No New York

Released

Before there was noise-rock, there was no wave. This compilation, recorded by Brian Eno in 1978, features four tracks each by four bands: the Contortions, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Mars, and DNA. Each one does something different, but they all fit together as a shrieking ball of live-wire intensity. The Contortions deliver a jagged punk funk (their cover of James Brown’s “I Can’t Stand Myself (When You Touch Me)” is breathtaking); Teenage Jesus & the Jerks are the sound of the world’s angriest teenage girl and her friends stabbing you with broken bottles; Mars created improvised-sounding chaos with wordless vocals and deliberately untrained instrumental approaches, making it seem like they were forever on the brink of coming up with a song but never quite getting there; and DNA’s best qualities were Ikue Mori’s primitive drumming and Arto Lindsay’s barbed-wire, detuned guitar.

Phil Freeman

Suggestions
Lux cover

Lux

Aluk Todolo
Der Abend Der Schwarzen Folklore cover

Der Abend Der Schwarzen Folklore

Caspar Brötzmann Massaker
We Be All Africans cover

We Be All Africans

Idris Ackamoor ☥ The Pyramids
Made in Chicago cover

Made in Chicago

Jack DeJohnette, Muhal Richard Abrams, Henry Threadgill, Roscoe Mitchell, Larry Gray
God’s Money cover

God’s Money

Gang Gang Dance
Marquee Moon cover

Marquee Moon

Television
Junk Trap cover

Junk Trap

Charles Bobo Shaw, Human Arts Ensemble, Joseph Bowie
Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller) cover

Shiny Beast (Bat Chain Puller)

Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band