No Wave

No Wave was a short-lived but influential offshoot of punk rock centered in New York City during the late 1970s and early 1980s. The term No Wave was partly a satiric wordplay rejecting the commercial elements of the then-popular New Wave genre, and also a declaration of the music's experimental nature: No Wave music belonged to no fixed style or genre.

Related Topics:
Punk rock - New York City - 1970s - 1980s - Satiric - Wordplay - New Wave - Genre

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In many ways, No Wave is not a clearly definable genre. There is, for example, no fixed harmony as in most rock music and blues music. There are some elements common to many No Wave performers, including abrasive atonal sounds, strong emphasis on repetitive rhythm, and more emphasis on mood and texture than on conventional melody. Lyrics often focused on nihilism and confrontation ("little orphans running through the bloody snow/no more ankles and no more clothes"-Teenage Jesus and the Jerks), or were puzzlingly abstract.

Related Topics:
Harmony - Rock music - Blues music - Atonal - Rhythm - Melody - Lyric - Nihilism - Teenage Jesus and the Jerks - Abstract

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No Wave also drew on Performance Art. DNA, for example, was formed by three people with little or no experience playing musical instruments or performing live. Rather than play songs using "proper" methods, DNA quickly utilized their naïveté and played strikingly unique sounds.

Related Topics:
Performance Art - DNA - Instruments - Songs

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Performers classified as No Wave generally had little music style in common: Various groups drew on such disparate styles as funk, jazz, blues, heavy metal, aleatoric music and punk rock. Mars, Swans and The Static, experimented with extremely loud, droning music that was frequently characterized by repetitive drumbeats and explicitly nihilistic lyrics.

Related Topics:
Funk - Jazz - Heavy metal - Aleatoric music - Mars - Swans - The Static

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No Wave had an important impact on noise and industrial bands who formed after, like Big Black, Lev Six, Helmet, and Live Skull. Sonic Youth emerged from this scene by creating music-as-art that eventually reached mass audiences and critical acclaim.

Related Topics:
Noise - Industrial bands - Big Black - Lev Six - Helmet - Live Skull - Sonic Youth

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The Brian Eno-produced album No New York is perhaps the best example of this genre, featuring songs by Mars, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, DNA and James Chance..

Related Topics:
Brian Eno - No New York - Mars - Teenage Jesus & the Jerks - DNA - James Chance

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Also during this time there was a period of No Wave Cinema which was an underground film movement in the East Village. No Wave filmmakers included Amos Poe, John Lurie, Scott B and Beth B, and led to the Cinema of Transgression and work by Nick Zedd and Richard Kern.

Related Topics:
No Wave Cinema - Amos Poe - John Lurie - Scott B and Beth B - Nick Zedd - Richard Kern

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Late outliers of this movement included groups such as Skeleton Key, Cop Shoot Cop, VPN and others.

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List of No Wave artists:

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• Red Transistor
• Von Lmo
• Bush Tetras
• The Contortions
• DNA
• Del-Byzanteens
• James Chance
• Kiosk
• Lydia Lunch
• Mars
• Material
• Oh!Belgium
• Rosa Yemen (duo) / Lizzy Mercier Descloux
• Sonic Youth
• Swans
• Teenage Jesus & the Jerks
• Come On
• Ut
• Friction
• Y Pants
• Dark Day
• The Static
• Theoretical Girls
• 8 Eyed Spy
• Rhys Chatham
• Ambitious Lovers
• Golden Palominos
• John Lurie and The Lounge Lizards
• Monitor
 
No Wave: See also ►