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"N.Y. NO WAVE: LOWER EAST SIDE STORY"
Coinciding with the release of Mutant Disco, Ze unleashes another collection, this time concentrating on their other label specialty. No-wave was a short-lived outgrowth of post-punk concentrating on short, powerful bursts of atonal rock, with agitated vocals, primitive percussion and explosions of free jazz. The no-wave current lives on today through current bands like Erase Errata, Q and Not U and Liars that have obviously been influenced by the original NYC zeitgeist. Ze Records is using a relatively loose definition of the genre for this collection, including slightly off-topic contributions from synth-pop pioneers Suicide and more dance-oriented material from Lizzy Mercier Descloux. It all holds together well, though, making this a worthwhile compilation containing many previously hard-to-find tracks.Ze
Although collections like this one and New York Noise are nice, they really just emphasize the need for a reissue of the epoch-defining Brian Eno-produced No New York LP that featured DNA, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, The Contortions and MARS. One of those supposedly "hip" NYC record labels should get a clue and re-release this in a deluxe, re-mastered CD edition. Come on people, this is long overdue! This shouldn't be held against NY No Wave, however, as it makes a worthy addendum to that earlier classic. James Siegfried (AKA James Chance AKA James White) is all over this anthology, either with his own bands The Contortions and James White and the Blacks, or as part of Lydia Lunch's Teenage Jesus and the Jerks and Arto Lindsay's Pill Factory. The ubiquitous "Contort Yourself" appears yet again, this time in its three-minute, spastic free-jazz incarnation. Suicide appears twice, including their electro-punk satire of Velvet Underground "Mister Ray", an unholy clash of Lou Reed, Elvis and Kraftwerk. Lydia Lunch's noir jazz narrative "Lady Scarface" sounds out of place on a no-wave compilation, but she's still as funny and sexy as ever. MARS' contributions are fantastic, short-winded explosions of tense, surrealistic punk. Rosa Yemen's minimalist sound was informed by French playwright Antonin Artaud's "Theater of Cruelty", with Anna Magnani's zealously screamed accusations backed by atonal rhythms and dark surf guitar. Arto/Neto is an odd art school in-joke, a combination of Seth Tillett's off-kilter playing and Arto Lindsay's warped, rambling joke narratives. The 22 tracks that make up NY No Wave only actually constitute eight different bands, but there is enough variety in each artist's strategies to keep things interesting for the entire length. Taking a look through Ze Records' extensive discography, there is more than enough mutant disco and no-wave material to fill 10 more compilations like this one. Here's hoping that they continue the great work of re-issuing their sought-after back catalog. 
- Suicide - Mister Ray
- Rosa Yemen - Rose Vertov
- MARS - 11,000 Volts
