DNA on DNA
(No More Records, 2004) DNA came out of the NYC punk scene in the late 70’s and formed part of what is generally called the “No wave” movement, which is hard to define though in comparison to their punk rock forebears and “new wave” contemporaries the “no wave” groups are more abstract, dynamic, untraditional in their use of rhythm, and often very noisy. DNA is perhaps the most original and interesting of the movement. This trio (first guitar, drums, keyboard then guitar, drums, bass) create songs that are singular in many ways. Arto Lindsay attacks his guitar like it is some kind of rhythm instrument: quick bursts of activity followed by silence, droning noise, endless repetitions. Ikue Mori plays drums with a ferocity, spastic starts and stops. As a whole there is a great use of noise and silence and the interplay between, as well as tempo and volume dynamics and repetition. Lyrics are abstract, often incomprehensible, one more instrument in the combo. A lot of people would bulk at this noisy, exciting group, but if you have an ear for free form noisy post-punk music then I can’t recommend this enough. Wikipedia has a good entry on them.
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