Antilles by Brian Eno. Although it contained pieces of four different groups, it is seen as the definitive album that documented the New York No Wave movement of the late 1970s.
Background
The English musician and producer Brian Eno came in 1978 to New York to complete the Master of the second album More Songs About Buildings and Food Talking Heads. During this time the four-day underground rock festival New York, New York took place on which DNA, James Chance and the Contortions occurred under the name Contortions, Mars and Teenage Jesus and the Jerks. Eno saw these performances and was impressed by the bands and came to the conclusion that this movement should be documented. He suggested, therefore, to produce a No Wave compilation album itself.
Recording
For the recording sessions Eno abandoned largely due to its typical mode of production, which he had used for earlier albums. James Chance said later that the Contortions Recordings " completely live in the studio, without separation of the instruments, no overdubs, just as a document " ( "done totally live in the studio, no separation in between the instruments, no overdubs, just like a document took place. ").
However, Eno himself said in his famous lecture The Studio as Compositional Tool ( The studio as a compositional tool ): [ sic ] " In Helen Thormdale on the No New York album I put an echo on the click of the guitar part and used the, to trigger the compression of the whole track, so it sounds like helicopter "
Publication and reception
No New York was released in 1978 on Antilles and did not make it into the Billboard charts. Originally the lyrics were printed on the inside of the disk inner envelope so that you had to tear them to read the texts.
The Creem critic Richard C. Walls described the album as - and said " the most cruel and most aggressively ugly avant-garde music since Albert Ayler then puked on my brain was in 1964? ": " If you are bold enough to this stuff to want to hear ( an acquaintance complained after three quarters of the first page that this music was painful - she said no abstract reaction, her face was contorted in pain ), then you remember that Antilles Records is a division of Iceland Records, and that is not really the Transamerica Corporation. You will probably have to try something in order to procure the album by itself it will not come. "
The album was re-released in 2005 by Lilith Records as a record and a CD. The meetings of the album were positive. Todd Kristel of the online music database Allmusic gave the album 4 ½ out of 5 stars and wrote, " is this breakthrough album and remains the definitive document of the No Wave movement in New York ", but also repeated the statement of Creem: " Some listeners will be fascinated by the music on No New York, while others will find it unbearable. "
Title
Musician
Contortions
- James Chance - saxophone, vocals
- Don Christensen - drums
- Jody Harris - guitar
- Pat Place - slide guitar
- George Scott III - Bass
- Adele Bertei - Acetone organ
Teenage Jesus and the Jerks
- Lydia Lunch - guitar, vocals
- Gordon Stevenson - Bass
- Bradley Field - drums
Mars
- Sumner Crane - guitar, vocals
- China Castle - guitar, vocals
- Mark Cunningham - bass, vocals
- Nancy Arlen - Drums
D.N.A.
- Arto Lindsay - Guitar, Vocals
- Robin Crutchfield - organ, vocals
- Ikue Ile - drums
Other collaborators
- Brian Eno - Producer, Cover Design, Cover Photo
- Kurt Munkasci - sound engineer
- Vishek Woszcyk - sound engineer
- Roddy Hui - assistant engineer
- Steven Keister - cover design