Retrovirus

Holy Shit! Epitome of No New York No Wave Post Punk (see the coll. of same name in vinyl), this is a document of recent live set. Her backing band is an all-star cast, a who’s who of the late 70’s early 80’s NYC No Wave movement and it sounds it (bass- the Swans’ original/best bassist Kizys, guitar is Weasel Walter, Bob Bert the original Sonic Youth drummer…). Music along the lines of DNA, Swans….duh. Lunch was famous for being in a late 70’s No Wave band called Teenaged Jesus and the Jerks. She was a “performance artist”, pretty much invented the term (along with Karen Finley, popularized by Laurie Anderson </history_lesson>). Lunch guests on Sonic Youth’s “death valley 69” (see the vinyl section). Her other projects included Shotgun Wedding (see CDs) with the unrivaled guitar of Rowland S. Howard (probably her best band). When she was younger her drama on the mic could get cloying, that’s been replaced by a snarling wisdom that only age can bring. This is truly entertaining. The music is awesome, the recording fine. Almost all songs end with her talking to the audience. Watch FCCs (fine for safe harbor).

1) (0:36) crazed TJATJ guitar with FCC at end
2) (3:29) pounding then in your face, halting… hey, its no wave!
3) (4:35) a big plodding dirge, Swans’esque, noise guitar, POT DOWN THE TALKING AT END AS THERES AN FCC
4) (2:22) typical urgent no wave post punky spazz, 8 Eyed Spy song
5) (2:19) another 8 Eyed Spy song, urgent and punky again
6) (4:36) tribal punky, sneering
7) (6:37) gothy chorus guitar pedal, a Souixsie and Banshees feel, drawn out
8) (6:30) FCCs (shotgun wedding classic)
9) (3:07) FCCs driving rockin feel
10) (4:44) FCCs spoken word, “performance artist” feel with insane music
11) (4:34) big hollow dirgey, fucking AMAZING guitar and early SWANS bass!!!, sounds like very early Sonic Youth, WOW! (gee I wonder why…)
12) (4:12) FCCs, spoken stuff in dirge
13) (11:10) total epic tribal dirge tempered with cool rhythms, lots of moods and changes, crazed