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No wave is a music genre, named for the transient avant-garde music and visual art scene from which it emerged in the late 1970s in downtown New York City.
Sonic Youth was an American rock band based in New York City, formed in 1981. Founding members Thurston Moore, Kim Gordon and Lee Ranaldo remained together for the entire history of the band, while Steve Shelley (drums) followed a series of short-term drummers in 1985, rounding out the core line-up. Jim O'Rourke was also a member of the band from 1999 to 2005, and Mark Ibold was a member from 2006 to 2011.
Glenn Branca was an American avant-garde composer, guitarist, and creator of unique musical instruments. 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.
Thurston Joseph Moore is an American musician best known as a member of Sonic Youth. He has also participated in many solo and group collaborations outside Sonic Youth, as well as running the Ecstatic Peace! record label. Moore was ranked 34th in Rolling Stone's 2004 edition of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time."
Kim Althea Gordon is an American musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the bassist, guitarist, and vocalist of alternative rock band Sonic Youth. Born in Rochester, New York, she was raised in Los Angeles, California, where her father was a professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. After graduating from Los Angeles's Otis College of Art and Design, she moved to New York City to begin an art career. There, she formed Sonic Youth with Thurston Moore in 1981. She and Moore married in 1984, and the band released a total of six albums on independent labels before the end of the 1980s. They would subsequently release nine studio albums on the major label DGC Records, beginning with Goo in 1990. Gordon was also a founding member of the musical project Free Kitten, which she formed with Julia Cafritz in 1993.
Lee Mark Ranaldo is an American musician, singer-songwriter, guitarist, writer, visual artist and record producer, best known as a co-founder of the alternative rock band Sonic Youth. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Ranaldo at number 33 on its "Greatest Guitarists of All Time" list. In May 2012, Spin published a staff-selected top 100 guitarist list, ranking Ranaldo and his Sonic Youth bandmate Thurston Moore together at number 1.
Noise music is a genre of music that is characterised by the expressive use of noise within a musical context. This type of music tends to challenge the distinction that is made in conventional musical practices between musical and non-musical sound. Noise music includes a wide range of musical styles and sound-based creative practices that feature noise as a primary aspect.
Noise rock is a noise-oriented style of experimental rock that spun off from punk rock in the 1980s. Drawing on movements such as minimalism, industrial music, and New York hardcore, artists indulge in extreme levels of distortion through the use of electric guitars and, less frequently, electronic instrumentation, either to provide percussive sounds or to contribute to the overall arrangement.
Borbetomagus are a free jazz/noise rock group. They are cited by critics as pioneers of aggressive improvised noise music.
Sister is the fourth studio album by American alternative rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in June 1987 by SST Records. The album furthered the band's move away from the no wave genre towards more traditional song structures, while maintaining an aggressively experimental approach.
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.
Sonic Death is a live album by American rock band Sonic Youth. It was released in 1984 on cassette tape by the Ecstatic Peace! record label.
No wave cinema was an underground filmmaking movement that flourished on the Lower East Side of New York City from about 1976 to 1985. Sponsored by the artists group Collaborative Projects, no wave cinema was a stripped-down style of guerrilla filmmaking that emphasized dark edgy mood and unrehearsed immediacy above many other artistic concerns – similar to the parallel no wave music movement in its raw and rapid style.
Destroy All Monsters were an influential Detroit band existing from 1973 to 1985, with sporadic performances since. Their music touched on elements of punk rock, psychedelic rock, heavy metal and noise rock with a heavy dose of performance art. Their music was described by Lester Bangs as "anti-rock". They earned a measure of notoriety due to members of The Stooges and MC5 joining the band, and Sonic Youth singer/guitarist Thurston Moore compiling a three compact disc set of the group's music in 1994.
The Coachmen were a lower-Manhattan punk rock/new wave band that performed from early 1978 to their final gig at White Columns in August, 1980. The line-up included guitarists Thurston Moore and J. D. King, bassist Bob Pullin, and Danny Walworth on drums, who was replaced by Dave Keay. Briefly, Mary Lemley was vocalist. The Coachmen was Moore's first band; their live performances were his first times performing in N.Y.C. clubs in an artistic milieu.
"Silver Rocket" is both the second track and second single from Sonic Youth's 1988 album Daydream Nation. Like all the tracks on the album, the Daydream Nation version of “Silver Rocket” was recorded in the studio, whereas all editions of the single featured a live version of the song with alternate lyrics and were pressed in small runs by independent fanzines. The studio album version also appeared on the B-side of the 12” edition of the band's previous single, “Teen Age Riot.” A video was also produced for “Silver Rocket,” featuring a recording of the song different from any of those appearing on any of the band's singles of albums.
Donald Gene Fleming is an American musician and producer. Besides fronting a number of his own bands, Fleming has produced Sonic Youth, Screaming Trees, Teenage Fanclub and Hole.
Theoretical Girls were a New York-based no wave band formed by Glenn Branca and Jeff Lohn that existed from 1977 to 1981. Theoretical Girls played only about 20 shows. It released one single, which had some attention in England where it sold a few thousand copies. The band was never signed by a record company, but is well regarded as an early leading no wave group that mixed classical modern ideas of composition with punk rock. This experimental music was mostly supported by the New York art world and minimal art music audience.
Vietnam is a rock, post-punk and new wave band from Atlanta, Georgia on Scared Records. Vietnam first appeared at the dawn of a new decade—the 80's, and ushered in a fresh era of music to the Atlanta new wave scene. Embraced by the early 80's cavalcade of Athens bands such as R.E.M., Pylon, Method Actors, Love Tractor, etc., Vietnam wowed the patrons of the legendary 688 club, 40 Watt club, and the Agora Ballroom. Their first performance was opening for Public Image Ltd. in April 1980, and the next year they played the Noise Fest in New York, appearing on the ZG compilation release of the same name along with Sonic Youth, Glenn Branca, Y Pants and others. They released their first full-length album on Scared Records in 2004, Past Away.
Fat Worm of Error is an avant-rock band from Northampton, Massachusetts. They are seen as staples of the underground noise and improvisation scene and have helped to start a regional scene of noise music called Western Mass Noise.They utilize traditional rock instruments as well as homemade electronics and other modified instruments. In their live performances, the singer, Jess Goddard, engages in homemade pageantry with homemade surrealist costumes. The band has toured Europe and North America.
References
- Marc Masters, (2007) "No Wave", Black Dog Publishing, London
- Paul Hegarty, Noise/Music: A History (2007) Continuum International Publishing Group
- RoseLee Goldberg, Performance: Live Art Since 1960 (1998) Harry N. Abrams, NY NY
- Thurston Moore, Mix Tape: The Art of Cassette Culture (2004) Universe