No Wave

No Wave is a short lived underground avant-grade and anti-art movement and music scene in New York City started as an reaction to New Wave and the state of NYC at the time. It began in the late 70s and fizzled out in early 80s, although later groups carried on the legacy after the original scene by adopting the aesthetic and a similar approach to music

The term was coined during the creation of the split album "No New York"^[1]

Music[]

No Wave reacts angst the commercialization of rock music in the 70s by trying to make it as uncommercially viable as possible.^[1] It achieved this by using elements such as atonality, dissonance, non-unified tempos, abrasiveness, angularity, buzzing guitars and skronk, tribal drumming, etc^[2] with vocal delivery that sounds really anxious and often off-key (Assuming the song even has a key). The idea was that anybody could pick up a guitar and make something interesting with it if they were creative enough, even if they have no knowledge of the instrument or music theory.

The first pioneer in the scene was the synth-punk duo "Suicide" consisting of Alan Vega and Martin Rev in the mid 70s. While their sound was a bit different the bands that followed, they laid down the key elements and motifs that other no wave artists would follow

The scene really kicked off around 1978 when DNA, Theoretical Girls, and Teenage Jesus & The Jerks were formed, with other bands soon following. In 1978, Brian Eno was in new york city to produce the talking head's 2nd album when he saw the bands playing and wanted to document the strange music he heard. So he invited 4 of the bands to Big Apple Studio to produce the split album "No New York" which became the de facto no wave album in the original scene.^[3]

The most notable performance of no wave music was the music festival "Noise Fest" which was conducted by Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth at the White Columns art space in June 1981. Each night 3 to 5 acts performed including Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham, Jeffrey Lohn, Dog Eat Dog, Built on Guilt, Rudolph Grey, the Avant Squares, Mofungo, Red Decade, Robin Crutchfield's Dark Day, Ad Hoc Rock, Smoking Section, Chinese Puzzle, Avoidance Behavior, and Sonic Youth.^[4]

By 1982 almost all of the bands in the original scene had disbanded. Bands after the original scene such as Sonic Youth and The Swans took heavy inspiration from the original no wave scene and created their own take on the style (Especially in their early music) albeit relatively more melodic than the previous no wave scene. The had genre also had an influence on noise and industrial bands in the coming years such as Big Black, Lev Six, Helmet, and Live Skull^[5]

Notable Artists[]

Original Scene[]

The Contortions
Teenage Jesus & The Jerks
D.N.A.
Suicide
Glenn Branca
Theoretical Girls
Mars

Post Original Scene[]

Sonic Youth (Early music)
Swans
Gang of Four

Cinema and Visual Arts[]

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The no wave scene also bleed into local cinema and visual arts

Fashion[]

No wave fashion took a more satirically "Professional" approach to fashion of punk. Wearing things such as Rumpled, second-hand suits, button-up shirts, biker jackets and old sweaters. As well as more tight clothing and short proto-goth haircuts^[6]