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(TV) No New York



The No New York album is probably the definitive statement of a post-punk
sub-genre that people sometimes call "skronk."  It's produced by Brian Eno,
and has several selections by each of four bands -- The Contortions, Teenage
Jesus and the Jerks, D.N.A and Mars.  Though it's definitive, I should also
stress that (unless you're in certain moods) it is often almost unlistenable,
though I don't really mean that in a bad way.  These bands are all, to one
degree or another, dedicated to making horrible guitar noise.  Arto Lindsay's
D.N.A. approaches it from an angle of high art, with detuned (and I mean
detuned) guitars and furious strumming.  James Chance (later James White) and
the Contortions use James Brown funk as their stepping-off point.  Teenage
Jesus' singer Lydia Lunch is an angry young punk.  Mars sounds like they're
from, well, Mars.

If your tastes run to, say, the Stooges' "L.A. Blues" or the Velvets' "Sister
Ray" or early PIL or "Metal Machine Music", then this stuff might be for you. 
I'm glad I own it, but I don't play it much.  I love the noise, but dislike
the humorlessness.  Before you pay import prices, I'd recommend trying to hear
it first.

- Jeff Strell

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