Save the Robot – Chris Dahlen

Marc Masters – noise and avant music coverer for Wire, Pitchfork, and his own blog Noiseweek - wrote a book last year on No Wave, the obscure strain of noise music that came and went in the late ’70s in New York City but is still being imitated by grungy little fuck-it-all indie rockers the world ’round. Today, Pitchfork ran an excerpt from the book, and it’s a terrific read. (And so is the rest of the book.)

Not familiar with No Wave music, No New York, Lydia Lunch, or Arto Lindsay, or any of rest of it? Don’t worry, because for one thing, not many people are; and for another, Marc did a stellar job of getting beyond the who-played-what to explain the music and its sources, and tell the story of pretentious but ferociously talented artsy-types migrating from the woods to settle in slummy NYC apartments and throw together some bands. Marc goes into even more obscure corners – like the no wave film scene – but also broadens the scope to connect these youngsters with the punk upstarts who warmed up the Lower East Side for them (Patti Smith, Television) and the friendlier, more dance-friendly strains that came after (Material, Liquid Liquid, and so on).

I also found his discussion of the primary document of the period – the Brian Eno-produced No New York - hilarious. Rather than a savant and guru, Eno’s painted as a cryptic figure who lurked in the soundbooth and got out of the way while the four bands who appeared on that record buzzed through, laid down some tracks and got lost. Of course, all the other documents of the time are impossible to find (though DNA on DNA is a great collection of one of the scene’s big bands, and would make a great gift for fans of anyone from Pere Ubu to early XTC).

Here are some fun quotes from the excerpt.

LYDIA LUNCH: There was a lack of light that New York had at that time, especially considering the condition of the Lower East Side, which was nothing like it is now. There were just blocks and blocks of abandoned buildings, set on fire nightly from peoplesleeping under tea lights.

CHINA BURG (Mars): It was like a Wild West type of town, and the whole Lower East Side was incredibly empty. There weren’t stores. You had to walk over to First Avenue to buy groceries.

SCOTT B (filmmaker): If you went below Houston Street, there were no cars at night. There was just nothing there. You could go to a building and take it over– steal electricity out of the lamp post and live in it for years.

JAMES CHANCE: My first apartment cost $125 per month. No one wanted to live there. If they saw a white person coming, they would practically give them the apartment. You didn’t have to have a day job. I had a few, but they only lasted a few weeks. I really don’t have any idea how all those people were making a living.

LYDIA LUNCH: Work? Are you nuts? Please. $75 per month– that was my rent when I got an apartment on 12th Street. You could eat for two or three dollars a day. You begged, borrowed, stole, sold drugs, worked a couple of days at a titty bar if you had to. I don’t know how I got by, but it didn’t take much.

And here’s the book site, with pics and prices.

Congrats Marc!