| 99 Records | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Founded | 1980 |
| Founder | Ed Bahlman |
| Defunct | 1986 |
| Genre | Post-punk, no wave |
| Country of origin | U.S. |
| Location | Greenwich Village, New York |
99 Records was an American independent record label, active from 1980 to 1984. The label was home to musicians in the no wave, post-punk, post-disco, and avant-garde scenes in New York City.
British designer Gina Franklyn sold British fashions out of her shop 99, located at 99 MacDougal Street in New York's Greenwich Village. She began dating Ed Bahlman, who sold independent singles out of the store. During trips to England, he and Franklyn brought back suitcases of music, particularly from Rough Trade. [1] They focused on independent and punk music, becoming a successful rival to Bleecker Bob's in the West Village. [2] They also had a selection of funk and reggae. [3] The store's arty appeal stood in contrast to many of the local businesses, which Bush Tetras member Dee Pop called "real Bob Dylan territory". [4] Vivien Goldman described the store as "a milieu...[with] a very creative atmosphere." [2] Ed recruited his brother Bill Bahlman to work at 99. Bill was a in-house DJ in many NYC clubs, including Hurrah, Danceteria, The Anvil.
Musician Glenn Branca approached Bahlman to see if he would be interested in starting a label and releasing a record by Branca. Bahlman knew little about recording, pressing, and distributing records, but Branca had some experience with Theoretical Records. Bahlman agreed and made Lesson No. 1 the first release by 99 Records. [1] [5] The label distributed primarily through its own store but also through Jem, Important, and Sky Disk. [6] In 1980 and 1981 the label released several records for local bands, some of which had crossover success in dance clubs. [2] [7] Bush Tetras and ESG appeared on the disco charts, and 99 had its most successful releases with ESG and Liquid Liquid. [7] [8]
In 1981 the relationship between Bahlman and Branca became strained, especially after Bahlman's refusal to sign a fledgling Sonic Youth. Branca went to start his own label Neutral Records, and 99's roster was reduced to ESG and Liquid Liquid. Bahlman stated that over a hundred acts had asked about releasing music through 99 but that growing too fast would damage the label's "sense of identity." [2] 99 had only one release the following year. [2]
In 1983 Grandmaster Melle Mel released "White Lines (Don't Don't Do It)", which used elements of "Cavern" from Liquid Liquid's Optimo EP. 99 sued Sugar Hill Records for the similarities between the two tracks. [9] 99 employee Terry Tolkin and Liquid Liquid member Richard McGuire have both accused Sugar Hill of retaliating through scare tactics, including hiring someone to scare 99's customers with a machete. [2] [10] Tolkin stated that Bahlman refused to visit the store for a year and a half and alleged that Bahlman had received threats regularly. Franklyn has dismissed these accounts as "complete exaggeration". [2] Sugar Hill was ordered to pay $660,000 but instead declared bankruptcy shortly after. [1] Bahlman shut down 99, in part because of the case's legal costs. [11] In early 1986, Bahlman sold off 99's inventory and went into seclusion. [1]
Since its demise, the reputation of the label and that of its groups has steadily grown. Branca rose to prominence as a composer during the 1980s, and with new popularity in post-punk and post-disco, labelmates ESG and Liquid Liquid re-formed and have been featured guests at international music festivals. [4] Bahlman has declined to give master recordings to 99's artists. [2] As a result, some bands have gone through British labels to reissue their work. [1]
During the 2000s, 99's arrangements guided the dance music community in New York, particularly dance-punk label DFA Records. [1] Musician James Murphy named 99 as one of his favorite labels, and it has been a major influence on his bass technique with LCD Soundsystem. [12] The label has been cited as a major influence of Franz Ferdinand and Futureheads. [4]
No wave was an avant-garde music genre and visual art scene which emerged in the late 1970s in Downtown New York City. The term was a pun based on the rejection of commercial new wave music. Reacting against punk rock's recycling of rock and roll clichés, no wave musicians instead experimented with noise, dissonance, and atonality, as well as non-rock genres like free jazz, funk, and disco. The scene often reflected an abrasive, confrontational, and nihilistic world view.
Glenn Branca was an American avant-garde composer, guitarist, and luthier. Known for his use of volume, alternative guitar tunings, repetition, droning, and the harmonic series, he was a driving force behind the genres of no wave, totalism and noise rock. Branca received a 2009 Foundation for Contemporary Arts Grants to Artists Award.
Bush Tetras are an American post-punk No Wave band from New York City, formed in 1979. They are best known for the 1980 song "Too Many Creeps", which exemplified the band's sound of "jagged rhythms, slicing guitars, and sniping vocals". Although they did not achieve mainstream success, the Bush Tetras were influential and popular in the Manhattan club scene and college radio in the early 1980s. New York's post-punk revival of the 2000s was accompanied by a resurgence of interest in the genre, with the Tetras' influence heard in many of that scene's bands.
Sonic Youth is the debut EP by American rock band Sonic Youth. It was recorded between December 1981 and January 1982 and released in March 1982 by Glenn Branca's Neutral label. It is the only recording featuring the early Sonic Youth lineup with Richard Edson on drums. Sonic Youth differs stylistically from the band's later work in its greater incorporation of clean guitars, standard tuning, crisp production and a post-punk style.
Dance-punk is a post-punk subgenre that emerged in the late 1970s, and is closely associated with the disco, post-disco and new wave movements. The genre is characterized by mixing the energy of punk rock with the danceable rhythms of funk and disco. It was most prominent in the New York City punk movement.
Liquid Liquid is an American no wave and dance-punk group, originally active from 1980 to 1983. They are best known for their track "Cavern," which was covered—without proper permission or attribution—by the Sugar Hill Records house band as the backing track for Melle Mel's old school rap classic "White Lines ." The group released a series of extended plays, including the acclaimed 1983 12" EP Optimo. In 2008, the band reformed and have played in multiple countries.
ESG is an American rock band formed in the South Bronx in 1978. ESG has been influential across a wide range of musical genres, including hip hop, and dance-punk. The band's track "UFO" is one of the most sampled songs in history.
KONK was an American band formed in 1980 in New York City that emerged during a period marked by the post-punk/new wave and disco scenes which were prevalent at the time. KONK won the attention of both scenes by playing a hybrid of the two musical styles which involved the blending of a new wave attitude with the carefree nature of disco's dance crowd. KONK's musical influences ranged from Afrobeat, jazz and funk to hip hop. Given these influence KONK's style is noted as being highly percussive, and containing simple, yet strong, backing bass lines. As part of New York’s post-punk dance scene they regularly played alongside groups such as Liquid Liquid, Bush Tetras, ESG, the Peech Boys and the Lounge Lizards. They are featured in a book by David Byrne and others on the New York post-punk scene.
Wharton Tiers is an American audio engineer, record producer, drummer and percussionist.
The Ascension is the debut studio album by American no wave musician Glenn Branca, released in November 1981 by 99 Records. The album experiments with resonances generated by alternate tunings for multiple electric guitars. It sold 10,000 copies and received acclaim from music critics.
Lesson No. 1 is the debut solo EP by American avant-garde musician Glenn Branca. It was released in March 1980 on 99 Records.
Come Away with ESG is the 1983 debut album by American rock band ESG. Released by 99 Records, the album incorporates songs from ESG's first EPs, ESG and ESG Says Dance to the Beat of Moody.
Post-disco is a term to describe an aftermath in popular music history circa 1979–1986, imprecisely beginning with an unprecedented backlash against disco music in the United States, leading to civil unrest and a riot in Chicago known as the Disco Demolition Night on July 12, 1979, and indistinctly ending with the mainstream appearance of new wave in 1980. During its dying stage, disco displayed an increasingly electronic character that soon served as a stepping stone to new wave, old-school hip hop, Euro disco, and was succeeded by an underground club music called hi-NRG, which was its direct continuation.
Tier 3 was an influential but short-lived 300-capacity no wave art nightclub in New York. Founded by Hilary Jaeger in 1979, Tier 3 was a major venue in the city's underground music and counterculture post-punk art scene, along with the Mudd Club. Live performances showcased punk rock, no wave, ska, noise music, free jazz, new wave and experimental music. The club was located at 225 West Broadway in the TriBeCa neighborhood of lower Manhattan.
The Notekillers are an instrumental avant-rock band based out of both Philadelphia and Brooklyn. The current line up consists of David First (Guitar), Stephen Bilenky (Bass), and Barry Halkin (Drums). The band officially began in 1977 and was closely associated with the No Wave acts of New York City at the time. After a nearly thirty-year hiatus, the band has recently released their long-awaited first full-length album We're Here To Help on Prophase Records.
Ed Bahlman is the American founder of 99 Records, the postpunk label from New York, home to ESG and Liquid Liquid. He also ran an independent record shop of the same name at 99 MacDougal Street in New York City, an iconic import record store. Bahlman was born in Brooklyn, New York. In his mid-20s, Bahlman was an occasional club DJ and soundman with an omnivorous taste for cutting-edge music, known for his strong work ethic and an intense passion for music, especially new and underground music that was not wholly embraced by the mainstream or even punk establishments.
Optimo is the third EP by American dance-punk band Liquid Liquid. It was released through 99 Records in 1983, becoming the band's final release until the 1997 compilation album Liquid Liquid. The EP includes Liquid Liquid's best-known song "Cavern", which was the subject of a dispute after being used for Grandmaster Melle Mel's "White Lines ".
Liquid Liquid is the debut EP by the American no wave and dance-punk group Liquid Liquid. It was released in 1981, through the record label 99.
ESG is the debut EP by American rock band ESG. It was released by 99 Records in 1981. The EP received positive reviews from music critics. "Moody" became popular with house DJs, and "UFO" came to be one of the most sampled tracks in hip hop music.
Avant-funk is a music style in which artists combine funk or disco rhythms with an avant-garde or art rock mentality. Its most prominent era occurred in the late 1970s and 1980s among post-punk and no wave acts who embraced black dance music.
